A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

It would drag up its limbs and vital organs all up into itself, and then, using a strange alchemy that only a monster could have been capable of reproducing, it used up all the energy that it had stored in weeks or even months or inactive, and then it would fire its hard-rock head truly like a cannonball at any bit of meat that dared to come near it, feasting its fill.

They had a surprising range with this ability, if they wanted to maximize distance, but it was truly a single close-range shot that really guaranteed them any sort of success. It had to lure its prey within ten metres of it to be absolutely certain of a kill. Of course, that range would have had to be a good deal lower to have inflicted any sort of damage on Oliver.

He only hoped that Verdant would be able to warn the others in appropriate time before they too fell victim to one of the Gock's vicious attacks. He was almost certain that they would be able to deal with it head-on as he had.

But, that too gave the Gock its weakness – a single shot was all it could really do, before it would have to spend weeks on end gathering the energy inside its shell for another.

It was a while before he met another Gock on the trail. It seemed that they were keeping the area well-locked down. They were the type of creature that did excessively well in one one-on-one combat, but was poor against the likes of packs. As weak as they were overall, they would still be able to take on the likes of a Konbreaker, if they landed that all-important shot.

And, with the Konbreaker's nutritious meat, they'd be able to recharge their power all the faster.

This Gock attempted the same thing as the last one. It harmlessly wandered out into the middle of the trail, acting as though it hadn't even noticed Oliver. It scooped up a handful of snow, its movements and its expression truly adorable.

Then, without the slightest shift in expression, it sent its head exploding towards Oliver at a speed impossible for any other monster. Again, Oliver dealt with it by cutting the head in two, this time even more cleanly than the last, his timing even more crisp.

With that Gock dealt with, he was well on his way into the Konbreaker area of the Grand Forest, with its steep rocky terrain, and numerous little caverns leading off to the Gods only knew where.

Oliver ascended the hillside with a few easy bounds, dodging in and out the trees. His pace was slower now that he knew he was in the right area. It was just a matter of finding what he needed to find.

Konbreaker, with the stupendous strength that they held in their vice-claws, were more than able to chew through rock, and most preferred to make their nests in cliff sides, or in similarly rocky embankments, or even deep beneath the earth.

They'd then cover their entrance back up again with stones, knowing that they were the only creatures nearby that could break through them – not even an eager pack of Gorebeasts would stand a chance.

There were more than a few tracks scattered through the snow, with the remains of kills left rotting near them – several Black Wolves, goblins and even the remaining shell of a Gock that had missed its shot.

He slowed to a halt, guessing that there should have been one almost immediately nearby. There was enough rubble for it – especially by the cliff. There was a half-excavated entranceway that looked as though it had been given up on partway, and then a hole dug deep in the soil behind it, wide enough for two men to squeeze down side by side.

That wide hole to Oliver seemed like the most likely place for them, though even he wasn't exactly thrilled about the prospect of running down into that darkness. It would have been far too reckless.

Instead, he grabbed one of the nearby rocks, bigger than his head, and dropped it down, listening as it came to a halt with a satisfying thump. He waited for a response from whoever might have dwelled in that deep hole, but wasn't granted one.

"They might be out…" He reasoned. But with the rocks so close by, there was no reason that he shouldn't throw another down – even if just to buy time as he thought through a more likely location for them to appear.

Another rock he hefted down, this one landing with an even louder thump than the first.

It was only with the third rock, that whatever had been down there seemed to wake up. He heard a shriek, halfway between a growl, and halfway between the call of a bird. Your next read awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

A shriek was one thing, but Oliver needed the creature out in the open. He tossed another rock down, and then another. Several shrieks followed after each one, as well as the sounds of movement from down below, as something heavy scuttled about in anger.

Another rock. This shriek was louder than the others. It had something, it seemed. Now when he looked, he could see the slightest shred of movement within the darkness, as something urgently shifted the rocks away from its entrance. Oliver was all but sure that it would be a Konbreaker, but until the second that it showed its face, he was prepared to face pretty much anything.

Another rock. He was beginning to enjoy it now. The creature was absolutely furious. It was hard to find a monster that grew more maddened than the goblins, but it seemed that a few rocks thrown into a Konbreaker's den could get them to the same sort of level.

Finally, the beak appeared, along with a turtle shell, as it crawled its way out of its opening, screaming curses of bird-like shrieks, in the same manner as a drunken merchant might make a fuss in a tavern.@@novelbin@@

"Come on up," Oliver said, showing it the rock that it was holding. It cawed its rage, and threw itself against the sides of the hole, clawing its way like a mole to the surface, casting mud this way and that.