บท 17: New Findings Slash Goblin Wipe-Out (2)

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[ Name : Red Rage ]

[ Tier : 0 ]

[ Class : None ]

[ Level : 2 ]

[ Race : Null Lifeform (Bone Boar) ]

[ Inv. Status : --- ]

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[ Stats ]

[ Strength : 15 ]

[Agility : 15 ]

[ Intelligence : 6 ]

[ Endurance : Infinite ]

[ Luck : 5 ]

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[ Health : 20/20 ]

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[ Mana : 30/30 ]

....

~~~

"Nice," Skullius remarked as he sprang into action while looking at Red Rage's status. The increase in stats pleased him and as he recalled how he had just blasted off the chin of the goblin.

Stat increments were more of a big deal than he thought.

'Like that time...' he thought while thinking back to a similar, recent instance where he had bashed in Red Rage's head. He had received an additional five stat points to strength that time from [Unbound] which worked on a 10:1 basis with the marked stat.

The power he had felt was immense and that was just 25 stat points. 25!

Now he had 45!

It was... a whole lot more!

The more he thought about it, the more he realised that he shouldn't really be surprised by his feat. It was logical. His increased intelligence gave a reassurance of that.

From beyond, four goblins of different sizes raced towards them.

The majority were relative in bulk except for the one that was trailing behind the rest with a height similar to Skullius' own. It was burly, with hair growing on its chest and belly.

"An undead!" the leading goblin screeched to a halt and exclaimed. It held a short sword and donned animal skin like its fellow goblins, a hard look on its face as it gazed at the Boneman!

The other goblins also noticed and came to a stop. Undead were usually not known for travelling on their lonesome unless they were extremely strong.

The group goblins were anticipating there to be others judging by Skullius' frame and thus their first instinct was to warn the others!

One of them, with a terror stricken face, split off from the group, bolting at top speed towards the settlement below!

Skullius saw this and immediately took action. He held the spear he had taken from the goblin he had killed and just as he was about to throw it... he stopped.

He looked at Red Rage and passed him the spear.

"You can throw right?" he asked. He had thought about how he was getting ahead of himself. While he had higher stats, he didn't have much in the way of skill. If he missed, they would lose their only long range weapon and have to retreat if the goblin brought reinforcements.

He took his chances with the supposed murder expert at his side instead.

Red Rage didn't idle or answer. He simply held the spear, cocked his arm and body, a surging strength that didn't come from flesh building up within him!

In the next moment, the short, bony figure threw the spear with great strength and accuracy under the watch of the shocked goblins!

The spear flew, hurtling towards the figure of the dashing goblin that was already 10 meters away!

FWOOSH!

The spear devoured the distance in an instant and penetrated the neck of the goblin from the back!

"OHHH!" Skullius exclaimed as he saw the goblin fall down after a short flight with the spear imbedded in its neck. "Red bro, what is it with you and the neck?!"

[Apostle 'Red Rage' has killed LV10 Foul Goblin. 350 Exp awarded]

[Apostle 'Red Rage' has levelled up]

[Apostle 'Red Rage' has learned the skill 'Flash Throw']

[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 59 seconds]

As Skullius received the notifications, he barely thought of anything else before speeding towards the corpse like a mad Boneman!

Red Rage followed behind.

"What?!"

The goblins tore themselves out of their daze. They were shocked by how easily their fellow scout was slaughtered.

What kind of undead were these?!

They even seemed to be cooperating!

Were they intelligent?

Looking around, they also found that there were no other undead.

"Don't let them get away! There's only two of them! We can kill them and then go to report this!" the goblin who had exclaimed earlier yelled as he rushed towards Skullius.

The goblins didn't know what Skullius was doing but letting these undead do what they wanted in their territory was unforgivable. One of them had even been killed!

Skullius reached the corpse and extended his hand, using Null Extraction to extract the Null Life Essence!

The stream of energy entered his body and he felt another burst of satisfaction.

"Great job, bro! I don't know how you're so good at killing and gaining skills so fast, but that's great for both of us," Skullius said as he grabbed the spear from the dead goblin and turn to face the incoming opponents.

The two smaller goblins shot from different directions in a pincer attack while the burly one attacked from Skullius' front!

'Alright, I just need to use my high stats to my advantage. I might not have skill, but I do have strength!' Skullius thought as he saw the incoming goblins approaching from both his sides.

They wanted to corner him, but he wouldn't let them.

He rushed forward with all the speed he could muster, the spear in hand!

The two other goblins saw the large Boneman flash from between them as it headed towards their burly companion and their eyes bulged!

That was unexpected but...

They looked to each other and nodded, one of them going after Skullius while the other headed for Red Rage.

