The goblin army’s reaction to his companion was hilarious. Blake stifled a laugh as the wraith suddenly became visible within the encampment. It let out a loud, low-pitched moan which startled the goblins, and then began to slowly float from the camp.
At first, the goblins were so frightened, they froze for a full five seconds after the wraith left. It was not until Metal appeared within the camp once again that they began to chase after his companion. The leader of the goblin force barked short commands, ordering most to stay behind while a small force of eight was sent to eliminate the wraith.
That’ll do.
If it were not for Blake’s skill in fighting and his obscene attributes, he would have never even considered taking on almost seventy goblins by himself.
He would split the group up into smaller, more manageable fights. With a break to catch his breath between battles, he was confident in his success. At this point, he had the stamina of a professional athlete and, with a physical power of nine point eight, was more than likely the strongest and fastest human alive.
The goblins, on the other hand, had short legs and were slower and weaker than the average human. If Blake became cocky and let them overwhelm him, he could still easily die, but as long as he took the fight seriously, they had little hope of defeating him.
When the last green-skin passed by his hiding place behind a tree, he waited a moment and then boldly began to follow. The group of eight was so focused on his companion that they never once bothered to glance behind them or even to their sides. Blake unsheathed his longsword and dagger and increased his speed to a sprint.
He quickly closed the distance to the last goblin and sliced its throat from behind. It let out a choked gasp as it tripped and fell to the ground. Blake leapt over the dying form to eliminate the next in line.
Despite his first victim’s gasps of pain, its fellow fighters never once glanced back to investigate the strange noise. Their lack of concern made it incredibly easy for him to finish the next goblin undetected as well. It was not until after he killed his third enemy that the group was alerted.
The next goblin screamed out, but was immediately cut down. By the time they slowed and turned to face him, he had killed a fifth goblin, and only three remained.
After a quick chop to the side of the goblin’s neck, his longsword became stuck between the vertebrae. A sudden jerk of his blade launched the eighty pound fighter to his side, and he faced off against the final three.
When the middle goblin suddenly screamed and rushed him, the two beside followed suit. Blake stepped to the side and parried with his dagger, then used his sword to block the other’s attack. With both weapons actively engaged, he kicked out with his foot and hit the small humanoid in the gut.
The second goblin flew backward five feet and rolled along the ground. The third goblin finally reversed its charge and attacked at the same time as the first. He parried both swings and followed with his own.
His longsword slashed quickly and cut deep into the first goblin’s sword arm. It screeched and dropped its own weapon, while Blake slammed his dagger into its chest. He quickly extracted the short blade and whirled to the third goblin, which growled in anger and rushed forward with its short spear.
With only a single goblin to occupy his attention, the charge was incredibly easy to defeat. He knocked the spear to the side with his sword and his dagger to end the goblin’s life. That left one goblin alive, gasping on the ground, where it landed after his kick. Blake finished off the injured fighter and paused to catch his breath.
That was even easier than I thought it’d be.
He was surprised at how easy level zero scenarios were, and wished he had taken part in them before. Ten years ago, after Blake’s family died, he was forced to live on his own. It took weeks of just surviving, to gain enough nano to purchase a single combat classification. After he did, his single spell, Strengthen, allowed him to take on monsters with ease.
That was, of course, until the level one creatures began to appear as well. The enemy had their own abilities they could use against him, and he was forced to approach the local faction.
With a combat classification, he was easily accepted into his first faction, and life became much easier for him. Sleeping within their compound, he no longer feared waking up with claws around his throat. With a group, scavenging became safer, and they began to quickly expand their territory.
It was not until much later, when he was already level two, that he finally entered his first combat scenario. He remembered how difficult it was for them to complete it, and how his old group mate before he switched factions had almost died. Throughout the following years, as they continued to fight in the scenarios, he lost many party members to simple mistakes and bad luck.
In contrast, the level zero scenarios were easy for Blake to solo. With his achievements, he was far more powerful than the skinny goblins, especially when they had no spells to even the odds.
Okay, Metal, let’s do that again.
He cleaned off his red-stained sword on the goblin’s loincloth below him as he listened to the wraith’s complaints, and then slid it into its sheath. When he began to stalk back toward the army’s encampment, his companion followed behind.
The next time he sent Metal inside their camp, ten goblins chased the wraith when it fled. They were just as easy for him to defeat as the first group, and he could not believe how well the plan worked.
The third attempt, however, was a bust.
When the two squads of goblins failed to return, the goblin commander ordered his army to remain stationary. They were still unaware of Blake’s presence, but with their squad’s disposition unknown, they became cautious.
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Blake forced his companion to attempt drawing them out four more times before he finally gave up.
Okay, let’s see how you react to this.
Blake recalled the first group of goblins he killed had two archers. He returned to their location, collected their bows, and combined all of their arrows into a single quiver. After he returned to the cover he used to observe the camp, he searched for the goblin leader.
