CHAPTER 11: FIRST BLOOD

The next day as I rose from my bed I let out a sigh, no nightmares last night. This is a first, I haven’t slept like this since… well what feels like forever…

I stretched as I got out of bed wincing slightly at the pain that ran through my right shoulder to my back. The torn and mangled muscle still aching like a bad wound, the effects of that serum is bloody nightmare. I could just ask Charlotte to try and heal it but… it feels wrong like I’m trying to forget those I left behind.

No, the pain is good, it’s a reminder of my purpose. Although now this purpose seems just that little harder to follow through. I would be leaving things behind now if I left… Well, that’s a problem for another day, we haven’t even sealed a Rift yet, we haven’t actually even killed anything yet…

I get dressed and walk out of my room and as I expected I see I’m the first one up. I walk over to the nearby table and grab the jug of wine and pour myself a full glass. I down it in one swig and I feel the buzz from the alcohol hit, I pour myself another glass as I take a seat on the sofa.

The old pains are getting worse, especially in the mornings. I suspect it’s because I’m more relaxed now, previously with all my tension I just never noticed how bad the pain was. I groan as I try to raise my arm and flex and I let out a sigh as I take another drink from the glass.

The wine is starting to finally kick in and the pain lessens. I finish my glass and lean back against the sofa. Today was going to be different for us, we weren’t going to be training in the arena. Instead, we’ll be hunting real prey. Apparently, in a forest a few kilometers away from the city, there are some goblins lurking around there. They're raiding villages and causing damage. The king told us after yesterday’s excursion that the army has been intentionally stopping their culling of the goblins in the region to leave prey for us to hunt.

This means this will be the first time any of them has actually had to kill anything, Volva, Alfie and Momo all told me they practiced on dummies and sparring partners. Amethine has also only practiced in simulations like that arena or on target dummies. Well smashing things into motes of light is very different from killing something for real. That time I slashed Volva’s throat I barely felt any resistance but I was sure I would have struck bone.

Well the rest of them will learn soon enough, killing is not as easy as it is in the songs and stories...

We rode out of the city on horses at dawn. We took some basic horse riding lessons over the week as we would most likely have to use horses at some point. We weren’t nearly good enough to fight on one but we could get around at least. It would take about an hour by horse to reach the nearest village. From there we will begin the search, the knight who is assigned to bring us there told us the last report came from the village three days ago. This means in that time anything could have happened, the army is too spread out in preparation for the Rifts to do the usual patrolling of the roads. This has led to an increase in banditry and monster attacks on the roads and villages. The towns and cities were still too fortified to be threatened so for now they were safe.

Our group rode largely in silence, I could sense the tension in the air. Pre first battle jitters are very normal after all, although we were stronger than them by far a stray arrow or dagger can still kill us as we are now. Although they are shorter judging by the diagrams I examined the night before. So at worst, they could get us in the guts and thighs. Although... if enough of them managed to pile onto one of us then they could in theory drag us to the ground and then… well a dagger in the throat or eye is not something you can walk away from…

Huh, actually I just remembered something, could Styx have more information?

Why yes I do…

I hear as Styx appears in front of me. I hear it in my head which means he isn’t talking out loud. To be fair I did instruct him to talk to me through my mind unless I ordered him to reply to the others.

“What do you know about the goblins?” I ask in my mind.

Not much, my mind is wiped after each new hero

I only have the most basic data on them…

“Such as?” I ask.

Goblins are just the lowest class of a type of monster of Uruk

There are actually four types of Uruk

Goblins are the weakest

The Hob-Globins are the next highest

Then it’s the Orks

Finally at the pinnacle of their class are the Greater Orks

“So how do they organize themselves, I assume the Orks tend to group together because they don’t want to dilute their bloodlines.” I reply.

No they don’t, Orks are rare

Greater Orks even more so

Most Uruk colonies are a mix of the different classes

Why you ask?

I’ll put it this way

There are no female Uruks…

“Shit… so they breed by using the other races?” I ask.

