What's scary now, might not be later. It was an odd saying, something that Billy came up with on the spot. Now, after going back into the forest he did not think it was that strange. The wolves were scary at first, but now he could kill them with a single hit.

All they needed was time to grow.

"Eight."

Young-Dae told them as he could feel eight beings in front of them. They traveled in a pack, so them being other humans was not out of the question. That was the sole reason that the three of them did not rush into them.

If they were humans, how would they react? Would they try and fight? Would they greet them? Humans were the most fickle creatures because you could never fully understand what goes on in another person's mind.

"Go?"

Chang asked as he already had his sword ready.

"Wait. Let me see what's in front of us first."

Billy told Chang as he bent his body down putting strength into his legs. A second later he shot into the air, more than ten feet. His hands gripped a branch as he pulled himself up, hiding in the trees. From this position, he could see everything below them.

Billy was only able to accomplish this due to his increase in his stamina. It not only increased his running speed, endurance, and dexterity with his fingers. The added stamina allowed him to jump higher by increasing his athletics.

Even now, he could feel his clothing becoming more snug. His muscles were growing, he could visually see it. It was not a large growth, but a growth nonetheless.

From above, Billy's eyes focused on the creatures in front of them.

There were eight, he counted just to be sure. The creatures were as small as a three-year-old child, with pale-green skin, pointed ears, and they were wearing chains made up of wolf teeth around their neck.

His eyesight had not increased at all like Young-Dae's, so he could not make out more details. But one thing that he could see was that they were all holding weapons.

'What are they doing?'

Billy asked himself as he watched them.

One of the creatures knelt on one knee as it used its sawed-edged dagger to scoop up some dirt. Bringing the dagger to its pointed nose, it smelt the dirt before it opened its mouth to taste it.

Turning to its comrades, the monster started to speak.

As much as he would like to see more of their behavior, Billy did not have time for this. He quickly made his way down from the tree and approached his own teammates.

"They remind me of goblins. We should be careful, they all have weapons."

Billy warned them as he told them what he saw.

Chang tapped his index finger on the hilt of his blade.

"It just had to be goblins. Did they seem to have any intelligence? If so, then that would make this fight a lot harder. Slaying goblins aren't as simple as people may think, I learned that from a story."

Chang sighed as he recalled those vivid images from that manga. Goblins were savages, and they were relentless.

"They seemed to be tracking something. At least that is what it looked like to me from the way the one with the red leather vest was acting."

Billy answered.

"Tracking what?"

Chang's curiosity was piqued.

Young-Dae coughed.

"Are we going to hunt, or are we going to observe them?"

He was ready for some action, but it seemed that Chang wanted more information on the goblins. To him, he just wanted some action. After using up his stat points, he already knew what he should do.

"Yeah, we should hunt. Isn't that what we came back here for."

Billy said with a nod.

"Frontal assault, or same as last time?"

"It's too dangerous for me to bait them, and separating them could also be a problem."

Billy stopped speaking as he wished they had more information on these goblins. If they knew that then they could understand their strength. That, or there were fewer of them then he felt their victory would be assured.

"I have a skill, it could come in handy here."

Chang spoke up causing both Billy and Young-Dae to look at him.

"Well, speak what is it?"

"Crescent Blade. It's a ranged attack that deals aoe damage."

"You were holding out? We could have been acted."

Young-Dae raised his hand, signaling them both to stop talking.

"Wait, I only feel the presence of six now."

Billy furrowed his eyebrow, what happened to the other two?

"Let's move now, this is our chance."

Chang said excitedly.

Young-Dae nodded and dashed out, with Chang following. Billy was unsure if this was the correct play, but since those two already acted he would follow up.

The six goblins looked at the three humans and started to shout. They were surprised but reacted.

Chang's sword had a shine to it, but he had yet to swing his sword. It seemed to be collecting power so he could unleash his skill.

Billy clicked his tongue as he found it difficult to tussle with these creatures. They were so small and agile, even with his increased stamina he found it hard to deal with them. When he tried to stab them, they rolled to the side. Sweeping his spear only caused them to jump.

As he found a goblin paying attention to Young-Dae, Billy took this moment to stab it. However, the goblin snapped its head in his direction and parried his attack. Another goblin followed up as it grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at Billy.

Turning his face, Billy tried to dodge but he was met with another pile of dirt flying towards him. His reactions might have increased, but he was already turning his head and this pile of dirt was too close for him to dodge. He just closed his eyes.

Young-Dae was not having a better time. He assumed that this would be easy, but what was the deal with these creatures? Their sawed daggers cut him. The cut was not deep, but it stung like hell. None of his attacks managed to land, and as soon as he caught one goblin, another one attacked him.

Unlike their group of three that hunted with each other for a few hours, these goblins were in sync. It was something that they lacked, and something that could only be achieved after being with each other for a long time.

That was their mistake, but mostly his own. He was focused on growth, that he failed to realize their shortcomings. As a detective, he should have known. If these goblins were not monsters and people instead, he would have never taken them own with two people he never worked with before.

