Traversing the Forest II

"Please! I beg you! Please let my daughter live!" A bloodied middle-aged man shouted while tugging onto the leg—covered in armour- of a knight holding a bloodied sword in his right hand, and an indistinguishable smile was plastered on the knight's face.

The bloodied man was wearing medieval peasant garb, adorned with a tattered shirt, worn-out pants, and shabby leather shoes that spoke of both hardship and meagre means.

Blood streamed down from a deep cut on his back, staining his shirt with a vivid mark. Observing the blood pooling on the ground, it seemed like the man should have either passed out or, worse, died.

But the love for his daughter kept him alive, and he kept trying till his last breath. But his conviction or plea meant nothing in front of a higher power.

The knight lifted his sword, positioning its tip just above the middle-aged man's back, aiming towards where his heart would be.

"Die, you peasant!" The knight thrust his sword towards the middle-aged man's back, piercing his heart and swiftly ending his life with a single fatal blow.

"Bastard," the knight muttered as he withdrew his sword, causing the middle-aged man's lifeless body to slump and collapse to the ground.

"FATHER!" A shrill cry came from the side. A young girl in her early twenties shouted, her messy hair framing a tear-streaked face marked by a mixture of dirt, tears, and snot.

Anyone seeing her current situation would've felt pity for her. Still, the knight who killed her father was anyone but normal. The knight wiped his sword on the shirt of the corpse before approaching the girl.

The girl took a step back in fright, but her foot hit a stone and she fell on her back, yet still tried to get away from the approaching knight.

"Don't be afraid, little girl. I won't hurt ya," The knight spoke, which sent shivers down the girl's spine. The knight had blonde hair and grey eyes.

Terrified, the girl kept crawling backwards until she collided with the wall of one of the houses. Just as the first knight was closing in on her, another knight sprinted towards him, and he bowed upon reaching him and uttered words.

"Captain Belius, we have gathered all the villagers in the village square. What are your orders?"

"Hmm, kill them all and torch this place. We need to make it seem like the work of the Empire."

"Understood!" The knight retraced his steps, heading back the way he came after receiving his new orders.

After the knight had gone, Belius moved toward the terrified girl and heaved a sad sigh.

"Alas, I won't be able to enjoy you." He spoke while gripping her hair. Despite her attempts to break free, Belius' strength vastly exceeded hers, rendering her struggles futile.

"Leave me!" She kept shouting while trying to free herself. While Belius found amusement in her struggles, he knew he had to kill her and return to the other knights.

"Truly regretable," He impaled the girl in her chest, impaling her heart and killing her instantly. A fountain of blood erupted from the wound, and he removed his sword from the wound. Her body fell limply to the ground, and even though she was dead, terror was written on her face.

Belius cleaned his sword, sheathed it, and then proceeded to make his way toward the village square.

'I can't believe I'll be meeting with Sir Nigun. It's like a dream come true.' He contemplated while moving toward the village square.

'I wonder, why do we need to destroy these villages.' He contemplated while observing the now destroyed houses.

Had Raizel been present, the village's architecture would have left him astounded, as it uncannily mirrored the medieval European structures showcased in the anime he enjoyed watching during his time on Earth.

The dwellings were constructed with square-cut bricks, topped by roofs crafted from wood and thatch. Instead of stone flooring, the ground was composed entirely of solidified mud.

'Despite being the captain overseeing this mission, I haven't received a briefing regarding the purpose behind our actions.'

Belius was the leader of a knight group whose job was to destroy some villages of the Kingdom of Re-Estize and make it seem like the Empire was behind it rather than the Theocracy.

Belius pondered until he arrived at the village square, where all the residents were bound with ropes, their mouths gagged with pieces of cloth.

While some knights held their swords, ready to decapitate the villagers.

"What are you waiting for? Kill them all; we don't have time to waste; we need to destroy 3 more villages before the kingdom can respond."

Upon hearing his command, a majority of the villagers started to squirm, attempting to evade the knights. In contrast, others simply closed their eyes, resigned to accept their inevitable fate.

The knights—without a tinge of hesitation— swung their swords in an orderly manner and killed all the villagers in a matter of seconds.

The ground was stained with blood, and a distinct sanguine aroma permeated the surroundings.

The sight of numerous headless bodies scattered on the ground, their severed heads depicted nearby, was harrowing. Despite this, none of the knights displayed any visible reaction.

After the execution of the villagers was done, Bleius gave the knights command to burn the village.

~Scene Change~

While Belius and the Knights burned the village, Raizel was perched upon a branch and testing different console tabs. 

"Sigh!" With a heavy sigh, he closed the console, rested his head against the tree, and closed his eyes.

'None of the exploits that I know are working.'

He recalled all his failed attempts to exploit the console. Back in Yggdrasil, he and Luci★Fer had the hobby of exploiting the game. The exploits ranged from out-of-bounds exploits to straight-up item duplication.

