Chương 7: A gaggle of goblins

"Focus, Kevin. Avoid their strikes and counterattack." The goblins ignore my words as they spread into the room. I'm no expert fighter, but I know the golden rule of getting surrounded is not to let it happen. I sidestep to mirror the goblin that tries to move in the same direction. Instead of adjusting its stance, the creature snarls and charges, baring its teeth. My instinct urges me to dodge to avoid the strike, but I hold my ground, trusting in my only combat ability.

The goblin lunges, turning its head sideways to snap at my thigh. In one smooth motion, I slide to the side and bring my fist down hard on the center of its skull. The middle spike digs deep, draws blood, and sends the goblin crashing to the ground. Surprise flickers through me at how fluid the motion felt. Backing up, I square up against the remaining two. The goblin I struck picks itself up and clutches its head painfully, but even with blood running down its head, it doesn't look too injured.

Probably should've gone for weak points like the eyes or throat. The goblins wordlessly fan out, trying to surround me again. I shift to the right, mirroring one of the uninjured goblins. Predictably, it charges forward, turning its head sideways to lunge for the leg, just like the other one. This time, I step to the side and stick my leg out, tripping it. In one smooth motion, the goblin falls, and I follow with my fist. I strike my preferred weak point, the back of the neck just beneath the skull.

As soon as the spike digs in, I pull it out, looking up to see the other two goblins rushing me. Dashing to the left, I put the goblin with the head injury between me and the last one. When the goblin lunges in the same predictable manner, I trip it in the same way as I slip around it. I rush towards the last standing goblin. My left leg comes forward, dangling like a piece of bait. The goblin lunges for it, and I dash to the side and trip it, using the same move for the third time in a row.

Damn, these things are stupid. Before the goblin hits the ground, my foot's already hovering above it. My shoe hits its ribcage a second later, crushing it against the ground. I grimace at the sound of bones crunching. Turning, I fix my stance. The goblin with the head injury picks itself up. It rushes towards me without a second thought, and I pull the same move again. As it falls, I hear the telltale chime of the system. My foot comes down once more, finishing it.

Backing up in a hurry, I stand back and assess the situation. Two goblins with flattened ribcages and one struggling on the ground. I cautiously walk over to the first goblin I tripped and strike it in the back of the head. Another chime in my ear. I stare at the last goblin in morbid fascination. It wheezes as it tries to get up, but only the left side of its body is moving, leading it to only do a half-pushup, then fall back down. Must've hit it strangely and paralysed it.

My foot comes up and puts it out of its misery. I breathe quickly, but even with only 7 endurance, this fight wasn't very exerting. Stepping back, I admire my work as another chime hits me.

"Wow, these things are really stupid." Why was I ever afraid of these things? I'm basically just fighting a group of scrawny eight-year-olds with big heads and sharp teeth. I wince at how that sounded in my head. Chime"Great! Let's hear it!" I say with a smile, causing a blue pane to expand in front of me. [You have slain Goblin lv. 1] [Partial experience granted] [Partial experience granted] I stop reading and groan.

"Can we shrink this shit, please?" To my surprise, the amount of text shrinks to 40% of its size. My eyes widen, and I open my mouth in an O.

"Oh, cool!" I say appreciatively. [You have slain Goblin lv. 1 x3] [Partial experience granted x6] [Control Tamed Being(lv. 2) > (lv. 3)] [You have earned a reward for clearing a room] [Accept(2) / Bank / Consolidate] No level-up? Partial experience is hitting hard. Without hesitation, I consolidate again. I think I've finally gotten used to the chimes now. My gaze sweeps to the three dead goblins on the ground for a minute.

A smile grows on my face, excited that I was able to beat three monsters alone and barehanded. My thoughts go back to my use of control tamed being. I've used it many times now, and I think I finally understand how it works. It doesn't make me a better fighter, and when I do move, I move exactly how I would have if I were following my orders without some magical force behind them. The big ticket item is the reaction time cut. The skill doesn't actually affect my reaction time. It only changes the processing time.

