บท 5: An Ambush
Kai made his way through the forest with incredible speed, practically sprinting through the trees. He was all alone because he was not part of the big party that the Superior formed, and in the Tutorial, parties spawned away from each other.
He did not mind his lack of allies. In fact, they probably would have slowed him down. He, after all, knew his way around the Tower's landscapes, especially forest-type ones.
He knew how to look out for exposed roots to avoid unstable footing. He knew which plants were safe to eat and which ones were liable to explode in noxious gas. He knew how to determine the freshness of monster tracks or droppings and figure out where they were, what they belonged to, and how to avoid them.
With knowledge's helping hand and intentionally avoiding any visible monster camps or points of interest, Kai trekked through the forest untouched for over six hours until the skies turned dark, the forests even darker under its canopy of thickly leaved branches.
Kai briefly checked the Leaderboard.
[Leaderboard]
1. Superior (80)
2. Solo (66)
3. Anna Walsh (45)
4. David Devil (40)
5. Swordsman (34)
6. Smasher (30)
7. Valence (25)
8. Lily (22)
9. Construction Worker (20)
10. Superman (19)
...
You currently have 0 points, placing you last at 100
>>>
'David Devil? I think that's a famous magician?' Kai rubbed his forehead, recalling his recent memories and the occasional mindless scrolling of Utube videos he indulged in before the Tower. 'Solo in second place. Is that really someone that broke off solo? Or just someone that took the name?
And Anna…is that the same Anna from the Interim? She did seem competent. She'd seen a fight or two before, that's for sure. Odd that she didn't choose an epithet to hide her true name.
And there's something amusing about 'Construction Worker' and 'Superman' competing with each other on the Leaderboard.'
Kai's thoughts were far more colorful than his often curt words to others. He liked to sink into his thoughts like that as a way to center his mind.
There was just something meditative about talking to himself that he enjoyed, or maybe the years in the Tower had driven him crazy, who knew.
But his thoughts were broken by a sudden noise.
"Look! Look!" A shrill shriek pierced through the air.
In spite of best efforts, sometimes, danger was sometimes unavoidable.
"Hm." Kai looked ahead at a pair of gleaming yellow, feral eyes with squared black pupils visible in the darkness.
A goblin. Your typical run of the mill low level mob creatures.
Mob creature meaning that this was likely not the only one.
"Look! Human! Human!" shouted the goblin in a cackling voice, its eyes narrowing in glee.
"There are more of you. Show yourselves," said Kai. He sighed and leaned against a walking stick he had picked up during his trek. His feet ached a little from the constant running, and he was a bit short of breath, making him acutely aware of the weakness of his old body.
"Huh!? It's just me!" said the goblin.
"Then why shout 'look, human, human?'" said Kai.
"W-what?" the goblin's eyes narrowed this time in anger. "He's smart! Humans are smart!"
"No, you're just stupid. And it depends on which humans you see."
"YOU not too smart, then! Look at you! No weapons! So weak!" A goblin's voice cackled from behind Kai.
"No magic either!" Another goblin voice rose up, this time to Kai's left.
All of the goblins were hidden in forest growth, using their small bodies, about a third of a man's size, to their advantage.
'One of the goblins can sense magic. Likely knows magic, too. A mage. Though in the Tutorial, it probably doesn't know more than one basic spell.
Either {Heal} or {Arcane Shot}.' Kai readied himself, resting his walking stick over his shoulder like a baseball bat.
"Finally got some dinner, boys, and human meat, too! The best there is! Kill him! Kill him!" the goblin in front of Kai lunged forwards.
Kai could not see in the dark. To him, the goblin was basically just a floating pair of glowing eyes. To anyone else in the Tutorial, this would have meant inevitable death.
In broad daylight, it might have been possible for a single person to fight against three goblins.
But that was if they had a proper class with the weapons and skills they were granted. In the first place, goblins rarely if ever attacked during the day. They were too cowardly.
At night, though, goblins were competent predators.
Well, more competent than they were during the day. They were still too dumb to actually plan proper ambush tactics, especially when they got excited, but their nimble movements were basically impossible for the average person to handle in the cover of the dark.
Kai was not the average person.
He just turned to the side, letting the goblin miss him by a hair's breadth. The goblin face-planted into the dirt.
"Ow!" the goblin growled, spitting out a few leaves.
Kai swatted the goblin's behind with his stick like an angry parent smacking their kid's bottom.
"Yowch!" the goblin grasped at its butt with its hands, hopping around in pain.
Goblins were weak enough that Kai, even with normal human stats, could hurt them. It was their nimbleness that made them pests, but investing 10 points into agility made sure Kai could pinpoint them.
"Why you-!" another goblin emerged from a bush, swinging its clawed hands wildly.
In the Tutorial and the first few floors of the Tower, monsters had set attack patterns quite like in a video game. They may have had a wide and varied moveset that adapted to changes in a way that was beyond any normal video game, but the moves themselves were executed the same.
With the same 'animations' as they were.
It was a small mercy the Tower gave to beginner Ascenders. By analyzing these movements, an Ascender could memorize attack patterns and consistently dodge them.
Provided, of course, they had enough agility to do so. And a significant amount of experience borne through training and trial and error.
Kai, fortunately, had both.
'One, two, three,' Kai counted, stepping back with each number. Each of his steps dodged a wide claw swipe. 'And four!'
Kai evaded the last swipe.
After the fourth and biggest swipe, the goblin would be off balance, having overcommitted to the attack.
It would then have to pull its arm back very much like a game character that used a heavy attack with a long rewind animation.
Abusing the goblin's defenseless moment, Kai smacked the goblin on the head. A loud 'bonk' sound echoed through the forest as the stick made contact with a surprisingly thick skull.
"Arghhh!" the goblin scampered away, both hands on its head, tending to what would be quite a nasty bruise.
"I've got you now!" a third goblin shouted.
'Idiot, why even hide if you're going to shout before you attack.' Kai turned to his left and saw blue light flickering behind a bush.
It was a goblin mage channeling {Arcane Shot}, a basic spell that fired a small mana projectile.
At Kai's low vitality level, even that puny shot would be lethal if it hit him in the vitals.
Kai kicked the ground, driving up a screen of dirt and fallen leaves.
"Where you go!?" the goblin mage shouted. The light flickered as the creature lost focus.
"Here." Kai had dashed close to the bush, close enough to thrust his stick out and jab it into the goblin's throat. He precisely determined where its throat was by knowing the blue light came from the goblin's hand.
The goblin would have been aiming with its arm straight out, and then determining where its throat was based on the location of the light was a simple calculation that Kai knew because he had the exact physical dimensions of goblins and most creatures down to a near exact science.
In the Tower, every little movement countered towards survival. Knowing the exact reach and weak spots of an enemy was one of the most basic things that an Ascender learned.
"Blrhghgh!" the goblin made guttural noises with its damaged throat. It was now unable to chant any spells for quite a while, leaving it helpless.
Kai reached into the bush and picked the goblin up by its head before tossing it back with its fellows. All three of them lined up together, shuddering as they saw Kai step closer and closer, a menacing spectre of incoming death.
Or as menacing could be with trackpants and a t-shirt.
"Now then," said Kai, patting the stick against his hand menacingly. "What to do with you three? I can't kill you, because then I'd get points."
Hearing this, the goblins' eyes widened in hope.
"But you all do pose a danger for others here," said Kai. He gazed down at the goblins with unfeeling eyes. "So, I'll compromise: I'll break your legs and leave a happy meal for the next predator that comes here."
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