"Village, huh?" James muttered as the team settled on a small hill overlooking the ruins. "Looks like we have a complete set now."

Isaac hummed, his attention flicking to the Interface notification that popped up the moment he landed beside his teammates. He had expected something else, or really nothing at all, but it seemed like he was about to learn about the difference between a nest and a village.

Warning! You're approaching a monster village in the Peaceful Plains. Eliminate all its occupants to neutralize this instance. Note: As this is your first encounter with a village, the Interface has prepared a new guide based on the one given to you on nests.

Wonderful, Isaac thought. Show me.

[Monster villages - Common instances found throughout the wilds of every Integrated world. Thanks to a stronger presence of the Broken Strain, monsters of higher intelligence use those areas to build their homes and grow faster. Village protection typically falls to leaders, alphas, or chiefs. Unlike nests, villages rarely develop a Dark Pit.]

Monsters of higher intelligence.

It wasn't as much of a shock as it probably should have been. He had fought the Minotaur, after all, and that beast spoke to them. It knew what humans were. So, to learn that the wilds had more of the same was just another thing they all had to grow used to.

In the end, higher intelligence or not, those monsters still wanted every Host dead. Hesitating because maybe they were sapient wasn't an option. Survival came first. People could worry about morals once their lives weren't at risk.

Did that sound ruthless and cold?

Absolutely. But this was the reality now. Kill or be killed, and Isaac knew well what side of the coin he was choosing.

"Is it just me, or do they kinda look like goblins?" Marie's voice reached his ears, pulling him out of his head.

Isaac blinked, ignored James' response, and followed her gaze to the village, where dozens of monsters were walking around. And to be honest, she had a point; they looked a lot like goblins in fiction. Only these things were larger—about two-thirds the size of an average human—and pale red instead of green. Their ears were also quite small.

Okay, so maybe not a lot like goblins, just quite close, he noted internally.

At first glance, they didn't seem dangerous. Hell, all they had to their name were some rags to cover their bodies and tools that appeared to be made out of bone and stone. It definitely wasn't a sight Isaac would call a high threat.

And yet, something still held him back from just ordering the team to charge in and wipe the beasts out. At least not without a plan and some reconnaissance.

It was the way they moved, the way they spoke to one another.

It was all gibberish to Isaac, no more than some guttural noises, grunts, and squeaks. But to those monsters, those sounds definitely meant something, as there was always a response. Additionally, every creature inside the village moved with a purpose, like they all had a task to complete.

And that… gave him pause.

Fighting creatures driven purely by instinct was simple. Learn their patterns, their tells, and half the battle was already over. The same couldn't be said about more intelligent enemies. They reacted in real time. Adjusted. Or could swarm his team with something resembling a proper formation.

The possibilities really were endless.

That's why we need a proper plan this time around.

Isaac cleared his throat, cutting through the conversation happening beside him. They could confirm whether these were goblins or not once they killed one. Now, they had better things to worry about.

"What's their threat ranking for you all?" he asked.

"Low," James replied instantly, with Elaine nodding in agreement.

"Most low, some low-moderate," Marie added, frowning. "Might be because I don't have my Legacy yet."

Isaac nodded. That was most likely the case. Otherwise, there would be no reason for Elaine to have all the monsters listed as low threat.

"They are smart, or well, smarter than what we usually fight," he stated. "We also have no idea how many of them are down there or what might be hiding inside the buildings. So the first question is, do we even want to go in?"

He didn't get an answer right away. Marie and Elaine just turned their gaze back to the village while James scratched his chin, humming. Finally, though, he shrugged.

"I don't see why not," the older man said. "We've been through worse. And… I'm kind of curious how those little freaks fight."

Same, Isaac thought, turning to their remaining teammates. "Marie? Elaine?"

The taller woman looked at him with a frown. "I'm down, but we need a plan. Can't let them organize. Chaos is our best friend here."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Marie still appeared undecided, but after James gave her shoulder a squeeze, she sighed and nodded. "All right, let's do this."

Isaac smiled and returned his gaze to the village, scanning the area that was visible from this angle. For now, he counted about twenty or so of those goblins, but there could be a lot more of them there. He had to fly up.

"I can scout the place like I always do," he began, earning his team's attention. "But… there's a decent chance I will be noticed with how large my Legacy has grown. If that happens, I will just use my ultimate. That should cause enough panic for us to clean the house."

"And if they don't spot you?" Elaine asked.

"Then we do it silently. Attack from the sides and take out as many as we can before we get spotted. I want to save my Ultimate if possible. The teams are me and Marie, James with Elaine to keep the balance of stealth and power. Sounds good?"

"Better than anything I would come up with," James stated, a light grin on his face. "No complaints from me."

"Personally, I doubt stealth is gonna work, but why not, let's try it," Elaine said. "At least I will be able to test my Legacy properly."

Isaac chuckled. "That's the spirit. I will be back in a few minutes."

