Free Web NovelChapter 8: Group Fight
In the next hour, Arthur had already taken down six more goblins.
All of them wandering the forest alone.
All of them dead within seconds.
By now, his ambush had become so polished it was basically flawless.
He’d spot the goblin. Watch it for a bit. Confirm it was alone.
Then move fast and end it in a single strike.
It wasn’t exactly elegant, but it worked.
The ’Goblin’s Fang’ cut through the goblins’ ribs and necks like it was made for the job.
Maybe it was.
Arthur was getting better at using it, too, holding it lower and angling the edge just right. He wasn’t just using brute force anymore. He was trying to be more precise with his strikes.
To his regret, the goblins hadn’t dropped a single item during this time.
And despite killing a total of eight of them, including the one from earlier, Arthur was still stuck at Level 1.
40 EXP. That’s how much he’d gained in total.
"Just how many damn goblins do I need to kill to level up?"
He sighed and pressed his back against the base of a tree, resting for a moment.
The bleeding on his leg had slowed down after his makeshift bandage, but it hadn’t stopped completely.
With every passing second, a bit more blood left him. Not enough to kill him, probably, but enough to slowly shave off his HP.
Arthur checked his status window again.
[HP: 20/50]
He only had a third of it left.
Even though none of the last six goblins had managed to touch him, his health had still dropped down to almost a third due to the constant blood loss.
If it continued like this, Arthur assumed he’d only be able to last a couple more hours at best before it hit zero. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Alright. Time to go back, I guess. It’s not too bad for my first time, anyway." He let out a breath and looked around for a moment before he lowered the arm carrying the dagger.
At this point, it was time to go back to the city and try to exchange the ’Goblin’s Fang’ for one of those ’minor healing potions’ the shopkeeper had shown him. He didn’t know what happened to anyone who died inside the game, but considering how real this whole thing felt, Arthur really didn’t want to find out.
He walked through the trees and tall bushes as he slowly traced his steps the same way he’d come. The forest was basically a huge maze, but he’d been marching in a straight line this entire time, so finding his way out was not too difficult.
...At least, that’s what he thought.
But when people said bad luck came in droves, they didn’t say that for nothing.
Arthur had only made it a few dozen steps back when a deep rustling sound entered his ears.
Footsteps.
They weren’t loud. Just soft crunches on the forest floor, muffled by the leaves and dirt. But there were too many for it to be a single creature and too close together for them to be far off.
He stopped instantly and crouched as he took cover within the bush and waited.
One set of footsteps. Then another. Then a third one.
His fingers tightened around the [Goblin’s Fang].
A moment later, the source of the sound came into view.
Three goblins.
All of them were armed.
Two of them held crude wooden clubs, not unlike the one from earlier, and the third one, perhaps the smallest, clutched a jagged stone shard bound to a stick with vines. It looked almost like a spear.
They were clearly patrolling.
They moved in a tight little triangle as they marched between the trees, sniffing the air and hissing soft, guttural sounds to each other every few steps.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
This situation was different. frёewebηovel.cѳm
This was a group. A coordinated group of those little bastards.
And worst of all, they were headed his way.
He took a slow, deep breath. His HP was lower than he would like, but he knew he didn’t have much of a choice. There was nowhere for him to run to. The moment he left the bush, the little imps would definitely spot him.
Still, if he could avoid this fight, he would. He took a step back as he tried to retreat silently.
There was a chance the goblins wouldn’t notice him if he took cover behind the large tree behind him.
Unfortunately, the moment he turned, the bush behind him rustled a little louder than it should have.
Three sets of yellow eyes locked onto him in an instant.
And then... the screeching started.
Shrill, high-pitched, and furious screeching.
The first goblin charged at him almost immediately.
Arthur didn’t hesitate.
He gritted his teeth and threw himself sideways, rolling away from the tree just as one of the club-toting duo attacked where his shoulder was.
Dirt exploded beside him.
Arthur scrambled to his feet, ignoring the fire that flared up in his injured leg.
But the second imp was already on him, its club swinging down in a tight arc.
He ducked before stabbing the fang straight into the goblin’s side.
The imp shrieked as its kinsman’s tooth pierced right through its ribs and organs, crumpling before it even realized what had happened.
[Goblin defeated. +5 EXP.]
One of them was down.
But before that goblin even hit the ground, Arthur felt something slashing across his back.
The little spear imp!
A burning line of pain bloomed instantly across his spine, and he stumbled forward with a gasp.
[Warning! Health under 25%.]
Arthur grunted, barely catching himself on a tree trunk.
His vision blurred for a moment, and even his balance slipped.
He didn’t need a second system reminder to realize how bad that hit had been. If his HP had already dropped to 20 before this, then now... it was probably in the single digits.
He could feel it, too.
His entire body felt colder. He was lightheaded, maybe from the blood loss or maybe from the panic, but it didn’t matter.
He wasn’t fast enough to run.
And there were two of those little bastards left.
The club goblin shrieked and charged at him again, as if excited by the scent of blood. It could tell the human was wounded after its last strike.
Arthur gritted his teeth.
There was no escape. He could only stand his ground and fight them.
His eyes locked onto the charging goblin. He knew that look in its eyes. He knew how it would lunge.
So he bet it all.
He stepped into the goblin’s path just as it sprang. His leg was screaming in protest but he moved anyway... and shoved the fang straight up, catching the imp clean through the skull.
The hideous imp seemed to have realized what was going on and widened its eyes.
It was almost as if it could tell it had been duped!
In that last moment, just as it realized that the fang was about to pierce through its skull, it dropped its club and tried to claw through the hateful human’s face.
But it was too late.
No, it wasn’t even about speed. Its pattern had been so obvious, just like every other goblin’s, that Arthur didn’t even need to dodge. He simply cocked his head to the side and shoved the fang deep into its skull.
The goblin jerked once. Then it went still.
[+5 EXP.]
[Level Up! HP Restored.]
