The silence that followed wasn't silence.
It was wrong.
It was as if the entire den forgot how to breathe, forgot how to exist, and forgot it was supposed to make sound at all.
Frost drifted from the air like shimmering silver snow, catching the dim torchlight and scattering it across the cavern walls in ghostlike glints.
Treasure could only stare.
Her mouth parted.
Her lungs refused to inhale.
Her heart hung suspended somewhere between terror and awe.
Because this human..
this man standing calmly in the middle of a slaughter..
He wasn't just strong.
He was something else entirely, something she didn't have words for.
Terrence rolled one shoulder lazily, letting the Elemental Raining Nova settle across his back. Frost hissed off the blade in a soft exhale, the swirling black gravitational core fading back into its default rotating storm-color.
He glanced at the ground as the last particles of disintegrated goblin matter were swallowed by the tiny gravity point beneath his feet.
"Messy," he muttered. "But satisfying."
[Enemy Reduction: 31%]
[Remaining Goblin Signatures: 43]
Terrence turned, his golden ringed eyes locking with Treasure's wide pink ones. He already knew who she was. He'd seen her through the stolen memories of the goblins he erased.
Unlike them, she was innocent.
A red apple among rotting green ones.
He grinned slightly.
"What's up, Princess?"
Treasure swallowed. "Who are you..and how do you know me?"
Her voice trembled. She truly didn't know if he planned to kill her next. And if he did, there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"Name's Terrence Danbrose." He jerked his chin deeper into the tunnels. "Other questions can wait until I'm finished. Direct me to the rest. I plan on killing everyone except you."
Treasure froze.
She didn't care about the others.
But her father..
He was still her father at the end of the da—
Terrence cut clean through her spiraling worry like a surgeon with a scalpel.
"He's going to die as well." His voice was steady. Final. "Hate to break it to you, but they're all evil. The man he used to be? He's dead. What's left is a malignant narcissist that needs to get his ass personally escorted to hell by me."
"You speak as if you've known him your whole life.." she whispered, fists clenching.
Terrence shrugged casually. "Might as well have. But enough stalling, there are people here who need my help. If you're not leading me, I'll just go mysel-"
Heavy footsteps echoed down the tunnel.
Terrence looked up, eyes thinning.
From the shadows emerged more goblins.
They were bigger, thicker, armored head to toe, wielding massive war hammers and brutal spiked clubs. Shamans marched behind them, eyes glowing with sickly green mana.
"Human spotted," the front goblin snarled, speaking to some unseen presence. "He's trying to capture the Princess as well, Master."
A voice answered, dripping with rage.
"Bringhimtome."
The Elite Goblins bowed.
"As you wish, Master."
Then they marched forward with the expressionless, cold, mechanical brutality that reminded him of Jason or Michael Myers.
Terrence chuckled and tilted his head toward Treasure.
"Get behind me."
She obeyed instantly, though confusion twisted her features.
These were her father's elite soldiers.
Their strength was leagues above the normal goblins.
So why…
why did he look amused?
Terrence placed the greatsword on his back and began walking forward. His expression was calm, unhurried, utterly unbothered. His senses sharpened to a razor point.
The first Elite Goblin roared and slammed its hammer down, but Terrence simply stepped aside, still walking, still relaxed.
A spiked club came for his head, he ducked without looking.
Another swung, he spun smoothly.
Fireballs, mana bolts, shamanic curses blasted toward him but he smacked them aside like annoying flies, still not breaking stride.
The Elite Goblins grew angrier by the second, realizing they couldn't land a single hit. Their frustration thickened the air.
Terrence slowed as he neared a particular chamber.
His breath tightened.
He remembered the System's warning earlier.
Steeling himself, he pushed the door open.
A wave of foul, rancid stench assaulted him instantly.
Inside there were dozens of women locked in cages. They were terrified, crying, and frozen in fear.
Shackled and gagged.
And outside the cage, the Goblin King sat repulsively naked with a wide grin on his face.
A young woman was at his feet, making wet slurping noises.
"Yeah, that's it..make the King feel spec—"
Time didn't stop.
Time died.
Sound collapsed.
Light distorted.
Terrence's vision imploded into static.
His body swayed once, barely—
and the world snapped into silent, infinite black.