"Ration? Check. Spare cloth? Check."
The following day, Xiao prepared his departure to raid the Goblin hideout. Since it will be a long way from his home, Xiao also prepared to camp out.
"Alright, all good. Let's go."
After Xiao does the final checking, he locked his home with the boulder and began his journey.
"From here to there, guess I need at least half of the day to reach, not to mention the preparation. If nothing goes wrong, tomorrow morning will be the best time to attack."
While Xiao was on his way to his destination, he was also looking at the map he made to make sure he was on the right track.
Besides hunting animal and gathering ingredients, Xiao also scouted the jungle and drew a simple map based on the information he had gathered.
Xiao was currently advancing towards the area where he marked an X on his map-the Goblin hideout.
Xiao avoids routes that will lead him to encounter other dangerous beasts or monsters to maintain his best form. This was to secure his success rate in raiding the hideout.
While some routes were unavoidable, Xiao uses the faeces of the Goblin and spill the area to scare off anything lurking nearby. Animals and monsters in this jungle always avoid fighting the Goblin because of the sheer amount of its pack. Getting swarm to death was not something any living being wants to go through.
The faeces works wonder for Xiao as he traverses without facing any obstacles.
"Gotta do something with the smell though, should I install a purifier into my mask?" Xiao covered his nose as he spills the faeces around the area.
And just like Xiao estimated, he reaches his destination using half of the day.
Xiao set up a camp nearby the area. He then begins to observe and plan his attack for tomorrow.
The hideout of the Goblin was in the cave. Outside the cave was an open field, and around the open area was nothing but trees, which Xiao was hiding in it.
Though Xiao has no information about the cave's interior, he suspects that it should contain many split and narrow paths.
"No guards outside, just like what the book has written," Xiao bite off a jerky as he hides in the bush and scout the area.
Though it's their hideout, Goblin never assigns any guards to guard the cave entrance. Without given out the appearance of danger, travellers and adventures alike will likely enter their cave to spend a night, and that is how the Goblin gets their prey.
Usually, once there's a report of a Goblin hideout, it will be taken down by either a band of adventurers or the army.
Xiao suspects that the one he is about to raid here has already been spotted by the empire for quite some time. The reason it's still standing was that they purposely let the horde grow.
The existence of the Goblin horde allows the empire to kill off any unwanted individual by sending those people deep into the Goblin territory.
Based on what happened to Xiao's platoon and what Owen had told him, this was the conclusion Xiao had come out.
("Those cunning bastard!")
Xiao angrily took another bite of the jerky as he thought back that day where all his platoon members were dead, and Owen barely made out alive.
"You better be still living now, Owen," Xiao says a small prayer before refocusing the scouting.
Xiao suddenly senses a movement coming not far away from him. He quickly crotches down and ready himself to fight.
A few sec later, Xiao saw a group of Goblin came out from the trees and walking towards their hideout.
"Doesn't seem like they sense my presence," once confirm that the Goblins didn't notice him, Xiao lets out a sigh of relief and continue to observe them.
From what Xiao observed, the Goblins seem to carry a small body figure. Xiao can't figure out what are they are holding because of the dirty cape covering it, but he knew that it was something alive as it moves a little every now and then.
("What the hell are they carrying?")
Xiao saw the Goblins enters the cave and disappear from his sight.
After that, Xiao begins to strategize his plan to invade the hideout. Not a single Goblin found out that there was someone camping just outside their lair, patiently waiting to unleash carnage upon them once daybreak.
The next day, just right after the sunlight appears in the sky, multiple bombing sounds break the serene atmosphere of the area.
The sounds were so loud and frightening that a group of Goblin came out from the cave to investigate it.
As the Goblins enters the forest to find the source of the sound, one by one, they got silently taken out, mainly by a bolt to the head.
The group got eliminated, starting from its backline. It was already too late for the group leader to realize that they had fallen into a trap.
After the first group of Goblin got taken out, the loud sounds continue to bombard the area. Another group of Goblin came out from the cave and investigate as the first group did not return.
Again, no Goblin return to report on what's happening outside, and another group got sent out, curiously wandering into the forest.
In the end, not a single Goblin walk back to its hideout while the forest was stained with the scent of death as Goblin corpses scattering around the places.
No Goblins has come out from the cave after some time has passed.
"Should I wait a bit longer? But I guess they won't be sending out more, consider 32 of them just went silent all the sudden."
Xiao was revising his plan while reloading his crossbow on top of a tree.
"Since no one come out already, moving to phase two now."
Xiao jumped down from the tree. He then wears his tactical mask and readies his weapon as he slowly approaches the cave.
"Now then, let the hunt begin."
And the young man slowly disappears into the darkness of the cave, with a sinister smile lies underneath his mask.