The soft grass pressed against Marcel's belly as he was trying to keep as low to the small hill as possible. In front of him, at the foot of the hill a small collection of huts were strewn over the barren patch of land before the forest.

The huts were crudely made, mostly constructed out of straw and dirt as far as Marcel could see. It reminded him of some documentaries about third world countries he had seen, only that those huts in front of him were smaller, much smaller. They didn’t seem to be made for humans.

What was made for humans though, were the three big metal cages that rose up in the middle of the clearing. They towered above the buildings, and what Marcel saw in them shocked him to the bones. They were faintly visible from that far away, but unmistakably there were people in those cages. Real people.

Roaming in chaotic patterns between the huts and the cages were dozens of small green monsters. Clad in loincloths, armored with simple wooden spears and a stink that Marcel could smell all the way up the hill. The canals were a joke compared to that.

He was having a hard internal debate.

The contract he had taken had talked about three or four goblins that had been sighted at a forest close to one of the eastern villages of the city. From all Marcel knew about goblins, and strengthened by the fact that they were less than a meter tall, he felt pretty confident about taking on a handful of them.

Still Fredrik had warned him about taking the contract.

“It is not very common to take on adventuring missions on your own,” he had said. “Usually even those smaller ones are done by small parties.”

Marcel had waived off his concerns though. A goblin was merely bigger than a toddler. He felt confident in dealing with a few of them. Besides, joining a party required even more paperwork, and Marcel was all but running out of money and therefore time. So he had decided to take this contract.

He glanced at the spear that was lying to his right. He had been able to rent a weapon with the small guild credit he had gotten to start off his career with. With his only weapon proficiency being with the spear, the decision hadnt been hard. It was a simple weapon. Dark wood almost as tall as himself topped with a steel tip that was sharp enough to draw blodd when he ran his fingers over it. Simple, but dangerous. His best bet for the fight would be keeping the goblins at range, and that weapon was perfect for that.

Unfortunately what he found before him was a far cry from three or four goblins. Since then he had observed at least a dozen of them. Granted, they all looked pretty similar, but he was reasonably sure he was dealing with a heavily inflated number here.

After seeing that, Liam had been about to go home. Three or four? Fine. Half a dozen? No chance.

What had stopped him though, was the sight of these cages.

Even though the cages were towering above the huts, they were still way too small for humans. Marcel couldn’t make out any details from that far away, but he could imagine how squeezed and anxious the people must feel. That was cemented by the crys he heard from time to time.

He couldn’t sit by idly and leave those people to their fates. Nor could he walk back to the guild and try to get reinforcements. By the time they came back it could already be too late for the people.

It didn’t take much imagination to go through the terrors that goblins could, and would, inflict on them.

He thought about waiting for the night to set in, and then trying to sneak into the camp to free the people, but he realized he had no idea if goblins even slept. Sure he could try to wait it out, but from almost all of the RPG’s Marcel had played before, at least one thing was sure. The things probably had a lot better night vision than him. So that was off the table

He needed to act now. That left him only one option.

He sneaked down the hill, hushing from tree to tree and bush to bush, eager for any type of cover. His heartbeat raced, his ears strained to pick up any type of alarm cries.

Finally he made it, he cowered against one of the huts, pressing his back against it as tightly as he could. Marcel peeked around the corner. No goblin in sight. He hushed over to the next house, taking cover.

He had observed the creatures long enough to have noticed something. They l converged around the big hut in the middle of their settlement. That’s where there was the most activity. Unfortunately the cages were directly next to that, so there was no way to avoid the tent. But he could catch the few goblins that came by walking here.

It wasn’t long until he heard soft footsteps, a gentle whispering of the dirt. His heartbeat quickened and he gripped his spear tighter. The steps grew louder. Came closer.

Marcel had never ever killed an animal. Not even when he had visited his grandparents on their farm as a kid. But he knew there was no way around that now.

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A flare of green came around the corner and Marcel acted. He jumped forwards, yanking the little creature back. Its eyes grew wide in shock, and even wider when cold hard metal pierced its chest.

He was surprised how easy it all was.

Marcel had put his hand on the creature's mouth to avoid it making any sounds, but he needn’t have bothered. The thing's eyes rolled around when the spear tip penetrated, and it sagged down lifelessly.

He stared at it in shock as realization dawned on him. The warm blood on his hands seemed to penetrate all the way through him. What had he just done? A silent disgust crept up on him.

He shook himself. There was no time for that now.

His eyes darted back to the lifeless goblin to his feet. It was even uglier from up close. Its long yellow teeth and pointy ears made it look distinctly not human.

