In the mist filled forest Ruth sat down and kept on swearing the crow which stole his leaf not once but twice.

After cursing for ten minutes, he calmed down and observed his surroundings. There is a hole in the dead goblin’s chest area. It seems that the crow is a picky eater, he thought. He stood up and started moving his body to check for injuries.

When the goblin escaped from his lock and bit his neck, his heart almost stopped with fear. But now as he observes, it doesn’t seem to hurt that much and even the wound stopped bleeding. He sat at the edge of the pond and started cleaning his body.

As water trickled down his body, cool sensation spread all over his body making his exhausted muscles relax. As he submerged in water, his skin gradually returned to its white colour, as all the dirt stuck on his body was washed away. Although he knew that he should not dirty his only water source and he is going to get all dusty once he starts walking again, he just cannot help to relax. Never in his life had he enjoyed a silent bath like now.

As his body and mind both became clear, he started planning his next course of action. He doesn’t know where this forest is, or how to get out of here. It doesn’t seem like earth, with goblins and all. He doesn’t know if there are any type of civilization near here. At any rate he should get out of this damn forest if he want information. Fortunately he still has one clue to follow. Though he hadn’t observed earlier, mist is less dense near the pond. So he should walk in direction with less mist and he will go out of this forest. And even if don’t, he can at least see his surroundings better.

Ruth woke up from his thoughts due to growling sounds coming from other side of pond. He perked up his ears to listen more clearly. There is no mistake, those sounds are made by goblins and more than one is coming.

Ruth picked up his stick from the ground and quickly hid himself behind a tree. He crouched down ready to fight or to run away depending on the situation.

Voices grew louder as three silhouettes became visible. They kept clamoring and walking at the same time. As they passed in front of tree he is hiding, he can saw them. Two goblins carrying stones in their hands are bickering among themselves, while another one is armed with a wooden club.

The wooden club carrying goblin suddenly roared and pointed its club towards the tree Ruth is hiding. Other two goblins too stopped their fight and looked towards his direction.

His body tensed up as adrenaline pumped up in his body preparing him for his oncoming fight. He tightened his grip on his stick and started to estimate his winning chance. He can probably fight with two goblins if he is careful enough but three would be difficult to defeat.

Those three goblins slowly approached tree. They stopped at some distance before the tree and started searching all directions.

Ruth realized that goblins are looking not at him but at the goblin corpse lying on the ground. The goblins turned their backs to him, still searching for attacker. He knew that this is his best chance for attack.

He gripped his stick tightly and swung it towards the goblin at one end which has stones in its hands. Stick hit the completely unaware goblin with great force, resulting in the goblin collapsing on the ground, with its neck bending in wrong direction.

“Haa” Ruth shouted in joy as his first target got instant killed.

Other two goblins have already saw their companion’s death and started engaging Ruth.

Ruth immediately kicked the goblin with club in stomach putting some distance between them. He then turned towards the stone throwing goblin which is already throwing them on him. One of the stone hit him in the head but it hurt much less than it should. So, he ignored stones hitting him and directly headed towards the goblin.

The goblin screeched as it threw all of its stones on Ruth. They did not even manage to slow him down. It became more frantic as Ruth drew closer. The goblin guarded its head with its hands as it retreated back.

Now that he cannot kill goblin instantly on its head like the first one, Ruth chose the next best option. He swung his stick with full force targeting one of its leg. As the stick connected with goblin, both its leg and stick broke due to the large force he put on it.

He ignored the collapsed goblin, which is now wailing and turned back to intercept the wooden club which is about land on his head. As his stick already broken, he guarded with his left arm and shot his right hand towards goblin. His punch landed on its face and smashed its nose. Also his left arm didn’t hurt even after directly blocking a wooden club. Seems like his body really became harder.

“Grr” the goblin growled wiping the purple blood coming from its broken nose. It lifted its club and jumped towards Ruth.

After confirming that wooden club cannot break his arm Ruth became bolder as he welcomed club with a punch. With a crunching sound the club broke. Ruth hadn’t hesitated as he pummeled the weaponless goblin in its stomach with his fist.

The goblin collapsed just after taking three of Ruth’s punches to its stomach. Its body seemed far weaker even compared to a normal human. It lay on ground coughing purplish blood all over the ground.

