Recovery :

[Quest completed]

[Ding...Reward Granted]

[You receive a high-level manual on the art of concealment]

[Due to your exceptional actions the skill will be directly upgraded to level 3]

Lying on the floor being soaked on the floor, I saw the notification and smiled. Finally some good news in this dungeon nightmare.

"Learning the Skill"

Knowledge welled up in my brain and my body learned it automatically, as if it had a muscle memory of the skill.

[The art of concealment at level three, allows you to hide your scent, the sound of your footsteps and your aura. You also have the ability to sneak through the shadows. Beware an attentive enemy will notice you. This ability is useful on everyone except enemies two ranks above you. Cost: 1 spirit per minute]

"What an extremely useful ability!!"

Sitting against a trunk, I crossed my legs and closed my eyes. Time passed without realizing it, an hour, two hours, my mental strength was slowly recovering.

[Mental Fortitude: 19\32]

I was about to continue my recovery when suddenly I felt the air around me change. My mind, which had slightly but sufficiently evolved my sixth sense, alerted me to an extreme danger.

Before I even thought I activated my new skill and melted into the shadow of the trunk.

A monster has arrived in the clearing, where the corpses of the goblin guards I slew earlier lay.

He was about twice the size of an ordinary goblin. Side by side, I think he's a head above me.

His entire skin as well as his eyes and hair was green in color. Glowing lines crossed his green skin, as if alive or filled with energy.

From its lower jaw protruded two huge, pointed, sharp fangs. He wore furry shorts, a long hooded cape that moved with the wind, and no shoes. His clawed and calloused feet were enough to resist the floor of this dungeon.

He looked down at the deformed bodies sprawled on the floor. He fell to his knees and cried his pain.

The red lines on his body glowed more and more and the surrounding air began to heat up.

He shouted something in his tribal language, picked up the bodies and headed back to the village.

Chef's point of view:

Sadness seized me when I saw the bodies of my guards and my patrol leader. They were a bit like my children and today death has taken them back.

"There are affronts that never devour each other, they are offered to the teeth of hateful revenge."

If I find whoever did this, I'm going to slaughter him with so much pleasure. He will regret his actions and even regret being born.

Each goblin must remain in the village until further notice. I'll go find this garbage myself.

He doesn't know it yet but he's already dead.

Back to Altaïr:

The pressure was coming down, the drops of sweat soaked my body and my heart was racing.

Luckily my new skill made it possible to hide this from the outside world otherwise I would be dead meat right now.

"How am I going to beat this monster? He's at least two ranks above mine"

First step it would be good that I fully recover. I was severely drained of my physical and mental strength.

A day passed in the dungeon world.

I approached the village, I have been watching it for several hours to see if the chief was inside or not.

It would seem not. We will have to wait until the night he sleeps, to attempt an assassination. With [the art of dissimulation], my presence will be undetectable. This is my only solution and my best chance.

Finally, from my hiding place at the top of a tree, I saw him go through the village gate, which closed behind him. He didn't seem in a good mood. Understandable since he didn't find me despite his superior strength.

A few more hours to wait and the brightness inside the dungeon dropped. One as on Earth, a "moon" shone in the "sky". The goblin villa was lit by many torches all over the village. Their flames dance to the rhythm of the breeze.

I snuck up to a wooden palisade while the round goblin was keeping watch on the other side of the village.

My mind opened and a mental thread snagged the top of the palisade. Practicing reverse telekinesis, my body flew up to land on the other side smoothly.

From there [the art of dissimulation] was activated. I had to hurry before my mental strength ran out.

I hid in the shade of the huts, like a ghost I crossed the village until I arrived in front of the chief's.

I discreetly pushed the sort of sheet that served as the front door and entered it.

The chief seated on his throne, his head resting on his elbow, had his eyes closed.

His spear was hanging on the wall. I stretched a mental thread to it, picked it up without a sound. She slowly levitated around the room.

The spear blade pointing towards him, I charged the power of my mind and a blow released her. Like a cannonball, the spear shot towards the goblin leader.

A smoke mist was created due to the spear's phenomenal impact which even destroyed the wall behind. I disabled my camouflage skill and watched the smoke clear.

"This should be fixed"

Yet when the smoke cleared the scenario I expected was not at all the one that presented itself before my eyes.

The spear hadn't pierced the goblin leader but rather the bone throne on which he sat. Then, the leader had, out of pure survival reflexes, turned his head slightly at the right moment, dodging the spear at the same time. On his cheek however, a thin cut had formed.

Our gazes met and her green eyes stared at me for the first time. Hate then crossed his eyes and he stood up.

The last fight had begun.

Without further ado his body propelled itself towards me at breakneck speed. He cocked his fist and I only had time to cross my arms in front of me before receiving the blow.

