After easily killing the most recent goblin, Gauss slipped behind the warehouse.

Because his movements were clean and swift, he didn’t alert the other goblins.

Gauss glanced toward the campfire.

There were four goblins there, sharpening their blades against stones.

Holding a collective feast after a successful hunt is a common phenomenon across cultures and races.

Now, every goblin in the village wore a joyful expression, as if anticipating a celebration.

“Still, better to save the captives first.”

Gauss estimated the distance between his position and the campfire, also taking in the distribution of the other goblins.

If unobstructed, a full-speed sprint would take only a few seconds.

Why not use magic?

First, the distance was a bit far.

Second, goblins, campfire, and human civilians were too close together.

If the spell went out of control, causing an explosion or an uncontrollable fire, it could hurt the captives.

Of course, if it were a matter of life and death, such risks wouldn’t matter,

but it wasn’t that urgent yet.

Gauss had counted the goblins remaining in the village;

there were about thirty, exactly half.

For him, they were not too difficult to handle now.

.......

Wick, Whitney, and Kevin were all dazed from being beaten, listening to the grating sounds of iron and stone scraping nearby, their eyes numb and filled with fear.

Their bodies trembled uncontrollably. The wet, pungent smell of urine spread beneath them, making it impossible to tell who had wet themselves—perhaps all of them.

The ropes on their hands dug deeply into their flesh, causing abnormal bruising and purpling on their arms.

All three understood the consequences of being captured by a large group of goblins.

Especially since the goblins had already started pouring water into the pot, cleaning the cauldron, clearly preparing for a meal.

These frantic green-skinned monsters didn’t even consider keeping them alive for another day.

Kevin’s heart was full of regret. If he had known this outing would end so badly, he wouldn’t have left the village.

His mouth was dry.

Since his capture, the green skins had not fed him any food or water, and now he felt utterly exhausted.

In his blurred vision, illusions of the past surfaced—his parents returning from farming, the family gathered around the table sharing coarse oat porridge and black bread. Though it wasn’t filling, the taste of the food made him crave it intensely now.

It was laughable.

About to be cooked and eaten, his mind was consumed only by hunger.

The body’s instinctual craving for food and water was impossible to suppress.

When he was thrown into the pot, he thought to swallow a few mouthfuls of ingredients—

even if he died, he would die a full man.

Kevin sighed inside.

He no longer entertained any hope of being rescued.

As for saving himself, it was utterly impossible. How could the three civilians, tightly bound, fight against dozens of goblins in the village, especially with weapons in their hands?

Kevin’s gaze numbly stared into the distance.

Suddenly, it seemed that a figure intruded into his vision.

An illusion?

He didn’t take the “phantom” seriously.

In the short time since capture, he had gone through resistance, begging, regret, powerlessness, unrealistic fantasies of heroes coming to save him, numbness awaiting death, and finally the last wish to eat well before dying.

He had seen many descending heroes, but once those illusions shattered, he plunged deeper into despair.

“Thud!”

The phantom approached rapidly, flickering in the air like a flash in Kevin’s sight.

“Thud!”

A second or two later, the phantom was only a few meters in front of him.

The shock from the figure’s footsteps seemed to reverberate through the ground, even reaching Kevin’s buttocks, giving some sensation to his blood-restricted body from being tied up.

This illusion felt so real;

I must really be starving and dizzy to the point I can’t tell reality from fantasy.

“Swish!”

A sword light flashed.

A goblin’s head flew high into the air.

Blood sprayed out from the neatly sliced neck like a town fountain, splattering everywhere.

“Splatter!!”

Kevin’s cheek was suddenly doused with a warm scarlet splash.

The red liquid ran down his cheek, finally reaching his lips and seeping into his mouth through his teeth.

“Ahhh!!!”

The intense metallic stench instantly caused Kevin’s brain to twitch with excitement, snapping his numbing consciousness awake as if cold water had been poured over him.

“What is this?”

His pupils widened.

As he watched in surprise, the newcomer moved swiftly.

Like a dance, feet pivoting and shifting, the remaining goblins nearby all seemed to willingly run their necks into the sword’s tip. Within a few breaths, they were all killed!

It was real! Not an illusion! Wild joy surged in Kevin’s heart!

Until now, smelling the lingering stench of blood in the air and feeling the fierce killing intent and aura from the man close enough to touch, he shivered all over, finally certain that everything before him was truly happening.

