( Scene change at some inn in Trond ) :
Oh, how are you doing this evening ,Tor ?.
A bald middle aged man come towards the bar and asked his seated friend or acquaintance of his while he was giving him a pat on the back .
The chubby man who got patted jerked off from his seat directly, breaking the bottle of drink he was currently having and was quivering in fear on the ground , he was the carriage driver that had a little incident with Lora and Ryuu earlier and was still under the intimidation effect of Ryuu skill .
but he calmed down a little and only a little when he saw who was the one that startled him as he said in a quivering voice :
Big brother Sullen you came back ! .
Did you have any doubts that i wouldn't be able to , and what is going on with you,why did you acted as if you was stung by a red scorpion ? .
Of course not, i'm just surprised that you finished task this soon , as for why i reacted so strangely before an incident had happened today and even by just remembering it i can't help but shiver .
Tell me what happened now , The bald man said in a commanding tone .
And his chubby younger brother complied and began to tell him about everything that happened today .
Before he even finished talking the bald man clenched his hands breaking the the drinking cup he was holding .
And his aura and kill intent rose suddenly that made all the people in the inn uncomfortable and even earned an astonished expression on his younger brother face the older brother then yalled loudly as if he wanted whole Trond to hear him as he said : someone actually dared to bully my younger brother, he is really that tired of living huh , very well i will grant his wish , tell me where was he going to right now .
Brother let's just forget about it, he was able to make two C Rank Adventurers immobile by just his aura .
Two C Rank , i can immobile those B Rank Adventurers with just my aura now .
Brother, your strength did it increase but doesn't that mean you are A Rank ... .
Right now i'm waiting for my Rank to get updated by the guild and this isn't the only surprise, see what is this ? .
This!!! is this really what i think it's .
Yeah the crown prince personal token,he sent someone to deliver me a massage saying that i might be serving as his new underling , our futures is very much guaranteed from now on, so we can't have people looking down on us .
Yes, older brother but the problem that he already went to the Teleportation Hall, i don't know if he will ever come back or when .
You said there was a Beastfolk girl with him .
Yeah, i believe she is a runaway slave from some noble house .
Then, it's settled we will just have to figure who is the noble that recently lost his toy and tell him that boy you told me about was the one who helped her to escape, and let the noble do our dirty work for us kehkhe .
My brother your scheming skills increased with your strength too , this is quite brilliant idea .
You will also have to do more work from now on to increase your strength, we can't embarrass the crown prince now, can we ? .
I will try more harder to meet your high expectations of me, older brother .
Good, and don't worry i will buy you a few attributes enhancing potions so that you can be more than capable of defending yourself, and we won't be paying the toll to be exempted from participating in the raids anymore .
So we can save more money while also not joining the others in defending the city, nicely done older brother .
No you stupid, from now on we will be engaging in raids more from now on , it was the crown prince order .
But, but,but ..... .
I know it is quite dangerous but don't forget how strong am i now, i will take a special care of you on the battlefield so don't worry about a thing , but hurry and collect information about the noble we are searching for and i will do the same .
The chubby dude took a long breath before saying : as you wish brother .
The boy they were plotting against was unaware of being plotted against he was facing another dilemma currently .
( End of the Scene change at some inn in Trond ) : ( back to Wicked Forest )
The expected scene that i created in my mind of what would the so-called safe zone in a dangerous place like the wicked Forest look like , was nothing alike to what i was currently witnessing in front of me .
After the light flash that forced us to close our eyes , we were instantly teleported to a designated location a safe zone , i guessed that each one of the other two caves lead to other safe zones , in my mind i expected the safe zone to be some sort of a safe heaven for Adventurers a place that they catch their breath and maybe even get a bit of rest in like the rest zones in games .
But no the scene in front of us was completely different than what i had in mind , we were teleported to a horrifying scene that was the only word that could describe it .
All the buildings were on fire and those who weren't on fire already had been burned down to crisp a lot of blood stained the ground around the teleportation circle, there were no sight of corpses, only the sight of rivers of blood on every corner , to whose those blood stains belonged to we have no idea but there were still fighting sounds around the area where we were currently in .
