Chapter 18

What was it that System had told him? Goblins in the valley were between levels 7 and 21? That sounded right to Luke. He’d killed probably a hundred of them and had never found one higher than level 9, until now.

These goblins were definitely higher than level 9. Physically speaking, they were bulkier, taller, and moved with that easy grace that Luke himself was becoming more and more familiar with each time he leveled up.

This was a no-win situation for him. He’d expected to run rough-shod over any opposition and only worried about getting bogged down in numbers, specifically numbers wielding crossbows since he could just outrun goblins with swords and axes. He hadn’t expected to find a fucking goblin that was a higher level than him with a whole posse of minions that were the same level. Luke did the only sensible thing he could. He turned and ran.

Goblins weren’t the best marksmen, but with so many, one of them was bound to land a lucky shot if he just ran in a straight line. So Luke didn’t do that. He juked right around the closest workbench and flipped it with one hand. That was only because he knew it wouldn’t take any time to do and it might serve as a visual distraction or possibly even break line of sight on a few of them.

He heard the distinctive twang of crossbows firing and dove into a roll to make himself a smaller target. Rather, he tried to, but [Twitch Reflexes] took over and he ended up doing something that was more akin to a one-handed cartwheel where half way through, his whole body twisted as his legs kicked into a spin. Somehow, he didn’t break his neck.

He also didn’t stick the landing, but considering he had miraculously dodged every single bolt, he wasn’t going to complain about having to scramble back to his feet. The original plan had been to just jump the wall when it was time to escape, which was why he’d gone out of his way to take out the goblins in the sentry tower. He didn’t want to get shot while he was in the air.

Maybe he’d gotten unlucky and chosen the worst possible time to do a smash and grab. Maybe all of the patrols were back at once for a meeting. Maybe he’d severely underestimated the number of goblins. Whatever the reason, once they’d fired off a shot and needed to reload, he ducked around the nearest hut and went straight for the wall. Hopefully they hadn’t been smart enough to fire in volleys.

There had definitely been more than six or seven bolts, so he thought he was safe there. The wall was coming up fast, and he heard goblins running after him, so there was no more time to think about it. He leaped straight up and dove over the wall, his body almost horizontal to clear it, and also to make a smaller target just in case any goblin did have a loaded crossbow.

For half a second, he thought he’d gambled and lost when he felt something impact his back. Then he realized that it wasn’t a bolt; it was a whole damn goblin. One of them had not only chased after him, it had caught up with him midair after jumping higher and landing feet first on top of him! Luke’s forward momentum abruptly became downward momentum, and he was in no way prepared for that.

He hit the dirt on the other side of the wall with a hard thump, but the pain was a minor distraction compared to the fact that the goblin had ridden him down and he was in an incredibly vulnerable position. Fortunately, he was physically stronger than damn near any human in history, and goblins were pretty light besides. That tended to happen when a species struggled to get past four feet tall.

Luke rolled, and there was nothing the goblin could do to stop him. It danced on top of him to keep its footing and was already bringing down a pair of short swords when he got it into view. There was no way he was stopping them with his bare hands, so he didn’t even try. Instead, he seized the goblin’s ankles and heaved it straight up. It flew up about five feet before it regained control of itself and started coming back down, blades first.

That gave Luke enough time to roll away and get back to his feet. He tossed the bag of tools off to the side and pulled his mace free in one smooth motion, intent on smashing the goblin’s face in and making off with his ill-gotten gains. Instead, he found himself immediately on the defensive as he fought a creature with much higher agility than him. His mace, which felt as light as a toothpick these days, couldn’t move fast enough to deflect every one of the goblin’s strikes.

[Twitch Reflexes] saved his ass in those first few seconds, and [Counter] was the only reason he was able to keep the goblin from keeping the pressure on him until he was overwhelmed. Those combined with [Mace Mastery] kept him alive, and Luke once again silently thanked his brother for his foresight. He never would have thought to take those skills, probably never would even have found them amidst the thousands of available options.

What none of his skills told him was how to win. All he was doing was hanging in the fight, completely on the defensive except when [Counter]triggered. The goblin easily dodged all his attacks and came right back in. Luke could see the frustration mounting on his face, but he didn’t have time to wait for it to make a mistake. There were more than a dozen other goblins probably scrambling to catch up, and several of them were at least as high level as he was. One was higher.

He needed a decisive and quick win. That was where his brother’s notes came in. The build was all well and good, but Curt’s ideas on how Luke should fight were where he found what to do. That answer was simple, but also frightening. He needed to accept that he was going to take a hit or two, trust in his stamina to keep him going, and put the goblin in the ground. He was missing the regenerating [Life Surge] ability that would make that easy, but that just meant a bit of pain.

