In a world where magic is a daily life thing, people tend to make the mistake of assuming the strongest ones are ones that can kill most in the battle.

A wise man is nothing without magic, or it doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't use weapon abilities.

But the real threat is always the ones who can pull strings from the shadows.

"Alexandros, my dear servant, do you remember the last time we humans find ourselves against a serious threat." An old lady put his hands to the shoulder of the middle-aged man sitting on a luxurious-looking chair.

"When a demon king united other great demons, a lich came from the north, a hero lost his mind and betrayed humanity." Her soft yet threatening voice was the messenger of doom.

The old lady was moving around the middle-aged man sitting in the middle of the room, tapping his shoulders. She was wearing a luxurious dress decorated with precious stones.

She has great power in the north, but she is not a mighty warrior or a wizard blessed with wisdom. She's someone who can pull strings from shadows.

"At least a hundred years, Lady Maude. When a hero tried to destroy the capital church of Empires southern capital by the name of a forbidden goddess."

The middle-aged man was sweating in fear. This woman was the embodiment of danger. You can't escape from her's hands when she got her eyes on you. The best you can hope is still being alive after she used you for her benefit.

"He managed to damage the capital. Killed the vassal lord of the city but got killed by the other heroes shortly afterward." Alexandros was born in this city. He heard this story more than a hundred times already.

A smile appeared on Mrs.Maude's face. Even the people closest to her could not predict her schemes, but even a half-blind person can feel the danger coming from that sinister smile of hers.

"Alexandros, I will ask you one last question. Do you believe the heroes are worthy of their weapons?"

"A weapon is only effective as its wielder, my lady." The only thing Alexandros want's right now is to escape from that room. If she put the name of heroes in her mouth, something is coming.

"Yes, my dear. All these inexperienced, stupid, and fantasizing kids are wasting the true potential of their weapons." She coughed. "I am getting older, and I want to do one thing before I die, my dear."

Lady Maude is a living legend. At her prime times, she could openly threaten almost any noble in the whole realm, and if she only had a bit more luck and a life span of an elven, she will probably be sitting on the royal throne right now.

But, she is only a mere mortal, and she lost both her beauty and allies over time. This quest means one thing, she has a plan to gain the power she lost over time.

"I want to gain something I once had, and you must bring me something fancy from the pesky other worlders." Her voice sounded sad for someone who murdered whole lineages to gain power.

Alexandros wanted to refuse this offer, he knows he will die if he accepts this quest, but refusing Lady Maudes quest could mean something worse than death.

"Alexandros, my dear, I almost forget something. I heard your daughter was pregnant. Tell her I wish her good luck in motherhood. I hope nothing tragic happens to a beautiful girl like her. It will be a real tragedy, wouldn't it be, my dear?"

She spoke her words. Now, Alenxdros had no more choices. He needs to die, or he will take his family with him to hell. "My lady." For Alexandros, his family was much more important than his own life.

Maudes turned his back and raised one of her eyebrows. With a single glance at the poor man's face, she already learned his answer.

"Your wish is my command. Your request will be complete no matter what happens." Alexandros accepted it.

She didn't even say one word and left the poor man who heard his death sentence moments ago alone in the room.

***** Inside the snowy forest, Erwin plays with his new toys.

I can move much more freely. Thanks to these new gloves, and their increased gripping, I can jump between trees or climb things like Tarzan. Climbing and pulling are almost taking no effort. I still sweat because of jumping and running between trees, but it is still a thing.

I've been using them for only a week, but I have already explored more places than I did on foot, for example, plants with extremely combustible liquid inside them, a rare kind of berries that makes me feel refreshed after eating them, and tracks of goblins.

I will pass the first two things and focus on the goblins. Amount of hobgoblins in this area is insane. Not only that, but their scout bands are also larger.

I regularly found three or four goblin scouting around my place, but in here, this number triples itself, with at least two hobgoblins being in a single group.

I feel like I am slowly approaching somewhere that will put me in danger, but what I must say, I began liking this danger. Acting like a coward will put my life in danger. Taking risks in this place means decreasing your chances of death by a lot.

I learned that.

"More of them are coming towards here, and they appear to be carrying something." Lure them into traps and hunt them one by one. I can move between trees, something they cannot compete.

I jumped towards another tree and began watching the goblin group from a distance which I can intervene with them at will.

"Keep moving to my traps. I will spare none of yours lives and enjoy any second of hunting you ugly beasts."

The Goblin group walked a bit more, and they stopped as one of the hobgoblins activated one of the traps. Wooden spears launched forward at a speed of light and pierced the green flesh of three goblins.

I leaped to the other hobgoblin from the tree with my sword in my hand. "Fun begins." I slid my short sword from hobgoblins lower chest to his throat, opened his chest like a box.

Before the remaining goblins managed to react and attack me, I dashed toward the closest tree and climbed on it. With the help of the gloves, I can climb a tree in less than four seconds.

Now I only need to draw the remaining goblins into other traps until their number decreases enough for me to kill the remaining ones with raw brutality.

"Come on, you green fuckers, follow me." I looked behind, but goblins weren't following me like they commonly did. They were escaping from the area.

"Somethings odd, and I want to learn it why." I began following the goblins.