Sharp aren’t you?

They aren’t very smart but they breed quickly

Many Uruks spawn from a single gestation period

Which is coincidentally rather short of only a few weeks

All the children share the same level cap

But don’t worry the average goblin is only level 5

It’s the orks you have to be worried about

They can be as high level as level 15…

Oh yes, one last thing…

This is the last bit of information I have on the Uruks

The Uruks have learned to recognize the Mage Attire…

So if you want to protect your little girlfriend I suggest you fight as hard as you can…

I felt my blood run slightly cold at those words, the thought of some stinking green creature on top of Charlotte makes me reach for my gun instinctively. No, calm down Katsuro, if your gun can wound that Zorah woman, level 15 orks should go down with a single headshot. There’s no reason to panic, panic gets people killed.

Relax, calm yourself. It’s just another fight, one you can win. They may be higher level but a destroyed brain kills anything. I’ll keep this to myself, for now, I shouldn’t tell the rest if they know they will be too shaken to fight effectively. I’ll just need to keep an eye on the girls, well it’s no different from the Russians now that I think about it. These goblins are just shitter versions of the Russians.

“Katsuro?” I hear Ivan ask.

I lookup and see Ivan turning to face me on his horse.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Any advice? You are the only one who has killed anything before.” I hear Ivan ask.

“Make it quick, don’t hesitate, don’t freeze. If the enemy is too wounded to fight, leave him and move on. If you aren’t sure if he’s really incapacitated then finish the job. Do not pity your enemy, you are there to kill him and he is there to kill you.” I say sternly.

“All of you remember what I said about how to kill?” I ask. As the rest of them turned to face me.

“Torso’s good.” Ivan said.

“Throat’s better.” Charlotte said

“Head’s best.” Jacob finished.

“Good, cover each other, maintain formation. I’ll try my best to give you guys some fighting experience but I will be taking any shot I feel necessary. This won’t be nice or heroic, dying creatures don’t look pretty, try not to think about it, try not to look at it. Just kill, move on, kill, move on. No mercy. Understand?” I say in the same tone I use on those replacements back home.

“Yes sir…” I hear Jacob say.

“Katsuro we’ll be fine.” Charlotte said in as strong a voice as she could manage although I heard a slight tremor in her voice.

“Don’t worry I’ve done this a thousand times before. You’ll get the hang of it. Trust me it’s easier when the enemy looks less human. Just big ugly bipedal green pigs, ignore their squealing, if the squealing bothers you... silence them.” I say.

“Is that smoke?” I hear Amethine ask.

I look up and sure enough, I see a smoke cloud rising into the sky, over the crest of a small hole in the distance. I know that kind of smoke trail, it happens when something big is on fire. Like a village…

“We need to move now!” I shout as we all push our horses forward.

We tear over the road and as I expected I see some of the houses burning once we go over the crest of a small hill. I then spot a man running down the road with two small green figures chasing him. He’s about a hundred meters away, out of range for our attacks.

“They’re going to catch him!” I hear Charlotte shout in panic.

“Then we better hurry.” I hear Jacob say as he draws his sword and I see everyone else pull out their weapons.

Then I see one of the short green figures which I assumed were goblins leap forward and bury its weapon in the man’s back. The man falls forward and pulls something close against his chest. We’re still too far away, no way I can make a shot at this distance without risking hitting the man.

“NO!” I hear Charlotte cry.

[Divine Spear] She shouts in panic and haphazardly throws it at the goblin. The shot goes wide, completely off target, the homing effect not enough to compensate for the complete miss. Not a surprise considering the extreme range and the bouncing of the horse. Then the other goblin approaches and stabs the man who is lying on the ground. I hear the man scream as he is hit and he clutches whatever he is holding closer to his chest.

“Divine…” I hear Charlotte say again.

“Charlotte STOP!” I shouted, causing her to cancel the spell in shock.

