A Crusade of Catastrophe [1-And so it begins]

The forest was an interesting place. The Champion wandered through the towering trees and grasping shrubs. At first, he considered them a nuisance, but then he realized his Lord's power radiated through everything around. Once he opened itself to be recognized by the forest, he traveled even better than had it been on a paved road.

The shrubs shielded him from being detected by hiding his form and muffling his movements. The trees gave whispers as to potential places of interest to his great quest. He did not know exactly what his Lord wanted him to do, but he believed that to be part of his test.

If he had to rely on his Lord to inform him of every task he must perform, then he would be no more useful than a common beast. No, he must be capable of solving his own tasks before he could ever hope for his lord to grant him more.

He went over his task again in his mind. His lord had requested him to act as an antagonist, and he believed he knew why. If there was no enemy in these lands, then they would be satisfied with the status quo and resistant to change. However, with hostile forces more would be willing to embrace another group in order to defeat a foe.

His lord was a great tactician he realized, just as he had hoped. In the great emptiness where his consciousness had resided before, he had always contemplated what kind of life he would be given. He had spent so long thinking about it, and despite this form not being his expected one, he most certainly preferred it.

He thought back to the one major event that had occurred in his time in the emptiness. There had been a human, a strange one at that. From his knowledge of humans, the one he had met was erratic and unstable. They said they were lonely, and the human was convinced he was a voice in their head.

Regardless of that opinion, they had struck up conversation on occasion. It was just before the human drifted out of their range of communication, they had taught him an immensely valuable skill. The one thing the human had done to keep themself sane, the ability to watch the worlds.

It was with this skill he had gained a concept of what he was and what he was to do. He was to be a champion of a greater being, a herald of their power. It was then that he had the pleasure of casting aside his philosophical thoughts. They were pointless after all.

As his thoughts came back to the present, he realized how great his existence was. No struggling for purpose, no battles for power or standing. Simply loyalty to a being he knew would last eternal, granting him greater pride than any knight could ever know. There was no greater fate he could picture.

He cracked his neck as he brought his focus back to the task at hand. He spoke through his Lord's mana, asking the forest itself for its guidance. After all, it seems it had been his Lord's for longer, and was therefore his senior.

The forest spoke in feelings, granting him two tugging forces. One gave a sense of blinging light, it annoyed him to no end. The other was a pitch black that made him claustrophobic. He could figure out what they meant from that alone.

For now, they were in the same direction, so he simply began his travel. The plant life of the forest seemed to be of one mind, there being no detectable messages sent around it and yet it continued its assistance without fail.

There was of course a limit to what the forest could do. Eventually he came across a clearing with a small encampment within. He decided this would serve well to test his abilities, and begin his great rampage. He stepped forward into the clearing, not getting far before a war horn blew.

Suddenly a dozen figures scurried about in the camp before rushing out with makeshift weapons. He recognized them as hobgoblins, nothing that was at all a threat. They formed into a line between him and the encampment, some trying to size him up while others were unable to hide their fear.

One goblin who actually had leather armor stepped forward and spoke in goblin tongue. "What you want, ugly thing? Why you come here and scare our women?"

He surveyed the crowd before him before deciding on a good course of action. "I crave battle." It spoke slowly, speaking was not his best ability. He didn't much care to improve though, speaking did not seem like a skill he may ever need to better with his purpose. Plus, his speech pattern seemed to intimidate the hobgoblins further.

The leader of the hobgoblins swallowed hard as he tried to keep appearances, "If that's what you want..." He turned around to the others, "CHARGE!"

The rest of the hobgoblins gave a disheartened cry as they ran forward, the armored one not advancing with their men. As the first hobgoblin reached the champion, he raised his heavy arm. The hobgoblin only stared in horror as a reinforced fist flung towards it before impacting its skull, shattering it with a single blow.

As the champion chuckled to himself, he muttered a word to further break the hobgoblins spirit, "Pitiful." The other hobgoblins halted in their tracks, but before he moved forward, a strange square appeared in his vision. It had text he was able to read, though the language felt off. It was definitely human, but it didn't feel like the human he knew.

Achievement Unlocked: One Pu~nch!

Kill a creature with a single punch

Reward: Physical attack +50% for punches

He was confused as this strange message. Was it rewarding him for his actions? None of his viewings of the many worlds out there had included an occurrence like this, not the one with the spiders, nor the one with the suit of armor.

'It must be something relating to my Lord. If that is true, I truly have been blessed by the triad. I shall not waste this gift from my Lord, and I shall use it to its fullest.' He gave a deep, horrid laugh as he pondered all of the ways he could try and earn "Achievements".

He returned his attention to the hobgoblins, thankful for the great bounty of test subjects.