One of the old Adventurers said : there were some news about a few goblin settlements around the camp beginning to form an alliance and they were even gathering the other goblins from other regions but to think that they were able to make A Breach with this much of ease in our lines , and from the looks of it they overpowered the defenses of the safe zone depending sololy on their numbers .
Another young Adventurer asked worriedly : can't we just use the circle to teleport us back to the Teleportation Hall .
The same old Adventurer sighed and said : and how do you suggest that we do that can you operate a teleportation circle and capable enough to teleport us back .
Before the young man even reply the flashing circle line marks under us began to actually dissipate on its own .
I guess someone had already warned them about the breach and now we're stuck here until we either find our way out by either find another safe zone that have its teleportation circle active and was still working or at least reach any human city by passing through the Wicked Forest .
Another young male Adventurer said in a gruff voice : you seem to enjoy this whole situation old man , could you be the one who deliberately destroyed the teleportation circle just now .
The old man didn't reply to him he just shrugged his shoulders in denial .
Scrrrrrreeech , suddenly we heard a screeching sound coming from the sky and when we looked above we saw a human sized owl flying around us in circles while screeching .
The old man hurriedly shouted at us to quickly hide in the bushes , i wasted no time and activated Centipede Swiftness and vanished from my original position towards the tallest and nearest tree and climbed it with ease and sat there watching with intrigue about the reason he told us to hide after we saw that weird owl, oh right the owl where did it go .
I looked towards the sky to see that the owl was no longer there but i began to hear some quick and loud movements in the bushes under me i looked down and i finally saw what we were up against and why did that old man told us to hide .
A swarm of green goblins all had red eyes some were musculars , some had plain looking physique but there were two things that they all had in common , first was that they were fully equipped with different kind of armors that either looked bigger or barley fit them and all of these armors had blood on them, the second is that they were actually using tactics, as i was able to notice another two swarms much bigger than the one moving below me, waiting for us to take the bait , the moment we took the bait they would be ganging on us .
It was my first time seeing a goblin in real life there were some depictions of them in fiction works and the likes but seeing them face to face like this and in real life , i felt that they were actually weak, maybe because i'm much stronger than all of them now or i'm already starting to adapt to this world, i didn't feel much shock knowing that they exist .
Only some interest since this would be my first time actually fighting one against 1,2,3,26,78 more than one hundred goblins, i believe it will be an all alone fighting between me and them, since for some reason the others Adventurers were already trying to retreat , as for me why would i retreat, it was the best fighting scenario to test both of my skills The Aura Of Strong and Steal .
But does this breach thing happens that much frequently , or was it related to the soon coming raid or maybe someone was pulling the strings from behind the scene and were the goblins in this world really that well organized .
And even if they were why would they suddenly decide to deal with the human adventurers in the vicinity , this whole scene wasn't making any sense to me was it only because i was considered a newbie , well i'm but on my way here i didn't heard anything about goblins being the one to take the initiative in attacking humans and a safe zone at that .
Back to the scene in front of me , a few of the experienced Adventurers have already used different means to flee but some were unluckily now surrounded by goblins from all sides , with one of them being the old Adventurer from before, he was the only one giving orders to the last quivering 3 Adventurers who i guessed to be just like me newbies and Inexperienced but unfortunately much weaker too .
The old man was trying to adjust and line their defensive posture so that can have a small chance of survival and it was quite kind of him as i believed like he was capable of escaping alone but he chose not to .
Grrrrroooooghhh , grrrrrraaahhhhh ,
geeeeeeeeeh , a cry of some sort or maybe this how just they were communicated with each other but the voice impact on the goblins was apparent as they replied with their own cries and began to attack .
I was keeping an eye on the other two swarms waiting a bit far away trying to gauge what was their purpose exactly .
But there move left me baffled they were surrounding the area in a bigger circle than the one surrounding the adventurers while keeping some distance away from each other and now that the other circle attacked they begin to march steadily behind the attacking swarm as if trying to fill the gaps .
So they are either leaving no place to escape or...
