Goblins.
Kreig's familiarity over this creature is more than anything. These green beasts almost killed him two days ago, rather, two and a half days ago.
These beasts will still haunt me…huh…
He thought, his eyes shifting to the five goblins on sight. However, he felt strange.
Perhaps a different race of goblin?
The goblins he encountered were something different from those he'd fought in the abyss. Here, they are rather much more collected. Moving cautiously, their bodies looked rather small.
Or maybe these goblins are residents of the abyss and not a lord's?
His thoughts moved from one to another.
The goblins body, unlike the ones he battled, didn't possess any proper shields.
I should be able to defeat them.
Before the goblins slowly approached his location, he had already unsheathed his sword.
Then… a sudden gust of wind caused the grass to truffle.
Distracted, the goblins instinctively turned their attention toward it.
*"Ke ke, a prey!*"
*"Ke ke, chief will be satisfied!*"
The goblins chanted in resonance.
Gussh—
*"Ek!?*"
Thud!
The goblins fell one by one by Kreig's ambush.
He knew that though goblins may be sentient creatures, they are by no means smart. They are sure to be alarmed, but they would never think that a human would be the one behind the truffling noise.
And so he thought.
"Looking for me?" He muttered, his eyes darkening at the sight of the goblins. Then a slice.
Shriekk—
The goblin cried and spoke in language he couldn't understand—but he thought it might've been cursing him.
He didn't want to kill the goblins immediately, instead, he wanted it to lead its home.
A village or whatever it is… you green-beast will be purged by me.
His face distorted a cold smile, causing the two injured goblins to run in despair.
That should do.
He then picked the three carcasses of the goblins, calmly and collectively. He didn't have to rush, he knew that. He wanted to check his status at least before killing some more.
…
*"Chief! Chief! What to do with humans?*"
A goblin asked.
*"Where human lives are dangerous. If that human is new here, then we can't attack it yet! We need to wait! But we can prepare an ambush!*"
The goblin chief replied.
*"Chief! Chief! Bad news! The scouts we sent are killed! They are killed by the human lord!*"
A goblin that looked like an elderly exclaimed panickly.
*"W-what!?" The chief, surprised, couldn't help but stand from his seat. They are gathered inside a cave, never had the thought to live in the forest because of the dangers lurking.
That's the reason why he targets the human lord he'd come to know because of the barrier they'd chanced upon. Killing a lord, stealing their powers, is what a chief like the goblin, desired.
They believed it'd grant him the same power and help them overthrow the monsters stronger than them, and finally live in the forest with more opportunities.
Then, two goblins came, rushing inside the cave, directly to the chief's small chamber, bloodied, missing parts of their body, and most of all, coming there with trails of blood.
*"Y-you two idiotic bastards!*" The chief roared furiously, causing the onlookers to tremble in terror.
*"C-chief! Human is too cruel! He baited us! He's cunning, chief!*"
The two goblins pleaded in despair, they knew they couldn't be healed, they're hopeless, but they thought: the chief might reward us for bringing information !
*"You two idiotic bastards leaving trails to that human!*" the chief replied to their pleading by swinging his wooden bat, almost instantly smashing the two on the ground.
*"You useless fools! Go prepare for any ambush!*"
The chief commanded. Unlike the goblins, being a chief made him at the very least more intelligent then the most.
'Tsk! Just a weak lord trying to strip away my ambition! Just wait , you bastard, kill three of my lackeys!'
Shrieeek!!
A sudden shriek caused the chief and every onlooker to thud. They all thought: *"W-what the hell was that!*"
A gruesome, horrifying death scream reverberated across the cave.
Blood gushed out like fountains, sulling the very walls of the cave.
"Not bad. Every kill's worth 10 essence huh. I should have at least 101/999 now."
He muttered, his voice echoing still in the distance.
Shaking—
The ground shook, tremoring in a casual manner.
