With a single purpose in his mind Arthur ravaged through the goblins within the ancient dwarven city. As he worked his way up the goblins he came across became weaker and smaller like he recalled before, and in a way they were pathetically disgusting to watch.
On the second floor just below the entrance Arthur had one last goblin up against a wall with his sword pressed against its throat. Its frail skinny frame shook like an old cart as it breathed in terror and looked away.
Before Arthur might have felt nothing and simply killed the goblin without dragging the act out, but something deep within Arthur’s soul was different than before.
Slowly he pulled the sword to the left while his arm stayed fully extended. The goblin, feeling the blade was no longer at throat, slowly turned its head back to look at Arthur. For a moment it was confused but rather thankful the large metal being was leaving it alive, but then Arthur brought the sword back across with a wide swipe slicing the goblins throat with just the tip.
The goblin screamed and coughed up blood from the cut as it fell to the ground, it clutched its wound in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. The goblin writhed in pain and fear as blood started pooling on the ground with Arthur watching tentatively.
/- - - - - -\
+ 50 Exp
\- - - - - -/
Only when the notification for killing the goblin showed itself did Arthur walk away. But as he was walking away Armok who was training behind him had something to say.
“Was that really necessary? I would have thought killing the goblins quickly would have been a more desirable outcome for you.”
“Normally that would be the case, but I felt that something so pathetic and disgusting should suffer a little before it dies. I imagine they would do the same if the situation was reversed.” Arthur spoke with a stern and almost angry tone, and when he didn’t turn to look back at Armok as he spoke gave the impression that it was directed at the fallen elder god.
“Even so, that was rather brutal of you Arthur. Don’t tell me you intend on doing the same to the dark mage who attacked your farm.”
“Blood for the god of blood, remember.” Arthur finished as he gave a stern side eye back to Armok. “Even if that mage hasn’t done anything yet I have no doubt that he has or soon will do something to warrant such action. I have no intention of standing by to allow him to hurt more people just because he hasn’t done anything yet.”
Armok stayed quiet as he looked at Arthur. Given his unusual appearance it was difficult to guess how he felt, but Arthur had a feeling Armok was disappointed in him.
It took several hours to kill all the goblins that he did and Arthur was now feeling the physical strain of doing so, something he had grown distant from over the previous five years. Without waiting he took a seat against the wall and opened his HUD.
/- - - - - -\
Level 3
Exp : 950
Next Level at : 1400
Mana : 3/3
Attributes :
Strength 10
Dexterity 10
Vitality 10
Constitution 10
Intellect 10
Perception 10
Charisma 10
Magic 10
Available points : 30
\- - - - - -/
‘Level three, who would have thought such a low level would bring such hope back.’ Arthur thought to himself as he brought his head back and sighed.
‘With thirty points to spend I can easily put twenty into intelligence which gives me three units of mana per level. By the time I get out of here I will have more than enough to cast as many spells as I need. The last ten I should probably put into either strength or dexterity, or perhaps a bit of both. For the time being I will need to use this longsword to kill some goblins while saving what little mana I have for the more powerful ones.’ The image of the one goblin spellcaster hiding within the buildings much deeper within the settlement quickly came to Arthur's mind.
‘Improved strength would allow me to swing my sword harder and carry more things with me, but improved dexterity would help with swinging my sword as well as casting spells. Perhaps I could ask Armok for his thoughts.’ Arthur turned his attention to where Armok had been floating a minute prior only to find him gone like he was never there.
For a moment Arthur was surprised, but soon little snippets of memories from long ago when Armok spoke to him returned. ‘He will return when he is needed.’ Arthur thought to himself as he turned his attention back towards assigning the last ten points he had.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
‘I think five points of strength and five points of dexterity will make a good balance.’
********
Arthur crept along the side of the wall with his sword in his right hand as he readied a spell with his left. The groaning of the wounded goblin mage filled the otherwise empty building deep within the old dwarven settlement.
Slowly Arthur peeked his head around the corner only to duck back behind cover as a whip of water nearly struck him in the face, but he had enough time to determine where the goblin was. It was sitting on the floor just a couple meters away around the corner with its back up against the far wall, it kept its hand over the wound Arthur caused just a minute prior in an attempt to stop the flow of blood.
Arthur however wasn’t content to wait, instead he quickly whipped his body around and swung his left hand towards the dying goblin mage conjuring three earth bolts. The goblin barely had any time to register the attack let alone do anything about it.
The first bolt struck the goblin mage in the right shoulder, the second struck in the left side of its stomach, and the third went through its left eye leaving the goblin to only slump over as the life faded from its body.
