"Hah hah....

Jason took a couple of deep breaths as he looked at the dead gnome in front of him. It's red blood  had coated his hands red, just like the time he killed that zealot of the dark church.

"Fuuuu.....

Jason released a breath of relief as he felt his heart ringing in his ears, but he didn't stop to cach his breath.

' I can't waste any time here. I'm no expert , but I'm sure that the smell of blood will attract predators. 

 I also need to get those gnomes ears.'

As he thought that he reached  down and pried his sword out of the gnomes dead body. It was a little bent and bloody so he just wiped it on the skirt of the dead gnome and put it in his bag. He then started cutting the gnomes ears with his dagger that was sharper, and in two minutes he had six fresh ears in his backpack.

' This is a good haul. 

Who would expect that the gnomes would suddenly start to kill each other? In fact it is very strange....

Gnomes are supposed to be similar to humans in behavior, but they suddenly killed another of their species. Was there any argument between the there of them?'

"Huh... what is this smell?! It's.. it's so amazing! "

Suddenly Jason's nose picked up an amazing smell he couldn't describe in words. It penetrated his nostrils and made him salivate like crazy, making him feel a little horny also.

' What the hell is going on? What is happening to me?!' Jason freaked out as he could feel all kinds of flavors on his tongue and his nose seemed to have smelled the most amazing scent, bringing him into an amazing state .

"Hah hah....

Jason looked around himself to see if anything had come, and unfortunately there was something. Not far to his right there was a towering, green ,1.8 meter tall and muscular humanoid. It was bald with several scar's on his head, two small tusks protruding from his lower jaw and a pair of circular beady eyes.

"Grraaa...grraa...

He was wearing a  grey fur skirt protecting his private parts and in his hand held a wooden club.

' Shit, what the hell is going on?! First there are three gnomes and now there is a hobgoblin? Fuck!' Jason cursed inside as the hobgoblin came closer and closer. Jason could clearly see the muscles it had and the scars all over it's body and he was smart enough that he knew he couldn't win.

' I need to get the fuck out of hereee....

He tried to will his body to follow his commands , but as hard as he tried he only managed to take one step back.

*RAOAAAR....

The hobgoblin gave a roar  and immediately rushed forward, but instead of going for Jason it headed for the hole where the mushroom came from.

".......

Once again Jason was left speechless from the behavior of a monster. From what he had heard a monster would either attack a human when he met one or run away. Never had he heard of a monster ignoring a human that was in front of his eyes.

*Roooaaarrrr...

Jason looked without blinking as the hobgoblin  dived headfirst into the hole and started digging like mad. This immediately reminded Jason about the gnomes behavior and he finally put two and two together.

' There is something in that hole and it's valuable enough to kill your brethren and valuable enough to ignore your enemies.

A hidden treasure!'

Jason's eyes were filled with greed and he slowly started to approach the hobgoblin. With ' Silent Steps' activated he approached step by step, but he had underestimated the senses of a hobgoblin. As he was about 5 m away  the  hobgoblin raised his head and glared Jason with it's beady eyes. 

"Grrrrrrr.....Graaaaaaaaa.....

It menacingly showed it's dirty yellow teeth and flexed it's muscles. He was ready to attack Jason any moment, making him realize he had made a mistake.

' Damn it....

It has noticed me, but I can't turn back now. If I move even one step it will surely take that as a sign of weakness.'

He was now in a standstill. He couldn't attack and couldn't defend, so he just froze in place with his dagger in hand. Sweat slowly drenched his clothes and it made him itchy, but he couldn't scratch that itch.

"Grrrrr....

".......

This standstill continued for a while until the hobgoblin decided it was better to continue digging, but he didn't forget about Jason as he kept an eye on him. This made Jason relax a little, but not two seconds later he jumped back.

*Bam*

As sudden explosion of pollen came from the hole making the area around the hole look as if there was a sandstorm. The pollen blocked Jason's view, but he didn't care at all as he immediately jumped back to his feet and ran away. He was at least ten meters away before he stopped to look back.

"......

"Grrrrr....rrr....

What he saw was the hobgoblin shaking his head as he stumbled around, like he was drunk. The hobgoblin took one unsteady step after another unsteady step and soon he was on the ground. 

"Ggrrruuu....

' It's down? Is it because of the pollen? ' Jason though as he had experienced something similar not long ago. The way the hobgoblin behaved was exactly the same as him, but the difference was that he was alone when that happened and the hobgoblin wasn't.

" It's now or never....

Jason begun to head back towards the hobgoblin and when he was close enough he saw it sleeping soundly with a silly smile on his face. He looked so peaceful the Jason couldn't loose this opportunity.

"I wish you happy dream's my friend." said Jason as squatted down and pierced the hobgoblin heart with his dagger.

"Guuaaaaa.....

The pain made it wake up, but it couldn't do anything as it died immediately. Surprisingly even in death it still had a smile on his face, making Jason a little unnerved. 

A notification appeared in front of him and he was left speechless.

" This...I leveled up?! Hah hahaha..... what a day! " 

Jason was surprised and happy that something like this happened , but he didn't have time to rejoice. He quickly cut of the hobgoblins ears and was ready to put them in the backpack when the noticed something on the hobgoblins hand. Out of curiosity he slowly opponed it  and a sweet smell hit him, but the thing was not a dessert. In fact it looked like a strange blue  piece of rotting wood. It was the size of his fist and looked like a stump , but surprisingly Jason recognized it.

"Hah hahaha..... it's a fucking truffle?! You've got to be kidding me!"