章 129: Leave no witness, I beg you! part 1

There is no goblin village here!

I don't even know how it is supposed to look like, but there's not even traces of buildings nearby. All I see around me is tree stumps and some bushes Either they moved long ago or... there never was a goblin village here to begin with.

At this point, I'm not even worried of being found out by goblins, Kinta didn't even know the way and he took the lead on the last part of the trip. Most likely, we're lost and he kept quiet because he's too proud to admit it.

I hear a disturbing howl in the distance and the hairs on the back of my neck all stand up at once. The amarok came out of the forest, I bet he's trying to tell me something's wrong, but even when he was the size of a regular dog he still had the strength to break a wall, now he's grown to the size of a medium wolf I don't really think they've been attacked.

I start walking back, but then I notice there's no one over there.

Did they just leave me behind?

I bet Kinta would have loved to do so, traitorous bastard!

It would be one thing to find blood or traces of fighting, but there's pieces of cloth scattered all over the place. Just how bothersome can that guy be!?

Without any clue on where they headed I can't follow them. I could try to activate sense presence but It consumes a great deal of energy, especially if it's set to a wide range, and I prefer to keep it as my last resource.

"Hey buddy, do you think you'll be able to follow their scent?"

The amarok wagged it's tail furiously. I swear, if he finds them I'll finally think on a proper name for him. I drop the bags with supplies on the ground to pick up the clothing, but when the bags hit the ground one of them opened and it was filled with stones.

It was a set up all along. They were trying to tire me out before making their move.

After unstrapping the dog and taking the cat in my arms, I let him sniff a random piece of cloth which happened to be Sera's panties. I'd probably blush if something like this happened in front of other people, but now I can't afford to worry about those kind of things.

The amarok darted through the bushes in what seemed to be just a random direction, until I realize there's a clear path in front of me. The amarok is fast, but I somehow manage to follow his pace.

Since Kinta already threatened Mia in front of Shortie and Thea and they didn't say a thing, it can only mean they're working together. The chances of solving this without a fight are slim to none and I need to prepare for the worst case scenario.

After a while of running through the dense vegetation, the amarok slows down until it stops.

"What is it? did you lose their track?"

He just tilts his head and sits.

I don't know if he understood what I said or not, but he's refusing to go any further. I take this chance to tinker with my skills.

Strength boost, Adrenaline rush, Dexterity boost, Stamina regeneration, Health regeneration, Evasion, Boldness, Stone skin, Stealth and pathfinding are among the ones I activated. The last one is kind of like the light step skill that allowed Anne to walk without leaving foot tracks, but it also seems to allow me to move faster in obstructed terrain.

I left all the weapon related skills on because I found out their energy consumption was so low they never turn off by themselves, even if I activate all my passive skills at once.

Now it's time to activate sense presence and try to find them from the distance, but then I noticed a strange message at the bottom of the display.

>Quest: enemies 0/12

What!? What does that even mean!?

There's no description, does it mean there are goblins nearby?

I rush to activate my sence presence skill and everything starts making sense.

I can't really tell who is who at this distance, but there's many enemies nearby. I can't see them, it's only a sensation like there's someone watching me and it gets stronger the closer I get.

The reason why it's so different from the time I was surrounded by ants is because I learned to control it so it doesn't hurt my head. I've been practicing a lot with it since it's so useful, and now all my hard work has paid off.

The reason why the amarok stopped right here was because there's a guy approximately thirty meters ahead. It seems like he didn't see me so I may be able to deal with him swiftly.

I get close enough to see him without being spotted, my sense presence tells me he's somewhere above me, which can only mean he's on top of a tree.

It's a man wearing light clothes and he's got a single shoulderpad on the left side. I can't see any details from behind the bush I'm hiding, but I try to analyze his gear to check if he's wearing some sort of neck protection.

I need to take him out silently, which means I can't afford to knock him unconscious, I'll have to kill him in a single attack and I can't let something like when I fought the captain of Bianca's guards back at Ironwoods to happen again. That guy was wearing a leather gorget that got in the way and things got messy afterwards.

