A battlefield. Bodies, blood, and gore everywhere. Losses were immense, but only for one side. A single warrior, weaker in numbers and strength, emerged victoriously.

Gerald slowly walked toward his opponent. On the way, he collected his fallen Earth Crystals and Fire Sword. He came before the Hobgoblin. All of its aggressiveness was now gone. It lay there, quiet, in a pool of its own blood, pinned to the ground by multiple Stone Bolts.

Suddenly, the Hobgoblin opened his eyes. frightening Gerald so he jumped back on instinct.

"Damn…this thing is still not dead." He pulled out his sword and slowly stepped closer.

The Hobgoblin coughed a mouthful of blood and then spoke in a raspy voice, "Well done, human. You beat me. But don't think this is over, haha…" he laughed, but then coughed blood again.

"You might have killed my kin here, but we will be back. You can't escape your destiny. Just because you humans rule the world now you think you are special. You think you are strong. Let me tell you something. You are nothing. You are worth less than a speck of dust."

"Your magic might have bested me, but there are those that all of your kin combined can't even scratch, much less kill. Haha…" The Hobgoblin laughed again and coughed blood, again.

Gerald looked at him in disgust and asked, "Are you done?"

The Hobgoblin grinned and said, "You are the first and the last human I have ever spoken to but that won't change anything. You will die like the rest of your pathetic race, just you wait… And yes, I'm done. Finish me now, would you?"

Gerald lifted his sword…and then slowly lowered it back down. He was just looking at the Hobgoblin.

"What are you waiting for? Finish me!" The Hobgoblin was now getting irritated. He was not afraid of death, but the emotionless face of this human was slowly growing a smile. It was creeping him out.

Gerald stabbed the sword into the ground and took out a few Healing Potions. He opened them up and then emptied the contents on the motionless Hobgoblin.

"Pah! What are you doing? You crazy bastard, finish me already!" the Hobgoblin nervously roared. He was getting freaked out by this unusual turn of events.

Gerald completely ignored him and instead extended his hand above him, "Heal."

"???" The Hobgoblin was now totally freaking out. He was not stupid and he understood that he was not getting healed because the human wanted to help him. More likely, the human wanted to torture him, keeping him at the edge of death.

Indeed, as he predicted, Gerald once again took the sword and then stepped on a Hobgoblin's hand. He lifted the sword high, and with a swift move, he cut off the Hobgoblin's hand.

"Aarrgh! You bastard! Cowardly human! Curse you and your whole family!"

Gerald completely ignored his screams and he once again wore an expressionless face. "Fire," he said.

A flame started burning on his palm. He turned his hand downward and chared the bloody stump. He crudely cauterized the wound, to stop his victim from bleeding out.

He cast another heal on the Hobgoblin and repeated the same process on his other hand and then his feet. The Hobgoblin was screaming and cursing him the whole time, but Gerald did not pay him any attention.

He did all of that just in case the Hobgoblin tried to fight back after getting healed. Without any hands and feet, he would be way less of a threat even if he could attack him. The pain was just a bonus.

In the end, Gerald waved his hand and all the Stone Bolts flew up, out of the Hobgoblin's body, causing him to bleed once more. But the problem was quickly solved with a little bit of fire.

Just when he thought it was over, the Hobgoblin saw Gerald take out a vial with a black liquid. He almost felt like crying. He knew the worst part was about to start.

Gerald stuck the handle of his sword into the Hobgoblin's mouth and then forcefully opened it. Lastly, he poured the liquid down his throat and made sure the Hobgoblin swallowed it.

By that point, the Hobgoblin had already given up and just watched helplessly without saying anything. In the meantime, Gerald found a clean spot a few meters away to sit down and observe.

They were then just looking at each other, waiting for something to happen.

About half an hour passed and the Hobgoblin started shaking and releasing weird sounds. Gerald stood up and came closer to have a better view of the whole thing.

A few minutes passed and the Hobgoblin was already coughing as if his life depended on it. Slowly Gerald noticed a change.

The veins under Hobgoblin's skin started becoming black and the skin around it became purple. He was shaking like crazy and blood foam came out of his mouth.

Gerald observed the whole thing and deeply frowned. "They tried to use such a vicious poison on me? Was it that bastard Adelard? But he doesn't seem bright enough to use poison." Gerald was deep in thought as he calculated the different possibilities.

"Or maybe it was that Blood Sun Viper? They probably use poison since they even have the word viper in their name. Hmph. Luckily these tricks don't work on me, but I will have to be careful about a more physical approach."

When Gerald came to a conclusion, the Hobgoblin was already dead. He cut off his tail and stored it away. It was much longer than that of Goblins but still similar.

He slowly cleaned the battlefield, meaning, he collected all the loot he could get his hands on.

Goblin's weapons and armor were not on his list. Apart from being horribly low quality, they also stank a lot.

The last thing before he left was to check out the cave on the side of the cliff. There was nothing special inside. He found some coins, mostly silver but also a few gold ones. There were mostly just bones of animals laying around, but he also saw a few human skulls.

He heard some sounds coming from the very end of the cave. Due to the darkness, he ignited a flame on his palm and walked forward with a sword in hand.

When he finally came closer and saw what was there, he almost puked. There were seven Goblins, the size of a cat, slowly eating with gusto. Even without the revolting stench, the sight was just too horrible to see.

What the Goblins were eating was a young girl, probably not even in her twenties. Such a young life, taken, just to suffer and then give birth to these monsters. Gerald was revolted by the sight, but he just couldn't turn his eyes away from her.

She was completely naked and most of her torso was already gone. Only the bones, sticking to each other, were left. The small Goblins were currently gnawing on her legs, completely uncaring about his presence.

The top part of the girl's body was still intact. Her face saved her last moments of pain and agony.

Her skin was contorted in a horrific way and her eyes were wide open in fear.

Upon closer observation and based on the eating speed of the Goblins, Gerald figured that she was dead for one or two days at most. Even if he came a few days sooner, she was already destined to die a long, long time ago. There was nothing that could be done to save her. He leaned closer and slowly closed her eyes.

He sighed and went to gather a few bones lying around the cave. He gathered them in front of the girl and lit them on fire. Then he slowly backed away, keeping the fire in his sights. The cave curved, so he went as far as he could, while still watching the flames.

He then took a big breath and took a combat stance, his hands in front, like he was holding a basketball. A flame ignited, expanded, and then got compressed, this happened three times.

"Greater Fireball!" Gerald opened his fingers and the ball of flame left his palms as if it shot out of a cannon. He took a few steps back to stabilize himself and then he heard the distinct Boom.

Hot air and light rushed past his face but he didn't even blink. The anger in his heart was so great that he couldn't even express it. "Rest in peace," were the words he whispered before he turned around and left.

This was the reality of this world. If you were weak, you would be a meal for someone stronger. apart from a few safe havens inside city walls, the wilderness was dangerous, with monsters lurking around every corner.

He left the burning cave and gathered his stuff. He went to the edge of the forest and picked up his herb sack. Then he looked at the position of the sun that was already starting to go down and went on his way.

He washed his body in the river, before returning to the city. The evening festivities and songs didn't budge him, as he was in his own world. Many people gave him weird looks, he was full of cuts and bruises, with torn clothes full of blood.

He ignored them all and went straight to the Guild's reception desk. Luna was there as usual and she tried to talk to him in her usual cheerful way. He did not respond. His eyes were empty, sad, and lonely.

He took the trophy pouch and placed it on the counter. People around were, of course, curious and many came closer to see. The shock that everyone received when they saw the contents was immense. Especially when the Hobgoblin's tail came to light.

Luna tried to talk to Gerald and ask him questions, and so did everybody else, but he ignored them. He just said, "I'm tired."

Luna understood that he didn't want to talk about what happened, and based on his sorry figure, it was probably not pretty. She gave him the deserved reward, ten silver for each Goblin and one gold coin for the Hobgoblin.

Gerald grabbed the money and stuffed it into his pocket and then walked to his room like a zombie. It was a hard day for him, both mentally and physically. He was completely spent, with not even a drop of energy left.