“Don’t waste your spells, you can’t hit them accurately while riding a horse. Even I don’t think I can make a good shot with all this bouncing. If you miss you may hit the man.” I shout again. I see her shoulders slump for a moment and she kicks the horse hard in the belly forcing it to go faster.

We weren’t that far a few more seconds and we would close enough to use our ranged attacks. I watch as the goblins raise their weapons and stab down again. The man’s body arches in pain but still he holds whatever he’s holding closer to his chest.

Then we enter a range where I’m confident we can land a good shot.

“Make way!” I shout as I halt the horse and I take aim. The rest immediately scatter off to the sides and give me a clean shot. It’s a long-distance for such a short gun but I think I can do it…

I fire two shots and I see the first shot blow one of the Goblin’s head open. The next shot hits the other goblin in the belly and it falls over backward screaming. The rest didn’t stop and they pressed onward to the man.

I remounted my horse and pressed forward. I arrived at the man after a few moments. I see Charlotte kneeling next to the man, her hands covering her mouth.

No, no….

I hear her whimper as I get closer. I get off my horse and inspect the man. Normally I would just leave him, being stabbed four times in the back? He’s definitely a goner but in this world, there’s healing magic so maybe… but judging by Charlotte I don’t think he’s still alive.

I see the poor bastard lying in a pool of his own blood. His eyes wide and panicked, teeth grit in pain. Not a good way to go... I bend down and I check for a pulse and find nothing.

I shouldn’t be wasting time on this honestly, but I know I can’t just push the rest forward. The first death one sees is important, most need to take a moment to process it. Rushing them will just make them more unstable in the real fight. With the Rifts arriving and millions of souls literally on our shoulders, I can’t risk any of us getting killed. Even if a few peasants need to be sacrificed.

I stand up and gently roll over the man with my boot. I’m curious what it is he’s carrying… then I see an infant in his hands. The infant is still alive, its eyes sleepily half-open, I’m not sure why it isn’t crying but well that hardly matters.

I see Charlotte reach out shakily and cradle the baby. Her eyes wide as she gazed at the tiny life in her hands. Damn, this next part is going to be hard…

“We need to go.” I say calmly, as I see Charlotte begin to stand with the baby in her hands.

Leave it…

I say as calmly as I can manage. The rest all looked at me in shock, eyes wide.

“What are you…” Charlotte says shakily.

“We can’t take it into the village where the rest of the fight is. It’s too risky to try to protect a baby in the middle of a life or death situation.” I reply.

“WE CAN’T JUST LEAVE HIM HERE!” I hear Charlotte shout in tears.

“We don’t have time to debate this, every second we waste someone in there may die. With the Rift’s coming we have to stay alive, we can’t risk this entire world for one baby.” I say as I walk towards Charlotte. She looks at me wide-eyed in horror.

“What happens if goblins find him…” Charlotte whispers.

“We pray they ignore it.” I reply as I reach out to take the baby. I take hold of it but as I try to pull away I feel Charlotte hold on to it, refusing to let go.

“Charlotte you know we have to do this. My decision, my responsibility.” I say as I pull again and this time Charlotte let’s go tears flowing down her cheeks. I place the baby under the man again hoping the baby won’t cry and alert the goblins. With any luck, the goblins won’t be smart enough to check under the body...

“What about that…” Jacob said in a hollow voice as he pointed his sword at the wounded goblin on the floor behind the man. Its eyes were wide in pain and I could see blood pouring out the wound in his belly.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I draw my pistol and fire two shots making sure it’s dead. The goblin let out one last gurgle and twitch before it stills.

“Let’s go. We have a village to save.” I say curtly as I turn around and mount my horse.

The rest of us mount up except for the knight who didn’t even bother to get off his horse. I ride ahead of the group and gallop towards the village. I hear the sounds of hooves and I turn to see everyone else pale-faced but still following. The village is still about two hundred meters away and as I draw closer I start to hear the screams and the shouts.

