Chương 8: Chapter Eight: Clues

Cooked goblin meat is good. So good in fact, I have decided to take Pawl with me to follow the ice trail and try to find more goblins. I did end up finding another goblin… but there is a small problem. The goblin is dead. I creep through the woods toward the scene of the kill. I had only noticed the body due to the excess ice and obvious scuffle that was left over from the fight. Weirdly enough, the body itself is partially buried under some dead branches.

From the looks of the corpse, the goblin has been dead for days. The blood is dry and the body looks to be partially infested by bugs. Getting closer, I attempt to identify the wounds that cover the creature. Poking the goblin with a stick I found nearby, I begin counting anything I can find. Two large bruises; One on its chest and the other on its jaw. Four… no five cuts along its arms. Each cut varies in size and is rough, likely caused by some sort of rock or maybe a shard of wood.

The kill blow is fairly obvious: A small piece of ice still remains in the goblins left eye. There are some other minor scrapes and bruises which I assume to be caused by an unlucky tumble to the ground, but as I roll the body over, I find a very thin but clean cut along the goblin's Achilles tendon. To an untrained eye, the cuts could be explained away by the similar lines that were carved into the monster's arms.

But due to my ample experience with medical tools, I can see that the cuts were likely caused by a scalpel or something similar. So, the question is, who killed the goblin? I search the area for more clues, but I find none. If the goblin had anything on it like the previous one did, it is also gone. Even the loincloth they usually wear is absent. I don't think I will find anything else here and Pawl doesn't seem to be interested in the rotting meat, so I abandon the body and continue following the trail of ice.

After only a half hour of walking, I finally run into what I had been looking for. < Goblin - Level 2 > < Goblin - Level 4 > It might be a little more than I bargained for, but beggars can't be choosers. I duck behind a tree and watch as the goblins grunt at each other and gesture toward a tree near them. As I get a better angle, I can see them inspecting a small patch of frost coating the trunk. It looks like the ugly buggers have been following the same trail I have.

I clench my knife and begin wrapping the chain around my closed fist to make sure I don't lose my only weapon in the upcoming fight. <Emit> starts to heat up the metal as I passively guide the skill toward my limb like I did before. It's getting easier the more I practice, but the skill hasn't leveled up again. The skill itself probably has some sort of better use that I just don't know about, but for right now, I don't care and do my best to funnel as much heat as I can toward the blade in my hand.

The goblins turn in my direction and head toward where they think the next iced tree is. I already melted that ice and drank the remains, but I don't want them finding the mark I left on the tree either. The level 4 goblin looks to be carrying a mace while the level 2 carries a knife similar to my own. I don't see any other differences between the two outside of their weapons, but for the sake of caution, I add to the level 4 goblin's overall speed and strength by a fair margin.

I still don't know how much each point in a stat increases your abilities, but based on my previous encounter with the goblins, I would say that either one of these monsters is still probably stronger than me in any given stat other than MND. It really annoys me that I don't know how much each monster's stats are, as if I knew, I would be significantly less anxious about this fight.

[Status of Sebastian Bet] Pillar Difficulty: Death is Certain Floor 1: The Last Tribe Time Used: 02: 16: 10: 14 Time Left: 2187: 07: 49: 46 Level: 4 Body (BDY): 7 Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Mind (MND): 7 Agility (AGI): 5 Power (PWR): 4 [Unallocated Points: 0] Class: Undecided Form Association: Undecided Skills: Emit [Lvl 5] Polarize [Lvl 1] Cogitation [Lvl 6] Condition: Mana Mutation [Permanent] I glance at my progress briefly before dismissing the screen just in case the goblins can see it as well. Sticking close to the wide trunk, I stretch above me and grab the nearest branch. After finding a solid grip, I brace my feet against the trunk and pull myself up in one fluid motion.

Because of my investment into BDY and my thin figure, I manage to climb up a few more branches beyond that with relative ease. I listen as the leaves crunch loudly underneath the goblins feet to signal their approach. I shoot a quick look around and of course Pawl has somehow excluded himself from the scene once again. I wouldn't say I am particularly upset, as I don't want the little guy getting hurt, but it would be nice to know where he is for safety reasons. Whatever; all the more levels for me I suppose.

I press my body tightly against the bark as the goblins finally come into my view only a few feet from the base of the tree I sit in. I hold my position and steady my breathing. <Cogitation> hones my thoughts and causes all other inputs to fall to the wayside. My vision is focused solely on the stupid brutes that don't even know I am right above them.

