Chương 12: Chapter Twelve: Arson is Cool

Like a piece of paper, the bone-dry wood sparks up into a raging fire that begins to engulf the thick tree. I didn't think the tree would go up so fast, so I jump back from the fire in surprise. Shortly after, I remember about my new trait and mentally smack myself in the back of the head while I reach straight back into the fire and pour more energy into the bark.

I can definitely feel the warmth of the flames, but they don't burn at all, and I smile slightly in amazement at the feeling of being in the middle of an inferno without even feeling a tickle. The tree succumbs quickly to the flames, and I can hear stomping around in the shack above me as the goblins finally wake up. Releasing my grip on the wood, I circle back around the tree and deliver a swift kick to the patchwork ladder that leads up to the shack.

My kick knocks it off of the hinges that hold it to the building, and it takes two more kicks before the ladder topples to the ground and the goblins have no way of escape other than to jump out of the shack ten meters in the air. During my scouting of the trail leading out of the prison camp, I remember seeing a small pond maybe a few hundred meters away from the shack.

I seriously doubt the goblins have any chance of making it there in time, but I make sure to remember the direction just in case I need to chase either of them down. The smoke already obscures my view of the opening, but I can hear the goblins start to squeal as the flames reach the inside of the shack. I ready myself at the bottom of the tree, waiting to clean up in case the goblins end up surviving the fall.

While I listen to the symphony of their screams, I watch as the raging fire begins to spread to the trees nearby. That might be a problem. Eh… future Sebastian can figure it out later. I hear a pained roar and look up to see two goblins jump out of the shack one after another. A loud snap echoes out and the first goblin's legs fold like a paper towel underneath its mighty weight.

The second goblin is not much better off as it falls directly onto the first goblin's head, cracking it open like a watermelon and causing the second goblin to fall forward onto its own face. < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 3 > The second goblin doesn't do much else other than twitch on the ground due to the head trauma and burns covering their green skin. I walk forward and quickly finish the beast off with a stomp to the head.

< You have defeated: Goblin - Level 3 > I see a mace sitting nearby covered in some of the gore. I guess at least one of the goblins came ready for a fight. I pick it up and heft it in my hands. It is a good length with the shaft only being about the size of my forearm. It's not too heavy either so I don't think it would mess with my balance in a fight. I sling the mace onto my shoulder and head off to check the other pits for more goblins.

It might not be very sportsmanlike to kill a defenseless monster, but I need all the levels I can get. < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 > I pause in place before looking back toward the shack. The small building is still in the middle of a raging fire, and I don't see any other goblins jumping out of the shack. I wait a couple beats for any more notifications, but none come. I guess there were three goblins in the shack after all.

Turning away from the shack, I begin my search through the clearing for any other monsters. The first few I come across are empty. As I spread out my search though, I begin to find pits with dried up blood inside. I silently hope that I do not find Pawl in any of the holes. I know that my furry friend is a survivor though, so I do my best to push him out of my thoughts and continue my work. With the light of the morning Sun, or, I guess it's not the Sun actually. The morning star? No, that doesn't sound right.

Let's just keep calling it the Sun, I guess. With the light of the morning Sun, I can see that the bloody pits are empty just like the ones from before. When I get to my next pit though, I find a nice present waiting for me. < Goblin Traitor - Level 5 > Gazing up at me through the grates of the pit is an angry looking goblin with what looks like an eye tattoo on its shoulder. The goblin has a slightly different shape than the ones I have seen before, and an additional piece of cloth wrapped around its chest.

A female goblin perhaps? It looks pretty similar to the ones before, so I don't bother trying to identify its sex. The goblin is also bound with its hands behind its back just like I was. It also looks like its legs are tied together as well, so I imagine any movement is near impossible for the monster. Moving to the side of the pit, I unlatch the simple mechanism holding the grate shut and then proceed to lift the heavy metal off of the entrance to the hole.

The goblin makes no move to leave and instead just continues to watch me with those hateful beady eyes. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I pick up the mace I left near the entrance and wind back with my good arm to start taking potshots at the goblin. Upon seeing the mace, the goblin roars at me while attempting to free its hands.

The hole is not wide enough for the beefy goblin to maneuver around my swing though, so I proceed to cave in the goblin's skull with the thick metal head of my weapon. No notification comes, so I guess I didn't swing hard enough to kill the monster in one blow like I had planned. I swing again and the goblin's head pops like a balloon and splatters all over the inside of the hole. < You have defeated: Goblin Traitor - Level 5 > < Congratulations!

