_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Add had now accumulated over 100,000 CP, and most of it was obtained in just this one day. Still not satisfied with just this much, he returned to luring more groups of goblins. The dynamite and mines he had planted before had been used up, but he had only planted less than half of his full stock. He didn’t plant them again, as he was not sure if the goblins would be so stupid to come around this area again after facing such crushing defeats. And his guess was right, for even after he had been searching for a while, no goblin could be seen around the area, and he could only hear occasional roars and shrieks coming from all across the surrounding forest. After waiting some more, he decided to change his strategy and silently made his way towards the goblin village.

The goblin village was around a kilometre away from the ambush location, and nearly half way there, Add crossed paths with the Goblin Champions for the first time. These creatures really earned their name. At over 6 feet tall, with bulging muscles and a feral expression on their hideous faces, their eyes oozing with malice and violence. They had rough hair covering their chests and some form of what appeared to be beard on their faces, which were otherwise bald. Over all these hideous monster looked like oversized hybrids of apes and goblins, and they stunk....a lot. There were some hobgoblins and total of 3 Goblin Champions in the group before him, easily noticeable by their large bodies and dark olive green skin. They all held large wooden clubs, which could smash a normal man to pulp if it hit. One of the Goblin Champions moved towards Add, Its hulking body dwarfed the human before it as it raised its club preparing to attack with a roar. He immediately readied his machinegun, loaded a new 250 round magazine and cocked the bolt carrier back loading the first bullet into chamber. The PKP was ready to fire. He aimed at the Goblin Champion which was coming at him and fired.

*RATATATATATATATA*

The brass shells fell of the ejection port one after the other as the machinegun rattled and pumped bullets into the Goblin Champion, filling it with holes. Add kept retreating as he fired, keeping the distance between him and the goblins. The other goblins also attacked, but what greeted them in return was the relentless machinegun fire. At such close range, they never stood a chance against the PKP, the only possible chance they had to attack Add, was when he was reloading, but due to his decades of experience with weapons. the reloading process was of relatively short duration. The first Goblin Champion died immediately after eating a dozen rounds, while the remaining two ignored his death and attacked with their clubs. They could not be blamed though, as they had never known the fear of guns. However, even though the Hobgoblins were butchered within moments, the bodies of the Goblin Champions were quite tough, tough enough that one could withstand a few hits from the PKP and still not die. The two remaining Goblin Champions kept charging towards Add until they were filled with tens of bullets and finally died.

[Ding! You have killed Hobgoblins x 8]

[Ding! You have killed Goblin Champion x 3]

[Ding! Received 10,000 CP]

"These things sure are tough..."

Add sighed as he looked at the dead Goblin champions. These things truly didn’t fear death, charging head on with brute strength, they took tens of bullets before going down. The good thing though was each one gave him 2000 CP which was quite a lot. However, if normal people of Iseria heard him say this, they would puke blood in anger.

[This Goblin Champion was a C ranked Monster! But It died so easily! And it never even got a chance to retaliate.]

[Even seasoned warriors would face difficulty facing one, but you killed three without a sweat!]

[And now you complain about them being tough when they died so easily !?]

[God! There is no fairness in this world!]

To Add who had the experience of killing a man with 2-4 bullets at most, something that could take dozens of said bullets would surely appear tough. But by this worlds standards, he had indeed killed them very easily. Unaware of the stir he would cause should his actions be seen or known, he moved on towards the Goblin village. Along the way, he met a few more groups of goblins all of which armed with some kind of weapon or the other, but they all fell between the alternating firing from the AK-47 and the PKP. Add didn’t use the PKP constantly, as it needed to cool down after firing a few hundred rounds, only when he spotted Goblin Champions, would he use the machinegun. For normal goblins and Hobgoblins, the AK-47 was still enough. By the time he reached near the village he had gained a decent amount of CP. It was almost dusk now, and the last rays of the sun were vanishing beyond the horizon. The goblin village was roughly circular in shape spread over a radius of around 500 metres. There were many goblins moving around the edges of the nest acting as lookouts. After whatever had been happening through the day, it was given that they would be on high alert.

