Chapter 14: Goblin Spear-Guard (2)
It was a fence.
It had been hidden quite well, cleverly covered beneath a curtain of thick leafy vines, but now that he was looking at it, Arthur could clearly make out the jagged tops of sharp wooden stakes forming a kind of barrier. It wasn’t tall, maybe shoulder height at most, but it was definitely artificial.
This was what the goblin guards were protecting!
"A camp. This must be a goblin settlement!"
Arthur’s heart kicked against his ribs as he slowly stepped back, making sure he was still covered behind the trees. He stared at the goblin guards and considered his options for a second.
This was a rare find, but fighting these goblins head-on was clearly suicide. There was no question about that. Arthur didn’t know how strong these Spear-Guards were, but even a level 3 goblin would probably be enough to give him trouble, even with their predictable attack pattern and mindless aggression, let alone these presumably enhanced versions.
Besides, a fight breaking out right outside the settlement was bound to alert the rest of the goblins, right?
Arthur’s grip on the fang tightened, yet... he somehow felt a sense of excitement?
It was difficult to rationalize his thoughts, but he could feel it deep in his heart. He felt excited.
"Just how much EXP would these things give me? What kind of items would they drop?"
Arthur took a deep breath while his mind began to work in overdrive.
He had to try it. He couldn’t take both of these things at once, but he wasn’t planning to.
All he needed to do was isolate one of them. Draw it away and take it out in silence.
He leaned against the trunk of the tree behind him, an idea already forming in his mind. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was probably doable. There was just one small detail he had to deal with first.
He pulled open his status window and looked at his stats.
[Name: Arthur Shaw]
[Age: 19]
[Species: Human]
[Class: Mage]
[Title: Child of the Elements (Unique), Goblin Slayer (Common)]
[Level: 2]
[HP: 56/60]
[Mana: 130]
[Strength: 4+]
[Intelligence: 7+]
[Wisdom: 6+]
[Agility: 3+]
[Vitality: 3+]
[Elemental Affinity: Fire (Minor)]
[Skills: None]
[Unassigned stat points: 2]
His eyes dropped to the line at the very bottom, on the two stat points he had been planning to save. Then, after a moment of silence, he tapped the [+] symbols beside Strength and Agility, pushing each of them up by one point. The numbers flicked upward instantly.
Strength: 5
Agility: 4
Unassigned Stat Points: 0
Once again, Arthur didn’t feel any different. Things were the same as when he’d leveled up. There was no rush of speed or burst of power. Just a small surge of warmth threading through his limbs like a slow current.
It was barely noticeable, and it was gone a second later.
Arthur dismissed his status window and returned his focus to the nearest goblin guard.
It stood a few meters away from the hidden fence, occasionally shifting its weight or adjusting the grip on its spear. Its partner mirrored its movement from the opposite side. Neither strayed too far. And that was exactly what Arthur was going to bank on.
He narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Then, he stepped out from behind the trees and into the open.
Almost immediately, both goblins snapped their heads at him. Their thin, slitted eyes locked onto him as their postures stiffened.
But Arthur didn’t stop. He bent down, picked up a nearby stone the size of his fist, and hurled it straight into the goblin camp.
The rock flew by the left goblin and landed behind it with a solid thunk.
The imp’s eyes widened. Maybe it was the provocation from the rock, or maybe it was the trespasser coming so close to the settlement, but the goblin let out a loud, piercing shriek before immediately lunging forward.
But Arthur was already on the move.
He turned around and bolted straight for the forest behind him, sprinting through the foliage as fast as his legs could carry him. A few of the nearby branches whipped at his arms and chest, but he didn’t stop.
He didn’t need to look back to know the goblin was chasing him.
He could hear it.
That rhythmic slap of bare feet slamming against the dirt, accompanied by those guttural snarls growing louder and louder with every second. It was getting closer!
But Arthur didn’t panic.
He threw a glance over his shoulder, just one. And when he saw only a single goblin chasing after him, his mouth twisted into a grin.
His gamble had paid off. The second guard had stayed behind to protect the camp, just like he’d expected.
...Of course it had!
Arthur had been almost certain that only one of the goblins would chase after him, if any.
The other one would have to stay behind and guard the settlement. This wasn’t a baseless guess, nor was it an assumption that came from his understanding of goblin behavior. No, this was just the normal thing to do.
If these hideous imps were coordinated enough to set up a camp in the middle of the forest and even have guards stationed outside the entrance, they should at least understand this much, right? That they couldn’t leave their gates completely unprotected.
It was a simple but quite unbreakable spell.
Either one of them would have to chase after the intruder, or none at all.
And with this, Arthur had successfully separated the two goblins.
Now for the hard part...
He kept running until the sounds of the camp were far behind him and the trees around had grown thicker again. It was only when Arthur was sure that they were far enough from the settlement that his feet skidded to a stop and he spun around to face his armored pursuer.
The Spear-Guard goblin didn’t hesitate. It let out another loud shriek and lunged at the human who had finally decided to face it, raising its spear as its eyes blazed with fury. It went straight for the heart.
Arthur hurriedly dodged to the side, barely avoiding the first thrust. The spearhead whistled past his ribs by inches.
Too fast!
The goblin spun and stabbed again, and again. It was clearly untrained and only knew how to thrust, but its attacks were relentless and came in rapid succession, so Arthur had no choice but to go on the defensive.
He dodged what he could and parried the rest with the fang in a desperate manner as he slowly gave ground.
The goblin wasn’t skilled, that much was obvious, but he was no master of the dagger, either. Had it not been for the Goblin’s Fang, the only knife he’d ever held had been in the kitchen of his grandfather’s restaurant.
Thankfully, the guard’s pattern was simple enough that he could predict most of its attacks.
Each impact rattled his wrist to the point where he could only grit his teeth and take it.
Whether it was in terms of strength or speed, this Goblin Spear-Guard was clearly on another level. It wasn’t just its crude weapon or the patchy armor it wore. It was how the damn thing moved.
It was faster, sharper, and more aggressive than the mindless imps Arthur had faced before.
Still... its movements weren’t exactly disciplined.
It didn’t know how to feint. It didn’t vary its rhythm. It just kept thrusting.
One. Two. Three seconds apart.
Arthur soon realized that each stab followed the same beat. A three-second interval.
Arthur’s heart began to slow down. He was getting used to this, to the point where he could dodge more and more of the goblin’s strikes without having to parry them.
In the end, this thing was also a goblin.
So he took a deep breath and watched the goblin’s grip. He waited for its next thrust.
And when it came, Arthur struck.
With a sharp sweep of his fang, he slashed downward, not at the goblin’s arm, but at the vines binding the crude fang-shaped spearhead to its shaft.
He didn’t know if it was possible to pull it off, but he went for that tiny opening like a man possessed.
The fang tore through the vine in a single clean cut, as the spear’s head snapped loose and fell onto the grass.
The goblin froze, its eyes widening in disbelief.
But Arthur didn’t give it another second.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and drove his dagger upward without any delay. into the soft flesh under the goblin’s chin.
The fang punched through skin and muscle and sank deep into the soft flesh under the goblin’s chin... before a level 3 goblin crumpled to the ground with a thud.
[Goblin Spear-Guard defeated. +18 EXP]