The goblin that targeted Red Rage was the one with the short sword. It immediately swung its sword downwards when it came close to the Apostle, aiming for his head!

The short bony figure, now with 20 points of Agility sidestepped, barely dodging the attack! The attacking goblin didn't relent, laterally swinging its sword without delay while also kicking Red Rage's bony leg which buckled, causing him to stumble!

The goblin's sword blitzed through the air and aimed for Red Rage's head but the bony boar quickly raised one of his two daggers to block while in his awkward stance!

CLANG!

The two steel weapons clashed, the goblin finding that Red Rage had a considerable amount of strength despite his feeble appearance.

Immediately after the collision, the goblin was about to attack again when it suddenly felt a pain in its knee!

It stumbled to a fall, finding to its surprise that Red Rage had kicked it in the moment when it had decided to attack again!

This little...! He copied his move!

As the goblin fell, it saw the Apostle already launching another attack, its two daggers descending on it!

TCH!

"Graaaah!"

The two rusty weapons pierced into the goblin's two beady eyes malevolently!

Blood splashed out as the creature shrieked at the top of its lungs, losing its life moments later!

[Apostle 'Red Rage' has killed LV11 Foul Goblin. 310 Exp awarded]

[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 59 seconds]

As these notifications blossomed in Skullius' view, the Boneman was just getting started with his own show.

He reached the burly goblin that wielded a hammer with a stone head but didn't attack immediately as he sensed the presence of the goblin behind him!

The burly goblin swung down its heavy weapon which headed for Skullius' head as it grunted!

Skullius felt a burst of mana from the hammer.

'Mana?'

He dodged to the side with quick speed, avoiding being directly pounded into the ground!

The stone head of the weapon plunged into the crust with an intense noise that seemed a bit exaggerated!

Skullius found a strange ripple running through the ground and rattling his bones!

His mind was shaken for a bit...but that was it.

[You have been struck by 'Ripple Smash'. You have sustained damage. Damage has been reduced by 50%]

Right! As a Null Lifeform, Skullius naturally had a 50% reduction to physical damage, something he received after choosing his class!

'Was that a skill? It barely did anything though,' Skullius thought.

From behind him, the other goblin which wielded a dagger plunged it towards his skull before he could react and...

TING!

Despite the speed the dagger was packed with, it simply bounced off Skullius' foggy grey skull as if it has struck steel!

Skullius turned, his socket flames blazing with intensity as he looked down at the goblin which froze in shock.

"Hmph! Your weapons can do nothing against a true Boneman of Steel," Skullius said regally in the goblin tongue and added the signature tktktktktk.

'That was so cool!' he praised himself within while wishing Bonet was here to witness this scene... ahem, the illustrious Emperor Bonet.

"It speaks our tongue!" the goblin said as it backed away, the burly goblin also being taken aback.

Skullius immediately formed a fist with his hand and slammed down with all his strength at the goblin before him!

Shockingly, the goblin's head was bashed in, blood splattering as its head cracked open!

Its body shot against the ground underneath with a loud, grimace-worthy thud!

A soft shockwave blew out to accompany this as only a blood messy with portions of limbs remained on the ground.

[You have killed LV11 Foul Goblin. 300 Exp awarded]

[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 59 seconds]

Skullius extended his hand, drawing the Null Life Essence from the goblin under the bewildered gaze of his burly opponent.

He swiftly turned to the creature that was in a daze and thrusted his spear at it!

The creature instinctively reacted, dodging to the side but leaving its hammer on the ground.

"Ahh.." it groaned in fear as it thought to turn and run but Skullius rushed up to it and threw his fist into its face with all his might!

The Boneman watched as the creature's face was smashed in, its skull being torn down under the force of his punch!

[You have killed LV11 Foul Goblin. 300 Exp awarded]

[You have levelled up]

[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 59 seconds]

Skullius absorbed the Null Life Essence from the burly goblin as he also celebrated having received his fourth level.

As he was about to make a snarky comment, he saw a blinking notification pop up in his vision after the recent ones had vanished.

[Your prey emits the Essence of Null Life. Would you like to extract it? Remaining time 6 seconds]

"Oh, right!" Skullius bolted towards the body of the goblin that Red Rage had killed and absorbed the Null Life Essence before the timer ran out.

~~~

[ Null Life Essence: 120/3000 ]

~~~

"Are you seeing this, Red Bro?! We're really making progress! You even gained a level and another skill!" Skullius said enthusiastically while his flaring sockets illuminated Red Rage's skull face.

The Apostle gave him a thumbs up with a bright flash of light in his sockets, supposedly agreeing with his master's sentiment.

Shashasha!

"Again?!" Skullius exclaimed as he heard the leaves crumpling under the feet of more goblins.

"Let's go Red Bro. I don't want to keep being in the open."

The two quickly scuttled among the dense trees, trying to find cover and better assess the situation before deciding what to do next.