Another cry came through. Asa knew that the hunters were torturing a woman. It was a method that the species used when hunting humans.

If he turned around and ran to save her, he would fall right into this foolish trap, and the result would be that both their heads would become a decoration for some orc tribe.

The water of the Dono River flowed gently eastward, and the slight ripples seemed to be beckoning him.

Come on, jump in, and you'll be safe. Although you may feel sad and guilty, at least you'll be alive. After a few years, maybe you'll forget about this and use it as material for small talk with friends at the dinner table. And after several decades, you'll definitely forget about it.

Perhaps you can also use this sadness as motivation to become a general in a few years, leading an army to sweep away all the orcs from the continent, seeking revenge for this woman.

The third scream came weakly, as if it were just a paranoid illusion.

Asa cursed loudly with the most vicious curse he knew, then turned and ran towards the path while roaring as loudly as he could to tell the hunters that their foolish trap was working just as they had hoped.

Less than ten minutes later, Asa was running frantically when he caught sight of the hunter and the woman he had caught in his grasp.

Her jet-black hair, which fell messily from under her hood, obscured her pained expression. Her right hand was twisted in a gnarled shape, resembling a withered vine, with no intact inch of bone left. This wasn't the result of a single injury; it was as if the bones had been broken repeatedly, over and over again, until there was nowhere else left to break.

Asa breathed a small sigh of relief, knowing that aside from her hand, he couldn't spot any fatal injuries on her. However, she was dangling in mid-air, like a helpless chick waiting to be slaughtered, weakly whimpering as the hunter held her with his clawed hand. Her voice was intermittent, as if she could be choked at any moment by the hunter's talons.

Following the gaze of the furry, massive claw, Asa saw the orc that had been pursuing him for the past three days. For the first time, in broad daylight and at such close range, he saw the creature in full.

Towering a foot taller than him and half as wide, with a massive frame covered in brown fur, tall pointed ears, narrow yellow eyes, and a dog-like head, this was a werewolf. Its proportions were similar to those of a human, but the perfect curves of its muscles and bones revealed the strength and agility within its body that was beyond human reach.

The werewolf wore a specially made leather armor and carried a meteor hammer that had smashed over a dozen of Asa's colleagues' heads. This weapon was clearly beyond the capabilities of humans and dwarves. This terrifying weapon and its wielder were enough to handle an entire team of soldiers alone.

However, the werewolf did not appear as formidable and dangerous as one might expect. The fur on its left arm was clumped together with coagulated blood, and the wounds were still slowly bleeding. Although the Anka rapier could not be used for hacking and slashing, its unique blade could tear apart all the blood vessels and tissues around it once it was twisted after piercing the flesh. The slender blade was forged from the finest dwarven alloy and could even pierce through bones.

On the back of his left paw, there was a charred black mass of visible muscle, and the fur around it had been burned off. This was the trace of a fireball spell. Looking at the slight singeing of the fur on his head, you could tell that this was originally a fireball aimed at his face that he had blocked with his hand without time to dodge. This fireball must have been timed very well.

Asa felt great regret for not having a better chance of winning against the hunter with the woman. Now, he could only give it his all, and there was still hope. After all, the hunter's left arm had already...

The hunter made a grunting sound, opened his mouth to reveal sharp teeth, and moved his shoulder. Asa didn't understand the meaning of this expression, but he could clearly see the muscle on the paw that grabbed the woman bulging.

The prey had arrived, and the goal had been achieved. The bait was no longer useful.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Stop!" Asa shouted hoarsely and ran towards the hunter.

A crisp sound of bones breaking, and Asa couldn't tell if it came from the woman's neck or his own body. His legs, exhausted from running, had no strength left to dodge, and he almost watched as the hunter accurately kicked him in the chest, sending him flying like a scarecrow, crashing heavily into a tree. His knife also plunged into the tree.

Asa curled up like a shrimp, blood and saliva spilling out of his mouth and nose. Several of his ribs were broken, fortunately none had pierced his organs. It felt like there were countless raging bulls inside his chest, ramming and charging, squeezing out all sensations except pain, even taking a breath was impossible.

