Chương 7: The Leader

I quickly opened my Status to see, and sure enough, my Luck had increased to 2. I was making progress. With the hides stacked neatly in my inventory, I continued the journey all the way until I spotted something in the distance. Fences. X marks the spot. I crept closer carefully, trying not to reveal myself to my surroundings. I was correct; it was a camp for the goblins. Roughly built wooden fences were put up in a U shape around a cave entrance, and beyond the hills, the Fang Highlands stretched for miles on end.

The cave was barricaded away, and the camp was made of 2 big, makeshift tents made of animal skins and furs, and a simple campfire that was burning in the middle. I went closer to inspect the location. There was a goblin standing on each side of the cave entrance, and three more around the campfire, along with two more guards out in front. And a bigger shadow moving in the tent closer to me that soon revealed itself.

A goblin — a huge one — came out and started talking to the ones around the fire in a language I couldn't understand. It was tall, almost humanlike, only much uglier, pulling a two headed battleaxe, raking the ground behind. It also had a makeshift helmet on, protecting its head. The two goblins at the camp entrance were level 3 Goblin Scouts, while the ones around the campfire were Gatherers, just like the one I killed earlier. The two at the cave were Goblin Fighters, and they were level 4.

I was pretty certain I could take on all of them if I was careful and used guerilla tactics. Although the two Scouts had bows, I doubted they were better at using them than I was. The Fighters had machete-like bronze blades, only a bit longer than the knife I had looted, but they also had leather cowls on their heads. The problem was the big one. Goblin Campleader Level 5 If they all closed in on me, I'd be dead in a heartbeat. However, the surroundings of the camp were to my advantage.

I could shoot through the fence as the elevation benefited me. Trees and bushes were also abundant, so I could play a little hide-and-seek with my prey if I chose to. I could probably take out one or two before they even noticed the threat. I got into position. It felt risky engaging this many enemies higher level than me, but at worst I'd just die and respawn.

I had to take a chance, as it looked like I was the first player who got this deep into the forest, and I wasn't sure what the respawn rate was for this camp, but it was certainly way lower than ordinary mobs. Not to mention, I was also intrigued by the barricaded cave. I shot three arrows in quick succession. The first two hit the head, dealing increased damage, and by the time the two guards realized what was happening, the third arrow finished the first scout off. I disengaged and changed my position.

It was a wise move, as the goblin quickly realized the direction my attack came from and retaliated by shooting an arrow there. However, I was already gone. The other goblins didn't notice the situation just yet, but the second scout was clever enough to cry for help. Instead of shooting arrows like a blind man — or goblin — it ran towards the rest of its peers, screaming. I nocked and released, and only by the time it fell dead on the ground did the others realize they were being ambushed.

I hid behind the bushes and trees and waltzed to the other side of the camp. I could have kept shooting and taking out some of them in the process, but I didn't want them to catch me in melee range. The three gatherers and one fighter surged out of the camp and started looking for me, while the other fighter and the big one stayed inside. I increased the distance between me and the monsters before shooting at them.

I sent arrow after arrow, revealing my position, and they started charging at me in a convenient line, which only meant one thing. Piercing Shot! I felt like a movie protagonist because the shot connected perfectly. All three gatherers died, but the Fighter was still at half health, which meant that they had about twice as much health. I got three shots in before he reached me, dodged his swing, pulled out the Goblin Knife, and planted it right into the creature's neck. One more down.

It was going much better than expected. I was too early to celebrate. I scanned the vicinity and noticed that both the boss and the other fighter were missing, nowhere to be seen. As if it was a sixth sense warning me, I instantly sidestepped. One millisecond later, the bearded axe hit the ground, leaving a fissure where it landed. 📖 Skill Book - SECRET SKILL UNLOCKED! Quick Step Common Unlocked by successfully evading a dangerous attack multiple times in quick succession.

Step away from your position rapidly, evading an attack. Quick Step is much faster than manual dodging, but it has a cooldown period. Cooldown: 26 seconds At first I wasn't sure what I did to meet the conditions of unlocking the skill, but then I glanced at a small blade on the ground, just where I'd been moments ago. A synchronized attack, I thought. The boss tried hitting me with the axe while the fighter threw a dagger at me! Quick Step was on cooldown right now, but it might have just saved my life.

I quickly retreated, keeping the shooting up. The fighter threw another knife at me, dealing about 10% of my HP as damage; nothing to worry about just yet. As long as I avoid their melee attacks, I should be perfectly fine. I focused on the fighter, as a basic rule of any MMO was to get rid of the adds, the weaker mobs first. When it had around 30% HP remaining, I positioned myself and used Piercing Shot, finishing it off, but to my surprise, the leader dodged my attack.

