The full moon was coming and with it the worries of the new chieftain of the Moonlake Tribe built up with every day's pass.

The moons’ journey was coming to its pinnacle meaning they had to prepare a sacrifice for the Goddess, usually they would be able to meet the set desire for a sacrifice with ease, however now they were having a very difficult time meeting the expectation their ancestors made through the generations.

The standard was a strong beast that would often take the work of over a dozen of the strongest goblins, but now that was impossible for most of their people are now dead.

A deadly disease had spread through their tribe and ravaged it, though the disease itself wasn't what killed the goblins, the problem wasn't that the disease itself was deadly but the fact that it fed on its victims thus weakening them, and it easily spread, soon it was caught by most of the population thus forcing the chieftain to take extreme measures... disposing of the sick.

Thanks to his harsh but essential actions the tribe had rid itself of the disease, however in the process they had lost over half of their population, the only reason they have not been attacked by other tribes by now is simply because the word has not spread of the chieftain's actions and the simple fear of disease from the other chieftains.

After all they do not wish for the disease to spread to their own tribe just to get rid of the now weak competition, and take some measly spoils, the risk did not meet the benefit, even a stupid brute of a leader would see that.

The chieftain was walking around their village constantly back and forth while taking occasional glances around him looking at the starving young goblins that they had trouble feeding due to a lack of warriors, thankfully they still had Lires’ various grown plant foods that helped ease their troubles slightly but in the end plants could not replace the nourishment of meat.

Even though he replaced the previous highly beloved chieftain he was able to keep the tribe's trust and their morality high, he convinced everyone that they would become stronger after this setback and return to their power, and everyone also believed that the Moon Goddess would give them her blessing after this night's ritual.

However unlike them, he wasn't so confident, not only did he doubt the fact that the Moon Goddess would help them but also the fact that they could get their hands on a proper sacrifice, but he still held hope as he waited for the tribe's warriors to return... he wished he could do some more instead of just praying for their warriors.

He wished he was younger that way he could assist the brave warriors, but he was getting old, his decrepit body too weak to endure fighting, as he finished his thoughts he stopped in front of the village entrance only now noticing the surrounding excitement... the warriors have returned.

The chieftain quickly came up to the front through the small crowd that formed to welcome their warriors, worry filled his heart however the cheers of the crowd made his heart beat quicken with anticipation, and as he came to the front a smile blossomed on his face.

In front of him were the brave warriors that have gone out, the chieftain quickly looked at each of them, like a list in his mind he checked every warrior that had come back, surprisingly it did not seem like they had big losses.

No... it seemed they did not have any losses at all only some small injuries, this might seem like a good thing, but it made him worry, after all they were meant to hunt a strong beast... how could they come out uninjured? Especially when the group was weaker than before...

His eyes quickly scanned the group for the sacrifice, which wasn't too hard as his eyes fell on the sacrifices easily, he was confused, a wolf pup and a human, finding a human in this forest wasn't that rare however this deep as well as capturing one can prove to be quite difficult.

Even just that human would probably be quite the proper sacrifice, however there was the wolf pup, a wolf pup with white fur and patches of blue and gray, he had never seen a wolf with those fur colors and the fur looked so soft.

No wonder they weren't injured! The goddess must have secretly provided them with her holy guidance! How benevolent! The tribe will surely recover from this disastrous event!

The chieftain almost started bouncing in excitement as he ushered the warriors towards the holy shrine, while throwing in a few phrases of praise and thanks for the goddess and her benevolence.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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Adam frowned when he looked up as he heard the slightly high-pitched voices of many more goblins than before, however the frown disappeared as something else took his attention, the defensive 'walls' of this goblin tribe

It was interesting in how they made them, since they used huts made of mud and stone to make a half circle against a tall flat mountain cliff, they also fenced in the spaces in between the huts with wood in a way that it was still possible to shot arrows from behind it.

The huts used a trapezoid shape, which was basically a rectangle with one of its sides being wider than its opposite, the wider end of the hut was used for the wall and had a window that you could see through or shoot arrows through, which meant they were also used as lookouts.

