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Dust lifted into the air as Hiroshi landed onto the ground. The green skins noticed him.
Before any of them could even react, he had vanished and appeared right in front of one of them.
One of them let out a small grunt, almost as if saying “huh”.
Long claws sank into its chest, blood spurting out.
“Lesser Goblin Defeated” the system's voice came on.
That's one out of… a lot.
Better not stop.
Let's try a new trick.
Hiroshi's body turned and locked onto another goblin.
“Zero distance!”
He vanished, appearing in front of another goblin.
HP: 100/150
As he appeared, he felt his vision pulse.
Here goes nothing!
After opening his mouth, he sank his two long fangs into the next goblin's neck furiously, crunching down on it with force.
Vampire drain!
A sudden rush of vitality filled his body. His health was restoring rapidly.
It's working… although…
He let go of the goblin, kicking it off him. He almost barfed from the blood he took in.
“Lesser Goblin Defeated,” It announced.
It doesn't taste very good… What matters is that I'm alive and that this skill works.
Hordes of goblins slowly washed in, an almost never-ending sea of greenskins.
His ears twitched, the swooshing sound of a goblin's weapon was heard by him.
I can hear you, you know!
He spun around rapidly, swinging his arm wide with claws out, cutting its head clean off before it could land the hit. The goblin let go of its weapon.
Hiroshi jumped into the air spinning a few times sideways and kicked the airborne weapon, blasting it into another greenskin’s face.
A loud explosion followed.
It tumbled backwards as its HP drained to zero. Other goblins nearby were flung away from the impact.
“Lesser Goblin Defeated.” The system repeated twice.
“Level up. Please choose two skills.”
Great, I levelled up. Let's see if there's some offensive skills that will help me deal with this.
He hopped back a few times, creating distance between him and them.
“Status Open,” he demanded.
The window popped up.
HP: 200/200
Level: 4
Choose skills?
He tapped the choose skills button and quickly scrolled through what's available.
Come on, something good…
Another goblin jumped into the air with its club raised overhead.
Shit—
Leaping back once more, the goblin's brutal smash connected with the ground, leaving a tiny crater where it struck, dust kicking into the air.
That must've been its brutal strike skill. It won't kill me, but it'll definitely hurt.
His eyes turned back to the window, quickly swiping until he stopped.
Turn?
The system came on.
“Turn.”
“Allows the user to turn a creature or humanoid equal to or below the user's level into a servant. The ability also costs the user 40% of their HP. Choose Turn?”
That's interesting. That should be a big help dealing with these numbers, but how do I use it?
“Yes.” He ordered.
The skill appeared in his skill list.
Let's keep the status open to monitor my health. I need to play this smartly.
A goblin charged at him from the side, croaking out its battle cry.
Hiroshi turned to face it, as it sprinted at him.
How does it work… do I bite?
The goblin swung wide at him, missing as Hiroshi leaned backwards.
He then lunged forward and caught the goblin’s other arm in his teeth.
Turn!
Nothing happened.
Hiroshi disengaged, leaping back a few paces.
It didn't work… h—
A sudden thump connected with his back, HP dropping a little.
Why you!
He turned around while swinging his arms, grazing the goblin's chest with his nails.
Why don't you just turn already!
The goblin twitched for a second and then a red light washed over him for a moment. It swung around and leaped on top of another goblin, bashing its head repeatedly with a rock until it went still.
“Lesser Goblin Defeated,” the system announced.
Huh, so I just need to scratch it.
A wide grin formed on his face.
Turn goblin, use zero distance to close in on them, and drain them occasionally to keep healthy. I think I could beat them all doing this.
“Interesting!” he roared, grinning widely.
He began his slaughter. A goblin began its swing at Hiroshi, the next blink he was gone. Dust kicked up as he appeared in front of another goblin.
Throwing out his hand, he scraped its body to activate his skill. It joined his side, fighting other goblins. With another blink, he appeared at another goblin's face, quickly biting its neck.
His HP restored back to full.
A ball of fire flew past his face amidst his slaughter.
What the—
A goblin taller than the rest stood there with a crooked stick, carving strange symbols into the air.
Is that a…
A ball of fire suddenly manifested and roared toward him again.
Instinctively he grabbed a nearby goblin by its head and launched it in front of him. The goblin screamed out as it was set ablaze.
“Ghnhrhh?“ The cloaked goblin sounded puzzled.
Hiroshi was gone from where he was.
“GHRR?!” it croaked out once more as it turned around after hearing another goblin squeal.
Before it could react, Hiroshi's claws already scraped along its arm.
The hooded goblin pulsed a red color once.
It turned and launched more fireballs, this time at its old comrades.
As I thought, it would fight my enemies once it’s been turned.
Hiroshi dashed back into the fray, annihilating the goblins with ease now.
After two hours of fighting, the entire goblin village was wiped out. Goblins lay on the floor in pools of blood, some stacked upon each other, some on the roofs of their small huts. Some goblins were cut in half, while others lay on top of each other with their weapons jabbed in each other. Hiroshi stood there amidst them all, covered in blood, hunched over panting.
Phewwww that took a while. Are they the rabbits of this world?
“Status.”
The window popped open before him.
I've gained quite a few levels.
HP: 850/850
MP: 0/100
Level: 11
Age: 40
Class: Vampire
Title: Underdog
Skills: Vampire Claws lv 2, Inspect Status lv 1, Lesser Sneak lv 1, Zero Distance lv 2, Turn lv 2.
A few skills levelled up as well. Neat.
He nodded in approval as he closed the status.
