The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 153: Is this all of them?

I watched in astonishment. The sight felt a little gore but it was not enough to scare me. I was a predator, and the blood running through my veins screamed in excitement, my heart thumping madly, and my claws itching to be let out.

But I needed to be patient. My time would definitely come, eventually.

And then it came.

I slid into my position, my muscles tensing with an adrenaline rush. I didn’t have to wait long to work my role as a wall when one of the Martens, realizing within seconds that they had severely underestimated Fenric’s strength, turned tail and bolted for the escape route.

I caught him mid-air as he tried to leap past, the impact of his own speed slamming him into my solid grip. I swung him around and sent him tumbling back toward the place Damar was waiting like a silent, silver reaper.

"Going somewhere?" I called out, my heart racing with that newfound tiger pride.

I smirked, and he cowered, like he saw the devil resting on my shoulders and the shadow of a demon.

The creature shivered, unable to move his body, and then as he raised his gaze, he saw the countless bodies of its kin that had died to Damar so silently that they didn’t even know what hit them.

"M-monster." He mumbled before Damar flogged him to death with his tail.

Well, he’s one to talk.

These creatures extort the rabbits and torture them for their own entertainment. I could feel no sense of pity when watching how they were ripped to pieces.

Hm, is that bad? I wonder.

It was at this point that the Martens, cornered at all sides, began to feel the gravity of what they had put their disgusting paws into.

"Y-you..." The Marten Leader called, his yellow eyes trembling in horror. "You’re not a wolf."

Fenric flung his wrist, getting rid of all that filthy blood but some of it still hung to his claws.

He raised his hand, showing the blood, and then flashing a devilish grin.

"Took you long enough." He said.

His presence loomed over the Marten Leader like a huge mountain it could never cross and his bones rattled.

"Now, how would you like to meet your end?"

The chaos had settled soon after, leaving the Flat Rock heavy with the metallic scent of blood and the terrified whimpering of the survivors, the leader of the stone martens included.

We left him alive just so he could tell the tale and not let the rest cross the line by going to the rabbits’ village.

We didn’t hunt down the ones who hid in the crevices; we only broke the ones who had bared their fangs and exposed their claws.

A few minutes later, the plateau looked very different. And by different, I mean a hurdle of these so-called monsters whimpering on their knees in front of me different.

I was sitting on a jagged limestone outcrop, leaning back slightly with my hands on my knees, observing the scene like a queen surveying a conquered territory.

Fenric stood to my left, his chest still heaving and his knuckles stained red, while Damar drifted behind the huddle of survivors like a silver shadow, ensuring no one made a sudden move, and this definitely sent the message across to them properly.

"Is this all of them?" I asked, my voice cool and steady.

I looked at the group. The fierce warriors were gone, replaced by a pathetic huddle. Among them were the mothers and the kits—the ones who hadn’t participated in the extortion or the fighting.

We heard everything from the chief. But of course, he could be lying.

So I took another of the male survivors to the corner and asked how they went about extorting from the rabbits and even using them for their entertainment.

He said it was because the males suddenly got bored one day. They don’t want to hunt for their own food anymore and since winter was approaching, they decided to use the rabbits.

It wasn’t always like this. But after one of their males found it pleasing to spill rabbit blood, he told the rest and they began to oppress the rabbits.

Talk about washed-up gangsters.

Luckily, the females were not involved in this so-called pleasing act. But they could not stop their mates either because they had no say in their affairs.

Their job was just to give birth to more kits. And even though they benefited from the sacrifices the rabbits made from time to time, it was because it was the meat their males provided. They could not find their own food.

I listened to this and thought it was quite unfortunate how a female’s role ends at giving birth and servicing their mates.

Back in my tribe, at least the males adored the females so much that their words were law. It was different here with the Stone Martens. So I guess it’s a different treatment everywhere.

"Huff!" I let out a small sigh and then looked at the hurdle.

They were clinging to each other, their yellow eyes wide with a fear so deep it made them look fragile.

"Do you resent us?" I asked, my eyes landing on the small female in front.

She seemed to be one of those who had lost their mate to us.

She was trembling, and could not raise her eyes to meet mine, as if daring to look up at me would cost her her sight.

"Do you think what we did was wrong?" I asked again but she still didn’t answer. "I know, no one will actually think good about the one who invaded their tribe one day and killed off more than half of the male population there but..." I leaned forward. "...there’s nothing you can do when Karma is involved."

I saw her shift, her shoulders stiffening.

"You know it too. For the things your tribesmen have done to the village tribe, retribution was bound to catch them one day. And tonight just happened to be the day. They had no one to blame but themselves and..." I glanced at the leader. "...their chief."

I felt Fenric shift beside me, his gaze hard as he looked at the scarred leader, who was currently pinned under the weight of a heavy stone Fenric had rolled onto his legs.

"We could finish it," Fenric rumbled, his voice dark but I felt something concerning as he rephrased his words. "Do you want us to finish it?"

I looked at the kits—small, fluffy versions of the monsters we had just dismantled. They weren’t soldiers yet. They were just children. We weren’t the ’monsters’, we weren’t like the tribes that enjoyed the slaughter for the sake of it.

We just... Came to help.