Ruth walked towards the defeated goblin and stomped his foot on its neck breaking its spine and killing it immediately. He then looked for the goblin whose leg he broke. But there is nothing there except bloodied trails towards the direction the goblins came.

He sighed and began collecting two new corpses and stacked them on previous one. Even though he felt nothing during fight now that he see that purple goblin blood clearly, he has an urge to puke. He then picked up that broken club pieces and observed closely. He really broke them with his bare arms. He still cannot believe it. He then threw them away and went towards pond to clean all the dust and blood he got on him during fight.

There is someone who is just waiting for that moment. As soon as Ruth turned his back to goblin corpses, the giant crow came out from one of the branches and glided towards them. But Ruth is not a fool, he is also waiting for the crow to take the bait.

Just as the crow stopped to pluck the goblin’s heart, he suddenly turned and jumped onto the crow’s back, directly sitting between its wings. Then he held his legs around its wings making them unable to open and tackled its beak with his arms. Though it is much faster than him, it is only the case if it can fly. Now that it is pinned to ground it cannot escape again.

This unexpected attack from Ruth sent crow into panic and it began wildly thrashing around, trying to free its wings. Even though it is half his size, the strength present in its wings is very high. Ruth barely able to keep it from flying. As Ruth is on its back, the crow cannot attack with its claws. So it tried to throw off him using its beak.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Even using his two hands Ruth cannot completely suppress its beak. He knows that he cannot stay in this position for long time and it will be impossible to catch this crow again. Also the sounds it is making during this fight might alert other crows. Though he hadn’t saw another crow in this forest it is still better to hurry. He raised his right hand and punched its face near its eye. Its skin felt very hard, as it completely bounced his hand. But he didn’t stop his punching.

As the crow is flailing its wings around, Ruth on top it kept striking it, aiming its eye. As he continued punching he felt that hardness of its skin is decreasing. He even noticed that his knuckles are slightly glowing. After hitting around thirty times blood started coming from its eye; after another twenty punches entire region around its right become swollen and its eye became mushy bloody paste. Ruth is already completely absorbed in punching that when he stopped to see crow’s condition there is a hole of size of his fist where its eye used to be.

He released his other hand, resulting in crow’s dead body falling to ground. Seeing his right arm which is covered in blood till elbow and still covered with slight glow, he sighed and moved towards the pond to clean himself once again. At last he got rid of this pesky stalker. Though his method is barbaric, he got no other choice.

As he stepped out of the pond his stomach growled of hunger. Now that he think of it he hadn’t eaten anything from morning. Even though it is difficult to keep track of time in this forest, around 5 hours should have been passed on from his coming to this world. He hadn’t seen anything edible in this forest till now. As he thought till there, he subconsciously turned his head to see where goblin and crow’s bodies are lying.

Not knowing whether to feel hungry or nauseous, he decided to leave this spot before any more goblins or crows come searching.

Normally he would be drinking coffee in cafeteria, listening to his friend’s daily dose of complaining about lack of discipline in scientists and how it is making his life difficult. Even those mundane moments now felt precious to Ruth, as he kept trudging over damp mud with his bare feet. He then brought his palm to his face and opened and closed it. He knows that he couldn’t have killed that crow with just his bare hands without that strange glow that hardened his fist.

While thinking about various things, he kept walking away from the pond in the direction of less mist, which incidentally is the same direction goblins came. His steps stopped together with his thoughts, when he heard noises coming from front. He didn’t waste time and immediately hid behind the nearest tree. As he ducked and waited while slowing down his breathing, lots of green coloured things came into his vision. As they came nearer, he recognized them as goblins. They passed him while grunting and hollering among themselves. He saw one goblin showing the way while limping. It is probably the one that escaped from him. He also saw three goblins more muscular and taller than normal goblins, leading them.

Ruth held his breath till all of them passed his hiding spot. He then came out and did the best thing to do while facing an undefeatable foe. He ran away in the direction they just came from with his full speed. At this rate sooner or later all the goblins in this forest will hunt for him. As they have great numbers and knowledge about forest, he will be found quickly and then killed .He should run away from this wretched forest before that happens.

As he kept running Ruth suddenly stumbled into an open space. His surroundings suddenly changed dark to bright atmosphere. He looked back and saw those huge trees forming a wall behind him. It is as if that forest decided to exactly stop there. He squinted his eyes adjusting to brightness and observed his new surroundings.

