Having gleaned all the necessary detailed information about the Ogre, Fang Senyan felt reassured and began to focus on his primary task: luring the monster into the trap. He certainly wasn't foolish enough, like the imbeciles from the Symbiotic Society, to dangle the bloody carcass of the dead deer near the cave entrance and gamble with his life. Instead, he first concealed himself at a distance, using the space within his Nightmare Mark to carve the deer into four bloody sections. He then placed the first chunk of meat on the road, three hundred meters from the Ogre’s lair.

Fang Senyan observed the surroundings for a moment, confirmed the Ogre seemed oblivious to the piece of meat, and proceeded further, setting down another chunk 150 meters away.

Still no movement from the Ogre.

Fang Senyan took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and advanced to the seventy-five-meter mark. After waiting a while longer, he faintly heard the Ogre grunt a few times inside its lair, but it soon settled back to sleep. This seemed to be the critical threshold. Fang Senyan then arranged the remaining pieces of cut venison at 50-meter intervals along the main path, the farthest piece being 200 meters from the Ogre’s lair, followed by one at 150 meters, and another at 100 meters. Fang Senyan then stood at the critical point—the 50-meter mark—and forcefully hurled the final piece of venison into the Ogre’s lair.

His strength was now a full 13 points, nearly three times that of an average person. The large, gruesome chunk of flesh sailed nearly thirty meters. The Ogre, deep in slumber, twitched its fleshy nostrils a few times, immediately leaped up, emitting a low, greedy roar from the depths of its throat. It then staggered to its feet and lumbered out.

Naturally, the Ogre spotted the succulent meat and immediately snatched it up greedily, ignoring the mud and water, chewing and swallowing in huge gulps. Blood and muck sprayed and streamed down the giant’s jowls, creating a terrifying spectacle. The Ogre had an astonishing appetite; this large piece, weighing at least ten pounds, seemed barely enough to pick its teeth. After finishing, the Ogre was instantly energized, its sleepiness vanished. Its thick nostrils twitched again with greed, and it located the next large chunk of meat on the road fifty meters away, immediately thundering after it.

By the time the Ogre found the fourth piece of venison, Fang Senyan had bought himself a safe margin of 200 meters. Of course, Fang Senyan had considered the possibility of chopping the deer into even smaller pieces and leading the creature directly to the trap. However, if the carcass were cut too small, the Ogre would simply disdain it, wasting the prey. Perhaps hunting more large game to create more bait would be a good idea, but regretfully, this area was also a habitat for centaurs. These swift, herd-dwelling humanoids also had a habit of hunting large animals. Medium and large beasts around the Forbidden Forest had long been hunted to near extinction; even small creatures like rabbits were almost wiped out. Thus, Fang Senyan and his fellow contractors had no way to catch prey nearby. Even the deer used as initial bait had been laboriously procured from far away by the leader of the Symbiotic Society.

When the last remnant of the poor deer vanished into the Ogre’s mouth, Fang Senyan sighed and slapped his boot. Five needles were embedded in the side of the boot. This seemingly trivial damage successfully activated the property of the Obsidian Fossil Anchor, pushing him to his peak condition! He stepped out from behind the concealing large tree, finally ready to face the powerful, foul-smelling behemoth head-on. As he faced the moving Ogre, Fang Senyan instantly felt an overwhelming sense of danger, clearly his Perception score of 14 issuing a warning. But his gaze immediately sharpened, sweeping away all distracting thoughts!

Seeing the fresh food, the Ogre let out an excited bellow! Fang Senyan turned without hesitation and fled. Despite the impending crisis, a strange, indescribable warmth flooded Fang Senyan’s body, like an adrenaline shot, and his thoughts became exceptionally clear. This bred in him a powerful desire to conquer the danger that was about to strike! This was unrelated to personal strength; it stemmed from innate personality traits. Even in the real world, such people existed: the stronger the opponent, the grander the stage, the heavier the pressure, the better these individuals performed. They were born for the spotlight!

The rain was still cold, but amidst the drizzle, Fang Senyan looked back and threw something—a dark, spherical object the size of an orange, trailing a long plume of smoke. It was a grenade! A ceramic fragmentation grenade known as the "Infantry Nightmare"—the G3!

The grenade sailed over twenty meters before landing in the mud and water, right between the Ogre’s thick legs.

