The Hyena's Prize
My body, propelled by a kick off the ground, radiated physical specs that temporarily approached Silver rank thanks to the overlapping effects of my Tattoo and sorcery. In an instant I slipped beneath the Ogre’s massive shadow, reversed my grip on the bone knife, and drove it with every ounce of strength into its unguarded Achilles tendon.
Schlick—! Crack! It wasn’t a simple thrust. I compressed mana to its limit at the blade’s tip, forced it past the Ogre’s thick hide, then deliberately abandoned all control. The mana that invaded its body lost direction and detonated violently from within.
“Krrraaagh?!”
A bewildered scream burst from the Ogre’s mouth for the first time. Even the ruler of the forest, lost in the throes of mating with its muscles relaxed, could not perfectly defend against a strike that exploited such a blind spot. Its enormous frame staggered, spilling blood.
Just as I yanked the bone knife free and prepared to leap a second time toward its throat, the moment arrived.
“Silas!! Elara!!”
“You filthy monster bastard! I’ll tear you to pieces!”
From the cave entrance came ear-splitting roars and blinding flashes of mana. Ten Silver-rank adventurers—the second wave Silas had risked his life to summon—had finally arrived.
‘They’re here.’
I forcibly twisted my leg muscles mid-leap and stopped. The objective was achieved. The tide had turned completely. There was no longer any reason to keep trading blows with this monster and burn through the durability of my only trump card, the Substitute Doll.
“Sorcery release.”
In a single second I erased the murderous intent that had been boiling inside me. The tattoos that had glowed crimson sank back beneath my skin, and my reptilian eyes returned to those of an ordinary human. I deliberately slammed my shoulder against a rock and rolled across the ground in an exaggerated tumble, then crawled toward the unconscious Silas and propped him up.
“Kh, hah…! Over here! Silas is critically wounded! Healer!!”
The assassin who had been moments from slitting the monster’s throat had vanished. I played the part of a terrified, tearful Pebbles-rank guide who had miraculously survived, and I played it perfectly.
The priests and mages in the rear rushed over and began pouring healing magic into Silas. Gasping for breath, I crouched behind a boulder and watched the battle unfolding ahead with sharp eyes.
“This… this insane monster bastard…!”
The ten Silver-rank vanguards who had charged into the cave froze at the sight of the Ogre. The staggering beast had grabbed Elara—still impaled on its lower body—and thrust her forward as a living shield.
“Krhahat! Come on, humans! Try attacking if you can hit this female!”
The Ogre laughed viciously and pressed its back against the cave wall, using Elara as cover. With its Achilles tendons severed, this was the best defensive formation it could manage.
“Don’t let its threats sway you! Four vanguards, flank it and target the joints! Mages, provide covering fire!”
The paladin who seemed to be the leader issued cold commands, yet reality proved far messier than theory. The moment the swordsmen tried to circle around, the Ogre violently shook Elara up and down. Its massive shaft buried inside her battered the walls of her womb with brutal force.
“Kyaaaaah! No, stop! Master, Master!! Uuugiiiiiit—!!”
Elara’s nerves, previously unconscious, were forcibly reawakened by the overwhelming pain and pleasure delivered by the beast’s sheer mass, and she screamed in a broken, animalistic voice. The sight of their comrade convulsing in climax the instant she regained consciousness was so shocking and depraved that it stripped the noble adventurers of reason.
“Don’t move! Can’t you see this bitch?!”
The Ogre swung Elara roughly in every direction, making the grotesque sight of its organ churning inside her impossible to ignore. Every time the bulge pressed against her thin belly, the adventurers’ footwork faltered.
“You… damn monster!”
One mercenary, unable to endure any longer, charged recklessly. Kwaaang—! The Ogre had been waiting. It used Elara as a shield to block the strike. The blade grazed her thigh; in the same instant the Ogre’s iron club smashed into the mercenary’s waist. With a sickening crack his upper body folded at an unnatural angle and slammed into the cave wall. Instant death.
