Chapter 92: Indigenous Creatures

“Oh? They can use weapons too—then they definitely aren’t magical beasts. Did you see what weapons they were using?”
“Lord, the giant monsters were holding wooden stakes as thick as a person’s arm, while the smaller monsters had rusty short spears and sticks tied with stones!”
At this moment, Mage Moray interjected, “Think back—what were the appearance and physical characteristics of those monsters?”
These mountain dwellers originally lived in the barren mountainous areas of the northwest border. Aside from orcs, they had seen few other humanoid-like monsters. Several of the hunters tried to recall and described them in their own words: “The giant monsters were extremely tall and ugly—over ten feet tall. They resembled werewolves but were even more terrifying, with sharp teeth that could bite off an ox’s head in one bite.”
“Although the giant monsters made unpleasant noises, I’m sure they could speak! It seemed like they were saying something like ‘Humans… delicious meat… eat them.’”
“The smaller monsters were only half as tall as a human, there were seven or eight of them, even smaller than ten-year-old children in the village. Their heads resembled lizards and had scales. Oh, and their cries sounded like dog barks!”
After listening to their varied accounts, Mage Moray exchanged a glance with his two friends, nodded, and said to Donald with certainty, “Lord, I think I know what kind of monsters the hunting party encountered!”
Donald knew these mages had far more experience than young mages like himself who had grown up quickly, so he asked them for advice, “Please go on, Mage Moray.”
“Based on their descriptions, there are two types of monsters—or rather, indigenous creatures—that entered our territory to attack the hunting party. I’m sure they are goblins and ogres.”
“Goblins? Ogres!”
“Yes, Lord. Goblins are ugly, giant, and greedy creatures that usually live in the forests and mountains of the north. Such creatures can be found in both the northern part of the continent and our northern lands. Goblins survive by robbery and eating carrion. Humans are their most delicious food, which is why they’re called goblins. In fact, like werewolves and lizardmen, they are also indigenous creatures that originated from the main world. They possess a limited level of intelligence and will ally with other indigenous creatures or enslave weaker ones.”

“Adult ogres generally possess bronze-level strength, and due to their formidable physical power and defense, they can often reach peak bronze combat capabilities. Ordinary soldiers find it very difficult to deal with these giants. Of course, if it’s just a few ogres, with the strength of their lord, they should be able to easily handle these barbaric creatures.” After Mage Moray spoke, the impatient Mage Dina quickly added, “I’ve never seen an ogre, but I’ve fought against orcs a few times. These orcs are a bunch of cowardly yet evil creatures. Like goblins, they usually live in rural areas, and the strength of a single orc is not even comparable to that of an adult. That’s why they like to gather in groups to raid passersby. But when faced with stronger opponents, they crumble instantly and scatter at the first sign of trouble.” After hearing this, Donald asked, “I’ve heard that they have dragon blood in their veins.” Mage Moray nodded and said, “This theory is widely accepted by mages, as orcs indeed share some dragon-like characteristics, just like those sub-dragon species. Moreover, among orc tribes, there are spellcasters known as orc shamans who inherit magical powers, which further proves their slight dragon ancestry.” He then added, “I think those orcs are probably driven by ogres. Although ogres may appear barbaric and terrifying, their intelligence is much greater than that of goblins or orcs. In fact, there are also spellcasters among ogres. It is said that these ogre wizards acquired unknown magical powers during the disaster that led to the collapse of the Ancient Arcane Empire. Although their mastery of spells is limited due to their intelligence, they possess some extremely powerful magical abilities that even those below silver-level cannot withstand head-on.” “What worries me the most is that although ogres hunt alone sometimes, they are actually social creatures. The smallest ogre communities are still based on families. And there are rumors of large ogre tribes, numbering in the hundreds, having existed as well.” After hearing this, Donald frowned again. He had long heard adventurers in taverns talk about many native monsters existing deep in the Green Cloak Forest and the vast Outcloud Mountains, alongside magical beasts, but he had never seen any of them. The more powerful of those native creatures had already been driven into the deep forests by humans when King Celt VII led his army to settle in the North Counties centuries ago, and they had appeared only a few times since then.

