......

  Before she knew it, half a year had passed.

  The third school year at the preparatory academy came to an end, and Hulim entered her term break—marking the tenth birthday of her life as well.

  A few days after her birthday,

  Hulim made her way to the forest outside the town as usual.

  “Semiris...... What are you looking at?”

  By the lakeside where they had first met, Semiris was staring out at the water, lost in thought. She hadn’t even noticed Hulim’s arrival.

  “......Ah, it’s you, Hulim. You’re here.”

  Semiris turned around, a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes playing on her lips.

  “Yeah, I’m here. What’s the training for today—wait, Semiris? Is something wrong? You seem a little off today.”

  Hulim picked up on the odd look on Semiris’s face and couldn’t help but ask.

  “Huh? Me? A little off...... Hahaha, not at all. You must be imagining things. Speaking of which...... training. Right, the training.”

  Semiris denied that anything was bothering her, but Hulim couldn’t shake the feeling that she was hiding something.

  “Hey, Hulim.”

  Just then, Semiris’s expression turned serious, her tone growing sterner than usual.

  “Today’s training is going to be a little different. You’d better be mentally prepared.”

  Hulim felt a flicker of confusion, but she nodded anyway.

  Then, just like every other time, Semiris lifted Hulim off the ground and flew toward the heart of the Monster Forest.

  This time, however, something was amiss. Semiris was far too quiet—her face remained completely impassive, and she didn’t utter a single word the entire way.

  ......

  “We’re here.”

  Before long, Semiris landed with Hulim on a hill deep within the forest.

  Hulim glanced around, then turned to Semiris in confusion. “Semiris, this isn’t the deep part of the Monster Forest, is it?”

  She’d spent so much time flying back and forth that she could judge distances by flight time alone. This trip had clearly been much shorter than usual.

  Semiris replied calmly,

  “That’s right. This isn’t the inner region—it’s the middle zone, close to the outskirts.”

  “What are we doing here, then?”

  “Look over there—”

  Instead of answering, Semiris pointed toward a spot at the foot of the hill.

  Hulim followed her gaze, and her eyes widened. Wisps of smoke drifted into the sky, rising from a clearing in the forest where trees had once stood. In their place were rows of shabby huts, and scurrying in and out of those huts were short, green-skinned humanoid creatures.

  “Those are——a goblin tribe?!”

  Hulim recognized them instantly. Goblins were infamously among the weakest monsters in the world—but their notoriety stemmed from more than just their lack of strength.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  As the most numerous foot soldiers in every Demon Lord’s army, goblins were the very claws and fangs of the dark lords. Over centuries of terror and bloodshed, they had become the face of humanity’s fear of the Demon Lord.

  In every book that depicted or recorded the horrors of the Demon Lord, goblins were a staple villain—portrayed as greedy, treacherous creatures with sharp fangs that could crush bone, long, clawed fingers, and cold, lifeless eyes that seemed to hate all living things.

  More importantly, goblins were not always doomed to remain at the bottom of the monster hierarchy. They were one of the few species that could evolve—and they possessed surprisingly high intelligence even in their weakest forms.

  A lowly E-Rank Goblin could evolve into a D-Rank Greater Goblin or a Goblin Mage. From there, they could climb even higher: to Goblin Lord, then Goblin General, and finally Goblin King......

  Some scholars had even dared to theorize that goblins weren’t monsters at all—but a lesser breed of demons, degraded to the status of monsters by more powerful demon clans who looked down on them.

  The proof? A fully evolved goblin was easily the equal of an ordinary demon.

  “Semiris...... Are you saying that——”

  Hulim stared at the tribe below, which she estimated numbered over a hundred goblins, then turned to Semiris with a sinking feeling.

  “That’s right,” Semiris confirmed. “This is your objective for today.”

  She fixed Hulim with a steady gaze, her voice cold and unyielding.

  “Listen carefully, Hulim. Your task today is to wipe out this nest of Demon Lord’s minions. You can use any means, any strategy you like—but I won’t be staying to watch over you. I’ve placed a mark on the goblin chieftain. Only when he dies will I receive a signal—and only then will I return.”

  “In other words, if you die today, no one will come to save you. And until that mark is triggered, I will not show myself. That means for every day these goblins remain alive, you will be trapped here in this dangerous forest.”

  “Your only way out is to annihilate them all.”

  Hulim met Semiris’s gaze head-on.

  After a long moment, she replied with equal calm,

  “I understand, Semiris.”

  Then she unslung the wand from her back and began walking down the hill toward the goblin tribe.

  “I’ll wipe them out completely——!”

  ......

  ......

  “Kreee——!”

  “Gik! Gik!”

  “Garrr!”

  “Gah......”

  Hulim sneaked forward cautiously until she was near the edge of the goblin tribe, where she could hear the high-pitched chatter of the sentries.

  She ducked behind a large tree, her body pressed flat against the trunk. So far, none of the goblins had spotted her.

  Crouching down, she examined the ground carefully. Faint footprints crisscrossed the dirt, along with drag marks left by large, heavy objects—traces she’d seen plenty of on her way here.

  This meant the goblins were constantly coming and going from the tribe.

  Chances were, there could be any number of goblins patrolling or hunting just behind her at this very moment.

  Through the gaps in the bushes, Hulim spotted several goblins standing guard around the tribe’s crude wooden palisade. They wore shoddy armor and carried wooden bows and stone-tipped arrows.

  Hulim frowned.

  Ranged archers. This just got a lot more complicated......

  With hordes of melee goblins charging head-on, archers raining down attacks from afar, and possibly even mages in the mix—not to mention a C-Rank Goblin Lord leading them—this tribe was no joke.

  Even a fully equipped party of C-Rank Adventurers would be at risk of being wiped out here.

  A frontal assault was impossible. She had to find a way to weaken them first.

  She also needed to keep a close eye on her mana reserves—one wrong move, and she’d be trapped with no way out.

  Now that she had a plan of attack, Hulim decided to prioritize gathering intelligence before formulating a detailed strategy.

  “【??????????????????????????????????】”

  “Nature’s Veil!”

  She cast the First-Rank Nature Spell, and her presence instantly blended into the surrounding environment.

  “【???????????????????????????????????????????????】”

  “Nature’s Harmony!”

  Next came the Second-Rank Nature Spell, and her body became perfectly synchronized with the forest around her—as if she had been born part of the landscape.

  “And finally——Hiding.”

  “【???????????????????????????????????】”

  Once the Second-Rank Darkness Spell wrapped around her, Hulim’s figure vanished completely from sight.

  These spells weren’t as powerful as Third-Rank Magic, but because they were only First and Second-Rank, they didn’t drain much mana—allowing her to maintain them for hours on end.

  What’s more, when used in combination—especially the four-element Nature Spells—their effects were amplified to the point where they were easily the equal of a single Third-Rank Spell.

  With her preparations complete, Hulim didn’t sneak into the tribe right away. Instead, she chose to test the waters by scouting the perimeter first.

  It wasn’t long before she spotted a patrol of goblins marching through the trees.