Hazel swung her staff at a Fractured Goblin’s head, knocking it to the side as it crumbled on the grassy ground. The moment she didn’t hear a kill notification, she strolled over to the monster, witnessing it crawl on the ground, attempting to escape from her.

It pathetically whimpered, digging its hands into the dirt and dragging its body forward. It desperately wanted to flee for its life, but its enemy wasn’t going to let that happen.

Without hesitation, Hazel raised her staff and bashed it against the green gremlin’s head multiple times, easily caving its skull in.

[Level 4 Fractured Goblin has been defeated!]

As soon as Hazel received a kill notification, she pulled her staff away from the monster and watched it shatter to pieces and disburse into the air as particles. Once the goblin was gone, she let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s the eighth goblin since I entered this forest,” Hazel mumbled. “They just don’t quit.”

She had only been on this Forest island for around an hour and came across several goblins during that time. They were all pretty weak since Hazel was level eight while they were below that, but it was getting a bit tiresome for her to keep encountering a goblin and then killing it.

Aside from the goblins, Hazel continued to admire the large forest she was in. From where she first landed on the island, all she could see was a somewhat big forest, but as soon as she entered the place, it became very obvious that this forest was more than meets the eye.

The forest was practically a canopy of greenery from the trees, the bushes, and even the grass from the ground. Despite that, it was rather silent other than the rustling of trees from the wind, though Hazel had no clue how there was wind in space. The sound of chirping birds and crickets was absent from the sound of nature, which slightly disturbed Hazel.

Normally, in horror movies, when it was dead quiet in a forest, that usually meant something bad was about to happen. This put her on edge as she roamed through the forest, cautiously darting her eyes, scanning each individual tree in case a monster was lurking behind one.

Of course, if there were wildlife in this forest other than those green gremlins, then they likely would be Fractured just like everything else that used to live in this world before the Mana Overload Phenomenon. Then again, that would be better than fighting for her life since she would be admiring the scenic forest and its inhabitants.

Sadly, Hazel had to deal with monsters. Thankfully, they gave her XP so it wasn’t entirely bad, so she couldn’t complain.

Continuing her trek, Hazel gazed up at the stars above her in the endless space. Since there was no sun and no planetary rotation, she couldn’t tell if it was day or night. She at least knew that a couple of days passed by after sleeping a few times at the Tavern.

Speaking of sleep, now that Hazel was roaming around a forest, she quickly realized that she needed to set up camp soon. Thankfully, she brought some things from the tavern to make her campsite comfy and manageable like the bedsheets and pillow. But, what was important, other than supplies, was securing a spot in the forest that was safe from monsters.

Though, she wasn’t that tired at the moment, so there was plenty of time before then. For now, it would be best to locate a spot for her campsite while continuing her exploration of this forest. There were likely enemies here that were strong enough for Hazel to level up faster.

She looked away from the stars and moved forward, walking over falling tree limbs and tree stumps she came across. It was eerily quiet due to the lack of chirping birds and crickets along with the rustling leaves from the wind. There was no noise that could be called the sound of nature. Just the haunting atmosphere as she walked through the forest.

A few moments later, she stopped moving for a moment after picking up a distant grunting sound from a familiar race of monsters. Hazel frowned, moving toward the nearby tree to get a closer look. As she hid behind it, her head peered over, to which she spotted a small group of goblins like the previous eight she encountered and killed.

They were huddled together, grunting and laughing like a bunch of kids; only uglier and more dangerous. Hazel counted at least seven goblins in that group. And after identifying them, they were between levels four to six.

Although they were slightly weaker than Hazel, it was stupid to underestimate them because of that. The Fractured Humans were one thing, but she knew that the goblins were different. On their own, she could easily dispatch them without a second thought, but as a group, they were more dangerous than the Fractured Human horde, since these bastards could run at her.

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Moving her head away, Hazel sat down and pondered, trying to figure out how she could take care of them.

She could probably use Baneful Sickle and strike them down that way, and even if her attack missed one or two, Mana bolt should be enough to deal with them. Using Decay seemed like overkill and also pointless since it could only affect one enemy at a time.

Feeling that she more or less had a plan in hand, Hazel prepared herself to attack the goblins and earn some more XP. Only she couldn’t when something else beat her to it.

Hiding behind the tree, eyes off the goblins for a few moments, Hazel suddenly heard one of them scream in terror, prompting her to poke her head out of the tree to see what was happening, and her eyes widened in shock at what she witnessed.

