As the two sat down in an alley, Lorenz looked at Roy and asked, “What do we do now?”
Roy thought for a few seconds before answering, “We could just go somewhere else and hunt, but that horde will probably become a problem later.”
The thought of going and hunting those goblins definitely did cross Roy’s mind, but he could not just leave Lorenz in such an unsafe place and go.
“Let’s go and look around for a small pack,” Roy added. “I will be so much less worried if you awaken.”
The two made their way out of the marketplace and into the bloodied plaza. Corpses of men and monsters littered the place, and their blood merged and formed streaks and streams. Surprisingly, there was no clashing of color or texture, as if the blood had came from the same creature. Roy looked up, no longer willing to focus on the death right in front of his nose. From behind the trees, houses, and hills, he could see the village hall far into the distance.
“So that’s where John is?” Lorenz asked.
Roy let out a disturbed smirk, “Yeah, him and most of the villagers.”
However, the two couldn’t sightsee for long as a group of eight goblins walked out from behind the trees and alleys.
“Stay back,” Roy said with a serious expression. “And keep an eye out for other packs or stray goblins.”
“Yeah, will do.” Lorenz nodded.
After the young boy ran back and hid behind one of the trees that decorated the plaza, Roy focused back on the band of monsters in front of him. With his current stats and experience, eight goblins couldn’t be considered a threat to him.
Roy jumped amidst the monstrous crowd while dodging all of their attacks. Their slashes, stabs, and attempts at grabs were just too slow for him to be caught. As usual, Roy focused on the small goblin on the outskirt. With quick strikes, they fell to the ground wailing in pain. The young man did not stop his attack and pounced on another goblin that stood farther from the rest. With surgical precision, Roy methodically chipped away at the pack of goblins, until only the two tall variants were left.
The two stronger goblins jumped at Roy from both sides to pincer him, but the young man was too fast for such tactics. He quickly sidestepped the two attacks before responding with one of his own. Seeing an opening in one of the two goblins’ defense, Roy pounced and stabbed it from the side.
The final tall goblin thought it had an opportunity to sneak on Roy while he was busy attacking the first one. However, Roy let go of his sword and quickly crouched to the ground, dodging the monster’s overhead slash. He then grabbed both of its legs and raised them, making it fall headfirst to the ground. The goblin let go of its weapon in the scuffle and Roy kicked it away. He took out his sword from the first goblin’s ribs as if he was unsheathing it before slashing away the second goblin’s hand from the wrist.
While the goblins shrieked and screamed in pain, Roy called out to Lorenz, “Come!”
The young boy walked out of his hiding spot and started killing the goblins one by one. The moment he finished off the sixth one, a green aura covered his body, and words appeared in front of his eyes. After the eventual pain, he thought of the word “Status”.
Stats Attributes Rank Level Strength Initiate S Constitution Initiate A+ Agility Initiate B Mana Initiate D+
With Lorenz now awakened, Roy finished off the last two goblins before saying, “Congratulation. How do you feel now?”
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The young boy looked in awe at his own body. His muscles had become bigger and more defined, and his overall power had increased by leaps and bounds. It almost felt as if he was inhabiting a different body.
“It feels amazing. I see now why people go on a murder spree for this.”
Roy chuckled and said, “Well, if you’re feeling good enough to joke around, then all is good. But now that we’re done, let’s go back.”
As the duo were walking towards Roger’s house, they found on the way a face Roy did not want to see. The same goblin which had escaped and brought a full horde with it was now looking at him, with more and more goblins pooling behind him.
Roy only had to think for a few seconds to understand the danger of the situation. Shit, we’re gonna be in trouble if these guys stay here. With the massive group of goblins so close to the house, both the villagers and the awakened groups would be in danger.
As he remembered the faces of the villagers who were finally happy after so many tragedies, Roy steeled his resolve.
“Run, take the long way and run!” Roy’s expression was serious, stressing the danger and importance of the situation.
Lorenz fearfully nodded his head before dashing away. He knew that if he stayed, he would only make it even harder for Roy to fight.
With the young boy gone, Roy focused back on the growing horde in front of him. There were around fifty goblins, with the small ones making the majority, the tall variants a minority, and a few that looked radically different. They were even taller than the normal tall goblins, with strong muscles and a blue tinge on their skins.
Roy had fought enough monsters to understand that those blue goblins were going to be trouble. The pattern that this apocalypse had accustomed him to is that new monsters mean more danger.
The horde of goblins came charging toward Roy, with the small ones taking the lead. The young man stepped back while parrying and counter-attacking them. Due to the large disparity in power between him and the small goblins, he was able to kill them with one hit each. However, even as he killed them, more and more goblins came rushing in and taking their place. Soon, the monsters circled around to surround him.
Roy rushed towards the goblins on the right flank with incredible speed before killing five of them in a matter of seconds. However, as he looked behind him, he found that he was getting corned into the wall of a house.
Thinking quickly on his feet, the young man rushed to the side he had just cleared and run through an alleyway. The goblins madly charged at him, but due to the size of the alley, they could not overwhelm him with numbers.
After killing a dozen of the small goblins, the corpse piling up on the ground became obstacles to his steps. Understanding that the situation is not going to be good for long, Roy ran through the back of the alley. He kept running from one street to the next, thinning the horde of goblins in the process. He would then wait in ambush and kill any passing small group.
As he was running through one alley, he found one of the blue goblins that were weighing on his mind. The monster was wielding a slim and curved sword that looked of higher quality than the ones the tall goblins used.
Good, this one was starting to dull, Roy thought as he looked at his own bloodied sword. He then took a stance and started fighting with the blue goblin.
* * *
In the meantime, Lorenz was running towards Roger’s house. He took the long route as Roy had told him so that he wouldn’t lead any stray goblin who followed him to the villagers. His speed now became much higher than before he had awakened. As such, after around ten to fifteen minutes, he reached his destination.
Robb, who was standing away from the rest of the villagers as he was scouting, was the first to see Lorenz. The young boy running as fast as he could with a distressed look on his face gave rise to questions in Robb’s mind.
“Hey Lorenz, what’s going on? Why are you running so fast?”
The young boy caught his breath for a second before answering, “Roy, it’s Roy. We found a massive horde of goblins, and he is fighting them right now.”
Robb frowned at the mention of a massive horde. He did know Roy’s strength and he trusted him, but even with all of the strength in the world, you could still be overwhelmed by numbers.
“Okay, just stay here and rest. I will go take care of it.”
“No, I wanna go and check on him too,” Lorenz shook his head. “Plus, you need someone to give you directions.”
Robb rolled his eyes at the young boy’s excuse before saying, “Not really, but sure. I’ll be carrying you on my back though, else we’ll be too late.”
Lorenz nodded his head with a happy look on his face. “Okay, deal!”
After carrying the young boy on his back, Robb sped through the streets and roads leading to the plaza. His speed was ghostly, and Lorenz had to grab on his shoulders with all his might lest he fell.
After a few minutes of running, they reached a street with more goblin corpses littering than what was usual. The bodies were still warm too. Robb and Lorenz followed the trail of blood and corpses into multiple back alleys when they heard the sound of footsteps coming from afar.
Roy, who was walking towards the two, was covered in blood. He marched with poise and confidence while holding a slim curved sword in his hand. As he smiled at Robb and Lorenz, Roy looked like a blood demon, coming straight from the battlefields of hell.