Bane sat beside his mother as his mother grunted and groaned trying to give birth to the other goblins that were still in her womb.
Even though his mother was a human, Bane somehow felt a deep connection of comradeship with her.
The comradeship wasn't something born out of the same blood they shared... but rather it was born out of a shared grudge.
But even though he considered his mother as his companion, he didn't feel any pity for her state.
Her mother might have gone through a lot of sufferings because of the goblins, but Bane hardly felt any anger towards them.
After all, the rape was the reason why he was born.
Rather Bane was lost in a daze, worried about something else.
"This won't do."
Bane shook his head.
He was standing only a minute or two but his legs already gave out. His body was too weak!
Or rather considering the fact that he had been just born he felt considerably famished.
If things went on as they were then he might be in danger of dying of hunger.
"There is plenty of prey around. But..."
If one was feeling hungry, there was only one logical thing to do.
He had to hunt for prey and feast on them.
But there were hardly enough prey that an infant's body could prey upon. Rather he would be the one to be eaten instead.
But there was one kind of monsters that were around him in lot of numbers and they were as weak as he was.
The only problem was...
"They are of the same race."
Bane wasn't the only one who was born today. Lots of other infant goblins were born too.
Bane was smart enough as a former human so he already knew how to stand and walk.
But the infant goblins were all dumb as hell. All they did was flopped around without a clue in the world even though there bodies was strong enough to walk.
Some others kept grunting in their sleep.
"Killing defenseless babies would be easy. But wouldn't that make me a hypocrite?"
Bane hated humans cause they only knew how to trample upon others using them as a stepping stone.
If Bane did the same, how was he any different than them?
How could he kill his own kin?
"No, I won't be getting anywhere like this. If I want revenge I have to dirty my hands. They are goblins anyway and I used to kill them all the time before."
Even though the actions might be similar but his purpose was different. That was really the important point here. Nothing was black and white, everything was a shade of grey. No one can be all goody two shoes.
As long as he didn't have a valid cause being ruthless wasn't a sin, at least not in his dictionary.
In the end what mattered was what was his purpose behind it.
Was it the same as those selfish humans?
There was no way that he was the same as those humans.
There actions were despicable driven by jealousy and thirst for power.
While he?
He was on his last straw to live. His purpose was not power but rather a just cause instead. There was nothing wrong with his actions nor was he a hypocrite.
Bane nodded convincing himself. And perhaps because he was on his last straw all of this reasoning seemed so much true. Nothing mattered more than surviving this ordeal.
He got up as he dragged himself towards one of the infant goblins.
This one wasn't really his brother as it wasn't popped from the same womb as his mother.
"I am sorry, but you would have to die. Ggireuk"
Bane thrusted his arm as he began strangling the goblin.
"Ggireuk! Ggireuk! Ggireuk!"
The goblin grunted in pain as it cried but it couldn't break free from Bane's grasp.
"Ggireuk! Ggireuk!"
For the frail body of a child and a twig like neck, it didn't take long for it to suffocate to death.
"Ha Ha"
But even if it was a frail infant it took all Bane had to kill it in his current state.
*Conditions have been met*
*You gained the title: Kin Slayer*
*You leveled up*
*Skill Points obtained: 50*
As Bane leveled up he felt his whole body being rejuvenated. This was unusual as he had never experienced something like this before.
He wasn't sure how leveling up works in monsters but...
"I still feel hungry."
There was no helping it. If he had to survive he had to eat.
There was no way that he could cook the food that he just preyed upon so he had to eat it raw.
Bane himself had eaten raw meat before in extreme conditions even though he mostly preferred cooked. But that was a different scenario. His body at that time had lot of resistance skills so he could barely make it.
But now...
"I hope that this body holds out."
There were a lot of concerns but he had to do it.
He wasn't yet sure how the goblin infant's normally survive hunger but there was no way he could wait that long!
He would be famished and beyond help by then. If he had to do anything it had to be now.
He reminiscences the time he had eaten goblin as a human.
The flesh was rough and saline but it was passable as it wasn't poisoned.
Bane bent low and held onto an arm of the baby.
"Thank you for your sacrifice. I will make sure to remember you."
Saying so he bit onto the arm, but...
"Ugh"
"Ack"
It felt like his entire body reacted doing its everything to push the morsel of food out of its system. And before he knew it he was vommiting buckets over the prey that he had just hunted.
*Conditions have been met*
*User attempt to forcefully initiate changes in the body registered.*
*Processing...*
*User attempt failed.*
*Cannibalism is restricted for user's race.*
*Restriction can be lifted at higher levels.*
*Warning!*
*Continued attempts can lead to severe damage to user's body*
"Damn, what the fuck is this..."
Bane cursed as he wiped off his cheek.
He hadn't heard anything like this before.
But it was also true that he had never tried to eat a human when he was one of them either.
"Restriction can be lifted at higher levels? Does that mean I can change my body when I grow up?"
As Bane pondered over it more, it all made sense in a way.
Humans too weren't really a cannibalistic race.
But there some remote human tribes that did eat human flesh.
But feeding human flesh to a new born baby in a normal human settlement? That didn't make sense at all!
"Maybe I don't have the resistance to digest?"
When it came to a normal human baby he would probably be relying on his mother's milk.
But Bane's newly met mother wasn't left intact to do that.
And he didn't knew how goblins work either.
"Then what the hell am I supposed to eat?"
Bane judgement was getting cloudier as he got consumed more and more into hunger. He was getting famished by every passing hour.
And worse of it all. He retched just now.
Even the water that his body had was no longer there. It all came out.
"Perhaps I was too rash. But I can't help it."
Bane was desperate. He looked around trying to find a clue.
The adult goblins were eating the humans but he wasn't invited to the party. Going there would be as good as threatening his own life.
"I am hungry. "
He couldn't take it anymore. He was dying of hunger.
"Then perhaps?"
He turned his gaze. It fell on his mother. The one who he had dubbed as a prison till now.
*Gulp*
For some reason Bane was sure that his body wasn't going to react if he ate human flesh.
And Bane didn't feel much pity for that woman either.
The temptation was definitely there... or rather it was irresistible.
"I am a baby, aren't I? So I won't need more than a single bite perhaps? Ggireuk. It won't kill her I guess?"
His famished tongue had began to talk nonsense.
If he makes such a step now, it was sure to leave a bad after taste considering he was related to her by blood. But...
"Okay, its decided."
In the end his hatred for humans and his beastly instinct ended up winning out.
It was easy for him to blame all of his actions on his race.
It was easy for him to tag this action as a revenge on humans in a way.
There was nothing holding him back anymore.
He walked towards it like a zombie.
He had disregarded the fact that he had just dubbed the woman in front of him as a comrade just a moment ago.
*Gulp*
"Sorry mother. Ggireuk"
For the first time ever since Bane was born in this world, he chose to call the woman who gave him birth as 'mother'.