Arena

Chapter 38 The Secluded Village (Part 1)

The Jason brothers discovered the traces of the humans’ camp at the marshy swamp.

It’s a place they had lingered at for quite a while and the scent they left behind was quite strong.

“There’s four.”

“I think one is a female.”

“Seeing as how the scent is still strong, they camped here last night.”

The brothers stick their noses here and there and imprint the scent of their prey in their minds. Now that they know the scent, the hunt is as good as half over.

Jason looked around his surroundings and looked to the direction where were are footsteps.

“They are moving west.”

“Then they are going entirely straight through our clan’s domain?”

“What are these bastards doing?”

“Seriously, where did they come from?”

The brothers tilt their heads.

The silver clan thoroughly guards their territory. Not even a mouse could enter without them knowing about it.

What’s more, humans, with their lacking olfactory and auditory senses, don’t have the skill to evade the silver clans’ surveillance.

But from the center of the forest, unidentified humans just appeared out of nowhere.

Where did these humans come from?

“They most definitely did not enter through our territory. Then did they perhaps enter the forest by cutting through the troll’s territory?”

Jason recalled the trolls that reside in the northern part of the forest, and thought probably not.

Trolls are strong and atrocious. Even the silver clan that had pushed out the red apes and dominated the western part of the forest, tended to avoid conflict with the trolls.

“If they really crossed through the troll domain, they are not some ordinary humans.”

“I think we have to be careful of these ones.”

“Yeah, the Helgi brothers won’t have lost just to anything.”

At the brothers’ mention of the Helgi brothers, Jason started to get annoyed.

“Let’s go.”

“...?”

“Even so, they are humans. Once it is night, humans are no different than being blind.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s true.”

The Jason brothers started to chase the groups traces.

They chased, following the footsteps, but the most important thing is the scent that was left at every spot they pass.

Using how much scent was left, they determined how long ago they were there. This way, they could tell just now fast their hunting targets were moving.

The Jason brothers matched their speed to the human groups and slowly started to catch up.

There was no need to rush.

While the sun is up, it is better to keep a certain distance. Since the humans have a strange long distance weapon.

They can catch up at night when the humans are asleep. Jason was planning on eliminating all the humans at that time.

The Jason brothers leisurely tracked the humans.

It’s the silver clan’s territory anyway.

It’s a chase happening on their front lawn, so the Jason brothers could just close their eyes and still pursue them. They could clearly guess the outcome of the human group.

But...

“Huh?”

Amongst the brothers, one of them makes a confused noise.

The other brothers too.

Confusion brushes by on Jason’s face too.

‘The scent is gone?’

“The bastards’ scent is suddenly gone!”

“How can this happen?”

“It doesn’t make sense that the smell just stops.”

The brothers are flustered at this occurrence that has never happened before. Jason too is flustered but he reassured his brothers.

“The footsteps are clearly present. I don’t know what trick they played but for now, let’s chase.”

“Think it’ll be okay?”

“Something feels wrong.”

The brothers look nervous.

When chasing prey, relying heavily on smell is a characteristic of the lycanthrope, and chasing prey whose scent has suddenly disappeared, is uncomfortable.

Jason growls.

“Then? You want to just turn back? Should we tell father we just returned because we got scared the scent disappeared?!”

“No, no.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

The brothers are intimidated and follow Jason.

For a while, the situation continued where they tracked the scent, but suddenly the scent disappeared and they were forced to track the human group by looking at their footsteps.

But as 20 minutes pass, a strange smell wafts from the tracks of the human group.

“This is the smell of a weed.”

“These humans are playing a strange trick.”

This time, a pungent smell wafts everywhere to the point that they cannot smell the human group’s scent.

Just what secret design are the humans planning, the Jason brothers’ confusion grows bigger.

But there is no doubt that this weed smell is a trace left by the human group.

The Jason brothers have no choice but to use the footprints and weed smell to continue tracking.

They continue tracking like this for a while.

The day brightens and the sun is high and center.

The Jason brothers halt tracking for a moment.

It is because from not far off, the smell of the weed hangs in the air.

It means the human group has stopped, not far away.

“Hyung, what should we do?”

“I think the humans have stopped.”

“They must be eating or something.”

“Damn, that pungent weed smell is all the way over here.”

The brothers ramble on and exchange opinions.

Judging from the weed smell, there is no doubt that the human group is resting not far from here.

It’s still broad daylight.

They could be found out if they approach the humans any closer in such bright light.

“The bastards have that strange weapon that killed Helgi’s brothers. Shouldn’t we wait to approach until night when they will be asleep?”

One brother offers up a suggestion.

Jason agrees that the suggestion is a good idea.

“Okay. We’ll wait and rest here until the bastards move.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll go hunt for something to eat.”

“Let’s go together.”

The brothers who had been tracking since dawn without so much as a morsel to eat all day, scattered in search of food.

The lycanthrope brothers, being the evolved hunters that they are, quickly catch an elk.

Jason approaches the elk his brothers caught and with one hand, crushes its neck.