/- - - - - -\
+ 100 Exp
Level up
+ 10 points
Level 7, 3500 exp
Next at 4400
\- - - - - -/
Arthur felt his soul shift as the goblin drew its last breath, he felt his mana capacity expand and new strength awaiting his decision.
/- - - - - -\
Strength 15
Dexterity 15
Vitality 15
Constitution 15
Intellect 30
Perception 10
Charisma 10
Magic 30
Available points : 10
\- - - - - -/
He was quickly regaining his lost power and with it something else was mixed in. Something that wasn’t there before.
Arthur walked over to the slumped over corpse of the goblin mage and stared at it for several seconds as he felt a burning anger growing in his chest. He lowered himself to one knee and pushed the goblins head back to look into its cold dead eyes. The anger grew further still as his arm tensed digging his fingers into the sides of the goblins skull, until suddenly something came back from long ago.
With lightning speed Arthur slammed the dead goblins head into the wall behind it before standing and kicking in the head again and again and again.
With a roar Arthur drew his sword and held it by the blade and used the handle and pommel to repeatedly strike the dead goblin over the head. He followed with a swing from his left to his right striking it across its face and knocking it over to its side. Arthur didn’t wait, he brought the sword above his head and brought the handle down again across the dead body filling the room with blood and the sound of cracking bones.
Only when the body was unrecognizable did Arthur stop.
As he breathed heavily he took several steps back and did his best to wipe the blood off the handle with the little cloth he had which he had intended to use as an improvised bandage should the need have arisen. When he was done he could feel in his chest the anger was gone, burned away like a massive bonfire.
Slowly he found a seat atop some destroyed furniture and he allowed himself to relax. Though he would never admit to anyone, especially not Calavia, he felt a sense of relief.
**********
After investing his ten points into perception Arthur rested for what he believed was the reminder of the day and continued when he awoke.
Down the stairs he dove deeper into the fortress taking his time to prolong the suffering of the goblins when he came across them and doing his best to ensure none survived.
Eventually he reached the last floor and the opening to the cavern in what was very likely a new record for himself.
‘Who would have imagined.’ Arthur thought to himself as he looked over towards where he remembered the goblin settlement was located. ‘All these disgusting goblins are completely unaware of what they have brought upon themselves with their animalistic behavior.’
Arthur felt the familiar anger stirring in his chest once more as he took his first steps towards slaughtering every goblin he could find, and when he was done the demon they worshiped would be next.
***********
The leader of the goblin village, the chief so to speak, sat on his worn stone throne as he scraped his nails against the stone that made up the armrests. He gritted his teeth in frustration as the stress started getting to him.
Three days had passed when the first of their hunting parties vanished with little explanation only for what was left to be discovered the next day.
At first it was assumed they were killed by an animal of some sort, it was very plausible given how often lone goblins would get killed and by how brutal the attacker. But when they actually took a look at the corpses they noticed several of the lesser injuries on the arms and legs were made with a blade of some sort.
It became clear right away that someone had attacked the hunting party and possibly had help from one or more tamed animals.
The goblin ‘chief’ had anyone who was out of the village questioned and interrogated but they found nothing.
If anyone in the village was behind it they definitely didn’t keep the animals within the village itself.
Then the attacks started getting closer and closer to the village all while the types of wounds started to change somewhat.
Instead of the cuts and stabs on the limbs that were somewhat common, a considerable portion of the bodies were either impaled through the chest and eyes with something small or outright crushed as if a large rock fell atop them.
Each dead hunting party meant less food for the goblins in the village, which mattered little to the chief if he was not one of said goblins. Children going hungry or starving was unimportant to him, but if the hunters couldn't eat then they wouldn't be hunting for very long.
One of the goblins that was assigned to keep track of all the leaving and returning hunting parties suddenly entered the shabby wooden structure where the goblin chief sat with a grim look on his face.
“You better have good news for me!” The goblin chief shouted at the other as his face turned into a snarl.
“Another hunting party has disappeared, master.” The goblin answered as his legs started to quiver and his breathing grew ragged.
The goblin chief stood from his chair and shouted curses at the goblin as he threw a bone from his previous meal at his face. “Again! You are worthless! I might as well give your job to the animals!”
“But master, all I do is keep track of who leaves and who returns.” The goblin pleaded as he fell to his knees. “I have no authority over what happens.”
“Then go to the hunters and tell them they need to make larger groups! If a single group of ten is too small to fight off the enemy then they need to go in groups of twenty! Now go before I have you for dinner!”
