Goblins

A spear-wielding goblin and a sword-wielding goblin patrolled through a clearing in the dense forest around them together, when they suddenly heard a rustling noise from behind them.

They both growled and spun around only to see a severed goblin head rolling on the ground. The goblins shrieked in alarm before raising their weapons and slowly approaching the head of their dead comrade.

The sword-wielding goblin poked the head with its blade, before bending down to inspect the head. But suddenly, without any warning, the goblin standing beside it crumpled to the ground with its head rolling off its neck and its weapon clattering to the floor.

"This {Enhance Sharpness} sure is useful, and it only takes two MP per minute to cast on a weapon." A voice suddenly came from behind the goblin.

The goblin quickly jumped up and spun around with its sword raised and ready to attack. The human standing before it suddenly rushed towards the goblin with his shortsword glowing a faint red.

The goblin snarled and slashed at the human which caused the human to promptly duck and punch the goblin straight in the stomach. It groaned before attempting to back away and regain an advantage, but the human pushed towards it once again.

The goblin tried to hurriedly raise its sword to block, but it was too late as the human swung his blade towards the goblin's neck. With its sword slipping from its grip and dropping to the floor and its body and head separated, it crumpled to the floor.

[You have slain a Goblin. +10 Experience Points.]

Zero whistled in glee as he said to himself, "As I thought, guerilla tactics are the best. Status."

60/100 EXP

Name: Zero

Title:

Race: Human

Class:

Level: 3

HP: 135/150

MP: 14/24

STR: 4

END: 5

INT: 7

AGI: 4

"Forty more experience points to go until I reach level four, huh?"

That's four more regular goblins or two spear goblins and a regular goblin. It also seems like I'm getting better at killing goblins, with all the fights I'm going through.

WOONG!

A sudden ominous sound of a blaring horn interrupted Zero from his thoughts.

"I don't like the sound of that at all," Zero remarked as he stared in the direction where the noise came from. "What was that?"

[It seems like the goblins have caught on to your actions.]

"Is that so? I tried to hide the bodies as best as I could, but they still ended up being discovered."

What do I do now? The goblins will surely stick into bigger groups now. I can handle two, and maybe even three, with some injuries, but I doubt I can fight any more than that and win.

After five minutes of sneaking around, Zero found a spear goblin walking towards the sound of the horn with a goblin beside it. The goblin had a crudely-made bow in its hands, with a quiver full of arrows hanging on its shoulder.

Bingo.

Zero cast {Enhance Sharpness} on his trusty shortsword before jumping out and stabbing the spear goblin in the head.

[You have slain a Spear Goblin. +15 Experience Points.]

As the spear goblin fell to the ground, the goblin archer spun around and raised its bow in its hands in alarm. Zero then lunged towards it with his blade in his hand, with the archer goblin stumbling back and pulling an arrow out of its quiver. Then, Zero just stood still. The archer goblin's arrow glowed a faint green as the goblin placed the arrow onto the bow and released it towards Zero's body. He allowed the arrow to plunge into his body before letting out a pained grunt.

[Acquired Skill: Piercing Shot]

Zero then rushed towards the goblin and swung his blade at the goblin's neck. The goblin tried to flee but was a step too late as its head rolled off its shoulders.

[You have slain a Goblin Archer. +15 Experience Points.]

Zero dropped his sword onto the ground and then leaned against a tree, grit his teeth, and gripped the shaft of the arrow lodged inside his body. He took a few deep breaths and then yanked the arrow out. Zero tried to be as quiet as possible to not alert any enemies nearby, but still could not help but let out a pained grunt.

Shit, it hurts so bad, but I guess it's still better than dying. Also, I need ten more experience points to level up. I should probably get moving now and go pick off some of the lone goblins.

Zero then picked up the bow from the dead goblin's hand, slung the quiver with all the arrows over his shoulder, grabbed his blade from the ground, and set off in search of more goblins.

