"Krrrkk..."

The tall goblin’s crooked yellow eyes locked onto me as black saliva dripped from the corner of its mouth and splattered onto the ground.

For a moment... Nobody moved.

The dry wind passing through the dead forest made the branches creak above us while more figures slowly crawled out from behind the trees.

Five? Seven? Ten? Those were just numbers. Cause we were surrounded from every direction. Even if estimated they would be more than forty goblins.

"kekeke..."

"Hehk..."

"Krrrk..."

Their giggles echoed from everywhere.

’Why are they so big...?’

Every goblin I had ever heard and read about was small. Even this story only had small goblins. Annoying pests, weak monsters that beginner hunters used for training.

But these things?

They looked starved and stretched unnaturally from their normal size. Their limbs were longer than normal humans, their backs were hunched forward, and their yellow teeth looked sharp enough to tear flesh apart.

After their appearance the rotten smell in the air intensified.

Fox slowly lowered her stance and spun one dagger between her fingers, while she tightly gripped the other one.

"This isn’t normal." She said and Tan swallowed hard as he raised his shield and also added, "No kidding."

As for Black... he simply stood there silently. There wasn’t a single bit of tension in his body. It was as if he wasn’t threatened at all.

"KRRRAAAH!"

Suddenly, one of the goblins lunged forward.

BOOM!

The cracked ground exploded beneath its feet as it rushed toward us with horrifying speed which shouldn’t exist in its body.

It was so fast that my pupils instinctively shrank. It was coming for me so I had to do something but before I could react properly, Fox moved.

Her body blurred through the dry atmosphere and one of her daggers sliced across the goblin’s throat.

Black blood sprayed through the air and since the goblin had already gotten close to me its blood splashed on my white shirt.

But... Even with its neck getting half severed the goblin didn’t stop. Instead its grin got bigger and it moved its massive claw toward my face.

"Keke..."

"WHAT?!" Fox’s eyes widened.

Instinctively, I moved my dagger as fast as I could and tried to block the attack. I didn’t care how I would block it, I just let the dagger do its thing.

Its blade got stabbed into the claw and forced it to stop. The goblin stared at its wounded hand and then looked back at me.

The grin from its face disappeared only for a second before it let out its creepy laugh again.

"Kre... Kre... Keke..."

The goblin pulled its hand and let the dagger cut its palm in half. It was going to strike again with its other hand when Fox used her second dagger and sliced off its neck completely.

The torso fell down on the ground with a thud and the head rolled to the feet of the other goblins who silently looked at their dead comrade.

As they watched the lifeless head, the one in front of all of them raised its face toward the sky and everyone did the same.

’They must be sad...’ I thought, ’And I think they might fear us now?’

However, I was wrong. They weren’t scared or sad at the loss of their comrade, instead they were excited.

"KEKEKEKE!!!"

While their faces were toward the sky, all of them began to laugh very, very loudly. That wasn’t all. Moving their claws they drew a line through their necks as black blood trickled down from the wounds.

After doing so four or five times they stopped laughing and lowered their faces as they looked at us again.

Except for Black all three of us got into fighting stances and got ready for the goblins’ next attack.

They didn’t immediately attack us. They waited for a moment, looked at all of us and then dashed forward.

Every goblin moved at once.

Rustle!

Rustle!

Rustle!

The dead woods erupted into chaos as dozens of tall goblins rushed out from every direction.

’Shit!’

My heartbeat exploded. This was not normal. Killing one was so difficult but now there were dozens of them coming at us together.

Fox immediately jumped backward while slashing another goblin across the chest and Tan planted his shield into the ground to stop some of them. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

As far as Black was concerned, he was still standing calmly unlike the first time where he took action quickly.

One of the goblins suddenly appeared directly in front of me with its mouth wide open.

"KHHH!"

Instead of using its claw this one used its teeth to bite me. However even though it was faster than me I took a step back and dodged it.

Then, my body instinctively moved and slashed the dagger upward. Its blade went through from beneath the jaw and reached up to its eyes.

It was so lethal that it didn’t even give the goblin the time to screech as it instantly fell lifeless.

Then, I quickly pulled the dagger out of its flesh and was going to slash the next goblin when I felt a sharp pain at my back.

Immediately, I turned around and found a goblin standing behind me with its claw drenched in my blood.

Without wasting any more time and waiting for it to attack me again I moved and stabbed its eye.

Thwack!

After that I kicked it with all my strength and made it stumble a few steps back.

Just like me, both Tan and Fox were fighting goblins with everything they had. But there was one anomaly; Black.

Even after all this he was still standing at the same spot while his back was facing us.

The more terrifying thing was that the goblins weren’t even trying to get close to him. They were just standing further away from him and staring without doing anything.

BOOM!

Abruptly, something invisible slammed into the goblins circling Black from above. The creatures’ entire bodies crashed into the ground violently and the earth beneath them caved inward instantly.

"...?"

My eyes widened. This was a lot stronger than what he had shown before.

The goblins twitched helplessly against the ground as if an enormous mountain had suddenly dropped onto their backs.

CRACK.

Their bones began to shatter one after another and blood exploded from their mouths.

Only then... Black finally moved. Slowly and casually as his black coat fluttered lightly in the dry wind.

The goblins surrounding us also froze and watched Black’s every move.

"Krr?"

I was so confused at all this even Fox and Tan looked at Black with baffled expressions.

The cracked ground beneath Black’s feet began sinking slightly with each step he took.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

He walked away and sat on a big stone placed nearby. Then, he moved his hand slowly and removed his mask, revealing his real face.

Ding!

[Abnormal Monster detected nearby!]

Black raised one hand lazily and clenched it.

BOOOOOOM!

An invisible force exploded outward instantly. The pressure didn’t only hit the goblins, it smashed us onto the ground too.

CRACK!

CRACK!!

CRACK!!!

All of us were slammed into the ground at once. The dead forest shook violently too and the trees bent.

The goblins screamed horribly as their limbs twisted unnaturally beneath the pressure.

"...what...?!"

My voice barely escaped my throat.

Black was controlling gravity but why was he using it on us too?

Even Fox looked disturbed now and Tan’s face had completely gone pale.

Meanwhile Black simply sat there while looking at us and the goblins like insects.

"Stay down."

The moment those words left his mouth, the pressure intensified.

BOOOOM!

Several goblins exploded into pools of blood instantly and watching this, one of them tried to crawl away but Black tilted his head slightly.

CRACK.

The goblin’s spine folded inward unnaturally and its scream stopped immediately. Complete silence filled the Gate afterward.

My heartbeat pounded violently inside my chest as I stared at Black and the screen appeared in front of me again.

[Danger! Abnormal Monster detected nearby!]