Add took a concealed position atop a tree, covered by branches and leaves, and aimed with the AX338. He had changed course many times, so that the Goblins could not have a proper idea, as to where he actually was. Through the scope, he could see that hundreds of goblins were moving around in the village. The bulk of them were normal goblins, but there were hundreds of Hobgoblins as well and dozens of Goblin Champions. But he still was unable to spot any goblin that could be the leader. Wasting no more time, he adjusted the AX338 sniper rifle on its bipod. His eyes firmly glued to the scope. From his position, the goblin village was now a bit over a 100 metres away.

*Click – Clack*

The first bullet was chambered. Soon an unsuspecting goblin came in his range, it was holding spear and constantly looked around with its dirty yellow eyes. The crosshair on the scope soon aligned onto the unsuspecting critter and he fired.

*Pshh*

Following the sound of the suppressor, the bullet left the muzzle, the next moment, with a dull squelching sound, the head of the oblivious goblin was blown to bits, like a water melon hit with a bat. It never knew how it died. Its companions around it were also shocked and stunned watching their companion die suddenly. Add took advantage of their stupor and kept shooting. Within a minute over 10 goblins were dead. As the smell of blood filled the air, the surrounding goblins sensed something was wrong and began rushing towards the scene. Soon he could hear "gigigigi" noises from everywhere, dozens of goblins and hobgoblins crowded the area, their hand holding various weapons like rusty swords, daggers, bone spikes, makeshift spears and bows etc.

After looking at the dead bodies of the goblins, they completely understood that the village was under attack. They began roaring in their hoarse language as more goblins swarmed from the nest. In the dark, it looked like a flood of horrendous creatures. But this was exactly what he was hoping for. He began throwing the dynamite sticks all over the place. With his improved strength throwing the sticks a few dozen metres was not much of a problem, though his arm did hurt a bit. As the goblins began running over the dynamite, he pressed the detonator he was holding. All the sticks exploded at the same time, turning the area into a hell.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

At this moment the goblins were almost pitiful. Their soft bodies, were blown to pieces, and blood and gore covered the forest floor. A mixture of smells, including burnt meat, blood and innards filled the area. Through all this, Add silently kept watch waiting for the response of the goblins. But no more goblins came out, it would seem that they were intelligent enough to realise that they had repeatedly walked into traps and lost so many of their numbers. They no longer dared to charge out. Add purchased a night vision goggles from the system shop and wore it as darkness was fast covering the forest. He checked his equipment and then got down from the tree and entered the village. No matter what he had to finish things tonight, or else if he retreated now, the goblins would be prepared or probably escape, and he could not allow that, since every goblin was a walking bag of CP.

He was very vigilant as he increased his walking speed and put the PKP machinegun in a better position. He placed the trigger arm down and kept it pulled in tight to the body, to create a smaller target for the enemy and give greater manoeuvrability. His left hand grasped the fore-end from the side, to give more certain control over side-to-side movement of the muzzle during rapid fire and support. He slightly hunched forward putting more weight over the gun for better recoil control, and to reduce stumbling. While his head was straight, his cheeks pressing against the stock. This was the best tactical standing position to shoot while on the move. The gun was loaded with a 250 round box magazine. As he entered the village, goblins who were prepared for his arrival lunged at him from all sides.

*RATATATATATATA*

Add welcomed them with a hail of bullets. There were some goblin archers around but due to the darkness, they were unable to aim accurately, some arrows landed near him but they did little other than exposing the location of the archers. As more arrows began raining around him, he quickly took cover behind a tree and looked around, through his night vision he soon found the goblins on trees shooting the arrows. He threw some fragmentation grenades to slow the goblins on the ground and turned his machinegun to cover the entire tree line in bullets. Many goblins hiding in those trees fell dead and a few survivors jumped down and retreated. He then made his way to the centre of the village, moving in a zigzag manner, and dropping the remaining SKN-50 mines as he went along. After he had made a circle of the village dodging attacks and killing goblins, he detonated all the mines. Explosions kept ringing across the entire area and hundreds upon hundreds of steel balls tore through everything in their paths.