Let's check out these huts, maybe they have something useful.
Hiroshi searched the huts but found mainly rocks and strange figures made of wood, as if they were some sort of voodoo symbols. He went inside the last house, that was slightly bigger than the rest.
I knew it! They need to eat as well.
Jackpot. Meat lay scattered on their crude wooden shelves, some raw, some cooked from long ago.
That's too much to eat or carry by myself, so I'll just take the biggest piece and eat it on the way.
He looked around and spotted a giant hunk of meat on a bone; it looked recently cooked. Perhaps it was a boar's leg?
He sank his fangs into the meat, ripping it apart like a hungry wolf.
Mhmmmm, this is pure bliss! What is this, chicken? Wait… do chickens even exist in this world? Whatever, it's good.
He munched happily until the bone was left.
After visually checking that everything was cleared, it was time to go. A tall hill was before him with crude stone steps carved out, leading to a gigantic metal door.
Hiroshi stopped before it, staring up at its grandness.
This door is freaking huge! How did it get here?!
He looked closer, it was slightly opened.
Hmph, figures. The goblins couldn't have opened it themselves… right?
Carefully, Hiroshi got closer and looked down back onto the chaos, putting his hands together with a moment of silence.
Thank you goblins for the levels!
He walked through the door, then froze.
A gigantic, hulking goblin sat upon a stone carved throne with a massive, spiked club resting against the wall next to it. It stared down at Hiroshi from the end of the long corridor with its glowing red eyes. Torches on the walls lit up the place, bones scattered all around.
He must be their boss…
“Status Inspect.”
Goblin King.
Level: 49
HP: 2000/2000
MP: 100/100
Skills: ???, ???, ???, ???
The skills… they're all question marks?! Is it because the status inspect is too low?
And two thousand hp. This is bad news.
The giant goblin slowly stood up, grabbing its spiked bat.
Shit… my body.
Hiroshi's body trembled while blood trickled down his arm, dropping to the floor.
He looked up as the hulking goblin towered him.
I must fight this thing?
Between the bear and this guy, I'd choose the bear.
The muscular Goblin King took a huge breath and let out a roar so loud it made Hiroshi cover his ears.
So… loud…
It lifted its leg and stomped down hard, crashing down into the rock below, sending out a huge shockwave. The sheer force of the shockwave sent Hiroshi flying away as rock and bone alike flew past his body, some grazing by. A loud clank followed as his body smashed into the Iron door behind him, falling to the floor.
He coughed, wheezing.
IT’S POWERFU—
As he looked up, the goblin was already in front of him mid-swing.
So fast!!
Hiroshi's arms crossed in front of him, attempting to shield himself.
The club dug into the rock floor and dragged across, blasting Hiroshi away from the entrance of the king's cave.
A huge cloud of dust kicked up, with Hiroshi flying through the air for several seconds, his HP dropped significantly.
His vision blurred as he crashed into the stone wall and fell to the ground.
For several seconds everything shook as the goblin landed near the stairs, growling.
Hiroshi got up on his knees, looking up, he saw two of them, fading in and out. A ringing sound drowned out everything else.
I can't take another one of those hits…
Leaning over, the Goblin King scooped up a giant rock into its hand and launched it towards Hiroshi.
Gotta move… now!
Stumbling back to his feet, he began to run to the side, as the giant boulder slammed into the ground, shattering.
Hiroshi dashed along the wall, running behind the wooden huts. Another rock flew straight through a hut in front of him like it was not there and exploded once it hit the wall, rocks and wood flying everywhere, dust kicked up.
The goblin squinted, observing the dust where Hiroshi had been as he began to turn. Then Hiroshi jumped out of the dust. As the goblin blinked, suddenly, Hiroshi was right in front of him.
However, the goblin's instincts were quick. He began to swing his arm toward the vampire.
Too slow!
Hiroshi grabbed its arm mid-air and re-adjusted himself, tossing himself toward the goblin’s thick neck. Sharp fangs dug into his neck; blood began to squirt out from the bite.
Hiroshi's HP was full again.
Suddenly, the goblin roared out in pain and grabbed Hiroshi. He brought the vampire close to his face. Hiroshi was grinning.
The goblin's eyes teared up blood as it began to twitch, suddenly unable to move. Its HP began to drain slowly.
How do you like that?
A little something I picked up earlier; Paralysis and Poison claws. It works well together.
Hiroshi wiggled free from its clasp, with the goblin still frozen.
While it was under paralysis, Hiroshi got behind and slashed his claws low, then something snapped at the back of its ankle, its thick tendon giving way like a severed cable.
The monster's leg folded instantly beneath it, crashing down to its knees before it even understood it had fallen.
It's working! I can do this!
The monster's health was slightly less than half now.
Hiroshi leaped back a pace as the paralysis wore off, observing the goblin panting, using its club to help it balance.
The monster sucked the air around it into its lungs and let out a roar once more, this time, its body flashed a deep crimson color for a second. Everything began to shake.
What's it doing!?
Rocks suddenly began to fall from above, crashing into the ground. Hiroshi leaped side to side dodging them.
It's coming down… Is it trying to take me out with it!?
I need to end this quick.
Its health began climbing rapidly again and after a few moments it slowly got back to its feet.
ITS REGENERATING!?
This is bad. In this state, I won't be able to deal enough damage fast enough to kill it…
The rocks from the ceiling continued to fall, some hitting the hulking monster's body, but whatever damage they did was healed away in a moment.
Heh, this isn't going to be easy.
A drop of sweat trickled down Hiroshi's forehead, he didn't realize it, but he was smiling.