Suffer

I followed the footsteps that the girl and the three goblins had made for three kilometers before finally arriving at the goblins hideout. It wasn't large, which I had expected, considering I still see plenty of other monsters in the area, but it was still a problem that needed to be dealt with.

Goblins in this world have a fairly diverse appetite. They will eat animals, other monsters, and plants, but that isn't what makes them dangerous. No, what makes them dangerous is their taste for humans. Goblins see humans as the finest cuisine this world has to offer, and will travel any length in search of one. Once they find a human, they will chase them even if it costs them their lives.

Along with eating people, goblins are also fond of girls in particular. They see human girls as toys, meant to be played with to their hearts content. Once they are done with you, they simply get rid of you, eating you like any other human. It is for this reason that Goblins are particularly feared on this world.

Their hideout was a small area surrounded by a wall of sticks. I climbed a nearby tree that was tall enough to look over the wall and examined the area. Within the wall sat a few crude huts that they slept in. There was a pit in the middle of their ugly camp that was filled to the brim with human bones, picked clean of any sort of flesh.

It seems the girl wasn't alone while she was here, instead being held with other people, though it seems I was too late to save them. Damn.

There were a few Goblins walking around the perimeter of their crude base, keeping an eye out for any sort of threat that could pose them any danger. Three in total.

Inside, another two dozen goblins were doing as they pleased, some fighting amongst each other, some eating some sort of prey, and others sleeping peacefully.

These goblins traumatized that little girl. There is no telling what kind of things they did to her. They deserve to suffer an agonizing death, and I know exactly how.

I started a fire inside their small base. As soon as it was noticed, one of the goblins let out a shrill of a scream, alerting all of the other goblins of their situation.

Hearing the terrible scream, the three goblins watching the outside ran in to see what was happening.

"Good."

I then set the entire wall on fire, letting it burn a horrendously hot temperature. Black smoke immediately began to billow forth, rising high up into the air.

The goblins panicked realizing they were now surrounded by intense flames, rushing towards the exit. Before they had a chance to run out, however, I created an incredibly dense field of air around their base that was impossible to pass through no matter how hard you tried.

As the force field sprang up around their camp, it deprived the inside of oxygen, putting out the fire immediately. That wasn't a problem, however, as it only aided with causing them true suffering.

The heat from the intense fires I made was as hot as an oven, cooking them alive, the fires consumed all of the oxygen in almost an instant, causing them to suffocate, and the dark black smoke choked them if they tried to breathe.

A fairly quick death, sure, but an agonizing one nonetheless. I listened to their screams for only thirty seconds before it finally went silent. After that, I released the force field, allowing the thick black smoke to rise up once more. Left behind in their camp were fifteen goblins, charred black by the smoke, a look of pure terror forever etched upon their dead faces.

Their skin was burned and blistered, their hands were tightly gripped to their throats with their legs kicked out, and eyes wide open, practically bulging out of their skulls.

"Damn, thiey stink."

I guess I should leave now.

Sprinting back at full speed, I arrived back at my home in only a few minutes. My clothes were stained slightly black from the smoke, and my skin felt incredibly dirty after having to deal with them. Thankfully, no one is ever around my house except for Clementine and Riley, and even they only show up occasionally, allowing me to take a nice bath in the river.

Thanks to my magic, I can manipulate the temperature of the water around me, making it a nice and warm bath. I also like to use the river water to clean my clothes.

Sure, I could just as easily use my magic to do all of this, but it isn't anywhere near as enjoyable. With that thought, I strip naked and slowly slip into the river. The river itself was rather cold, but the water that I touched was a nice warm temperature, soothing my body and slowly cleansing off the black smoke from my skin.

As I slipped deeper into the river, I felt even more relaxed, letting out a soft moan.

"Man, this feels nice..."

I need to clean my clothes as well, but I'm so comfortable that I simply don't want to bother. Instead, I just want to enjoy a few minutes to myself and let the warm river carry my stress away. My eyes begin to slowly close as the warm feeling continued to sink in.

"What are you doing?"

My eyes snapped open as a voice called out behind me. I quickly turned around and my eyes met those of a little girl. The little girl stared back at me, confused as to why I would be in a river.

Shouldn't she still be unconscious? Healing magic uses a person's energy to quickly heal them, usually causing the person to be tired. That girl had serious injuries that needed to be healed with my magic, yet she seems perfectly fine despite the fact that I healed her out an hour ago. How?

"Uhm, I was taking a bath in the river..."