His imagination wasn’t rich enough to simulate such a vivid scene.

When he trembled speechless, the man’s cold cyan eyes lowered to look at him sitting on the ground.

Then with a flick of the slender sword, the tightly bound ropes cutting deep into his body were precisely and quickly sliced through.

“!”

The three regained their freedom.

“Drink some water, then find a safe place to hide.”

Gauss threw down a spare water pouch.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

After a brief instruction, Gauss quickly looked toward the positions of the other goblins.

This sudden and open assault, though very brief, made the campfire and the three humans the focus of the goblin village’s attention.

Several goblins had already grabbed weapons nearby.

“Magic Missile!”

But faster than them was Gauss, who had long prepared.

He pulled out the Bone Staff with his left hand from his waist.

Because this was a swift attack, he hadn’t brought the heavier Unbreaking Scepter but chose the Bone Staff and rapier as his main weapons this time.

Three azure blue orbs quickly condensed.

In the blink of an eye, they locked onto the distant archer goblins.

“Beautiful!”

The downgraded magic missiles shot out like arrows from a bow, swiftly crossing ten to twenty meters to reach three goblins.

“Bang! Smash! Smash!”

Even downgraded, a level 1 spell missile was still deadly to ordinary goblins, especially with the Goblin Killer title granting a 20% damage bonus, making it even more powerful.

The three goblins were thrown like torn rags and died instantly.

Gauss caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. While killing the distant archer goblins, he noticed spear-wielding goblins approaching and thought for a moment.

He felt these goblins were braver than the ones encountered in his previous two contracts.

After seeing him kill a few comrades quickly, instead of retreating, they charged at him without any leader’s order?

Was it because of their hunger for food?

Gauss briefly empathized with the small green skins’ psychology.

A big family had been happily preparing side dishes, lighting fires, boiling water, and cooking, only to have a thug burst in, throwing open the door, and start slaughtering without a word.

The long-awaited feast was about to be snatched away.

How could they not be angry?

Simply put, they were defending their food.

No problem, a good beating would fix this situation.

Gauss held the staff in one hand and the rapier in the other.

When the melee goblins got close, he swiftly switched his offensive focus to the rapier in his right hand.

“Cheng!!”

He slightly tilted his body, sliding the blade along the spear shaft.

Then with a flick of his wrist, the rapier flashed, slicing off a goblin’s palm.

The goblin stared dumbfounded at its blood spraying wrist. The moment it tried to howl in pain, a sword light severed its throat.

Too slow!

Gauss killed the surrounding close-range goblins with several swift sword strikes.

Then his left-hand staff surged with magic again, shooting magic missiles that casually killed the archer goblins cunningly aiming at the three civilians.

Able to fight at both distance and close range—this was what set him apart from many other professionals.

At this moment, the surviving goblins in the village finally realized things were bad.

This villain was way too powerful!

Especially since many of their kin were still out.

Originally, there were only about thirty goblins in the village;

nearly half had been killed by Gauss in an instant.

The huge numerical advantage was just an illusion. Their low intelligence rationally overcame their instinct to defend food at this moment.

The enemy was too strong! They could no longer fight!

Seeing their formation collapse, Gauss took the initiative to charge forward.

Only the strong have the right to choose.

Facing a disorganized rabble on the verge of collapse, he needed to seize the chance to intensify his attack.

Ultimately, relying on his armor, ignoring threats, and enduring their hateful attacks, Gauss quickly wiped out the remaining dozen or so goblins!

And just like before, he spared not a single goblin pup in the village.

“Total monster kills: 335”

“Goblin kills: 208”

Gauss stood still, slightly panting.

Suddenly, a miraculous power surged within him!

That power came from the deepest part of his body.

“Sufficient potential obtained from the talent source host, original goblin entity.”

“Initial-level species talent [Rapid Digestion] is upgrading!”

“Congratulations! Upgraded to elite species talent [Energy Storage Gland]!”

“[Energy Storage Gland] retains all effects of the original talent [Rapid Digestion], adding an extra effect [Energy Storage]. You can now store excess energy in the body’s energy storage gland through early feeding, allowing rapid replenishment of physical strength and magic power when needed.”

“The energy storage effect of [Energy Storage Gland] is related to the talent’s strength. Please continue killing the talent source host to seize more corresponding talent potential.”