Stella:

"You know what? It could taste worse."

Stella and Lien were eating their fish, mostly burned to a crisp. However, neither the Human nor the Wolf minded that much. In the former's case, she was used to eating much worse stuff in her most unlucky days.

The Wolf ate her half of the fish like a wild animal, bones and all. If someone saw her at that moment, they would think that Lien was an animal that someone put clothes on. Stella didn't mind at that point, getting accustomed to her weird quirks and wild personality. It felt like having a pet dog beside her.

Except the term "pet" was pretty uncomfortable when referring to a sentient being.

Regardless, the Human girl was glad the wall between them crumbled. They were now sitting close to each other, though not as close as their conversation by the river. She had to admit that the Monoke grew on her. Lien was honest and straightforward, all hallmarks of a great person in her book.

Besides, she was disgustingly adorable when she burped after gobbling down her dinner in a few minutes. Stella wasn't a lady by any means, but that was beyond her scope. She ate her half carefully so as not to choke on any bones.

Two girls near the fire amidst the darkness. That was the perfect time for some spooky monster stories.

Speaking of which, Lien had mentioned some stories about Humans, hadn't she? Stella's curiosity piqued.

While probably not an adequate subject to touch, the Human couldn't help herself. Her curiosity was a problematic trait, putting her in trouble multiple times. But there were some things that someone couldn't change about themself.

"So... What are those stories of Humans about?" She asked before taking another bite.

The Wolf was a bit slow after having her meal but eventually answered. "There's a lot of those! For example, one that says your people steal the clothes that we don't fold or leave them on the floor." She started counting them with her fingers. "Another about spoiling our food if we play with it, and another about you replacing our toys with rocks if we don't do well in classes."

Stella was disappointed. There was more than that, for sure. Lien wouldn't be so afraid of her for silly children's stories like that, would she?

"That's it? Sounds like a bunch of dumb tales to make children behave." Stella leaned her body against the cave wall with her hands behind her head.

Lien scratched her chin. "Well, there is another one. A scarier one."

The Human leaned closer to her. "Go on."

The Wolf lifted her head, facing the ceiling, and then she crossed her arms and legs. "The adults warn us about going outside Sayama. They say if any Monoke does that, the Humans snatch us, and we disappear forever."

Stella's eyes widened. Now THAT was a scary tale.

The Human didn't want to express her excitement. "Scary." Then she shuffled closer to the Wolf. "Want to hear something funny? We humans have some stories like that, but the monsters they tell us are similar to you and your kind."

The Wolf then faced Stella. "Really?"

"Honest!" The girl's voice muffled with another chunk of fish in her mouth. Then she swallowed it. "Someone like you or the Lads would do a terrific job in terrorizing the kids back home. Nah, even the adults!"

The Wolf lies down on the hard, stony floor. It wasn't comfortable, but she didn't seem to mind. "I don't get it."

Stella chuckled in response. She thought about making a joke about her blindness, but she then thought that their relationship wasn't close enough for that. Speaking of that, were they even friends? What does being part of a "pack" really entail? She didn't have the energy to think deeply about that.

The girl focused on her meal. Separating the meat from the bones was annoying, but Stella pushed through until she finally ate it all. She gathered the bones and tossed them in a dark corner of the cave.

Now, the two girls prepared to sleep on the cave's hard floor. The Human rested her head on her backpack. "Any thoughts on the fish?" She asked.

Lien answered. "Eh, it was alright." She huffed. "Man, I would kill for some venison."

"If you girls want some meat!" That voice wasn't from either of them. It came from the darkness.

The girls quickly got to their feet when they heard the strange voice. Stella's heart pounded, and her brain was on high alert. She looked at the black void that separated them and the exit, expecting the worst.

Her worries entered critical levels when a loud scraping sound could be heard, along with sparks coming out of the rock walls.

The sparks came closer to them with each passing second. Lien unsheathed her claws and bared her teeth while Stella grabbed a couple of rocks from her bag and put her lighter in her pocket.

Finally, after an agonizing ten seconds, the source of all this suspense could be seen by the bonfire's light. It was that Ogre with the hook, the short one's brother. Stella... forgot his name.

"I can hook you up." He spoke with a stupid grin on his face.

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"The fuck do you want!?" Stella readied to throw a rock at any sudden movement of his, though she knew how ineffective that would be. "Here for payback?"

"Ya could say that..." He fidgeted with his weapon. "I'm a little cranky for that bullshit you pulled at me." He pointed his hook at the Wolf.

Stella's hand clenched around the rock so much it hurt. "Fuck off, Captain Hook! Two-on-one, you don't stand a chance!"

"Stella..." Lien spoke softly, slightly breaking at times. That was when Stella knew she had spoken too soon.

The Ogre put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. On cue, eleven Ogres like him had come out of the shadows. That confirmed it, Stella had fucked up.

There were some colorful characters in the bunch. Three of them had their tongues hanging out of their mouth, one had thick spectacles, another had wooden legs, and there was one Lad that was an absolute unit! Damn, that dude was buff! The rest of them had nothing of note.

Seeing all these Ogres going to beat the shit out of them made Stella's demeanor go 180°. "H-Hey man... We can sort this out... Is there anything we can do for you?"

The Ogre scrunched his face, and his eyes wandered elsewhere as if he was considering it. "Well, there's something I want from you..." Then he pointed his hook at Stella. "Beating you to a pulp."

The Human gulped. That was it.

He shouted. "Skyr! Bjúgna! Get her!" Two Ogres ran in Stella's direction.

Lien got in their way, but then one of the Lads tossed some... wax at her? A wax with a horrendous smell. If Stella's senses got crazy when smelling that, imagine Lien...

