I'm not a goblin Frankenstein's monster.

Chapter 36 Gnolls, Full Moon Hunting Game

"Wolves...so many hyenas..."

The girl huddled in Enzo's arms, trembling uncontrollably. "They rushed in from the village entrance, biting anyone they saw... Uncle Hawke was blocking the entrance, but he was... he was dragged away..."

Enzo's lips trembled as he added, "There were also some shadows, bigger than wolves, standing and walking like humans... throwing torches, and howling horribly..."

"The adults in the village protected us and we crawled out through the back hole of the cellar... Keep running and don't look back."

Everyone felt a heaviness in their hearts upon hearing this. Kaijin sighed and gently comforted them, "Alright, alright, we're safe here now."

He gestured to someone to bring clean bandages and medicine to treat the two men's wounds.

However, a cold voice shattered this brief atmosphere of pity.

"Didn't you two encounter any obstacles when you were escaping?"

Gus had appeared in front of the two of them at some point, his tall figure like a cast iron sculpture.

His only remaining eye stared at Enzo in the shadows, his voice devoid of warmth, his gaze sharp.

The latter trembled under his gaze and stammered, "It was...it was the adults in the village who blocked the hyenas...telling us to run, run..."

Others also noticed something was wrong.

"Something's not right," an old coachman said to the man next to him. "Coyotes are vengeful creatures with a keen sense of smell; they'll tear their prey to shreds if they see it. There's no way they'd let the two children run this far."

Woody's solemn voice echoed in Xia Lin's mind:

"Be careful. It's probably not just a simple hyena... Judging from the description, the shadows standing like humans and the organized herding, it seems more like a jackal-man."

"A gnoll?"

"Yes, a kind of intelligent swarm of monsters that worships the full moon and leads packs of hyenas in hunting."

"Sometimes they attack villages not just for food..." Woody paused, "During the full moon, they deliberately let some of their prey escape, enjoying the 'hunting game'."

Hunting humans as prey?

Xia Lin's hand gripping the sword hilt tightened involuntarily.

The shadowy figures that Enzo described "walking upright like humans" subtly echo Woody's description of the gnolls.

If the speculation is true, then this campsite, illuminated by the campfire, may have already fallen into the sight of something even more cruel and dangerous.

Gus and the team leader, Kekin, exchanged a few words, and the latter's expression visibly darkened.

He walked quickly back to the campfire, his voice low but loud enough for everyone to hear:

Pack your things and leave immediately.

Gus deduced that the hyenas chasing the two children were not ordinary hyenas, but most likely a pack of hyenas driven by the jackalmen.

They won't let their tagged prey escape; their scent will lead them all the way to us.

"Gnolls?!" A coachman nearly dropped his torch.

"That kind of...that kind of monster that hunts and enjoys torturing its prey like a human?"

"There's no time to go into details now," Kekin interrupted him, his tone urgent and resolute.

"Get moving quickly, extinguish the campfire, and load the supplies onto the wagons. We'll travel through the night and keep as far apart as possible."

A commotion immediately broke out in the crowd.

Some people subconsciously glanced at the two boys who had just been rescued and were still in shock, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

A young coachman licked his dry lips, his voice trembling slightly: "Team Leader Kejin...can we...can we just ignore them?"

Those monsters were chasing people who had fled the village; we were just passing by, maybe…”

"Shut up!"

Kaijin abruptly turned his head and glared at him. In the firelight, his usually kind face looked unusually stern.

He pointed to Enzo and his companion, who were huddled together, their faces pale: "Look at them! Their village has just been destroyed, and their loved ones may have all died at the hands of wolves!"

"We finally found us, and now you want me to throw them out and let them get torn to pieces by those beasts?"

His chest heaved as he glanced at Xia Lin and Gus, raising his voice slightly: "Don't forget, we have some skilled fighters in our team who can handle them!"

Mr. Gus, and these three adventurers, are not just for show!

"Get moving now, everyone! If you want to live, stop dawdling!"

The coachman's face turned bright red, and he lowered his head, not daring to utter another word.

The instinct for survival spurred everyone to act swiftly.

The campfire was extinguished by sand, and the tent was hastily packed up.

No one spoke loudly throughout the entire process; only heavy breathing was heard.

Guts, carrying his greatsword, came to the front of the caravan, his silhouette in the moonlight resembling a towering black wall.

Eileen whispered a calming spell to the somewhat frightened horses.

The two boys were helped onto the cargo wagon and wrapped in thick blankets.

The boy named Enzo looked at the girl sleeping soundly beside him, and a decision seemed to have been made in his eyes.

"Stay close to me, and watch your sides and back."

Gus's voice came from the front, still devoid of warmth, yet strangely reassuring.

The wheels rolled across the ground, the sound of horses' hooves rang out again, and the caravan slid into the forest road shrouded in the pale moonlight.

The bright and romantic full moon of the past now resembles a cold and enormous eye, hanging high overhead, coldly watching the weak creatures fleeing below.

The whistling sound of the wind passing through the forest now sounded no different from the panting of a monster.

The forest road grew increasingly narrow, and the convoy traveled for an hour in a subdued silence.

Without warning, Gus, who was at the very front, raised his hand and made a "stop" gesture.

The entire convoy stopped immediately, and the horses snorted restlessly.

Team leader Kekin rushed over from behind, his anxiety barely concealed: "Mr. Gus? Why did we stop? We can't afford to delay any longer..."

"Ahead," Guts uttered only two syllables, his voice colder than the night wind in the darkness.

No further explanation was needed; a strong, nauseating stench had already drifted over on the wind.

It was the distinctive stench of a wild beast's lair, a mixture of fresh blood and rotting flesh, so thick it was almost overwhelming.

"Light up," Gus commanded without turning his head.

The female mage Eileen immediately understood, and whispered an incantation, condensing a soft white sphere of light.

The sphere of light rose into the air, dispelling the darkness in the area ahead.

Wherever the light touched, everyone gasped.

In the bushes and shadows of the tree trunks along the roadside, pairs of eerie green eyes lit up one after another like will-o'-the-wisps.

One, two, five... a dozen or so coyotes appeared at the edge of the halo.

He lowered his body and let out a threatening growl from his throat.

In the deeper shadows of the forest, two pairs of eyes stood out from the crowd.

It shimmered with an even more cunning and cruel eerie green light.

"They're gnolls."

Xia Lin whispered to Eileen and Jimmy beside her.

Woody's judgment was correct, and the situation was worse than expected; the other side had already blocked their path.

Eileen instinctively took a step closer to Xia Lin, her breathing becoming somewhat rapid.

Jimmy's face turned pale, and the spear in his hand trembled slightly.

The beautiful dreams we had for the future seemed incredibly distant at this moment.