On a certain dusty road, a man and his horse trotted down in the darkness of the night. Of course, this wouldn’t have been so unusual had it been the daytime. However, it was night-time, and travelling at this hour was rare.

Normally, it was considered suicide to travel at night, as most of the world’s monsters were nocturnal in nature. Even those travelling in groups would have trouble fending off night-time’s ferocious beasts, let alone just one person. As nearly more than half of the human population wouldn’t even qualify as an F-ranked fighter, such an act was quite rare to say the least.

However, the man himself was no ordinary traveler.

With long, flowing greenish-blonde hair and a strikingly handsome face, his appearance was far from ordinary. His lean, well-defined muscles indicated a man who was both strong and athletic. Adorned in mithril armor and a shining emerald shield radiating wealth, any common citizen would be able to tell he was some sort of high class knight. For those in the royal circle, the grass image on his shield surrounded by the Alyastia Kingdom's crest indicated his position as the [Hero of the Grass].

At the very least, he was not somebody many would dare mess with.

All of a sudden, a group of five [Darkwolves] emerged from the shadows. Boasting pitch-black fur, blood red eyes, and the size and weight of a truck, these monsters projected an appearance of frightening intimidation. According to the Guild system, these powerful monsters were recognized at the A rank level - a very high rank. Just one of these monsters could topple towns like sandcastles on their own, let alone a whole group of five.

Seeing a juicy looking human in front of them, the [Darkwolves] decided to pounce on a rare midnight snack. Sensing incredible power from the lone human, their hunger elevated even further as they snarled and showed their fangs.

For monsters, humans were a very large source of power for them. By consuming normal humans, they gain more power and strength than they would eating a hundred other monsters. With powerful humans, their energy levels were equivalent to thousands of monsters. Assessing the risk-reward of such a scenario, for these monsters, it was worth killing and consuming a fraction of a powerful human despite the danger.

As these [Darkwolves] saw their human target being all by himself, they figured they had the advantage in numbers and would easily win the fight despite whatever strength he had.

Unfortunately, they completely underestimated said human’s strength.

The Hero smiled and put up a pleasant expression on his face. Looking at each of the [Darkwolves] in front of him, he showed no signs of fear or concern despite their auras of intimidation. Lifting up his hand, the Hero began to chant as the [Darkwolves] crept up to him, patiently waiting for the right moment. As soon as one of those monsters lept at him, an explosion of power ripped through the air as the Hero's skill [Grass Tendrils] activated.

From the side, five tendrils of grass rapidly grew and shot out at blinding speeds. These grass blades blasted through the air while aiming their sharp, pointed ends at the [Darkwolves]. The monsters weren’t even able to react as they were all stabbed right through their vital points. Blood spurted out of these mighty monsters as they fell to the ground completely lifeless and unaware of how they died. Soon afterwards, the grass quickly retreated back to their original size, once again basking in the night-time glow as if nothing happened.

“Stupid ants. Acting like I, the [Hero of the Grass], was easy prey,” The Hero arrogantly snarked. Yanking the reins in front of him, the horse neighed and continued on, stepping over the carnage.

Returning his focus back on the road, the Hero's thoughts drifted back to why he was here in the first place. Thinking back to his meeting a few days prior, the Hero’s face changed to one of disgust. Per his assigned mission, the royal palace ordered him to flatten a Demon town located in the south. Sure, it was common for the Alyastia Kingdom to ask its [Hero] class resources to eliminate [Demon] towns, considering their ongoing campaign to “exterminate the degenerate inferiors” as they put it. However, that didn’t mean the [Hero of the Grass] liked doing it.

Just thinking of how he had to waste his time and energy on such lowly creatures made him want to puke. To the Hero and most of human society, Demons and other non-human species were like uncivilized buffoons running around covered in dung.

However, while they at least begrudgingly tolerated the Elves and Beastkin, they never accepted the existence of Demons. The fact these Demons even attempted to mimic human civilized society was a huge insult to most human’s eyes. They considered such an act as overreaching nature’s rightful boundaries between themselves and Demons.

Seeing Demon towns and even Demon Kingdoms pop up, the Alyastia Kingdom decided to unleash its campaign against these proclaimed barbarians in hopes to eradicate them from the planet forever. From the Hero’s perspective, he was glad his Kingdom was so generous in picking up this unsavory work, but sadly it also meant he’d be doing a large part of the work as well.

