"Ration? Check. Spare cloth? Check."

The following day, Xiao prepared his departure to raid the Goblin hideout. Since it will be a long way from his home, Xiao also prepared to camp out.

"Alright, all good. Let's go."

After Xiao did the final checking, he locked his home with the boulder and began his journey.

"From here to there, I guess I need at least half of the day to reach, not to mention the preparation. If nothing goes wrong, tomorrow morning will be the best time to attack."

While Xiao was on his way to his destination, he was also looking at the map he made to make sure he was on the right track.

Besides hunting animals and gathering ingredients, Xiao also scouted the jungle and drew a simple map based on the information he had gathered.

Xiao was currently advancing towards the area where he marked an X on his map-the Goblin hideout.

Xiao avoided routes that would lead him to encounter other dangerous beasts or monsters to maintain his best form. This was to secure his success rate in raiding the hideout.

While some routes were unavoidable, Xiao uses the feces of the Goblin and spills the area to scare off anything lurking nearby. Animals and monsters in this jungle always avoid fighting the Goblin because of the sheer amount of its pack. Getting swarmed to death was not something any living being wants to go through.

The feces work wonders for Xiao as he traverses without facing any obstacles.

"Gotta do something with the smell though, should I install a purifier into my mask?" Xiao covers his nose as he spills the feces around the area.

And just like Xiao estimated, he reaches his destination using half of the day.

Xiao set up a camp nearby the area. He then begins to observe and plan his attack for tomorrow.

The hideout of the Goblin was in the cave. Outside the cave was an open field, and around the open area was nothing but trees, which Xiao was hiding in.

Though Xiao has no information about the cave's interior, he suspects that it should contain many split and narrow paths.

"No guards outside, just like what the book has written," Xiao bites off a jerky as he hides in the bush and scouts the area.

Though it's their hideout, Goblin never assigns any guards to guard the cave entrance. Without giving out the appearance of danger, travelers and adventurers alike will likely enter their cave to spend a night, and that is how the Goblin gets their prey.

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Usually, once there's a report of a Goblin hideout, it will be taken down by either a band of adventurers or the army.

Xiao suspects that the one he is about to raid here has already been spotted by the empire for quite some time. The reason it's still standing was that they purposely let the horde grow.

The existence of the Goblin horde allows the empire to kill off any unwanted individual by sending those people deep into the Goblin territory.

Based on what happened to Xiao's platoon and what Owen had told him, this was the conclusion Xiao had come to.

("Those cunning bastard!")

Gritting his teeth, Xiao tore into the jerky, the bitter taste a reminder of the day his platoon fell and Owen barely escaped with his life.

"You better be still living now, Owen," Xiao says a small prayer before refocusing the scouting.

Xiao suddenly senses a movement coming not far away from him. He quickly crotches down and ready himself to fight.

A few sec later, Xiao saw a group of Goblins come out from the trees and walk towards their hideout.

"Doesn't seem like they sense my presence," once he confirms that the Goblins didn't notice him, Xiao lets out a sigh of relief and continues to observe them.

From what Xiao observed, the Goblins seem to carry a small body figure. Xiao can't figure out what they are holding because of the dirty cape covering it, but he knew that it was something alive as it moves a little every now and then.

("What the hell are they carrying?")

Xiao saw the Goblins enter the cave and disappear from his sight.

After that, Xiao begins to strategize his plan to invade the hideout. Not a single Goblin found out that there was someone camping just outside their lair, patiently waiting to unleash carnage upon them once daybreak.

The next day, just right after the sunlight appears in the sky, multiple bombing sounds break the serene atmosphere of the area.

The sounds were so loud and frightening that a group of Goblins came out from the cave to investigate it.

As the Goblins entered the forest to find the source of the sound, one by one, they got silently taken out, mainly by a bolt to the head.

The group got eliminated, starting from its backline. It was already too late for the group leader to realize that they had fallen into a trap.

After the first group of Goblin got taken out, the loud sounds continued to bombard the area. Another group of Goblins came out from the cave and investigated as the first group did not return.

Again, no Goblin returned to report on what's happening outside, and another group got sent out, curiously wandering into the forest.

In the end, not a single Goblin walked back to its hideout while the forest was stained with the scent of death as Goblin corpses scattered around the places.

No Goblins have come out from the cave after some time has passed.

"Should I wait a bit longer? But I guess they won't be sending out more, considering 32 of them just went silent all of a sudden."

Xiao was revising his plan while reloading his crossbow on top of a tree.

"Since no one has come out already, we are moving to phase two now."

Xiao jumped down from the tree. He then wears his tactical mask and readies his weapon as he slowly approaches the cave.

"Now then, let the hunt begin."

And the young man slowly disappears into the darkness of the cave, with a sinister smile lying underneath his mask.