Game of the Universe: Zenith

Chapter 6: Goblin

It didn’t take long for Arthur to find the nearest city gate.

The east gate stood just a few dozen meters from the main square where he and the other people had first arrived.

So Arthur stepped through it and into the open expanse beyond the settlement.

The path ahead sloped gently downward, revealing a sweeping view of the plains below. The terrain was wide and uneven, a vast green field with scattered boulders, broken tree stumps, and narrow trails.

And beyond that was a thick green forest that stretched as far as the eye could see.

But the first thing that hit Arthur wasn’t the scenery.

It was the noise.

Shouting, screaming, and the occasional sharp crack that might have been a piece of wood or a person’s bones snapping.

...

The scene outside the city was complete chaos.

Small groups of players were scattered across the grassland, fighting with anything they could get their hands on. Some held clubs or crude wooden swords, while others gripped tree branches, broken fence posts, and even rocks.

Arthur stood there for a moment, watching everything unfold.

Off to one side, he saw a group of four people closing in on a short, hunched creature with mottled green skin and a crooked spine.

It was a goblin. He could tell that much instantly.

The thing clutched a small wooden club in its knobby hands, its leery yellow eyes darting from one attacker to another. The four players had formed a loose circle, trying to cut off its paths of retreat.

They moved in as one, tightening the circle with their weapons raised.

But just before they could pounce on it, the grass behind the goblin exploded. More goblins burst out from the shrouds behind it, six, maybe seven, howling and shrieking as they slammed into the humans.

Arthur’s eyes widened as the ambush unfolded, and in a matter of seconds, the hunters had already become the hunted.

One player was pulled down almost immediately, screaming as a pair of goblins clawed at his legs. Another one tried to run, but he was tackled as another goblin jumped on his back before sinking its pointy teeth into his nape.

The battle was over before it even started.

Arthur tore his gaze away, a bit unsettled.

A few paces further away, he saw something stranger.

Three people were surrounding what looked like a blob of translucent green jelly. A slime.

The creature just sat there, wobbling slightly, while the players attacked it with long, forked branches they must have torn from a nearby tree. Each strike landed with a wet slap, but the slime didn’t seem to care for them. It just inched forward. Slowly. As if it couldn’t even feel the strikes from the wooden branches.

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Arthur let out a breath. freewebnøvel.com

This place was a battlefield.

He stayed near the edge of the slope for a while, taking everything in. There were hundreds, no, thousands of players scattered across the plains before the city, and they were all either fighting slimes or the small green goblins.

And they were dying.

Some of them were winning, but most of them clearly weren’t.

In less than a minute, he’d already seen more than a dozen people dying, all of them turning into motes of light and disappearing from the battlefield.

He was considering his options, too. He could try his luck here.

He could throw himself into the chaos just like those guys in front of him and hope for the best.

But Arthur didn’t like the odds of that. He didn’t like the noise. And he definitely didn’t like the way goblins kept popping up from nowhere.

No. He stepped off the main path and began skirting around the edge of the crowd, moving across the battlefield slowly.

He’d already seen a few goblins ambushing anyone who approached the tall grass, so he was especially wary of places he couldn’t see through.

The deeper he moved, the quieter things became. The shouting faded as he got closer to the forest.

He passed the last of the fighting group of players and slipped between two tall trees as he stepped under the cool shade of the canopy.

...

The ground around him was soft with fallen leaves.

Arthur slowed his pace and kept his eyes peeled. He wasn’t looking for monsters... at least, not yet.

He was looking for a stick. A rock. Or anything he could use to fight.

The forest around him stretched in every direction, silent except for the occasional rustle of leaves above his head.

In the end, he didn’t find a weapon.

But he found something else.

A short, hunched figure stepped into view ahead of him, emerging from behind a wide tree trunk.

It was a goblin!

Arthur was already crouching behind a thick bush when the creature came into view.

It looked just like the others: sickly green skin, long pointed ears, and narrow limbs. It was no taller than four feet, and held a wooden club loosely in one of its clawed hands. Its yellow eyes scanned the trees ahead, darting left and right nervously.

It didn’t look injured. But it definitely looked alone.

[Goblin.

Level 1.

Type: Monster.]

Arthur stared at it for a while before a system message flashed across his eyes.

He hadn’t summoned his status window, but as soon as the goblin got close to him, the system seemed to identify it.

"Level 1, huh.." Arthur thought to himself.

He didn’t make a move. He just watched the creature in silence for a while.