Quite a worrying occurrence, as that meant it was not only more intelligent than the others, but way more agile as well. The monster was catching up to me faster than I was retreating, so I had to stop shooting in order to increase the distance between us. I still hadn't hit it once, as it was either avoiding or blocking my shots with the axe. The fact that it had a two-level advantage didn't help either. When I got far enough, I turned to face the goblin. It was still charging me with a mad grin on its face.

I pulled the bowstring and shot, and although it dodged at the perfect moment, I was already familiar with its patterns. My arrow went straight through its skull. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. The goblin leader, however, did not stagger and kept charging at me, and its HP had only dropped by about 10% despite the headshot. The helmet it wore must have been quite sturdy.

I shot twice more before it caught up with me, and while the monster blocked my first one, the second arrow ripped into its side, doing almost as much damage as my first hit.

"It's no use aiming for the head," I muttered, "if it's protected by a helmet." I started running again, hoping no scouting goblins or wild animals would cross my path. Despite the leader being a normal monster, it sure felt like I was fighting a Boss of some sort, and I didn't want anything to distract me. BAM! My head became heavy because of the sudden impact. I was confused.

At one point there was a good five meters between me and the Camp leader, yet a second later I felt a piercing pain in my left side, sending me straight into a boulder. I checked my HP and almost panicked. I had about 30% left; the hit dealt a ton of damage, and I knew I couldn't afford to lose more. However, I also noticed that ever since that hit, the Camp leader had stopped moving, and it looked a bit sluggish, or even... dazed? It must have been a skill, I thought. A leap of some sort.

During gameplay, I hadn't seen enemies use skills yet, so this took me by surprise, but the ability must have stunned the goblin, too, and I capitalized on it. I stood up, nocked, drew the string past my ear and sent a Piercing Shot straight into its chest. The impact rattled the monster's teeth, biting a chunk out of its health bar, but it also made it shake the stun off, and soon enough, it was coming at me again.

I sent another shot mildly spinning through the air, and although the goblin tried to dodge, I was already familiar with its movements. The arrow roared through the air, hitting the Camp leader right at stomach height. The monster only had half of its HP left. I retreated once again, but this time I kept my undivided attention on the goblin's whereabouts, and this time I didn't miss what was happening.

When it got close enough to me, its eyes and axe both started shining red, and it leapt high into the sky, crushing down right on my position, swinging the weapon.

"Quick Step!" The skill activated instantly, and I sidestepped in a blazing fast fashion, barely dodging the attack. The shaking of the earth as the monster landed almost made me lose my balance, but I knew this was my chance. I nocked arrow after arrow on the string, releasing them as fast as I could, hitting the creature, and when it came to its senses and started charging towards me once again, I activated another Piercing Shot.

When I let go of the charged arrow, the goblin leader was less than 2 meters away from me; not enough distance for it to try dodging. All it could do was block. Much to its dismay, however, Piercing Shot went under the beard of the axe and blew a hole in the monster's neck. The goblin fell to its knees, let go of the axe, and let out a roar. It was still alive, although barely. I took my dagger and finished the job with a swift strike.

Humanoid enemies, like the goblins, unlike the wild animals that players could harvest parts from, disintegrated a little while after getting killed, leaving the loot behind. The Camp leader dropped a couple items, so I checked my newly found treasure.

Goblin Battleaxe Uncommon Level 5 Attack Power: 35 Attack Speed: 10% chance to cause Bleed, dealing 10 damage per second for 4 seconds -5% Restriction: Berserker Dented Goblin Helmet Common Level 5 Defense: Heavy Armor 15 Restriction: Guardian, Paladin Small Healing Potion (2) Common Restores 20% health Rough Parchment Quest Item Using this item will trigger a special quest! Rusty Key Common A key that most likely opens a nearby chest, door or gate.

Silver Coins (5) A level 5 battleaxe would be worth quite a lot soon, so I wasn't too worried about not being able to use it. Looking at it, I considered myself lucky: if its bleed effect had triggered back when I got hit, I would have likely died. I probably had exactly 40 HP at that point. I also found a map that had another X marked on it, this time right to the west from here, meaning there were other goblin camps in the vicinity.

This brief encounter gave quite a lot of XP, and there were still other items from the goblins I hadn't looted, so I definitely had to check out the other camps as well. EXP 550/1600 Killing these 8 goblins granted me one third of a level. Two more camps like these and I reach level 4.