Chapter 163: Violent Tu’ka

Logi kicked Tor squarely in the chest, sending the older goblin stumbling backward and crashing into several others who were already sprawled across the ground.

The fifteen Ashmork artisans had been surrounded by a growing crowd of kobolds, their bodies pressed together as they tried to protect themselves from the stones being hurled at them.

Several kobolds held rocks as large as their fists, their faces twisted with anger and resentment as memories of the Ashmork raid resurfaced. Tor raised both hands defensively, desperately trying to explain himself, but the noise from the crowd drowned out almost everything he said.

"Did you stinking bastards think for a moment that we have forgotten your sins?!" Logi snarled as he picked up a stone and hurled it at Tor.

The rock struck Tor’s raised hand hard enough to knock him backward, and he landed heavily on the ground. Blood immediately began pouring from the injured hand, and the sight of it caused several kobolds around them to cheer.

"Get those bastards!" someone shouted from within the crowd.

"Tell them, Logi!" another kobold screamed.

"For Suki... Get these bastards for Suki!"

"I can’t breathe the same air as them!"

The shouts continued coming from every direction, and more kobolds began gathering around the square. What had started as a small confrontation had quickly become a mob, with each angry voice encouraging the next person to become bolder.

The fifteen goblins had nowhere to go. They had already been surrounded before the crowd began throwing stones, and every attempt to move only caused more kobolds to close the gap.

Tor pressed his injured hand against his chest, his face pale as he looked around at the furious kobolds. "Please, we only came to take the morning food ration... We don’t want anything else," he pleaded.

An older goblin beside him slowly crawled toward Logi, raising one hand in an attempt to calm him.

Bang!

Logi kicked him across the face, knocking the goblin back onto the ground before spitting beside him. The crowd immediately erupted into another wave of cheers.

"Don’t touch me, you swine!" Logi roared.

His anger had completely consumed whatever restraint he might have possessed. He reached down and grabbed a large piece of rock with both hands before lifting it above his head. His breathing was heavy, his eyes burning with hatred as he stared at the helpless goblins beneath him.

"You swines should be in chains, but you want to eat and drink with us in our Vaal’kor village? I’ll teach you a lesson for your insolence!" Logi screamed.

He barely had time to bring the stone down.

Pa!

Something struck Logi with such force that his body flew sideways. For a moment, he couldn’t understand what had happened. The ground seemed to spin beneath him as he slammed into the dirt, his vision becoming blurred while the stone slipped from his hands.

The entire crowd went silent as Ka’z stood over Logi.

His crimson eyes glowed with fury, and his expression was so cold that the kobolds closest to him instinctively stepped backward. Killing intent rolled from his body in a suffocating wave, pressing down on everyone gathered in the square.

The kobolds who had been shouting moments earlier suddenly found themselves unable to make a sound. Some lowered the stones in their hands while others took involuntary steps away from the center of the gathering.

Ka’z slowly turned his gaze from Logi toward the crowd.

Only after several long seconds did his attention shift toward Tor and the other goblins. His expression changed slightly when he saw their condition. Tor was bleeding from his hand and forehead, while several of the others had bruises across their bodies and shallow cuts from the stones that had been thrown at them. One of the older goblins was still clutching his face where Logi had kicked him.

Ka’z’s jaw tightened.

"Is this how you treat the people who made our biggest dreams possible?" Ka’z growled.

The crowd fell even quieter.

Several kobolds lowered their faces, suddenly ashamed of what they had done. They had been consumed by anger only moments earlier, but standing beneath Ka’z’s gaze made many of them realize how far the situation had gone.

Not everyone backed down.

One kobold stepped forward, his hands trembling slightly but his anger keeping him upright. "They raped and killed Suki... These barbarians killed Tud’or!" he said angrily.

The words immediately reignited the crowd.

"Exactly! These bastards killed our hero Tud’or!" someone shouted.

"They killed Suki too!" another kobold roared.

"They deserve to be punished!"

Ka’z’s eyes narrowed.

"The goblins who killed Suki are dead! Grash is dead... What other revenge do you want?!" Ka’z barked back.

"All goblins must die for Tud’or!" another person screamed.

Ka’z stared at the kobold who had shouted those words, genuine disbelief crossing his face.

The crowd was growing again.

