Haruto crouched beside the riverbank, the cool breeze of the night chilling the sweat on his skin. His body ached from the constant tension of staying alert, and his mind was still reeling from the events of the last few days. Leveling up had given him a momentary sense of accomplishment, but there was little time to appreciate it. Survival took priority.

As he scrolled through his inventory, checking his items and weapons, one object caught his attention: the Horn. He had picked it up during his earlier skirmishes with the goblins, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it—until now. Something was different about the horn. It glowed faintly, pulsing with an eerie light that hadn’t been there before.

Curious, Haruto opened the horn’s description.

[Horn of Madness

Effect: When blown, this horn drives all nearby goblins into a berserk frenzy, causing them to attack anything in their path. This effect lasts for a short time, enough to incite chaos among goblin forces.

Warning: The horn’s power affects both friend and foe indiscriminately].

Haruto’s eyes widened as he absorbed the information. This horn makes goblins go berserk? He stared at the glowing item, feeling a dangerous plan form in his mind. The goblins were dangerous in numbers, but if he could turn them against each other… it could thin their ranks significantly. The potential for chaos and destruction was immense.

As he pondered the horn’s power, an idea began to take shape. A way to not only use the goblins’ rage against them but to finish them off in one fell swoop. Fire. He would burn them to ashes.

But he couldn’t just light a small fire—it had to be something massive, something that would consume their entire settlement. He needed a fuel source that would burn fast and hot enough to spread through their camp. As he scanned the area around him, something caught his eye—a patch of cotton plants growing near the riverbank.

Cotton was highly flammable. If he could gather enough of it, he could create a wildfire that would tear through the goblin settlement and leave nothing but ash behind.

The Goblin Settlement

Haruto’s cautious exploration along the river had led him to a surprising discovery: a goblin settlement hidden deep within the forest, close to where the cotton plants grew. The crude huts and tents made of hide and branches were scattered across a clearing near the river. The goblins bustled about, oblivious to the threat that was quietly observing them from the shadows.

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The settlement wasn’t large, but there were enough goblins to pose a serious threat if he engaged them directly. Haruto could see groups of them milling about, sharpening weapons, or eating by campfires. He needed to act smart—if he could set the fire and lure them into the flames using the horn, it would minimize his risk and maximize the destruction.

Setting the Trap

Haruto spent the next hour collecting cotton from the plants near the riverbank. He carefully gathered it in bundles, moving slowly and deliberately to avoid attracting attention from the goblins. Once he had enough, he returned to the forest edge, just outside the settlement. He positioned himself downwind, ensuring that the smoke and fire would blow directly toward the goblin camp.

Using tree bark, dried leaves, and the cotton he had collected, Haruto built a carefully concealed pile of kindling just outside the goblin settlement. The cotton would act as an accelerant, helping the fire spread quickly through the dry brush. Once the flames took hold, they would engulf the entire camp in minutes.

When the trap was ready, Haruto crouched low in the underbrush, his heart racing. His hand hovered over the Horn of Madness, knowing that once he blew it, there would be no turning back.

Taking a deep breath, he struck the rocks together, creating a spark that ignited the cotton and dry leaves. The fire started small, but within seconds, it began to grow, spreading along the edges of the settlement. Smoke curled into the air, carried by the breeze toward the goblins’ camp.

The flames licked at the edge of the clearing, and Haruto blew the horn.

The Horn’s Power Unleashed

The sound of the Horn of Madness echoed through the forest, loud and eerie. Haruto’s heart pounded in his chest as he watched the goblins react to the sound. At first, they seemed confused, looking around for the source of the noise. But soon, their eyes glazed over, and their movements became erratic. The effect of the horn was immediate—goblins turned on each other, attacking wildly, driven by the horn’s frenzy-inducing power.

Chaos erupted in the settlement. Goblins screeched and snarled, hacking at one another with crude weapons, their berserk rage turning the camp into a battlefield. The fire continued to grow, feeding on the cotton and dry wood Haruto had placed around the camp’s perimeter. The wind carried the flames deeper into the settlement, catching on the huts and tents.

The heat intensified, and the screams of the goblins grew louder as the fire consumed everything in its path. Some goblins, still lost in their berserk fury, charged into the flames without hesitation, while others, too far gone to realize the danger, continued to fight one another amidst the growing inferno.

Haruto watched from his hidden vantage point, his lips pressed into a thin line. The plan was working. The goblins were destroying themselves, and the fire was finishing the job. But the sight was far more brutal than he had anticipated. The smell of burning flesh and the shrieks of dying goblins filled the air, creating a nightmarish scene that made Haruto’s stomach turn.

A Grim Victory

As the fire raged, Haruto stayed low, making sure to remain out of sight. The flames devoured the settlement, reducing huts to ash and turning goblin bodies into charred remains. The berserk goblins, now few in number, continued their mindless attacks until they, too, were consumed by the flames.

But just as Haruto was about to relax, a deep, guttural roar echoed from deeper within the forest—a roar far more powerful and terrifying than the screeches of the goblins. Haruto’s body tensed, his instincts screaming that something dangerous was coming.

Out of the smoke and flames emerged a towering figure—the Goblin King, the dungeon boss. His hulking form was covered in thick, battle-scarred armor, and his glowing red eyes scanned the destruction with fury. Behind him, a human woman, shackled and terrified, was dragged along as his prisoner.

Haruto’s blood ran cold.

The Goblin King had ignored the chaos, too consumed with his own vile pleasures to join the battle. Now, the king stood at the edge of the flames, surveying the ruins of his settlement, his rage palpable.

Haruto’s heart pounded as he realized the fire and the horn had drawn the king’s attention. The battle wasn’t over yet—far from it.

End of Chapter