Chapter 165 Hawk Being Hawk

Chapter 165 Hawk Being Hawk

"There are ogres incoming. Everyone in position to defend from the direction of the web." Karl warned the group.

"Already? I wasn't expecting to find another group of monsters for hours. They have a habit of wandering out of your path as you search for them." Doug muttered.

Thor gave a soft laugh, well aware of what was going on, and the Cleric immediately became suspicious.

"They lured them to us, didn't they? It won't be Thor, he would have just made noise. So is it Rae or Hawk that got bored and wanted to fight more?" The cleric wondered.

Karl gave him a startled look, which made the others laugh.

"You will find that he's pretty good with all things nature, including both plants and animals." Bob informed him.

The stomping sound of ogres was accompanied by the shrieking of monkeys, and the sound of Hawk's screech as he taunted the giant monsters.

"What in the world is the bird doing? Did I just see him throw a tree monkey at an ogre?" Danni asked, pointing at Hawk as he flew overhead.

They were in a sparsely treed area, where Hawk could easily attack from overhead, and the group could defend themselves without anything getting in the way, but with enough growth around for the wood Golems to easily grab weapons.

"Most likely. It's one of his favourite tricks to taunt monsters. He actually learned it from the tree monkeys, but he uses them as projectiles, instead of throwing nuts and sticks at people." Karl explained as the ogres stormed into sight and Hawk settled into the branches of a tree behind them.

The enraged monsters almost looked grateful for a moment, like they were thinking that the Hawk had lured them here to kill the humans, but then it turned to hatred for the humans, and they pulled out their weapons to attack.

None of the blades looked all that special, but there was a ring on one of their fingers that Rae and Hawk both recognized as magic.

With only three targets, the flurry of spells that came from the human team was overwhelming, and the ogres stumbled to a stop even before Thor hit them with an earthquake and knocked them to the ground to be finished off.

"That was easier than expected." Bob sighed as he realized that the monsters weren't even going to make it to him this time.

"I think they're on the weaker side of Awakened. Is that normal? I thought that the ogres were supposed to be nearly Ascended." Karl asked.

Everyone turned to Doug for an answer, and he just shrugged. "It varies. There are strong and weak ones, but I don't know enough about them to tell them apart. But what is that magical ring? That might be a useful item for someone."

But the greatest travesty of the day was only now happening, and it was only when they reached the immediate vicinity of their fort that it became obvious.

[Some thieving bastard stole my snacks!] Rae shouted in Karl's mind as she searched her webs.

She could smell another monster, and it hadn't freed the creatures that had been trapped, it had taken advantage of her absence to kill them and take them for itself.

"Keep your eyes open. Something looted Rae's webs, and it might still be in the area." Karl warned the group.

"That's brave. It had to realize what or who those webs belonged to, and that they weren't long abandoned. If it was desperate enough to loot them today, it's likely starving." Doug noted.

"Or it's stupid and arrogant." Bob added.

Doug smiled. "That's always a possibility. But if it comes back to check again while Rae is here, it's in for a bad night. How much did it steal?"

Karl waited for Rae to answer as she inventoried her loot and threw the bodies into the beast space.

[Four webs, at least fifteen small monsters, all Common Grade, none of them Goblins.] She replied, outraged.

"She says at least fifteen small Common Grade monsters." Karl relayed.

For a moment, he thought that the mages were going to say something about those not being valuable creatures, but then they seemed to realize that Rae didn't care about the danger level. She was planning to eat them, and someone had stolen her dinner right off her proverbial plate.

"So, it's likely not a powerful creature, and it can navigate the webs well enough to not get entangled itself. We will have to watch for another spider tonight." Doug decided.

"And make sure that our fort is secure before we enter. It might have tried to move in, or leave traps for us. Some forms of monstrous spiders have poisonous webs to weaken their prey." Bob added.

Rae scurried up the tree and scented the area.

[It didn't come up here. But I know the scent now, and I will find it if it comes back to steal from me again.]

"She says it's clear, we can head up."