36 - Level 02

[You received 1 exp for killing a Goblin. 100/100 exp]

[Congratulations! You have moved up to level 02.]

Looking at the message, Noah felt very excited. If when the system was unlocked he had already received an incredible ability, once he discovered that when he leveled up he would receive another ability that could be as powerful as [Hell Flames], he had decided that he would do anything to reach Level 02 in this Fortress, and finally, he succeeded.

Strangely, in addition to receiving the new ability, Noah began to feel that his body had become lighter. With two small jumps to either side he really proved that, sure enough, after leveling up, his body had become more agile. It was a bizarre feeling, but it was nothing he wouldn't get used to.

Even before seeing the description of the skill, Noah could already feel and know exactly what it would do. In a fraction of a second it was as if another finger that was missing from his hand had grown again.

It was a strange feeling that Noah didn't know if he would ever get used to it, as unlocking a skill was like remembering how to ride a bike. Even though he didn't have a bike here in front of him, he still knew perfectly well what he would need to do in order for him to be able to ride well.

When awakening his second ability, Noah couldn't help wanting to test it there and then, but he knew that this was not the ideal time to do such, since after they killed the three little goblins, the strong scent of blood from the bodies would attract the rest of the goblins inside the camp, including the Boss.

In a few seconds, at least 10 goblins appeared in their field of view within the camp, not to mention the other goblins who had not entered their field of view which would probably double that number in addition to, of course, the Boss.

Looking from afar it was possible to see that the Boss was a goblin, just like the others, but unlike the goblins they killed, the Boss carried a large bow on his back in addition to two shiny metal daggers on his waist.

Looking at the daggers, Noah's eyes began to shine. The chance that a good-quality weapon would appear in a low-ranking Fortress was almost nil, but a blessed weapon was there right before his eyes... in fact, it was not just a Blessed weapon, but three, since there were two daggers and the bow which was obviously not of poor quality either.

Noah was not the only one to have his eyes filled with greed when looking at those weapons. All the Blessed ones in the group when they saw those weapons knew how fortunate a find they were, since even if nobody in the group would end up using those weapons, they could still be sold to increase the money the party would receive from this Fortress.

In addition to the large bow and two shiny daggers, the Boss goblin was also at least six inches taller than normal goblins. This meant that he was stronger, more agile, and more resilient than the monsters they had already killed. According to what Noah read on the internet, the chief goblin's skin was so thick and resistant that swords which had already lost some of their thread could not cut the monster's skin, as if it were armor made of highly resistant leather. However, this would probably not prove a problem for Jasper's daggers, since Noah had already assumed that they had been found in a Rank C Fortress.

The party's distraction about weapons and the Boss didn't last more than a second. After the quick observation, Noah immediately went on high alert again and returned to paying attention to his surroundings so that no small goblin would attack the rear without him noticing. Even though he had unlocked a new ability, Noah knew very well that using that ability now would most likely only cause problems for the group as he hadn't tested it yet - even though from what he felt, this ability would be quite useful for him in battle. However, Noah was hesitant to use it in the midst of so many Blessed Ones.

Thankfully, Noah had been on the alert, since when the boss let out a cry and the Blessed Ones looked at it trying to understand what it would do, a small goblin with a dagger had used the moment of distraction to try to kill some humans from the rear.

Noah was momentarily surprised to see that this little goblin was also wearing a dagger, but noticing how rusty it was, Noah couldn't help but be disappointed. 'Four blessed weapons in a Rank E fortress would be quite a coincidence... Wait, does this have anything to do with that wooden statue?'

Before Noah could delve further into his hypothesis, the little goblin had already approached a mage who was distractedly looking at the boss, and with the tip of the dagger pointed at her, he was ready to kill the woman. But Noah was quicker and when he noticed the goblin jumping towards the woman, he also threw himself towards her, with one hand pushing her and the other creating a jet of flames that ignited the little goblin completely.

The monster was not even able to scream; the flame was consuming so much oxygen around it that the monster fell to the ground while rolling without being able to breathe, trying to pull with its lungs any amount of air it could get. But if the shortness of breath was not enough, the flames burned him so fast that he couldn't resist and died.

The party was startled when they saw Noah throw himself and push down a mage, especially the mage who was pushed. Initially she was very angry with Noah, since if it weren't enough they were preparing to fight a Boss and several small goblins, for some reason one of the Blessed Ones that was supposed to be an ally of hers had pushed her to the ground and fell on top of her without a hint of shame.

But when she stood up and looked to the side, seeing the goblin's small body writhing in the dirt while on fire, changed her mood 180° from a seething anger against Noah to nothing more than pure gratitude for saving the her life, since she knew that if he had done nothing, the one who would be rolling on the floor in pain would have been her because of the stab she would have received.

Noah didn't even pay attention to what she was thinking and when he got up, the first thing he did was look around for other stealthed goblins. Until now, he only knew about the existence of warrior goblins, blowgun goblins and archer goblins, a goblin assassin was something completely new to him.

Even though Noah couldn't see any goblin around him, he knew that if they were to follow the pattern he had noticed where the rarer a goblin is, the smarter it is too, the chance that there would be a few more goblin assassins hidden around, just waiting for an opportunity to attack, was quite large. Since the archer goblins already had an intelligence far superior to normal goblins, the intelligence of these assassins should be only shy of the boss.

While Noah watched the surroundings, he realized that the group had already started to attack the Boss. The mages were firing spells at the monster non-stop while the archers fired arrows at an impressive rate. The warriors, as expected, had already tried their best to attract as much attention from the Boss as possible.

But Noah had a bad feeling when he saw those daggers on the Boss's waist. He imagined that the Boss's attention wouldn't be caught so easily, especially with these little assassins that had appeared. Noah's fear was that the boss would just ignore the frontline and come directly to kill the backline.

He was confident he could protect the backline from the little assassins, but having to hold a Boss from a Rank E Fortress on his own made Noah doubt whether it would be possible... at least- not without using the new skill he just acquired.

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Sunday's Extra Chapters Challenge!

[2.300 Stones = 2 Extra Chapter]

[2.500 Stones = 4 Extra Chapters]

[+500 Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]