More kobolds were pouring into the square, drawn by the shouting, and the hatred that had been buried beneath the surface of Vaal’kor’s population was finally spilling out.

Ka’z had been so focused on constructing the village, improving their food supply, training the warriors and preparing for the threats outside their territory that he hadn’t realized just how deep the resentment toward goblins had become.

Bang!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Logi’s scream ripped through the square and Ka’z immediately turned toward him.

Tu’ka stood over the fallen kobold, one foot firmly planted on Logi’s hand. The position of the limb was clearly unnatural, and Logi’s face had twisted with pain as tears streamed down his cheeks. The sight caused the entire crowd to draw a collective breath.

Nobody had even noticed Tu’ka approaching.

His cold purple eyes remained fixed on Logi as though the screaming kobold beneath his foot was nothing more than an inconvenience.

"Logi... What was your occupation before this village was built?" Tu’ka asked in a dull voice.

Logi struggled to breathe through the pain. "A... Gah... A trap fixer," he muttered between heavy gasps.

"T..." Ka’z tried to speak, but Tu’ka immediately raised one finger without looking at him, silently asking him to wait.

"Did you have any personal connection with Suki or Tud’or?" Tu’ka asked calmly.

Logi slowly shook his head.

Bam!

Tu’ka pressed down harder.

"Gaaaaaah!"

Logi’s entire body jerked as another scream escaped him.

"Speak when you are spoken to," Tu’ka said, his voice remaining disturbingly calm.

"Gaaaaah! No... no! I have never been close to any of them!" Logi screamed.

"Were you a part of the team that avenged Suki?"

"No!" Logi shook his head frantically, tears pouring from his eyes. "No, I wasn’t!"

"Were you a part of the team that fought the war and avenged Tud’or?" Tu’ka asked.

"Nooo... No, I was not!" Logi screamed at the top of his voice.

"Were you amongst the team that avenged our dead in the eastern region?" Tu’ka asked again.

"No... I was never a part of it! Please, take your foot off..." Logi begged.

Tu’ka’s expression hardened.

"Now what gives you the right to speak and act out on this matter like you were directly involved or affected?" Tu’ka’s voice turned cold and vicious.

Buzz!

The kobolds surrounding them went pale as Tu’ka slowly reached toward the weapon hanging across his waist.

The movement was calm, almost casual. Yet everyone understood what it meant.

"Or do you like acting strong when the enemy before you is just weak and defenseless? Does that make you feel better about yourself?" Tu’ka asked.

His hand closed around the handle of his axe, and he slowly drew it from its sheath. He raised it above his head, his expression remaining completely emotionless.

Ka’z immediately grabbed his arm.

"Don’t go farther than this..." Ka’z said firmly.

Tu’ka’s brows narrowed, but he didn’t argue. His attention simply shifted back toward Logi, who was now trembling uncontrollably beneath him.

Tu’ka lowered the axe.

"We no longer have need for trap fixers... But we need capable tutors who can teach the next generations of kobolds how to build, forge, knead, and many more services. Let it be known that the lives of these fifteen goblins are far more important than yours. Their debt of blood has been paid in blood. If anything like this should ever repeat itself, I will kill every single person who is trying to sabotage the future of our great village."

His words were plain, almost emotionless, but the expression in his eyes made it clear that they were not an empty threat.

Tu’ka slowly pulled his foot away from Logi and stepped back. He sheathed his hand axe and turned away from the crowd with an annoyed expression.

It was at that moment that Kurg, Za’r and Ru’k finally arrived.

They stopped as they entered the square and looked around at the aftermath. Several bruised goblins were scattered across the ground, Tor was still bleeding, Logi was curled around his injured hand and the crowd stood around them in an uncomfortable silence.

Ru’k’s eyes widened as he took everything in.

"What the hell happened here?" he muttered under his breath.

"Tu’ka happened, of course," Kurg replied with an exhausted roll of his eyes.

Ru’k frowned deeply. "I knew we shouldn’t have let him get here first."

"Bastard, we didn’t let him. He is just much faster," Kurg rolled his eyes.

Tu’ka ignored their exchange completely. He looked toward the injured goblins one final time before speaking. "Heal the goblins first, especially the bleeding one."

He turned away and began walking out of the square, his shoulders tense and his expression still filled with irritation.

Ka’z watched him leave for a moment before looking back at the crowd.

Nobody spoke. Nobody dared to breathe loudly.