Since Victor had to turn off his [Annihilating Aura] while following the goblin, his stats were falling fast as he couldn't conduct mass extinction on the insects around him. As a result, he ran on borrowed time and constantly checked his [Status] with a nervous twitch.
[Name: Victor]
[Race: Netherborne]
[Level: 5]
[STR: 399, DEX: 399, CON: 399, INT: 399, WIS: 399]
With every passing second, he got weaker and weaker as he rapidly consumed his stored lifeforce to remain on the mortal plane; his stats ticked down like a final countdown to his demise. However, the goblin didn't know this and ran as fast as his little legs could take him back to his tribe.
Victor was seriously about to have an anxiety attack. What was the point of being an all-powerful being if he only had a lifespan of four minutes? Maybe he should have picked the dragon…
No. Victor was a Netherborne and proud. He would slaughter everything in this forest if needed; to stay alive is his one and only goal.
While having a mini-mental breakdown almost at the level of the goblin, he was following. Then, finally, the goblin tribe came into view.
***
Shrill screams echoed through the forest, causing a slumbering lookout to straighten up. With his peaceful dream ruined, the goblin looked frowned at the culprit.
But was left speechless as he watched one of the strongest hunters from the tribe running toward the wooden fence with tears flying from his face.
What scary predator could make such a dignified and seasoned veteran goblin run in fear like a newborn cub? Did the humans come back to invade the forest again? Or perhaps a ghost spooked him?
Then it happened.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The goblin hunter stopped screaming, and his head slumped down. He seemed to have just suddenly stopped and was floating in mid-air. A second later, a vast black being materialized behind the body with one of its claws going straight through the goblin's ribs as if it was a kebab on a skewer.
The colossal monster was disinterested in its kill. With a shrug, it let the body slide down its claws and onto the floor with a thump. Then it vanished again as if it never existed. Was that the real-life boogeyman?
The goblin lookout turned to scream a warning to the rest of his tribe, but no sound came out. Instead, his vision blurred as his head fell to the floor. He saw his decapitated body and six blue eyes staring at him before vanishing again.
***
After walking over a small hill, the goblin's tribe came into view. Victor guessed it would be similar to a little human village. There were some primitive wooden walls, and he could see a single goblin standing on top of the wall. "That must be the lookout..."
Well, no time to waste. Not even bothering to use a skill, Victor thrusts one of his claws through the goblin's body. The lookout seemed to notice his presence and turned to shout something.
Using shadow magic that came instinctively to him, Victor sank to the ground and reappeared from the goblin's shadow. With a precise swipe, the windpipe was cut clean so no sound could be released. To Victor's surprise, the little goblin's head actually fell off. He had only intended to silence him, but this worked as well.
The rest of the slaughter went relatively easy, as one would expect an epic battle between a tribe of monsters and a creature from the void to go. Victor simply turned his now favourite combo of [Stealth] [Annihilating Aura] and [Consume]. Since he wasn't directly attacking the goblins, his stealth was never broken.
Victor hovered through the village by using [Spirit Movement]. He didn't even need to walk around the houses. He could just phase right through them like some kind of no-clip hacker.
The goblins screamed as they died to an unknown enemy. Then, some more intelligent ones started randomly thrusting their spears at the air, hoping to kill the invisible foe. Some even hit Victor, but they just passed right through. This isn't even because of [Spirit Movement].
Netherbornes are mostly made of shadow-like mist, so they share similar advantages to ghosts, such as being immune to physical attacks as they simply pass straight through.
The only solid part of Victor is his eyes and his metal claws. But while using [Spirit Movement], he becomes utterly ghost-like as his physical body isn't even on this plane of existence to be harmed anymore.
After ten minutes of slaughter, the screaming finally stopped. Victor floated alone in the middle of a silent village that was once home to a few hundred little green men but now was a ghost village with hundreds of rotting bodies spread around.
Feeling a little evil, Victor decided to see the rewards of this endeavour to cheer himself up.
[Name: Victor]
[Race: Netherborne]
[Level: 27]
[STR: 15,342, DEX: 15,342, CON: 15,342, INT: 15,342, WIS: 15,342]
The goblins, on average, had around 50 stat points in total, most of them being in strength.
"Only four hours, huh? Around three hundred lives reaped for only four hours of life… what kind of insane war crimes do I need to commit for some peace of mind?"
While looking at one of the goblin bodies at his feet, a simple prompt was shown in his vision:
[Rise]
A slight smirk appeared on his face. If he has to commit war crimes might as well do so with an army.