Chapter 2

The inevitable result.

"You don't talk much, do you?" The swordsmen plastered a smile across his face while the five of them traveled through the woods. "You know, for a barbarian, you wear a lot of armor."

Werewolf gritted his teeth. Between the frustration of having to remain in his human form and the constant pestering questions of the humans, his patience was running thin. He never expected human conversation to be so uninteresting.

Still, the monster clawed at his chest, it felt odd, having his muzzle replaced with a human face and nose. Though even in his human state, the fur that covered his body hadn't completely vanished. The fact that his armor was so itchy told him that much.

"Stop pestering him if he wanted to talk. He would have started by now." The black-haired Fighter stated, her eyes then wandering to the so-called Barbarian's stature. "Um, but you might want to get armor that fits next time."

Werewolf held back a growl. It wasn't his fault. He was tall, and most humans were tiny. Most of the bandits he killed were of average height, and their armor reflected that. Even the boots were slightly too small, causing his toes to have to curl.

"Shouldn't you all be worried about yourselves?" The Werewolf sneered. "Humans are fragile things, after all." Monsters could cut through far thicker armor easily, and even a creature like him could tell they weren't wearing a lot.

The Wizard fixed her hat and examined her garb. "This is the proper attire of a wizard. Besides, I have no intention of getting close to any monsters we might come in contact with."

The Werewolf raised his brow. Such a simple thought process might work for monsters like him who could reattach their arm if it was cut off or grow back a few of their organs if left alone. At least the higher-ranked monsters such as himself and Great Harpy could.

Before the Werewolf's mental inquires about humans could continue, they arrived at their destination. "Is this the place?" The Priestess body stiffened as she looked at the somewhat imposing cavern.

"T-this must be the place..." The Swordsmen pulled out a small torch from his carrying bag and handed one to each of his comrades. There was a certain unsettling feeling that washed over the humans, one the Werewolf could sense, though, once again, he had his thoughts.

"I've...been here before..." The monster looked at the cavern. Yes, he had been there before, twenty-five years ago. Though then, he was just slaughterer that came to eat and devour. In fact, he recalled a few goblin children he had taken his time to rip apart.

"Tsk, I guess it makes sense. Monsters always do the same thing over and over again until we die. I'm sure I'll be back here again in another fifty years doing the same thing."

The cyclical nature of it all is what made him want to vomit. Yet he couldn't completely go against his habit. So he'd kill, eat and devour, then whine about it only to go back to doing so.

"Ah, Barbarian, are you okay?" The blonde-Priestess nearly half his size asked.

"Yeah, just thinking of something..." Without even sparing the adventurer, a glance Werewolf walked past her and deeper into the cavern. The Priestess taking note that he hadn't even bothered to light his torch.

"Damn it. It's so cramped in here." The swordsmen raised his torch above his head, lighting the way ever so slightly. It was pitch-black to the humans.

"They don't notice..." They were only a few feet from the first goblin, yet they didn't even see the creature. The Werewolf grumbled, his rusted metal boots making an odd clanging sound.

Then, like a hunter. A feeling in his chest welled up, the moment the Werewolf noticed the goblin even looking his way, he dashed past the other adventurers and smashed its skull.

"W-what are you doing?" Fighter shouted as cries from the nearby goblin's echoed through the cavern. The entire area had been alerted to the party's location.

The Werewolf merely smiled, lifting the headless corpse of the goblin by the leg. "It'd be pointless if we just wait around! Let's kill them all right now!"

The green beasts screeched, taking out their daggers, circling their target, but before they could do anything, their bodies were broken and smashed. Though the weapon that killed them wasn't a sword or a club, but rather the corpses of other goblins.

The Werewolf let out a cruel laugh. Each time a goblin died, he picked up another corpse using the bodies as makeshift weapons. It was a tactic that wasn't too uncommon for larger monsters when they needed a ranged weapon.

"D-damn it that guy is going to take all the credit!" The Swordsmen drew his blade rushing towards the scene as well.

The Fighter flinched, her body freezing on the sheer brutality of the battle. Goblin torso's and limbs flew everywhere, some with enough force to plant themselves into the cavern walls. Still, despite the scene, she manages to say something. "Are you insane? That guy is in a complete frenzy!"

