Fortunately, the tribe had enough food for a while, so stopping the hunting would not starve the people. However, he needed to resolve the situation or hold on until the Chief returned.
It had been a week since they left the village. They should be back soon, another week at the latest. At least, that was what the Matron told him.
After learning that he killed four Kobolds on his own, the Matron ordered him to patrol the jungle and kill the kobolds in sight. The Matron was even willing to mobilize the warrior and hunters to join him.
Red easily agreed to kill the kobold, but he declined to have the warrior join him. He didn't want to share the loot, so he would rather hunt by himself.
After receiving the order, he had lunch in the main kitchen. He met Darla there and informed her about the situation.
"Kobold. Danger!"
Sure enough, when the word Kobold came out of his mouth, Darla paled. It seemed the Kobold was more terrifying to the human than the goblin.
"Don't afraid. I kill kobold!"
She nodded weakly, telling him to be careful. If it were before getting captured by the goblin, she might choose to meet the Kobold rather than the goblin. The kobolds didn't take a hostage; they killed for food.
As of now, Darla has regained hope, especially with Red. She didn't want to die when there was a hope. If people from her village knew what was in her mind, they might deem her insane. But for someone afraid of death, this new life for her was not as bad.
Red checked on his equipment after leaving the main kitchen. Five shorter spears on his back, two blades on his waist, and the slingshot. He still failed to make the spiky ball, but the normal metal ball should work, albeit less destructively.
He scoured the jungle, thinking there might be a few groups of kobolds trying to hunt the goblin. He was surprised that he could not find a single kobold in the first two hours. He expected at least eight or ten groups of kobolds to patrol the jungle. That was the quickest way to reduce the number of goblins, after all.
However, he didn't find another group after two hours. His scope of searching became wider and wider, from the Marget's territory, the Dire Lupus's territory, and up to the area where the Crimson Scales Biter pond was. Yet he could not find another group of kobolds.
The sun had started to go down, and he considered fishing for the Crimson Scales Biter instead of wasting his time looking for the kobold. However, maybe a sense of duty, or maybe he was just being greedy, he continued searching for the kobold groups.
The kobold provided him more loot, and they were certainly at least level 7 or above. As he was looking for the kobold, he encountered a new beast. He didn't recognize it and never heard about this one from the other warriors as well.
It was a four-legged creature with brown fur, similar to the Dire Wolf but less intimidating, less dangerous, and smaller compared to the actual Dire Wolf. He slowly crept closer to the new beast and used Appraisal on it.
[Jakar - Level 12]
This was the first time he heard about Jakar. The warrior never mentioned it before, meaning they rarely encountered the creature or had never encountered this beast before. He was surprised to find out the creature was five levels higher than him.
It was at a similar level to the dire wolf that attacked the village. He believed there were more than twenty level 12 Dire Wolves attacking the village. It looked smaller, but he was not going to underestimate it since it was five levels higher than he was.
He followed the creature as it sniffed the ground instead of hunting it right away. This was an unknown beast, and he didn't know whether it was a solitary beast or if it moved with a pack. If it was with a pack, he needed a plan rather than just his slingshot. If it were alone, then he could give it a try at hunting it.
Red thought Jakar was also hunting for food. That was what he initially thought until he found what Jakar tracked. It was actually a group of three Kobolds, wounded and distressed.
They seemed to be attacked by the beast in the jungle and were currently resting after an exhausting escape. Two of them were level 8, and one of them was actually level 10. They were higher level than him, but lower than Jakar, who seemed to plan to prey on them.
The moment Jakar spotted the three Kobolds, it quickly slowed down and moved without making noise, blending with its surroundings. It bent down, slowly crawled behind the root.
Its prey was resting on the tree in front of it. There was a fifteen-step distance between them. A quick run and leap should be able to reach them if it were as nimble as the Dire Wolf.
On top of that, the three kobolds lowered their guard because they were currently resting, trying to gather their breath after a long run.
Red thought without a doubt that it would quickly pounce on its prey. To his surprise, Jakar didn't immediately attack. It took a detour, circling them around until it reached behind the tree where the three kobolds were resting.
Red watched everything and was in thorn. He wanted to see Jakar in action. This would be a good move, so he could be prepared when he fought the beast. On the other hand, he wanted the loot from the kobolds.
'I can still get the loot as long as the Jakar doesn't devour the dead kobold. Let's watch for now…'
He decided to watch for now to get more information about this new beast.
The Jakar crept up above the root, and the kobolds remained clueless that a predator was upon them. Even though it was so close, it didn't immediately jump. It scanned the target, looking for the first target to jump. It was identifying the target before actually attacking.
Red realized the beast might be more intelligent than the dire wolf. It quickly picked the first target, a level 10 kobold who had a bleeding hand.
It pounced without making any sound, and the kobold only became aware when the Jakar's teeth sank into the level 10 kobold's neck. It ripped apart the kobold's neck as blood spurted out.
The remaining two kobolds were stunned as they didn't react when their friend was attacked by the Jakar. The level 10 kobold clutched onto its neck as it fell to the ground. The Jakar didn't waste its time as it pounced toward the second kobold.
It easily bit off the second kobold's neck, tearing it apart. Then it quickly bounced off to the third kobold, who started to react, but it was too late. The Jakar's claw dug into the third kobold's stomach, and its fang quickly sank into the third kobold's neck as it pinned the powerless kobold to the ground.
Red confirmed his guess that the Jakar was making plans earlier. It clearly attacked with a plan in mind and moved based on that plan. That made him think that he would do exactly the same if he were in Jakar's position.
He would ambush the highest-level kobold first, getting rid of the biggest threat before finishing the rest, so they couldn't react to him.