Chương 31: Elite Speargoblin

The swift goblin slows down, giving both of us a chance to catch our breath. A single line of blood travels past my face, right in front of my smile. Upon seeing my face, the goblin's expression becomes stonier, its eyes narrowing. Once it comes within ten feet, it stops and raises its spear. My fists raise in front of me, and I speak.

"Almost wish you could understand me right now." The goblin doesn't respond, it just moves closer. I step up as well, meeting it. Before it even moves, the same tingling sensation grows in my side. The spear moves like a blur. One second, it stands motionlessly. The next, it's buried in my side. It rips out just as I lunge into the fight. My left hook flies. And hits nothing. If I move like a snake, then the goblin moves like water. It bends back perfectly, then shoots back as soon as my swing passes it.

Again, another tingling sensation in my shoulder. I don't question it. My waist, hips, thighs, calves, and ankles all tense and jerk in one unnatural movement. My body snaps downwards, a spear appearing right where my shoulder was. The goblin's eyes widen slightly. I reach to grab the spear, but it has already retreated. The goblin steps back, eyes flickering as it tries to pick me apart.

"Hahaha!" My gaze goes to my side, and blood slowly drools out of the wound. Not too much of a concern. The goblin closes the distance again. Tingling appears on my stomach. Muscles coil and slam. My waist moves and turns half a foot to the right in milliseconds. The spear pierces through where it just was. The gauntlet swings, but the goblin pulls back just as fast as it strikes. Another miss. The goblin's eyes widen further, a flash of fear creeping in. This time, it's me who advances.

I shake the leather off my free hand. A tingle appears directly in the center of my chest. My body jerks to the side. My hand shoots out to grab nothing. A spear appears in its grasp. I trap the head of the weapon in my armpit. My hand grabs onto the shaft. Before the goblin can react, I pull. Just for a second, the goblin is pulled with the spear before it lets go. My left hand slips out of the gauntlet.

"Too slow." As the gauntlet hits the ground, my hand grabs the goblin's wrist. Terror paints itself across the goblin's face. I pull. In one smooth motion, I pull the goblin under myself and sit on its stomach. My right fist comes down. Crunch The goblin's massive nose collapses inwards. Then, my left slams down on its cheek. Skin ruptures and blood splatters. Again and again, my fists come down. The goblin tries to push me off, but its strength is nothing compared to mine. The difference in weight is too great.

My fist slams into its eye, causing it to burst. Arms come up in a blur, but I grab them and force them to the ground with my knees. There's nothing it can do. After the tenth punch, it stops trying to resist. After the eighteenth, it goes limp. Heaving, I stand up and walk over to my gauntlet. My hand slips inside, fitting perfectly into the leather. Making my way over, I hold up the hunk of metal and take one last look at its face. The expression of determination is replaced by suffering.

Blood leaks from several places on its face, along with tears from its eyes and saliva from its mouth. Fear pierces through me. It digs deep, making me terrified of what I've done. The command wipes the feeling away in an instant. Crunch Chime"Haah, Haah, haah." Minutes pass as I stare at the goblin, panting heavily. Inspecting every little detail. Eventually, I kick it over, taking the pouch off of its back and picking up its spear. I turn, making my way back to the intermission room. The steps are slow and heavy.

Not only with the metal around my legs or the exhaustion dragging them down, but with the weight of my actions. As the command clears it away, I speak.

"Kevin, don't feel pain, remove all other commands." Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Like a dam breaking, a group of emotions comes flooding in. Satisfaction, fear, and worry all coalesce into one conflicting ball. The fear on its face is stained in my mind. A small spark of satisfaction tingles inside me, born from a primal feeling of power. But it's smothered by an immense feeling I can't explain. It makes me feel terrible.

Looking down, I take step after step to the flat, cobblestone wall that extends into the sky. Even though the door is over an hour's walk away, the path ahead is clear. My head is empty of thoughts. The fight just plays on repeat. The resolve of the spearman. It's fear. Every weak attempt to push me off and stay alive. The feeling of my bare fists tearing skin and breaking bone. My gaze shifts to the tip of the spear. The gleaming metal is dulled with blood. My blood. It tried to kill me.

The hole in my side leaks a small amount of blood, but it's already beginning to dry and scab. Conflict continues to churn as I make the journey back. It takes far longer than I thought, my stamina growing slightly lower with every step. Slipping through the door, I grunt and struggle to pull it shut. My body gives out and collapses to the ground. The spear and my gauntlet clatter to the ground, my eye closing. I don't even have time to mourn my mattress as my consciousness fades into sleep.

Darkness gives way to flickering orange light as I return to the real world. The pain wastes no time making itself known. Pulsing agony travels from my eye and side as I groan.

"Kevin, don't feel pain." My expression relaxes as relief replaces suffering. Chime The blue screen expands as I expect it to. [Bleed Immunity(lv. 5) > (lv. 6)] [Empowered Control Tamed Being(lv. 3) > (lv. 4)] Not wasting any more time, I turn my attention inwards. The mana in my body swirls with intent as it funnels into the healing skill. Chime The system sounds not even a few seconds in, and the drain grows wider. I ignore the changes as I immerse myself in the flow of my mana.

