Weird

I have searched for reckless one for a long time but could not find him, I am worried, was he bothered by some greedy goblins? It's possible, but I do not think they would dare to steal in open, as for reckless one, he is no less intelligent than I am, he could be even more clever, but he does not have the experience

That does not matter, I believe he would not get killed so easily, we had to meet an orc today but because we could not find reckless one only 3 of us had to go, I am afraid orcs will misunderstand otherwise and I do not want more trouble

After the great rewards I became the level 4, with my skills I can probably deal with level 5 opponent, but against 2 of them it will be very hard

Archer bros also leveled up to 3, now they will be more useful, though their slime goo is running out, which is a bit worrying, their archery skills are pretty good, I can entrust my back to them

I am sure that reckless one also had the increase in power, our team will have higher chance for survival, though it's a pity we have to go without him today

Archers kept on scouting as always, we are not strong enough to risk ourselves, so we need constant insurance that we are safe

We met couple of low leveled kobolds on the way, that were killed easily, due to our agreement reckless one does not get any stones since he is not here

After walking for some time, we reached that place, place where we buried the loot was very apparent

However it was quiet, orcs did not come

I frowned, something was not right, either they were in trouble or they fooled us, which is unlikely

Archer scout returned and said

 - It's quiet, there's nothing noticeable in vicinity

Hmm, where could they be gone?

And then I noticed something unusual, it was very tiny, but I could feel small tremors underfoot

I put my ear on the ground and listened, it was shaking, after some time I barely deducted the direction where noises came from

 - Let's go

I ordered and they followed like always

We had to walk deeper into the forest, I have not passed this area, I have to be double careful

Scout archer returned and said

 - I see the orc village, the situation is bad, they have been invaded

I was surprised, by any means orcs are not weak, instead they are very strong, who would dare to invade their territory? Goblins? No, that's not right, even they would not dare to do such a thing

 - Details?

 - There are only 4 invaders, but they are very strong, I have never seen such monsters before, they should not belong here, they are bigger than orcs, their body looks like that of an over sized human and they have ... 2 heads, I have never seen such anomalies before, we should inform our tribe, if orcs can't handle them, we are in danger

I was shocked, I have heard of such monsters from stories of old goblins, but they are supposed to live in further mountains that we can barely see from here, why would they appear here? Is there a whole tribe? No, that's not right, they could not have migrated this far, if they did, then that's worse, that means something even more dangerous than them appeared, which caused them to lose their home, but it's unlikely, the most accurate deduction would be that they were banished from their tribe... monsters with 2 head and frightening strength that surpasses orcs...

Ettins! this is very bad, we have to inform our tribe

And then sounds of trees shattering could be heard, we can't stay here any longer

 - We are leaving

I ordered without any hesitance and we started fleeing

We started running as fast as we could, we should be safe, but I am sure our tribe can't take on such monsters, we need time to migrate, I hope the chief does not stubbornly order us to fight to death, we do not have any chance at all

 - WELL, what do we have here?

I heard a sound and chills crept up my spine, how is this possible? We were so far away, how did we get discovered?

I looked around, there was nothing, but voice was so close

I looked up slowly and froze in fear, two rows of yellow teeth were grinning at me

Ettin Level 7/ Level 8

What's with this status? why is there two levels displayed? what is this monster?

The monster was as I heard in stories, just more scary, it had two bald heads, body of a muscular human and he held a huge club in his hand, he was standing on the nearby huge tree branch

* Swoosh

It jumped down and dust and rocks scattered around, huge footprint marks were left in the place where it landed

 - Run!

I did not dare linger any longer and started running, it was too huge, too fast, it could move on trees, we had no chance to live

 - Why running? Let's start playing, I will eat the first one I catch, no, no, you guys fight, the winner will survive and I will eat dead ones, how about that?

 - Bullshit, he's going to eat us, we should run!

I yelled and kept on running in the zigzagging pattern, using some vines and bushes to obstruct the enemy that might approach at any moment

Then I heard a great shattering sound and the giant landed on another tree branch, merely it could not handle the weight and it broke, in the process ettin also fell

The chance, we can make it

 - Run as fast as you c...

Huh? My back felt cold sensation, I looked back and saw arrow sticking out, then I looked at my fellow scout archer in disbelief and resentment

 - You, You!!!

I turned around and wanted to tell them something but words would not come out, that was the least I expected to happen, how could they betray me in this moment? Why? We were always hunting together, we...

* Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh

Three arrows landed on my shoulder, stomach and thigh, I felt piercing pain in the wounded area and shivered involuntarily, I fell on one knee, soon the poison's going to take effect, I am finished

 - Sorry leader, we never had the chance to survive anyway, we'll get killed if we disobey, so, you should die first

 - YOU IDIOTS, HE'S JUST PLAYING WITH US

* Whoosh

The next arrow landed on my forehead, the world turned dark and I blanked out, never to open my eyes ever again... and there was darkness

 - Well, well, well, amusing, amusing, but it's not over yet, the victor has not yet been decided

 - That's right, that's right, only one can survive

The heads said separately and two goblin's expressions turned even fiercer as they looked at each other

Little did they know, that neither of them would be left alive

As for ettin, it was watching the show in amusement, their wrinkled faces were horrifying to look at when they were smiling

...

Spoiler: Spoiler

 Ettin: