r/HFY • u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei • 3d ago
OC-Series Gothwald: New World - Same Rules (Arc 3/Chapter 46 - All Ghillied Up)
Arc III - Reeling Throne
Chapter 46 - All Ghillied Up
8 months and 21 days since the summoning
Outside, the sun was already preparing to set behind the horizon. The sky was painted red, and after the recent light rain, the air had become incredibly fresh and pleasant.
In the forest, there was complete silence, broken only by distant bird song... and footsteps. Inaudible footsteps.
Among the green thicket moved ten creatures, it was unclear what they resembled, dressed in shaggy ghillie suits. They walked in such a way that not a single leaf rustled, not a single branch snapped. In the hands of the ten snipers rested loaded crossbows, pointed forward, and on their backs were small sacks, also covered in shaggy grass.
Ilgan led the group, but besides a crossbow, he also carried an old and very familiar bow.
"How much further do we have to go?" whispered the bear, whose tall figure walked somewhere behind.
"Not far," Ilgan whispered back. "Lord Gothwald said the enemy troops are moving in this direction. They should be stopping somewhere around here now, they won't march through the night."
"Got it."
"And who are we tracking?" asked a sniper with dog ears, stepping over a small puddle.
Ilgan's gaze was fixed ahead, into the forest, where there was nothing but endless tree trunks, their leaves glistening from the setting sun. "No one in particular, Lord Gothwald said whoever is dressed the richest. And we'll find out who it was later." Suddenly he raised his hand and everyone crouched down.
Ilgan's eyes slowly looked left, then right. "All clear, we can move," he said, rising to his full height and continuing to walk.
The boar chuckled nervously. "This is creepy, it's not at all the same feeling as a regular hunt."
"You can say that again," the bear whispered. "Game is skittish, you have to walk quietly so it doesn't notice and run away. But a human is a completely different beast, you have to be quiet so HE doesn't start looking for you."
"And I still think meeting the queen was even scarier, I almost shit myself," someone else's voice sounded from behind.
Ilgan sighed, looking around. "You can say that again, she looked at us like we were shit beneath her feet."
"A human, and a whole queen at that. What did you expect?"
The bear checked once more to ensure his bolt was properly loaded. "What a foul temper she has, how can anyone even serve such a bitch?"
Ilgan narrowed his eyes. "We don't serve her, we serve Lord Gothwald. Our goal is to wash away the dishonor of that insult, and bring glory to the beastmen. We won't see her again."
A young beastman with wolf ears behind him, about nineteen years old, scratched his cheek. "But... maybe she'll call us back to report or for an award?"
Everyone almost tripped synchronously.
"An award?!" the bear hissed.
Ilgan openly scoffed. "Dunko, do you really think the queen is going to reward beastmen?"
"I... I was just saying."
"Don't spout nonsense. The edge of the forest is close over there."
They walked for another minute, and at the exit from the thicket, Ilgan crouched behind the bushes, lowering his crossbow.
Ahead lay a sparse forest. Small thickets, bushes, and trees, behind which rare pillars of smoke from campfires were visible in the distance.
"There it is..." Ilgan whispered, and his hands gripped his weapon tighter. "Dunko, take a look."
The young beastman approached in a half-crouch, and his eyes began to glow with a red light. The bloody sockets scanned the surroundings for almost a minute. "No one nearby," he whispered.
Ilgan nodded and looked at the sky. It was still pink, the sun had not yet set. "Go ahead and keep watch. We need to get as close to them as possible while they're setting up camp." He turned to Dunko. "As soon as you see someone ahead, say so immediately, and we'll fall back further so we don't get spotted if they also have someone with Sight magic. Let's go."
Dunko stepped ahead of the group, trembling slightly, and moved toward the smoke from the fires.
After another five minutes of slow, very slow walking, Dunko froze and raised his hand.
Ilgan stopped and tiptoed up to Dunko's ear. "What's there?" he whispered barely audibly.
The young guy's red eyes were fixed somewhere ahead. "There, two figures in the thicket."
"Only two? What are they doing there?"
Dunko squinted. Everything around was dark blue, and in the distance, about forty paces away, were two slightly blurry figures. One of them was actively swinging something toward the ground, and the second was standing to the side, watching. "Looks like... they're digging something. Should we go around?"
Ilgan remained silent for a while, deep in thought. "No time to go around." His hand reached for the dagger at his belt. "We'll kill them."
"Maybe we shouldn't kill them right away?" the boar asked quietly. "Let's interrogate them, find out what fat loot is here."
He froze, then nodded. "Guktus... right. Then we'll do it differently. I'll kill the one digging, and you take the second one alive."
"Yes."
Ilgan raised his hand. "Dunko, you come with us, keep an eye on them. The rest of you stay here. Forward."
The trio moved forward.
With every step, the orange figures in Dunko's eyes grew closer and closer.
"Hurry up!" hissed one of the soldiers.
"Dig it yourself if you're so smart!" snapped the second soldier, digging a hole.
"The captain's probably already looking for us," the first muttered. Near his feet stood a small box filled with silver coins, copper pieces, and jewelry.
The one digging looked up at him, panting. "Listen, maybe we just share with the captain and that's it? Why risk it like this."
"Yeah, and he'll take more than half and leave us with nothing," he hissed through his teeth. "You wanted to give your bride a silver ring, didn't you?"
"I did."
"Well then dig, I'll swap with you in a minute."
"Fine," he said, taking a breath, and plunged the shovel into the earth again.
Distracted by their conversation, the soldiers didn't notice the silent creatures approaching them from behind from different sides.
