The hobgoblin didn't just stay still after it was shot, it grabbed its sword with both hands and swung it downwards, aiming not at Wolfram but at the floor. The strength behind the swing was so monstrously strong that the ground shook heavily, thus momentarily destabilizing Wolfram.
The creature grasped this opportunity to step forward and swing its sword horizontally, planning to cut the puny human in two. Unfortunately, the fight wasn't going to end this quickly as he used the shaking of the floor to fall on his back then roll away really fast. As the hobgoblin's body was big, its attacks were slower than Wolfram's. He used this chance to open fire again since there was a lot of openings.
Alas, the bullets did close to no damage and only caused it to groan and become angrier. The magazine was soon empty so he threw the handgun at the boss' face and then backed away to the corridor. The narrow path could fit the monster, but it wouldn't be able to fight properly.
Although a hobgoblin was 'relatively' smarter than a normal goblin, it was still considered a naive and barely-sentient creature, especially compared to civilized races such as humans. With big strides, it chased the swift Wolfram only to find him facing it again with a rifle pointed at it.
Seeing the same kind of annoying weapons used against it, the monster roared loudly and was about to swing its sword again only for a shower of bullets to rain down at it.
Each hit was precise and each bullet was followed by another that hit the same spot. A rifle's bullets were lethal even to such a big and tenacious creature. Wolfram emptied the whole magazine while concentrating on the creature's knees, which turned into a bloody mess by the time the last bullet had been fired.
Akin to a fallen big boulder, the hobgoblin fell on its butt and lost hold of its gigantic sword. Not missing such an opportunity, Wolfram jumped on the creature with a knife in his hand and started slashing everywhere, not showing any mercy. The monster tried to grab him with its hands but he kept jumping around it while stabbing the vital spots.
This transformed from a fight to the slow and painful death of the Hobgoblin. Blood dyed the ground and even splattered on the wall. In fact, even Wolfram was splashed with his victim's blood, but he didn't seem particularly bothered by it.
"Such a shame. It would have been more exciting if we fought head-on, without the need to rely on firearms from my part. Sadly, that'll be planned when I become physically stronger."
A single hit from that goblin would finish his life, he had to resort to such petty tricks, nevertheless, all that mattered in the end was who died and who lived. A victory was a victory no matter the means used to attain it. Ultimately, it was the victors who got to write the tale.
After the fight ended, Wolfram sat down to recuperate from his fatigue. The fight didn't last a long time but it was still tasking for him to dodge the big monster. A fight like that was different from a battle against humans, where a single bullet could be the determining factor between life and death.
'The noise is bound to alert other monsters or even the survivors.'
After taking a one-minute-long rest, he searched the corpses for stat cards and was delighted to see numerous cards littered on the ground. That was excluding the rewards for killing the goblins and Hobgoblin.
*You have killed Goblin lv1; +0.1 Card Points.*
*You have killed Goblin lv1; +0.05 Card Points.*
*You have killed Goblin lv1; +0.07 Card Points.*
*You have killed Goblin Mage lv1; +0.14 Card Points.*
*You have killed Goblin Mage lv1; +0.11 Card Points.*
*You have killed Goblin lv2; +0.2 Card Points.*
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*You have killed Goblin lv2; +0.18 Card Points.*
*You have killed a Hobgoblin Lv5; +1.5 Card Points.*
*[Daggery Mastery] Lv1=＞Lv2! +0.1 Card Points.*
*[Gun Mastery] Lv1 acquired! +0.06 Card Points.*
'Ah what a good feeling~'
As he looked at this row of notifications, Wolfram hummed in joy as he brutally kicked away the lifeless corpses and picked all the stat cards.
After less than two minutes, he was done looting and left the place, going back the way he came from. Unlike last time, Wolfram didn't advance slowly and carefully, he put force in his feet and started madly sprinting thus crossing the distance from the boss room to the intersection from before in merely a minute.