The goblins from before scrambled as they struggled against a new enemy. They had the familiar green skin with purple cracks like them but were built like bodybuilders with bulging muscles and heavy weapons that could cleave the goblins and Hazel in half. Their bodies were also draped in tribal clothing like fur pants and vests with beads wrapped around their neck and attached to their hair.

Hazel had a faint idea of what they were, but she still identified them just to be safe. And her suspicion of their identity was spot-on.

Fractured Orc

Level: 8

Hulking monsters that are a warrior race, known for pillaging, battling, and much more. After becoming a Fractured, the Orcs’ primal instincts were extremely heightened, even to the point of complete bloodlust.

“Orcs, huh…?” Hazel grimaced, staring at the monsters.

Orcs were a very notorious group of monsters in the fantasy genre, so much so they are shown in every form of fantasy media from movies, shows, and video games. Because of that, Hazel knew that these monsters were Orcs. And their description from identified only solidified their frightening reputation.

One of the orcs stood before the goblins, unleashing a fierce roar. One that shook the forest around them including Hazel and the green gremlins. The goblins cowered in fear, none of them even attempting to fight back.

It was only when one of them decided to try that the situation kicked off. The long goblin that stood against the Orcs brought its dagger up and slashed its blade at it. Instead of blocking or even evading its attack, the Orc stood in place, as if accepting the green gremlins attack.

Then, its hand blurred forward, immediately clutching the goblin’s wrists. The short monstrosity shrieked in terror when the Orc tightly gripped its hand. As the goblin struggled to break free from its grasp, the hulking monster used its other hand and grabbed its neck and easily twisting it to the side.

Hazel watched in horror along with the goblins as they witnessed how easily the Orc killed one of them. Once dead, it released the goblin, watching its body drop to the ground with a thud. The rest of the goblins could only stare at the lifeless body of their former comrade, lying there dead before it exploded into fragments.

As for the orcs, one of them smiled and then gestured with their hand at the goblins to come at them. To which they did, and the six remaining gremlins pulled out their daggers, hatchets, and swords, and delivered a synchronized battle cry as they charged at the Orcs, ready to fight and die.

Hazel continued to hide behind the trees, her body frozen with fear as she witnessed the goblins getting slaughtered one by one. It wasn’t even a battle at this point but a massacre. The Orcs simply slashed their weapons at the goblins, and easily cut their bodies in half. Whether it was their head, torso, arms, or legs, the Orcs bisected the gremlins with ease, not even giving them a chance to fight back.

The one-sided massacre only lasted for a few seconds before the goblins were all dead. If it weren’t for the fact that their bodies fractured after death, that spot would’ve been littered with goblin corpses along with their blood and viscera spilling out all over the ground.

After seeing such a sight, Hazel pulled her head back behind the tree, not wanting one of the orcs to spot her. She breathed heavily as she felt her heart pound against her chest. Those orcs were a lot stronger than she thought.

They easily killed those goblins like they were nothing. Even though Hazel had a higher level than them, she couldn’t take on eight goblins on her own. Especially like these monsters. Not only were they strong, but also incredibly fast.

If she was face to face with those Orcs, she likely had no chance to cast a spell in time to kill them. She probably could from a certain distance, but she didn’t even want to risk something like that, after what she just saw.

However, Hazel also couldn’t let this opportunity pass by. They were strong enough to provide her with a lot of XP, something she desperately needed to get level up. That, and she could also use this fight to test her battle experience and see what she could do against them.

After the fight with the Cyclops, Hazel learned about her mistakes from that fight and managed to correct them; and she wanted to see if she was successful by going against the orcs.

With that thought and objective in mind, Hazel peered her head over the tree and took another look at the Orcs. They were still there, likely basking in the glory of their kills. And allowed Hazel with enough time to come up with a plan.

However, while she monitored the Orcs, she caught something rather interesting. Glancing at one of the hulking monsters, Hazel noticed that it was sniffing the air, almost as if it caught the scent of something.

Wait, could it be…

Hazel’s blood turned cold when she realized what was happening. These Orcs were master warriors and hunters, and one of their most notable features was their sense of smell which could detect nearby enemies or prey.

And what that Orc was doing right now was sniffing out prey…and that was Hazel. After smelling the air, the Orc growled at its brethren, catching their attention. Suddenly, all of the other Orcs were smelling the air as well, terrifying Hazel because she feared that they were likely sniffing her out.

Getting a good whiff of whatever scent they picked up; another Orc burst out with a mighty roar and whipped its axe over in Hazel’s general direction. Although she couldn’t understand their language, much like the goblins, she didn’t need to since it seemed pretty obvious to her.

Those Orcs had sniffed out Hazel’s position…and they were about to hunt her down.