The puddle of blood grew, encapsulating Marcel's shoes. His feet became wet. A wave of vertigo went over him and he puked. Then he puked again

It took a few minutes for Marcel to gather himself, and he attributed it to nothing but pure luck that he wasn’t caught in that time.

When he felt somewhat more steady, and severely lighter in his stomach, he gripped his spear tighter and went on to the next hut. Marcel stalked slowly but surely towards the village center. His way continued in a similar manner and was spiked by lifeless goblin bodies he left behind.

Four more goblins were killed by him in a similar manner. The first of these was almost quick enough on the uptake, but Marcel still caught the creature by surprise, able to bury his spear into its body before it could grab the dagger on its waist.

The second and third went without any problem. By the end, Marcel realized, he didn’t even feel the disgust anymore. After the fourth body slumped to the floor, its blood dripping down Marcel's spear, he could only find emptiness in himself as he stared at the body.

His heart was still racing. It hadn’t stopped since he entered the camp, but he didn’t feel nervous anymore. A cold and bloody routine started to set in.

Another goblin fell to his weapon. He hadn’t even needed to use his skills so far. His superior size and attributes were enough to handle the surprised goblins. Of course the three inches of steel on top of a long stick helped.

The town center came into view, and with it the cages. All around the giant hut in the middle goblins mingled. At least half a dozen of them, some sitting around a fire, others lounging to the side.

There were distinctly less than he had seen before. The few he had managed to kill were starting to show in the dwindling numbers around the camp. The creatures still seemed oblivious to what was going on, just like he had hoped for. For how long that would continue to be the case though, was another question.

Simple as these creatures might be, there were five dead bodies strewn around their camp. It was only a matter of time until they were found. With the huge amounts of blood that seeped out of the goblins and tainted the floor, Marcel didn’t even bother trying to hide them.

He glanced at the opening in the middle of the camp again. He needed a plan if he wanted to deal with those goblins, there was no way he could beat them in direct confrontation. Maybe he could lead them away.

He rounded the corner and suddenly found himself face to face with a small group of goblins. Six pairs of pale green eyes looked at him. He could see them turn from surprise to alarm.

As they took in his whole appearance, covered in what was undeniably goblin blood, the alarm turned to outrage.

One of them opened its mouth, ready to shout out a warning to ist fellows, but Marcel reacted like lightning.

He activated his heightening skill and snapped forwards. The tip of his spear penetrated the goblin before a single word left its mouth. Marcel could almost count the drops of blood that splashed out of the creature's throat with his increased perception during his skill activated state.

He took an intuitive step backwards, barely in time to let one of their crude weapons taste air. Before he found his footing though, the other goblin was upon him.

It came slashing forwards with ist dagger, forcing Marcel to retreat further and further. That close his spear was useless. All he could do was dodge the attacks of the goblin. Even in his heightened state that was no easy feat as the bugger was quick.

His back touched the hut behind him.

The two goblins stood grinning before him. They had given up the thought of getting help. Marcel could see the greed and glee in their eyes. They thought they had him cornered.

The spear wielding goblins' weapons slashed forwards, aiming to give Marcel's intestines a nice vacation into the dirt.

But he had another skill prepared.

With a quick burst of mana Marcel activated his Water Tentacle skill. Two thin tendrils of water shot out of his back and impaled the goblins in front of him.

It happened as quickly as lightning, and the two creatures could do nothing but look down in surprise at the two spears of water standing out of their chest.

Marcel deactivated the skill. The water evaporated and the two goblins fell to the floor.

“Congratulations, you have gained a level in Water Tentacle.“

“Congratulations, you Water Tentacle skill has reached level 2.”

“Congratulations, you have gained a level in Heightening.“

“Congratulations, your Heightening skill has reached level 3.”

Marcel only gave the message a brief glance before dismissing them. The progress satisfied him somewhat. He kept his heightening skill activating, listening intently for any sort of alarm or outcry. But still everything was quiet.

He continued crouching on his way forward. When he rounded the hut though and wanted to pass to the next one, he gave a small glance to the center of the village.

Only to find a dozen goblins staring straight at him with their weapons drawn. As one they cried out, their voices an monotonous sound that sounded like twisting flesh.

A second later a little rumble vibrated through the giant hut behind the creatures and the door was pushed open.

Out of it strode a goblin at least three times the size of the normal goblins. He towered above his brethren. Marcel made them look small, but the giant made them tiny. His arm muscles convulsed as he lifted his giant wooden club in the air.

Then it let out a thundering roar. A clear challenge.