“Halt.” I say as I stop my horse and I sense everyone behind stop as well. I get off my horse and I hear the rest do the same. We are about ten metres away from the village now. I drop my mask and observe the village.

A village is like an urban environment, urban warfare is extremely messy. Too many vantage points and places to play an ambush. We are going to have to clear the houses one by one as we press forward. This will take up time, time we don’t have. The village doesn’t seem too big though from the main road I can see a main square. I see a figure run past opening to the main square and two goblins follow after...

Still that’s four houses on each side, it means at least four rooms and the rooftops. An arrow in the back will bring down any of our mages… We don’t have the manpower to sweep the side roads as well…

“Okay everyone listen up. This is the plan, we’ll advance straight ahead towards the main square. But we need to clear the houses as we go so that the mages don’t get a knife in the back. Jacob, Alfie take the left houses, Ivan, Volva take the right houses. One man, a house, make it quick, just check if there’s enemies in there. Shout if you need help, I’ll watch the road with the rest.” I order, talking in the same way I do to my subordinates but keeping my voice on the lower side so that we don't draw any attention.

“And you stay with me on the road, I may need help in case goblins charge us.” I say to the knights.

“I have been instructed not to participate in your battles.” the knight said calmly. The rest of us look at him blankly at those words.

“The king has said it is important that the heroes receive as much battle experience as possible.” the knight said calmly.

“There are people in there, DYING! WOMEN, CHILDREN!” Charlotte shrieked at the knight.

“Charlotte quiet. Keep your voice down.” I say sternly, Charlotte grits her teeth and clenches her fists for a moment before turning away from the knight in disgust.

“If you won’t help then stay here and watch the horses. I trust you can manage that at least?” I say to the knight, who narrows his eyes at my comment.

“Good. Now come on. Let’s go, we've wasted enough time.” I say as I turn.

We began moving down the street and I saw Ivan and Jacob both take the first houses. Then Alfie and Volva take the next two. It was then that I heard something from Jacob’s house, it sounded like a groan of pain. I turned along with the other girls.

“Stay here, be on the lookout, scream if something happens.” I say as I run towards the house and as I enter I see Jacob throwing up.

Urghhhh…

Jacob groans as he empties his stomach contents onto the floor. He’s leaning on his sword, his legs unsteady. I look over to see a mother and daughter cut to ribbons on the ground. Their bodies carved up haphazardly with crude blades, their entrails scattered around their corpses like some demented baby was playing with them. Then I smell the sour stink of offal and faeces. Most people forget that the guts are actually full of shit and vomit. So when your insides are on the outside it doesn’t smell that great. If the guts came out intact then the smell would just be like raw meat but well… that rarely happens…

Oh fuck… oh fuck…

Urk….

Jacob gags as bile dribbles out of his mouth. I walk over and I grab him by the shoulder wheeling him around.

“Snap out of it.” I hiss.

“They… they…” Jacob stammers.

“HEY!” I say as a I slap him across the face.

“LISTEN TO ME! You're a soldier now, you need to be brave. Don’t think about it. There’s a lot of people who are going to end up like those two if you break now. Pull yourself together.” I say as I look him in the eye.

“But… they…” Jacob stammers again.

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER

I roar into his face. This shuts him up and I see the terror in his eyes start to clear.

“Right… yeah, we have to do this…” Jacob replied calmer.

“Good, come on, we’ve wasted enough time already.” I say as I turn around.

“Katsuro… thanks…” I hear Jacob say from behind me.

“Repay me by showing me what that sword can do.” I reply as I exit the door.

I return to the street just in time to see Ivan swing his warpick and catch a goblin that had turned the corner of one of the houses. The warpick buries itself right into its chest as the Goblin is carried along with a swing. The swing buries itself into the wall of a nearby house impaling the goblin upon it. Ivan roughly tears the warpick free and the goblin drops to the ground gurgling as blood dribbles from its mouth. Ivan raises his weapon again and smashes it’s head to pieces, it’s grey matter splattering in all directions.

