Erwin looked at the pill box in his hand. Only a couple were left in. "Some painkillers and antipsychotics."
Since his arrival in this world, he had yet to take one.
"Was it her or the change of environment?" He mumbled.
It felt good to be unchained, but he feared the worst.
But today, he had a strong feeling in his stomach.
His body was calling for them, "even one would do!" it was screaming.
"Today's the big day. Can't risk an attack." Erwin took one of each and closed the pillbox.
Today was the day he was going to attempt to assassinate the chief-shaman of the goblins.
"And hopefully take a good step towards getting rid of the storm and finding an escape""
Dry air, no clouds on sight. The moon cycle was close to the new moon, so there wouldn't be much light anyway.
After spending almost a week inspecting goblins, viewing their movements, testing their limits, and locating their home, he felt ready to take on the mission.
"Normal goblins are weaker and slower than me, but plenty in numbers, can use tools, and hunt in packs."
He reminisced about one of his encounters.
He was in the footsteps of a larger prey.
The leads led him to an open spot where a goblin hunting party was attacking a deer-esque creature with hundreds of small blades forming its antlers.
Bleeding and damaged, the creature was attacking the goblins.
"Poor things had no chance."
They screamed, hurled stones, tried to fend it with spears, but it mattered not.
Sword-deer rushed in, took the spears to its body, and thrust its antlers at the first goblin it encountered.
Sharp blades pierced through the flesh like a hot knife through butter, and once it lifted its head and shook it, it diced the goblin to pieces.
It was the goblin's sacrifice that gave Erwin a chance to pursue and hunt the wounded beast.
"Fat from that helped me make this, and the blade antler. I need to find a use for that one." Unlucky.
"If only the goblins had one of the big ones," Erwin recalled another memory, an encounter with a really dangerous foe.
"Hobgoblins sure were different. Taller and stronger than me."
"On the slower side, but have even thicker fur and fat layers, hard to kill unless attacked at the throat."
His first encounter was when he was stalking a goblin party of four led by one of them.
They were out in the forest, collecting mushrooms and herbs, and slept under a tree.
One of the goblins, angered by the big creature's laziness, dropped what it was doing.
Hobgoblin first ignored the naggings, seeing the small goblin nothing but a shade.
But once the small one picked up and threw a pebble at him, he woke up.
Without making a sound, it just slapped the small creature.
The snap was loud enough to shock Erwin.
And hit strong enough to send the goblin flying, and land down with a broken neck.
"Slow and durable brute that packs a punch."
Then his memory flashed forward.
His hatchet in hand, covered in flesh and blood.
And a hobgoblin desperetly trying to hold its bleeding neck as it gives their last breath.
"And they are suprisingly perceptive as well, and equally agressive."
But he had a secret weapon to take their attention.
"Hopefully, it will work."
He glanced at the bundle of kindling and straws, held together by plant-fibre rope on his back.
"For a week, I hunted, rendering fat of whatever I killed, dried wood, and even used my lighter fluid to make it as flammable as possible. Should make a quick work of the village walls, enough of an opening to take my kill and move out."
With that, he waited till dawn.
Goblin village had wooden walls surrounding it, but not a single scout tower.
It wasn't like they needed it; the walls were barely two meters.
Goblins lived in small huts; each hut had an entrance, and the living space consisted of rooms underground.
Erwin managed to get a good peek since they had no doors, just leather covers.
Except for the main hut, which Erwin spent the most time watching.
It was a shaman's home, a scrawny, old goblin carrying a staff with a gem stuck on the tip.
[Be careful of the spellcaster. It may look weak, but one good hit is all it will take to take you down]
"Her warnings are still in my mind."
With that, he crossed the forest, his eyes already used to the night.
"One good thing about these creatures is they are territorial; no other beast is foolish enough to enter so deep into their land. Well, except me."
Erwin mumbled as he crossed rough terrain, taking his time to select the optimal path.
Soon enough, he saw the bright orange light coming from the village.
They were weak lights from a couple of torches placed around it.
"They don't like making big fires. Wonder why?"
Erwin shook his head. He had no time to ask questions, not now.
With the bundle on his back, he approached the walls.
About a couple of meters left, he stopped, a bit closer, and he would lose the cover of the forest and would have to rely on the night.
But he had a problem.
"Patrols, two of them. One holding a torch, the other a flint spear."
The two were patrolling along the wall. Erwin planned to start his arson.
Would he be able to do his job despite their watching?
No, nearly impossible.
From his observation, they looked tired, but not tired enough to miss a guy trying to burn their village walls.
Erwin drew his weapons, the knife and the hatchet.
"Now, how to take both down at once?"
Two walked too close to the walls; he couldn't risk any noise.
But how could he kill them all with the weapons he had?
"Trashing of throats? No, they can still gargle, scream, or cause disturbance."
Erwin looked at his hands. "Snapping their heads won't work either. Then what?"
His best bet, though he wanted to avoid it, was their neck.
Arteries or brainstem.
Both viable targets.
But he didn't know where they were.
To precisely where they are exactly. Their anatomy couldn't be too different, but one mistake was enough to alert the entire village.
He had killed a decent number of goblins, ones that usually approached his living space too much, or got a scent of him.
But of all his kills, he tried to respect their death, giving them a proper burial or at least a calm final resting spot.
"It was an act of honor to respect their dead. All regrets I have now are for nothing."
Knowing he couldn't watch them forever and that a more rested new patrol group might replace them, he began moving in.
Goblins didn't have much better night vision than humans.
These two also had a torch.
"Should give me an opportunity."
He dropped the flammable bush to the ground and began sneaking towards the goblins.
He timed his steps to theirs, stayed down, even hid his weapons to avoid their flashing moonlight or the torchlight.