I can feel my heartbeat like a drum in my chest, and it feels like my nostril pathways are expanding and clearing up as I take one long breath before holding it at its apex. As silent as a cat, I raise my knife and drop directly onto the level 4. Almost too easily, the monsters don't even look up as I use all of momentum from the drop to drive the knife straight into the back of the level 4 goblin's neck, partially severing its spine and causing the monster to fall like a puppet with its strings cut.

Trying to stay quick on my feet, I push off of the goblin's body and attempt to roll off before we both hit the ground. Due to my inexperience, the movement is only partially successful and although the monster absorbed most of my force, I still tumble to the ground in a messy heap while my mind is too busy making sure I don't shank myself with my own weapon. My mistake does not go unpunished, and I feel a sickly burning sensation plunge into my side.

I quickly whirl on the other goblin, pulling the knife out of its grasp and leaving it weaponless. A fist buries itself into my stomach, causing the air to rush out of my lungs. Keeling over, I hack up the goblin meat I ate earlier while trying to keep myself upright. Before I can recover, the last goblin kicks me in the abdomen and lifts me off the ground. The pain doesn't bother me too much but the speed at which the blows come leave me with almost no time to react.

Striking out blindly with the hot blade in my hand, I hear a roar of pain as I feel the knife smack against something. Staggering to my feet, I force my body to cooperate as I stumble back toward the goblin with my blade at the ready. The monster recovers slower than I would have expected, but it has so much raw speed that it is able to get its bearings and tackle me with the force of a linebacker before I can get within striking distance.

Accepting the next hit, I ignore the upcoming impact of the ground in order to carve smoking lines into its barren back. We both hit the dirt and I can feel my body try to shut down as I gasp for air. The goblin isn't doing much better as it rolls off of me and squeals like a pig while pawing at its back. Now that I am aware of just how slow it takes to recover, I try to capitalize on the opening, but my limbs won't respond to my call for action. < You have defeated: Goblin - Level 4 > < Congratulations!

You have reached: Level 5 > The first goblin finally dies. My mind immediately commands the unallocated stat points into BDY and the few seconds it takes for all of my new stats to work through my being feel like an eternity as I struggle to get up and attack the goblin near me. I can feel the heated metal against my skin become even hotter due to the extra point in PWR and my muscle fibers strain as I force myself into a sitting position.

Due to the fall, the chain around my hand has unwound itself a bit, and I don't have the best grip on the knife anymore. The pain is nothing. I just need to be able to move. My muscles twitch and spasm right underneath my skin, but I force them to work overtime just to get up on my feet. The lack of control makes my hand seize and drop my weapon to the ground, but I won't let the lack of my blade stop me from taking advantage of the situation. The goblin still writhes in pain a few feet away from me.

It seems to be too dumb to understand that we are still in a fight. I am not as merciful. The second I regain the ability to move freely I pounce on the beast, pulling the shackle chain tight around its thick neck. As it attempts to buck me off, I wrap it around once more and pin my knees against its broad green back. My bony kneecaps press against the open wounds on its back and the monster writhes underneath my grip.

Only gurgles come from its mouth in protest, and I continue to hold the superior position against the goblin. Feeling the new power of my elevated stats running through my veins, I absently bask in awe at my ability to wrestle the large monster despite the crappy condition my body is in. My energy is quickly bottoming out, but I can tell that I will be able to outlast the green berserker as its efforts become slower and fewer in number. Eventually, the beast finally goes still.

< You have defeated: Goblin - Level 2 > I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and slowly unwind my chain from the neck of the corpse. Pushing the body away, I lie on my back and wheeze quietly as I try to fully estimate the damage I incurred from the fight. There is definitely some internal bleeding and I'm positive a few ribs were broken. I think the tackle also fractured my hip but I'm immensely surprised that one of my lungs hadn't collapsed after the goblin's kick. And that was only two goblins.

And they were lower levels than me. Aren't goblins supposed to be starter mobs? I feel a rough tongue against my face, and I crack an eye to find Pawl sitting next to me. Meow I reach a shaky hand toward him for a quick pet, but he nips at my finger and meows again while looking somewhere behind me. I crane my neck to take a peek at what is bothering him. The blood freezes in my veins as I watch a slender goblin with dark, spirally tattoos approach the body of the first goblin I killed. < Goblin Seeker - Level 6 >