He had now reached the centre of the village and found dozens of goblin champions and even more hobgoblins rushing towards him. They were shrieking loudly and their vicious teeth were on full display as if wanting to tear him to pieces. Grenades and a hail of bullets responded to their welcome. All the bravado displayed by the huge goblins shattered instantly and vanished as they were blown to pieces. The imposing goblin army had been mostly slaughtered.

*GIIIIIIIIIIIII*

Suddenly a loud shriek echoed in the area following which the goblins that were running away now again swarmed towards Add, as if they were hell-bent of drinking his blood. He frowned at this but he had no hesitation. Taking the reloaded Machine gun in one hand and a sword in the other, he scoffed coldly;

"No matter how many of you come, you still will die"

The PKP was opened fire and the music of the weapon played in the forest as goblin after goblin died. The larger ones were killed with the gun and any smaller ones that managed to inch closer, were met with a slash of the sword. Brains splattered, some even had arms and legs were blown away, the murky blackish blood drenched the land. But their companions didn't care about that, they stepped over the dead goblins and kept charging at Add, so he stabbed the sword in a goblin and pulled out some HE grenades from a utility belt on his waist.

*CLINK* *CLINK* *CLINK*

With the clatter of pins, 7 Type – 65 Fragmentation grenades, found themselves amidst the charging goblins which stepped over them without care. As if angry at being trampled, the grenades exploded and maimed the ignorant critters. The horde of goblins was mostly blown to bits, their body parts flying everywhere. Add repeated this, reloading his guns, switching between them, using grenades to blast the goblins apart. Gradually the horde began to thin, and soon he had finished off the last remaining goblins. Mutilated bodies were strewn all around him, the pungent smell of blood and gore, along with the stink of goblins, gave off a smell which would make one vomit his guts out. A few surviving goblins were so terrified that they ran away into the tree line, but there was suddenly a loud roar and, a goblin was sent back flying, it rolled on the ground for a few metres before its mangled body came to a stop. Add was alarmed and began to retreat as he looked towards the area from where the goblin had just come crashing. With a dull thumping of feet, a large figure appeared from within the trees. As he saw the sudden attacker and Add’s expression became solemn.

"So it was a goblin King after all…"

A hulking figure was gazing cruelly at him, its hands holding the large broadsword that it had taken from an unfortunate adventurer, with ease. A Goblin King. They were the leaders of the goblin race, and also the most dangerous and powerful of the goblins. They were very smart and cunning, and were able to lead other goblins by instinct. They were individuals that had lived for many years and have become capable of intelligent thoughts. They are taller and larger than any normal goblins and far more muscular, even bigger than the Goblin Champions. Having lived and grown over many years, they are very intelligent and capable of formulating cunning strategies. These were B – Ranked monsters, far stronger than any goblin champion. The Goblin King gave off a menacing aura. It was furious. A puny human had foiled all his plans. It had planned to raid the nearby human villages, abduct the women to spawn their numbers, and kill all the rest. It wanted to become the ruler of this forest. For that purpose it had planned for many years secretly gathering its forces, not letting the humans know. And just when it was a step away from starting its plans, all was wasted by this one human.

*GIIIIIIIIII*

It roared, charging at Add, swinging its heavy sword at him. Add was astonished at its speed. Even it was so big, the Goblin lord was very fast. Add ditched his plan of shooting the thing, as he barely dodged the sword attack. He took out the last two fragmentation grenades and threw them at its feet.

