The grassy patch slowly became devoid of people as they disappeared into the gate. Even their lifeline, the bowed men in black, left them. The 5 cowards were left alone in the dungeon. Once the gate blinked out of existence two of them felt the direness of their situation and broke out into tears. They were a small boy and girl, both 10 years old.
The tallest of the group, Edwin bent down and looked them in their wet eyes, "Don't cry. W-we should come up with a plan first." His voice was shaky but his instincts to take care of young children overrode his fear. But his words had little impact.
"If we climb a tree we can probably deal with them better," Victoria said, impressively calm for the situation. She pointed to an unusually thick tree deeper into the forest.
Edwin gave the idea some thought and nodded, "That seems like the best way." He turned to the crying children and gently spoke to them, "You see? We can get through this."
The group sprinted quietly to the massive tree, luckily not coming across any goblins. Victoria quickly made her way up and reached down. Stark helped lift up the young girl first.
The sound of crunching leaves echoed loudly in their vigilant ears. A solo goblin came hurtling toward them. Stark trembled. The young boy Ben, froze. Edwin gritted his teeth and punched straight through the skull of the goblin. He gagged thinking of the brain juices and shook his arm.
Stark sighed in relief. He hesitated before speaking, "Thanks."
"No problem." Edwin replied, and he stared at his arm, "I really don't like this kind of thing. Even if they are monsters, I can't help but feel guilty."
Chloe successfully got onto the tree and Stark began to support Ben. "But you are able to do it when you have to. I think that is a good mindset to have."
They had all found a safe spot on top of the tree. From what they had seen, there were only goblins in this dungeon. A few goblins passed by who noticed the juicy meat in the trees and began climbing. Victoria promptly kicked the head slightly and the goblin fell off breaking its spine. It screamed in pain and quickly lost its life.
"That scream will probably attract more of them," Stark said. He noticed the ear's of the distant goblins twitching and running in their direction.
"We just need to push them off," Victoria said, hints of worry in her voice.
"It should be fine, we just need to alert and kick them off whenever we see them," Edwin said, and addressed his other concern, "Who will take the night shift? That person should probably start resting now."
Victoria raised her hand, "I don't mind. When should we switch."
"We don't need to do that. Goblins are diurnal, they stay in their caves during the night." Stark said.
"Is that so? That's a relief." Edwin felt a burden lift off his shoulders. "You don't seem to have any problems killing, so why did you not not participate earlier?"
Victoria looked at him as if he was stupid and replied, "Why would I kill if someone else is going to do it for me?"
"Oh, I guess you have a point." Edwin scratched his head and turned to Stark, "So… Stark right? Why are you here?"
"I was too scared."
Edwin laughed awkwardly. These guys were too hard to talk to.
Night arrived, and as Stark said, no goblins came.
Stark opened his eyes and quietly climbed down the tree. He went to the place where the gate was opened. The pile of goblin corpses was still there. Stark smiled, he was worried that the goblins would move the bodies or eat them but it seems that they don't cannibalize.
He smashed the goblin's skull and took out a small green crystal the size of a pea. Stark promptly put it into his mouth and swallowed it. He opened the status screen and noticed no change. Stark repeated the process with another corpse. Nothing. After he reached the 88th goblin, a notification rang in his head. Stark clicked the "!" near his name.
[You have gained, Tough Nails: Goblins have stronger nails than a normal person, your nails are slightly tougher]
He looked at his nails, the pink of the nails faintly turned yellow and grew a few millimeters longer. Stark continued to eat the mana crystals. This was something that he learned from the novel. By consuming the unpurified mana crystals of a monster, there is a 1% chance to gain one of their skills, however, there is also a 1% chance that there will be an adverse reaction. The reaction could be from a minor stomach ache to severe internal injuries. He avoided this due to divine digestion, there will be no adverse effects. Stark smiled smugly to himself. That goddess was really not that smart, giving him such a good skill. It is much better than that Spirit Bond skill which still has not shown any usefulness. Too bad he was too much of a coward to make proper use of it.
[You have gained, Filthy Living: Goblins constantly live in filth and rarely get sick, you a little more resistant to bacteria]
Although he was prepared, he couldn't help but be disappointed. The skills that can be acquired are random but include hidden skills. The skills are hidden not because they are good, but because they make such a minor difference to the creature's strength it is not worth mentioning.
The light of the rising sun forced the group awake and continued kicking goblins off trees until they heard footsteps. It was Kwan, he was smiling, "You all did wonderfully! Now join the rest of the kids to get some food."
They all climbed down and rushed over. Hunger overtook their anger. Once they started eating the 4 youths were all smiles.
"This is so good," Ben said with puffed cheeks.
"Hm!" Chloe nodded, shoving another blueberry muffin in her mouth.
Stark was eating, he was slightly frustrated with the man for leaving them out for a night but he was far more disappointed with himself. He couldn't help but notice how the same group who hated Kwan not that long ago, are all looking at him like they would the old lady at the orphanage.
Today the man was dressed casually wearing a white T with the saying, "No, I will not give you my number."
Oliver was sitting with the rest of the heroes and mockingly said, "How much confidence does a guy need to wear that in public?"
"There are probably a lot of people swarming around a guy like that," Tony said through his chewing. "It really is unfair that a demon like him has a face like that."
"They say that the better looking the person, the more despicable the heart," Misumi added casually.
"I guess you must really have a heart of gold huh?" Oliver said sarcastically.
Misumi threw a piece of bread. "Just shut up and eat!"
A small laugh came from a green-haired girl who was quietly feeding her brother, "You two seem to get along really well."
"We do not!" The 2 said in unison.
The group of 50, sat obediently after eating their fill. Stark sat at the back of the group and thought, this man really knows how to deal with kids. Too bad his methods are not replicable by a person with a conscience. Kwan began explaining the week's assignment, which was to go out and kill as many goblins as possible. They will determine the average number of goblins killed, and for every goblin below the average a person gets, they need to run 5 miles. For every goblin above the average number killed, they will get 1 entire day of free time, and be able to eat whatever they want. Stark found that man more devious by the day. Saying anything they wanted, knowing full well an orphan would probably think of instant noodles as a delicacy.
"No one will be here to guard you all today. I recommend getting in groups."