The poor Wolf writhed in agony, incapacitating her. Now the Ogres had a free pass to get the Human.

Stella started tossing two rocks at them, one on each. They hit the targets, but they were more resilient than she expected. Their angry faces and bleeding noses were not a good sign.

The two charged at the Human, hands ready to grab her. She sidestepped, and the Ogres bumped at each other. Thank goodness they were idiots!

While the Lads argued with each other, Stella used this perfect window for a counterattack. Judging by their actions, they were clearly underestimating her. A grave mistake.

Assuming some things about Ogre anatomy, Stella kicked one of Lads' groin! Surprisingly, it worked! The affected Ogre put his hands over the place of impact and groveled.

The other one went for a punch, but Stella managed to dodge the blow by crouching. The first and finishing blow from the girl was a punch on the strawberry basket this time. A move she learned from a fighting game. She regretted not carrying a pair of sunglasses with her.

Lien had taken off the wax from her by now, but she was still affected by the unholy smell, much to Stella's dismay.

The Ogre with the hook looked at his two groveling brothers, then facepalmed and sighed. "I hate you all sometimes."

The buff one interjected. "Ket, let me deal with her."

"Nah." He walked towards the Human. "This one is mine." He hissed.

The Ogre dashed towards the Human, hook in hand! When he got in range, he swung his hook multiple times. However, Stella managed to dodge every single swing.

This was not Stella's first rodeo with melee weapons. She survived against some dangerous folks with knives her age or older. After her first encounter with... Kevin? What mattered was, after their last bout, she got a good feel of the Ogre's attack patterns.

However, it was hard to counterattack that guy. She tried to throw a punch here and there, but he blocked every single one! He was the real deal.

Things took a turn for the worse when his hook scraped against her right arm, forming a superficial cut. She was bleeding, though it was a negligible amount. She went through worse.

"Gotta hand it to ya, freak!" The Ogre spoke with a smirk. "You're a lot tougher than I expected." He made some admittedly cool tricks with his hook, twirling it around his finger while not breaking eye contact with Stella for a second.

That son of a bitch was taunting her...

Stella cursed her own weakness. Without Lien, she was useless. The Human wasn't strong enough, maybe not fast enough as well. She had to find some weakness in this guy.

Maybe his clothes, his weapon, his shoes? Nah, she couldn't think of anything. And that guy just kept twirling his hook while giving that stupid cocky expression! She held back the urge to blindly lunge at him.

She analyzed him further. His hat? His beard?

Wait... That could be it.

Stella suddenly fled from near the Ogre, approaching the bonfire. The Lad pursued her.

These two kept running around the fire for about ten seconds. The Ogre had the advantage in speed, and it didn't take long to catch the girl.

But that was what Stella wanted.

When the Ogre grabbed her by the left shoulder and spun her around, the Human used this opening to use her lighter to create a flame that spread to his beard. At first, the Lad was surprised, which allowed Stella to free herself with a well-placed fist in his nose.

The Lad slightly reeled and hissed in pain but recovered quickly. When Stella went to see his beard, it was... unharmed? Her eyes widened, and her heart started beating faster when the realization that all her efforts were useless settled in.

The Ogre laughed loudly at Stella's tactic. "Are ya stupid? Ogres are immune to fire and heat! Seriously, where the hell did ya come from?!"

There was no escape, then. Stella had no other tactics to pull, only to face that guy head-on. She clenched her fists, planted her feet steady on the ground, and made a fighting pose. The girl controlled her breathing to not let that asshole see any shred of fear.

The Lad's eyes widened. Apparently, Stella managed to take him by surprise. But after that, he chuckled. "Alright, kiddo!" He prepared for another swing. "Time to-"

His attack got interrupted by Lien, snatching his hook with her mouth! The Wolf finally recovered from the stink attack and was back in action! She dragged the Lad around the fire for a few seconds until he finally let go of his weapon.

The Ogre was visibly stunned, grunting in pain from his skin scraping against the jagged stone floor. Stella ran towards him and saw that his face had superficial cuts on his forehead and cheeks. He was very resilient.

Before he could wake up, his face was met with Stella's boot crashing upon him! His nose was now bleeding, and he was unconscious. Her feet hurt a little, but it felt so satisfying.

This was just a small victory, though. Because there were now eight angry Ogres ready to tear them apart. And they didn't appear likely to make the same mistake as the last three Lads.

Thankfully, Lien was there by her side. Her claws and teeth were ready for anyone. However, that might not mean much when the bigger Lad took the lead on the upcoming assault.

"Enough of that shit!" He clashed his fist and his open palm. "We'll teach ya a fucking lesson!" The rest of the Lads cried for battle, ready to pound the girls to the ground.

Now it was eight-on-two. Not a great scenario, but if Stella was going to receive a beating, they would have to earn it first!

She positioned herself into her fighting stance again until Lien's voice caught her attention.

"Stella," Lien whispered.

"What?" Stella whispered back.

"Please take care of the one that has the stinky stuff. I can smell it from here."

"Where is he?" Stella asked.

Lien didn't respond for a second, then answered. "I think... that guy on the far left."

She could see him, an Ogre with glasses, though not as thick as the other one.

Stella nodded. "I can take care of him. Can you keep up with the rest?"

Before the Wolf could answer, the buff Ogre shouted. "If ya ain't gonna attack, then we will!" He looked at his brothers and then pointed at the girls. "ATTACK!"

The full force of the Lads came crashing upon them. It was an intimidating scene, but Stella had her sights on her target. She trusted that her friend had what it took to hold off these bullies.

The Human girl gave a war cry and dashed toward battle!