Another day has passed since the start of culling the Goblin numbers. I perched upon a tree branch thick enough to support my body weight. Mariona was with me, her trusty bow in hand, just like yesterday and the other day before.
Below us was another group of Goblins. Seems like they haven't learned yet from their mistakes, as obvious from a less than average intelligence Goblin leader. You would think that they would notice the dwindling number of Goblins, but it looks like a large number of Goblins within their nest makes it harder to manage.
And with no Goblin with the right intellect to manage said numbers, disappearances, be it small or large, flows under their radar most of the time. Like what is happening now.
Mariona gave me the go and I dropped from the tree branch, equipping my armor mid-fall. The Goblins all look up and are surprised to see my huge figure dropping on their heads, as evident from their reactions.
I landed with a thud, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking since I directly landed on top of two unfortunate Goblins.
50 EXP gained!
All of them stood frozen in shock and fear, and what kind of fighter would I be if I didn't take the obvious advantage given to me on a silver platter?
I launched myself towards the closest Goblin, held its head in my tight grip, soliciting a pained shriek from said Goblin, then tossed it towards another Goblin that was still paralyzed by my surprise attack.
The both of them barreled towards another tree, the sound of broken bones entered my ears as they crashed into it.
50 EXP gained!
The last Goblin squeaked then tried to run, only to get an arrow to the head, courtesy of my temporary teammate Mariona, who was camping above me, her bow held in a stance signifying that she just took a shot.
I gave her an appreciative nod, only for her to stare at me for a moment before dismissing my gesture. I sighed and gave up for the moment of trying to build friendly relations with said Elf.
'They distrust me too much,' I thought with a grimace. 'Can't blame them though, what with our first encounter… I just wish there was a way to get to friendly terms with them. The less hostile they're towards me, the more I won't have my head on a bounty board.'
It was at that moment a sharp whistle that entered my ears. Mariona also took notice of this whistle and her gaze looked towards the direction where Grurnuir was camping.
"It looks like we've run out of time," Mariona said as she focused her vision on me. "Time to move, it's time to raid the nest."
I nodded curtly and began moving through the foliage. I followed the figure of the Elf leading me towards their Dwarf friend. A couple of minutes later, we arrived, a little bit after the rest reunited.
"Grurnuir, report," Lennon commanded with a stern gaze. The Dwarf nodded while he held his battle-ax tightly in his hand.
"Aye, them Goblins be hoppin'. Seems like yer plan shook them up," Grurnuir stated as he grabbed the shield taller than him that was lying against a tree trunk beside him. "We have at most 10 minutes 'fore them Goblins make a plan and scatter."
"… All right, thank you," Lennon nodded his head then turned towards me with questioning eyes. "Jionni, can you block all the exits with your magic?"
"I'm not sure if I can do all of them, but I'll try," I replied truthfully. I'm not going to jeopardize the mission and my life because I thought I could close them all and suddenly run out of Mana. That would be stupid of me.
"… Okay, Plan C is a go," Lennon declared and all of us nodded in agreement. From our scouting of the Goblin nest for the past few days, we found approximately 3 passageways in and out of the settlement. My job is to close all of them while the others route the Goblins towards the center, where we all meet up and slaughter them all.
All of us silently departed towards our designated spots. Me being alone in this medium-scale mission was somewhat daunting, but I didn't let that phase me. I did rescue those two human children from supposed kidnappers and protect myself against a knight after said rescue.
"Worse comes to worst, I'll go HAM on those green critters," I mumbled as I traveled through the foliage towards my destination. Once there, I waited for the signal, which came not too long after I arrived. Gathering the Mana within me, I created an Earth Wall to block the huge gateway, effectively blocking the escape route of the Goblins.
Sure, they could climb, but then they'll have to fight me while they're climbing, not a good case scenario for them.
My job was done, I scanned the wall for any Goblins trying to climb it. Lo and behold, Goblins were trying to climb it. About 3-4 of them. Gathering my Mana again, I manifest it within the wall in the form of spikes, skewering the Goblins to death with the spikes made of earth.
100 EXP gained!
Level up!
