Leaf after leaf, kill after kill.
Rain, who had been acting kind and sociable with the elves just minutes ago, was now fully immersed in the joy of massacring goblins.
Even though he appeared gentle and considerate during the feast, that side of him was never his true nature.
Rain is unhinged, emotionally unstable—he can switch from kindness to a merciless killer in an instant, much like a sociopath.
But unlike a sociopath, he wasn't pretending or faking these emotions. It was all genuine—when he showed kindness to the elves, it was real.
Now, however, he wasn't acting like a killing machine simply because the goblins were attacking the elves. He saw the goblins as a threat to his peace, a personal threat that had to be eliminated without hesitation.
These goblins were eerily human-like, except for their green or brown skin and their disproportionately large, pointed noses.
'Unlike the elves, goblins have unique appearances that make them stand out. I might even say some of them are more attractive than elves to me,' Rain thought, amused at the odd revelation.
He continued his killing spree, ensuring that he wasn't consuming more mana and qi than he could absorb from the atmosphere. The hardened leaves infused with qi he was throwing easily killed the smaller, normal goblins but only inflicted minor injuries on the larger ones, like the hobgoblins.
Rain had a hunch about what kind of goblins he was dealing with, based on his knowledge from countless fantasy stories.
The ones no taller than four feet, ugly and skinny, were the normal goblins.
Those who stood at five or six feet tall with more human-like bodies and features were hobgoblins.
The four-to-five-foot hobgoblin mages had human-like features but lacked the toned physiques of their warrior counterparts and wielded staves.
And then there were the hobgoblin tanks—massive, almost three meters tall, but slow-moving brutes.
As of now, he hadn't seen any stronger goblins, like champions or those with rare classes such as berserkers or assassins. The only hobgoblins present were mages and tanks, armed with crude wooden weapons like spears and clubs.
However, one thing was clear—an attack this organized had to have a leader. The tanks were protecting the mages while the normal goblins and hobgoblins rushed forward in waves.
Rain felt no guilt or disgust from the killing. The blood and gore didn't phase him, not after all the novels, manhuas, and movies he had consumed in his past life.
A sudden thought struck him. 'I can feel strong energy with each death. It's dirty and impure, unlike mana, which is clean and gentle, or qi, which is pure and divine.'
The realization hit him. It had to be some kind of dark magic or demonic energy.
'The elves are starting to retreat… they can't keep up with the numbers,' Rain observed as the battle continued.
Suddenly, the elves pulled back, allowing the goblins to break through the barrage of arrows and wind-based projectiles that had been keeping them at bay.
Rain reacted quickly and retreated too. His female body leapt between the branches with the same speed as Elsa had when carrying him, despite still being exhausted.
As he withdrew, older elves or those with better gear appeared on the battlefield.
Rain now understood why the elves had been using only basic arrows and weak wind magic during the earlier phase of the battle. The first wave consisted of the weaker elves, sent in to thin out the enemy forces.
The elves were organized. They used their manpower in stages, gradually increasing their strength as the battle progressed.
Keeping his distance, Rain continued observing like before.
He noticed the difference immediately. These second-wave elves were much stronger. Now, he saw magic arrows being shot from their finely crafted bows.
The wind mages were also releasing highly compressed air in the form of blades, which sliced through the goblins with ease.
As Rain watched the goblins begin to falter, rain suddenly poured down, obscuring the elves' vision and slowing their attacks.
'Hmm? I thought the weather change was the elves' doing to prevent the trees from catching fire,' Rain thought curiously.
Out of nowhere, a massive goblin, about 2.5 meters tall and built like a muscular titan, emerged from the ranks and threw a huge axe.
'So cool!' Rain admired the magnificent berserker class looking hobgoblin
The axe severed a tree branch that an elf had been standing on, sending him plummeting to the ground.
The goblins and hobgoblins pounced on the fallen elf immediately.
Some of the elves tried to save him by using a wind gust to push him back up, but it was too late. A goblin grabbed his foot, and in mere seconds, the once-handsome elf was reduced to a bloodied corpse, unrecognizable.
Instead of feeling any sense of remorse or sadness, Rain felt an odd thrill. He smiled, not out of happiness, but with the expression of a predator who had just found its next prey.
The other elves misread his smile, thinking it was just a strong front that their comrade was putting on to hide his pain.
A roar erupted from the massive goblin's mouth. Its green skin slowly turned reddish, and its size increased from 2.5 meters to nearly 3 meters.
'Now's my chance to slip away,' Rain thought as he made his move.
He sprinted away from the battlefield, but instead of heading toward the elven village or shelter, he moved in the opposite direction.
After stopping briefly, he used his Body Reconstruction ability to shift back into his male form, turning into a dark elf. His female body morphed into a male figure, his pale skin turned dark brown, his golden eyes became black, and his hair turned jet-black.
With another spell, he changed his clothes to match those of a male elf and dyed them black.
'I'll head toward the mountain of corpses. I need to see if I can refine some of the mana leaking out from the dead bodies,' he thought as he activated a filtering spell on his nose to block out any unpleasant smells.
'Goblins are said to stink in all the fantasy stories I've read. Better safe than sorry,' he chuckled to himself.
With that, Rain rushed toward the pile of goblin corpses that had accumulated during the battle.
Upon reaching the top, Rain was met with an unexpected sight.
A large throne sat atop the corpses, and seated on it was a lone goblin, around 4 to 5 meters tall. Surrounding the goblin were magic circles and intricate magical texts floating in the air.
'That's definitely a goblin king,' Rain thought, recalling what he had read in various fantasy stories. 'They're supposed to be weaker than hobgoblins, so he's probably a pushover.'
Rain examined the floating magical texts and recognized them as a long-distance telepathy and vision-sharing spell.
'So that's how he's been controlling the battlefield from afar. He's been watching everything through the goblins' eyes and issuing real-time commands through telepathy,' Rain realized, impressed by the goblin king's clever strategy.
Despite his admiration for the tactic, Rain knew one thing: this goblin king was next in line for execution.