Chang's skill finished charging up, but seeing the goblins surrounding Billy and Young-Dae, could he even use it? They would take damage.

'Wait, where is the other one? There's only five.'

Chang quickly turned his head in all directions, trying to find the goblin that was missing but failed to locate it.

His body moved closer until he flanked a goblin that was mid-air getting ready to stab Young-Dae in the arm. With a swing of his sword, he felt something leave his body. He was unsure of what it was, but it left him weak.

A gust of wind shot out from the tip of his blade creating an invisible arc. The goblin that was about to stab Young-Dae noticed something was off and shouted some words in a language none of the humans could comprehend.

Its small pale-green body turned in the air and with a flick of its small wrist, the goblin's dagger flew towards Chang. The speed of the dagger was faster than Chang, he could not even react. It pierced him in the head, causing his body to lean back.

The goblin lacked a weapon and Chang's attack was already headed in its direction. It already knew it was going to die or be hurt, and it was ok with that. But at the end of the day, he was not going to go down alone.

The gust of wind reached the goblin and sliced its body in half. Purple blood splattered on the ground showcasing that these creatures were not the same as humans. They did not have the same biology.

Young-Dae had no time to move, he only noticed what happened after it occurred. Gritting his teeth, he felt furious. His swings were wider and lacked the form he had from before. His breathing was heavy, and as seconds went by he noticed that his entire body felt like it weighed a ton.

'What's going on?'

Around him, the goblin's grinned as they licked their daggers. Their saliva was not clear, it was green. That's when he understood. Those light cuts that they were doing did have an effect on his body because their blades were coated in what seemed to be poison. That had to be the case, or else what would be the explanation as to why his body felt so heavy?

His heart dropped when he realized that these goblins were toying with them.

This entire time, they were just having fun. These beings were not like the wolves or monkeys, those two could not even be called monsters. These goblins, they were the real monsters.

Everything occurred so fast, that only two or three minutes went by. In that short amount of time, Chang died, Young-Dae was unable to move, and Billy just finished wiping the dirt off his eyes.

When he closed his eyes Young-Dae and Chang were alive, but in a few seconds after wiping them he only saw Young-Dae standing.

He was surrounded, the goblins no longer paid attention to Young-Dae. They were focused on him, and Billy knew he was screwed. Only death awaited him.

The goblins did not make a move, they only tilted their small heads as they watched Billy. Observing him to see what he was going to do. Then after seeing no movements, they started to laugh at him.

"Ok human, you surrender?"

The goblin in the red vest spoke. It spoke in what Billy believed to be English, but since everyone here spoke the same language after they were summoned, Billy assumed it spoke in that language. 

"No! No, keep fighting! Fighting, fun!"

Another goblin spoke.

"Fuck you!"

Billy replied as he moved, doing whatever he could to at least take one goblin down.

"Yes! Yes!"

A goblin cheered, assumed at Billy's behavior.

"So, this is what you choose."

The red vested goblin shook his head in disappointment.

It spoke again, but this time in a language Billy could not understand. But he did not need to, he knew that he was going to die.

The goblins jumped at him, no weapons in hand. Even with his spear, Billy could not touch them. He knew it was useless, but he had to try something.

Their mouths opened wide, showing their two rows of sharp teeth. With a large bite, they bit into Billy's flesh. Ripping his meat from his body and chewing it. No matter how much he screamed, no matter how much he struggled. There was no escape.

His body collapsed to the ground, tears slid down his face. They were not killing him fast as he had hoped. It was slow and painful. They were enjoying their meal, savoring the taste.

Above him stood the red vested goblin. The monster was so small before, but why did it look tall?

"Remember, this is what you chose."

With its sawed-dagged, it started to cut into Billy's neck. Blood squirted out, covering the pale-green creature's face.

"Welcome to the tutorial!"

Billy's body was paralyzed, his heart was racing. He wanted to shout in pain but held it back. Only a lone tear rolled down his cheek.

No matter how many times he came back, his body would always recall that moment before his death. Even though he knew he was fine, his mind was playing tricks and telling his body it was not. All the pain sensors in his body were going off, and the pain those goblins inflicted on him could still be felt.

[Title change.]

[Regressor of the 3rd life has been upgraded to Regressor of the 4th life.]

'This... this fucking trait! Just let me die in peace!'

Others might look at his trait and see it as a blessing, but it was a curse. How much of this could he handle? How long until his mind broke?

His nails dug into his skin, drawing blood. Gritting his teeth, Billy was angry.

"Get me the fuck out!"

His voice was loud, it echoed through the area they were in. People turned to find the source of that shout, and even that pale-skinned man with red eyes looked at Billy.

Everyone looked at him as if he were crazy. He might be.

However, the man that greeted them. The man that always said that same annoying line as soon as he came back. That fucking man sampling broke out laughing as he gazed at Billy.

"Are you having fun yet?"

Suddenly the man was serious. The change in his expression was drastic which caused everyone to be caught off guard. But, those words were directed not towards them, but at Billy.