In normal life, you would see something, the information would be sent to your brain, the brain would think of a movement, and then send it to your body to carry it out. But with the use of the skill, no thinking is involved. The brain sees stimuli, and instead of processing it, the reaction goes straight to my muscles. Essentially, my body moves without thinking, but still according to my will. Or my own commands in this case. It doesn't sound like much, but it means a lot. It means no hesitation in a fight.

No choosing between one action or another, as one is already decided to be better. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. For someone who basically has no fighting experience, this skill is pure gold. Hell, even for someone with fighting experience, it's still amazing. The thought acceleration from intelligence and perception means nothing when I get virtually an infinite amount of it from commanding myself.

Joy bubbles through my chest as I imagine myself surrounded by a bunch of monks and warriors in awe of my incredible combat skills. That same joy evaporates as I realise that, as a tamer, I am unlikely to discover any actual combat skills. That reminds me, I have a couple of open slots for new tamed creatures. Should I try to tame a goblin? I stroke my growing stubble as I think. The existence of the bond mechanic as a tamer comes to the forefront of my mind.

My brows furrow as I realise I may require a high bond with something before taming it. Additionally, I haven't learned any skills related to the process of taming something, only controlling tames. My control skill already operates in a detailed and encompassing way. What does leveling that skill even do for me anymore? The only thing I think of is that it might be able to overclock my muscles further. I frown as I remember the pain in the bones of my arm after telling myself to punch as hard as I could.

I probably won't be doing that again unless I need to.

"Whelp, nothing for it, I guess." I didn't accept my reward or level up, so there isn't really much to do. Walking up, I peer inside the unopened cell door. A group of 4 goblins sitting around a pile of sticks. All four look at the sticks blankly, with one poking them with its own stick. When is something going to change? I chuckle as I imagine myself walking into room number two hundred, a colosseum filled with over hundreds of goblins all staring at a massive pile of sticks. A shiver travels down my spine.

Actually, I don't think that would be very funny. Shaking my head, I try to think of a plan. The goblins are extremely predictable and liable to do the same lunging attack over and over again, even after seeing their brethren being exploited for it. The way I just cleared the room worked pretty well and didn't tire me out, so I think I'll go with the same thing again. I look at the goblins one more time before taking a deep breath. I grab the clasp on the door and remove it.

"Kevin, avoid getting surrounded, then disable the goblins one by one." I push open the cell door. As soon as it opens more than half a foot, the eyes of the two goblins facing the door flicker to me. The other two look at their friends, then look at me as well, all four of them rising off the floor with snarls. I pull the collar tight in my fist. As usual, all four goblins spread out to surround me. And I immediately turn tail and run back through the door.

A flicker of surprise passes through their faces before they chase after me. Smiling, I slip to the right and hide as I pass through the door. I fix my posture, and once I see a flicker of green, I shove my foot out and kick, pushing the goblin's head hard into the stone of the doorway. The sound of a coconut being thrown at a wall makes me wince. The goblin falls limp immediately. My arm pull back as I swing around the doorway and land a heavy right hook into the next goblin's face.

The blow snaps the goblin's head backward, the middle spike puncturing its left eye. It grabs at its face and wails, running back into the room. My shoulders tense, then relax as I turn to the next two. They aren't growling or hissing anymore. Instead, fear paints their faces as they step back. The opposite emotion rises in me. Joy. Joy at the ability to triumph so heavily over something that wants nothing more than for me to die. Confidence rising, I step forward at their hesitation.

"What's wrong? Don't want a taste of me anymore?" I smirk. My confidence grows as they move back. I step into a charge at the closer one. It knows it has nowhere to run and meets me head-on. Instead of dodging, I abuse my longer reach and punch directly into its lunge. Pushing my body weight into the strike, my fist crashes into its face. This time, all the spikes pierce as I send it falling backwards, slamming into the ground. I hear a scream behind me, and I turn. It's the second goblin I hit.