Harry clutched his staff tighter in his hands as he walked down the eerie corridor. He came into this dungeon with five others, when they had asked him if he wanted to strike it rich when they found out he was a healer.

He almost instantly agreed, without thinking about the consequences. By the time they reached the 6th Room, they were all exhausted but the leader of the party kept pushing them all to keep going.

Harry chickened out and asked the leader to retreat. The leader refused, and kicked Harry out of the party, probably thinking that there was one less person to split the spoils with.

Now Harry was left all alone in the dungeon with no idea what happened to his teammates.

UGH! I'm so stupid! Why did I ask to leave? Now all the hard work I put into healing them all won't be rewarded. Also, what if the monsters have already respawned? What can I do? I only know how to heal, not to fight! Maybe I can go back and ask to rejoin their party..? Will they accept me back?

Harry was lost in his thoughts as he paced outside the entrance to the 4th Room.

Zero soon spotted a lone goblin in an empty clearing after a few minutes. He breathed out and took out an arrow from the quiver. He needed to practice.

The last time he had held a bow, he was fourteen. He wasn't bad, as it used to be one of his hobbies before he eventually lost interest.

Zero nocked the arrow to the bowstring as he held the bow up. He pulled the arrow and aimed. The goblin was walking, clueless that it was being watched.

He took in a deep breath and activated {Piercing Shot}. The arrow started humming and glowed a faint green before Zero released it.

The arrow whipped through the air, aimed straight for the goblin's head.

[You have slain a Goblin. +10 Experience Points.]

The rusted sword it was holding clattered to the ground as its dead body thumped to the floor. The wooden arrow surprisingly shot through the goblin's head and struck the ground before it shattered into pieces.

It looked like the wooden arrow wasn't durable enough to survive the harsh impact, especially after Zero cast {Piercing Shot} on it.

Although I've gotten a bit rusty, I should be able to get the hang of it after I use it a few more times, but this bow is not exactly well-made. And also...

"System, I leveled up, right?"

[Correct, host. Congratulations.]

"Status panel."

0/200 EXP

Name: Zero

Title:

Race: Human

Class:

Level: 4

HP: 180/200

MP: 25/29

STR: 4+

END: 5+

INT: 7+

AGI: 4+

My attributes are mostly equal to each other, except INT. For now I'll upgrade AGI, since I'm going to need to be able to escape

"Hey system, how exactly does upgrading my attributes work?" Zero asked.

[I absorb some of the life energy of the enemies that you kill and I forcibly implant it in your body, host. Your leveling up is simply an accumulation of all the life energy that you collect being ingrained into you.]

"Then why can't we just go around collecting some of everybody's life energy without killing them, if that makes me stronger?"

[Gods exist in this world. I am already bending the rules quite a bit by collecting some of the life energy of the enemies you kill, host. If I simply start forcibly stealing away everything's life energy and stuffing it into you, host, the gods will not simply stand still.]

"Are the gods stronger than you are?"

[I am not omnipotent, host. The power of the system depends on the power of the host. Unless you can kill gods, host, I suggest you not anger them unnecessarily.]

Zero soon found another lone goblin walking through the forest. He pulled another arrow out of the quiver, nocked it, raised the bow, aimed, cast {Piercing Shot}, and released his hold on the arrow.

"At this rate, I'll run out of arrows."

[You have slain a Spear Goblin. +15 Experience Points.]

Let's hope I come across another goblin archer with arrows soon...

Kaarvishki Oochaoi Skuurizcharu was angry. Extremely angry. Its loyal troops kept dying mysteriously one after another.

The goblin army was beginning to fear.

This was not good. If it did not do its job as the general of the goblin army properly, its queen will... it shivered in fright as it thought about its terrifying lord. In any case, it needed to catch the intruder, and it needed to catch the intruder fast.

It seemed like the outsider liked to target the goblins walking alone, it thought as it gnashed its teeth in anger. What a coward.

It then turned and barked orders at one of its soldiers beside it. The soldier nodded in understanding before running off to inform the others.

That filthy outsider was going to pay.