It had been nearly thirty minutes since Liam began his silent crusade. The first ten were his first victims.

Since then, he had killed fifty more. The barren wasteland was now painted with green blood, coupled with the stench of decaying corpse and dried up blood, yet Liam remained unbothered.

He was having mixed feelings—not about killing the goblins, but about the creatures themselves. Their existence disgusted him to no end. Everything about them—their foul smell, twisted laughter, and shriveled green faces—offended him on a level he couldn't explain.

He didn't want to look at them anymore. Yet, strangely, he couldn't deny the satisfaction he felt each time Silverleaf sliced through their flesh effortlessly.

It wasn't joy—it was relief.

The way their bodies split cleanly, the hiss of the blade as it cut through skin and bone, the quiet that followed each kill—it was all too perfect. Almost soothing.

Was that enough to call him a psychopath?

"Nah.They deserve it," he muttered aloud, shaking his head.

But there was one upside to these ugly creatures—monster cores.

Liam hadn't realized until Lucy mentioned it. It was after his 35th kill that she had informed him.

"Master, monsters in this world have something in their body called monster core. The cores can be exchanged for money and they are used for creating hunters gears, among other uses," she had said.

Liam had paused mid-step at the time, feeling stupid.

"Cores? You're telling me I've been leaving money all over the floor? Lucy, you could have said that twenty minutes ago," he sighed deeply.

"You didn't ask, Master,"

He had rolled his eyes but said nothing more. It wasn't her fault—he should have thought of it. He knew what kind of world this was. Hunters, monsters, gates—it wasn't hard to guess that creatures dropped valuable items after death.

He felt that he didn't think about it because the group he met in the gate, didn't extract the monster cores from the orcs.

Still, he didn't plan to backtrack just to carve cores out of corpses. It would waste time, and frankly, he didn't feel like digging into goblin flesh.

So, he asked Lucy for a solution.

"Is there a bot that can do the extraction for me?"

"Not currently in inventory, Master. But I can create one."

"Do it."

"Already on it, Master. I will deploy it immediately it's done."

"Good," Liam nodded and went back to work, letting the Lucy handle the rest.

By the time she reported the completion of the bot, Liam had already turned the field into a small graveyard. Piles of green bodies lay scattered like broken puppets. The air reeked even harder thanks to the abominations in front of him, but he ignored it.

Now, as he walked deeper into the Death Zone, he caught movements ahead.

He stopped, narrowing his eyes. He reached out with his telekinetic sense, expandibg it silently, scanning the terrain. Dozens of small shapes were moving toward him in a loose formation.

He counted.

Thirty… thirty-five… no, closer to forty.

A slow smile spread across his face.

"More of them. Perfect," he murmured.

He gripped Silverleaf and waited.

Moments later, the group emerged from the darkness, their glowing yellow eyes gleaming like diseased stars. The horde stopped several meters away, watching him warily.

The largest of them snarled something in their language, a rough growl that grated on the ears.

The goblin standing beside him—shorter, with a staff clutched in its bony hands—turned its head and barked something back.

Liam understood every word.

"That's him. The human who speaks our tongue," said the first goblin.

"Then you're useless. How is it that you're unable to take care of a human that hasn't awakened?" the one with the staff snapped, hitting the first goblin on the head with its staff.

"Chief, he might look ordinary but he isn't so–," the first goblin tried to explain, but the one with the staff won't have any of it excuses and before the other could react, it smashed the staff into its skull.

The blow cracked the bone with a wet and sickly sound, and green blood gushing out of the first goblin's head.

Liam's brow rose slightly as the creature crumpled to the ground, twitching once before going still. He had initially let the goblin go, for it to report back and return with more, saving him the stress of doing that himself. And it did the job perfectly.

The goblin leader snarled in annoyance and said, "If you can understand me, human, then you must also know that you won't leave here alive."

Liam said nothing, as he just smiled with a cold look in his eyes.

The staff goblin tilted his head. "Amusing creature. I wonder how you learned our words. But no matter. I'll find out after I've taken your head."

Liam's smile widened as he vanished from the spot.

The staff goblin's eyes widened—too late. A flash of silver light tore through the air, and the first rank of goblins disintegrated before they even realized he had moved.

"Kill him!" It roared.

The horde rushed forward in a wave of snarling teeth and claws.

Liam moved like a shadow through moonlight, his figure blurring with each strike. Silverleaf's edge cut through green flesh like it was air. Heads rolled, arms flew and bodies split cleanly in two before hitting the ground.

The goblins screamed, their shrill voices echoing across the plains—but none of them lasted long enough to be heard twice.

It was a massacre and within a minute, it was over, ending just as fast as it started.

Dozens of corpses littered the field. Blood soaked the dirt, forming shallow pools that reflected the pale moon.

Liam stood in the middle of the pile of shredded and incapacitated corpses, looking calm and spotless. His coat fluttered lightly in the breeze, untouched by even a speck of filth.

A small smile of amusement coloured his face.

The surviving goblin—the staff goblin—staggered backward, trembling.

"I-It can't be… you haven't awakened! How—how can you—"

It realized it might have gravely misjudged Liam's strength. He wasn't an unawakened human at all—he was something far stronger.

What confused the goblin most was why someone so powerful emitted no mana—and why a being like that would waste time hunting low-rank creatures like them. But it wasn't about to wait for an answer.

It turned on its heel and ran.

But it didn't get far.

Liam extended his hand lazily and clenched his fist.

The goblin froze mid-stride, an invisible grip locking its limbs in place.

It struggled, thrashing violently, its claws digging into the dirt. "No—please—!"

"Oh, you beg now?" Liam raised an eyebrow and tightened his grip.

The goblin screamed as its body was lifted into the air, then slammed into the ground with crushing force. Again and again, and again.

When he finally stopped, the creature was barely conscious, blood trickling down its bloodied face.

Liam brought it closer with a flick of his wrist—close enough to talk, far enough that the stench wouldn't reach him.

"I need some information and you're going to give it to me," he said calmly.

"W-what do you want to know?" The goblin asked with a broken voice, trembling.

"Everything," Liam said softly.

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