Its eye is in a gory mess, and fury stretches across its face. It rushes with rage toward me. Grinning, I meet it the same as the goblin I just put into the ground. With my extended height and reach, I push my body further as I send my fist into the bridge of its nose. Its head rockets backward as it hits the ground. I turn back to the last uninjured goblin, expecting it to attack. Halfway through a charge, it sees my gaze and panics. It slows to a stop.

"What's wrong? Why'd you stop charging?" I step forward. It steps back. Another step forward. Another step back. Can't believe I was ever afraid of these things. The night I just had flashes through my mind. My smile turns into a scowl. I stop moving.

"Come on! You were rushing at me before! What's wrong!? Don't you want to fight anymore!?" For just a fraction of a second, the goblin's eyes flicker to something behind me. Just before I turn, a slight shuffle enters my ears. Pain lances up my leg and drives a scream from my throat. Only half a foot behind me is the first goblin I knocked against the doorway. It has a visible dent on its head. It's crawling with blood dripping from its giant nose and ears. With its shark-like teeth buried in my calf.

My command forces my body to move, shaking my leg to remove the goblin. Big mistake. The goblin stays firmly attached to my leg, its teeth digging deeper with the movement. Agony digs deeper as my cry of pain bounces around the room. My body moves without thought. I drop the collar and reach forward, both hands gripping the goblin's skull as my thumbs sink into its eyes. It doesn't take long until both orbs pop, and the goblin releases its jaws. My body moves the second they let go.

I attempt to dodge, but the pain makes me collapse and fall. The goblin that was just cowering barely misses its lunge and lands on top of me. It jerks its head to bite down on my neck. But my body is already moving. I grab the goblin by the neck and flip over to put it under me. My mind rides along, buried in panic and shock as my body moves without input. Above the goblin, I hold it down with one hand and raise the other into a fist. I punch, pushing its nose further into its face. The goblin squeals in fear.

I strike, blood splattering out of its nose. Pain builds in my fist as I bring it down on bone more than once. My fist crashes down continuously, more blood splattering further with every strike. Chime The sound brings me back to reality. My hand slowly rises. The goblin's face is nothing more than a mess of mutilated flesh. It burns itself into my eyes. My mind buzzes as my thoughts jumble and fail to catch up. I fall to the side, lying on the ground as I catch my breath.

Unknown willpower brings a single sentence out.

"Kevin, stop panicking." The world stops swimming. Everything freezes in startling clarity. The deafening thumps in my head fade away in an instant. After a couple of breaths of lucidity, I sit up. One goblin with gored eyes lies on his back and whimpers weakly. Two goblins are further away, both still unconscious. With no immediate threats, I begin to move. Reaching around, I take my jacket off, then my shirt. I pull up my left pant leg, and my panic renews itself.

Fourteen teeth marks, all with a steady rate of blood flowing out. As my panic is suppressed, I reach out with shaking hands and place the shirt on my leg. Waves of fresh pain come out as I suck air through my teeth.

"Kevin, stop feeling pain," I say in a hurry. The agony recedes immediately, replaced with a dull, aching pain. My strained lungs give out shaky breaths as I wrap the shirt and tighten it around my leg. I pull as hard as I can, tightening the shirt as much as possible to staunch the blood flow. After finishing, I weakly stand up, limping over and picking up my collar. Deep breaths come out as I move to the wheezing goblin with gored eyes.

I drop to my knees and grip the collar, dragging the spikes across the goblin's throat. It hardly resists as it garbles, and chokes on its own blood. I don't bother watching as I limp over to the two unconscious goblins. A few feet before I reach them, a chime sounds in my ear, and my breath catches in my throat. I gasp as a wellspring of life opens in my body. The dull, aching pain in my leg almost completely lifts. The slight delirium in my mind eases massively. The heavy weakness in my body halves.

Instead of feeling like I almost died, which is exactly the case, I only feel like I ran a 50-mile marathon without a break. I dearly want to check my status and see what the hell just happened, but I soldier on. There's far more life in my legs as I finish both the unconscious goblins. The limp to the starting room is far more lively, with the plastic bag of food draining my stress. I drag the bag to one wall and sit down with a grunt, unwrapping a burger to eat while I read.

"Let's see it, system."