I counted five bodies.
Three had been there when I ran.
Two more must have shown up 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 total newbies.
Maybe they weren't adventurers at all.
Maybe they were just unlucky fools who bit off more than they could chew.
But if adventurers did exist in this world, they would return once they noticed their missing comrades.
That meant I might have to face them.
Not that I cared.
I was no longer human.
I was a troll. And I was embracing it.
Even now, as I stood over the fresh corpses, something inside me stirred.
A deep, primal hunger.
My claws twitched. My mouth watered.
Because staring at the dead, cooling bodies...
All I could think about was consumption.
And lucky for me, my next meal had already been tenderized.
The ogre groaned, shifting its weight.Its massive frame sagged, breath coming in ragged, wheezing gasps.
Blood seeped from arrow wounds riddling its chest. A deep sword slash ran down its side, dark and wet.
This thing was dying.
Its body looked leaner than before—weaker, drained.
I grinned. Perfect.
I wasn't stupid. I liked having my bones intact.
Even injured, a cornered beast was dangerous.And this thing was still twice my size and armed with a spiked club.
To guarantee I would be able to defeat it, I needed a weapon.
So my eyes flicked across the battlefield, scanning the scattered corpses.
Then—I saw it.
A massive axe, lying beside one of the fallen humans.
Bingo.
Keeping low, I activated Camouflage, my form blurring into the background.
The forest wrapped around me like a cloak, hiding me in its shadows.
I moved in slowly, careful to not disturb a single leaf.
Every step was measured. Precise. Silent.
The ogre didn't notice.
It was too busy wheezing like broken bellows, its shoulders rising and falling in painful, labored heaves.
Perfect. Just a little closer to the axe.
I said inwardly.
Then I heard it.
A sniff.
Loud. Wet. Deep.
My blood turned to ice.
I turned my head just slightly, just enough to see what the ogre was up to.
And I saw its nostrils flared.
It smelled me.
A second later, its massive head snapped in my direction.
Yellowed eyes locked onto me.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then...
A guttural snarl tore from its throat.
And in an instant, it charged.
Shit.
The ogre moved fast. Too fast.
For something that looked half-dead, it closed the distance in an instant like a starving wolf spotting fresh meat.
WHOOOSH!
Its spiked mace swung like a battering ram, tearing through the air.
I barely had time to think but lucky for me, Wolf's Prowess kicked in.
My body reacted before my mind did, and I lunged backward, the wind screaming past my face.
BOOM!
The mace slammed into the ground, erupting dirt and rock where I'd just been standing.
I felt a cowardly urge to run but I still myself.
No more hiding.
No more running.
I was confident I could win.
So I bared my teeth, a snarl ripping from my throat.
And with all my strength, I leaped forward.
Slamming into the ogre's chest, and shoving it downward.
It stumbled, off balance, and fell to the ground.
And that was my opening.
With my sharp talons, I tore into it, claws ripping through flesh.
I swiped again—across its chest, its face, its arms.
Shred, tear, rip.
Thick black blood sprayed as I carved into its body.
The ogre bellowed in pain.
But it had no intention of going down easy.
With a furious roar, it shoved me off.
And I hit the ground hard, rolling until my back slammed into a tree. Pain jolted through my spine, but I gritted my teeth. No time to rest.
The ogre staggered up, its face and chest slick with black blood. Its breaths came ragged and furious.
Then it charged once again.
A walking avalanche of muscle and rage, barreling straight for me.
Good. Let it come.
I was busy, with my back turned towards it.
My hands gripped the tree behind me—thick, solid, deeply rooted.
And I pulled.
Wood groaned.
Roots snapped.
The earth cracked beneath my feet.
And with one last, mighty heave—
I wrenched the damn tree out of the ground.
The ogre's got close.
But I simply grinned.
And then I swung.
WHAM!
The ogre had barely registered what was happening before it got wrecked.
The massive tree slammed into its ribs with a sickening crack, and bones shattered.
The sheer force lifted the monster off the ground—a creature that easily weighed over a ton—flinging it like a ragdoll.
It soared through the air before slamming into the dirt with an earth-shaking THUD.
A cloud of dust exploded around it.
The beast groaned, its limbs twitching.
It was down, but not dead.
I let the tree drop from my hands with a dull thump, shaking the ground beneath me.
No time to waste.
Turning, I sprinted toward the axe, lying in the dirt, its blade dark with dried blood.
I grabbed it.
It was heavy—a solid, well-crafted weapon.
Behind me, the ogre stirred.
It groaned, pushing itself up onto its elbows, groggy, dazed—
And still very much alive.
But not for long.
I raised the axe, my muscles tensing, every fiber of my being coiling like a spring.
Then, I flung it.
The axe spun through the air, a blur of silver, slicing through the dust and fading light.
For a split second, time slowed.
The ogre's glazed-over eyes flickered with dull awareness—its massive head tilting upward just as the spinning blade closed the distance.
Then...
SCHLUNK!
Bullseye.
The sharp steel cracked through bone, burying itself deep between the monster's eyes.
A wet, gurgling sound bubbled from its throat. Its massive body swayed, muscles twitching as if it was still trying to fight.
Then it collapsed.
The ground shuddered beneath its weight.
And a heavy silence followed.
I stood there, chest heaving, every inch of me buzzing with adrenaline.
The pounding of my heartbeat filled my ears, drowning out the world for a moment.
Then a grin split my face.
I'd won.
I just killed an ogre.
With a tree, and a throwing axe.
Now that was some crazy stuff.
I exhaled sharply, rolling my shoulders.
My body still thrummed with the high of battle, every muscle aching but alive.
This was the first fight where I actually had to be aggressive to win.
Sure, the ogre was half-dead when I got to it, but even at a fraction of its strength, the thing could have ended my life.
If it had been at full power?
Yeah… That would've been a different story.
But a win was a win.
Then, lines of glowing blue text flashed before my eyes.
Ding.
[You have killed Ogre - Level 5][You have received 900 EXP]
I clicked my tongue.
Tch.
900 EXP.
Not bad… but not enough to level up.
I was close, though. Very close.
Still, experience points weren't the only thing I could gain from this.
I looked down at the massive corpse, my fingers flexing in anticipation.
I had something far better in mind.
A strange, primal hunger gnawing at me
It was time to devour.