*BOOM* *BOOM*

The grenades blew but the goblin lord was very swift despite its large size, it was able to dodge most of the explosion, only slightly affected as it chased Add. He fired his machinegun, but most of the bullets were unable to hurt it seriously, and as he was constantly on the move, aiming at the Goblin King’s vitals was hard. Add was very impressed by the large monster’s movements, despite such a size and bulk, its movements were fairly swift. But he had no intention of admiring them any longer. Still on the move, dodging the heavy attacks from its sword he quickly purchased a dozen more grenades, while simultaneously throwing them at the Goblin King. The fact that he could easily extract items from the inventory with a thought made it easier to spam explosives. The Goblin King was only so fast, its hulking body was unable to dodge so many grenades and soon it was drowned in explosions. Its momentum slowed down and Add used this chance to get further away from it. He was not escaping however. Putting down his machine gun, he took the AX338 sniper in his hand, and aimed it at the goblin king who was now badly wounded and bleeding. Its eyes had also suffered damage as one was closed and bleeding. Still being the king it was it still went to attack Add who wasted no time and aimed at the head.

"Just die already."

He emptied the entire magazine into its head. The thick head resisted a few shots, and some of them missed too. Yet most of the bullets did go though and the head had more holes than a cheese block. The King’s hulking body was still in motion, even after all life left it. It ran for a few seconds then fell down a few metres before Add with loud thump. And thus ended the life of an ambitious goblin lord. As the battle finally ended and a deathly silence covered the area, the sound of notifications also began ringing in his ears.

[Ding! You have killed Goblin King x 1]

[Ding! Received 10,000 CP]

[Ding! You have killed Goblin x 357. Received 35,700 CP]

[Ding! You have killed Hobgoblin x 195. Received 97,500CP]

[Ding! You have killed Goblin Champion x 98. Received 196,000 CP]

The system screen was filled with notifications. He had lost a few thousand CP in the form of bullets and explosives, in the process, but his overall gains vastly outweighed the losses. However, the goblins had without doubt suffered disastrous losses. The entire village of goblins was slaughtered, their maimed and shredded bodies lying all around. Some were spilling their guts, some were missing large portions of their bodies, and the majority were riddled with holes. The silence of death loomed over the village, and the nauseating odours of blood, burnt flesh, innards and more mixed together to form a cocktail of smells that made even the main culprit mind his nose. Yet, he could not leave this place without doing some more killing. He searched around the Goblin village in search of any hidden goblins. He found a few survivors here and there, and sent them all to meet the makers. He also found many goblins offspring, most of which could not yet walk. Some people may pity these new born and spare their lives, but not him. The teachings of his instructors and his experiences in the battlefields, taught him well, not to show any mercy to those who didn’t deserve it.

“When killing your enemies, make sure you kill every last one of them! Remember! You MUST kill till they are all dead and no one is left! You can never show pity or compassion to your enemy! An Enemy spared is a time bomb ticking to blow in your face, right when you are least expecting it! So kill! Kill till there is no one left to threaten you, till there is no one left to avenge those that you killed! Be it women, children, old or young! If it’s the enemy Kill without mercy!”

He still remembered that gruff instructor who had taught him that. The man had lost an arm in the war but still could hold his own ground effortlessly till the very moment he died. No mercy it was. He killed all the goblin offspring he could find and did one last round of the village before departing.

Afterwards, he made camp on a large tree few hundred metres from the goblin village and purchased a few chocolate bars from the System, which served for his dinner. Dinner could have been a random snake or rat or even insects if it came to that, but even the battle hardened soldier, had a sweet tooth, which was not too much to ask for, was it? Having finished his small dinner, young master Add tucked himself onto a cosy branch of a tree far from the ground, and went to sleep. In the cold night, howls and roars were common occurrence, as the hunters of the dark came out to prey. The soft breeze blew over the sleeping boy, and under the faint moon light, he looked like an angel, sleeping in the arms of nature, a completely harmless and gentle being. But who could tell that this very person had caused such bloodshed a few hours before ? The night passed without any events, allowing the young master to have an uninterrupted sleep.

Morning arrived bringing with it, a gentle atmosphere that coved the hills. The tiny droplets of dew sliding down the blade for the leaves shined like little jewels and provided moisture to many tiny insects and animals, as they began preparing for the new day. Add stretched his limbs, a light yawn escaping his lips.

(Well then, let’s be on our way…)

After travelling for a few hours, he finally exited the forest. He had not brought a horse this time around so he was expecting to walk the entire way home, but then as he walked ahead on the small road leading towards Rigel, he saw some familiar faces. One of them, saw him and hurriedly ran to him.

