Hunting humans

[Mapleforest Village] (Small village, ruined)

Residents 18/43

"So I am their leader now?" Wain inspected the window that appeared in front of him, but there wasn't too much information. Evidently he wasn't meant to be World Conqueror. He didn't even receive any Chaos Points, which made him wonder whether he could still destroy the village.

He looked around at the goblins throughout the village, who began kneeling in sign of their submission. Unfortunately Wain couldn't speak with them, so he didn't try to say anything.

"System: The Goblin Shaman has become your subordinate. Would you like to give him a name?"

A notification appeared in front of him and Wain stared at it blankly.

Why was he supposed to keep on making names for everything? His task was to destroy the world, not name everything.

He looked at the goblin, finding a resemblance to a potato, which was something he remembered for some reason.

"You will be Old Potato." Wain declared mercilessly, but the old goblin was only grateful to be alive.

"Why is it so hard to move?" Wain was confused, this never happened to him before,. but his body was heavy and his eyes began unconsciously closing.

Confused, Wain bursted into one of the houses, sealing the door behind him, to deal with the weird state.

Although he was now ruling over this village, he didn't trust the goblins. He was convinced they would use his weakened state and kill him, since that was exactly what he would do.

However even after a while, his state didn't change for the better and he eventually fell asleep from exhaustion from running all night.

...

When Wain woke up, he was still in the house. The doors securely sealed, and no harm had befallen him during his rest. However, he remained confused by what happened to him.

"It seems that I don't have unlimited energy... it must be similar to mana," he reasoned, trying to make sense of the situation. At the moment, he was grateful that he had a village, otherwise the same state might fall on him even in the forest without any cover.

Feeling his senses were sharp and his body light once again, he left the house, finding it was already night and the goblins were all hidden within their tents, sleeping just as he had done before.

"So it's common," he realized and walked towards the exit of the village. He will return once he needs to sleep, but in the meantime, he needs to raise his level as much as possible.

He walked past the goblin on guard, who was terrified by the sight of him and tried to hide, but Wain ignored him, entering the forest.

…

He hunted with Octader for several hours, killing still the same wild beasts. But his efficiency didn't drop by much, even after his level had risen to 8 and Octader's to 4, so he continued in the practice.

It was still night, Wain sneaked through the forest, lurking for the beasts, when he suddenly spotted a light in the distance together with some voices, which piqued his interest and he went closer to take a look.

He sneaked closer to the light, stopping at the distance, where he could clearly see and hear, but couldn't be spotted and observed the situation around the light.

It was a campfire, and a group of four men, wearing light leather vests, sat around it, joyfully chatting.

"Humans!" Wain quickly realized that was the same race as him, but he confirmed it by looking at his own stats just in case.

Should he kill them as well? He wondered, unsure about his next course of actions, but then he decided to talk to them. He already had goblins under him, so adding some humans wouldn't hurt as well.

He decided and went towards the campfire.

[Bandit] (Human, No-grade)

Level 13

Hp 83/83

[Bandit Veteran, Radnor the Mad ] (Human, lower 1st-grade)

Level 19

Hp 147/147

…

Radnor, the leader of a bandit group operating near Riverwood Village, was filled with excitement at the moment. He had received crucial information a few days ago that a wealthy merchant from Cloudgate Town would soon be passing through his territory. 

How could he not be excited? This will be their biggest robbery ever!

Although his men didn't possess the strength to contend with the merchant's well-armed guards, he agreed to join forces with Four Fingered Dylon, the strongest bandit leader in the surrounding, and then they would share the loot based on the individual contribution.

He was currently celebrating the news with his men, when they suddenly heard someone approaching them.

Radnor immediately tensed up, signaling to his men to prepare for the outsider approaching. Laughter ceased, and the bandits rose to their feet, locking their gazes upon the man in black, who was slowly drawing near to them.

"Hello friends, don't worry I just saw a fire and thought to stop by." The man spoke, when he saw them staring at him fiercely and the bandits sighed in relief.

Although the facials of the man were hidden under a black hood, it was evident from his voice that he was young. Probably someone, who got lost in the forest.

Moreover, based on the youth's figure he didn't seem like a warrior, though he might still have a hidden weapon, but Radnor still felt annoyed by the young man's disturbance.

"Why are they always men?! Can't some pretty girl approach us instead?" He mumbled, annoyed, and sat back to the campfire, drinking.

Meanwhile, the rest of the bandits were shocked by the youth's ignorance. He called them friends! Did he not recognize they were bandits?

The naivety of the young man amused them. "Hey, would you like to join us?" One bandit replied, laughing as he approached the young man. However, behind his back, he was secretly holding a dagger. 

They couldn't risk that someone would learn about their plan, so killing the youth was the safest they could do.

"Oh, that would be nice..." The youth said delightedly. "...but it seems like you have different intentions."

"Huh?" The bandit was surprised that he was seen through. But it didn't change anything about his intentions. He was about to rush towards the youth with his dagger, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.

He quickly looked down and to his surprise, there was an octopus, bitting through his abdomen.

"Aarg, what is that?!" He screamed, panicking, trying to fend off the strange creature with his dagger. But just as he made an attempt, a blinding flash of light illuminated his view, and subsequently, his head was engulfed in flames.

"What happened?" Randor, who had been leisurely drinking by the campfire, was disturbed by the scream and turned around to see the situation. "Can't they even handle a single kid?" he muttered, his brows furrowing.

However, when he saw the chaotic scene in the forest, his annoyed expression soon turned into a dumbfounded one.

Two of his subordinates were running in a state of panic, desperately trying to shed their burning clothes. Meanwhile, a third one lay on the ground, locked in a life-and-death struggle with an octopus-like creature that was intending to attack his face.

At that moment, he saw a ball of flames materializing above the youth's hand.

He was a magician?! Radnor was shocked. Magicians were rare in this remote area after all, moreover the intruder sounded really young, maybe sixteen or seventeen, he totally didn't expect such a scenario.

While he was dazed in disbelief, Wain finished his chant in the meantime, shooting the ball of flames towards Radnor.

However, Radnor wasn't like the other bandits. With his years of experience, he swiftly dodged the projectile, and grabbing his sword, he charged at the magician.

He dodged? This was the first time Wain missed. Fortunately, he expected such a situation to happen sooner or later.

As Radnor was closing in, he activated a skill, [Double Slash], infusing his sword with mana, but before his sword reached its target, Wain suddenly disappeared, leaving only flames behind and before Radnor realized the situation, he was struck by a projectile to his back.

"Did you think this would be enough to defeat me?" He turned around in the flames, appearing invincible. Assuming Wain had hit him with a fireball, he was about to attack again, when his vision suddenly darkened.

"Yes, I think." Wain answered coldly, watching Radnor with Octader instead of head. His familiar has grown larger after devouring the three bandits, and he was now large enough to put an entire human head into his mouth.

Radnor panicked momentarily, unsure whether he could attack the creature without slashing his own head and before he made a decision, Wain already blasted his sword-holding arm with a fireball, leaving him defenseless against the octopus.