With guidance from the system map, the trio had no problems travelling towards their destination. Their objective was to reach a cave that was supposedly overrun by goblins, as they closed in on the destination Dante began to experience a sense of apprehension at what was expected of him. He wasn’t scared about the prospect of fighting some goblins, it was the fact that this time he would be the aggressor.

Ever since arriving in the ascended universe he had to fight for survival, he was the victim in every situation, and there was no doubt that he was defending himself against monsters and creatures that were intent on killing him. However, with the trial sending him on a mission towards creatures that he was expected to kill, sentient beings that had never done him any wrong, it didn’t quite sit well with him.

They passed through a vibrant green field, there was constant high pitch buzzing and chirruping sounds of insects that would burst out of the grass as they waded through. As they made their way towards the goblin cave, Dante was curious about what he was getting himself into, wondering more and more about the goblins, and whether he was going to be killing innocent creatures that just so happened to set up residence in the wrong place. He could see how them harassing other settlements could be an inconvenience, but did it deserve a death sentence?

“Otus, what are goblins like? Why do they deserve to be killed, Can’t we just scare them away?” Dante asked.

A noise he wasn’t expecting burst out of Otus, a huff as he stopped midstride, then a snarl as he began to respond, “Goblins are the bane of this world! They are vermin!”

Otus was tensed up and seemed ready to lash out. Dante was taken off guard by the man’s behaviour, it was the first time he had seen any form of aggression from him in the short time they had travelled together. Otus was visibly shaking in fury, he released several long slow breaths, managing to relax his tense muscles, then calmly composed himself before he continued explaining.

“Sorry, It’s just… Goblins are like locusts, they don’t create, they just steal and consume. They have almost no sense of morality, they have been known to murder, steal, destroy and kidnap people. God’s I can still hear the screams of my friends being dragged away, taken into Goblin burrows and… and… Adam’s balls!... I can’t say it out loud.” Otus’s fury was starting to return, he struggled to get out the last few words. It took him some more time before he calmed down again.

Dante just remained patient, allowing Otus the time necessary to recover and begin speaking again.

“Dante, they are vile creatures. They...Oh, Father. Dante, they take because they can’t create. They murder people who are useless to them, the people they kidnap… they are subjected to all manner of vile treatment. There are stories of villagers who have gathered together as a militia, intending to recover their loved ones. Upon returning from successfully vanquishing the goblin nest, they always come back with blank faces. They refuse to talk about the horrors they had seen committed in the goblin nests. The few words that we managed to get out of them… one man spoke of the terrible conditions of the people they found inside the nests. Many of the survivors would beg for their deaths.” He sobbed the last few words before speaking up again.

“You’ll go in there Dante, you’ll go into that cave and exterminate every last one if you know what’s good for you.” His furious words punctuated every evil act that goblins carried out. He saw bad memories flash past Otus’s face, Dante placed his hand on the enraged man’s shoulder before making a promise, “I’m sorry Otus, I understand. You don’t need to say anymore. I’ll get rid of them. I promise.”

They were silent for a time after that conversation, trudging towards the cave, the mood soured by Otus’s outburst. Dante wanted to change the mood a bit, so he decided to ask about the system scan.

“Otus, I’ve been wondering, I’ve never actually used the system deep scan on a humanoid before. Would you mind if I used it on you? I think it would help to develop an idea of what kind of information I’ll receive, I plan to use it on some of the goblins but it helps to know what to expect.”

The quiet and morose mood had been broken, Otus perked up and responded. “Uh, try it on me? Well, the information you receive, it’s basically a combination of your existing knowledge. There are several other factors that can affect the information that is revealed, such as the level gap between yourself and the thing you are trying to scan. It also is impacted by your level of access within the system, but those lucky enough to gain higher access to the system don’t like to tell most people much about it.” Otus replied, happy to satisfy Dante’s curiosity.

“Not everyone will be so willing, but please go Ahead Dante and use Scan, I won’t be offended in the least.”

Dante Beamed, “Great, thank you.” Fixating on Otus, he triggered the ‘Deep Scan.’ He felt a small amount of mana drain from his reserves of energy. Then a mental prompt was displayed.

[Name: Herodotus]

[System Level: 5]

[Title: Aspiring Historian]

[Species: Humanoid Owl]

[State: Healthy, Distressed]

‘It’s not much information, it’s pretty much the same as what was displayed when I scanned Waya. It’s interesting nonetheless, I won’t always go into encounters with enemies blind to their potential.’ He thought about how once he unlocked higher system access, excited about the kind of useful information that might be revealed to him in the future. Dante also considered how it would probably prevent him from making idiotic mistakes, such as getting into a fight against a far superior enemy and finding himself way out of his depth. A brief flash of when he tried to use the basic scan on the gate guard Krugeri, the look he received in response made his hairs stand on end.