This was not the satisfying ending he had hoped for. As he looked at his prey, who had cost him so much effort in the last three days, being so weak and helpless, the hunter felt disappointed. He had anticipated a glorious battle to end it all.

This morning, he found obvious footprints and scents near the campfire and was certain it was a trap. How could this cunning prey reveal its location so obviously to him? There must be a trick. So he chased after a set of footprints that appeared to be more realistic. But when he found himself wrong again and was tricked by the prey's deception, he was completely surprised, embarrassed, and furious.

Moreover, this human's combat power was unexpectedly high. He almost got hit in the face by a fireball. Fortunately, the human was also fragile. After breaking his hand, the human immediately lost his fighting ability due to the intense pain.

In the end, victory belonged to him. He had successfully lured the fleeing prey, and it would be easy to go over and twist its head off now.

But there was no rush. It might be interesting to savor every detail of the process and see what the human would do when he knew his life was about to end. Would he play a trick? Struggle? Or curl up and cry? It would be best if he didn't do anything too boring.

Asa finally caught his breath, his chest was like a knife-riddled area, constantly twitching with each breath. He reluctantly lifted his head and looked at the knife stuck in the tree trunk, the white sap oozing out and covering the blade.

He recognized the straight and slender roots of the tree that once reminded him of a shameless saying. Now, as he looked at the woman lying on the ground, no longer moaning, a sense of grief and anger supported him to stand up, pull out the knife from the tree trunk, and put all his strength into a forward charge.

The hunter almost pitied the prey as it moved toward him like a turtle, slow and obvious in its movements. Is this your last struggle? He could even see every muscle twitching and the distortion of movement caused by pain, he could tell how much force and where the knife would fall.

The hunter raised the handle of his meteor hammer without deviation and blocked the knife with a loud clang of metal. As expected, the knife and the hand were both bounced back, and his body was shaken back. His chest and abdomen were wide open, with only a paw straight into the bottom, he could tear out that hot, beating heart...

The hunter didn't anticipate a seemingly insignificant detail. The tree sap on the knife turned into countless droplets under intense shaking, splashing into the hunter's eyes and wet nose.

It wasn't sap, but rather thousands of small knives that had been tempered to be venomous, covered in sharp barbs, and burnt to a glowing red. The hunter let out an excruciating scream that even he had never heard before.

Pain replaced the entire world. His vision turned red, then completely black. His nose was gone, leaving only pain. He could only hear his own screams, even in his ears. Then, he felt a cold object enter his body from his abdomen, effortlessly pushing through his neatly arranged organs until it reached his chest.

Fear that could even mask the pain rushed in, and the hunter instinctively grasped at something below his abdomen, using all his strength and fear. Then he heard another scream, just as agonizing as his own.

Asa couldn't hear the sound of his wrist bones shattering, only feeling countless bone fragments running rampant through his muscles and blood vessels, protruding from his skin. He had no strength left, but used the piercing pain to curl up his knee and fiercely slam it towards the knife handle. A burst of elastic rupture came from the knife handle.

The hunter suddenly stopped screaming and covered his chest, pressing down so hard that even the sharp claws penetrated his fur and armor, as if trying to push the ruptured object back into place. But after a few staggering steps, he collapsed with a loud thud.

Asa knelt on the ground, holding his left hand and moaning in pain, gasping for breath for a while before he could barely stand up.

It was all over.

No, it wasn't. He couldn't stay here for too long, as the hunter's body would attract a bunch of lizards once it started to emit a smell. Asa was already weakened to the point where he could be eaten by those ugly scavengers. He hoped the woman's luggage contained some useful medical treatment or high-end goods like that purified water talisman.

Asa stumbled over to the woman. Looking at her pale face that had once been so beautiful and full of laughter, in half a day, she would be just like the werewolf's corpse, food for those ugly creatures.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault," Asa knelt in front of her in agony. Suddenly, he saw her lips move, thinking it was his own illusion, but then he immediately heard a groan, even more powerful than his own.