In the forest where there were big trees, which seems to be always full of life, there was a lone goblin traveling through the day.
It was quite weird as goblins were always together. But, if you think about the identity of this goblin, it was normal.
He had the color of gray for his skin, and his body was rather slim. Well, he wasn't really slim, but if you compare it to other goblins, he was slim.
Shush.
As the goblin moved from one tree to another, he soon looked up to the still sky.
Why? It was because the clouds parted, and he felt a tremendous power shaking the land.
However, that could be considered a normal event for this particular goblin.
After all, he used to belong to the Five Great Clans, which was the home of several monsters that could cause that kind of destruction.
"Are some monsters fighting it out?" That goblin spoke as he waited for the tremor to stop.
After a few seconds of waiting, he could finally feel that it stopped, and so, he started walking.
"Hmm. I never knew there was a strong monster in the north."
As this goblin always lived in the deepest part of the forest in the south, he didn't know about the monsters living in the forest in any other part.
You could say that he was ignorant, but it was just proof that he didn't need to mind any monsters living here.
As the goblin continued walking, he wondered about the wonders of the forest that he lived in his entire life.
However, he soon came to a stop as he took another look in the sky.
Whoooooooo!
The wind blew fierce enough to cut shallow wounds in the gray body of the goblin.
However, that didn't register in the goblin's mind as he muttered.
"T-this is...Why? How?"
This gray-skinned goblin...Moris knew what was happening. After all, his clan was the closest one to the goblin known as the king.
He knew exactly what kind of phenomenon this was.
"E-extreme Loyalty that has been recognized by the Blessings of the Battlefield!"
Insane! Moris thought as he widened his eyes to the brim.
After all, Extreme Loyalty isn't something a goblin could just achieve. Even Moris, who has been praying to the unborn king since he was born, wouldn't dare say that his loyalty is Extreme Loyalty.
This was enough to shock Moris to his core, but there was another thing that Moris wanted to know as well.
"W-why is Extreme Loyalty being recognized here...?"
Extreme Loyalty is connected to the king. And the king that he knows is in the south, inside the Holy Land.
Moris knows for sure that Dusk wouldn't have come here just to ask his slave to activate Extreme Loyalty.
No...he was sure of the fact that no goblin would have loyalty as intense as having Extreme Loyalty.
It was then.
As Moris calculated several possibilities of why and how this event was happening, he soon came to a conclusion.
"N-no way."
T-the king? Moris thought as he shook his head. He knew that was impossible.
After all, he was from the Five Great Clans, which Dusk has taken over.
However, he couldn't deny what was happening right now, and he could only gulp his saliva.
And before he knew it, Moris was already running towards that direction.
Like a moth attracted to the fire...
****
As the sky continued revolving around the Elder, he faced the Warmen that injured his king.
His posture was an incredible one that you would think that he was a veteran of many battlefields.
Whoooo.
With a movement from his hand, the wind blew stronger than usual.
Woooooo.
When he snapped his head towards his allies, the sky followed him around as if it were the most normal thing to do.
It was a ridiculous thing to see. But, the people present here couldn't deny it as they saw it with their own eyes.
Even the battle-hardened Warmen couldn't believe what was going on.
They knew that there were strong people in the world. After all, even they could make the heaven's cloud split.
However, seeing it and acknowledging it are two different things.
It was then.
The tightly sealed bloody lips of the Elder parted as he spoke.
"You guys...follow Didi and Hig. Make sure you protect the king."
His voice was calm as if he already accepted what the Blessings of the Battlefield told him.
And even though the goblins here shouldn't know about it, they had an inkling.
A power this immense and of this scale shouldn't have been possible to get with normal means. What's more, the Elder is just a normal goblin that has never been blessed by the battlefield.
Being able to bring out this much power means the Elder paid for it with something else.
And that made the goblins here respect him. No, they already respected him since before, but now...it was just like how humans look up to their heroes in wars.
"Got it. Elder." Una said as he bowed his head.
The other goblins, too, bowed their head and spoke while in that posture.
"For the king." "For the king."
It was then.
The scary face of the Elder turned smooth as he smiled. Even his eyes were smiling as he looked at the goblins.
'Ah...'
Now that he thought about it, these goblins were from the time when he was still leading the village.
These goblins were the first ones to receive the King's Guidance. And he was more than proud of them for it.
After all, they were able to do their jobs more than enough as repayment to the king's kindness.
And that was why he spoke without hesitation, without regret.
"For the king."
The goblins then ran in the same direction where Didi and Hig went. The Warmen only looked at them as they thought the Elder was the most important thing right now.
The Elder also looked at his enemies with a bit of a sad face.
Well...it was only natural considering that he wouldn't be able to see his king's ascension to the throne.
He also wouldn't be able to see the moment Dawn...
"Huuu." The Elder shook his head when he thought about it.
There's no use for regrets when it was for the king. Just being able to die for the king is an honor that couldn't be denied by any other existence.
It was then.
As the one goblin and the four men saw each other in their pupils, the inevitable clash between monster and man began!
Whoooooo!
"Die! You fucking monster!" Gaize said as he brought his sword down after appearing right in front of the Elder.
Shuuu!
However, he wasn't able to make contact with the Elder as the sky protected him.
His comrades moved as they also encircled the old gob.
Clang!
However, even though the Elder wasn't doing anything, they couldn't pierce through the sky.
That was how powerful the Elder was right now.
"Fuck!" The man with the long sword cursed as he back off.
However, he didn't have enough time to continue cursing as he saw the old gob dash right in front of him!
Whooo!!
The intensity of his dash was so intense that the man thought he was facing the vastness of the sky itself!
As he put out his fist that was covered with the wind, the Elder produced a hurricane that went after the man!
Boommm!!
The hurricane destroyed the already destroyed land as it chased the man.
This old goblin was almost as strong...no, he was even stronger than the white goblin!
However, the four men knew that the old goblin was dying.
Why?
It was because of the blood flowing out of his various parts of the body.
Eyes...ears...nose...mouth...that was just the Elder's face. Blood was also flowing out of his body, but it was too many to count.
And what made them confident that the Elder was just bluffing was...
"Kuh..." The Elder moaned a little bit as he coughed blood out.
It wasn't much, but that was because almost all of the blood inside his body was now gone.
He was only alive because of his extraordinary regenerative abilities due to him being a goblin.
However, that doesn't change what he has to do.
That was why, with his bloodied body and face, he jumped out.
His instincts as a goblin reawakened...
"Guaaah!!"
...He bellowed, as he felt the life going out of him just to buy time for his precious and beloved king.
The clash between the wind and the hotness of the Warmen started powerfully.
They continued chasing one another with their powers released. They didn't hold anything back against each other as they knew just one clean hit would spell their death.
However...
"kuhhh.."
Thud.
After a few minutes of fighting, the Elder's knees touched the ground as he groaned.
The wind that he wore was now thinner and weaker than before...
The men looking at him were all battered, but they were able to survive against the clash. After all, they just had to wait for the goblin to run out of life.
And as the Elder's body was about to fall...
"Fucking piece of shit!!" One of the men said as he cut the old gob's head with his long sword.
Splash.
The Elder's blood and his head that flew into the air marked the end of his life.
However, before his life could run out, he spoke with a hoarse voice, powerful enough for the Warmen to hear.
"...For the...king."
Thud.
His head fell to the ground, and his eyes looked at his enemies as if he were looking down at them.
For the king.
That one phrase made them shiver as they imagined their fight with the Elder.
"For the king..."