They had been travelling for several hours when signs of life were starting to fade away, they had reached a point in the plains where the green started to disappear, replaced by a rocky landscape. Surrounded by crags of stone, loose rocks tumbled down steep inclined hills, any attempt to climb them would be thwarted by scree and vertical walls and overhangs, it was a bad place to be. They could easily be ambushed if they weren’t careful of their surroundings, they had to remain vigilant. Dante spent 3 mana growing dark orange claws, remaining alert and scanning his surroundings.

Dante and Waya walked ahead, leading by a small distance while Otus crept behind them. They walked forward until he saw what looked like a small defiled shrine, stacks of different coloured rocks were dripping with some dark substance on them. Dante approached the shrine, he touched the substance and brought his fingers back to inspect, it seemed like dried sticky blood. He could also make out small animal skulls and bones littered around it. He suspected that they were close now. Checking his map, he confirmed that they were about half a mile off the trial location marker, he raised his fingers to his lips and hushed the other two.

Signalling for them to wait a moment, he crouched down and focussed on his senses. Steadily he made his way forward, the grey wolf fur cloak allowed him to make his stealthy approach, the crunching of stones under his feet were muted to barely audible levels. His heightened senses allowed him to detect any potential signs of danger, so far he didn’t feel under threat but he was picking up signs of life nearby.

Waya and Otus crept behind him, maintaining a distance of about 50 meters, moving when he moved, stopping when he stopped.

Dante halted his steps when he heard a strange gurgling noise, the noise changed into a hawking sound that transitioned to a spitting noise. ‘Urgh lovely, They must be very close.’ Lowering himself to the ground, he clambered over the sharp rocks and debris, making small soft leaps between the sturdier footing where there were outcrops of solid stone boulders. Gradually making his way towards the source of the sound as quietly as possible.

Before he saw anything, a smell stung his nose, a strong body odour and a stinging pungent urine smell coming from the direction of the unusual noises. Reaching the peak of a crag, he gently placed his hands against the edge, slowly lifting himself up to bring his head peeking over the edge. His eyes were focused on his targets, 5 in all, he scanned each of them.

[Goblin - Level 2]

[Goblin - Level 3]

[Goblin - Level 3]

[Goblin - Level 4]

[Goblin - Level 3]

They were tiny grey hairless rat-like humanoids, large clawed hands and feet that seemed disproportionate to their gangly limbs. They had other distinct grotesque physical features such as long drooping ears with pointed tips, bulging green eyes with slits for pupils. Their filthy mouths were host to sharp long teeth that were angled in different directions. He could see from the few that could be bothered to wear clothes, the clothing that they did wear appeared to be dirty and loosely fitting, he guessed that what they wore didn’t belong to them or wasn’t made for their purposes. Drool slid down their chins as they were gathered around a dead body, he couldn’t exactly make out what type of creature they were surrounding.

The goblins were all hunched over, making unusual noises while they gleefully poked the body with sticks. Dante could make out that some were crudely armed with slings, sharpened sticks and to his relief they had no visible armour.

What appeared to be the leader amongst them, pushed the others out of his way, he then spat on the dead body they were just poking. Satisfied that he had marked his share of the kill, the goblin then scratched its rear before bringing its fingers to its nose and curiously sniffing. Then it scratched again deeper, bringing the hand back again for confirmation that the disgusting smell was still present.

The creature started retching, once it recovered from experiencing its own nauseating odour, it smirked and then placed its hand in front of another goblin. The hand was right under the unfortunate goblin’s nose. It recoiled and smacked the hand away before releasing a garbled screech and pointing its stick, jabbing several times to make its displeasure known. The instigator laughed while wiping its hand on the shirt of another goblin that was too distracted to pay attention.

Focussing on the disgusting individual, Dante cast ‘Deep Scan’.

[Name: Gurg]

[System Level: 4]

[Title: n/a]

[Species: Goblin - ??]

[State: Malnourished, Aroused]

‘What the fuck did I just witness? They are not exactly creating a good case for why I shouldn’t kill them immediately.’

Counting the enemies and double-checking that none were hidden, he was happy to confirm that there were only the 5 goblins in the vicinity. He checked the surroundings one more time, ensuring he and his companions weren’t going to be suddenly ambushed while carrying out their own attack, he could not detect any other signs of life.

Turning around, he glanced at the pair waiting below. He signalled to Waya and Otus, holding his hand to display a fist then raised his fingers one by one until all five were up. Then he waved for Waya to flank around, he drew a semi-circle in the air with his hand. These were signals that he and Waya had already established when they were sneaking through the forest, she seemed to bow her head in acknowledgement, breaking away from Otus she started moving into position.

Dante turned back to face the goblins, he was waiting in ambush, mentally planning his approach. Below him, to the right, he saw Waya stealthily moving around, she was holding herself close to the floor and making a gradual approach. Readying herself for a sneak attack, she was near enough now that she could leap into an attack at a moments notice. He raised his hand telling her to hold, a single blink from her was enough confirmation.

