Plush was an unlucky fellow.

Even from birth, he had always been bigger than most of his peers. In a pack that worshipped the strong and powerful, you’d think that being big was a benefit, but that wasn’t quite the case for Plush.

From the very start, there was no such thing as a free meal within this world. Even though he was big, he was also clumsy and slow. He ate twice as much as the others, but did not show any of the needed results expected for such an appetite. Without contest, Plush was crowned with the title of ‘weakest’ amongst those from his birthing cycle.

Naturally, he was often the target of ridicule. Only his siblings stood up for him.

Indeed, those days were his darkest, but that was merely a tale of the past.

Right now, Plush lived a good life. He was with a master that fed him lots of food and he had gotten stronger. The current Plush was so strong that the Plush of the past felt like nothing more than a terrible fever dream. Most importantly though, even after his pack had been destroyed, all of his siblings were still alive.

Everything would have been perfect, but unfortunately, there was a demon weighing down on his heart.

This demon not only caused him pain and suffering, but it also pushed him to the verge of death on numerous occasions. Often times, these instances happened under the pretense of training, but the point still stands. Even now, he was once again subjected to another life-or-death experience.

As he continued to walk, the feeling of crisis continually increased. It was an unbridled sense of death and it originated from the pitch-black lake.

His shaky, stubby legs slowly brought him closer. He wanted to run, but knowing the consequences, he couldn’t.

Without a doubt, the monster waiting for over there was strong. Probably not as strong as his master, but it was still strong. One hit and Plush would instantly die. In the face of such a threat, even the bravest warriors would have fled, but Plush didn’t. Despite the voices telling him to run, he continued forward.

The fear of the demon and the fear of death… both fears waged war within his heart, but that wasn’t the only emotion present. Somewhere in the back of his anxious mind, there existed a single desire that drove him forward. It was a desire that just barely dwarfed both of his fears.

Gluttony.

Before he left, his master had promised him something. Plush recalled those words now.

If you can do this job properly, then I’ll make sure to give you some really good food tonight.

His words were spoken casually, but to Plush, they resonated loudly in his ears like a chorus from the heavens.

The chubby wolf had indeed gotten stronger, but his days were anything but leisurely. His only pleasure came from his daily meals. As they always say, good food can heal a weathered heart. Plush’s heart was perpetually stuck in a typhoon.

He recalled back to one especially delicious meal that Plush was dying to eat again.

It was meat that came from a really strong monster. Master called it a dragon. Dragons certainly were amazing creatures. Not only did their meat taste delicious, but their blood was also nutritious, and their scales addicting. Every part of a dragon was good.

It was truly a culinary delicacy.

Plush understood why that demon enjoyed eating dragon scales all the time.

He himself had only just recently started to eat them too. Although it was still a bit difficult for him, his gluttony knew no bounds. Plush was probably the most voracious scale eater, third only to his master and the demon.

Unfortunately, the scales were only a stop gap. A temporary measure to ease a shaken soul. The real delicacy lay in the meat. That meat… that juicy, tender, otherworldly meat… it was absolutely something to die for.

Right now, Plush stood at the precipices. To eat that unforgettable meat again or to die trying. Without a doubt, Plush was willing to die for it!

After a while, his shaky footsteps brought him to the edge of the lake.

From this distance, Plush could immediately feel all fourteen heads turn towards him. For a moment, he shivered. Twenty-eight eyes, all staring fixedly at the cute little him. They were thoroughly inspecting him, running their imaginary tongues all over his fabulous porky body!

Plush hurriedly shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. Now wasn’t the time to get nervous. He still needed to lure the hydra out of the water. He desperately needed to do something to attract its attention.

Plush thought about it for a moment, before he suddenly turned around. He hesitated for a single second, before he furiously shook his butt.

The hydra widened its eyes in surprise. Plush did not notice the change in the hydra’s behavior. Instead, he gritted his teeth and shook harder!

He seriously did not know what he was doing. A part of him wanted to die, a part of him believed he was going to die, but this too was a technique that his master had taught him before Plush left.

Shake your ass and make it look delicious!

They were such simple (vulgar) words, but Plush took them as gospel. So, with fire in his heart and determination in his chest, he shook. The plump wolf frantically shook his butt.

Several, painfully long seconds passed, before he suddenly heard the sound of splashing water. Plush timidly turned his head, only to see a giant mountain of wriggling necks running towards him.