Despite the monk's warnings, the rookie rushed to the Barbarian's side, cutting down the few goblin's that were too distracted to notice him. Unfortunately, the small abominations weren't the only ones that didn't see him.

"...Huh?" The Swordsmen barely had time to react before one of the many goblin limbs smashed into his arm, sending him into one the cavern walls. He let out a cry of main as he gripped his broken arm, which was nearly facing the wrong way.

It took a second for Werewolf to process what had just happened before letting out a scoff. "Idiot, getting in my way like that." The Werewolf then turned his attention to the goblin archers near the top of the cavern.

Without missing a step, the Werewolf tore off the heads from the nearby goblin bodies and threw them with enough force to split his targets in two.

He snorted, stifling a laugh. Just when he was about to burst into a chuckling fit, the monster felt his body tighten. He winced as the mask he used to cover his face grew tighter and tighter, while the metal boots he was wearing started to split apart.

"D-damn it. I got too excited..." He took a deep breath right when pitch-black fur started to grow across his body. If he were alone, he would happily show his true self, but unfortunately, he had an audience.

He gritted his teeth, suppressing his urges while he sniffed the air. From the darkness of the cavern's, another goblin appeared, though this time, it was far larger, even being an inch or two taller than the Werewolf.

The other goblins backed away and snickered, waiting for their comrade to pounce. However, something was off about how the muscular monstrosity acted. Instead of moving to defend its horde, it eyed the Werewolf.

"Wait...do I know you?" The Werewolf raised its brow as the Hobgoblin let out a shriek of anger, one that even surprised its brothers. The creature violently waved around its wooden club smashing the fellow goblins prompting them to flee back deeper into the cavern.

Like a mad bull, the Hobgoblin reeled back its club before it attempted to smash it against the Werewolf's head.

Despite the sudden attempt at his life, the Werewolf caught the weapon, curious about the creature before him. "Where do I know that face from..." The Werewolf searched his memory until it clicked. "Oh, you're from back then...aren't you?"

A cruel smile crept onto the Werewolf's face as he squeezed the wooden mace. "That's right. You're that little shit that got away." The Werewolf squeezed even tighter, which caused the Hobgoblin to let go of its weapon, but before it could bring down its knuckle dozen splinters were shoved into its stomach.

"Idiot!" The Werewolf mocked as he shoved more of the broken club into the creature's stomach. "Is this really what twenty-five years of hatred got you?!" The Werewolf then twisted the monster's arm pulling it over its head as he landed on its shoulders. Then like tearing off a branch, he ripped off the goblin's arm.

Even with its stomach torn apart and missing its arm, the creature rapidly swiped at the Werewolf only to be knocked onto it's back. The Werewolf sneered before he grabbed both of the hobgoblins' legs.

Humans and goblins were a lot alike. They both enjoyed doing pointless things, at least that is what the Werewolf noticed. "I know you don't understand me, but this was inevitable. No matter what you did for those twenty-five years, this would have been the result."

The Werewolf started to spread the creature's legs apart as it trashed about. The muscles and tissue that kept its body together slowly coming undone. "Huh, you probably would have been happier if you died back then."

With those last words, the Werewolf tore the creature into two pieces. It's head popping like a balloon. He took the two newly formed meat slabs and slammed it to the ground, organs among other extremities flying out and across the cavern walls.

The Werewolf let a heavy sigh, his chest heaving from the excitement of it all. For a split second, for a split moment, his mind went blank, he had completely forgotten why he was even there until he noticed the other adventurers horrified stares.

Silence, they didn't say anything, nor did they move. Sure they were crowded on the injured Swordsman, but besides that, they were like glaring statues. Of course, they would be; this scene wasn't something humans should witness.

"Come on, let's keep going..." The Werewolf insisted, but the Fighter's eyes narrowed.

"What are you talking about? Do you honestly think he is in a condition to move?" The black-haired girl's eyes wandered to the Swordsman, the Priestess with them already casting a miracle to at least mend the wound.

The blonde girl frowned. "I-I don't think we'll have to cut off the arm, but he really won't be able to fight for a while."

Humans were fragile. If it had been him or Great Harpy that had been hit, they would have shrugged it off in seconds. Not like it mattered, as long as they were around, it's not like he could even enjoy it.

The Werewolf looked at his busted gauntlets and torn up boots and sighed. "You guys can leave if you want, I'll make sure you get the proper pay or whatever." The Werewolf didn't know much about adventuring, but he did know about human nature.

