Matt, Patch, Jonny, and Lewis all stood silently, hidden behind a series of large boulders not far from the hidden cavern entrance they believed to be the home of the goblins. None of them made a sound as their gazes locked onto the dark entrance where Lue, their rogue, had entered a few minutes prior.
Their two warriors, Patch and Jonny, seemed especially tense as they waited in silence, the fact that their radios had become useless during the system's arrival meaning they had no way to communicate with Lue, something that seemed to make them extremely tense. Lewis, too, was ready to rush in and help at the first sign of trouble, but it seemed to unnerve the military men to a far higher degree.
The group waited for nearly twenty minutes until they finally caught sight of movement at the entrance of the cavern. They all shot to attention, weapons drawn and skills ready as a shimmering figure emerged, followed closely by five rapidly approaching goblins, the creatures swiping at the air but missing Lue as he ran in weaving patterns to avoid getting hit, his near invisibility not allowing the creatures to properly see where he was.
Jonny was about to rush out from behind cover to help the rogue, but Patch caught him by the shoulder and held him back.
"Wait, he's leading them to us, we can't give any of them the chance to escape this time, wait until they get closer and Lue drops his skill before attacking, we don't want to accidentally injure the man." Patch whispered loud enough for all of them to hear, Jonny reluctantly staying, his grip tightening around his sword as the creature approached, swinging wildly at the shimmer in the air that would constantly disappear from sight, causing everyone to look for that hint of distortion again, the time it took the goblins to relocate his position giving him enought time to outpace the faster creatures.
Everyone was frantically scanning the area for Lue's concealed form, everyone except for Lewis, who could make him out with almost perfect clarity. The man's face was pale, his movements frantic as he ran from side to side, sometimes running around a goblin that had run ahead to confuse them, never running in the same direction for long. This flight movement meant that it took far longer than normal to reach the boulders they were hiding behind, but it also meant Lue was breathing heavily, his movements growing sluggish as he was forced to move at top speed to outmaneuver these goblins.
Lewis had been tossing a small stone around when they had been waiting, but now clutched it tightly in his hand as he debated rushing in right away. The creatures were only a dozen meters away when Lewis noticed Lue had stumbled while trying to perform another quick turn, the goblin behind him having noticed the shimmer and was preparing to lung at him.
Lewis knew the was no time as he activated [Spiritual alignment] with a thought, time slowing slightly as he raised his hand and aimed for the lunging goblin, throwing the rock with all the power he could muster as it was moments away from savaging the rogue.
Lue looked back from his position on his knees; he noticed the creature lunging for him, his eyes widening as he realized he had made a huge mistake, but before the black blade could tear into his flesh, something shot through the air like a speeding bullet, the air wizzing as it passed and slammed into the creature's forehead.
Everyone seemed to freeze for a second as the goblin suddenly let out a gunt, its head being pushed backward, forcing its body into an awkward backwards flip as it collapsed backwards, landing on its head with its tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. Even its goblin pals had stopped running as they stared at the surprising spectacle before shaking themselves out of their surprise and rushing towards the shimmer in the air.
However, they barely made it two steps before they noticed a far bigger target barreling towards them, already too close to avoid. Lewis hadn't simply stayed still after tossing that stone at the lunging goblin; he had immediately begun running towards them as fast as he could, not having expected his thrown rock to actually do that much damage. The goblin wasn't dead, but it most definitely now had a concussion and was out cold, a result far beyond his expectation, as he had simply planned to distract the thing for a moment to give him time to rush in.
I almost forgot how weak these guys are. They focused all on speed, so a single hit takes them out. I don't even need the extra strength from my spell to slay them, just the speed to keep up with them.
He reached the first goblin before it even realized he was here, the creature having been so focused on detecting the faint shimmer of Lue's concealment skill to notice Lewis, the same weapon the goblin also possessed being dragged along its neck before it could raise its hands in defense, three quarters of its neck splitting open, a gizer of blood shooting out as its head dipped to one side, just barely held on by the remaining flesh as it unceremonsially facplanted into the dirt.
But before it could even hit the ground, Lewis had reached the second goblin, who instinctively raised the black dagger towards Lewis and received a kick in the ribs for his efforts, its bones snapping with an audible crack as it was flung backwards, blood shooting from its mouth as its eyes roled into the back of its head, several organs likely also punctured.
