Chapter 100: Luo Si

Night enveloped the territory of the Chewbone Clan as the adult Stone Giant Targon trudged forward with heavy steps.

With each step, the ground trembled slightly.

It stood about ten meters tall, its body thick and massive, composed of gray-white granite, with ancient copper rings embedded at certain joints, emitting low metallic groans with every movement.

The powerful ogres stood before the adult giant.

Like children yet to grow.

Even the Tixing of the Glutton Mo Karu was vastly inferior.

Glutton Mo was a high-tier variant of ogres, capable of reaching legendary status with sufficient food, but giants themselves were mighty beings rivaled only by dragons, with a high likelihood of achieving legendary status as they aged, far surpassing Glutton Mo in strength.

Targon looked down at the ogre encampment before him.

Dried animal bones hung crookedly along the uneven walls; within the territory, several sorcerers were plainly visible; groups of ogre warriors were well-fed and heavily armed, many exceeding four meters in height, gathered around bonfires tearing raw flesh from some large beast, fat dripping onto the flames with sizzling sounds.

“You are the chieftain?”

Targon’s voice rasped like two rocks grinding together, a deep hum vibrating in the air.

It fixed its gaze on the Glutton Mo before it—taller than other ogres, strangely shaped, utterly distinct—and its eyes flickered with surprise.

At first glance, the Stone Giant recognized the Glutton Mo .

It could not help but feel joy.

An ogre clan that harbored a Glutton Mo possessed potential no ordinary ogre clan could match; bringing it under its dominion would rapidly swell the Stoneheart Clan’s vassal numbers, making it easy to establish a firm foothold here.

Establish a foothold. Build strength. Return to the homeland.

That was the Stone Giant’s hope.

As for the possibility of failure—

Stone Giant Targon had never considered it.

Under normal circumstances, if both a dragon and a giant were placed before ogres, and the ogres were asked to choose one to pledge allegiance to, they would overwhelmingly choose the giant, not the dragon.

The reason was simple.

Ogres possessed extraordinary size, and within their blood flowed traces of giant lineage, giving them a certain ancestral connection to the giant race; moreover, the Ogre God was itself a secondary deity within the Giant Pantheon, just as the Kobold God belonged to the Dragon Pantheon.

Yet—

What Stone Giant Targon did not know was that it had arrived too late.

The Glutton Mo had already bowed beneath a more powerful dragon.

Ordinary ogres might revere giants, but Glutton Mo ’s potential was equal to that of giants; without having been crushed utterly by a Stone Giant, Glutton Mo felt no reverence for it.

Karu wiped meat scraps from the corner of its mouth, then slowly rose.

It stood about six meters tall, its body appearing denser and more compact.

Though dwarfed by the Stone Giant—its head barely reaching the giant’s chest—it showed no fear, striding forward with confident steps, looking up at the Stone Giant, and declaring: “I am Karu, king of the Chewbone Clan.”

As it spoke—

It seemed to find its posture of looking up at the giant uncomfortable due to its height.

Karu signaled two elite ogre warriors to approach, ordering them to lift its left and right legs, hoisting it upward until its head stood just one inch above the Stone Giant’s.

The Glutton Mo nodded in satisfaction.

It licked the meat fibers from between its teeth, then growled at the Stone Giant: “Big lump, what are you doing on my land?”

Cracks formed on Targon’s stony face, resembling a smile.

“I come from the Cliffs of the Western Sea.”

It raised an arm, pointing westward: “There, the land is ten times wider than here, and the prey is so fat they drip with oil.”

Several young ogre warriors perked up their ears at the word “prey.”

Targon noticed this detail and continued: “My people are assembling a mighty army. Warriors as fierce as you should stand with the victors. Then, there will be countless prey for you to devour, until your bellies swell to bursting.”

Stone Giants were unquestionably intelligent beings.

It knew how to lure ogres by appealing to their nature.

Karu blinked, took the raw liver offered by a sorcerer using levitation, and bit into it roughly: “Sounds good, but the Chewbone Clan is doing fine as it is.”

It licked its blood-stained fangs: “Why should I obey you, just on your empty promises?”

“At the very least, you must offer food, equipment, or other resources before I consider pledging allegiance.”

Karu appeared crude and brutish, but its mind was sharper than other ogres’.

Its overall nature was coarse yet shrewd.

This was evident from the very first moment it encountered Luo Si, when it tried to deceive him into landing on the ground.

Targon’s stony brows (actually two protruding ridges of rock) furrowed. It had assumed these simple-minded ogres would submit instantly before it, yet this Glutton Mo was far more cunning than expected.

Stone Giants fed on minerals.

Prey hunted could be given to ogre clans.

But equipment and other resources—they themselves had little, and could not possibly provide any to the ogre clan.

Vassals were gathered to support the master, not the other way around. Why would one consume one’s own resources to feed vassals?

Before the Stone Giant could answer—

Karu remembered Luo Si’s instructions, hiding its true intent beneath a mask of simplicity, took another bite of raw liver, and asked, as if casually curious: “Hmm, the Western Sea is far from here. Why abandon such a rich land to come here? I find this confusing.”

The Stone Giant fell silent for two seconds.

Tell the truth?

Reveal to the Glutton Mo that their clan had been defeated by a Blue Dragon, forced to flee their homeland in disgrace to avoid annihilation, enduring six years of wandering and hardship before finally arriving here seeking stability?

The Stone Giant’s face remained calm as it replied: “To expand our territory.”

It continued in a dull tone: “We are not content with our single western territory. We have dispatched some of our kin here to seize this land as a foothold, then gradually expand our clan’s domain from this base.”

Its facial features were rigid, carved from stone, rarely shifting, appearing stiff and numb.

This also made Luo Si, watching from the shadows, unable to judge whether its words were true or false.

“A Stone Giant clan seeking to expand its territory.”

“From its tone, it has other kin accompanying it—not a lone wanderer.”

“More giants may arrive later.”

Luo Si habitually assumed the worst, and temporarily accepted the Stone Giant’s words as true.

“Why do people always come to shatter my peaceful life?”

The thought of a possible giant army filled Luo Si with fear—fear of being discovered, fear of being killed.

His inner alarm blared loudly; he felt intense danger and threat, far greater than the peril he had sensed from the Blackrock Dwarves.

Dragons and giants were absolute enemies, bound by ancient blood-feuds rooted deep in their very lineage.

Any encounter in the wild would end in violence.

The moment Luo Si saw the Stone Giant, he felt an instinctive revulsion and hatred, a burning urge to rush out and kill it.

He suppressed this primal instinct with astonishing willpower.

Luo Si disliked being controlled by instinctive desires—such as the hatred toward giants—because they brought unnecessary trouble and conflict.

If possible, Luo Si would prefer to coexist peacefully with giants.

But—

The odds were high they would not share the same sentiment.

(End of Chapter)