“Stay calm! The monster isn’t in its right mind! Finish it while it’s blinded by pain and pleasure!! Look for an opening!”
The paladin roared again. Freezing spells from the mages struck the Ogre’s right arm that held the club. Chiiik—! The arm froze white and its movements slowed. Three swordsmen wrapped in fighting spirit exploited the gap, slicing through the ligaments of its remaining right leg and thigh.
Crack—!
“Krrraaaagh—!!”
Having lost all mobility in both legs, the Ogre dropped to its knees with a scream. In a final act of desperation it grabbed Elara by the neck and slammed her down onto itself, driving its shaft all the way to the deepest part of her womb.
“Uugiiiiiit—!! M-my womb… my womb is going to burst!!”
Elara’s eyes rolled back as she sprayed the last of her fluids like a fountain. Without averting his gaze, the paladin swung his greatsword wreathed in holy aura and severed the Ogre’s wrist in one clean cut. The thick fingers released Elara’s throat. Her body, now unsupported, tumbled to the ground. As the massive shaft slipped free she convulsed with a piercing scream.
“Die, monster!”
The ten Silver-rank adventurers unleashed a merciless barrage on the kneeling Ogre. Explosions of magic and flashes of aura shook the cave. Even as its body was torn apart, the Ogre roared like a beast and swung its club, but the tide had already turned.
Kwaaang—! Schlick!
I watched the overwhelming spectacle of destruction from behind the boulder, biting my lip.
‘That’s what real power looks like.’
What good was inflating my stats with tattoos and sorcery? My fighting style was nothing more than a back-alley thug’s muddy brawl. No matter how close my strength came to matching the Ogre’s, when pitted against such refined technique, I would ultimately be the one carved apart.
What I lacked was a vessel for that systematic martial prowess. I needed sharp swordsmanship or martial arts to contain the crude stats I had forced to grow.
Just as the thought finished, the paladin’s greatsword blew half the Ogre’s head away. The once-mighty ruler of the forest collapsed in a cloud of dust. The fierce subjugation was over.
“Elara! Stay with me! Damn it, bring a blanket!”
The adventurers hurriedly covered Elara’s naked body while others focused on stopping Silas’s bleeding. The cave was filled not with the joy of victory but with rage and grief over their comrades’ horrific state.
I subtly opened my tattoos and cast a perception-dampening sorcery. Against Silver-rank beings far above me, the effect would last only dozens of seconds at most, and it would have failed instantly had they been hostile. But their attention was entirely fixed on their ruined comrades and the Ogre’s corpse.
Seizing that momentary lapse in awareness, I pretended to pick up a rope from a fallen supply cart and shuffled toward the Ogre’s body. While acting as though I was securing the cart, I pulled out a prepared leather waterskin and carefully—yet with frantic speed—collected the hot, thick blood pouring from the severed neck.
‘Not just a medium for Sorcery Stock.’
My eyes gleamed with greed in the darkness. The ruler of the forest. The Ogre. Its monstrous endurance, strength that could crush boulders, and explosive vitality that had threatened to rupture a human female’s womb. I planned to refine this blood and engrave a permanent Ogre Tattoo onto my body—not a temporary buff I could toggle, but the essence of tattoo magic that would absorb the Ogre’s traits as my baseline passive.
Once the waterskin was full, I quickly wiped the bloodstains from its surface with my sleeve and tucked it deep inside my clothes. At the same time I dispersed the mana sustaining the perception-dampening sorcery.
“Hey, guide! Stop standing there like an idiot and bring the cart! We need to transport the wounded back to the village!”
At the paladin’s shout I hurriedly hunched my shoulders and lowered my head.
“Ah, yes sir! I’ll move right away!”
As I loaded the unconscious Elara and Silas onto the cart and left the cave, the thick stench of blood and semen clung to my back. I caressed the now-heavy waterskin in my arms and the Troll-heart Substitute Doll, swallowing a bitter smile.
The Silver-ranks had risked their lives and shed blood, yet the hyena that had claimed the most valuable prize in the Black Moss Forest was, in the end, me.