Goblin Kingdom (Part 1)

Chapter 21: The Scar of Defeat

[Race] Goblin
[Level] 14
[Class] Duke; Horde Chief
[Possessed Skills] <<Horde Commander>> <<Insurgent Will>> <<Overpowering Howl>> <<Swordsmanship B->> <<Insatiable Desire>> <<Distant Soul>> <<A Ruler's Wisdom I>> <<Eyes of the Blue Snake>> <<Dance at Death's Border>> <<The Red Snake's Eye>> <<Magic Manipulation>> <<Soul of a Crazed Warrior>>
[Divine Protection] Goddess of the Underworld, Altesia
[Attributes] Darkness, Death
[Subordinate Beasts] Kobold (Lv9)
[Abnormal Status] <<Charm of the Saint>>

The thick scent of the shed blood permeated the air.

I had gone after the main unit, but it was already too late. By the time I had caught up, the hunt had already ended.

"The damages?" I asked, heaving, still out of breath after having sprinted so desperately.

"The beasts under our command have all been killed. From the main unit, three goblins have been killed," replied Gi Go with his head bowed deeply, a hint of apology in his voice.

"I read wrong," I said.

The gray wolf wasn't alone. It could have been a pair; I don't know for sure. Regardless, while I was fighting with one of the gray wolves at the back, another one attacked the goblins from the front.

That's why that gray wolf left me so easily.

Without putting itself in any more danger than necessary, it took what it needed, and left.

"Fuck!" I cussed to myself, gritting my teeth in frustration. Then exhaling, I asked, "Is there anyone injured?"
"Only shallow wounds, nothing serious," replied Gi Go.
"Then let us go. I wish to reach the settlement if even a moment a sooner," I declared.

In the end, the gray wolves never came back, and it became clear that we would eventually reach the settlement safely.

But at the same time, there's no doubting that I had lost.

And the bitter taste of that defeat remained within my chest.

I had lost... To a beast no less... A beast...

Anger seethed, and I gritted my teeth in its fervor.

This humiliation... I will definitely make you pay for this, you mutts!

◆◇◇

–––Ahh.... The red snake coiled around my right arm is itching...

I've been restless ever since the day I lost to that gray wolf. Even running without rest continuously is unable to exhaust this body. The word, fatigue, had completely vanished from my senses' lexicon. The only sensation left, the incessant itching of this red snake.

Before I knew it, the <<Soul of a Crazed Warrior>> had been raging without my behest.

Like pyre in my brains, scorching its pith, magical energies violently flowed from my body as if it were being wrung out from the very nucleus of this flesh.

"Where are the enemies!?" begged my soul. My eyes ravenously darting as I watched over my horde.

"Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! Give me an enemy!!" beckoned my soul.

"Something to kill! Something to cut! A foe! A threat! An enemy!!!" cried every fiber of my being. "Is there no one? Is there nothing!? Where are you!?"

Those craving, almost wishing thoughts stormed a gale at the back of my mind, driving me into lunacy when the village entered my eyes.

"To the village!" I shouted, ordering the horde to enter.