Red Monster

There was no roar or cheer after the last Elite Kobold Fighter fell. Most of the hobgoblins were on the ground, leaning against the dead Elite Kobold Fighter. They breathed heavily, and relief was visible on their face.

They suffered all kinds of wounds: stab wounds, incised wounds, and bruises. Some of them even had their hands dangling, broken. The exhaustion was obvious, as not many were excited about the loot.

Only one hobgoblin and two goblins made their way back, getting their share of loot. The rest were on the ground, exhausted. The victory didn’t feel like they were winning. The majority of their force was gone as well.

This was mutual destruction between their village. That was what was in Red’s mind. He didn’t know if these hobgoblins and goblins had the same thought as him. In his eyes, they looked simply exhausted and wounded. It was like they didn’t think that way, considering how they fought.

"Come here! Get this sword off my body!" A commanding voice resounded.

Red turned toward the Chief. The Chief was calling specifically, pointing at the sword on his back. The Chief was standing on top of the rubble, still looking strong despite the wound all over his body.

He jogged over, and that was when all gazed on him. The surviving hobgoblins and goblins seemed to realize that he didn’t suffer any big wounds. The accusing looks in their eyes were obvious. Their eyes never left him.

He was not bothered by those gazes. There was no need to be afraid when he didn’t do anything wrong. He fought and killed more than anyone who survived.

"Pull the sword in one go!"

Red held the sword with his two hands, taking a deep breath as he counted to three breaths. The moment he was on the third breath, he pulled the sword out in one pull.

The dark-red blood sprayed as the Chief grunted in pain, but the Chief didn’t scream. He threw the sword down and looked at the wound. He was afraid that it might kill the Chief.

That was when he saw the bleeding stopped after ten breaths. It was far from getting healed, but it was good that the bleeding stopped. He made sure that the Chief would not die from the wounds. After he confirmed the Chief would not die, he moved to look for the Elite Kobold Fighter he killed. The one he killed with a fireball when he returned to the village.

There were two Elite Kobold Fighters. One that instantly died with his fireball, and the second one who was still alive when he was running. He wanted to look for those two bodies, hoping to get something other than a core.

’A skill scroll is not bad, but a potion is actually better for an emergency. I might need the potions for my next Infernal Berserk.’

That was when three hobgoblins stood up and blocked him.

Red looked up and met with three pairs of furious gazes. He chuckled, shaking his head. These hobgoblins truly didn’t know their place for them to cause him trouble even with the current circumstance.

"What now? Do you truly have a death wish?"

He was not so kind anymore with these hobgoblins who thought they were above him and could do anything to him.

"You didn’t fight! You just return when we have won!"

Red shook his head. His stamina was still high, but he was too tired to deal with these hobgoblins’ nonsense. "Stop with your nonsense, or I might have to kill you. I am not in the mood to leave you alive for your nonsense!"

"Quiet, YOU FOOLS!" The Chief roared, which startled everyone, even Red.

"Leave him alone. If not for him, you all would die. His fire killed more kobolds than all of you combined!"

The hobgoblins flinched when the Chief mentioned the fire. They had this shocked expression; obviously, they didn’t know it was him who fired those fireballs that saved their lives.

"And you, weirdo. Don’t you dare kill them. We have lost too many. I will not tolerate it if you kill them with our current situation!"

"I will kill you by myself if you ever fight!"

Red shrugged while the three hobgoblins cowered. They were afraid of the Chief and also Red now. They were stupid, but not stupid enough to fight someone who could shoot a fireball.

"You weirdo, Red. Take your loot and get to level 10 already! We need you to get stronger because we don’t know when they will come again, or when our reinforcement will come! Take the two elites you killed and get thirty or forty kobolds."

Red didn’t know what he should do with the situation. He could pretend that he had not reached level 10 yet, but the Chief would find out about that sooner or later. He didn’t know how the Chief would react if he lied about it.

