Chereads / Fresh Spawn / Chapter 16 - Scavengers

Chapter 16 - Scavengers

Mennok had been resting next to Jenny when he heard rustling from the bushes nearby. He looked down from the tree to try and see if he could make out what it was but it was too dark to see, so he climbed down from the tree. He looked at the bushes to his right which began rustling loudly. Then the bushes to his left began rustling too, then behind him, then infornt of him. All of the bushes were rustling loudly. He took out his sword and pulled back to the tree, keeping his back towards it so that he couldn't be attacked from behind.

He stared at the many yellow eyes peeking out, some eyeing him and most eyeing the deer carcass. So they were here for food. Not going to happen, Mennok needed that to feed Jenny. Suddenly one of the things stepped outside of the underbrush wielding a small knife. It's skin was dark green and it had pointy ears and a pointy nose. It's nails were broken and it's teeth were yellow. It's height reached to just under his chest. It began to speak.

"Darak Zo! Grak za!

This time many green skinned creatures emerged. They were different than the first one however. Their skin was much lighter and they were about a foot smaller than the first one. They also carried stone knives and axes.

Mennok sheathed his daggers and put up his fists. He felt that he could handle this one just by using his fists. The larger one looked like it was the leader of this scavenging group, so he was gonna go for it first. He walked towards it slowly and for some reason the other creatures began making way for him. Was this some sort of ritual where he had to fight with the leader? We'll he wasn't gonna complain.

"Ti ko rok! Darak Zo! Darak Zo!"

The green creature began backing away but was blocked by the others. They made a circle around the two.

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Zokra had been out hunting for food for his tribe. His tribe had been running low on food for quite sometime so the village elders had ordered him, being the weakest of them, to take a hunting group with him and bring back anything they could find. He was picking his nose when some of the tribe members that were assisting him in his hunt had said that they spotted a deer carcass.

"Go! Show me!"

They led him through the bushes and past the river, until he had finally reached the place. He sniffed the air and sure enough he could smell the deer, but he could also smell two other things. He called over the tribe member that had told him of the carcass.

"You not tell me there two more things!"

Zokra kicked it in the face and it began bleeding. It looked at him with whimpering and scared eyes. He didn't really care about the fact that it hadn't told him of the other two smells as he would just get the others under him to deal with it. He just wanted to kick the thing because he felt like it, and he new they all hated him for it. He loved asserting his dominance as the elders of his tribe always do the same thing to him.

He sniffed the air once more and noticed that one of the things smelled human. Female to be exact. He was going to be having s lot of fun with her when he came back and he would make sure that the elders would never hear of it. They never gave him slaves to play with so he was going to get one himself. He couldn't identify the smell of the other one however, which made him slightly curious.

He took his position in the bushes and ordered the others to do the same. They had already alerted the weird smelling thing so he planned on ambushing it and ordering the others to kill it. The thing climbed down from the tree and took out sharp knives. It looked around the bushes and saw the yellow eyes staring at it. This was how Zokra planned to scare the thing. So smart!

He left the bush and looked at the thing. He opened his mouth to reveal the set of pointy yellow teeth as a show of power. He wasn't going to fight however, he never did. His minions always fought for him, and they would do so again.

"Kill thing! Bring food!"

The thing put it's weapons away and held its fists up. So stupid! Why fight with fists only! It began walking towards him. Suddenly his minions began gathering together and forming a circle around them. He had been betrayed! They weren't going to let him out, not when he was taking part in their warrior ritual.

"Listen to me! Kill thing! Kill thing!"

They didn't listen. They all maliciously grinned at him. They had been planning his doom for a long time and were ordered to leave him to die by the elders.. Now he was ordered by the elders to go and hunt, so it was their chance to enact their plan and they took it. Now he would die.

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It seems the others had betrayed him. He approached him slowly and lifted his hands high in the air, making himself look larger than he originally was. The green thing in front of him began shivering and turned and ran, but the others had already stopped it and threw it back in. Mennok had gotten really close to the thing, by now a small yellow puddle had formed under it. The others had begun snickering at the pathetic sight of their leader. Mennok was about to punch it in the face when his eye caught one of them climbing up the tree and heading towards Jenny. He turned around and threw his dagger while aiming at his head.

His lack of training and low skill level was clear to him. He had aimed for the head but only hit the leg. He ran over to it and punched it in the jaw, completely dislocating it.

[You have slain Goblin level 3]

The lighter green skins that had formed the circle saw how easy it had been for Mennok to kill one of them, so they all broke formation and ran away. Only the darker green skin remained, too scared to even move its legs.

"P-pls! No kill me! Zokra sorry! Never come again!"

"You speak common tongue?" Mennok was interested. A creature other than the enlightened races and himself could speak common.

"L-little. Learn after evolution."

So he wasn't the only one who could evolve? He had to ask further.

"You can evolve too?"

"Yes. I go from goblin to Hobgoblin."

This was totally new to him. Could the Greater Imp's and Imp Hoarder have been evolutions from a Lesser Imp? He would need to find something which could tell him about evolutions. For now he wanted to know something else.

"Where humans live?"

"Humans? Humans very scary! Live towards Mountain."

"Where's the Mountain?"

"I take you there."

"Ok. Wait here. You move I hunt you down."

"I stay. I stay."

Mennok climbed the tree and then tied Jenny to his back. He climbed down and cut a few meat pieces and put them in her empty food pouch for later.

"Take me there."

The Hobgoblin lead the way, scurrying off into the bushes. Mennok thought that it had just run away from him, but it came back every few minutes beckoning him to follow. For some reason he kept walking into many traps and just about managed to dodge them. They would always be made out of wood and most of the time were holes on the ground.

While walking the Hobgoblin kept turning around and eyeing Jenny. Mennok didn't like that so he kept a close eye on him. It had been quite a few hours since he had fed Jenny or given her water, so he went to the river with Jenny on his back. He scooped up the water with what Zokra the Hobgoblin called a "bowl" and then poured the water into her mouth slowly. Mennok then started a quick fire and cooked the pieces of meat that he had stored.

After finishing feeding Jenny he had looked at the Hobgoblin who had been staring at the juicy meat, mouth watering. He threw a piece of meat to the Hobgoblin which was quickly gobbled and then stood up.

"Me going to get food. Stay here."

"Okay!"

Now that Mennok was gone, Zokra could finally enact what he was planning on doing. He had already tried to kill the thing by leading it into his tribes traps but it always seemed to avoid them. So instead he waited until it left.

The Hobgoblin walked over toward the Han female, drooling from his mouth. He was finally going to get to play with a female! He sniffed her and she smelled very nice. Oh how good did the chieftain have it, so many women back at the village all to him! He looked around quickly to make sure nothing was behind him then turned back. This could be his only chance, so he had to go for it. As soon as he was only arms length away from her, an unknown sharp object pierced his skull, immediately ending his life.

Mennok had been suspicious of the Hobgoblin ever since he had been walking into traps. It looking at Jenny confirmed his concern, so he pretended he was going to go get some food when in actuality he activated Stealth as soon as he rounded the tree. When he saw that the Hobgoblin was trying to do something, he sneaked up on it and impaled it with his sword.

[You have slain Hobgoblin level 8]