Chapter 189: Killing the Thunderbird (2)

The drake belly that Tiyo had poured his culinary skills into was finally ready.

They boiled some water in the large pot they had bought back in Geherard and filled it with the drake belly and spices to make a stew.

Given their continuous camping in the forest, boiled dishes were convenient. They had been eating only similar types of stew for days, but thanks to Tiyo who used various spices to introduce new flavors, they never grew tired of it.

Zankus tasted it and was impressed.

"This is actually pretty good. Is this that gnome friend's handiwork?"

"Haha, nowadays, a man who cooks is the trend. Be it physique, cooking, or intellect, one must lack nothing," Tiyo answered proudly.

They ladled servings from the large pot repeatedly.

"And there’s so much, too. Have you been carrying this large pot around?" Zankus asked.

"Of course. For delicious cooking, one must bear the price! There's no reward without effort. One must endure the hardships!" Tiyo said again with pride.

"That is remarkable."

"......Hmm."

Ironically, while Tiyo was the one boasting, it was actually Crockta who carried the large pot on their journey.

"So, you're heading to Orcrox, right?" Zankus asked Crockta.

"That’s right."

"Huhuhu, I guess it really has been a while. The young warrior who couldn't even wield a sword properly back then..."

Zankus rummaged through his belongings and pulled out something. It was alcohol.

"... Is now a warrior renowned across the continent and is returning to rescue Orcrox."

Crockta received the cup with a grin.

Tiyo and Anor also received their cups in turn. Zankus poured for them. The alcohol was strong; just the smell alone felt intoxicating. Anor, who wasn’t very good with alcohol, grimaced.

"Zankus, are you not going to come with us?"

"I will, but after I hunt down the Thunderbird."

The Thunderbird, a giant bird that suddenly appeared and disappeared with their drake.

"Why do you want to hunt it?"

"To repay a debt, so to speak..."

After downing the strong liquor in one gulp, Zankus asked again.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"You've met Shakhan, haven't you?"

"You know Shakhan?"

"Of course. No hunter wouldn't know him. The Eternal Shakhan. A great hunter."

Crockta recalled Shakhan. He was a great hunter who lost his family to a monster called Behemoth and lived a long life fueled by hatred alone. He consumed the hearts of monsters, corrupting his body with their magic to hunt Behemoth relentlessly.

Eventually, he hunted Behemoth with Crockta, opening up the north.

Shakhan was as influential to Crockta as Lenox and Hoyt. He was a great spirit that helped Crockta grow into a warrior.

"Did you know Shakhan once attempted to hunt the Thunderbird?"

"I had no idea."

"But the Thunderbird is still alive. That means he failed. When I asked him about the Thunderbird, he told me not to even dream of hunting it."

Zankus looked up to the sky as if he were recalling Shakhan.

"I always wanted to surpass Shakhan, but he died just like that. Now, this seems to be the only way for me to prove I'm a better hunter than he was."

The hunt for the Thunderbird was the path Zankus chose to prove himself.

"I'll come to Orcrox after hunting the Thunderbird."

Crockta nodded.

"Understood."

"Ah, while we’re on the topic, I'd like to hear about Shakhan and the Behemoth. Would you tell me about that time?"

"Kekeke, of course."

Crockta extended his cup for a toast and drank in one go.

Crockta and Zankus talked about Shakhan. Tiyo joined the conversation all excited, while Anor listened quietly, as he didn’t know much about Shakhan.

From their slightly odd first encounter, where Shakhan didn’t seem all that well, to the moment Shakhan showed his hunter's strength against Behemoth, to his grand finale where he gave everything to kill Behemoth and fell himself, they shared everything that they remembered about Shakhan.

Even in retrospect, he was a man of indomitable will, leaving them in awe.

Zankus smiled.

"A proper hunter's end fitting of the greatest. If he ended it like that, it puts me in a tough spot following in his footsteps. How am I supposed to live and die like him?"

"I'm not a hunter, but I still agree with what you’re saying."