It was so powerful to me that my forearm bones almost broke on the spot. My body flew up and hit the wall of the cabin.

"What power"

I didn't even have time to catch my breath before he continued his blows.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

With each of his strikes on my body, an enormous sound resounded in the village. The goblins in the other cabins have woken up.

My bones were shattered and my arms went down, unable to hold them. One of his punches then landed me right in the stomach and I vomited a stream of blood.

I fell to my knees in front of him. His gaze turned contemptuous as he lowered his head to look at me.

Without further ado, he lifted his leg and a kick made me see stars.

Again leaning against one of the walls, on the verge of unconsciousness, I heard a voice

"Breathe, breathe. Inhale your fears, face them! To overcome fear you must melt into it, you must become the most awful of thoughts. Feel the terror cloud your senses, feel its power, devour you, control you. you in the dark."

My eyes shone with their silver luster before taking on a red hue. I then entered a state of consciousness.

My body was shattered but my spirit was unleashed.

It fanned out like a bubble around me as the goblin charged to finish me off.

As his fist was about to land on me, the invisible bubble formed by my mind stopped him. Her fist sank into it but she held on and like a rubber band stretched to the maximum the punch was returned with double the power.

The principle of this bubble was to absorb the force of the adversary and to send him back more powerful thanks to the "elastic" that he himself stretched.

Its only limitation was that if the "rubber band" of the bubble could not withstand the power of the opponent then the backlash I would suffer would be enough to render me unable to fight with the spirit for several hours.

[Ding..You figured out the [flexible shield] ability yourself]

[Rewards all your stats +2]

The increase in my stats did my broken body and tired mind a world of good.

The goblin's blow was therefore returned with double its power, it was so powerful that the goblin's shoulder was completely dislocated.

He let out a throaty cry and pain twisted his face. He looked at me with palpable hatred as he held her shoulder.

The red lines on her body flashed and the hand holding her shoulder rose. He then recited sentences in a strange language.

A fireball similar to my father's but much more powerful formed in front of his palm.

My arms and ribs shattered, I am unable to move my body quickly enough to dodge the ball of fire coming at me.

I deployed [flexible shield] and put all my remaining mental strength into it.

That is to say around seventeen points since the increase due to the reward.

The crackling fireball of power was stopped inches away from me by my shield which was warped to its limit.

The fireball progressed further inch by inch, my mental shield began to crack and when I felt my skin begin to burn, it finally stopped.

The goblin seemed to give a lot of his energy to advance this one but unfortunately for him, magic was not his specialty and since Altaïr's mental shield was the counter against physical attacks, he was forced to use the magic.

A smirk crossed my face.

"Return to Sender"

And the fireball went back where it came from with twice the speed power.

The goblin leader used all of his power to regain control but he only managed to slow his speed slightly.

She hit him in the heart and the fire spread quickly. Death by fire is the most painful death there is.

He screamed and I felt a little pity deep in my heart but it was either him or me.

Eventually his body fell to the ground, originally a beautiful green color, it was now completely charred. Only his eyes remained green and he stared at me with a hatred so deep that if the look could kill I would have died countless times.

[Ding..You have killed the Higher Apprentice Level Goblin Leader. +150 XP]

[Congratulations your achievements exceeded expectations, calculations of new rewards]

[You learn the skill [Devourer]]

[Devourer: You are able to absorb the souls of the dead to strengthen yourself. Condition: death must be less than an hour]

"Great another source of income for my stats!!! With this it will be much easier to get strong."

Raising his head, a red symbol in the shape of a skull floated above the corpse of the goblin leader. I opened my mind and tied a mental thread.

At once :

[Do you want to absorb the goblin leader's soul?]

[Yes No]

"YES"

[+20 strength, +5 constitution, 10 agility]

My body literally transformed. My muscles became hard yet elastic, firm yet supple all over my body. I also felt much lighter.

I heard a noise behind me and saw about thirty goblins there armed with a spear or a club looking at me and the charred body of their leader on the ground.

It's time to test the new power of my body. One step forward and I was in front of the first, he clubbed me up and down. The club was so slow to me, unable to pose a real threat.

I avoided it and put a flurry of three successive punches.

For a normal goblin whose constitution and strength is not high it was too much. His head was torn from his body.

What ensued was a one-sided massacre. I manipulated several clubs at the same time with my mind as I continued the head-pulling and no goblin managed to touch me even once.

The last headless body fell to the ground. My fist dropped, green blood dripping from it.

Skull symbols floated everywhere.

"Absorb 'Em All"

[Ding... +5 strength, +4 agility, +2 stamina]

"That's all??? out of thirty goblin bodies??"

[Goblins are way too weak]

My silver eyes lost their glow from the excitement of the fight and a new system notification sounded:

[Dungeon is over, return to your home world]