*"You bastard! Barging in here! Too arrogant!*"
It was perhaps because Kreig had heard too much from goblins that he began to see fragmented words from the one who spoke, but all he heard were: Bastard! Arrogant!
"Oh my, what filthy beasts you goblins really are." He muttered, his gaze locking at a peculiarly bigger goblin. He firmly observed the other party first, barging in their base is indeed risky, but it seems he'd fallen in love with risks.
Higher the risk, higher the reward.
Is what he thought.
"Killing your own species? My, my, you guys really are disgusting." His voice laced in mockery, looking at the goblins in front of him, tallying a total number of 35.
They'll probably attack me in no time.
*"Tsk! Fools, attack him! Anyone who killed him will be my right hand man!*" the goblin declared, his hand pointing to the human in front of him.
Right. That's right!
"Come to me and become my nourishment!" Kreig taunted, his face distorted into a creepy smile.
Although he'd confidently said those, under the assault of the goblins, he distanced himself in every kill.
"You guys are weaker than those ones."
The goblins and Kreig may not be able to understand each other, but the goblins felt his disdain and how he looked down on them.
Shiek!!
One by one the goblins fell on his hands, as the chief watched the scene, he couldn't help but mutter.
*"Impossible…! No human should be able to defeat my goblins! No… this can't be right!*" Agitated, the goblin chief decided to go to the frontline at once.
He leaped in the distance, looking for an opportunity to pounce on Kreig, but his eyes betrayed him.
In no time, Kreig has purged the remaining goblins.
The blood that permeated the air made it hard for the chief to find Kreig, although his senses, especially, his sense of smell should be superior, under the current conditions, what he could smell was the blood of goblins.
Troubled, the goblin decided to run!
*"I must survive! I can gather more goblins! I can lead once more! But! My life! I can only live once! I don't want to die! I can't die here!*"
Kreig mused at the scene before him; the goblin chief actually ran!
"Did he feel scared? So even they are sentient enough to feel such emotions as fear?" He muttered, letting go of a goblins head on his hand.
Thud—
Then, he raised his sword to his shoulder, entering a stance. He arched his hand, sword pointed at the goblin, then , Swoosh—
SHRIEEEEKK—
*"AHHH—*"
The goblin chief let out a shriek, a terrifying scream of death. He had tried to break through the entrance of the cave, but was pinned to death by a rushing sword.
"Status." Kreig muttered as he stood at the towering carcasses of monsters.
***
Name: Kreig Haven
Resonance Name: Haven
Lord level: Level 1, Tier 1
Resonance: Soulbound (unique)
Essence: 550/999
Domain Name: Haven
Lord skills:
Mini Map (Low-rank) – Allows the lord to visualize his domain on his head.
Extraction (Unranked) – Allows the lord to subjugate or extract Resonance and essence on the enemy lord's domains.
Summon (Unranked) – Summon units to fight for the lord using summoning stones dropped by monsters in the abyss.
***
"Killing the goblin leader gave me at least 10 times the essence than normal once. I wonder if it'd be the same for other monsters…" he muttered, recalling the dark monsters that'd appear at night. "Especially that.
After some time of pondering, he began ravaging the cave of goblins. He was surprised. Although the entrance of the cave was quite narrow, almost just enough for the goblin chief to enter, the inside of the cave was rather huge.
Water drips from the walls, inside was a large underground chamber, with various closed entrances.
'A perfect hiding spot,' he thought. "I will probably seek shelter here if something goes wrong." He continued a whisper.
Kreig always thought of the negative sides of things, taking small calculated measures.
The location of the cave was a little 'too' perfect for a hiding place. It almost perfectly blended with the jungle surrounding it, vines turning into illusions.
"There's nothing much inside. But this bag should be helpful." He murmured, picking up a fiber-like bag.
"Did the goblins make this? Not bad." He muttered, storing a few materials he'd found in the goblins chamber.
"There should be plenty of useful stuff here, but all are in bad quality." He said, looking at the goblins he'd aligned properly.
Then he muttered,
"Lord skill: Extraction"