Chapter 3: Birth (end)

The sky is filled with darkness and in the center part of a plain within the forest, a huge number of goblins can be seen. Their colors are darker and are more fearsome than the ordinary goblins.

The goblins are grouped according to the degree of the darkness of their color or rather their clan. And the leader of each clan gathered in a small cave.

"The humans are invading?"

Gorg, the yellow skinned goblin, questioned the goblin sitting across from him.

The red skinned goblin, Forg, answered with a gruff voice.

"Yeah, the stray goblins are already being massacred in the outer parts of the forest."

The Blue skinned goblin, Lorg, cut in the conversation and looks at another goblin.

"Is this because of the selection of the king...?"

The gray skinned goblin and the only female in the room, Morg, said with an expression full of confidence.

"I believe it is. Though I haven't seen it clearly in my dreams, there is definitely someone who will lead us. I don't know if the one is among our clans or a stray."

The black goblin and the most powerful among the leaders, Vorg, spoke.

"Either way, we have to do the selection of the king. In ancient times, our God, Detinos, said that it will be the only way to find out who it is."

Gorg stated with a serious expression.

"As far as I know, the king has not appeared since ancient times. And that led to our current state, weak and on the verge of annihilation by the hands of the humans. If we can't appoint the king in time, we must at least hide our strength as to not further agitate the humans and strike back when it is time. "

Forg slammed the table and stood up with an angry look on his face.

"Why must we hide?! We can just strike back at them right now while proceeding with the selection of the king! Have you gone soft, Gorg!?"

Lorg reprimanded his red skinned comrade.

"Silence your mouth! We are in the cave of Regalia, do you think you can act like a thug here?!"

Forg clicks his tongue and sits down to his seat.

"For now, we will do as Gorg has said. Prepare your clans and move in deeper in the forest. Don't let a single goblin die in your clan."

Vorg stands up and the rest of them follows suit and exits the cave.

****

Crouching down, I wait for my prey. In my front are trails of small animals and from the looks of it, many of them pass through here. Waiting in the cover, I stay still and let my presence dim as much as possible.

After minutes of waiting, the leaves stirs up and sound of something approaching can be heard. The bush part and gives way for something. However what I saw isn't some rabbit or whatnot but a freaking orc?!

---Damn, this pig just ruined the night for me.

I remain still to make sure the orc notices nothing. He looks back to where he came from with an expression I cannot discern. He starts to walk up to a tree and ducks near it.

---What is he doing? Is he being chased...?

I join the orc with the waiting game and after minutes passed, the bush gave way and orcs passed through.

---Shit! There are three of them now.

The newly appeared orcs looks around while buffing their chest. One of the orcs notices something and proceeds to walk towards the tree where the orc is hidden. The hidden orc notices that it was found and starts running.

---Hmm? Why did it run? Oh... So this is the territory of those orcs and that guy trespassed in it, huh?

The newly arrived orcs chases the one running away.

Orcs are a very competitive race, they kill almost anything even their own. Although they do form packs and tribes, an orc that is not part of it will be killed.

Interested in this unexpected situation, I move after them as quietly and sneaky as I can.

After running for a while, the chased orc stops running and looks back at its pursuers while unsheathing his sword.

"Hoaa!!"

He roared out loud, trying to kill their fighting spirit. The orcs chuckled at the sight of this pitiful orc, knowing he can't win.

I stay still as much as possible cause if a common enemy comes up, they'll probably kill it first.

---Now then, how should I take the benefits of this fight?

While I was distracted, one of the orcs starts to charge at its opponent, swinging his chipped sword.

The orc defends himself with his sword. They swing and slash their sword with speed that you won't expect from their huge bodies, their strength is about even. After a few minutes of clashing, the fight is starting to slow down.

They backed off a few steps from each other and the chased orc notices something when his opponent smirks at him. The other orc, hidden behind its partner, shows up at his side and cuts into his left side. The orc fumbles and drops down to the ground.

The two orcs sneered at him but something unexpected happened. A fist flying out of nowhere and strikes the wounded orc's head with intensity, the sound of his bones breaking can be heard and the color of his fist reddens up until his shoulder.

With such power behind the punch, the head flies off and the goblin starts running and picks up the head with his uninjured arm. The events happened so fast that the orc stood there dumbfounded.

When they realized their prey got stolen from them, they bellowed out a roar and ran after the goblin but the goblin was already out of their sight.

****

---HAHAHAHAHA! I got it! Those foolish pigs don't know what got them! Ouch!

Raising my right hand in the air, I felt proud. The thrill coming from the battle, the fear of failing the punch, the pain of striking and knocking the pig's head off with one punch, it felt good. Is this what they call ecstasy?

Although my left arm hurts like hell right now, my joy and sense of achievement doesn't stop. After running for some time, I cleaned the head to stop the blood from flowing and went to my cave.

---Although I got the spoils, the damage I got from punching that hard is big.

My left arm's badly damaged. I can see my bones poking out of my shoulder! Wondering how I should fix this, I felt sleepy. It feels like my fatigue got poured down all of a sudden.

Trying my best to fight the drowsiness, something comes to my mind. It says...

[Race: Goblin]

[Rank: Goblin Baron]

[Cause of the evolution: killing an orc with one punch]

---What? Goblin Baron...?

Losing to the sleepiness, I fell down and proceed to sleep.