The other two goblins, realizing they were in trouble, both glanced from Lewis to each other before turning to run. Lewis cursed as he noticed they had wisely split up and were running away from each other as they rushed back towards the cavern, meaning he would only be able to catch one of them while the other ran for help. At least, that was what the goblins hoped, but Lewis just repeated his earlier trick and threw his obsidian dagger at the back of the fleeing creature, the weapon easily piercing through its back and even exiting through the unlucky goblin's chest.
The brutal death of its friend made the last goblin release a squel as it accelerated even more, running for all it was worth, but the goblin's speed build had one major flaw. You see, Lewis had recently discovered that having one attribute higher than the rest isn't as useful as one might think. Sure, build optimization definitely seems to be a thing in this new reality, especially due to the whole classes thing, but having one stat higher than the rest can also mean that you're limited by your other stats, no longer getting the most out of your highest assets. He had discovered something when he had added points into constitution and suddenly found he could now move faster and hit harder, despite that not being the purpose of the stat.
The various attributes aren't stand-alone aspects of our being, but rather subcategories of a greater whole, so a person is only as strong as their weakest attribute. In this case, the goblins would likely be far faster than their speed stats would suggest if they had upgraded their bodies to withstand their greater speed. So as the goblin accelearted beyond what it should be able to handle, the skin under its feet cracking and blistering while its muscles screamed and tendons frayed, Lewis had no such issue, running even faster than the speed focused goblin and jabing his fist into the back of the creatures head, causing it to fractur from the impact and ragdolling the goblin across the ground, a notification informing him of his fate.
Lewis was hardly even breathless, the entire fight having only taken a few seconds as he returned to the new heavily breathing and no longer conciled Lue, the man looking back at him with evident shock.
"You alright, Lue?" He asked upon joggy back, casually stomping the head of the unconscious goblin as he arrived, receiving the final kill notification along with a new level.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 3 (+3 free points awarded)
He smiled victoriously at the notification, adding the two points into constitution like before, his body tensing as he felt it harden and condense, like iron being hammered into shape, his every cell feeling more robust and healthy as the effort he expended from slaying the golins vanished, leaving him ready and eager for more.
Holy wow, while I ever even get sick again in my life? Mind you, what if there are now super diseases or something? Maybe like a magical bacteria? Now that would be awful.
"You're insane."
The words brought him out of his useless thoughts as he looked over to where Matt and the others were arriving, having been left in the dust when Lewis leaped into action.
"Sorry about running in without warning, but I saw Lue was in trouble and acted. I'm the fastest one here, so I knew I could deal with them, and the was no time to explain." Lewis replied quickly, wanting to avoid getting reprimanded by the commander but providing his reason and excuse before the man could speak. This was a habit of his when dealing with figures of authority; he found that they tended not to hit you as much when you do something they said not to if you provide a logical and reasonable argument before they tell you off. He had tried explaining his actions after being scolded many times as a child, but even hearing a logical and reasonable argument usually went ignored, as the person had already begun shouting, and admitting he was actually in the right would mean they were in the wrong, and they really didn't like that.
He had, of course, grown into a capable adult since then, even stronger now than ever before, but some things stay with you your whole life, and interacting with proud authority figures had always been something Lewis struggled with due to all his past baggage. Patch, however, simply nodded at him with a broad smile;
"Nice work, kid. You have a skill to see through Lue's camouflage, then?" The man asked.
"My mana detection seems to be able to pierce it, yeah, but I think that's specific to my unique skillset, not even Matt could see through Lue's skill with his mana sight." He answered honestly.
"I, for one, am grateful my skill didn't hide me from your eyes. If it did, then I might be dead already." Lue said, nodding gratefully at Lewis.
"Indeed, so what is it you have discovered in the cavern then?" Patch asked, everyone refocusing on the panting Lue with expectant gazes.
"Firstly, it's dark as night in there; the goblins must possess low light vision since they have left markings on the walls to indicate the path. It took me a while to figure that out since the place is a true maze of branching tunnels and dead ends, along with the fact that they have patrols. I had to take out the two goblins I came across since they had a torch, and only then was I able to make my way through the maze of tunnels and locate their nest. They have some sort of encampment set up with bone huts and campfires. All the walls down there seem to be made of that dark material they use as daggers, and they seem to be mining it. I couldn't tell how many goblins the are, but well over fifty by my guess. I had to get out of there when they sent that lot out to check on the missing patrol; they found and chased me. I couldn't use conceilment on the torch and couldn't get out of the twisting maze without it." He explained.
I wonder if they know about the dead patrol, or if these lot were the backup security and didn't tell anyone before rushing after Lue? With any luck, no one will notice their missing until it's already too late.
"Hm, how big are these tunnels then, and how many passages did you count?" Patch asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.