Through millions of interconnecting pathways, it moves in a singular flow. Instinctively, it moves perfectly, only being ruined when I try to take active control of it. Regardless, it does what I ask. It ends far before I want it to, as all of my mana runs dry. My eye snaps open, and hunger works with thirst to drive pain into my stomach. I crawl on all fours to the fountain, sticking my head under it and greedily filling my stomach.

When I move to take a breath, my hand brings the meat of a drumstick to my mouth and fills it. I choke multiple times, scarfing everything down greedily. After I finish, I've gone through my last pouch of jerky alongside the drumstick. Hunger still grumbles, but there's nothing left. At least I ate enough to stay sane. The blue pane appears in front of me. [Heal Tame(lv. 5) > (lv. 6)] [Health: 355(163)] I feel like crap, but it's still better than yesterday. My poor health just can't stay full.

Getting to my feet, I stretch out the pains of sleeping on stone. Both of my weapons go under the fountain as I wash the blood off of them. Should I take a low reward and swing for a health potion? The idea is wiped away instantly as I chuckle. Wasting a reward on recovery when I can already do it myself? The idea is absurd. I drink my fill of water and gear up. A gauntlet goes on my left hand, and a spear goes on my right. The spear is light and short, but that's good considering I'm holding it with one hand.

I think back to the fight in the small camp. Brawling all of the goblins alongside the spearman would have killed me. But a metal chestplate would have changed that. Regret spreads in my mind as I remember passing up the full plate armor for leather. If only I could get a skill called something like steel skin. I bet the warrior class gets steel skin. The thought makes me frown. Shaking my head, I push the door open. Sunlight floods the room, and I step out. New day, new me. My march takes me toward the lake.

As I walk, I notice that there are no birds in the sky, even though I saw fish in the lake. There's a bit of a breeze, but there's no source for it either. The environment is beautiful, discounting the same cobblestone texture that's on just about everything. Once again, I make it to the shore, spotting the camp in the distance. Casually, I walk over and hide behind the large pillar that I hid behind before. All of the bodies are piled up in the center, next to the campfire.

The sentries stand the same at four, one on every side. I know the population is not what it once was. Twelve. That's how many there were before.

"Kevin, focus on running and on the fight."

"Avoid or block all attacks. Attack as hard as you can without losing health." The command clears my mind of loose thoughts. I step from behind the pillar and begin my sprint. Only took about ten seconds to cover the few hundred feet before, and my health is even higher this time. The sentry takes a second to see me, then another to recognize the threat. It turns and screams loud enough for me to hear from here. Doesn't change anything.

Halfway there, the sentries group together, the first goblins exiting their tents. As I arrive, the goblins stand side by side seven wide. More continually arrive to reinforce the edges. I slow down, and the group takes that as their cue to surround me. As the edges of the formation move, so do I. Dashing to the left, I rush at the goblin closest to the edge. It panics slightly and steps back, but the two next to it rush and hold out three pointy sticks at me.

With a grin, I hold the iron-headed spear by the end of the shaft and thrust. The goblin on the left tries to dodge, but it's no match for my command-powered body. With impossible reactions, my muscles constrict, the spear curving mid-flight to stab the goblin in the eye. The metal on the end pierces cleanly as it did through my side. It's only extended for a fraction of a second before I jerk it back. The stabbed goblin stands unsteadily for a moment before falling limp and landing on the ground.

Chime The spectacle doesn't make the group step back, it only inspires them to move faster. Damn, maybe I should use a spear more often. The left side of the formation tries to curve around to my back, but I continue to dash to the right. The right side of the formation tries to collapse backward and reform. I can't allow that. I dash forward, and my right arm shoots forward. Another goblin tries to dodge, but with the reach of my spear and arms, they can't force me away.

The goblin falls, clutching a massive gash in its neck as blood pours out. A tingle grows on the back of my head. Chime The command takes control, and my body yanks to the side unnaturally. A wooden spear passes over my shoulder and clatters against the ground. I turn and see a goblin behind me that stares shocked. Another tingle in my side. My body pulls backward, and a goblin stabs where I just was. With a twist, my arm flicks forward and pierces its eye. Chime The sound is followed by a sensation.

The world sharpens. My body grows lighter. An extra bit of air enters my lungs. I dearly want to close my eyes and enjoy the sensation, but the situation forbids it. A goblin throws a spear. My gauntlet flies up and blocks it with ease. The spear clatters at my feet. I look around, but none of the goblins try to approach. In fact, they begin to move away. They don't try to curve around or surround anymore. One goblin in the back flips and dashes away from the rest.

Like a signal was just spread, the rest cautiously move away before doing the same. In a few seconds, I stand alone. Chime Looking over, I see the goblin that just died of blood loss. Chime"You know what? System, no more chimes for kills or skill level-ups." It was simmering in my mind for a while, and the sound is getting annoying. Not to mention distracting. With a sigh, I turn to the camp, hoping that some goodies are hiding inside.