~Screech~ the screech of that damn bird marked the beginning of the fight .
Some bottles were thrown from the goblins side and the reaction was the old man was grave as he yelled at the other adventurers to disband their defensive posture and take cover, a few seconds later those bottles that were thrown exploded the moment they came in touch with the ground setting the whole area a blaze , weakening the spirit and morale of the already despairing Adventurers even more .
Don't worry, we are going to survive this just regroup together, the old Adventurer shouted but his words have fallen on one person deaf ears , one of the Adventurers the one who argued with the old man throw something out suddenly that left me shocked because he didn't throw that thing at the nearing goblins no he threw it at his comrades and those who were fighting with him and just as the goblins were about to attack too .
You,you son, those were the only words that the old man said after he realized what that dude was trying to do then he was frozen with the other two Adventurers and the nearby attacking goblins too leaving the Adventurer who used the item to be the only one capable of moving as he began to sprint away leaving the others to meet their inevitable fate and weirdly those who were unaffected by the thing he used let him be as if they weren't bothered by him escaping .
So they were staying at a safe distance for that particular reason, they were toying with those who will be trying to escape like that guy but he even used such a selfish and harmful to others tactic to escape but wasn't aware that his fate was sealed a long time ago, i noticed that he was going directly towards the other swarm of goblins but didn't say anything to warn him about it but i did watch him get pierced by a set of daggers from some weird angle before being pierced through by 3 to 4 spears and dying .
I don't know why but i felt no remorse for him dying since i had nothing to do with whether he lived or die after the trick he just pulled , but i did remembered Regard telling me something about humans beings being the actual monsters sometimes and that i will see it myself , and again he was right
The ice was beginning to melt anyway but another bottle was thrown at the frozen and incapable of moving Adventurers, guess they don't have much patience any more i went down easily and swiftly kicked the bottle away towards the direction where it came from and stood in my place looking at the bewildered ugly faces of goblins with a smile on my face .
The bottle exploded and the explosion lit 10 or more goblins on fire , i thought they were going to die when a hunched back goblin held his stick and murmured something and those guys injuries were treated instantly and even the fire was extinguished but this wasn't the only surprise as next to the shaman stood a muscular goblin that suddenly let out a loud cry that was enough to encourage the other goblins and even those who were bound in ice began to melt , i guessed this might be a skill or something as the goblins eyes turned more red and their overall valor somehow increased too .
So they have a shaman like healer and some one to buff them as well, i looked behind me to see the 2 of the 3 faces already dreading as they were still covered in ice and the old man just sighed and closed his eyes as if expecting to die any moment now and thought how lucky for them that i came a long .
The swarm of goblins resumed their attack and came straight towards me , i unsheathed my Katana and used appraisal on the incoming enemies so to see if it is still working the same way as on humans and the results were gratifying to say the least , i tried it a few times more and it worked on all the different kinds of goblins in front of me as i got to know , and each kind had his own set of expertise and skills .
Here are some of those kinds that i got to know :
Here's the updated goblin information with quantifiable effects for each skill, keeping them balanced but less powerful:
Here's the updated goblin information with all formatting marks removed :
1 . Forest Goblin .
Rank : E .
Attributes :
Strength : 65 .
Stamina : 70 .
Agility : 80 .
Mana : 20 .
Spirit : 5 .
Hidden Attributes :
Constitution : 55 .
Will : 15 .
Luck : 30 .
Fate : 10 .
Spirituality : 4 .
Skills :
( Camouflage ) ( Active Skill ) : for blending into the forest allowing escape or ambush
Effect : Reduces enemy detection chance by 30% for 5 seconds .
( Poison Dart ) ( active skill ) : Fires a poisoned dart .
Effect :
dealing damage over time.
( Animal Companion ) ( Passive Skill ) : developing a bond with forest creatures for assistance .
Effect : Summons an animal ally to assist in battles .
2 . Cave Goblin .
Rank : E .
Attributes :
Strength : 70 .
Stamina : 80 .
Agility : 65 .
Mana : 15 .
Spirit : 4 .
Hidden Attributes :
Constitution : 60 .
