Free Web NovelChapter 13: Goblin Spear-Guard (1)
Arthur lay down on his bed and closed his eyes before he uttered the word Zenith.
The familiar pull came almost instantly. That disorienting lurch as if the ground had been yanked out from underneath him.
This time, it didn’t last long.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing in the alley behind the alchemy shop, right where he had logged out. The narrow walls around him, the distant voices, and the uneven cobblestone beneath his feet, all welcomed him back into the game as if he’d never even left.
Arthur rolled his shoulders and looked around.
Part of him considered looking around for a bit. There were definitely places he hadn’t explored yet.
Even from his current location, he could still see that tower deeper into the city with those glowing crystals perched at its peak, those distant buildings with sloped rooftops and carvings he didn’t recognize, and even a couple of side streets that looked like they led to stranger, quieter parts of the city.
But Arthur shook his head. He didn’t have the luxury of sightseeing.
He knew he had to get more elemental stones.
He pulled the cloth pouch from his side and felt its weight.
There were still fifteen fire stones inside. It wasn’t bad for an hour of hunting, but it clearly wouldn’t cut it if he wanted to meet that quota.
He had to go back to the forest.
He turned away from the alley, cut across the plaza, and headed straight toward the city’s outer gate. His fingers brushed lightly against the hilt of the fang in his pocket, as if to make sure it was still there.
The guards at the gate didn’t stop him.
They didn’t even look in his general direction. They just stood there, unmoving, with greatswords strapped on their backs.
Arthur only gave them a glance before he made his way out of the city.
He hadn’t noticed them the first time around.
From the outline of their iron armor, they looked like humanoid creatures that resembled warriors from the medieval ages. But those cold, red eyes behind their helmets were clearly anything but human.
Arthur walked past them and into the open plains ahead, avoiding the ever-present chaos still unfolding in front of the city.
He slipped around the people still fighting the goblins and the slimes just like before, and stepped under the shade of the canopy again.
The trees greeted him with their quiet shade, and the silent hush of the forest settled over him like a familiar weight.
And he was back where he belonged.
Back to hunting.
...
Arthur moved through the forest, his eyes scanning the trees and bushes for any flicker of movement. Just like before, he was planning on hunting isolated goblins as quickly and efficiently as possible.
By now, he’d already gotten an idea of how the little imps moved, so it wasn’t that hard to spot them even if they tried to hide.
Technically... he could, probably, take on a small group of them instead of fighting them one by one. His health was almost full, and he knew how the goblins moved, as well as their pattern. It was definitely doable.
But as tempting as that thought was, Arthur also knew it was risky to try and push his luck like that.
He didn’t want to act stupidly. His stats had barely increased after reaching level 2, and he had no idea how many of the little gremlins he’d have to kill to reach the next level. At this point, getting injured again like he had during the last ambush would truly be a death wish.
...Unfortunately, luck didn’t seem to be on his side this time around.
Fifteen minutes ended up passing with nothing to show for it. Not a single goblin had crossed his path during this time.
The only creatures he saw were, surprisingly, the slimes. freewebnovёl.ƈom
Dozens of them.
They rolled slowly through the grass and around the tree trunks, creeping forward at a snail’s pace, heading toward the distant battlefield near the city. They left behind faint trails of gooey residue that looked like glistening breadcrumbs.
Arthur stared at one of them for a while, then sighed.
"Well... can’t be that much worse than the goblins," he thought.
He stepped forward and approached one of the gelatinous creatures.
It wobbled slightly in response and turned to him, as if it had somehow sensed his presence.
Then a system notification popped up in front of his eyes.
[Slime Level: 1 Type: Monster]
Arthur stopped in front of the slime, raised the Goblin’s Fang, and brought it down in a clean strike.
No matter what, it was still a level 1 creature, right?
...The blade sank into its gelatinous body, but not in the way he had expected. Instead of piercing through and splitting it in half, the fang seemed to slow down the deeper it went, as if he’d tried stabbing through thick jelly.
Arthur was stunned.
But the slime didn’t flinch. If anything, it absorbed the attack like it was nothing. And that wasn’t the end of it.
Its body rippled, then twisted unnaturally, wrapping itself around the fang like some kind of liquid whip.
Arthur’s eyes widened before he jerked his hand back instinctively.
He barely managed to pull the weapon free before the slime could climb up the hilt and latch onto his wrist.
Still, a cold smear of translucent muck clung to the blade’s edge, hissing faintly as it began to corrode the fang’s surface.
His right arm began to jerk around frantically, and thankfully, he shook the muck off before it could do any real damage.
"Okay... let’s forget about the slimes," Arthur muttered to himself.
He wiped the fang clean on a nearby patch of moss and turned away, readjusting his thoughts. If the goblins weren’t coming to him, then he’d just have to go find them himself.
...
He moved further into the forest, away from the paths and clearings near the city. frёewebηovel.cѳm
Somehow, the forest seemed to grow darker the deeper he went. It was as if the trees were getting taller and clamping closer together, blotting out more of the sky.
It took Arthur almost an hour of walking, cutting a winding path through the overgrown terrain, before he finally heard it.
A voice.
No, it wasn’t exactly a voice but more like a grunt. A low, guttural snarl followed by the unmistakable sound of something tapping against wood.
It was a very familiar grunt, too!
Arthur crouched low, his footsteps crawling to a halt before he slowly crept forward toward the source of the sound.
Then he saw them.
Two goblins, both larger than the ones he’d encountered before. Their frames were stockier and their skin was a darker, mottled green. They didn’t wear the ragged cloth the previous goblins had. These ones wore actual armor; crude, piecemeal scraps strapped to their shoulders and chests, stitched together from leather and bark.
Each of them also held a crude spear.
Makeshift shafts of wood with a tooth similar to his goblin’s fang latched onto their tips, held together by some kind of green vine. But Arthur could tell; they were definitely meant to be spears.
[Goblin Spear-Guard Level: 3 Type: Monster]
The system identification popped up a moment later, verifying that they weren’t normal goblins. They were some kind of guards.
Arthur’s gaze shifted behind them... and that’s when he noticed it.
