"Kill that human!"
"Kill him!"
"Avenge the chieftain!"
At that moment, the entire cave was practically swarming with goblins.
John's figure was nearly swallowed up by the sea of green bodies.
And yet, his HP did not budge in the slightest.
The occasional instance of true damage that appeared was rapidly healed under the effects of his recovery talent.
"That should be enough."
Peering through the gaps between the monsters, John barely managed to gauge the number of goblins around him.
He let out a slow breath, and with a thought, activated, "Throwing Knife... Technique!"
In an instant, ninety-nine throwing knives flew out of his inventory.
The moment Throwing Knife Technique was activated, the blades burst outward like a deadly storm of silver petals, each one flashing with chilling light as it shot through the air.
At the same time, John casually triggered his [Annihilation of All] talent.
Any target struck by a throwing knife would cause every goblin within a fifty-meter radius to suffer the same amount of damage.
[-3017!]
The first throwing knife struck a level 10 Goblin Guard.
Its HP was nowhere near that of the goblin chieftain—only around 3,000.
That single knife killed it instantly.
At the same moment, [Annihilation of All] activated.
Centered on that dead Goblin Guard, a flood of crimson damage numbers exploded above the heads of every goblin within fifty meters.
[-3179!]
[-3232!]
[-3098!]
[...]
With Annihilation of All enhancing it, each throwing knife became like a bomb.
In a single instant, it annihilated every goblin in an entire section of the cave.
Whether it was a Goblin Guard or a Goblin Priest, all of them fell beneath the power of a single throwing knife.
And John had thrown ninety-nine of them at once.
The cave itself was not that large.
Only around 150 by 150 meters.
Ninety-nine throwing knives, each capable of causing area damage, were more than enough to sweep through the entire cave several times over.
Vast waves of crimson damage numbers filled the air like a screen of bullets.
John's vision was nearly completely covered by them.
The goblins' HP bars were erased in an instant.
One kill notification after another flashed before his eyes.
[Killed Goblin Guard Lv.10, EXP +5807!]
[Killed Goblin Archer Lv.11, EXP +6403!]
[Killed...]
John's experience bar bounced upward like a compressed spring.
Golden rays of light from repeated level-ups shone from his body almost without pause.
By the time every throwing knife had found its target, the entire cave had fallen silent.
Just moments ago, it had been packed to the brim with green-skinned creatures. But after a single round of Throwing Knife Technique, only the goblins outside the cave remained alive.
Goblin blood nearly flooded the cavern.
That single barrage had killed close to three hundred goblins.
It directly propelled his level all the way up to Level 20.
And not only that.
Through that slaughter, John had also looted a large number of Goblin D-rank talents.
He truly deserved to be called a goblin slayer.
He had nearly exterminated every goblin inside the cave in one stroke.
And John himself still looked completely unbothered, standing atop the pile of treasure with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Too few. Far too few. I've only looted this many talents so far.
Come on. Send more.
Otherwise, it won't even be enough to satisfy me."
Looking down at the goblin soldiers rushing back toward the cave from outside, his eyes blazed with battle intent.
…
On the outskirts of the Goblin Tribe, players who had been grinding monsters all stopped at once.
They stared blankly as the goblin soldiers suddenly lost their minds and frantically rushed back toward the tribe.
Even when archer players shot sneak attacks at them from a distance, the goblins ignored everything, charging inward like mad beasts while howling at the top of their lungs.
"What the hell is going on?"
"No idea, but I heard a huge commotion from the cave just now."
"Did someone trigger some kind of special event?"
The human players had no clue what was happening inside the cave.
All they could do was speculate based on the goblins' strange behavior.
As more and more goblins rushed back into the cave, the noise inside only grew louder.
There was the clash of blades, the screams of goblins, and even thick black smoke rolling outward.
The sight left every onlooker shaken.
"Could there be some major guild fighting a boss in there?"
"No way. At this stage of the game, even the strongest guild couldn't clear out the entire Goblin Tribe!"
"With a commotion this big, unless ten top-tier guilds joined forces, I can't imagine who could cause something like this."
The abnormal situation at the Goblin Tribe drew more and more players to gather and watch.
Faces pale, they stared at the cave that continued to rumble and shake, each of them coming up with their own theories.
Then, just as the crowd was buzzing with discussion—
The noise inside the cave abruptly stopped.
Every player instinctively turned toward the entrance.
A single figure slowly walked out.
He wore a white robe stained with wide splashes of green blood.
His expression was cold, and there were traces of blood even on his chin.
As he emerged from the darkness, the killing intent radiating from him was so intense it seemed almost tangible.
From afar, he looked like the incarnation of a slaughter god.
That overwhelming aura silenced the players below, leaving no one daring to speak.
One particularly bold mage player cast Detect on him, trying to uncover his details.
But the result nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets.
The mage blurted out, "Level 30? He actually reached Level 30?!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire crowd was shaken to the core.
All of them stared at the white-robed figure with horrified expressions.
Among everyone present, the highest-level player was only around Level 10.
And yet this terrifying man—who knew where he had come from—had somehow leaped straight to Level 30?
Thinking back to the sight of goblin soldiers frantically rushing back into the cave just moments ago, a chill instantly crept up from the soles of their feet to the tops of their heads.
Could it be...
Had that man slaughtered every single goblin in there?
By himself, he had wiped out the entire Goblin Tribe...
Hiss!!!
The crowd collectively sucked in a cold breath, their scalps going numb.
John, however, paid no attention to the gazes of the players below.
He glanced at the excellent new dagger hanging at his waist, then at the perfectly synergized set bonus on the equipment he now wore.
John nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad. This trip was worth it."
With that, a thought flashed through his mind, and he activated Instant Move.
His figure disappeared from the spot in an instant.
Within a few breaths, John's presence vanished completely under the stunned gaze of the surrounding players.
Only after he was gone did the crowd finally erupt.
"You've got to be kidding me—is that guy really a player?"
"That's insane! He really wiped out the entire Goblin Tribe all by himself!"
"If I remember right, there were over five hundred goblins in this tribe! And he killed them all alone?!"
"Level 30... even if you counted the other four major zones, he'd still be the number one player!"
After witnessing John's terrifying strength with their own eyes, none of those players had any desire left to continue grinding.
They immediately sent word of what they had just seen back to their respective guilds.
In an instant, nearly the entire Zone 5 learned that a monstrous player had single-handedly destroyed an entire Goblin Tribe and power-leveled himself all the way to Level 30.