The huge monster froze, curiously reaching out to grasp the object, then lifting it before its eyes.

With a deafening boom, the Ogre let out a shrill, agonizing roar that shook the leaves from the entire forest. The grenade exploded directly in front of its face, sending thousands of fragments tearing ghastly wounds across its head. Pale blue blood gushed out, causing the Ogre to clutch its head and shake it wildly. After a moment, it raised its head. Its bloodshot, triangular eyes were filled with vicious hatred as it locked onto Fang Senyan, who was already sprinting away, and began to pursue him furiously.

Fang Senyan ran with all his might, but he was astonished to find the distance between himself and the Ogre relentlessly shrinking!

His current speed was derived from three factors: first, his inherent 10 points in Agility, which was the primary source of his speed; second, the 28% speed bonus from "Endless Vodka"; and third, the enhancement from Basic Footwork LV4. Calculated roughly, Fang Senyan’s current movement speed should be equivalent to that of someone with 15 points in Agility, nearly double the Ogre’s speed derived from its 8 points in Agility! Why couldn't he outrun the Ogre?

After careful observation, Fang Senyan understood. The road was already muddy and slick from the torrential rain. As Fang Senyan ran, he slipped and stumbled with almost every step, effectively reducing his movement speed by at least a third. Conversely, the Ogre’s massive, wide feet sank at least a foot into the mud and water with each stomp, providing immense stability. Moreover, its stride length was enormous; each step covered the distance of nearly three of Fang Senyan’s steps! This was the main reason the Ogre could surpass him in speed.

To put it simply: if Fang Senyan ran 100 meters on this road, he would have to take 100 steps. Each step carried a 1/10 chance of slipping and decelerating. Thus, over 100 meters, Fang Senyan would likely slip and slow down numerous times. The Ogre, covering four meters per stride, needed only 25 steps.

Furthermore, its wide feet provided excellent balance, meaning it had only a 1/50 chance of slipping on each step. Calculating the difference, the Ogre would only slip once over 100 meters. With the relative disadvantages stacking up, being caught was inevitable… At this point, the importance of the additional trait gained when drawing Basic Footwork became apparent: "Movement speed deceleration effect in adverse terrain (desert, swamp, etc.) reduced by 33%."

The thump-thump sound from behind grew louder, and the earth vibrated slightly. Although Fang Senyan didn't look back, the intense stench reaching his nose signaled that the pursuing Ogre was very close. Fortunately, the minor preparations Fang Senyan had made earlier now paid off. He suddenly veered sharply, leaving the road and plunging into the adjacent thicket!

The roadside thicket wasn't composed of large shrubs carrying potent paralyzing toxins, but it was extremely dense and overgrown. If a person wanted to proceed normally through it, they would need to draw a machete to hack a path.

However, for a creature like the Ogre, possessing terrifying brute strength and thick skin, it could rampage through unimpeded, rendering the shrubs almost useless. Therefore, Fang Senyan leaving the main road was normally tantamount to suicide.

But Fang Senyan had planned for this! As he lunged into the nearby bushes, he slightly bent his knees and pushed off forcefully! The mud within a ten-square-meter radius beneath his feet erupted outwards, spraying seven or eight meters high, and he used this leverage to leap upward. His hand flashed with cold light as he used an ordinary dagger to sever the vines he had pre-strung between the trees, swinging like Tarzan across the canopy for over ten meters. After a few more leaps and swings, he returned to the original road. In that brief moment, Fang Senyan managed to increase the distance between himself and the Ogre, catching a slight breath.

After Fang Senyan repeated this maneuver several times, the Ogre let out an incredibly furious roar. It suddenly stopped pursuing, instead spreading its massive arms and grabbing hold of a nearby large tree! It bared its yellowed teeth, sticky saliva dripping between them. The veins on its thick arms bulged, and the ground began to tremble uneasily. That tree moaned tragically from its roots as it swayed, and then, with a loud crash, a massive pit opened in the earth, sending dirt flying! The tree was yanked clean out of the ground!

The Ogre gnawed and bit off the crown of the tree, brandishing it a few times, clearly satisfied. Then, it roared at Fang Senyan in the distance, dragging its newfound weapon, and resumed its furious chase. Wherever the Ogre stepped, its huge feet thundered, splattering mud and water everywhere, even dotting the trees lining the road. It was like a giant water tanker speeding past—truly overwhelming in its might!