Here soil is of red colour though it might be same in that dark forest. Trees here are normal and less dense. Most of this place is filled with plains and small bushes. Biggest difference he perceived after coming into this new forest is that, there is no suffocating atmosphere here. Until now although he only met some goblins and a crow, he has a feeling that someone or something is watching him. Now it is more relaxing although he is still inside a forest. He can even hear various sounds made by different animals coming all over the forest.

“Grrrr”

His peaceful observation of this new forest is interrupted by a loud grunt which is followed by a boar of size of a car charging towards him. He doesn’t even need to think what will happen if it collides with him. So Ruth bolted away from the boar with all his speed.

But the boar seemed faster than him as distance between them keep on decreasing. He tried running between various trees, so that it will slow down the boar even a little. His plan seemed to work as boar slowed down demolishing trees. He stopped running and took a deep breath after the loud roaring of boar behind him slowly faded.

“Why is my luck always so rotten?” Ruth muttered as he eyed the large tree in front of him. This tree is half dead with dark green leaves on the fresh parts. He started to climb the tree to get a better view of his surroundings. Unlike those gigantic trees in previous forest this is quite easy to climb with many branches which can be used as foot holds.

As he climbed one of the tree’s top branches, a majestic scenery greeted him. Vast blue sky covered over him with a setting sun on one side. At his back those big green trees are still looking huge even from here. There are mountains on other side which are even taller than those trees. The new forest in which he is now is filled with all kinds of plants and colorful flowers with red soil as their background.

He saw smoke coming from one of the mountain bases. He decided to go there for now and see if he can find some kind of civilization who won’t attack him on first sight. As he tried to climb a bit more his hand felt something smooth and silky. He unconsciously lifted it to see it better. It is a greenish black snake of around 2 feet long.

“Hsss” the snake hissed and jumped onto his face. Its red eyes gleamed as it opened its mouth displaying its two sharp fangs.

This sudden attack caught Ruth off guard. He reflexively brought his other hand to guard his face. But lifting both of his hands disturbed his balance and he slipped from the branch. Air whirled around his ears as he fell directly to ground. He thought whether he is going to die here after passing all those difficulties? As many thoughts passed through his mind, Ruth’s body experienced a large shock followed by pain everywhere.

I’m still alive!? As Ruth opened his eyes he saw his entire body covered with a light glow. How can he forget this ability, it is the main reason he made it alive till here. Though he doesn’t understand what it is or how to use it consciously, it already saved his life many times just like now. It is like an invisible protective membrane spread all over the body. But it is the first time it covered his whole body.

He checked his body for any injuries. He hadn’t found any injuries; but that greenish black snake is still clutching his left biceps with its mouth. Its fangs cannot breach his protection so, no real harm is done. But it still refused to accept defeat and stubbornly kept biting him, while its body is coiling his arm. He tried separating it from himself but its grip is too strong, while its skin is very smooth making it difficult to properly hold it.

He tried some time separating it and finally left it coiling around his arm. It cannot do anything to him and probably will leave him after realizing that. He already experienced so many things in this forest that a small snake is not going to faze him.

He saw many types of animals on his way to place from where smoke is coming. Most of them are not dangerous and generally ignored him. One time there is another of that boar sleeping; he slowly tiptoed out of its domain.

Light in the surroundings slowly dimmed, marking the coming of evening. It felt strange that the sun still is in the same place, just above the horizon. As he kept walking he saw some sort of road. So he took the road and continued moving forward.

He kept walking and finally saw the end of road. There is some sort of small city surrounded by a short wall. There is a gap in the wall forming an entrance. Though there is something written on the arch above the entrance, it is in an unknown language. Smoke is coming from one corner of the city, but he cannot see the source due to the wall. He then turned back to see forest one last time and proceeded forward. His heart beat became a bit faster as he walked towards the entrance.

His nervousness decreased as he saw a 12 – 13 years little girl picking some berries from a bush, nearby the city walls. Ruth put up his best smiling face and called her.

“Hello, little girl over there.”

She stiffened up as she lifted her head to see Ruth and spilled all the berries she collected on the ground. Then she ran into the city, loudly crying.

He then remembered that he is completely naked and got a snake coiled around his arm.