Kwaduduk!

With a terrifying noise, the elk is killed.

Jason ferociously bites into the elk’s neck and drinks the fresh blood that explodes from it.

The brothers swallow in hunger and await their turns.

As seven big lycanthropes dive in, it only takes a few moments before the elk is reduced to nothing but bones.

They finish their meal and their bellies are full and the Jason brothers return their attentions to the human group.

“The smell is just as it was.”

“They are still close. They still haven’t moved.”

“Have they still not finished eating?”

The strong weed smell continues to hang in the air.

After some consideration, the Jason brothers decide to wait it out a little longer.

As long as the humans are in their territory, they may as well be in the palm of their hands. That’s how they thought.

But time passed and the weed smell didn’t disappear at all, the Jason brothers begin to question.

“Why aren’t they moving?”

“The humans’ movements is strange.”

“That they still aren’t moving, aren’t they being too laid back about this? Do they not know whose territory they are in?”

Have they finished their meal and are casually taking a nap?

Have they not caught on at all that they are being chased?

The main questions make the Jason brothers feel confused.

‘This won’t do.’

Jason picks the youngest out of his brothers.

“You go look for yourself.”

“What? Me?”

The youngest brother’s face became clearly distorted.

“You afraid?”

Asks Jason with a threatening expression.

The youngest brother’s expression looks like he just ate shit.

He doesn’t want to be treated as a pussy but with Jason strong-arming him, he doesn’t have much of a choice.

“Okay. I’ll go, jeez.”

The youngest mumbles as he goes.

The youngest follows the humans’ footsteps for about an hour and pants as he returns.

“What happened?”

At Jason’s question, the youngest quickly shouts.

“We’ve been had!”

“What?”

“Come see for yourself!”

The Jason brothers go with their youngest to the scene.

The second he saw the scene, Jason felt preposterous. And then despondent...

And lastly, a rising rage he cannot control.

“These insect-like bastards!”

At the scene, there is no evidence to suggest that the humans had rested there.

Just a bunch of discarded weeds that had been crushed with rocks to spread its putrid smell.

Because of that weed smell, the Jason brothers had thought that the humans had stopped here and wasted a lot of time.

‘They tricked us into waiting here and moved far away.’

Jason concludes that the human definitely used trickery and then ran far away.

“Let’s hurry. We have to catch up to them by nightfall.”

“Okay!”

The Jason brothers hurry and begin to race.

Having been tricked like idiots by humans that are mere prey, their pride was deeply hurt and the brothers raced with blinders on.

***

We came to learn around lunchtime, that there were seven lycanthropes on our tail.

In their minds, they thought they were keeping the distance as to not get caught, but they were found by Sylph and her wide scouting range.

I put my plan into action.

The first step was to discard about half of the weeds we had been holding onto.

According to my plan, the lycanthropes weren’t able to easily approach due to the strong stench of the weed.

Using that time, we moved far away and slept.

Knowing that the bastards would be tricked by the weed smell and not be chasing us, we were able to sleep at ease and rest.

-Meow!

At the last sentry, Sylph finished her scouting and returned.

With her front paw, Sylph pointed behind her. It seems the bastards have now realized they were tricked and are chasing again. I’m sure they’re pissed?

I quickly wake Joon-ho, Hye-su, and Kang Chun-seong.

“Wake up. We have to go now.”

“Hyung, what are you going to do now?”

“We will see a winner tonight.”

Due to the weed smell disturbing their olfactory senses, the lycanthropes have lost their sense of distance.

Having been tricked by me, they will be in all the more of a hurry.

Tonight, the bastards will daringly approach us.

We have to set up a trap and wait, then kill them all.

“I’ll be bait.”

The one who volunteered himself is none other than Kang Chun-seong.

“There is no need for that. We can lure them with the clothes that have our scent and the weed scent on them.”

“That may be for their sense of smell, but how will you trick their hearing? Our opponent is not a wolf, but intelligent.”

“Ah...”

Kang Chun-seong is right.

If the lycanthropes get close but don’t hear any sound, they will feel that something is off. They have already been tricked once so now they will be more vigilant.

“Will you be alright?”

“It won’t be a problem. I wanted to fight them to see just how strong they are. I can also see how strong I have become.”

Indeed, Kang Chun-seong has guts like no other.

He didn’t even get nervous confronting a 19th turn veteran and even let down some teaching on the man.

“Then, thank you. You just have to catch them.”

How far did we walk.

Evening passed and the sky began to grow dark.

We kept walking and as the sun completely disappeared, we moved on with the plan.

Including our capes, we took our garments with our body odors on them and gather them in one place. Kang Chun-seong pretended to be asleep on top of the garments.

In our battle suits and boots, we wait not far off.

“Weapon.”

The Mosin-Nagant appears, falling into my right hand.

“Here, oppa.”

Hye-su takes out 7.62 mm bullets from her bag.

I load the Mosin-Nagant and get everything ready.

Now all there is left to do, is wait for the bastards to come.

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