“Edward, what are you doing here ?”

Add asked the man who was making a worried face.

“Young Master you have finally returned ! We were so worried! You didn’t return for a full day! Madam Martha is very mad! ”

Edward’s face was slightly pale as he remembered the angry berating he had been given by the old lady before being sent to look for the young master first thing in the morning. In the Weismann estate, no one dared anger the old head maid. He looked at the young master whose face was cold and detached as usual, as if nothing in the world could make him care.

“Didn’t I tell you I was out to explore the hills and it would take a few days? There was no need to be this worried. What would you do if it took me a week to return, camp here ?”

He said flatly, completely ignoring the query. Edward could only smile helplessly, he dared not pester the young master if he did not want to speak. It was true that Add had told the cadets that he would be going on a small trip alone, but Martha was not willing to take any risks. He had slipped out without informing Martha so she was really angry. After a day passed, she could no longer wait and sent the Edward and a few cadets who followed him to find Add. In fact they were planning t enter the hills to look for him if he didn’t appear by noon.

“Madam Martha told us not to return until we found you…”

Looking at the man who had a helpless look on his face Add decided to let go of this matter.

(Martha really worries too much…. I would probably be lectured once I return…sigh..)

Thankfully, Edward and co had brought horses along with them, so the return journey was quick. As soon as he stepped inside the Mansion, he was greeted by the old lady who had a smile on her face which did not look like a smile.

“Young Master please come with me, we need to have a talk.”

Add could only helplessly follow her to the study where he was give a sermon for over an hour. The old lady kept speaking about how the future of the Weismann family depended on him, how he was the most important person here and he could not act recklessly and risk his life. Strangely, though, he didn’t not feel irritated or annoyed at her preaching. Both the original young master and himself, understood how much this old lady cared for him. Martha was the closest thing to a family Add had ever had, so her preaching only gave him a sense of comfort if not happiness.

“Young Master, I know that men of your age tend to be rebellious and seek adventure, but you must keep in mind the responsibilities on your shoulders. The hopes of your family and the fate of the entire Weismann territory rests on you. If something were to happen to you, what face would I show to the old master after I die ? The Madam, on her death bed, entrusted you to me. And you doing these kind of things really worries me. You must not act recklessly like this in the future! There are many monsters and Beasts in those hills which can harm you, even your late father who was such a strong warrior was killed by them..”

Once she had said her piece, the old lady excused herself. The young master then went to meet Kent and inquired about the cadets’ daily training. He had not trained them for three days now, leaving them in Kent’s care, which he found was not such a bad idea. The man was no longer in his prime, but he could take the role of an instructor just fine, especially when it was simple exercises. Add decided that in the future, once Kent became completely familiar with the exercises, he would let him take over the physical training of the new cadets, while he would focus on giving them the military training. After watching over the training of the cadets for the remaining day, and correcting any faults he could see, he retired to his study. He sat on his chair, his eyes up towards the ceiling as he immersed himself in his thoughts.

(Family… In the past life, I never knew who my parents were, from as early as I could remember I was already an orphan….)

Traces of sadness and longing appeared in his cold and emotionless eyes.

(How many times was it…I saw families happily walking around with their children, hand in hand with their parents…. While I could only watch, longing for a my family, my own roots… Even when I grew up… that longing never changed, my comrades would speak of their families, about how they wanted to see their parents after they finished the mission… but I had nowhere to return and no one to return to… Even in this life, it seems I am destined to not have a mother’s love or a father’s care…”

Add had always kept his emotions controlled and buried at the bottom of his mind, but today after listening to Martha, who was so worried for him, his mind was stirred. The love of family, a ting so alien to him. Something he always wanted, but never had. Even the many enemies he killed in his previous life, most of whom were criminals and terrorists, had families, but not him. He could not help but sigh at his fate. Although he did not believe in destiny, some things were just beyond his control. A firm resolve gradually filled his heart.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _