Chapter 16 Blood Trail
'The master said to kill as much as possible. She said it will boost reward and power. I still don't notice the difference though.' Thought a girl, who was currently walking deeper into the forest after just killing a goblin.
The goblin she had just killed attacked and killed a man, and was about to pounce on another amateur just before she attacked it. Honestly, she wasn't trying to be some kind of saviour; she just wanted to kill the vile creature, nothing more. It was all a coincidence.
'I've gone too deep into the forest. I should head back, then moving towards the red dot on the map. I can't rest tonight.'
"Maybe master was wrong? I don't feel myself getting any stronger. Not even after killing so many." The girl said as she walked away from the downed corpse of goblins behind her.
Under the covering of the forest where the dim moonlight penetrated little into, she easily blended in with the darkness, with no see-able features.
After a bit of walking, it had only taken a few minutes for her to get close to the forest lines after she had wandered inside looking for prey. She finally came out of the forest, close to where she had entered from, and where the pitiful boy that must have thought of her, his saviour was.
'Seems he managed to get away. With that attitude and such a malnourished looking body...'
"It'll be a miracle if he even survives tonight." As she voice out her thoughts, she came fully under the moonlight, her figure faintly visible.
This girl wasn't bad. She had nice curves that were moderate in all the right places, and she packed neither too much nor too less. Her face under the moonlight was also quite cute, like a matured cat. Definitely not childish, but yet still cute.
However, there was nothing beauty could do in the presence of shock. She was heading up towards her destination, which was the same as every other person, when a light breeze blew over her face. The stench of blood immediately struck her nasal pipes like a powerful wave.
It was now that she noticed around five goblin bodies lying dead on the floor just ahead of where she stood.
She ran up to the spot where the bodies were, and from what she could tell, it was done by an amateur.
"I got to give it to this person. They certainly tried. But why line them up like this after killing them?" She said, looking a bit confused.
What she didn't know was that the person responsible for the death of these goblins was Dustin, and he didn't exactly play by the rules of hunting.
"Come to think of it.." 'This is the spot where I killed that first goblin.' She spoke in her thoughts.
Did that boy kill these goblins? Was he the one responsible for this? She wondered. She could remember very well the figure of that scared looking boy. If he could even manage to cut a chunk of chicken with one strike, that would be an accomplishment.
"No, it had to be someone else." She said while shrugging off the thought of a scrawny malnourished boy killing five goblins in one go.
Just when she was through with examining the corpses, that breeze carrying an intense stench of blood in it blew again.
The smell of blood was a bit much. She headed back into the forest by her side. Out of curiosity, she wanted to see where the smell was coming from.
When she got to the scene, she was even more shocked at the scene that welcomed her. At least twenty bodies littered the forest ground with blood soaked into the surrounding floor.
Once again, the corpses seemed to be sort of arranged. Killing in this realm wasn't her first. Even before she came to the realm of Na'ash, she had killed quite a few people herself. She knew how dead bodies were supposed to look.
What she was seeing were goblins that didn't even put up a fight, or more accurately, they couldn't put up a fight.
'This person is more capable than I initially thought.'
"To wipe out this many this easily. Even my sister would have a bit of trouble against this many. Dangerous."
Although she had witnessed such a scene, it wasn't this one that drew her here. The smell of blood was much concentrated elsewhere. Her curiosity just won't allow it. She wanted to see for herself the source.
All it took was a couple minutes of running around, and she finally arrived at the source of the terrible blood stench.
Her legs nearly gave out under her as she saw what was before her. The corpses were simply, uncountable. Her eyes remained widened, and her shivering teeth didn't seem to stop either.
"W-what, what is th-this? Oh my god." The words escaped her lips, unbeknownst.
'Who is capable of doing something like this? This is just mass slaughter.' Her whole body continuously shivered as she stared at her environment, albeit a lightly.
A MONSTER.
This was the only thought that filled her head.
She would need to be careful from now on. Someone who is capable of this, she didn't want to cross. The savagery she saw in those blade marks, only a mindless killer could produce such crude cuts. The thought of finding her sister also increased, for she was well aware the kind of person her sister was. If she were to encounter this person, there was telling what will happen to her.
'I need to tread lightly from now on.'
...
"Hmm..."
'Killing these guys is useless now. I don't even gain exp from killing them anymore.' Dustin said, as he pulled his sword out of another goblin's skull.
The area around him was covered in hundreds and tens of goblin corpses, with only about ten left alive.
Dustin himself was completely drenched in blood, and needed an urgent, deep bath as soon as possible, something he himself noted.
"I might have had a bit of feeling before, but now it's all gone." Dustin said as he observed he's surrounding.
Because the goblins looked the size of a human child around eight years old, and they were also humanoid monsters, Dustin felt a bit of an emotion when killing them. That emotion he felt was now gone anyway. He now felt nothing when killing the creatures.
"Come to think of it. I've been killing these guys for a while now. If someone finds all those corpses, won't that cause a problem??"
'Nahh.. They probably just think a powerful group passed by. It's impossible for anyone to kill that many to begin with.'
"Just in case though, I should hurry up and wash these clothes and myself."
"Well? I should probably find a place to lay my head first. I don't think misusing the level up system to reset my fatigue is healthy. I should get a proper rest."
Dustin turned towards the goblins that remained from the last batch he just killed. Looking at all of them, he couldn't tell much of a difference between them. The moonlight that made it through the forest covering wasn't enough to see well, so he just picked at random.
"Tame."
..
-Tame successful. View information?
..
"Yes."
..
[Goblin]
Rank: F
Favourability: High
Hp: 100
Mp: 0
[Skill tab]
Passive:
Active:
..
"Kill the others." Dustin gave the command.
Without a hint of hesitation, the goblin turned on it's fellow goblins and killed all of them one by one.
'Wow, not even the slightest hesitation. This guy is quite useful.'
After leaving the vicinity, Dustin came across a suitable area where he could draw some comfort from the hard forest floor.
"This, right here, would be nice."
He then turned to the goblin and gave it the order to keep watch and remain vigilant. After adding a few more instructions just to make sure, he curled up beside the roots of an enormous tree and tried to get some well deserved sleep.