“God said, there is no betrayal in this world, only trust that can never be recovered; the only person who can truly kill a man is forever himself.”
— 《The Divine Words of Dawn》 / Preface of Dawn
“The long night approaches, and the torches are in your own hands.”
“The sun will always rise, and dawn will surely come.”
— 《The Divine Words of Dawn》 / On God and His Believers
...
“Father, this is your favorite fruit wine...”
At sunset, Ogre slowly poured the wine at the base of the tree.
“It's been a long time since I came to visit you...”
As the wine trickled down, for a fleeting moment, Ogre felt as if he had returned to the past...
“Ogre, you're playing clever again...”
“Hee-hee, that's called intelligence...”
Back then, he could always beat his father in all kinds of games.
Back then, he thought it was because he was smart enough to fool his father every time.
As the wine completely ran dry, Ogre gradually returned to his senses.
“You drank that so fast, Dad...”
Ogre had tasted this kind of simply fermented fruit wine before; it didn't taste good at all.
“I'm leaving, Dad. I might... take a very long time to come back.”
Ogre placed the wine bottle beneath the tree and made his final farewell.
The frontier lands could hardly offer Ogre any more strength.
He was destined not to stay here for long.
That was why Ogre had returned early to say goodbye.
Barring any accidents, the power of a Warlock would be Ogre's final choice to break past the limits of a Professional, and it would also be his only choice.
And for that, he had to leave this place.
Placing the bottle down, he picked up his spear, bowed deeply, and bade farewell to the past.
Living alone for a long time, one gradually gets used to it.
Ogre feared this habit, yet he had no choice but to embrace loneliness...
“Goodbye, Father. Ogre will take good care of himself...”
Ogre shed no tears—because his father disliked tears.
When the wind blew past the large tree once more, only a single wine bottle remained standing.
“I will become stronger, until no one can bully me ever again...”
...
“A Professional mage...”
Goler's mind was in turmoil. He hated his own origin, and he hated the humans who had destroyed his hope.
Yet in his heart, he still felt that not all humans were like that.
For example, the human mother who had raised him...
She was a human Knight who had been ambushed and violated by goblins, but managed to escape using her own abilities.
“Goler... my child, I do not hate you, because no one is born deserving to die. Child, you must promise me, never, ever become a monster ruled by desire and instinct—you are human... you are not a monster.”
If not for his own existence, perhaps his mother would have lived well; at the very least, her marriage would not have ended because of it...
If not to protect him, perhaps she would not have died...
“Who's there?!”
An arrow suddenly shot toward Goler as he moved through the jungle.
An adventuring band...
Goler dodged the arrow with a flash of movement, spotting the figure holding the bow from afar.
“Hmph... Humans.”
He felt that at this distance, the other party could not possibly have discovered his identity as a goblin.
Thus, the only possibility was that these fellows had attacked purely out of a desire to prey on their own kind!
Why do such creatures, who murder their own kind, get to occupy all the beauty in the world... Why must they always destroy my only remaining hope...
Goler's eyes grew redder and redder.
Then, he drew his sword.
“And here I thought it was a Devil-Claw Eagle...”
Only as the adventuring band drew closer did they realize the target they had just attacked was actually a cloak-wearing 'person'.
“Sorry about that, my sight isn't too—gah!”
The adventuring band leader's apology came to an abrupt halt halfway through.
Because a fierce arc of sword qi had already sliced his body vertically into two halves.
“Leader!”
“Oh no, it's a humanoid monster!”
“Aah...”
The slaughter ended very quickly.
Goler only regained his senses when blood splattered onto his face. The immense gap in strength meant he hadn't even expended much effort.
“N-No... don't kill me.”
The remaining girl slumped to the ground in terror, tremblingly raising her staff at Goler as he approached.
The instantaneous slaughter had rendered her completely helpless.
Perhaps her companions had died too quickly, so much so that the young girl, who usually only cast spells from behind the party, even forgot to run.
“A mage...”
Goler lowered his sword and looked at the girl before him.
He suddenly remembered his mother.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this that he spared the girl's life when he lost his composure.
Looking at the pitiful young girl, his reproductive instinct, long dormant, suddenly flared up again.
Once a goblin reached adulthood, an uncontrollable reproductive instinct would emerge.
Whenever an opportunity presented itself, this urge would surge forth.
Truth Sorcerers had once conducted an experiment, discovering that this urge could only be eliminated after at least two generations of domestication (similar to rehabilitation) and cultural indoctrination—and among those goblins successfully reformed, a portion of them became today's gremlins.
“Are you... a mage?”
Goler suppressed his sexual urge.
He did not want to create another tragedy like himself.
“I... I, I...”
Looking at Goler's face, the girl wept in terror, stammering uncontrollably.
She didn't even stop to wonder why this goblin could speak human tongue.
Goler looked at the girl's staff. He already had the answer in his heart, but he still hoped she would deny it.
Only then could he deceive himself into letting her go.
“Monster... G-Goblin!” the girl couldn't help shrieking, raising her staff to cast a Fireball.
This caused the anger Goler had just managed to suppress to ignite once again.
Swatting the Fireball away with a slap, Goler grabbed the girl and opened his fangs, roaring, “I! Am not! A monster!”
His roar completely terrified the girl out of her wits.
Even her staff slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.
“Don't eat me... don't eat me...” The girl crying her eyes out instantly re-ignited the goblin's reproductive instinct.
Blood rushing to his head, Goler ripped open the girl's clothes in one motion—he had suppressed it for far too long.
But halfway through, just as he was about to unfasten his own clothes, he suddenly froze.