Once close enough, he could hear goblins grumbling, rustling of their fur.
"Back of the head, right where it connects to the neck, should be fine." He raised his hatchet and lunged forward, smashing it at the first goblin's neck.
Leaving the hatchet there, his free hand quickly moved to its mouth, muffling its last scream before dashing forward to the second goblin.
It had already turned towards Erwin, still shocked, eyes locked on its patrol buddy.
"A second of distraction."
Erwin charged in once more, aiming not at a weak spot of the goblin, but its mouth.
"Got you now."
The creature tried to scream, shout. Its claw-like fingers pierced Erwin's hands.
Ignoring the pain, Erwin moved closer, with his empty hand, drew his pocket knife, opened it, and thrust it right under the creature's chin.
And with one move, it slashed through its throat, vocal cord, and arteries at once.
But to stop any noise, he plunged on the dying goblin and kept its mouth shut.
His eyes locked on the creatures under the light of the torch that had fallen to the ground.
Erwin watched as it bled to death, giving the last of its strength to a pointless struggle.
And once it stopped, its head fell, tears running from its eyes, and he released the creature.
Erwin took a deep breath and turned around, as nothing happened. He was aware of what he did. He knew the struggle in the creature's eyes as it closed to death.
But he was too used to it to feel anything.
"No matter how many times I tell myself I changed…"
He approached the flammable bundle and knelt next to it. Warm blood from the goblin livened his numbed hands.
"Can't risk them smelling this." He mumbled as he began grabbing snow from the ground, to scrub his hands to get rid of as much of the blood as possible.
"Too cold, it is freezing on my hands." He lamented, but still scrubbed as much as possible.
Once over, he grabbed the bundle, approached the wall, and pushed the snow aside.
"Not too wet." And placed the bundle right there.
He then approached the goblins, taking his hatchet back and grabbing the lit torch to start the fire.
Bundle quickly lit, slowly heating the wet wood.
Erwin watched for a while, till he was sure fire didn't die, then quickly left the location.
"Once they start rushing out to extinguish it, I will have my window." He repeated in his head as he hid amongst the trees once more.
It didn't take long for the fire to ignite, spreading across the wall.
Once goblins started rushing outside, Erwin began to move closer to the village.
Taking each step carefully, he gave plenty of time for each moving group to pass.
Goblins look distraught, trying to extinguish the fire by throwing mud and snow at it, but they were too late to stop it from spreading.
"Still, with their numbers, they should be capable of stopping this mess."
Once next to the walls, Erwin looked up at it. "Looks climbable, but should I?"
The village had one entrance, and goblins were rushing in and out, so he had to enter through a non-conventional path.
But climbing a wall had a huge risk; when he climbed it, he would be prone to being spotted at the peak.
"Still, can't think much." He shook his head and moved even closer. "Let's do it."
He checked his weapons, made sure they weren't loose, took a deep breath, and jumped.
His hands caught the walls, but almost slipped because of the snow gathered on top.
"Hgh!" Erwin gave his all to stop it. His fingers were clawing through the wood to keep him from staying.
But it worked. Erwin lifted himself a little, just enough to peek inside.
It looked even more chaotic inside.
There were no signs of the shaman, at least from his angle.
He could barely see the top of the shaman's hut.
Despite that, he could see the shadows and hear the voices of all the goblins, who were trying to extinguish whatever light source they found or help stop the fire from inside.
"They look plenty busy." Erwin let himself down a little, then quickly pulled himself up.
Once down, he quickly rushed to the closest cover, a hut. From behind it, he watched the movements of the goblins.
"Walls will take their attention for now, but with this many hands, it won't take them long."
"I need to find and eliminate their shaman fast."
Erwin kept his position and let another goblin group move around the chief shaman's hut before moving in.
Trying his best to stay in the shadows, he moved through obstacles and huts in the village, not even breathing when a goblin was close to him.
But it worked, like a shadow, he blended with the night and arrived at the main hut, sneaking inside through a window.
Once inside, he quietly stayed still and took his time to observe.
It was a circular room with a long carpet going all the way to its main door. At the end of the carpet, a wooden throne with a skull of some local fauna on top, scattered around it, piles of jewelry, books, trinkets, and trophies.
Barrels of, probably plundered, food were at the back of the throne.
And finally, a large wooden post, thick as a log, was stuck in the ground, with a huge chain and a collar at its end, next to the entrance.
"Wonder for what chief shaman uses that for. Display of power, a giant pet, decor?"
Erwin shook his head.
All of these were possibilities, but he had no luxuries to delve too deep into them.
His goal was to kill a goblin and escape, nothing more, nothing less.
So he looked around, trying to find a spot to hide.
"Behind the throne is good, but has no exit nearby."
"Barrels give decent cover, but need to close the distance to strike, and again, no exits."
He stroked his chin.
"I can hide amongst the piles, throw my hatchet, and dash out."
But that gave him only one chance.
While thinking, a crackling noise rose from outside, followed by a zap.
Next thing Erwin knew, the wall of the entrance door had blown out, and a powerful blue light rushed inside before fading.
"Foolish hairless monkey." A low-pitched voice echoed. "Made Great Tun, the mighty chief-shaman, wait. Didn't you know Great Tun knows all who enter his home? Such is his magical might."
An eyeless goblin wearing long robes entered the hut with a long staff with a blue crystal ball at the tip.
But that wasn't the only problem. Right behind the shaman was a hulking creature, almost three meters tall, lean but muscular, with a huge beer belly.
Its size to hobgoblins was what hobgoblins were to regular goblins.
Erwin reached for his hatchet and clicked his tongue, still hiding.
"Couldn't have gone any worse."