Now that he had pushed his territory to the outskirts of the forest, it was inevitable that he would eventually come into contact with those creatures. Creatures as weak as orcs were not a concern, but as for the powerful ogres—Donald had read about them in the books stored in the mage guild, though he had never seen them in person. “Even individual ogres already possess the strength of Bronze Peak level. If they appear in groups, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for Dalaran!” Thinking that aside from himself and the hero Uther, no one in his territory could confront ogres head-on, Donald couldn’t help but worry. So he resolved to find out exactly where this ogre’s lair was and assess their numbers and strength. If there were few of them, he would use some of his magic core reserves to eliminate this threat completely. If there were too many, he would have to seek help from outside. Besides the mage guild, at least the Ansel family might offer assistance out of friendship with Ferdinand. If all else failed, he would have to offer a bounty—great rewards would surely attract brave men. Although there weren’t many powerful adventurers in the North County, there were quite a few throughout the kingdom! “There’s no time to lose. I’ll head to the battle site right away. If we’re lucky, the ogre hasn’t gone far yet, and maybe we can follow it to its lair!” Thus, Donald ordered his men to get ready to set off. The experienced mage Moray must go, and Uther, the strongest warrior in his territory besides him, also had to accompany them. Donald then took along his guard, all elite infantry fighters who wouldn’t slow them down. He had originally planned to take the guard force and the Eli brothers along to give them more combat experience. But since the danger of this mission was unknown, he could only order them to strengthen the defenses of the territory, along with the thirty-one elite recruits still in training and the hunting party, to stay in town. To prevent the territory from being left unguarded, Donald left the most reliable mage, Russell, in Twilight Town to oversee things. Then, the group of sixteen left Twilight Town at dawn and entered Moonlight Forest, heading toward the border of his territory. Based on the experiences of past adventurers, the dangers in Green Cloak Forest and the Cloudy Mountains included not only magical beasts but also many human-like native creatures. There were wild goblins, common thieves and robbers in the countryside who, like goblins, liked to live in groups in caves; there were also orcs like wolf-riders, fierce half-orcs.

Of course, these are all indigenous creatures of relatively low strength. Adventurers who encounter powerful creatures basically never return alive, so the exact details remain unknown. The strongest indigenous creatures known to the people in the area are the wolf hunters, whose maximum strength barely reaches the peak of black iron level. They usually rely on numerical superiority and cunning tactics to survive in the Forest Mountains. The most dangerous creature in the legends of the forests and mountains is undoubtedly the legendary evil dragon. However, the mages and powerful professionals in the North County claim that no dragons or signs of their existence have been found within the Green Cloak Forest and the Izumo Mountain Range that humans have explored. The group consisted of elite members, with owls sent out by Donald to scout ahead. They quickly found traces of the previous battle and arrived at the scene shortly after riding horses there. The site of the previous battle was now nothing but a mess of debris, scratched trees, and scattered bloodstains—no corpses of goblin heads were present, as the hunters had said. But this was within their expectations; most carnivorous and omnivorous indigenous creatures like goblins and wolf hunters would eat the corpses of most other creatures, except for those of their own kind. It was likely that the two goblin head corpses had already been eaten as snacks by orcs. Although the taste might not be great, for orcs, having something to eat was already good enough! “It’s here!” Following the direction they found, Donald sent out an owl to scout ahead in the air. The three mages, including Moray, were very envious of these owls used for scouting by Donald. Pets with magical beast bloodlines—this is what the three mages believed—were extremely rare and valuable. If a mage could obtain such a pet, it would be of great help to them. After understanding the wishes of the three mages, Donald gave them three of the owls as pets. After all, he could summon lower-level creatures like owls at any time, and since enhancing the strength and loyalty of his subordinates was important to him, he wouldn’t be stingy. Since the ritual for the mages to bind these owls as pets wasn’t ready yet, the three owls were temporarily still patrolling in his territory, out of their control. Before long, the owls spotted the orcs a few kilometers ahead. Due to their large and heavy size, the orcs left very obvious traces as they moved through the forest, making them easy to detect.

“Found it! That guy is gnawing on its prey, and there are seven dog-headed men around, picking up the bones left by the ogres,” Donald said excitedly. “Let’s get a little closer, but keep some distance, to see where that guy’s nest is!”