Much to Elijah satisfaction, after he led the goblins north, they traveled for more than thirty minutes before they encountered another enemy. It was an insect. Specifically, it was a spider larger than a big dog, hiding in the trees.
Dark Spider Lvl 51
With his Supreme Astral Sense active, Elijah easily spotted the hidden creature. What he almost missed was the web the spider spun. At first, the web was indistinguishable from the night air around it by touch or sight. However, Elijah did feel that something wasn’t quite right in the area the web was at.
Using his Supreme Eyes, Elijah was able to see the dark energy the web was using. However, he couldn’t see the physical web. Elijah was surprised that the web was able to hide from his astral sense, but he didn’t dwell on that emotion. Aware of the danger, Elijah warned the goblins before he ordered them to attack.
The goblins easily killed the spider and Goblin One collected the corpse with Elijah’s storage bag. Elijah continued to lead the goblins north. Less than three minutes passed before they encountered their next enemy.
Firefly Lvl 37 Energy: 2,300/3,800
Health: 120/120 Stamina: 270/280 Mental: 1,500/1,900
Attack: (2) 4 Defense: (4) 8 Astral Attack: (20) 40 Astra; Defense: (25) 50
The fireflies looked like normal fireflies, but they were the size of ping pong balls. Some of the bugs, slowly flew through the air while others clung to the trees. However, all of the fireflies released a soft orange light from their tails. The light periodically cycled between bright and dim, helping to create a captivating scenery.
At first glance, the fireflies seemed very benign and harmless. However, the information Elijah obtained with his Supreme Eyes was the first thing that gave them away. The second thing was the mental influence urging Elijah to walk closer to the tree.
Naturally, Elijah easily resisted this mental urging. The same couldn’t be said for the goblins though. Other than Clink, all the goblins started slowly walking toward the tree with a dazed look in their eyes.
Clink was confused by the other goblins behaviors and demanded that they explain what was going on. He didn’t receive an answer. Before he could take a more physical approach Elijah stopped him and commanded him to wait.
When the goblins got closer to the tree the fireflies were on, Elijah saw the tree extend its branches toward them. At that time, Elijah used his Supreme Speech skill to give two commands. One command was to wake up and the other ordered them to move to his side.
Once the goblin was out of danger, Elijah waited to see how the enemy would respond. Neither the trees nor the fireflies did anything. Elijah wasn’t in a rush, so he continued to carefully observe the situation.
Focusing on the different trees in the area, Elijah noticed bones and furs by their roots and in their branches. There was no blood, but Elijah knew that multiple creatures were killed recently. After Elijah finished observing the area he decided to leave, but he did make a note of the location.
Both the spiders and the fireflies had tricky hunting methods, but Elijah didn’t become more alert after his encounter with them. Instead, he became relaxed since he was able to use his talents to easily neutralize the danger. Which is part of the reason why Elijah fell prey to a sneak attack from snakes.
Snakes, indistinguishable from the branches they were resting on, fell onto Elijah and the goblins as they passed underneath a tree. At that time, Elijah’s focus was on a group of thirty-six rabbits in the distance, so he didn’t pay much attention to the falling snakes masquerading as branches. However, Elijah and a few other goblins were able to easily avoid the danger by stepping out of the way.
Fake branches were falling on the rabbits Elijah was observing as well, but they were focused on eating the bear corpse they surrounded. As the fake branches fell on the rabbits Elijah’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw them twist around the rabbits. Elijah’s Supreme Astral Sense was able to recognize the fake branches as snakes after they started attacking. Once again, Elijah was surprised that there was something that could hide from his astral sense, but he was shocked when he felt something slithering up his leg.
Luckily, Elijah was able to quickly react and stop the snake before it went too far. Elijah felt the snake bite into his leg as he dropped his spear and reached down to pull it out of his pants. Elijah was successful, but the snake managed to snag a piece of his flesh on its way out.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Pissed off from the pain, Elijah immediately activated his Supreme Combat skill. The snake, whose length was greater than Elijah’s height, was flailing round in his right hand and Elijah’s left hand shot forward to grab its head. Elijah wanted to tear the snake in two, but he had to wait for the debuff to wear off before he continued moving.
You received 24 (96) critical damage.
You have been poisoned. Vit check. You receive 4.1 (21) poison damage every second for the next ten seconds.
You have been paralyzed. Vit check. You are paralyzed for 5.1 (22) seconds.