"I've been the one chasing all this time, but he just left first. So, I decided to consider hunting the Thunderbird as sort of my graduation, if you will. If I can hunt what the Great Shakhan couldn't, then I can finally walk my own path."

"Aren't you already a well-respected hunter? The ‘Sun Piercer’ Zankus, they say you can even shoot down the sun."

"That's just a bogus title. I know I haven't reached Shakhan's level yet." Zankus laughed.

They poured another round of drinks.

As Crockta quietly sipped his drink, he suddenly jerked away the red headband touching the alcohol. After fighting the empire, he had obtained a new red headband, his trademark, and had been wearing it on his head.

"The wind is picking up."

The wind grew stronger, and soon, a sound was heard. They looked up to see a black figure swiftly passing by.

"That's..."

"There it is again."

A majestic bird, its dark blue feathers fluttering elegantly in the sky, was undoubtedly the Thunderbird.

"Lately, it's been hunting more actively. I'm not sure what's happening, but it's an opportunity for me."

Zankus stood up with an agility no one would expect from someone who had just devoured stew to his heart's content.

"Will you join me?" He asked Crockta and his companions.

Zankus pointed in the direction where the Thunderbird flew.

"Something feels good about today. This is your chance to see this Zankus succeed in hunting the Thunderbird. How about it?" He said with a grin.

Tiyo immediately stood up and replied.

"Kahaha, a confident guy, I see. Alright. I'll witness your skills with my own two eyes!"

With Tiyo taking the lead, Crockta and Anor nodded in agreement.

They quickly gathered their things and followed Zankus.

* * *

Zankus dashed through the Great Sea without hesitation, as if he had a way to track the Thunderbird. Occasionally, he glanced at the sky to gauge the direction, but his method remained a mystery.

"Three trolls!"

Zankus shouted out of nowhere.

As he said, three trolls appeared in their way. Startled by the sudden appearance of the orcs, the trolls hesitated.

"I'll leave them to you!"

Zankus simply leaped over them. After skipping over the trolls with a figure that looked quite agile for an orc, he used a tree branch to bounce off and soared again. It was an acrobatic performance that one would expect from an elf, not an orc like him.

Following Zankus, Tiyo attempted to mimic his leap.

"I’ll leave them to you, too!" Tiyo copied as he kicked the ground beneath him.

But his jump fell short. A troll's hefty fist struck Tiyo mid-leap in the stomach.

"Keugh!"

Tiyo was sent tumbling.

"I-I had it..."

Crockta helped Tiyo up. Tiyo's face reddened with a mix of frustration and embarrassment. He gripped his General.

"You troll bastards! Don’t you dare move an inch! I'll blow your heads off with this General!"

Sensing the formidable aura emanating from the small gnome, the trolls hesitantly stepped back.

"It's too late for regrets! Dieeeee!"

Tiyo charged as he sprayed the trolls with the General. Some say that when one is desperate enough, they abandon everything and return to their fundamentals. That’s what Tiyo was doing. He abandoned his earlier arsenal for the classic rifle form. He did a rough somersault on the ground and squatted down to open fire.

Ratatatatat!

Magic bullets pummeled the trolls, and the trolls fell backward, unable to withstand the force. Tiyo immediately advanced.

He seemed ready to finish them off, frightening the trolls, but managed to hop over their bodies instead. It was a clean leap.

"Hehe, did you see that? I did it. I jumped over them."

After landing gracefully, Tiyo took a moment to savor his triumph. Then, he looked back at Crockta and Anor and gave them a thumbs up.

“Now, I’ll leave them to you!” He said to Crockta and Anor, who were standing expressionless.

He must have really wanted to say that line.

Tiyo resumed his pursuit of Zankus. He tried to swing off of a tree branch like Zankus but struggled for a moment before quickly giving up and choosing to run instead.

"Look at him, all excited."

"Yeah."

Crockta and Anor, watching Tiyo run off, shook their heads.

“We should get going, too.”

They proceeded to the fallen trolls. The troll had already lost their will to fight after being obliterated by the General. They were terrified of the orc warrior striding over to them.

Crockta smirked.

Bounce.

He effortlessly jumped over the trolls like Tiyo, then signaled Anor with a thumbs-up.