His mother's figure somehow overlapped with the girl before him.
His hands loosened in that moment.
The girl collapsed to the ground, covering her body.
At this moment, besides the smell of blood, there was also the smell of urine on the ground—she had lost control of her bladder from sheer terror.
“Go...” Goler put his hood back on.
Gradually recovering his sanity, he recalled the cause and effect of the entire event—even he didn't know why he had lost control like that.
I... wasn't like this before.
“Aah!”
The girl suddenly let out an agonized scream.
A crow had somehow appeared in front of the girl, pecking out her eyeball in a single stroke.
This made Goler draw his sword once more.
But before he could make a move, a familiar voice emanated from inside the crow: “Goler... It seems you still haven't let go of your hypocritical mercy. Do you think you're doing something good?!”
“T-Teacher!” Goler panicked instantly.
“I will take the human... I hope you reflect on this carefully. Hatred will only persist. Goblins and humans are destined to never have peace. Being merciful to humans is being cruel to goblins.”
As the voice echoed from the crow, a mana-swamp crocodile appeared beside the weeping girl without anyone noticing, swallowing her in a single bite.
Watching the departing crocodile and crow, Goler dropped his sword.
He stared helplessly at his hands, unsure of what to think.
The King... was watching all along. Then why did the village still fall? Why did Goriefus still die... and why did I suddenly lose control of myself...
All at once, he suddenly understood something.
Perhaps humans had never accepted him.
And goblins were no different...
What destroyed the village was not just humans—it was also the King's tacit consent.
Picking up his sword, Goler walked to the riverbank.
He glanced at the hideous face reflected in the water.
Then he looked down at the filthy thing between his legs that had almost controlled him.
In the end, he made a decision.
With the sword raised, and the sword brought down...
From this day forth, he would have no more weaknesses...
...
“How did all these mana-swamp crocodiles end up in the river?”
Ogre pulled out his spear, sinking into thought as he looked at the mana-swamp crocodile beneath him. This was already the third one he had killed.
For a river that wasn't even very wide, having so many crocodiles pop out was a bit ridiculous.
“Forget it. If I can't figure it out, no point dwelling on it.”
Conveniently, mana-swamp crocodile hide was quite valuable; he could exchange it in a village for some gold coins to solve his shortage of pocket money.
Ogre's previous sack had been made from mana-swamp crocodile hide.
It was uniquely tough and durable.
“Could it be that I did too much purging before? Why are all the goblins gone?” Apart from earning some pocket money, Ogre had also planned on killing a few goblins along the way to cleanse the environment.
But perhaps he had cleared them out too aggressively while doing quests before, such that after wandering around for half a day this time, Ogre couldn't find a single wild goblin.
“I'd better go get some Silver-Needle Bee beeswax first.”
After skillfully skinning the beast, Ogre rushed toward the gathering area of the Silver-Needle Bees.
He needed a new identity to go back.
Although not right now, the necessary preparations still had to be made.
His overly hasty escape earlier had forced Ogre to spend extra time re-preparing tools and items.
“Once my strength has increased enough, I'll see if I can kill that Goblin King before I leave...”
Night had fallen, which was perfect for his movements.
...
“This discharge ability is pretty convenient.”
Looking at the Silver-Needle Bees he had shocked unconscious, Ogre felt the direct benefit of his discharge ability for the first time.
At least it worked quite well against these insects.
Mmm, it would be good for shocking fish, too.
“Sorry about this, I just need to borrow some wax from you guys.”
After cutting off a small portion of the honeycomb, Ogre pulled out some sugar he had bought in the village and placed it to the side.
This sugar could serve as a good substitute for honey to help the Silver-Needle Bees recover.
Generally, honey gatherers would not take all the honey and wax at once—because doing so would cause the Silver-Needle Bee population to dwindle.
Looking at the wax in his hand, a rare smile appeared on Ogre's face. “That should be enough. Now the only thing left to wait for is a plausible identity.”
After giving it a quick once-over, Ogre grabbed his packed items and left the bee area.
Although the night held little influence over Ogre, he still needed to find a place to rest and recover.
The Devil-Claw Eagle nest across the mountain cliff was a good choice.
It was safe and easy to take over.
...
“How did another magic pet die...”
Moor, who was studying mana modification, suddenly knitted his brows.
He could indeed project his mind into magical beasts for remote control and shared vision.
But he was not yet capable of keeping full control over all the mana-swamp crocodiles simultaneously.
Even if he could, he wouldn't be bored enough to monitor every single beast's condition.
Had several not died in quick succession, he wouldn't have reacted at all.
The pseudo-cloning technique that combined shared vision and mind control was something he only used to observe Goler or when detecting high-tier powerhouses.
Just earlier, having captured the human mage, he had transferred his focus to the mana-swamp crocodile carrying her.
He hadn't expected that in such a brief window, several magic pets in a row would lose contact.
“Could it be Goler's doing...” A thought crossed Moor's mind, and he sought out the bone sword he had left on Goler.
Immediately after, he opened the shared vision of the magic pet near Goler.
It was fine until he looked, but the moment he did, he couldn't help using the controlled mana-swamp crocodile to question: “Goler, how did you get injured?”
In the shared beast vision, Goler's thighs were covered in blood...
That shouldn't be. With Goler's Senior Professional strength, how could he get injured here?
What he didn't know was that it was precisely this question that confirmed Goler's suspicion.
There was no answer.
Only a flash of sword light slashing down instantaneously.
The shared vision came to an abrupt halt...
“Goler! How dare you betray me!”
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