However, he was also worried that the Chief would find out that he had reached level 11 without getting evolution. There might be something that the Chief knew that he didn’t. He didn’t know whether it would impact him negatively or positively. It was quite concerning, and he didn’t know how he should handle this.

"I am level 11 now, Chief, and I was not offered an evolution."

That seemed to surprise the Chief, but not much by the look of the Chief’s expression. "This is indeed a rare case. Might be the first case in our village, but you might be born as a hobgoblin. That explained why you are bigger and stronger than your peers. That might be the case."

"Whatever, get your share, get stronger. The war is not over. We will continue our attack once the King sends the next reinforcement."

Red was relieved that the Chief thought that way rather than thinking he was a cursed or disaster-bringer creature just like the Shaman. That was what he was afraid of by telling the Chief the truth, but it seemed the Chief believed it was something like a rare case where he was born as a hobgoblin.

If the Chief had told him about it before, he might believe the Chief, but not now. The belief that he might not be a goblin kept getting stronger. He was merely relieved that the Chief thought so after being informed of his level.

Red didn’t stay longer, leaving to look at the two Elite Kobold Fighters. He found them near the explosion site, a charred body wearing black armor. He quickly got rid of the charred body because it smelled bad.

As the body turned into light particles, the dropped item was revealed. It was five Mediocre Quality Cores and one silver. Three Magic Cores and two Might Cores. That was not a bad loot.

Then he went for the second body that he found crashed into one of the buildings. It burned half of the building, and it was still burning. Fortunately, the body was safe, still intact even though what was left was just charred flesh.

Red had a wish, a skill that could be used to store stuff just like how Darla stored her food. That skill might be handy for him. He didn’t need to hide his extra cores in a random spot. He could bring back the silver and copper, as that made Darla happy. If such a skill existed, he might get it from the Elite Kobold Fighter.

’Or maybe the potions...’

With that in mind, he exchanged the body for loot. The loot was revealed, and he found a pouch bag that was similar in size to the one he had back home. There was nothing else, but that pouch. Not a single coin or core.

He would be upset if it was the old him. The old him was desperate for cores, but he had gained a different perspective after exchanging loot many times. When he didn’t get a core and coins, it meant he got something better.

He grabbed the pouch and used Appraisal on it.

Storage Pouch (Growth Item)

Condition: Perfect

Quality: Common

Description: Can store items up to ten slots. Smaller items can be stacked depending on the size. A big-sized item might take two or more slots.

His wish was granted- not a skill, but an item. As he expected, when the core and the coin didn’t drop, it meant something good.

He tested the item to see how to store his stuff. He looked around, but couldn’t find the right item to store in his pouch. His eyes fell on his sword, then looked at the pouch.

He opened the pouch and wondered if his sword fit inside. He placed it inside, and the pouch swallowed his long sword. It disappeared into the pouch.

"And now how do I retrieve the sword?"

Red put his hand into the pouch, yet he could not find his sword. It was like his sword was dangling in the air. He closed his eyes and used his intent. That was when an image appeared in his head, an image with ten square slots, and one of them was occupied with his sword.

He used his intent to take the sword out, and to his surprise, the sword appeared in his right hand. Now he tried to store the sword with his intent, wondering if it would work. It worked without needing him to put it inside physically.

He tried it a few times and was having fun with it. He even picked a rock, trying to fill all the slots with the rocks. To his surprise, ten rocks only took one slot. That was what it meant: smaller items could be stacked. It meant the cores could be stacked as well.

’It’s harvest time!’

After having fun with his new item. Red started to move to collect his cores, moving out of the village. The harvest was a gamble for him because he didn’t know which body was higher level than him.

That was why he didn’t randomly exchange the bodies for loot, only the one he killed earlier. Especially when he was level 11 now. There was a chance that he might exchange a body that was lower in level than him. He was being careful with his choice.

This was the reason why he looked for the bodies outside the village. The one burned by his fire might be over level 13.