Chapter 12: The Rematch

I counted five bodies in total.

Three had already been there when I fled, while the other two must have arrived later, only to meet the same fate.

I shook my head.

Pathetic.

For five humans to lose to a level 5 ogre, they had to be either terrible adventurers or complete novices.

Then again, maybe they weren’t adventurers at all. Maybe they were just unlucky fools who had bitten off more than they could chew.

Still, if adventurers really did exist in this world, they would eventually notice that their companions had gone missing.

And when they eventually came looking, there was a good chance I’d have to face them. Not that I cared. I was no longer human. I was a goblin now, and if they came after me, their brains would only end up in my mouth.

Even as I stood over the fresh corpses, something deep inside me began to stir. A primal hunger clawed at my mind, making my claws twitch and my mouth water as I stared at the cooling bodies lying at my feet. All I could think about was consuming them.

The ogre groaned as it shifted its weight, its massive frame sagging beneath the strain while ragged, wheezing breaths escaped its lungs. Blood seeped steadily from the arrows buried deep in its chest, and a long sword slash carved down its side, leaving a dark, glistening trail that stained its skin.

This thing was dying.

Its once imposing body looked noticeably leaner than before, as though the battle had drained every ounce of strength from it.

A grin spread across my face.

Perfect.

It was exactly the opportunity I’d been waiting for.

That didn’t mean I could afford to let my guard down. Even wounded, a cornered beast was at its most dangerous, and this thing was still twice my size with a spiked club large enough to crush me in a single swing.

To guarantee I’d be able to defeat it, I needed a weapon, so my eyes swept across the battlefield, searching through the scattered corpses until they landed on an axe lying beside one of the fallen humans.

Bingo.

Keeping low, I activated [Camouflage], my form blurring into the background as the forest itself seemed to wrap around me like a cloak, its shadows swallowing my presence.

I crept forward one careful step at a time, making sure not to disturb so much as a single leaf beneath my feet.

The ogre remained oblivious, far too occupied with wheezing like broken bellows, its massive shoulders rising and falling with every painful, labored breath.

Perfect. Just a little closer.

I repeated the thought to myself, but just as hope began to creep in, a loud, wet, deliberate sniff echoed through the clearing.

My blood turned to ice.

I turned my head ever so slightly, careful not to make any sudden movements, just enough to see what the ogre was doing, and immediately wished I hadn’t.

Its broad nostrils flared as it drew in another deep breath, and a second later its massive head swung toward me, those yellowed eyes locking onto mine with terrifying precision.

For one long, suffocating moment, neither of us moved.

Then a guttural snarl ripped from its throat, shattering the silence, and in the very next instant, it charged.

Shit.

The ogre moved far faster than it had any right to.

For something that looked half dead, it exploded forward like a starving wolf spotting fresh meat, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye.

WHOOOSH!

Its spiked mace came crashing toward me like a battering ram, ripping through the air with enough force to pulverize bone.

I barely had time to register the attack before [Wolf Prowess] took over, my body reacting long before my mind could.

Instinct hurled me backward, and the mace tore through the space where I’d been standing a heartbeat earlier, the violent rush of wind screaming across my face.

BOOM!

The mace slammed into the ground, sending dirt and shattered rock exploding through the air where I’d been standing only a heartbeat earlier.

For the briefest moment, every instinct screamed at me to turn around and run, to survive the way I always had, but I forced those thoughts down.

No more hiding.

No more running.

I was confident I could win.

A snarl tore from my throat as I bared my teeth and launched myself forward with everything I had, crashing into the ogre’s chest hard enough to drive its massive body backward.

The sudden impact caught it off balance, and with a heavy grunt it stumbled before crashing onto its back.

That was my opening.

With my sharp talons, I tore into it, my claws ripping through flesh as I raked across its chest, then its face, then its arms in a relentless flurry of slashes.

Thick black blood sprayed into the air with every strike, each swipe carving deeper into its massive body and drawing another pained bellow from the ogre.

Even so, it had no intention of going down easy.

Letting out a furious roar, it threw...