“Huh, you’re pretty good at this.” I say as I walk over, I see Alfie and Volva appear from their houses looking slightly green in the face.

“I butchered animals back in my world… like you said just green pigs… silence their squeals…” Ivan said softly.

“Yeah, silence them.” I say as I walk back to the front of the group.

“Four more houses, let’s go.” I say curtly.

As the four went to their respective houses I saw a group of four goblins turn the corner at the entrance to the square. They pause as they spot us, I raise my gun and fire a shot. The sound ringing out across the village. I watch as the head of the goblin that I shot splatter. Although Danse Macabre is technically a revolver it’s not those pinch little pea shooters you see police carry. It’s barrel is long and it’s barrel is large in diameter for a pistol. In my world if one would see it, they would describe it as a magnum revolver.

The goblins flinch as they see their fellow fall back with half it’s head missing.

[Firebolt] I hear Momo shout as a ball of fire flies right at the group goblins. They scream and try to scatter but at this distance? Fat chance. The fire bolt lands right in the middle of them and the explosion blasts their burning bodies out into the square, their burning bodies tumbling in the dirt. One of them survived but it won’t live long, judging by how it’s flailing in the dirt as it burned.

“Forward into the square.” I shout and we press forward. As we enter the square I see it littered with corpses, some human and some goblin. I see a group of villagers huddled together in a group holding hoes, woodcutting axes and pitchforks. They are surrounded by goblins, some of which were human sized. The smaller goblins were about up to my chest in height. These larger ones however were as tall as me. Were these Hob-Goblins? I wonder to myself.

Right on Dark Champion

I hear Styx say. The group was staring at us in shock. No doubt Momo’s [Firebolt] got their attention. I see the ugly faces of the Hob-Goblins contort as they pointed at us and roared. The other Goblins obeying turned and charged us. I count about thirty hostiles, they outnumber us greatly but we were much stronger. Let’s see how quantity matches against quality…

[Rapid Fire] I say as my gun glows with an obsidian hue, I point it at the charging group. I see circles light up on the heads of four of the goblins. I pull my trigger and I feel my revolver kick as four shots rattle out in quick succession. I see the bullets curve as they hit four of them in the head, dropping them instantly.

[Divine Spear][Lightning Spear][Scalding Fusillade] I hear the mages intone. The [Divine Spear] and [Lightning Spear] both skewered multiple of the goblins. They had no concept of spacing so the piercing attacks were able to get multiple kills. The wave of small fireballs from [Scalding Fusillade] ended up doing the most damage but it didn’t kill any of the goblins. Momo did manage to disable at least eight of them however. Some were on fire as they screamed and tried to pat the flames out, the others were screaming on the ground, the places they were hit burnt black.

[Righteous Advance] [Tip of the Spear] I hear our frontlines shout as their forms shoot forward smashing into their front line. They stopped right at the edge so as not to overextend. I watch as Ivan and Volva move on the right flank to pressure the enemy.

I take aim and fire another shot blowing one of the Hob-Goblin’s heads off. I then watch as Ivan uses [Tectonic Propulsion] to charge onto one of the other Hob-Goblins that was at the edge of the right flank. His strike is heavy even though he’s only level 5, the Hob-Goblin is knocked off his feet and Ivan follows up with a downward swing that smashes a hole right into its belly.

[Aria of Mercy] [Shaper of Life] I hear Charlotte intone as we are all covered with her buffs granting our frontliners much needed protection. We eventually figure out that it would be best to use these buffs the moment battle is joined to maximise its duration.

[Searing Blade] I hear Momo shout as she slashed the air with both wands and two fire blades flew out and cleaved through the Goblin’s right flank lines disrupting their formation. Momo’s fire damage is very powerful for someone of her level or so Davis says. Apparently the Fire Element is known for having wide area attacks with high damage that inflicts [Status Ailments] to those struck.

