CH 5

First Blood

Having resolved to hunt, I stealthily approached so as to land a surprise attack.

The moment I felt the distance was right—I rushed to attack the Orc with my axe but….

The Orc who had somehow sensed my presence rolled on the ground just in time to evade my attack, turning my ambush into a failure instantly.

Having succeeded at evading my attack, for a second it considered running away but after realizing that its assailant is someone far smaller than itself, showed an evil smile and began to move towards me.

A complete reversal.

Now it was my turn to get hunter, but I felt no fear. Why would I fear a piece of delicious meat after all?

All I felt was happy that it hadnt run away and began thinking of a different way to hunt this Orc.

It has me beat in physique and raw physical strength but the dense trees should make it hard for it to easily move around.

On the other hand, I can use the trees as a shield, and use it to break its line of sight, I can certainly find another chance to strike.

As I figured ways to beat this Orc, the Orc began to move to me as planned and I began to hide among the trees to find a moment to strike.

The Orc swung its club around but I moved around the trees to guard myself. Close range, its attacks could be deadly but as expected in this thick forest it was struggling to swing its Club around as wildly as it wanted.

Seeing a chance, I jumped out from behind the trees while finding the right timing.

Seeing me appear suddenly in front of it made the Orc panic and raise the club and swing with all its might…. but before it could bring it down, I rolled and evaded to side.

It tried to correct its course and aim for me with its swing but it only hit another tree before it reached me.

The impact of the hit was strong enough to chip the tree but the recoil towards the Orc was also strong.

Numb from the impact, it stumbled slightly and I was not going to let that chance go. I jumped in with my axe to attack.

“Focus on speed and slowly accumulate damage over time, and gradually numb its movement.”

With that thought in my head, I attacked the Orc’s back—and ripped straight into its flesh.

The Orc’s pained cries resounded in the forest and my axe broke from the tip due to impact.

Only the stick of the axe remained in my hand, which made me panic greatly but the Orc that fell after making its cries, while slightly trembled, showed no signs of getting up.

Something beyond my calculations happened, and for a while I just stood there frozen with a stick in my hand.

……..My attack right now was stronger than I thought and killed him in a single attack??

For a while, I just stared dumbfounded at the fallen Orc, but finally decided to first take care of the corpse and think of what happened later.

While making sure that it wasn’t just pretending to be dead, I slowly walked over and turned its body over…..the exhausted Orc looked directly at me with empty eyes.

It was NOT dead. The wound was simply so deep it made it unable to move.

Shocked at its survival, I quickly thought of ways to kill it.

I raised the stick I was holding, hoping to ends its misery soon, I swung down aiming for its head.

Under the force of the swing, the Orc’s head burst open and what remained of stick also shattered to pieces.

How did my attack create so much force? But before all that, I need to quickly deal with the corpse first.

My [Poison resistance] skill allows me to eat anything no matter how rotten but……having taken its life, I should at least eat it fresh as a way of showing gratitude.

With no tools to really work with a corpse, I used my bare hands to rips its skin off.

While avoiding its stiff needle like hair, I carefully scraped off its skin. Then I moved to removing its innards from its chest down to the waist.

Making sure that the intestines don’t rupture while still inside the body and ruin the meat, I carefully pulled it all out and finished the “processing” work.

If there was a stream nearby, I could have done it more neatly and cleanly, but since there wasn’t, I had to make do.

With the work finally over, now I had to think of a way to carry this back.

Even with its head destroyed and innards removed, it was still bigger than me and heavier than you could imagine.

Even if I cut it down to small pieces, all it’ll do is make carrying it more cumbersome. Not that I have a blade to do that in the first place.

It’ll be heavy as hell but I guess I have no choice but carry it slowly on my back.

Resolving myself, I buried the wasted innards into the ground, and picked up the remains of the Orc my back.

As expected, it is very heavy……or not? It feels surprisingly light. Lighter than I thought at least.

The blood still pouring out of its body will cover my whole body as I walk but at least I can walk back normally.

With the Orc on my back, I slowly and steadily began to walk, making sure that I don’t fall as I headed back to my base.