I raised my eyebrow at the pop-up. Deciding that a quick peek at my status wouldn't hurt, I whispered the command under my breath.
"Status."
Name: Jionni
Age: 0
Gender: Male
Race: Gorilla
Class: Juggernaut
Level: 9
Exp: 20/ 900
HP: 1920/ 1920
MP: 836/ 1027
Str: 44 = 180
Vit: 48 = 182
End: 43 = 163
Agi: 32 = 46
Dex: 33 = 61
Int: 25 = 69
Wis: 24 = 66
Cha: 21 = 30
Luc: 1 = 1
A quick check of my status showed me just how strong I currently am.
"But without a rough guideline on other people's stats, how am I supposed to know how strong I really am?" I grumbled about the painfully obvious problem I had with the status page. "Bah, I'll cross that bridge when I get there, focus on killing these Goblins…"
Looking down the wall, I saw a few more Goblins, so I killed them with more spikes from the safety of my spot.
175 EXP gained!
Surrounding Goblins now dead, I headed towards my next destination, towards Sogtharoch's team which consisted of him, Mariona, and Merethyl. On my way there, I killed more Goblins with either my magic or my hairy, alpha fists.
250 EXP gained!
'This is actually a good source of EXP,' I thought while I punched another Goblin to death.
25 EXP gained!
Right after punching that Goblin to death, I came across a heated battle among the Demon and Elves against the horde of Goblins trying to escape, corpses the green-skinned menaces strewn about the dirt.
They saw me but paid me no heed. I did the same and continued towards the exit, creating another wall of earth tall enough for the Goblins to not climb through quickly enough to avoid getting killed by us.
"Just in time, big guy!" Sogtharoch exclaimed with a bloodthirsty smile on his face. "Leave this to us and get your fat ass over to Leader!"
"All right," I reply with a shrug, dismissing his teasing with a deadpan. 'Seriously, this is a battlefield, not a perfect time to tease your teammates, eh?'
Sogtharoch froze for a fraction of a second before he continued with killing Goblins left and right. 'Huh, what was that all about?'
I shook my head and banished the thought to the deep recesses of my head. I gave them a quick wave before running through the tight space between the makeshift, wooden buildings the Goblins made within their nest/settlement.
And would you look at that, more EXP.
225 EXP gained!
The Goblin slumped down to the ground lifeless right after I slammed its head towards the nearby wall. At this rate, I'll be due another level up, not that I'm complaining. More levels = higher chance of survival.
After a few more seconds of running, I find myself in another bloody battlefield with the Dwarf, Grurnuir holding the horde of Goblins with just his shield and some kind of magic which extended the shield's area to about the width of a road, causing Goblins to have a hard time getting through the stationary fortress that is the Dwarf.
'Huh, a magic I haven't seen in any anime or manga…' I thought before I ran into the horde of unsuspecting Goblins. Channeling Mana again through my body, this time, I made a huge hole beneath them, encompassing the entire horde, with the depth being about as tall as an average human.
Mana: 122 / 1027
My Mana reserves dipped down a lot after, but a price enough to pay to make sure none of them get injured.
I want this deal done ASAP, after all, I still need to run my dungeon, and an injury is not something I would like to worry about this early in the game.
Next, all I had to do was chuck a fireball into the pit of Goblins and watch the fire spread, flames dancing around each of their bodies. The smell of sizzling and burning flesh permeating through my nostrils, and let me tell you, not a pleasant smell…
It appears that my sentiment was shared by the trio before me, who were looking at me with narrowed eyes.
"… Do you even have enough Mana to create another Earth Wall?" Lennon asked with a serious gaze. I blinked, then facepalmed.
"… Sorry, looks like it won't be enough after that hole I dug…" I said as I pointed at the impromptu hell I made for the Goblins. Some were climbing out of the pit, but I and the trio put an end to them before they could.
"Figures…" Lennon sighed. "Anyway, it's time we finish this."
350 EXP gained!
Level up!
Milestone reached! Change Class?
After making sure that all the Goblins within the pit were dead the trio and I continued towards the center, or wherever the Goblin leader was, but my focus was on the window that was floating within my vision, unnoticed by the others.
'… What the fuck?'
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