Momo also uses the style of casting of the Kitsupali known as the Blazing Dance. The casting movements weave from one into another like a martial art, it was a style that favoured movement and offense. Using mobility and devastating firepower to compensate for a lack of defense. As I watch her weave one spell after the other, I can see that she will be a formidable ally when she gets stronger.

Her class is the [Fire Mage] when she becomes stronger the class will then upgrade, to [Pyro Mage] then to [Pyromancer] and finally to [Ascendant of Fire]. Although whether she can actually reach the Ascendant class is questionable. It is a class only available to those who are direct children of heroes or [Heroes Sworn] due to the high stat point requirements to receive the class and all it’s powerful abilities. The Heroes however get access to the Divine level final class, which for the fire hero is called the [Keeper of the First Flame] The classes of the other heroes also have cool names like [Stalwart of the Mountain] [Light of the Seraphim] [Matriarch of Life]... but Davis said he knew nothing about the past Dark Heroes...

As I shift my gaze back to the right flank I see Volva cleave two goblin’s in half with her ability [Lacerating Cleave] it’s a wide horizontal strike design to hit multiple targets. It’s a powerful attack judging by the two goblins that now lay in four pieces.

The fight was progressing well, Amethine was covering the left flank with her spells and Momo soon joined her once the right flank was sufficiently cut to ribbons by Ivan and Volva. Charlotte’s timely use of [Lux Vitae] summoning her white directional shield prevented many injuries and wounds. When she has the luxury to do so she also uses [Chains of Conviction] to bind any goblin’s in front of the melee fighters giving them a free kill.

The fight didn’t last long ten minutes at most, now all that remained were one Hob-Goblin and four Goblins. They trembled as the four frontliners slowly advanced. I looked around and all was quiet. I see a few goblin stragglers turn and run down the streets of the village in fear, I doubt they’ll come back at least for a while...

“Stop, I want that big one alive.” I growl as I raise my mask. I walk over and I open the chamber of Danse Macabre. No bullets fall out instead a gush of steam is blown out and after two seconds the chamber slams back shut, ready to fire another six shots.

“Huh why?” I hear Jacob ask.

“Maybe it can give us some information, if he isn’t intelligent we can just kill him, it changes nothing.” I reply coldly.

“And the rest?” Ivan asked.

“If they surrender we shouldn’t kill them.” Jacob said.

At those words the goblins all dropped their weapons and raised trembling hands.

“No kill.” the Hob-Globin stammered. So they can talk…

I look up to see the villagers tentatively approach. They eye the back of the Goblins, some eye them with fear, others grit their teeth in hatred.

“Don’t even think about it.” I shout at the young man who’s gripping his axe so hard his knuckles were white.

“WHY! THESE FILTHY CREATURES THEY… they…” the man’s face crumples and falls to his knees in tears. I see another villager go to console him.

I look back down at the trembling goblin’s, they were ugly disgusting creatures. Green skin, large bulbous nose, long batlike ears and large bestial eyes. They also reeked as if bathing is some foregin concept to them.

“Do you understand me?” I ask the Hob-Goblin.

“Yes.” It replied, the words sounded crude in his mouth as if his tongue isn’t designed for talking.

“Why are you here?” I ask.

“We take females… make more Uruk…” the Hob-Goblin stammered. At those words the young man from before screamed in rage as he grabbed his axe and raised it over his head intent on carving the Hob-Goblin’s head open.

[Chains of Conviction] Charlotte shouted as gold chains sprang up and binded the young man. I looked at Charlotte, her reaction was quick but the reason for that was that she was on edge. Her face is pale as parchment and eyes are wide as if in shock.

“What did you say?” Charlotte stammered.

“Goblin’s don’t have females, they use other races to reproduce.” I say wearily.

“You knew? Why didn’t you tell us?” Charlotte asked, eyes wide.

“It would have distracted you, knowing what will happen to you if you lose doesn’t help. You knowing that you would die if we failed is enough. A soldier must focus on winning not fearing defeat.” I say calmly. With those words, Charlotte looked down her eyes shimmering.

