The sun had dipped behind the hills.
Shadows stretched long across the gravel road as the exhausted rookies trudged forward, barely keeping formation.
Selena led, but her steps were uncertain.
Rika followed with narrowed eyes, still clutching her bow, but her fingers trembled, and her quiver was nearly empty.
Hina lagged behind, breathing hard, a smear of dried blood on her sleeve from an earlier scrape.
Yuzu could barely hold her staff steady. Her lips were pale. She hadn't spoken in an hour.
Lio, at the rear, stumbled twice. The Greenie, now drooping with concern, clung to his shoulder like a baby bird refusing to leave a sinking nest.
They were thirty hours into their last seven-day push.
No rest.
No water.
No preparation.
Only copper.
Only pride.
And now… it was too late.
From the trees just ahead, they came.
Goblins.
Thirty of them.
Short, twisted humanoids with sickly green skin, jagged teeth, and yellow eyes that glowed with bloodlust. They wore scraps of bone, leather, rusted blades, and ragged cloaks. Some had crooked spears, others crude cleavers. Their snarls pierced the quiet dusk like the ring of steel before a duel.
The rookies froze.
"Wait… what?!!" Yuzu began.
Selena raised her shield, swaying. "Formation! Now!"
But they were already too slow.
The goblins surged forward like a pack of wolves.
Rika loosed the first arrow, it flew wide, missing completely. Her second shot landed, but only grazed a goblin's shoulder.
Selena raised her shield and blocked the first charge, but the weight staggered her.
Lio unsheathed his short sword but couldn't even lift it with both hands steady. His swing missed. A goblin tackled him from the side, driving him into the dirt.
Hina tried to pull him back, only for another goblin to slice her thigh. She screamed and collapsed beside him.
Yuzu raised her staff, but her mana was depleted, all her strength drained by malnutrition and overwork. Her casting fizzled. She whimpered as a goblin knocked her over and grabbed her arm.
They were overrun.
In mere moments:
Rika was pinned against a tree, her bow snapped.
Hina bled onto the dirt, desperately pressing cloth to her leg.
Yuzu shrieked as two goblins pulled at her robes.
Lio had three goblins on him, one gripping his sword arm, the other wrenching at his pack.
Selena stood, blood dripping down her cheek, arms shaking as she tried to shield the others.
They weren't losing.
They were being wiped out.
And the goblins weren't killing them quickly.
Not yet.
Because goblins didn't always kill.
Some were worse.
Their cackling grew louder.
From the hill above, Red stood.
His arms were crossed.
His eyes glowed dimly under the setting sun.
And finally… he moved.
One step.
Two.
Then, like black wind, he vanished from sight.
The first goblin, the one pinning Lio didn't even scream.
Red's blade split it clean in half from shoulder to hip, a black flash that left no sound. Blood sprayed into the air, and the creature's corpse hit the dirt in two twitching pieces.
The second goblin turned, and lost its head.
The third tried to run, Red's second sword pinned it to a tree before it could squeal.
The entire battlefield shifted.
Thirty goblins had become twenty-seven.
In one heartbeat.
"W-What?!!" Rika choked, eyes wide.
But Red wasn't a guardian now.
He was a storm.
He dashed forward, sliding between Yuzu and her attacker, and with a twist of his wrist, removed both of the goblin's arms. It screeched, then stopped, Red's second blade ended it mid-breath.
Another goblin lunged from the side.
Red spun, twin blades flashing like silver arcs in twilight, and the goblin dropped in three pieces.
The goblins tried to retreat.
Too late.
Red vanished from sight, again.
Appeared behind them.
And cut them down one after another.
No wasted movement.
No breath.
No hesitation.
When a goblin screamed for help, Red silenced it with a kick to the throat, flipping it backwards before driving both swords into its chest.
When two attacked from both sides, he dropped to a knee, spun low, and sliced their legs off at the ankles, rising to finish them before they hit the ground.
Another charged him with a spear.
Red caught it mid-thrust, shattered it with one sword, and buried the other into the goblin's face.
Blood painted the grass.
Bodies piled.
And Red kept moving.
In less than three minutes… the entire goblin pack was dead.
The forest went silent.
Not a bird. Not a breath. Just blood cooling on the road.
The rookies lay scattered across the dirt, injured, shivering, stunned.
Lio sat frozen, mouth agape, Greenie hiding in his hood.
Yuzu was crying, shielding her face.
Hina whimpered softly, holding her leg.
Selena had dropped her shield.
Rika sat on the ground, shaking her head. "We… we were going to die…"
Red stood in the center of the carnage, blades coated in black-red ichor.
Then, finally, he spoke.
Red: "You chased coin."
His voice was calm.
Quiet.
And filled with wrathless fury.
Red: "You chose greed over discipline."
He turned, looking at each of them, not with anger… but with something far worse:
Disappointment.
Red: "You split your formation. You neglected rest. You stopped eating. You ignored every rule you were taught."
Selena bowed her head, her voice hoarse. "We thought… we were ready."
Red walked past the corpses, stepping over a severed arm.
Red: "You thought money was more important than preparation."
He looked at Yuzu. "You didn't even bring water."
She sobbed, covering her mouth.
"You forgot that adventurers don't survive because they're strong," he said, stopping in the middle of them.
Red: "They survive because they are prepared. Trained. Fed. Focused."
He knelt beside Hina and gently touched her bandage.
Then turned to Lio.
Red: "You almost died tonight."
Lio looked away.
Red's voice lowered. "And if I hadn't stepped in, they would have done worse than kill you."
That truth cut deeper than any blade.
Silence fell.
Red rose, eyes cold.
Red: "I will not always be there."
He cleaned his blades with a single motion, flicking blood onto the grass.
Red: "This was your warning."
He turned and walked away toward the edge of the trees.
But before he vanished into shadow, he stopped.
Red: "Go home. Rest. Heal."
A pause.
Red: "Then decide if you still want to walk this path."
Then he was gone.
The silence that followed was thick.
Selena dropped to her knees.
Yuzu wept openly.
Rika punched the ground in rage and shame.
Lio couldn't move.
Hina clutched her leg, trembling.
And the Greenie, now silent, curled into Lio's arms, eyes wide.
None of them spoke.
Not for a long time.
Because they knew…
They'd been lucky.
And luck… always runs out.