He didn't care about the money, at least not so much that it'd bother him. Only a fool would insist on staying if they could get the same reward by leaving.

"Are you insulting us?" The Wizard straightened her back and clutched her staff. "Besides, someone like you probably doesn't even know the full amount of information on the quest."

The Werewolf eye twitched, less due to the insult and more because she was right. "We just have to slaughter every goblin here, right? It can't be more complicated than that."

The level of disdain he felt coming from both the Fighter and the Wizard was irritating. If there was one creature that held grudges even longer than goblins, it was humans.

"We aren't here just for that. Some women have been captured too, didn't you read anything on the request sheet?" Fighter gritted her teeth.

Werewolf gritted his teeth. If it weren't for his mask, his sharper teeth would have flashed. This was supposed to be easy; one's value came from how much they could kill. This was true for monsters at least, then why was he, the one that killed the most, being looked down upon? "Tsk, what pointlessness. I'm going further in and killing more."

"Are you serious?" Fighter clenched her fist. "So, you can freak out and accidentally kill the captured girls."

The Werewolf's eye twitched, he was rather close in dropping all pretense and killing them, that was until sounds coming from the cave's entrance. At least that is what he heard. He waited with bated breath until a figure finally appeared from the darkness.

A man fully cloaked in armor from head to toe. The helmet he wore erasing all forms of humanity from his face. Compared to the one that Werewolf wore to cover his head, it was far more imposing.

"Another human?" That was the last thing he needed at the moment.

Despite the man just appearing, he paid little mind to the group, instead examining the goblin corpses. "Did you do this?"

The Werewolf paused, thinking of a decent answer. Sadly, one of the other adventurers answered for him.

"You could say that, but who are you?" The Fighter asked before the man finished examining the corpses.

"Goblin Slayer..."

Everyone remained silent, everyone except the Priestess who let out a gasp. "W-wait, Goblin Slayer? You're a silver-ranked adventurer, aren't you?"

He didn't reply to the question instead pointing to the cavern ahead. "Some goblin's escaped deeper into the den. I'll wipe the rest of them out."

The Werewolf eye twitched. "Oy, I see, they sent you over here because they weren't confident that we'd be able to do this." That was the only conclusion he could draw.

"Believe what you wish." The Goblin Slayer was going to walk right past them until the Priestess stood up.

"H-hold on, are you going alone? Y-you don't have to, we can still help." The blonde-girl glanced down to the Swordsman, who was still recovering. "I did everything that I could hear, but I still have two miracles left!"

"That's right!" The Fighter was the one that stepped forward. "Even if you are a Silver-rank, we are the ones that accepted the quest. We can't let you finish it."

The sense of pride that was shown somewhat shocked the Werewolf. He knew monsters had it, but he always figured that humans would throw it away the moment things got a bit dangerous.

The Wizard brushed her hair to the side before she took a seat. "That's nice, but don't you think a few of us should stay back to look after him?" She then pointed her staff to the aforementioned Swordsman.

Despite being conscious, it was apparent his breathing was still harsh. If something had attacked him in his current condition, he wouldn't be able to defend himself.

"I agree..." The Fighter then silently glared at Werewolf, who merely scoffed.

A part of him wanted to argue the point, but it'd be meaningless. "I can take a hint. Besides, I don't think I'll have much fun if there are this many people around." Far too many eyes would be on him, considering he nearly blew his cover by having a bit of fun.

If they continued, he'd probably end up completely transforming due to his blood lust, making the trip useless. Plus, even if he wanted to do more, the slaughtered he already participated in was enough to quell his wrath.

The Werewolf took a seat next to both the Wizard and Swordsman while the Goblin Slayer, Priestess, and Fighter delved deeper into the cavern.

"Man, how dull. If I knew this was going to happen, I'd just go out and skin some pigs or something." The Werewolf whined as he leaned his body against the interior of the cavern.

The Wizard, on the other hand, kept quiet, her eyes fixated on the ground. Trying her best not to look at the remains of the goblins that had been eviscerated by the so-called 'barbarian.' "Are you really and adventurer?"

The Werewolf's yellow eyes narrowed, lighting the dimly lit cavern ever so slightly. "I'm here and got a rank, right? That is enough for most people."