He took the way leading to the area where he initially found the half-dead woman and he hid there. As he took deep breaths, Wolfram ate a protein bar and drank some water while thoughtfully staring at his deck of cards.
--
Wolfram Sakimoto
--
Race: No Race
Class: 1 Star Trickster
--
Cards Control : 1.24
Cards Sharpness : 3
Cards Speed : 1
--
Strength : 2.9
Vitality : 2.28
Speed : 2.07
Perception : 3
Magic : 2.25
Magic Control : 1.24
Magic Resistance : 1.15
--
Card Points : 2.51
---
Skills: Sneak Lv2. Dagger Mastery Lv2. Sensor Hearing Lv1. Lightsteps Lv2. Search Lv1. Gun Mastery lv1.
The stats that have to do with his physique were all above 2, which was a good improvement. He spent most of the available CP to get Card Control to reach 3 points and then dumped the rest in Cards Speed.
As he took out his deck, he started fiddling and playing with the cards. Soon, he felt surprised by the fact that the cards were resonating with his unsaid thoughts. They would slip between his fingers and follow his will without him needing to concentrate a lot.
He was even able to throw two cards at the same time and they would hit the same spot.
The injuries he suffered due to the initial earthquake were almost fully healed. His hunger was satiated and this thirst was quenched. Wolfram kept hearing noises of moving humans and even gunshots from far away but he didn't bother paying them too much attention.
When he was sure he recovered to his full state, he got up and headed to where he first met the scarred woman only to find the room completely empty. There were signs of a fight but no traces of the woman's corpse.
As he gazed at the empty chair, the man grinned and mumbled
"Yes, survive for me and grow stronger. When the time comes, I hope you won't disappoint me."
After a final glance, he left the room and headed back to the intersection. As he got closer, the gunshot noises were getting louder. His fight with the Hobgoblin alerted everyone on this floor and consequently forced the goblins to launch a full-scale attack. They no longer had a strong leader, so they were acting out of instincts, wanting to get rid of the humans and have the entire floor to themselves.
With light and soundless steps, Wolfram approached the source of the noises only to find out it was actually occurring in the corridor leading to the survivor's base.
This place was turned into a battlefield as goblins were getting slaughtered, yet more kept coming. Thanks to their rifles and handguns, the soldiers were slowly eradicating the incoming danger. However, the Goblin Mages at the back were the troublesome ones since their spells would either immobilize the soldiers or kill them directly with a flying fireball.
The corridor was too narrow for the soldiers to dodge the wide-range spells, which was why both parties had ever-increasing casualty rate. Moreover, the number of soldiers was limited as most of the survivors were either scientists or simple workers, none of which had a combat experience or even knew how to use a gun.
Amidst all the chaos, Wolfram sneakily watched the scene while contemplating how to act. As his eyes inspected all corners of the room, he spotted an unused grenade which was ten or so meters away from him. Unfortunately, there were some goblins waiting to join the fight near the grenade, but killing them was never an issue for him.
Unlike guns, Wolfram's cards would return to his deck a few seconds after they were thrown, so, technically, he could use them without worrying about 'ammo' and whatnot.
With his new high control over the cards and their increased speed and sharpness, the few goblins present were killed in merely ten seconds. The noise and confusion allowed Wolfram to leisurely pick up the dropped stat cards then grab the grenade and, as if he was throwing a ball, pulled the ring and threw it in the corridor.
The place the grenade landed at was packed with soldiers and goblins; and once a black cylindric object came flying from behind, the soldiers' face turned pale as they tried to retreat only to be hindered by the ugly little green monsters.
Just like that, the grenade exploded, killing the closest two soldiers and four goblins. It also injured two additional soldiers.
The goblins were on the winning side here as their enemies' number was reduced from 8 to 2.
Wolfram didn't need to see it with his own eyes to guess the results. After throwing the grenade, he retreated to a safe place and quietly waited for the battle to end.