The First Village

To march into battle, a man must be ready to embrace the idea of death. Not just the death of one's own body but the death of those who the person will fight, either by his hands, or the hands of others. 

The realities of war were emphasized clearly with their battle against the goblins. Their fight was equal, both sides fought hard, and used various strategies to try and one up the other. 

But in the end, the deciding factor of the battle was the Man in Black who stood among them, surrounded by a mysterious cloud of darkness from where his eyes shined through.

Yet, despite the seemingly hostile and unfathomable power of this Man in Black, he was their ally. 

The knights and Toby were all tired and drained of much of their energy to move forward. The battle against the goblins lasted 10 minutes, non stop fighting, horde upon horde of these tiny green creatures. 

But as their leader stood on top of the Cyclops victorious, their resolve was strengthened and remained. 

Artemis allowed his men to rest for an hour, mainly to help Toby replenish most of his mana before they head out to the nearest village which was just down this road. 

The reality that the goblins may have already ran amok and devastated the villages were now engraved into their minds. Some wanted to venture forth without so much as a good rest but Artemis made sure to convince them otherwise. 

An army who fought with half its strength would falter against an army who fought with all of its strength.

There was not much talking between the knights and Toby. The only times they spoke were if Artemis would relay an order through Toby and then Toby would direct it to the knights. 

They continued their journey after an hour of rest. Soon, they arrived at the first western village down the path.

As Artemis had suspected, it had been overrun.

Some of its attackers lay dead on the ground around some of the houses. Windows were shattered, doors were broken down, and a few houses burnt to the ground. 

The village was not surrounded by any wall, instead, wheat fields and several other crop farms surrounded it. Judging by the state of the harvest, it seemed that they were attacked while the villagers were in the middle of harvesting their food.

The group entered the village proper and found the remains of the villagers. Men, women, and children, none were spared. 

"Check everything," Artemis ordered. His men then scattered about in search for survivors and anything that could be of use. 

As Artemis walked by the village well conveniently situated in the middle of the settlement, Artemis leaned over and looked down to see if some soul managed to jump over. 

To his luck, there was somebody down there. 

But that somebody was dead. Standing atop of its lifeless body drenched by the waters of the well was a surviving goblin. 

Using his heat detector and night vision, he saw through the dark chamber of the well. 

"I wonder if these creatures could be interrogated?" Artemis asked his wife, Caitlyn.

[Since they're different from their more nomadic cousins in the east, maybe?] Caitlyn answered. 

"It's worth a shot," Artemis said before materializing a small Energy Pistol in his hands with nanotechnology.

[You've never used a gun] Caitlyn pointed out. 

"It's because I never had a use for it, well now I could just use my other weaponries but I'll give it a try," Artemis said. 

He aimed the rectangular barrel over the goblin's right shoulder and pulled the trigger. 

*BAM!*

Came out of it was a Primelium ammunition containing concentrated Argent Energy escaped from the rectangular barrel that shoots an extremely fast red pillar that travels on Mach 20 and explodes the goblin's right shoulder like a small bomb attached in it.

The goblin, still surviving as it lost an arm,  squealed and then began jumping around the well and in a last ditch effort to save itself, tried to use the dead girl's body beneath him as a shield. 

But Artemis was faster than his one good arm. He aimed at the goblin's left shoulder and pulled the trigger again. 

*BAM!*

The same red pillar of energy obliterated his other shoulder and the goblin again cried out in pain and like last time, there was no blood spilled.

Toby and the knights heard the loud gunshots and the goblin's squeal and immediately rushed to the scene only to find Artemis had shot off all of its arms using a strange magical weapon. 

"Haul him over," Artemis said.

The knights then found a piece of rope, one and the Knights used it to tie it around the Goblin then pulled him down. 

The knight then grabbed hold of the goblin as it flailed about and clawed the knight with its feet, which is not enough to scratch a magic Platinum armor.

The knight and the goblin are pulled from the well and immediately the goblin tries to escape. Artemis then personally grabbed its neck, raising his finger towards the shoulder where it lost its arm, he then buried his hands deep into the exposed insides, causing the goblin immense pain and causing it to faint. 

The now unconscious goblin was bleeding to death at an alarming rate, if wasting for another 15 seconds, it would immediately die.

"Anyone has healing magic, stop the bleeding, treat its wounds and bring it to me by the next few minutes," Artemis ordered one of the mages. 

Confused but with no courage to ask why Artemis said such a bizarre order, the Mages and Toby complied and went out to treat up the goblin's wounds.

The goblin had two missing limbs, his left and right arms. Without them, it was doomed to die anyway in the wild with no method of fighting back its enemies or ability to find a food source that was stable enough. 

Artemis had no plans in saving it really, the goblin was merely a tool that he was going to use. Artemis needed information about his green enemies and if these creatures were indeed more intelligent than their savage cousins to the east, then it would he worth the time to torture it. 

Artemis continued walking around the village in search of survivors but alas, only dead bodies, mutilated corpses, and several dead goblins were to be found. 

As Artemis kicked one of the goblin corpses that was in his way, he lamented.

"I was too late,"