The Wizard sighed as her gaze stayed fixated on the Swordsman. "If I'm blunt, you scare me."

The Werewolf held back a laugh. "I should, I couldn't rip you in half right now, and the only thing you could do would be scream."

There was a moment of silence as Wizard's shoulders slumped. "You know, if you want people to like you, you can't say stuff like that. Part of the reason the others wanted you here is that you almost killed us earlier."

The Werewolf's nostrils flared under his mask. "I only hit this idiot that tried to run up to me while I was fighting."

The Wizard shook her head, almost as if dismissing the monster's points. "When you were carelessly tossing those limbs around, some of them almost hit us. One nearly nicked my head."

The Werewolf remained silent. This was never a problem when he worked with Great Harpy. Of course, he also recognized that humans were also far softer. "I work better with fewer people."

"I noticed that..." The Witch adjusted her glasses. "I wonder why someone like you would even become an adventurer."

"That same question could be asked of you." The Werewolf crossed his arms. "Being a glorified butcher doesn't seem to fit with you at all."

"Adventurer's aren't glorified butchers..." The Wizard tried her best not to raise her voice. After all, they were still in the cavern. There was no need to draw any unwanted attention from any green-skinned preditors.

The Werewolf crossed his legs while his nostrils flared under his mask. "Really? Most of what adventurers do is going around and killing things. You just happen to attach a fancy title and ranks to it to justify it all."

Monsters didn't have ranks in the traditional sense. Only the ranks that humans gave to them based on their threat level. Of course, some monsters wore that with pride, such as both himself and Great Harpy, while others couldn't care less about it.

"We adventurers help people..."

The Werewolf snorted. "Okay then, why did you become an adventurer?"

"I..." The Wizard's face formed into a frown. "I want to slay a dragon."

The lack of complete awareness with her answer took the canine-like monster off-guard. "You became an adventurer so you can kill something?"

The Wizard cringed. "Nevermind, you wouldn't understand." The tone of her voice made it seem like the Werewolf had personally insulted her.

"Whatever self-righteous justification you use, it doesn't matter to me. Everyone and everything kills for a reason. It's up to them if they are honest with themselves or not."

It was clear that the red-headed Wizard wasn't satisfied with how the conversation had ended. Her lips twisted into an even deeper frown before finally dropping the subject. "By the way, why do you wear that mask?"

"Huh?" The Werewolf ran his finger across the leather mask that had been wearing. "Why do you want to know?"

"No reason...I was just curious if you have a scar or something."

The Werewolf sighed. Due to his nature, it wasn't even possible for him to get scars. It also wasn't like he needed to hide his face while in his human form. "I just don't like how my face looks, that's all."

"Hmm, I suppose you must be rather ugly if you are that self-conscious."

The Werewolf let out a sigh. It was the kind of insult that Great Harpy would have given, so it's not like he could complain about it much. Truthfully, the fewer monsters and humans saw his human face, the better.

There was another awkward moment of silence, but it was broken not by the Werewolf or Wizard, but by the one sitting in between them.

"G-gah..." The Swordman finally managed to choke some words out a small cry holding his arm.

The Wizard's eyes widened, sitting her fellow rookie up. "How are you feeling?"

The Swordsman's eyes wandered to the Werewolf. Truthfully the monster was expecting some harsh words from the human. He did break his arm after all, which was a big deal for humans.

"H-hey, sorry about early...getting in your way and all." His words didn't have any anger in them. Instead, it seemed he was apologizing from the bottom of his heart.

The Werewolf flinched while he held back a scoff. Human's were fascinating creatures.

Author Note

Probably tricked yall with that title making it seem like something will happen to the rookies. I like the idea of repeated actions, and certain characters realizing how pointless their efforts are. Not in the 'I can't change anything' sort of way, but preferably in the cyclical some kind of way.

A lot of more powerful monsters lost their will even to serve the demon lord since nothing they do will inherently alter things. They kill the praying races, the praying races return. The Demon Lord is killed, but he will be resurrected sooner or later.

It was one of the few habits I wanted to give monsters over the other races. The fact that they seemed at least somewhat aware of how pointless it all is, yet they do it anyway because not doing it means doing nothing.

I sort of want the core of this story to be about Empathy. Or at least have that be the central theme of it. How differences in both how we see the world and how others see the world can affect that.