Although lately there was an unusual spike of random deaths of [Hero] class workers on the job, none of that was too much of a concern for the arrogant [Hero of the Grass]. Rather, the only thing bothering him was the idea he’d have to breathe in the same air as those degenerates whenever he was put on these missions.

“Stupid monkeys. All of them should just fold over and die rather than make us waste a single drop of sweat to rid of their pathetic existence.” The Hero grumbled silently.

Shaking his head, the Hero promised himself that he’d definitely visit the Kingdom’s finest tavern on the royal palace’s tab after completing his unsavory mission. The thought of drinking such high quality beer brightening his mood.

The Hero continued on, humming a jolly tune he picked up from a tavern the night before. As a man who loved to drink, he made it a mission to visit every tavern or bar in whatever town he visited. Of course, he put the tab on the royal castle. After all, even with his salary from being a [Hero], he definitely wouldn’t be able to afford the insane amount of drinks he buys on the regular.

“Man. Only took 70 drinks to get be a little woozy last night. That place had some high quality stuff.”

Laughing when he recalled the bartender’s reaction to his heavy drinking, he kicked his horse unconsciously, causing the horse to react with neighing and shaking. The Hero frantically tried to calm his horse down while trying not to lose balance and stumble off. After finally getting his horse to quiet down, he continued on with a tired and wry smile.

“Crap. Adrian would never let me go if he saw this happen.” The Hero sighed, once again making a mental note to prioritize leveling up his [Horse Tamer] skill.

Soon, the end of the road filled the Hero’s sight with the Demon town target standing behind it. At first glance, its appearance was little to no different than any normal human town. With a huge wall surrounding its numerous buildings and areas, it was like any other ordinary town. However, considering it was filled with [Demons], it may as well have been sticks and crap in the Hero’s eyes.

Wanting to get his mission done quickly, the Hero accelerated his horse towards his destination.

However, a dark ominous presence quickly grinded him to a halt.

Immediately, the Hero activated his [Grass Tendrils] in self defense as he felt his [Death Sensor] blare off. Out of nowhere, three metal bolts slammed themselves right into the shooting grass tendrils and stuck right on them. Had he wasted another second at activating his life-saving skill, he knew those bolts would’ve struck right through himself instead.

Leaping off his horse, the Hero landed and quickly stood in a defensive posture while he scanned his surroundings. Putting up his shield, he activated his [Presence Detection] and [Killing Intent] in hopes of intimidating and finding whoever tried to kill him. However, his efforts were futile as he was unable to sense anything at all.

As the horror-inducing silence wore on, he started to sweat nervously for the first time ever in his life.

“What the hell was that...” the Hero muttered anxiously. “Where the crap is this monster hiding?!”

Unfortunately for the Hero, he would never know the answer to that. All of a sudden, a huge sense of foreboding overcame the [Hero of the Grass] as he felt an unreal killing intent shake him to his very core. However, before he could react, a massive spike of pain and heat rose from the left side of his chest as something sliced through.

Yelling in pain, he looked down towards the source in horror as he saw a gush of trickling red liquid squirt out from a place it shouldn’t have. Pure anguish masked his face as he realized the wound was most definitely fatal.

“How…did...” the Hero gasped his final words.

Like the [Darkwolves] from before, the arrogant [Hero of the Grass] fell down like a sack of rocks, now forever lifeless and powerless. No longer would he be able to drink or slay thousands, as life forever left his crippled body. After battling countless armies, powerful monsters, and death-defying stand-offs, the once mighty and powerful Hero met his doom at the end of a knife’s blade without ever knowing who his killer was or how he did it.

A figure from the shadows emerged, wiping off the blood on his knife. Throwing the blood soaked rag away, he walked forward once more towards the roadkill in front of him. Looking at the corpse with bottomless disgust, he spat on the Hero’s disgusting face and the organization he represented. Afterwards, the figure brought out a few things in preparation of cremating the former [Hero of the Grass] as per normal procedure.

As he set about lighting the dead Hero on fire, he reminded himself of that promise he made to himself that fateful day.

To forever eliminate all heroes for good.

Only then could he create a world where every race can live in harmony.