Will : 12 .
Luck : 20 .
Fate : 15 .
Spirituality : 3.75 .
Skills :
( Darkvision ) ( Passive Skill ) : allowing clear vision in darkness .
Effect : Grants vision up to 15 meters in darkness .
( Rock Slide ) ( Active Skill ) :
triggering a landslide on intruders .
Effect : Deals more damage and causes a 1 second stun to enemies in a small area .
( Cave Resilience ) ( Active Skill ) : boosting endurance temporarily .
Effect : Increases stamina by 10% for 10 seconds .
3 . Alchemist Goblin .
Rank : E .
Attributes :
Strength : 55 .
Stamina : 65 .
Agility : 70 .
Mana : 40 .
Spirit : 5 .
Hidden Attributes :
Constitution : 50 .
Will : 10 .
Luck : 35 .
Fate : 12 .
Spirituality : 8 .
Skills :
( Potion Brew ) ( Active Skill ) : creating various potions .
Effect : the effectiveness of the potions vary between restoring health or grants a 5% strength boost for 15 seconds .
( Infusion Bomb ) ( Active Skill ) : making volatile concoctions that explode .
Effect : Deals damage in a small area and causes mild disorientation .
( Transmutation ) ( Active Skill ) : altering materials into useful items .
Effect : Converts one item into another with up to 10% effectiveness .
4 . Warrior Goblin .
Rank : E .
Attributes :
Strength : 90 .
Stamina : 95 .
Agility : 60 .
Mana : 10 .
Spirit : 5 .
Hidden Attributes :
Constitution : 80 .
Will : 8 .
Luck : 15 .
Fate : 10 .
Spirituality : 2
Skills :
( Battle Frenzy ) ( Passive skill ) : increasing strength during combat .
Effect : Increases strength by 10% for the duration of combat .
( Shield Bash ) ( Active Skill ) : stunning enemies while being defensive .
Effect : Deals damage by force pushing the enemy back and disorients enemies for 1 second .
( War Cry ) ( Active Skill ) : uplifting allies morale during skirmishes .
Effect : Increases ally attack power by 5% for 15 seconds .
5 . Goblin Shaman .
Rank : E .
Attributes :
Strength : 65 .
Stamina : 70 .
Agility : 60 .
Mana : 70 .
Spirit : 7 .
Hidden Attributes :
Constitution : 60 .
Will : 7 .
Luck : 25 .
Fate : 18 .
Spirituality : 10 .
Skills :
( Healing Magic ) ( Active Skill ) : using magic for healing purposes .
Effect : heal a targeted ally by 15% .
( Curse ) ( Active Skill ) : casting curses on enemies .
Effect : Reduces targets fighting effectiveness by 10% for 10 seconds , using the Stun curse the shaman able to stun enemies for 5 seconds and this duration decrease against more powerful enemies the caster .
( Spirit Summon ) ( Active Skill ) calling upon powerful monsters and spirits for assistance .
Effect : Summons a spirit that distracts enemies for 5 seconds .
..... .
That many kinds of goblins and that many kinds of skills to steal ~clank~ oh :
6 . Sneaky Goblin
Rank : E .
Attributes :
Strength : 50 .
Stamina : 50 .
Agility : 90 .
Mana : 0 .
Spirit : 0 .
Hidden Attributes :
Constitution : 40 .
Will : 8 .
Luck : 40 .
Fate : 12 .
Spirituality : 0 .
Skills :
( Stealth ) ( Active Skill ) : enabling silent movement and surprise appearances .
Effect : have a 20% chance to grants invisibility for 3 seconds .
( Backstab ) ( Active Skill ) : delivering high damage from stealth .
Effect : Deals 50% more damage when attacking from stealth .
( Trap Lay ) ( Active Skill ) : setting traps for enemies .
Effect : Traps activate when an enemy steps on them dealing damage to every enemy In the traps range .
They have their own sort of Assassins too and they have some quite remarkable skills too .
I looked at the goblin who was now above my head and was smiling menacingly at me thinking that i was already dead but i raised my head and looked at him and smiled back and only said one word : Steal .