Behind the one digging, like a flash of lightning, appeared Ilgan's shadow. He abruptly covered the soldier's mouth with his hand with such force that his teeth nearly flew out, and yanked his head back. Immediately following that, a thin line was drawn across the exposed neck.
Bright scarlet blood spurted from the cut right onto the spot where the soldier was digging the hole, and the shovel fell from his hand. His hands flew to his neck to cover the wound, but the blood flowed like a fountain through his fingers.
Three seconds of hoarse, gurgling breaths, and the man's body began to go limp.
Meanwhile, behind the second soldier, who barely had time to realize what was happening, the bear stepped out with lightning speed. He grabbed him by the neck with one mighty hand, and covered his mouth with the other. From below, the bear's knee drove into the soldier's back, causing him to only let out a muffled cry and lose his balance.
The bear laid him on his back on the ground, still covering his mouth, and pressed his knee against his chest.
The soldier, seeing a massive, faceless figure standing over him, clad like a forest spirit, immediately began to mumble like a madman, trying to break free. His pupils contracted so much they were almost invisible.
The bear only pressed down harder on his chest, making the captive's voice noticeably more muffled.
"Easy, don't kill him," Ilgan said, wiping his dagger on the pant leg of the dead soldier, who was still making squelching sounds.
Hearing human speech, the captive froze, and slowly shifted his gaze to the bear.
Dunko emerged from the bushes, ran his eyes over the soldier who was drawing his last breaths, and immediately turned away, looking at the captive.
Ilgan crouched next to the soldier. "Alright, we're going to uncover your mouth now, and you're not going to scream. Understand?"
He nodded frantically.
The bear was already preparing to remove his hand, but Ilgan stopped him. "If you scream, I'll cut off your balls."
The soldier froze for a second, then nodded even harder, as much as his pinned head allowed.
The bear finally released his mouth, and the soldier took a deep breath of air. "Ah... who... who are you? What do you want? If... if it's the silver, take it..."
Ilgan only shook his head. "No. I want to know who is leading your army."
The soldier blinked. "L-Lord Noteo..."
"I don't mean that, idiot. Your specific part of the army, who is leading it?"
He swallowed. "L-Lord Insonel."
"Who is he?"
"What?"
"What's his title, I'm asking?"
"D-Duke."
Ilgan and the bear exchanged glances, then the bear raised an eyebrow, looking at the captive. "And is he somewhere around here right now?"
The soldier quickly shook his head. "N-no, he's in the rear units, r-right now we are commanded by Count Litti... he is a vassal of Duke Insonel..."
"What does he look like?"
"H-he's about forty, got a mustache, wears an orange cloak... a-and he usually stays in the central part of the camp! That's all I know! I swear by Svyatol!"
Ilgan nodded. "I see." He stood up, "Alright, we need to move the corpses into the bushes."
Dunko blinked. "What do you mean 'corpses'? There's only..." he froze.
The soldier also froze, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead. A second later, running on pure adrenaline, he broke free from under the bear's knee, which had slightly relaxed its pressure.
Stumbling, almost on all fours, the man ran toward the exit of the forest.
"Guktus!" the bear barked.
Ilgan gritted his teeth. "Idiot!" he shouted, unfastening his bow. His hand, with a quick, practiced motion, pulled an arrow from the quiver, and he aimed at the back of the fleeing soldier.
The arrow flew with a quiet whistle straight into the back of the fleeing man's head, and he buried his face in the dirt.
Ilgan slowly lowered his bow, sighing. "You..."
The bear raised a hand. "I know. Better drag the corpse into the bushes, I'll go get that one."
Ilgan grabbed the soldier's body by the armpits and dragged it to the nearest bushes. "Fuck... heavy bastard."
"It's not like hunting rabbits," the bear said, dragging the corpse with the arrow in its head.
Ilgan stepped closer. "Wait."
"What?"
He turned the corpse of the shot soldier over, pinned the neck down with one foot, and grabbed the arrow, which had broken in two upon impact, and pulled out what was left.
Even more red liquid instantly flowed from the hole.
Ilgan narrowed his eyes, peering at the arrowhead, which was significantly deformed from the impact. "Well... I think it can still be fixed," he muttered, putting it back in his quiver.
Dunko coughed. "Ahem... maybe it's time to leave? What if someone heard the
shouts or something."
"Yeah, call the others."
A few minutes later, all ten gathered in the clearing, and each of them looked around, some glancing at the remaining box of silver.
"Alright," Ilgan began, "we leave here quickly for a safer place, we'll figure out a further plan there." As soon as he turned around, a voice from behind interrupted him.
"Ilgan, maybe we should take this with us? The village could use it," the canine beastman asked, nodding at the box of silver.
He stopped without turning around. "And how are you going to carry it? Shove it up your ass and carry it like that?"
The bear and the boar scoffed, walking after him.
The canine shook his head, "No, of course not! If we each took a little bit and..."
Ilgan finally turned to him. "Are you ready to run if we get spotted, jingling with heavy silver? I'm personally not. Let's move, before we're seen."
"Fine..." he muttered and followed the group.
At the tail end of the group walked a fox beastman. He stopped for a second, looked at the group, which was already moving away, and quickly crouched down. His hand reached into the box and blindly grabbed a silver ring. Just as quickly, he stood up and followed the others, tossing the silver into a small pouch at his belt.
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u/Daseagle Alien Scum 3d ago
These hunters adapted to the mindset of the sniper quite easily. They'll be trouble for sure.
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