It worked!

Now, all that’s left to do is run!

Plush immediately bolted back to the forest. He ran with all of his might. Behind him, an emotional roar echoed through the surroundings.

***

Ellis was currently hiding in a tree. A single black spear rested on his lap.

After waiting for a long time, he suddenly heard a distant roar. A few seconds later, the entire forest shook. “I knew he could do it.” Ellis smiled to himself.

The plan had worked. In the first place, there was almost no possibility for it to fail, especially after he had taught Plush that ‘secret’ technique of his.

To think that the forbidden technique known as twerking would play such a pivotal role… Without going into too much detail, the technique that he had taught Plush was an incredible aggro skill that could instantly attract one’s attention. Such a technique was finally showing its true prowess here in another world!

Ellis then turned his gaze over to the commotion down below. He squinted his eyes. A plump wolf shaped like an exercise ball was currently sprinting through the forest.

He looked a little bit injured, but it was nothing serious. Plush probably tripped on the way here. This was to be expected. Out of all the wolves, Plush was the clumsiest. To make up for that though, he was also the strongest.

Behind him, there was a giant mountain of wriggling necks. Its entire surface was nearly pitch black. The only exceptions were its crimson eyes and its pale purple underbelly. Ellis noticed the peculiar gaze in its eyes. What sort of emotion was that? Hunger? Lust? A little bit of both? Ellis did not quite know.

Regardless, both parties were currently heading towards his direction. Once it got here, the plan would immediately commence.

The plan was actually quite simple.

Plush would lure the prey over to the hole, while Ellis would make sure that the fight stays in the hole. The hole itself served zero strategic merit. It was only there to improve the efficiency in regards to resource collection. In easier terms, the hole was there solely for the sake of collecting blood.

He figured that Ena probably wanted to bathe (absorb) blood again. She wasn’t able to do that with the second dragon on account of how violently he had ruined its corpse. He had gotten a real earful after that incident. It would be a pain in the ass if Ena complained to him again, so this time, he thought ahead.

After a while, Plush eventually reached the hole. The plump wolf slightly lowered its posture, before it jumped forward. He vaulted over the entire hole. It was quite comedic actually. It looked as if someone had lobbed a baseball across the field. When he landed on the other side, Plush did not stop running. Instead, he kept going, his figure grew smaller and smaller as the seconds ticked by.

The hydra did not think anything of the incident.

It continued to chase after Plush. Despite its size (or maybe because of it), it was quite fast. The earth shook with each lumbering footstep.

For the first time, Ellis took note of its height. Back at the lake, most of its body was submerged, so it was hard to tell, but the hydra, it was incredibly large. For reference, the tree that Ellis had climbed was more than one thousand feet tall. It was just a little bit shorter than the Empire State Building of Earth.

The hydra was nearly a third of that height!

Well, no matter how big it is, it doesn’t matter. I’ve already made adequate preparations. Indeed, Ellis was quite prepared. The hole that he had dug, it was definitely big enough to fit the entire dragon!

The hydra rapidly approached the hole. The hole itself was more like a crater. The hydra did not think twice, before it stepped into the hole.

At that point, Ellis stood back up. The branch that he was on gently shook. A cold breeze passed through him, but Ellis paid it no mind. He cracked his neck and psyched himself up.

Now that the ‘prey’ finally entered the trap, it was Ellis’s job to make sure it couldn’t get out.

“And for that, I need to pin you down!” He shouted loudly, but his voice disappeared amidst the buffeting wind.

Ellis firmed his grip on his spear and cocked his arm back. In one swift motion, he hurled the spear directly to the ground.

WOOSH!

Like a bolt of black lightning, the spear descended onto the earth. A muffled boom followed its tracks. Ellis would only realize this later, but he had broken through the sound barrier.

BANG!

The spear crashed into the hydra’s back. The earth trembled as the Hydra sank deeper into the ground. A heart-wrenching wail echoed through the forest.

“Good.” Ellis nodded to himself as he quietly watched the creature writhing in agony. Occasionally, flashes of green fire and plumes of purple smog leaked out from its orifices.

With that, Ellis once again psyched himself up. He lightly slapped his cheeks until they turned red, before he took a small step forward. Gravity immediately took hold as his body plummeted to the ground.

The hunt had officially begun.