“I don’t need your protection…” Charlotte said bitterly as she released the man from her spell. She’s upset I know, although it stings I know it was the right choice. Fighting with your life on the line for the first time is already a great trial for anyone. To be told that if you lost and were captured, you would be used as a broodmare for the goblins? That will shake anyone and they cannot afford to be shaken now...

“Please, great warriors are you perhaps the four Heroes?” I hear an elderly voice say.

I look up to see an elderly man approach. He looked to be in his sixties and he’s leaning on a gnarled wooden cane.

“We are…” I hear Jacob say shakily.

“Please they… they took many of our women. I beg you please return them to us!” the elder said as he fell to his knees and put his head into the dirt. His motions were slow as if even doing this was a laborious task. Then I see the young man from before run up behind the elder and do the same smashing his head into dirt.

“Please… they took my dear Amiya… she’s all I have left…” I hear him beg in desperation.

“I assume she’s your... girlfriend?” Judging by his age he shouldn’t have a daughter... and calling your mother “my dear Amiya” is quite creepy...

“Yes... she’s my wife to be… please… I beg you… I’ll slave at your feet for the rest of my life… just please… save her…” the man wept as his hands clawed at the bloodied dirt. I felt Charlotte’s gaze on my cheek and I could see her eyes wide in mute horror. Well I guess this is a chance to make up for keeping her in the dark… Besides why did you think I wanted these five pieces of shit alive?

“Why do you think I asked these five to be kept alive?” I asked curtly.

The man's head sprang up from the dirt his eyes wide. He scrambled towards me on his knees and grabbed onto my left boot. Muttering thank you’s with a desperate fervour. This irked me, I hated the sight of grown men groveling like a worm, especially to me. If any of the prisoners I captured in Sapporo started acting like this they would get my boot to their face, followed by a bullet to the head. It’s disgusting for a human to behave like this, like they were some creature with no self respect.

“Get off me.” I growl as I tear my leg free.

“If you have the energy to beg, then you have the energy to fight!” I shout at him, I can feel my blood pounding in my ears.

“What?” I hear him sputter as he looks at me eyes wide.

“You want your fiance back? Then you can come with me and go get her back. I don’t need your grovelling, you are a man not a worm. START ACTING LIKE ONE!” I roar at his face, incensed at the pathetic display before me.

“If any of you have missing friends, wives, lovers or daughters I expect all of you to be willing to fight for their safe return.” I say to the frozen peasants.

“But we’re only at most level 5…” one of the peasants standing in the crowd stammered. This one a middle aged man.

“So? Are these not your women? No one owes you a rescue you know? I can just as easily walk out of here now and leave your women to the Uruks.” I snarl at the men.

“Katsuro!” I hear Charlotte shout her tone shocked.

There was one thing that was bothering me ever since those peasants got close… their clothes had no blood stains and their weapons were clean…

“If they can’t even find the fucking courage to fight with us here, what happens when something else attacks them? Look at them! They don’t even have a scratch on them, they didn’t even fight them...” I say with contempt as I look at the group of shame faced peasants.

“I know all of you just huddled together and that’s how you survived. If you really fought with all you had there would be wounds or blood on you. Your weapons are even spotless…” I say as I look at them coldly.

“They let the Goblin’s take them, they rather hope for a miracle or accept their fate rather than work to change it. The reason all of you look so pathetic is because all the men with a spine are dead… and maybe they wouldn’t be if you had spine too...” I say as spit into dirt with contempt.

“You're right…” I hear the youngman whisper on my left.

“I’m a coward… when I came back from chopping firewood… I saw the goblins were attacking… I ran home but when I heard Goblins in my house I froze… I just hid as they dragged her away…” the man said in a broken voice.

I’m not worth anything, I'm a useless coward…

But Amiya…

Amiya’s good and kind… she doesn't deserve to suffer for my weakness…

Please… I’ll go with you…

Use me as a shield… anything…

I don’t care if I die…

It’ll be trading a piece of trash for diamonds...