The group of goblins' behaviour had declined into a physical fight over the dead body, three of them were each holding a different limb and were tugging hard while the other two cheered them on. The two cheering were waving their sticks and cackling at the show being put on before them.

Dante targeted the highest level goblin, its name was Gurg, it was one of the goblins that were cheering on the others that were fighting over the dead body, Gurg was the furthest from Waya and faced her direction, if she was spotted, he would be the first to see her.

Steadying his nerves, he readied himself to attack. He gave Waya the go signal. A shadow dashed towards the other cheering goblin that had its back to her.

****

Gurg was feeling triumphant, he and his crew had just managed to kill a goat that had the misfortune of wandering into their territory. They were all standing around the dead body trying to decide how to split their share, he was the first to spot the goat and initiate the attack, so was assured the tastiest pieces, he spat on it to let everyone know he deserved the best parts. No one complained.

Now that was settled for him, his attention turned to a deep itch in his nether regions and so he decided to scratch, raising his hand to his face to sniff, a wretched odour clung to his fingers. He looked to Ylug, he had been hoping to mate with her for a while now. She always refused his advances. He thought it was time to make a move and show her how serious he was. Gurg scratched below even deeper now, raising his hand and even before it reached his nose he started to retch, which was quite an accomplishment. Satisfied that he was ready to declare his feelings, he moved his hand towards Ylug’s face.

Ylug baulked at the smell, smacking his hand away and jumping back before pointing her spear at him while screeching and hissing. He laughed and thought to himself that his first move was successful, she would want more from him tonight, he was sure she was just playing hard to get.

While he and Ylug were distracted the remaining Goblins had started to fight over which parts of the body they wanted. Tugging on the different limbs of the goat, they heard the body slightly ripping as they fought over it. Gurg and Ylug cheered on the fighting while waving their spears. If one of the three died while fighting over the goat, then there would be more for them.

Gurg noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye, he looked behind Ylug and saw a feral beast pouncing towards her. He screeched to warn her but she didn’t pay him any attention, she was still disgusted by his earlier behaviour.

Despair was plastered all over his face as he couldn’t help but watch as the beast clamped its teeth down on her head, with a single bite Ylug’s head was ripped off from her body. Her blood sprayed onto the backs of the three who were busy fighting each other.

Gurg was furious, he raised his spear and readied himself to charge at the beast that had killed his potential mate.

The last thing he saw was a flash of red light, then nothing.

****

Waya had immediately dispatched one of the distracted goblins by brutally taking its head clean off. Dante followed up by firing a two-unit mana bolt, the red bolt ripped through the air and tore a hole through the disgusting goblins head. The remaining three that were fighting over their food were still briefly distracted until one of them noticed blood was spraying onto its back, turning too late to see Waya leaping towards him.

Gurg’s body collapsed forwards, knocking into another goblin’s leg while he was still busy fighting over the goat, his foot stumbled and he lost his balance, the goblin tripped backwards and fell to the ground. The goblin saw the dead body underneath itself, there was a gaping hole in Gurg’s head, the goblin screamed in fear and confusion.

Dante leapt into action by moving out of hiding, he jumped down from the ledge he was using to conceal himself. He bounded between different outcroppings in quick succession until he reached a sheer drop that led to the group of goblins. Leaping into the air, he felt a brief moment of weightlessness before hitting the ground with a rolling tumble. He immediately got back onto his feet then sprinted towards the goblin that had tripped on the recently deceased body.

The last goblin that was fighting over the goat cheered as it was the last one still holding on, it looked up to gloat at the others. The sight that greeted the goblin wasn't what it had expected, instead of jealous rivals it was met with blood and screaming. The victorious goblin didn’t realise what was going on, seeing its friend had tumbled backwards, he made a move to help him up from the ground. As he approached to help his friend, it occurred too late that something was going terribly wrong. He saw his grounded friend pointing its grey clawed finger to the danger behind him and trying to screech a warning.

The goblin felt intense pain as he watched a clawed hand burst out through his chest, showering his blood all over the companion he was trying to help.

Dante’s clawed hand reached through the ignorant goblin's back, following the momentum he then continued thrusting his arm forward into the chest of the downed goblin. Both were rapidly dispatched, their tiny threads of energy were converted to experience and then absorbed into him.

Dante turned and saw Waya ragging around the last goblin, blood flicked away from its body as all fight was shaken out of it. Waya’s mouth was wrapped around its throat. The goblin released its last breath as bubbles of blood foamed from its lips, then Waya finally ripped out the Goblins throat.

‘That was fucking brutal Waya!’ He was a little shocked at the scene. He had never been the instigator of fights, he was always defending himself against aggressors, so something felt a little off about the brief yet brutal battle. They were too easy to kill, he knew that was because of his quickly accumulating power and experience, but it still seemed wrong.

“Good job.” Raising his hand and giving Waya a thumbs up. There was a lingering feeling of guilt at what he had just done, he felt like a fox in a henhouse with how easily they had taken care of this group of goblins.

"This is just the start..."