Pants, robe, boots, shoulderpad and many concealed weapons, but no neck protection or any weapon on his hands currently.

I climb up the tree right next to the one where the guy is. He's resting on a branch but his eyes are open. I get close enough without being noticed thanks to my stealth skill.

I move from below, taking advantage of his position and reach towards his neck. I slide the obsidian dagger across the man's throat and blood spurts upright like a geyser. I quickly take cover to avoid getting soaked in blood and the man falls from the branch he was resting on the ground like a ripe fruit.

>Skill acquired: assassination

>Enemies 1/12

I don't even have the time to check if he's still alive so I quickly stab him with my spare sword repeatedly. His face was completely liveless, but his eyes were looking at me, no, they were empty as if they were looking right behind me.

Uh? what is this feeling? my hands are trembling, my heart is racing and I'm shaking like a leaf.

I lose the grip on my sword and it falls to the ground, not long after I fall to my knees and start puking my guts out.

I can't focus, the man's face is engraved in my mind and I can't think on anything else.

Shit! I forgot to turn on calm mind!

My hands are so shaky I can barely pick up my soulbound card, I can't activate or deactivate passive skills without tapping it but I'm failing miserably and tap everywhere but where I'm supposed to, after a few tries I manage to tap the right place and then, I went back to my old self.

It's as if I don't care about anything anymore and my only worry is to accomplish my task.

I run in the direction my sense presence skill guides me and I get near a clearing in the forest. I can see it in the distance, but I can feel many presences nearby so I stop myself from running head on into trouble.

I turn my back to the clearing and take cover behind a bush.

"You guys take care of any weak or distracted enemy gets back into the forest, but if they're strong avoid getting caught."

I whisper to my pets crouching near them.

As I get closer to the clearing I see Thea's naked torso facing to the ground, the rest of her body is behind a tree and I can't see it. My first instinct is to run over there and rescue her immediately, but thanks to calm mind I was able to think things through. She's most likely on Kinta's side so there must be something going on. Then I notice her strange movements, she seems to be twitching in a rythmic fashion as if she was being pushed from behind.

Sense presence alerts me there's someone behind her and, despite not being able to see behind the tree, I quickly made sense of the situation.

I get closer to her keeping a finger on my lips signalling her to be quiet, she's facing towards me but she's not even aware of my presence. Her expresionless face remains all the same as I turn around the tree and slide the man's throat in a single movement.

>Enemies 2/12

>skill acquired: Single strike

Without emitting a sound he drops dead right on top of Thea, her pale skin became a canvas painted in crimsom.

She's completely unresponsive, but I won't be using my consider skill on her now because it's effects can be overwhelming. Her face is covered in tears and snot, her eyes are wide open and she's not even blinking. All these are symptomps of paralysis.

I don't feel any pity, she simply picked the wrong side and she paid the consequences.

I'll have to be careful, one or more of them may be using some sort of poison.

Before I'm able to pull the naked corpse on top of Thea, another guy steps in and I quickly run to cover myself behind the bushes. If my fight against that goblin taught me anything is the importance of concealing yourself.

I may not be able to do it during a battle, but as long as I'm able to land the first hit I'm confident I can win against twelve people, even if it's one by one. Well, after killing two of them it should be only ten.

"Hey, why are you taking so long? it's my turn already, you don't have to keep appearances! we let you first because we know you can barely last a couple minutes hahahaha!"

The man mocks his companion, not knowing he's already dead. If he finds out I'll miss my chance and this one looks a lot tougher than the other two.

I'm in an awkard position and I won't be able to strike from behind, but at this distance I doubt he'll be able to dodge an arrow to the face. After sheathing my sword I draw my bow. I guess being a support is not so bad, It's my duty to carry many different weapons on me, too bad I left the carcaj at the pushcart and I only have a single iron tip arrow.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! did you fall asleep on top of that bitch?"

The chunky man that looks like a warrior kicks his companion and tips him over.

"Hey! are you ok? what happened? did the bitch do something to you?"

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