The hard part was fighting against the movements his skills were pushing. They were trying to keep him safe, but the goblin was so fast that there were basically no exploitable openings. Luke took a risk and hopped back a step while swinging his mace in a wide arc to force his opponent back. Predictably, it ducked under the attack and came in while he was still swinging. Its leading sword slashed a red-hot line of pain across his stomach.

So Luke kicked it in the face as hard as 18 strength would let him. Bones crunched, blood went flying, and lost teeth bounced across the ground. The goblin howled as it was launched straight back so hard it ended up flipping through the air to land on its stomach. Before it could recover, Luke leaped forward and brought his mace down on its skull.

As usual, smacking something in the head was an excellent finishing move. He got the ding of a notification, but didn’t have time to check it. The fight hadn’t even lasted a minute, but that was more than enough time for reinforcements to catch up. Two of them had jumped the walls, both were probably about the same level as him, and he could see five of the scraggly creatures climbing the ladder up to the lookout tower, all with crossbows hanging from straps and full quivers.

“Time to go,” Luke said. He wasn’t interested in a fair fight, let alone one that was unfair in their favor. Instead of sticking around, he scooped up his bag and sprinted west and north, following the curve of the valley in an effort to outdistance the smaller goblins on open terrain.

The cut on his stomach burned, but it was shallow and treatable. He’d take care of it later. For now, all he needed to do was run as fast and as far as he could. Luke’s legs pumped and his lungs worked like bellows to keep him moving. He sprinted a mile in about three minutes, leaving the goblins far, far behind, and eventually slowed down to duck into the trees.

From there, it was just a matter of taking his normal precautions while walking back to his camp. He kept an eye out for any plants that [Survivalist] thought would be useful for pain management, healing, and reducing the chance of infection. He would probably be fine without all of that, but he didn’t put those AP into a rank up just to not use the new knowledge it provided.

As he walked, he mentally inventoried his haul. It wasn’t a full workshop by any means, but it was a good start to really being able to build things. It was going to be a lot of effort, but it’d be worth it for the extra security while he was stuck in Tenebrous Valley.

Luke had plans, and he was well on his way to getting those started.

* * *

Gulgok returned to the lodge and sat back down on his throne. It was an ugly thing, carved from a single block of wood and studded with metal spikes. Thin ropes hung from the spikes on either side of the chair, laced through the eye sockets of the bloodstained skulls of vanquished goblins. It was a macabre background, one that Gulgok had intentionally cultivated. It reminded his tribe of who was in charge, and why.

It reminded his enemies why the Bloodbite tribe claimed the most territory and boasted the highest level warriors. Gulgok found such a reminder to be very useful when he needed to persuade the other bosses of something.

An exceptionally wide goblin named Bulgrit entered the lodge and approached the throne. Most goblins would grovel before him, but not Bulgrit. He was the Boss’s Right Hand, second only to Gulgok himself and foremost among his elites.

“The Day Hunter outran our scouts,” Bulgrit reported.

Gulgok wasn’t surprised. Whatever that thing was, it was smart. It struck during the brightest hours, when his kinsmen’s eyes were at their weakest. It was strong and fast, capable of killing one of the inferior laborers in a single strike. Even his scouts and raiders had met with nothing but failure when they crossed the Day Hunter’s path.

Too many goblins had died to the monster. It wasn’t just his own tribe either. The Grimshards and Bluerocks were suffering regular casualties. Gulgok had been hoping one of the other tribes would spend their elites killing the Day Hunter, but now that it had taken a special interest in their lumber yard, it looked like they didn’t have much of a choice.

Today the Day Hunter wanted tools. How long would it be before it came back for the lumber? How long before it decided to put pressure on his lumber yard until there were no goblins left? Why build its own work space when it could just take from Gulgok? The Day Hunter was strong, no doubt, but Gulgok had felt its power for himself. It wasn’t that strong, yet.

That was the problem though: time. It was getting stronger at an incredibly fast rate. Gulgok was to the point where if he slaughtered his entire workforce, he would gain perhaps a single level. He might gain one more from his warriors, and perhaps a third level from his elites. But then he would be alone, one goblin against hundreds from the other tribes.

The Day Hunter was already one against hundreds. It did not care how many goblins it killed in its ascent to power. They needed to stop it now, before it grew too strong to handle.

“Send runners to the Bluerock and Grimshard tunnels,” he ordered. “Inform Qarsik and Margl that I am calling a Bossmoot. We are killing this monster while we still can.”