“I could spare your life for now.”

The voice sounded like a girl’s, and its owner indeed appeared to be a beautiful young woman.

But her tone was utterly calm, devoid of any emotion.

Parker, hearing this, felt a desperate surge of hope for survival. He raised his head, speaking in a raspy voice, “What do you need me to do? Just… let me live…”

But no response came, only silence.

In the quiet alley, the only sounds were Parker’s racing heartbeat and his ragged breathing.

As sweat started to bead on his forehead, the girl finally gave her answer.

“A week from today, bring one of your companions to me.”

“Bring them to a location I will specify. No one else is to be there.”

She pointed a finger at Parker, and a blood-red light surged into his body. He felt an overwhelming discomfort, as if his body were being torn apart and rearranged.

With that, she lowered her hand and disappeared into thin air, leaving only a final message in Parker’s ear.

“In a week, you will die unless you complete the task.”

Left alone in the deserted street, Parker collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air.

…

Having satisfied her “appetite,” Aino cheerfully returned to Carter’s home.

The moment she stepped inside, she found Carter and Molly deep in conversation, their expressions somewhat grim.

“Oh, Aino, you’re back,” Carter greeted her with a smile, while Molly eagerly stood up and warmly took Aino’s hand.

Leaning in with a grin, Molly whispered, “So, did you teach those guys a lesson?”

Carter could only smile helplessly at his wife’s eagerness. “Molly, I told you not to get involved in these things. This is just how the city is—there’s only so much we can do…”

Despite his words, Carter was listening intently, curious about what Aino had done.

“Would it scare you if I said I’m planning to make them all disappear?” Aino said, blinking innocently, as if a child complaining about a few bothersome mosquitoes she couldn’t sleep with.

Only, the targets of her ire were people, not insects.

“Those scoundrels certainly don’t deserve to live. They’re truly vile!” Molly responded, not at all disturbed by Aino’s ruthless words.

Carter, looking seriously into Aino’s eyes, said, “I trust that Aino has her own methods. We won’t question her decisions.”

“Speaking of which, Aino, take a look at this.”

Carter handed her a piece of paper from the table—the topic of his earlier discussion with Molly.

It was an adventurer’s commission notice, describing recent goblin activity in the Ward Forest. Not only had many adventurers been attacked, but the goblins had also started raiding nearby villages.

The area surrounding Ward Forest wasn’t just home to cities like Dante; it also encompassed numerous villages. Unlike the cities, which housed a mix of all kinds, the villages were primarily populated by ordinary people with limited fighting abilities and few weapons.

The recent spate of goblin raids had raised concerns. The most shocking incident occurred last night when a village was attacked by a massive goblin horde, leaving it in ruins with only a handful of survivors out of hundreds.

Reports from the scene described a grisly sight, with dismembered bodies strewn everywhere, many with their innards consumed. Other bodies had been mutilated not as food but as trophies, with heads and limbs piled together in a display meant to terrorize.

In light of this, the major cities in the vicinity had issued numerous bounty notices for goblin hunts. Each goblin head could be exchanged for a substantial reward, with even higher prices for goblin leaders, shamans, and other powerful variants.

“I’m planning to join in. I want to contribute… and also…” Carter’s voice trailed off, but his expression was somber, and Molly placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Goblins, huh…”

Aino remembered an anime she’d seen in her past life where goblins were particularly loathsome creatures. The crimes described in the commission notice were eerily similar to the horrors depicted in that show.

“I’ll go with you. Molly should stay here where it’s safer. The city’s atmosphere feels tense.” Without further contemplation, Aino voiced her decision.

Carter smiled gratefully, “I can’t thank you enough. Meeting you, Miss Aino, has truly been my greatest fortune.”

He stomped on the corpse of a goblin, severing its head with his sword and placing it into his collection bag.

Carter glanced around at the sprawled goblin bodies, feeling the weight of his bag pressing heavily against his back, and couldn’t help but feel a sense of amazement.

All he had to do was scout for information, lead Aino to possible goblin lairs, and then collect their heads.

It was that easy.

Honestly, in every way, Aino resembled a monster more than the creatures they were hunting, with her overwhelming strength.

Whether it was a hulking, ferocious giant goblin or a sinister, eerie goblin shaman, each one was taken down in an instant. Just as Aino had described, this was a “hunt,” not an adventure or a battle.

This lair, the largest they’d tackled in days, was packed with goblins, including minotaurs, goblin shamans, and other variants.

It was also a human hell. Along the way, Carter had seen countless human skeletons and dismembered bodies.

Now they’d reached the innermost part of the cave—the “storage room.”

In the smaller storage areas, they’d encountered captured women, most missing limbs and covered in filth. They stared blankly when they saw people, devoid of reaction.

The luckiest was a female adventurer who’d been captured less than a week ago. Her experience and the short duration of her captivity left her with enough resilience to cling to sanity.

Yet, even she sobbed uncontrollably, clinging to Carter’s leg and wailing about why help had come so late. Behind her lay several limbless survivors, lying in the mud, letting out animalistic cries as they echoed her despair.

If the smaller hideouts were like this, what horrors lay in the storage room of this massive goblin lair?

Carter, who had been an adventurer since his teenage years, a lone wanderer for over a decade, had faced countless terrifying sights.

Yet now, he found himself hesitating to look forward, dreading what they might find.

These days, they’d been making money at an unprecedented pace, with his family’s wealth increasing to the point where he wouldn’t need to work for a long time.

But each day, Carter’s heart grew heavier, finding the goblin hunt more grueling than any past mission, even the dangerous ones he’d undertaken alone.

It was a visceral horror, etched into his very bones, triggered by witnessing his own kind subjected to such torment.

Carter forced himself to focus, knowing the only thing he could do now was to follow Aino, slay more goblins, and save as many humans as possible.

Lost in thought, he found himself following Aino into a darkened chamber.