The three pairs of red eyes had already disappeared into the forest, yet nobody within the settlement lowered their weapons.
Grey remained beside Ruk near the northern barricade, staring into the darkness while Predatory Instinct continued producing a faint warning at the back of his mind.
The Redfangs had retreated far enough that he could no longer hear their movements clearly, but everything about their behavior bothered him.
Wild animals usually attacked when they believed prey was vulnerable or retreated when they sensed something dangerous. Those creatures had done neither.
They had approached close enough to observe the settlement, remained outside the range of the firelight, and withdrawn only after getting a proper look at the goblins waiting behind the barricade.
"They were scouting us," Grey muttered, tightening his grip around his weapon as the realization settled in.
Ruk glanced toward him without understanding the sentence, although the older Hobgoblin’s expression suggested he had reached a similar conclusion.
His spear remained pointed toward the trees while Krag and the other goblins positioned themselves around the clearing, none of them willing to return to the fire after seeing the Redfangs.
Grey eventually stepped away from the barricade and approached the nearest trap, crouching beside the trigger mechanism to make sure nothing had loosened during construction.
The vines remained tight and the sharpened stake was positioned correctly, but three traps suddenly felt inadequate when he considered the possibility of an entire pack attacking at once.
"How many?" Grey asked as he returned to Ruk and pointed toward the direction the Redfangs had disappeared. "Redfang. How many?"
Ruk understood after a moment, but instead of answering immediately, he opened both hands twice and then raised several fingers again.
Grey’s expression became considerably less enthusiastic.
"More than twenty?"
Ruk nodded.
"Fantastic."
Twenty predators ranging somewhere around Level 5 or higher would tear through the settlement if they attacked together, and Grey doubted his three traps would make much difference once the first few creatures triggered them.
Even Ruk, the strongest goblin here at Level 7, couldn’t fight an entire pack alone.
Grey looked around the settlement while considering their options. Running was the obvious choice, but abandoning everything would leave the goblins wandering through a forest filled with creatures stronger than themselves, and there was no guarantee the Redfangs wouldn’t simply track them.
Besides, Grey wasn’t interested in spending the rest of his new life running every time something stronger discovered where he slept.
He needed another solution.
Ruk frowned before crouching and drawing a rough line through the dirt. Several trees followed, then the stream, and finally a collection of jagged marks Grey assumed represented rocks or perhaps a cave.
The Hobgoblin tapped the final location.
"Redfang."
Grey crouched beside him and studied the crude map. "How far?"
That question was harder to communicate, but after several attempts involving pointing toward the sky and mimicking walking with his fingers, Ruk seemed to understand. He pointed toward the eastern horizon and then raised his hand halfway across an imaginary arc.
Several hours.
Close enough to hunt the goblins regularly.
Grey traced the route with one finger while another idea gradually formed.
If more than twenty Redfangs lived together, attacking their den would be suicide. Waiting for the entire pack to attack the settlement wasn’t much smarter.
But packs didn’t necessarily move together all the time.
Hunters separated, scouts wandered ahead and the small groups searched for prey.
Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked toward the forest.
He didn’t need to kill twenty Redfangs tonight.
He only needed to make sure there were fewer of them tomorrow.
Grey slept very little before sunrise.
By the time pale morning light filtered through the canopy, he had already checked every trap twice and spent nearly an hour studying the rough map Ruk had drawn.
Krag wanted to accompany him despite his injured side, but Grey immediately rejected the idea when the goblin struggled slightly just standing upright.
"You nearly got your ribs turned into paste yesterday," Grey said while pointing toward Krag’s bandages. "You’re staying here."
Krag growled. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Grey pointed toward the wound again. "Growl all you want. You’re still injured."
Krag grabbed his stone axe and attempted to step around him.
Grey placed one hand against the goblin’s chest and pushed him back toward the fire. "No."
Krag’s eyes narrowed and as a response Grey narrowed his own.
For several seconds, the two simply stared at one another until Krag finally released an irritated sound and sat beside the fire.
"See? We’re learning."
Ruk approached carrying his metal-tipped spear and gestured toward the northern path.
Grey had expected the Hobgoblin to come.
Unlike Krag, Ruk was Level 7 and knew Redfang territory better than anyone else in the settlement.
More importantly, Grey had no intention of wandering blindly through unfamiliar territory while attempting to hunt creatures stronger than himself.
The two left shortly after sunrise.
Grey allowed Ruk to lead for the first part of the journey, carefully memorizing landmarks while his skill [Predatory instinct] monitored their surroundings.
They followed the stream for several minutes before turning north through increasingly dense vegetation, eventually reaching a section of the forest where massive thorn-covered plants grew between the trees.
Ruk stopped beside a damaged trunk and pointed toward several deep scratches carved into the bark.
Grey crouched to examine them.
Four parallel grooves had cut through the outer layer of wood, each deep enough that whatever created them possessed claws significantly larger than Grey’s.
"Redfang?"
Ruk nodded.
Grey touched the damaged bark before inspecting the ground beneath it. Several prints remained visible in the softer soil, and although he wasn’t an experienced tracker, the direction was obvious enough.
The tracks moved away from the den and Grey smiled faintly.
"Looks like somebody went hunting."