No other goblins stepped out from the bushes around it, nor did any sounds come from the trees nearby.

Arthur had seen how a whole group had sprouted from some nearby bushes earlier when those four people tried to ambush a lone goblin.

But still... this one really seemed to be on its own.

Arthur considered his options for a moment, his eyes calmly fixated on the short green monster.

He could stay quiet and let it walk past. He didn’t really have to fight right now.

He could probably look for a weapon first.

But this was clearly the best shot he’d get. There was no guarantee the next goblin he saw would be alone.

He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. For a moment, even his heartbeat seemed to slow down, matching the world around him.

Then... Arthur moved.

The creature was only five meters away from him, about to enter one of the nearby bushes, when Arthur launched himself forward.

He slammed into the creature’s back, tackling it to the ground with all his weight. The monster shrieked in shock as they hit the dirt together, flailing wildly beneath him.

Arthur gritted his teeth and drove his knees into its shoulders, pinning it down. Almost immediately, one of his hands reached out for the club it was holding and wrenched it free.

The goblin hissed in fury, its claws scraping at the forest floor.

And then, with a sudden, almost unnatural flexibility, its whole body twisted beneath him like a snake.

Its mouth snapped open, revealing its sharp, pointy rows of teeth, as it lunged for his arm.

Arthur’s eyes widened, but he jerked himself back just in time, as the goblin’s teeth closed with a sickening click where his wrist had just been.

He rolled sideways, scrambled to his feet, and gripped the wooden club with both hands.

The goblin snarled and jumped up, too, this time staring at him with clear hatred.

Its lips curled back, revealing its jagged yellow teeth before it let out a loud, shrill cry.

Then, it lunged at him.

And it was fast!

Arthur gripped the club tightly and swung it almost on instinct. The wooden weapon cut through the air in a wide arc.

The goblin was even faster than he’d expected.

Still, the club somehow connected with the creature’s shoulder, knocking it off-course mid-jump.

The goblin hit the ground and tumbled through the dirt like a ragdoll before coming to a halt a few meters away. It landed awkwardly on its palms and knees before slowly raising its head. A low hiss escaped its throat as it propped itself up, its yellow eyes locking onto the hateful human.

Then, it began to circle him warily.

Arthur kept his eyes locked onto the monster, too, both of his hands tight around the club. He adjusted his stance and took a deep breath. The goblin’s steps were measured now. Its yellow eyes were clearly watching his hands this time, wary of the club.

The creature wasn’t dumb. Just aggressive.

Arthur could feel the adrenaline in his body spiking. His heart was beating wildly now, to the point where he could almost hear his own heartbeat.

But he knew he couldn’t wait out this impasse. The longer this situation dragged on, the more likely it was that another goblin would show up. A goblin, a slime, or maybe even something else.

He knew he had to end this... so he moved first.

He took a step forward, raised the club and swung it sideways with all of his strength, aiming for the goblin’s head.

He wanted to take this thing out in one blow.

...But the goblin seemed to have expected this. It wasn’t going to fall for the same move twice.

It shrieked and bent down, almost hugging the ground as it dodged his attack. It didn’t move like a creature with bones, but more like a snake.

Then, before Arthur could recover, it surged forward and sank its teeth deep into his leg.

[Warning! Health under 75%]

Arthur felt a surge of pain as the goblin’s teeth sank deep into his thigh, followed by another status notification.

But he barely had time to read through the glaringly blinking words. Right now, all he could focus on was the beast biting him.

The pain felt real. Too real, in fact. It really felt as if something was chomping down on his leg and was trying to tear it apart.

For a moment, he nearly lost his footing, too.

And yet, despite the pain, he found himself calmer than he should be.

He didn’t fall down. He didn’t even step back.

He just grabbed the wooden club... and brought it down hard!

The blow landed cleanly on the goblin’s temple, followed by a sickening crack. The creature shrieked and finally let go with its mouth, rolling across the dirt in a heap of limbs and snarls.

It landed on its side, panting hard, blood still dripping from its misshapen mouth.

And then... it smiled at him.

Arthur saw it; That glint of satisfaction in its slanted yellow eyes. It licked its lips, as if savoring the taste of his blood.

"Alright, little bastard," Arthur muttered with a grin of his own. He shifted his weight and dragged his injured leg forward, as if showing it to the goblin. Blood had already soaked his pants, but he didn’t move. He just lifted the club and said slowly,

"Have another bite if you can."