Chameleon Snake Lvl 49 Energy: 3,400/5,000
Health: 542/750 Stamina: 415/500 Mental: 290/400
Attack: (24) 48 Defense: (11) 22
While Elijah waited for the debuff to wear off he looked at the snake’s information and used his astral sense to see how the goblins were doing. Not good. Twenty goblins, close to half of the goblins in the group, were paralyzed and most likely poisoned, while the remaining goblins were in a disorganized state because of the sneak attack.
Unable to move, Elijah could only hope that the paralyzed goblins were not poisoned or at least given a poison weaker than his. Elijah’s worry coupled with the fact that he was in a helpless position left him unsure of what he should do or what he could do next. Thankfully, Elijah was using his Supreme Combat skill, and it guided him toward his next step.
Supreme Will
Ruler Suppression
Ruler Suppression was an ability granted by Elijah’s ruler specialty. At his current level, Elijah was able to suppress all of his enemies by forty percent. Coupled with the pressure from his talent the snakes froze and the goblins that could move, worked together to kill all the snakes.
For the next three seconds, Elijah monitored the paralyzed goblins while he anxiously waited for his paralysis to wear off. The moment Elijah was free, he used his right hand to slam the snake onto the ground and ran toward the goblins he thought had the greatest risk of death. He knew the snake wasn’t dead, but he was sure the other goblins would finish it off. Right now, he needed to focus all of his energy on the goblins, if he wished to save them in time.
Elijah failed.
Of the twenty paralyzed goblins, Elijah was able to heal three and twelve recovered on their own. The rest of the goblins dropped to the ground after their health reached zero. Looking at the fallen goblins, Elijah felt frustrated, and that frustration rapidly morphed into anger.
Did Elijah have a strong emotional connection to the goblins that died? No, Elijah barely remembered their names. Also, the goblins weren’t truly Elijah’s people, so he didn’t feel the pain and other emotions they experienced before they died. Most importantly, Elijah still saw the goblins as characters in a game.
No, what made Elijah frustrated, angry, and filled with fury, was the fact that he fucked up. Him, Elijah, the supreme ruler, through lack of planning and careless behaviors, allowed the people following him to die. Elijah’s face twisted from disgust and rage as if someone purposefully spat on his face.
Grabbing his spear Elijah stood and glared at the rabbits in the distance. He saw the snakes were almost finished dealing with the rabbits that fell prey to their sneak attack. Most of the rabbits were dead and a few were already in the bellies of some snakes. If it wasn’t for one angry ruler the snakes would probably be able to pat there, tails, and slither away.
“KIL!”
Mirage Step
With a single step, Elijah appeared in front of the group of snakes and swung his spear down on the back of a snake’s head. It was a critical hit. Elijah repeated the attack two more times and killed the snake he targeted.
Two seconds was all Elijah needed to finish off the first snake. By then all the snakes realized an enemy was in their midst and turned to hiss at him. Elijah responded to their hiss with his own form of aggression.
Supreme Will
Ruler Suppression
In an instant, all the snakes froze, but Elijah didn’t. Charging forward, Elijah randomly attacked the snakes without any strategy or skill. His two desires at the moment, were to vent his anger and do as much damage as possible before the snakes regained their courage.
Five seconds later, Elijah felt the snakes start to fight against his suppression, so he removed his Ruler Suppression from most of the snakes. Doing this would prevent Elijah from being weakened if a random snake broke through his suppression and it allowed him to focus on the snakes in his immediate vicinity.
“Don’t move!”
Supreme Shout was used on the tier one snake that Elijah thought was the leader. Elijah couldn’t be sure because there were two other tier one snakes with same level, fifty-one, as the snake he was about to kill. Of course, it didn’t matter since Elijah planned to kill all three of them. Plus, he saw through his astral sense that the goblins arrived and were about to start attacking the snakes.
Relying on his skills, talents, high attack, and critical hits, Elijah was able to kill the three snakes on his own. Since the three snakes were at the first tier, they had more health than the other snakes and it took more hits for Elijah to bring their health points to zero. Thankfully, Elijah could rely on his Supreme Shout skill to keep the snakes stunned and his Supreme Power skill helped increased the damage he dealt with each hit.
Once Elijah was done, he moved to assist the goblins, but they didn’t need his help. The goblins numbers allowed them to overwhelm the snakes. Also, they were already benefiting from Elijah’s Ruler’s Presence, and Elijah’s Supreme Will, was still affecting all the snakes. It was obvious that Elijah’s ‘help’ was an excuse he used to continue venting his frustration. However, none of the goblins would dare to speak up against this angry supreme.