With that, he shifted into his raven form and launched into the air, for now staying out of the village's reach. If this was going to work, he would need to be fast. Careful.

Time to get to work.

Given that his new size wasn't far off from some of the goblins themselves, Isaac kept to the air while scouting the village. Sure, sometimes he was tempted to swoop down and poke around the half-collapsed buildings, but it was too risky. Already, one of the creatures had shot him a glance, and while it didn't sound an alarm, he saw how its body tensed.

Thus, exploration would have to wait until he and his team dealt with all the beasts.

With his task finished, Isaac returned to his team, recounted what he saw, and moved on to the next phase of their plan. Before long, he and Maire approached the village's edge, hiding in the small grove next to it.

This might be a bit harder than I expected without Blood Daggers, he thought, eyeing the lone Crimson Death floating silently at his side. Making it smaller wasn't an issue, but he still couldn't summon more than one. And there was always the chance it would explode. Not exactly ideal for stealth work. Still, it had to be enough.

"Let's go," he whispered to Marie.

At her nod, they dashed out of the bushes, sprinting toward the back of one of the only buildings still standing with more than a single floor. Isaac pointed to a hole next to them, and after counting down to three with his fingers, he jumped inside, the Root in his hand sinking into the skull of the creature waiting there.

[Pale Blood Goblin (LVL. 7) slain.]

So it's a goblin after all, he noted, quickly checking the corridor he found himself in for more hostiles. There were none. Second floor first.

He ignored the doorway leading deeper into the first floor and made for the stairs. A few steps were missing, but with how enhanced their bodies were at this point, this wasn't an issue.

Moments later, he and Marie crouched by the entrance to what remained of the second floor. Most of it was open to the air, the ceiling, and two walls were long gone. And if the building had any rooms in the past, the walls between them had also long since vanished.

Still, this place was far from empty.

The goblins used it as a sort of sleeping chamber, with over eight of them scattered across the floor. Not all were asleep, though.

Isaac gestured to the goblin sitting in the far-left corner. Marie gave a nod, dagger in hand, and crept into the open, taking cover behind a pile of rubble to wait for his signal.

Very well.

His gaze fell on the other awake goblin, a makeshift axe in its hand that it was trying to sharpen with a rock. Only the sound of stone scraping against stone filled the room as he sneaked toward the creature. Then, when just a few feet separated them, he drove the Root into its back and clamped a hand over its mouth.

A quick look to the side confirmed that Marie had also killed her target with a dagger to the underside of its jaw.

[Pale Blood Goblin (LVL. 6) slain.]

From there, the job was simple. Moving from body to body, they put down the slumbering goblins one after another. Isaac half expected Marie to hesitate on the first, but she didn't so much as flinch when she stabbed the first sleeping beast.

Good for her, he thought, grabbing the Inferior Virality Gem left behind by one of the corpses.

Marie approached, dropping her share of loot into his hand. Isaac slipped the items into his Storage Brand without a word. She gave a small nod toward the stairs.

"First floor?" she asked in a whisper.

Isaac nodded, and slowly they returned downstairs, stopping next to the doorway they had seen earlier. He leaned out, intent on scouting the area ahead, only to snap back not even a second later.

Oh…

Corpses.

Dozens of them, strewn across the floor in varying states of ruin. And those weren't animal or even goblin bodies. No, those were definitely human. Isaac had seen too many of those in the past week to make a mistake here.

Shit…

For now, he ignored Marie's concerned look, took a deep breath, and leaned out again.

This is worse than I thought.

Not only were there bodies littering the ground, but some hung from ceiling beams like meat in a butcher's shop. Limbs gone. Heads missing. Skin flayed clean off. And blood, there was so much blood here.

Worse still, he spotted a couple of goblins working on a few corpses, breaking bones, or just chopping them into pieces. Now, it was obvious just what those creatures used to make their tools and weapons.

Isaac ducked back, pressing against the wall as he swallowed hard and counted to ten. Before he could finish, though, Marie nudged his side. He grimaced.

"Take a look," he muttered. "Bodies. Human. Stay quiet. Please."

The woman gulped and took his previous position. A heartbeat later, she, too, pulled away, her face pale.

"Fuck…" she mumbled.

Fuck indeed. Guess we have the answer to what happened to people beyond the Contamination Zones…

Still, even with the proof on the other side of the wall, Isaac refused to believe that all humans suffered a similar fate. Some of the bodies looked quite fresh, so maybe there were some survivors nearby. There had to be a different answer to this.

Or maybe there isn't… He sighed, stopping himself from imagining different scenarios. He could do that later. Now they had to deal with goblins, once and for all.

He turned to Marie and was about to tell her the plan when a sudden alarm rang through the entire village. It sounded like a simple massive bell. Distant screams and high-pitched wails followed, not leaving much to the imagination.

The goblins must have found James and Elaine.

Guess it's plan B…

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