The sun set, and more fires had been lit. Almost all the goblins inside the camp sat despondently around the flame while they ate their dinner. The flickering light made it very difficult to find the commander, who could only be distinguished by the tooth necklace it wore.
Eventually, he was able to locate the leader. Unfortunately, the boss placed itself deep within the camp and remained alert. There were far too many goblins between Blake and the leader, and there was no way he would find an opening. Blake considered using Metal to open a path, but once they saw his companion, they would raise their guard.
Instead, he kept his companion out of it and attempted to assassinate the leader directly.
The first shot slammed into the back of a wandering goblin. It grunted from the impact and sank to the ground. When its friend saw the fletching of the arrow sticking out of its green skin, its eyes widened in sudden realization, and it screamed, “Under attack!”
The entire camp came to life.
Meanwhile, Blake never paused in his volleys. He launched a stream of arrows toward the enemy leader, who crouched behind his subordinates. Blake grunted in annoyance, but continued to shoot arrows into the crowd. Goblin after goblin died from his projectiles, yet their leader refused to allow them to give chase. Shields suddenly appeared, and they used their wooden bucklers to block his attacks.
However, despite their coordination, they did not have nearly enough slabs of wood to go around. Blake simply changed targets and focused on the goblins not protected by the barriers. He continued to rack up kills until he finally ran out of arrows.
Damn it!
While the numbers before him were greatly diminished, he had hoped to get lucky and hit the goblin leader. Unfortunately, not only was it protected from his attacks, but under its influence, the group still refused to take the bait and chase after him. He was frustrated, far too many goblins remained alive for him to enter the camp.
While he searched for a solution, he reviewed his logs to learn how many he had killed. According to the record, he had eliminated thirty-nine of the sixty-eight goblins within the scenario. That meant there were still twenty-nine goblins alive, all wary of ambush.
Too many.
After he checked his status, he noticed he now held over thirteen million nano. He only needed ten million to increase an attribute, and quickly decided to enhance his physical power. The increase to his strength and speed would finally put him over the human limit, which he would need if he were going to attack the army head on.
While he waited for the change to take effect, he ordered Metal to remain on watch. He leaned backward against a tree in the dark and tried to think of a solution while he allowed the goblins to become complacent. The power his new attribute would grant him would be very welcome, but he doubted it would be enough for the battle before him. With so many goblins, it was almost guaranteed that one would get in a lucky hit.
His physical resistance was eight point five, which was prodigious, yet still within human norms. The attribute granted him dense bones, an enhanced muscular system, and hardened skin. However, the protection was the equivalent of calluses built up over time and would do nothing to stop the swing of a sword or tip of an arrow.
Blake would need to surpass the human limit of ten before he could begin to shrug off attacks. Even then, the stronger goblins would still be able to breach his defense.
Maybe I should’ve enhanced my resistance anyway.
No matter which attribute he decided to enhance, he could think of no solution to his current problem. The goblins refused to separate, and he was out of arrows. There were too many for him to overpower without becoming injured, and he would be forced to wait for them to make a mistake.
Suddenly, a notification appeared on his interface.
Huh? It should’ve taken a lot longer than that to take effect.
It had been less than five minutes since he chose to enhance his attribute. With the twenty-two percent increase, his achievements bestowed on him, it would take almost an hour and a half for the changes to take effect. He focused on the alert and his jaw dropped at what he read.
As the first of your species to have an attribute break through its unenhanced limit, you have been awarded an achievement. - [Super Human]
The [Super Human] achievement awards you two of every attribute.
Similar to the first kill achievement, the super human achievement added twelve points to his attributes. That was an entire level’s worth of enhancement. More, if you counted the twenty-two percent increase from his other rewards.
This is insane. How come I never heard of these ‘first’ achievements before? Did the people who got them die even with the cheat-like advantage?
When the nanomachines finished enhancing his body, he would have the attributes of a level two combatant. That was something he did not achieve in his first life until almost a year after Invasion day.
It took over three hours for the changes to his body to take effect. During that time, he occasionally glimpsed Metal’s form pass before him as the wraith patrolled the area. The noises from the goblin camp lessened. He alternated between feeling giddy at the newfound power he held, and disgusted at the waste in his last life. With these incredible attributes and an omni-class, he would be unstoppable.
When the transformation was complete, he opened his status again and stared in awe at the changes.
Blake Summers, Scion of Humanity
Combat Classification - None
Race - Tier I
Attributes - Increased by 22%
Physical Power - 13.4
Physical Stamina - 9.8
Physical Resistance - 11.0
Magic Power - 11.0
Magic Stamina - 9.8
Magic Resistance - 12.2
Achievements -
First Kill
First Clear
First Solo Clear
Directive Enthusiast
Solo Warrior
Slayer II
Scavenger Prime
Super Human
General Skills -
Summon Companion
Nano - 3,287k
Four of his six attributes now exceeded human limits. The two that did not, were at the pinnacle of what was possible naturally. Only one or two people out of billions had the physical stamina that he now held.
He grinned.
Let’s see how I stack up against the goblin army now.