"I’ll leave them to you."

“...”

Crockta ran off as the other two did earlier.

Left alone, Anor looked down at the trolls. They looked at him pleadingly as if begging him for mercy.

"A warrior does not attack the unarmed!" Anor exclaimed.

Though the trolls were never armed to begin with, Anor felt compelled to say something, like the others. He then ran around the trolls and chased his companions.

“...Keu?”

“Keugh, Keugh.”

“Guaaagh.”

The three trolls comforted each other as they sighed in relief.

The Great Sea was indeed a difficult place to live.

* * *

"Woahhhh! Look up there!"

At Tiyo's exclamation, Crockta raised his head to see the Thunderbird's massive form shadowing the sky. As it outstretched its wings, it nearly obscured the entire view of the sky.

But something else caught their attention. There was an image of an ogre under the dark blue veil of the Thunderbird.

"It must’ve hunted an ogre!"

The ogre in the Thunderbird’s grasp struggled to express its pain but only tightened the grip of the Thunderbird's sharp talons in doing so. It was an impeccable display of hunting prowess.

However, the thunderbird itself seemed troubled. It looked like it was unable to ascend further and flapping wildly in mid-air. The gust produced by its wings engulfed the Great Sea.

"Why the hell is that bird acting like that?"

"It's under a spell."

"A spell?"

Zankus eyed the beyond of the great sea sharply.

"It’s an ogre wizard,” Zankus remarked.

"Ooooh, an ogre wizard, you say!"

The ogre wizard, which Tiyo had gone on and on about to his companions, had actually appeared. They also realized this meant an entire group of ogres was nearby.

"Look at the Thunderbird's tail."

Following Zankus's direction, they noticed a blue, lightning-like rope wrapped around the thunderbird's tail feathers. The rope was anchoring the giant bird to the ground, preventing its escape.

“Kiyaaaaah!”

“Kwoooooh!”

From where the rope was, the roars of ogres echoed through the air.

"The Thunderbird must’ve provoked a group of ogres," Zankus mused, puzzled.

"Strange. It’s an intelligent creature, so why attack a group of ogres? Especially since it just snatched our drake corpse. It’s seeking food too frequently..."

"Must be really hungry lately," Tiyo nonchalantly added.

"Hmm..."

As the Thunderbird twisted and struggled in the air, the magically created rope snapped, allowing the Thunderbird to soar high into the sky.

"The bird got free... Wait, what's that?"

There was still a translucent line that seemed to be connected to the Thunderbird.

"It’s a tracking spell."

It was an ogre wizard’s tracking magic, marking the path of the Thunderbird. The translucent line stretched in the direction the Thunderbird flew off to.

"Following that will lead us to the Thunderbird’s nest."

"Doesn't that put the bird in danger?"

"Definitely. The ogre in that bird’s claws must be quite important. The ogre wizard is going to track it to the end."

Zankus covered his mouth with a finger and hid in the bushes.

"Let's hide for now."

Crockta and his companions followed suit.

Soon, with thunderous steps, a group of ogres appeared, charging in the direction the Thunderbird vanished. It wasn't just one or two ogres; dozens of them formed a pack, a sight even Crockta hadn't seen before.

The ground trembled with each step they took as if there was an active earthquake.

"That one is the ogre wizard."

Zankus pointed to an ogre at the forefront, who was thumping his chest with a roar.

The ogre didn’t look much different from a large ogre warrior, nor did it hold a staff. But with its roar, lightning flickered around him.

As the ogres got further away, Tiyo sprang up.

"Zankus! Are you just going to let them steal your hunt like this?" He shouted with valor.

"You’re not going to just give up like a coward, are you?"

Zankus chuckled. It wasn't often someone dared to challenge the great Zankus. He liked this bold, but still tiny, gnome.

"Alright, I’ll show you."

Zankus crouched down with a cold hunter's grin on his face.

"Watch how I, Zankus, hunt."

He eyed the direction the ogres had taken.

"The Thunderbird, the ogres, it doesn’t matter. Now, they’re all my prey."