You have reached: Level 6 > I think for a moment before deciding to invest all of my free stat points into PWR. There is clearly no benefit for me to put any more points into BDY or DEX, as all the goblins here will out scale me in that area no matter my level. MND is probably my best bet against these things. So far, I haven't been impressed with their intelligence at all.

Unfortunately for me, the idea of living in my head more than I already have for the past five years sounds even worse than putting points in my physical stats. That leaves only PWR, probably the most interesting stat of all of them. I begin to feel the familiar pressure work its way through my body. More noticeable however, is the increased heat and itchy sensation I feel crawl over my skin. Before it becomes unbearable, I do my best to adjust my output with <Emit> to match the new increase in produced radiation.

It is no small amount, as I basically just doubled my production rate by pushing my original PWR stat of five straight to nine. After my adjustment, I go ahead and continue my journey to gain free levels. < You have defeated: Goblin Traitor - Level 5 > < You have defeated: Goblin Traitor - Level 6 > < You have defeated: Goblin Traitor - Level 5 > < Congratulations! You have reached: Level 7 > < You have defeated: Goblin Traitor - Level 5 > I find four more of the goblin traitors.

They all have some variant of an eye tattoo on their body, but other than that, they put up no real fight, and I swiftly dispatch them one by one. I almost feel bad for taking advantage of the trapped monsters, but then the level up notification comes in, and I suddenly don't feel bad anymore. I invest my points into PWR like before and adjust my output with <Emit> again to accommodate the change. Stalking towards the next pit, I am sad to see that it is empty.

The same goes for the next six or so, and I am beginning to think that the five goblins I killed were in a group together, and that there are no other prisoners around. As I walk from empty pit to empty pit, I pull up my status to check my progress.

[Status of Sebastian Bet] Pillar Difficulty: Death is Certain Floor 1: The Last Tribe Time Used: 04: 02: 21: 32 Time Left: 2185: 21: 38: 28 Level: 7 Body (BDY): 13 Mind (MND): 10 Agility (AGI): 8 Power (PWR): 13 [Unallocated Points: 0] Class: Undecided Form Association: Undecided Skills: Emit [Lvl 6] Polarize [Lvl 1] Cogitation [Lvl 9] Mana Control [Lvl 5] Infuse [Lvl 2] Traits: Thermal Resistance [Stage 1/3] Condition: Mana Mutation [Permanent] It makes me happy to see all of my numbers going up in a nice fashion, especially since PWR has already reached the same value as BDY in such a short period of time.

I also find it very interesting that a Trait tab was added to my Status. It seems that I apparently have three stages for my trait. I still don't have any more quests to get more traits, and I don't know how to go to the next stage in a trait, so the extra information is all but useless. I guess that is fairly on brand for the System from what I have seen so far. I make the screen disappear and glance over at the wood line. The shack I set on fire seems to have spread to quite a few trees now.

I resume my search through the clearing, as I don't have many pits left to check and I would rather not stay for too much longer in case some goblins come to investigate. I walk over to the nearest unchecked grate, fully expecting it to be empty like the rest have been so far. As I approach, I notice a foul stench wafting from the pit. I crinkle my nose and push through the smell to peek inside the hole.

Instead of the usual empty hole or goblin prisoner, I find a hunched figure that is much smaller than any goblin I have seen so far. The figure is obscured by a ratty looking blanket that I'm guessing is used to suppress the smell, but it's not doing a great job. There is no identifier above the figure, so I assume it is a dead traitor that the normal goblins killed and left to rot. Not even bothering to open the grate, I move on to the next pit and am once again hit with the same smell.

Dropping my mace nearby, I pinch my nose and begin wandering back and forth between the last of the holes. There are twelve in total, and all of them have a covered figure inside that reek of rotted flesh. I start to think about why these monsters weren't buried or something to free up more space in the camp, but then I remember how many empty holes were scattered throughout the clearing. Letting my curiosity overcome my sense of judgement, I pick a random hole and unlatch the heavy grate covering it.

Now that I have a better look, I can see that the blanket is more so a body bag than anything. It looks to be made from the same material as the goblin loincloths, which I can now identify as some sort of animal hide. Reaching inside, I go to pick up the bag to lug it out of the hole, but when I begin pulling on the material, its soaked through and partially rotted surface peels back to reveal a sight that makes my eyes go wide and my stomach to turn in disgust. Inside the bag is the rotting corpse of a human.