Lv. 12 - Reckless Battle

"Make sure you hit it."

"Hey, you say it like it's easy, I don't even know where to aim."

"Huh, didn't you say you're the greatest Ranger player?"

"B-but..."

Gill could only click his tongue, unable to reply. For a moment his gaze lingered on the bow he was holding, then turned to Chiba and the other rogues who were amid having to deal with the Goblin General.

"Alright, alright…, I'll do it. But, at least give me a signal."

"Good," Zen replied curtly, with a grin on his face.

….

As Zen's explanation, Gill started pulling the strings on his bow with several arrows hooked, and positioned the bow towards the sky.

With a slow, trembling breath, he still focused on the area where Zen was sneaking.

"Hah… focus… you can do it Gill, you can definitely hit it. Because you… are the greatest..."

[Rain Arrow]

….

"Hoo! That's an impressive number of arrows."

From Zen's side, seen from Gill's direction came a barrage of arrows that soared through the sky.

Some arrows hit the barrel and shattered it, then the rest shot into the haystack.

The sound of hay scraping sounded faintly in Zen's ears, and right from behind the haystack, his two eyes watched something jump out.

A normal sized goblin with a body covered in tattoos of certain symbols and carrying a magic wand.

•Goblin Shaman•

Normal | ️️☆️️☆️

Lv. 10

HP : 1,500 | 1,500

When he realized there was a potion in the goblin's hand, Zen didn't stand still, he just didn't want something out of his control to happen and more complicated things to come up.

[Soul Armament]

[Ghost Step]

Grab!

"Hey, don't rush~" said Zen who grabbed the goblin's neck from behind.

"Ghiiiik! Who are you?! Human?! Get your damn hands off!"

•Invisible potion II•

Effect: Makes the user invisible for 10 minutes, but the effect will be lost if the user is directly attacked.

"Hmm~ so that's how it is..." Zen muttered when he saw the potion the Goblin Shaman was holding.

Slash!

"GHIIIK!"

With no hesitation, Zen instantly cut off the arm with the potion in his hand.

Slash!

Followed by the cutting of the other arm, this is of course, to prevent the Goblin Shaman from being able to use his magic wand.

"GHIIIK-"

"Ah damn, you're too loud," said Zen, who tightened his grip, making it harder for the goblin to breathe and make a sound.

However, Zen didn't realize that the Goblin Shaman's scream got the Goblin General's attention.

Chiba and the other two rogues of course tried to stop the Goblin General by using their chain weapons, but failed due to the vast difference in strength.

Zen was still relaxed when he saw the Goblin General running wildly towards him.

"Gosh~ this is getting more and more tense," he said in a hushed voice, excitement going up.

"Ghii~"

Looking at the Goblin Shaman who was already looking limp from the loss of a lot of blood, Zen quickly ended it with a single slash to the head.

Slash!

Now, his attention had turned to a bigger target.

"I guess I need to add a little more to my stat points."

Zen | Human

Lv. 10

Titles: 4

Reputation: 500

Class: Revenant

______

HP: 3,500

MP: 475

STR: 35

VIT: 30

INT: 25

DEX: 25

Stats Points: 15

Class bonus: +2 STR, +1 VIT, +1 INT, +2 DEX per level increase.

When the hologram of the status board opened, Zen's fingers wasted no time pressing something.

STR: 35 → 45

VIT: 30

INT: 25

DEX: 25 → 30

"I think this should be enough–"

"ZEN! WATCH OUT!"

Shocked by Chiba's shout, Zen immediately swept his gaze towards the source of the sound. But beyond Zen's expectation, from his eyes he could see a large ax flying at high speed.

"Shit, it's moving too fast," Zen said quietly.

Zen realized that the distance between himself and the ax had made dodging options impossible.

For a moment, Zen felt that everything went slow. Maybe he regretted playing too much, taking his opponent lightly.

Come to think of it, this was the second time Zen was on the verge of death. This time, maybe he really was.

"No, there's still a chance..."

Clang!

Woosh

In the last seconds, when the ax reached a few meters from Zen's head, his body instinctively drew his Katana and brushed the ax head off.

Zen's eyes went wide when he saw how the sword he was holding with both hands bounced as he tried to ward it off.

He couldn't help but think, even after his STR stats had been increased, his weapons and hands were still overwhelmed by the Goblin General's throwing axes.

"M-my hands are shaking? I guess I underestimated it too much—"

Once again, Zen was shocked by the Goblin General, whose fist this time was flying.

"This is absolutely impossible–"

[Wraith Aura]

SMASH!

"UGH!!!"

Woosh!

With just one hit, Zen was thrown through several walls of the villagers' houses.

Chiba, seeing the Goblin General who was still not aware of his whereabouts and the other two rogues took action.

Starting with Chiba who drew his sword right at the nape of the Goblin General's neck, but unexpectedly the sword could be easily held with his bare hands.

Realizing that on either side of him there were two other figures who were about to attack, Chiba was blown away just like that.

The attacks from the two rogues could also be easily resisted, even worse, they had already entered the grip of the Goblin General.

"N-no… not them…."

Seeing his comrade's condition, Chiba suddenly had a feeling that they would end up not being saved.

He also thought of various ways, and in the end there was nothing else he could do but head straight for them.

But... will that save them? Or does it just make things worse? The first time he encountered a situation that was beyond his control, Chiba could only feel annoyed with himself.

"Shit, again… I let my comrades die. Even if it's just a game, but… still it irritates me," Chiba muttered.

Shunks!

"GROAAAA!!"

