Chapter 25: Goblin Mistakes and Di*k Snort Monkeys
Fifteen climbers, half cup terrifying and half hideous, stood waist-deep in four feet of swamp, growling every few seconds.
Twelve of them looked like someone had fused a humanoid jackal and an overgrown sewer rat. Their skin was gray with a sickly green tint, covered in rotten wounds and patches of mangy fur. Green slime dripped from their jagged fangs and hit the swamp with a nasty sizzle.
The other three looked like ’Proboscis monkeys’, five times the normal size, with those dick-shaped noses dangling halfway to their chins. All three screeched like a Karen denied a parking spot, shaking the nearby leaves. With bodies that massive, they could pin a gorilla and F... pluck his fleas.
Up on the third floor, William was sweating buckets, watching climbers through the system screen. All the fairies were huddled behind him, scared by their shit faces, while Cent, Mutt, and Grey stood next to him. Sure, he’d prepared better this time, but not for a full-blown gangbang.
He needed to thin their numbers before the beast hit the third floor, or else they were all screwed. First things first, stats check. He popped open the status window for the ones in larger numbers.
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Name: Gnoblins (C-rank)
Race: Gnoll&Goblin hybrid
Rank: Tier 1 (Intermediate)
Attributes
Strength: 16
Constitution: 13
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 10
Mana: 12
Affinity: Poison
Skill
Venom Claw (Intermediate)
Strikes with venom-coated claws, inflicting low-level poison and continuous damage over time.
⟡⟡⟡
Gnoblins’ illustration attached.
[A/N]: I will be reducing the ’⟡’ symbol.
The tower system claimed the climbers’ max rank would be high. William had been hoping for some low-tier climbers to get played by the little sharks in the swamp, but the gods clearly had other plans and sent twelve fucking intermediates, with a troublesome skill.
Cent could handle a few on his own, but with so many, if he got hit by their skill too often, William had no clue if Green Bloom or Lumin Dust would even work against the stacked poison effect.
The shitshow wasn’t over yet. William looked at the other three, these dick-nose monkeys looked stronger than the goblin mistakes. He gave the mental command and pulled up their status too.
⟡⟡⟡
Name: Snobtrox (B-Rank)
Race: Big Snortimps
Rank: Tier 1 (High)
Attributes
Strength: 32
Constitution: 30
Agility: 22
Intelligence: 15
Mana: 25
Affinity: Sound
Skills
Screeching Shockwave (Intermediate)
Releases a focused sonic shockwave in a straight line up to 3 meters, dealing 20% increases damage and 20% chance of concussion.
Snort Bagpipe (Intermediate)
Continuously inflates and deflates its massive nose, creating a sound aura field within 5 meters that disrupts concentration and perception by 20% for 30 seconds.
⟡⟡⟡
Snobtroxs’ illustration attached.
William stared at the status of factory-defect monkey kings, panic crawling up his spine. Sure, their attributes were high, but not as high as his. The real pain in the ass was their skills. How the hell do you block a sound attack? If it were physical, he could just parry it away with his sword. And there was a second debuff skill on top of it.
He had to come up with a plan fast to cut their numbers by at least a third. For now, he glanced back at the screen just as the climbers started to move.
All fifteen climbers spawned at the southern edge of the floor. The platform was fifty meters away at the center, but with the dense web of trees and vines, they couldn’t see shit past five meters.
The Snobtrox moved first, dashing up nearby trees to get a heighted view of the surroundings. Meanwhile, the Gnoblins slogged slowly toward the eastern side of the swamp. They’d barely made it a few meters when, suddenly, two of them howled, head arching backward, they both shot out of the swamp water.
Their lower halves broke the surface, revealing piranhas gnawing on their flesh, one had its teeth sunk right at the base of a Gnoblin’s tail. With a splash, both dropped back into the swamp. They weren’t even done flailing when three more howls erupted from behind.
The others turned and saw three Gnoblins locked in place, their bodies convulsing. None of them dared get close to whatever was under the water. Beneath the murk, three long slithery eels had wrapped around their legs and unleashed their thunder bind skill.
Smoke curled from their fur before, one by one, the Gnoblins flopped into the swamp because of the paralysing effect.
Watching the marine troops underswamp assault, the rest of the Gnoblins bolted for the trees. They splashed across the swamp while hacking at the water with their claws, not taking any risk.
The water around the bitten Gnoblins turned a sickly green with their blood, but those bastards just wouldn’t die. Piranhas were low-tier, it’d take much more than a few bites to finish off an intermediate. After a few seconds, both Gnoblins stood up and started ripping the piranhas off their bodies one by one.
They didn’t have to try hard to deal with the piranhas. No need to use their skill, their claws were enough. Only the one who gnawed under the tail got a taste of poison treatment. By the end, five piranhas floated dead on the swamp water.
The other seven were on a separate roasted Gnoblins buffet. The eels’ ambush had paralysed them, leaving them to suffocate under the swamp while the little sharks feasted. One thing about these little devils, they loved soft, fatty meat. First, they flattened the Gnoblins’ asses, then moved on to their thighs and calves.
As if things weren’t bad enough, the eels slithered up and wrapped around their necks, squeezing with everything they had. The combo of suffocation and nonstop blood loss was enough for them, as the Gnoblin trio died before they could even fight back.
While the Gnoblins were busy getting mauled by swamp demons, the Snobtrox had already spotted the floor platform by a small clearing of trees at the center of the swamp. When they came back to regroup, three Gnoblin corpses suddenly bobbed to the surface.
The Snobtrox’s faces twisted, becoming more ass than before. One of them dropped down from a tree, stopping just a couple of meters from the floating corpses. With a guttural snort, he unleashed his Screeching Shockwave. The air split with a deafening boom, rattling the nearby trees. The shockwave slammed into the bodies, sending them skidding back across the swamp like a flat stone on a lake.
Snobtrox hadn’t blasted the corpses just for fun or anger, he was fishing for the ones responsible, hiding under the murky water. Sure enough, along with the Gnoblin bodies, two piranhas and an eel shot out of the swamp. The piranhas were instantly knocked out, while the eel thrashed midair.
The Snobtrox who’d just unleashed the shockwave leapt up, snatching the eel out of the air. High rank or not, he could’ve ended that eel in a heartbeat, and the eel knew it damn well. But it wasn’t about to die doing nothing. Just as Snobtrox brought it to his mouth, the eel unleashed one last Thunder Bind.
The Snobtrox shuddered as the thunder hit, but it wasn’t nearly enough to paralyse him. Once the sparks faded, he brought the eel back to his mouth and tore it apart with his fangs.
With that over, the Snobtrox rejoined his buddies and fixed his gaze on the trees where nine Gnoblins clung, still terrified of the water like a bunch of pussy cats. One of the other Snobtrox let out a piercing screech, ordering the Gnoblins to get their asses moving toward the center.
The Gnoblins didn’t have much choice, so they followed them from behind, sticking to the trees and inching forward with the help of branches and vines.
On the third floor, William watched every detail. Snobtrox might look like dumb buffoons, but they actually had some brains. They had climbed the trees like naturals and spotted the floor platform with ease. On the other hand, Gnoblins? All brawl, no brains.
The forest swamp had done its job, knocking off three intermediates right off the bat. But now the enemy had found the floor platform, and their numbers were still way too damn high. William glanced over his troops, and when his eyes landed on the tiny red Imp, he smirked. "Let’s congratulate them with some fireworks for finding the finish line."