Adam couldn’t help but be intrigued towards the creations and supposed homes of what were basically aliens and fantasy creatures that would only exist within a man’s imagination back on earth.

Adam closed his eyes and focused on his hearing, it was better if the goblins didn't know he was awake, he stayed silent and listened.

The goblins carrying him started to move, there was a voice more normal and deeper than the usual high-pitched voices of the goblin crowd, that was most likely another hobgoblin, they had more human like voices with clearer speech, this was probably because they gained higher intelligence as they grew or evolved.

Either way they were stronger and smarter meaning he should be careful and not underestimate anyone of them in the slightest, that being said in his situation he'd be an absolute fool to underestimate anyone after all he didn't even have any real combat ability, “luckily” he had gotten into fights before so he knew how to throw a punch at least but other than that he never did karate or boxing, after all if he needed protection a gun was always the better option, legal or not.

He was taken through the village many voices following him as he rocked up and down on the log, whatever was used to tie his hands was tied tight, and it dug into his hands, making the fact that he was hanging by his limbs even more uncomfortable, however he paid it no mind even while his burnt arm hurt like hell.

He focused on his hearing and smell, the voices covered most of the sounds, so he gained nothing from it, as for his nose it only told him that it didn't smell as bad as he expected it too, the only bad smell that he noticed was sweat otherwise it was just dirt.

Soon he noticed the smell of dirt less and less while the air started to be a bit stuffier, most of the voices were left behind the few that followed obtained a light echo becoming just slightly louder.

Thanks to the added quiet he was able to hear the footsteps of those around him, it seems about ten... no twelve were left around him, he decided to take a bit of a risk and take a peek at his surroundings.

Lightly opening his eyes he noticed the ground below was now gravel and stone, secondly he was no longer directly under the sun there was some shade coming from the stone walls around him, for a moment he thought he was in a cave.

However, he quickly realized he wasn't as there were no torches nor artificial lights on the walls or the goblins hands, there also didn't seem to be any magic, which meant light from outside somehow reached here.

If Adam could look up right now he would notice that there was no ceiling to this 'cave' after all it wasn't one, it was a crevice splitting the cliff, he looked around before he closed his eyes again, he once again didn't find anything of use and the ones surrounding him were mostly hobgoblins except five goblins.

They still held weapons which meant escape was impossible, and he also spotted Hunter still being carried in front of him by the female hobgoblin from before, soon he was carried into a dark room.

They laid him down on the ground and removed his bindings, for a moment Adam thought of trying to escape, but he decided against it after all he did not hear any one of them leave yet.

He completely relaxed his body acting like he was unconscious, he was waiting for them to retie his hands but to his surprise he was flipped over onto his back rather forcefully before a hand landed on his thigh.

This sent a shiver down Adam's back, but he still did not move 'What the hell!' for a moment he thought before he remembered a major part about goblin fiction he had glossed over doubtful of how realistic it would be, it was the simple fact that goblins in a lot of fiction stories in existence would 'capture' females from other races for mating.

'... Do I look like a female to you bastards?!?' Adam screamed in his mind but did not allow any of it to show on his body remaining completely still.

"Вхат до ју тхинк ју ар доинг?!?" a voice resounded through the dugout cave room making the hand stop, the voices argued for a second as the hand retreated from his thigh before he heard steps leave the room, before hearing grunts and the rolling of a giant stone that soon covered the entrance and the only exit.

The moment it was closed Adam opened his eyes and looked around the almost completely dark room, only some weak light came from the openings that the boulder didn't cover up.

Adam immediately got up looking around for Hunter, but he was not in here, that wasn't good... he started looking around for anything that could help him escape, however no matter how much he crawled around the room looking for anything of use or how much he racked his brain he could do absolutely nothing.

There was nothing of use in the room, the system could not help him, nor could he push the boulder out of the way, so he decided to wait while experimenting with his mana.

He returned to the same spot they left him and he began trying to find how to use the mana or at least sense it or feel it.