Just let me help bring her home…

The man said as he looked up at me from the dirt. His eyes though still looking like shattered glass looked just a little stronger than before.

Good…

I say as I offer him my hand, his eyes go wide as he looks at my offered hand. I pull him to his feet and out of the dirt.

“As for the rest of you…” I growl as I turn back to the peasants who all took a fearful step back.

“I’m sure you’re asking, why me? What sin did I commit to deserve this? Well let me tell you’re not being punished for sin, you’re being punished for being weak. So why you? Why am I asking you weak helpless peasants to fight? If not you who else? Are these not your women? If you can’t be bothered fine I’ll do your job for you… those of you with the courage stay. The rest of you get out of my sight, find a hole to crawl in and hide. Shouldn’t be hard, there’s a lot of empty houses now…” I say my voice dripping with venom. I watch as most of them leave shame faced leaving only five.

“Good, stand over here.” I say gesturing next to the young man.

“Now then for you…” I hiss as I drop my mask again. I storm over to the Hob-Goblin and drag it to its feet.

“Where have you taken all the females?” I hiss into its face.

“No tell… Uruk kill if tell…” I hear it garble out.

“Oh is that so, then never mind.” I say calmly as I let it go. It stands there stunned for a moment and then I slug him across the face. It falls back into the dirt, I walk over and kick it in the chest knocking it on it’s back. I pick him again and growl into his face.

Where are the females…

“No Uruk kill…” it whimpers.

“Kill you?” I say dangerously as I draw my gun and I execute the four goblins who were kneeling on the ground.

~ Level Up ~

I hear in my head, I guess those four counted as non hostiles to my [In Cold Blood] ability, giving me a lot of Exp...

I then wheel and punch it again across the face, it staggers back clutching it’s face.

“You think I won’t kill you? I’ll peel off your fingernails then cut your fingers off one by one until you talk.” I hiss into its face.

“No talk… no talk…” It whimpers. I draw my gun again and I shoot it in the right kneecap. It’s knee shatters and the leg falls limp as it tumbles backwards howling.

TALK!

I roar at the sniveling creature as I raise my gun and point it at the goblin’s stinking face. It crawls backwards as the smell of ammonia starts to radiate from a growing puddle below it. Hearing no response I shoot it’s other knee and it lets out another howl of pain.

TALK!

“No talk… Uruk kill me...” It whimpers.

I growl as I draw my bayonet and nail it’s feet into the dirt. Then I hear something in my head…

Ability Acquired

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Death is a Mercy (Rare Ability)

Torture skill that fires black lightning inflicting excruciating pain

+ 100 % [Pain Resistance Penetration]

Target is immune to [Sleep]

Target is afflicted with one stack of [Status Ailment: Terror] every 5 seconds

At [Status Ailment: Terror V] the next stack of [Status Ailment: Terror] turns [Status Ailment: Terror V] into [Status Affliction: Madness]

☠ ═╬═════════════════════════════════════════════════╬═ ☠

Oh… how convenient…

[Death is a Mercy] I growl as I point my left hand at the goblin and black lightning flies from my fingers.

AARRRGRHRHRGH!!!!!!!!!!!

The Goblin screams as his body contorts and spams. It’s body writhed as if it was being torn apart from the inside. It’s yowls and screams echoed out across the square chilling the blood of everyone who hears it… but not mine… I let it suffer for a ten seconds before releasing the spell… At the end of the spell, the goblin vomits and defecates as it pants on the ground. It raises its head and looks at my mask. In its eyes I see pure all-consuming terror...

“Where…” I growl.

I TELL I TELL I TELL I TELL I TELL I TELL!

The goblin says in blind panic, it’s eyes wide in terror, frothing at the mouth.

Good…

Now then just in case you forget what will happen to you if you betray me…

[Death is a Mercy]...