Blind Box World - SSS-Rank Eye of Truth

Chapter 63: The Meat on the Tree

In another area of the trial space, where the bone pyramids gave way to a dense forest of trees, a horde of Goblins and Orcs was advancing menacingly.

The Goblins were short, green-skinned, yellow-eyed, holding rusted blades. The Orcs were tall, their muscles bulging, tusks jutting out from their mouths. Leading the whole horde were four especially large Orcs, each over three meters tall, wearing on their heads armor helmets made from the skulls of enemies. Those were the four Orc Kings.

The special thing about these Goblins and Orcs was that they spoke human language extremely fluently.

Because among all the races living outside the safe zones, Goblins and Orcs were the two races that had the most contact with humanity. They frequently harassed expeditions and plundered small settlements, so over the years, they had learned the language of humans, though their pronunciation was somewhat crude and full of curses.

"Faster! That lot behind us is about to catch up!" one Orc King bellowed, his voice booming.

The whole horde was being pursued by something, so their steps were very hurried. But the moment they ran deep into the forest, the whole horde suddenly stopped short.

Because they smelled a scent.

It was a rich, fishy smell of flesh, rising thick in the air.

To an ordinary person, this fishy smell would probably make them nauseous. But to the Goblins and the four Orc Kings, this was the most alluring scent in the world.

The whole horde sniffed in unison, their eyes lighting up.

"What... what smells so good?" one Goblin swallowed hard.

They followed the scent, and finally stopped before a large ancient tree standing in the middle of the forest.

On a branch of that tree, hanging suspended, was a lump of deep red flesh, about the size of a ball.

The whole horde of Goblins and Orcs stood frozen, staring at that lump of flesh, drool running down.

"That’s... crystallized flesh!" one Orc King exclaimed, his voice full of excitement. "It’s a monster’s crystallized flesh! That thing is packed with energy, one bite is worth a whole month of cultivation!"

Just standing beneath the tree, the rich smell of energy radiating from the lump of flesh already made the whole horde feel giddy, like they’d just drained a dozen liters of strong liquor. Every one of their heads was spinning with craving.

But among the four Orc Kings, one was relatively more clear-headed.

He furrowed his thick brows, looking at the lump of flesh on the tree, an uneasy feeling rising in his chest.

"Hold on." He raised a hand to stop his companions. "Don’t you lot find something strange?"

"Strange about what?" the most aggressive Orc King snapped.

"The meat." The clear-headed Orc King pointed up at the tree. "How can meat grow on a tree? Since when do trees bear fruit made of meat? I think this looks more like a trap."

Hearing him say this, the other three Orc Kings stopped short too, lifting their heads to look at the red lump of flesh dangling on the branch, doubt beginning to rise in their chests.

Indeed. How could meat grow on a tree?

"He’s got a point," another Orc King said, scratching his bald head. "Maybe we’d better steer clear? Something growing this weirdly, who knows if eating it might just drop us dead."

The mood in the horde immediately turned hesitant.

But right then, the most aggressive Orc King spoke up again, his voice full of contempt.

"You lot really are a bunch of cowards!" He spat a gob of spit onto the ground. "This is a world opened by terrifying existences, you understand? In this place, an ocean can even hang upside down in the sky, so what’s strange about meat growing on a tree? Anything at all could happen!"

The other three Orc Kings were left speechless.

Come to think of it... it was true. In this bizarre place, even the sea could flip upside down into the sky, so a lump of meat growing on a tree wasn’t anything major.

"If you’re scared then just stand there and tremble." The aggressive Orc King raised his chin haughtily and strode toward the base of the tree. "This meat, I’m taking it!"

Watching the aggressive Orc King’s menacing back, the other three looked at one another, both worried and unwilling in their hearts.

Worried, because they still felt something about this wasn’t right.

Unwilling, because that lump of flesh really was too fragrant.

The rich smell of energy kept rushing into their noses, making their bellies growl and gurgle, making their legs unconsciously lift and follow. Reason told them to steer clear, but their bellies and noses dragged them forward.

In the end, the craving won out over the fear.

"Forget it! If we die, we die! If we can’t eat this meat, living’s no better than dying anyway!" One Orc King roared, and then all three surged toward the base of the tree, the Goblins scrambling along behind.

The whole horde surrounded the tree, craning their necks up to look at the lump of flesh, every one of them ravenous like a pack of the long-starved sighting a piece of bait.

Not one of them realized that this bizarre lump of flesh "growing on a tree" was, in truth, simply hung on the branch by someone with a rope.

And the one who had hung it there was, at this moment, hiding in a hidden corner not far away, struggling to hold back his laughter to the point his stomach ached.

Ethan crouched behind a large boulder, watching the scene of the Orc Kings arguing then in the end still charging into his elementary trap, the corner of his mouth twitching.

He really hadn’t expected this trick to work so well.

At first, when he took out the Harpy Queen’s crystallized flesh and hung it on the tree, he’d only meant to try his luck. In any case, neither he nor Laira could get that lump of flesh down, and throwing it away was a waste, so he’d come up with the idea of using it as bait, to see whether he could lure some foolish monster into the trap.

He had prepared himself mentally for the monsters to be suspicious, to be wary, even to see through the trap.

And indeed, they had been suspicious. That Orc King had even hit the nail on the head: "How can meat grow on a tree?"

But then, just because of the aggressive Orc King’s one line, "in this place the sea can even hang upside down," the whole horde obediently believed it, then meekly stuck their heads into the trap.

’...Is there really logic like this in the world?’ Ethan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’What does the sea hanging upside down have to do with meat growing on a tree?’

Beside him, Lěng Ruò Yān was also hiding behind the boulder, witnessing the entire play. She watched the large, ferocious Orc Kings being spun around like tops by a lump of flesh hung on a tree, and the corner of her mouth couldn’t help twitching too.

"This lot..." She whispered, her voice full of resignation. "This stupid, and they’ve survived until now?"

"Shh." Ethan raised a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet, but his gaze flashed with a mischievous look. "The good part’s about to come."

Sure enough, the "good part" came immediately.

Just as the aggressive Orc King reached out his hand to snatch the lump of flesh, suddenly, from three different directions of the forest, three roars rang out at once.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three colossal monsters charged out from three sides, clearly also lured over by the rich smell of energy from the crystallized flesh.

The first was a colossal white boar. Its whole body was covered in a shaggy layer of white fur, its skin carved all over with mysterious red symbols, and the most fearsome thing was its pair of curved tusks, translucent as crystal and blood-red, radiating a cold killing intent.

The second was a colossal stone crab. Its whole body was encased in a layer of hard stone armor, and on its back grew a cluster of translucent blue crystals, glittering as though holding a whole starry sky within. Its two claws were as large as a whole cart, opening and closing faintly full of menace.

The third was a white lion. A thick, dense mane covered its whole head and neck, its golden eyes blazing with ferocity, and each step it planted made the ground tremble faintly.

Three colossal monsters, plus the Goblins and four Orc Kings, all appearing at once around one tree, all staring at one single lump of flesh hanging on the branch.

The air immediately turned taut as a bowstring.

And behind the boulder, Ethan watched the scene of four factions of monsters surrounding his bait, the smile on his face growing brighter and brighter.

The fish had taken the hook. And more of them had bitten than he’d expected.