Among the exploits he attempted was one that enabled users to view the names of all online players. Ordinarily, one could only observe the names of nearby players. 

Raizel aimed to determine if there were other players, assuming the console functioned similarly to how it did in Yggdrasil.

Suddenly, he experienced a mental tug, like something was pulling on a cord connected to his brain.

"Weird," he exclaimed as he tried to focus on the mental tug. After a few seconds, he found out its cause. It turned out that one of the summoned Gazerwings was attempting to contact him.

Raizel used Sense Share to 'see' what the Gazerwing was seeing. The darkness behind his closed eyelids transformed into a scene featuring buildings within the forest.

However, calling them buildings was a bit of a stretch. They were simple, run-down houses constructed from thatch, mud, and wood. Among these structures, a small fire burned, and above it—suspended by a sturdy stick—hung the skinned carcass of an animal.

Around the fire, there were some small bipedal creatures with green skin.

"Goblins?"

In Yggdrasil, goblins were the lowest level of one. However, some types of them were at a higher level. In addition, their level could be determined by the quality of the weapons and the extravagance of the clothes.

"Depending on their clothes, their level shouldn't exceed 10. But this is the real world; maybe the logic from Yggdrasil doesn't work here."

Some of the goblins, observed by Raizel, wore rusted armor and held rusted swords and spears. Most of them wore dirty clothes around their crotch areas.

"Wait? Do the goblins here have d*cks?"

In Yggdrasil, no 18+ actions were allowed. But after being teleported to this world, Raizel knew that he had a dick and had already inspected it, and to his relief, it was functional and was definitely above average.

The monsters in Yggdrasil had no explicit details added to them. Consequently, Raizel pondered whether the goblins in this realm possessed functional sexual organs.

"WAIT!" He suddenly exclaimed and opened his eyes, deactivating the Sense Share skill.

"If male goblins have dicks, then do female goblins also have that?" He had a pondering expression.

He scratched his chin while visually imagining it.

"What the hell am I even doing?" He shook his head and refocused the matter at hand. Whether the goblins had sexual organs could be found out later; first, he needed to test their strength.

With so many things different from Yggdrasil, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that the goblins here were powerful. He closed his eyes and instructed the Gazerwings to stay there.

He then opened his eyes and jumped down from the branch. After landing gracefully, he activated the Soul Weapon skill, and the {Billion Blades} materialized in his hand.

"Change into the Nymphrend variant." Undergoing a metamorphosis, the silver blade of the sword changed into a rusted iron blade. At the same time, its hilt transformed into one made of wood.

This variant of the {Billion Blade} dealt additional damage specifically to demi-human enemies. Given that goblins and all their variations fell under the category of demi-humans, this variant proved to be the most effective against them.

'I should also make myself invisible; it would help with investigating the goblins.' Contemplating this, he used a 9th-tier spell to make himself invisible.

<Perfect Unknowable>

Because it was a 9th-tier spell, it did far more than make the target invisible to the naked eye. It could also erase one's traces and sounds, including the pitch of the target's voice, from being heard.

Employing such a high-tiered spell reflected his cautious approach. Despite the similarity in the functioning of skills and magic to Yggdrasil, there were distinct differences. This indicated that the goblins could potentially be powerful foes, prompting him to use this spell for testing.

Driven by a desire to closely observe, he acknowledged the limitation of auditory perception using the Sense Share skill. The goblins, engaging in conversation, contradicted Yggdrasil norms.

'Maybe I could get some information from them.' He contemplated as the spell took effect, and his body momentarily shone in a light blue color.

<Greater Group Teleportation>

He used this spell to make his summons also teleport with him. As the spell took effect, he disappeared from his previous position and appeared above the goblin camp. 

Anticipating this, Raizel promptly employed his Flight skill, granting him 40 minutes of flight every 5 hours without depleting MP. All his summons possessed flight capabilities, with the exception of the Earth Elemental, which Raizel levitated by casting <Fly > on it.

'Don't stay here; go back underground,' Raizel mentally commanded the Earth Elemental, which promptly obeyed, floating toward the ground.

Upon landing at a safe distance from the goblin camp to avoid drawing attention, he swiftly descended underground.

'Now then, let's see whether they notice me or not.' He contemplated as he floated toward the camp's entrance, where two goblins clad in rags and wielding rusted spears stood guard.

This was the only entrance to the camp; the rest of it was surrounded by thorny wines and sturdy logs— placed atop each other to create a makeshift barrier. 

As Raizel landed, there was no reaction from the goblins. 

'Guess they can't see me. That's good.' he mused, moving closer to them. Even when there was only a foot between them, the goblins showed no reaction.

'Now to check their level. I could use a divination spell, but using something else would be better. If I kill them with a spell, I could see whether they would disappear and drop their loot as they did in Yggdrasil or not.'

After making his decision, he extended his hand toward one of the goblins and used a 5th-tier spell.

<Dual Magic: Blood Arrow>

To Be Continued...