The moment the Goblin General screamed in pain, all the voices there fell silent.

The screams made them wonder what had happened? Until they saw an arrow that had lodged right in the Goblin General's left eye.

"Haha! Finally! Damn, I even had to come down here to aim at his eyes."

Looking at the source of the sound, Chiba saw Gill standing from where the arrow had come before.

"Gill? What are you doing?"

"Oh, aiming for that gigantic creature is too difficult since it's quite agile on its own, so I got close."

"That's not- what are you doing?! The monster's Aggro must've focused on you, RUN!"

"Eh?"

The Goblin General's was now heading straight for Gill. Gill immediately panicked and tried to move from his position, but once again, something surprising happened.

Thwack!

"GROAAAA!!!"

"It's yours isn't it? I thought you lost it."

This time everyone there dropped their jaws. A great axe had been embedded right into the Goblin General's back. The culprit was certain, who else but Zen?

HP: 3,500 → 2,178

"Shit, my body hurts.. It seems like everything drained a lot of my stamina," Zen mumbled, then turned to the spectators, "You two, move! Tie him up!"

The two rogues who had remained silent jumped from the shock by Zen's shout. They swiftly took out their rope-dart weapons and wrapped it around the Goblin General.

Feeling familiar with the situation that befell him, the Goblin General tried to escape.

"Hey-hey, why are you in a hurry?"

"Grrrr! HUMANS!!"

Before the Goblin General could move his legs, Zen had already kicked one of the backs of his knees and lost his balance. Arrows flashed past, hitting the other Goblin General's leg.

Seeing an opportunity, Zen thought of something. Without hesitation, he climbed onto the Goblin General's back and plunged his Katana in.

"Graaaah!"

When he reached the top, he slammed open the Goblin General's mouth, "Chiba! Feed him with fireworks!"

Chiba stared back with his mouth open, while Gill handed him a stack of items.

"Will this really work…?" Chiba wondered.

"Come on, Zen's a screw loose," said Gill who seemed to know what was in Chiba's mind, "but he's always right."

After that, Chiba disappeared from his position, darting towards where Zen was. With little movement, he went straight and stuffed an ignited dynamite into the deepest part of the Goblin General's mouth.

"Good, now scram!"

At Zen's command, everyone there ran away.

BOOM!

A plume of smoke covered the area for a moment, and when it subsided, the Goblin General's chest to stomach had been crushed.

"I'll admit, your idea is weird," Chiba said.

"But effective," Zen replied.

The two stared at each other for a moment and laughed together.

….

The goblin army raid ended successfully. Wait, what about the rest of the goblin army that the city soldiers and other players are facing?

Of course, they were all torn apart when Zen purposely threw their leader's head in the middle of the battle that ensued.

Then, the city soldiers and players freely hunted down the runaway goblins.

Then what about Zen? What about him? The reward for killing the Boss Monster has been taken by Chiba, is he satisfied with just the reward of defeating the goblin army?

» Event Quest: Goblin Extermination «

Successfully eradicating all the goblins, the villagers of Balle have been saved, Quest Complete.

Goblins Killed: 050/???

- Rewards: Zist, Exp and Reputation

[ Killed 50 goblins, got 50 silver Zist ]

[ Exp +++ ]

[ Reputation +100 ]

[ You have Leveled up - 10 » 11 ]

Of course not, he wouldn't be satisfied with just a few silver Zist coins. He gave up Boss's last hit because he had found something more interesting.

"This skill book... to think that a Goblin Shaman would bring something this interesting."

"Oi Zen! What are you doing alone there?!"

Hearing a familiar voice calling out to him, Zen immediately turned his attention. What he found was Gill and Chiba, of course without hesitation Zen stepped towards them.

"Looks like you guys have escaped the mass attention, huh?"

"Tch, you think it's whose fault this suddenly disappeared? You know, Chiba and I are having a hard time. We have to face the Lord of this city, chat with Captain Gord, take care of the players that come our way, and not to mention there are players who are trying to aim for Chiba's money."

"Ahahaha– sorry, I don't really like getting attention, at least for now."

"Right now, hmm..."

Seeing Chiba's somewhat suspicious reaction Zen of course couldn't help but emphasize his answer.

"All right, now tell me what business you guys have in meeting me."

Chiba and Gill glanced at each other for a moment, then continued with Gill who raised his voice.

"Chiba and I are planning on starting a guild, and we want to recruit you, are you interested?"

"A guild, huh... I don't think so."

"Eh? That was fast! Are you sure?" Gill asked for sure.

"Yup, I'm not interested in being with a group for now."

"Then what's your goal after this?" This time it was Chiba who asked.

"My goal? Maybe… there," said Zen, pointing in a direction.

The other two followed the direction Zen pointed, and there was a gigantic pillar that reached its height through the sky.

"That tower? Really? Are you sure, Zen?"

"Yup, I'm a little curious about what's in it."

"The tower… Well, with your current abilities, it's time for you to go there."

"Isn't it time for you guys too? Chiba, and of course you too, Gill."

"No, I'm not ready."

"Hoo~ I guess everyone has their own standards."

Zen and Chiba stared at each other intensely. Gill, who felt the surrounding atmosphere was getting a little strange, lightened the mood.

"Oh yeah, Chiba said that he wanted to treat us from the previous Boss's results."

"Really?"

"Oh, that's right. I was planning on treating you and the others. Looks like they've arrived at the gathering place as well."

"Then let's go!"

Leading the way excitedly, like a child, Chiba and Zen ended up laughing together when they saw Gill's antics.