Chapter 27

Luke hefted the spear he’d taken from the goblins. It was too bad about that strange crossbow; he’d wanted to examine it closer. Oh well, the spear was the true prize with those freaky little proto-gobling things still running around. He casually stabbed it into the one goblin he’d only clipped when they’d tried to jump him and got another ding.

“And that makes five,” he said. “Okay, System, we were talking about how to get the hell out of this place.”

“Yes, indeed. I am not able to give you precise directions, but I can inform you that the tunnel you came in through is southeast of your current position.”

“That’s as accurate as you can be, huh?”

“My apologies, Luke. You do not have-”

“High enough system access,” Luke cut him off. “I know, I know. Better than nothing I guess. You’re sure about it being southeast though? I could have sworn I needed to go north.”

“Completely sure, yes.”

Luke sighed. “Fine then. Southeast… hmm. Maybe if I go back to that last intersection…”

He looked through his notifications and grunted. “Oh, that one was a really high level. That’s interesting. It wasn’t strong at all. Must have put all its AP into utility skills.”

[You have slain Grimshard goblin (lvl 10). 102 XP awarded.]
[You have slain Grimshard goblin (lvl 11). 123 XP awarded.]
[You have slain Grimshard goblin (lvl 11). 123 XP awarded.]
[You have slain Grimshard goblin (lvl 15). 231 XP awarded.]
[You have slain Grimshard goblin (lvl 10). 102 XP awarded.]

“Damn it. Less than 50 XP to level. Well, I’m sure I’ll find something else before I’m done down here.”

Luke continued on his way, far more confident now that he had a proper spear. Well, proper might have been stretching it. It was crudely made and sized for a goblin, which meant it was about six feet tall and the head was actually made of stone that had been chipped down to have an edge and a point. Considering he was still stuck in the tunnels though, he appreciated that it wasn’t as long as a human-sized spear would be.

He did keep the table legs though, just in case. It was a bit uncomfortable with them stuffed in his belt, but until the spear had proven itself in combat, he wasn’t going to discard what he knew would work. For all he knew, the damn head could fall off the shaft the first time he used it, and then he’d be screwed. A big stick wasn’t going to kill a bouncy goblin.

Speaking of, he could hear one of those little devils running around somewhere nearby. That distinctive thump sound was a dead giveaway. If it was literally bouncing off the walls, that meant there was probably a goblin nearby too, one who wasn’t equipped to deal with its progenitor. Maybe Luke could pull a twofer and finish that level up.

By the time he got there though, the goblin was already dead and the proto-gobling had moved on. He probably could have followed it; it wasn’t exactly being quiet, but it was going in the opposite direction that he needed to move, and getting back up to the surface was a higher priority.

“Still southeast?” he said twenty minutes later.

“No, Luke. More northeast now.”

“What? How!”

“I am not able to map out a path for you. This is all the help I can give you in regards to your current location.”

That was frustrating. The tunnels were annoying to walk through, most of them being too small for him to stand fully upright. He’d been sure he was going in the right direction, but it was admittedly hard to keep track underground. The best he could do was try to compensate and keep walking.

As he trudged along, all hunched over and annoyed with the spear but unwilling to abandon it, Luke kept his eyes and ears open for any other ambushes. The goblins in that last one had been trying to sneak up on him, and just because they’d done a bad job didn’t mean other goblins wouldn’t do better. The longer he spent in the tunnels though, the more convinced he was that the general population had retreated deep, deep underground, beyond his reach.

As long as they stayed down there, that was fine by him. The ones he really wanted to kill were those warriors from his camp raid anyway. Those would be worth excellent XP, and they’d already taken a swing at him once. He supposed they could argue that he’d invaded their home and robbed them, but he’d been kill-on-sight to every goblin he’d ever met, so in his opinion, they had it coming.

“Oh, hey, this looks familiar,” he muttered. “I think… left here?”

A few minutes later he came upon the welcome sight of a busted up wooden barricade. Luke smiled and hurried forward, happy to finally be close to escaping. He practically tripped over a proto-gobling hidden under the collapsed barricade as he rushed by. The thing was just sitting there, gnawing on the wood and ignoring the world, until Luke basically stepped on it.

It hissed angrily, looked up at him, and then sprang at his face. “Whoa!” Luke cried out as he flailed his arms and fell backwards on his ass. He scrambled to get the spear up and only managed it by grabbing it right under the tip and jerking it around. The proto-gobling impaled itself and just kept clawing its way down the haft even as its weird blood-pus spurted out the back end.

“Ugh,” Luke said as he tossed the spear off to the sound. “Nasty little bastards.”

The proto-gobling gave out a final twitch and died just as a set of dings sounded in his head. Luke stood up, reclaimed his spear, and scraped the monster off on a piece of wood. He grinned as he checked his notifications. One kill with two dings could only mean one thing.

[You have slain Proto-gobling (lvl 6). 36 XP awarded.]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 17. 17 AP awarded for use.]

“Finally! And exactly enough too. Now, to spend them.”

He’d fully planned on buying [Stealth], maybe even two ranks if he could afford it. It was becoming too much of a handicap to have his XP pool announcing his presence to everything around him, and this game of cat-and-mouse he had going on with every fucking goblin in the whole valley would be a lot easier if he wasn’t broadcasting his location to everything that got close enough.

Rank 1 cost him 3 AP, but rank 2 demanded 15. Cursing, Luke went back to his build notes and picked up the final skill from the list his brother recommended acquiring before level 20: [Power Strike]. Unlike his other combat abilities, this was an active skill. It allowed him to imbue extra energy into his attacks based on his stamina, and was supposed to be a trump card or finisher move.

He wasn’t sure about spending 10 AP on it, but Curt had figured out way more shit than Luke had, so he went ahead and bought that too. The last 4 AP got split between strength and perception. His points figured out, Luke’s mood brightened immeasurably and he finished his climb back up to the world of fresh air and trees.

Somehow, it was night. He thought he’d only been down there for a few hours, maybe four or five at most, but it looked like he was way off and it had been closer to ten. Just seeing how dark it was made him feel tired all the sudden, and he caught himself mid-yawn. It had taken longer than he wanted, but he had accomplished quite a bit. At least he thought he had. He’d personally killed about two dozen goblins, plus unleashed those little nightmarish proto-goblings on their home base. Those things were vicious; they’d probably kill a few more and would certainly be a pain to corral again.

Now he just needed to make it home unseen. The goblins were probably thickest in the forest right now, so he just circled down the east side of the valley until he got to his own cave and then ducked in. After about twenty minutes of waiting by the ravine, nothing showed up, so Luke shrugged and climbed up to his brother’s workshop.

It had been a good day, but he was going to stick to fighting top-side from now on.

* * *

“What do you mean ‘they’re all dead?’” Gulgok demanded.

“Just what I said. It seems the Day Hunter found its way into their tribal caves and unleashed an entire breeding pit. Grimshard as a tribe is done, and Margl himself is dead. I confirmed that with my own eyes. There are maybe thirty living goblins and an uncounted number of sources running wild.”

Gulgok glared at his Right Hand, but the other goblin didn’t seem to care. Grumbling to himself under his breath, the boss goblin settled back on his throne. This news changed things. Once the Day Hunter was killed, there would only be two tribes.

For many, many generations, the three powers had kept each other balanced. All of them knew that if one attacked the other, the third would fall on them both once they’d weakened themselves fighting and claim sole control of the valley. Now, suddenly, one of the tribes was broken. Without the breeding pit, it would never ever recover.

Bloodbite was stronger than Bluerock. It always had been, and the Day Hunter had spent an entire day specifically going out of its way to hunt Bluerock patrols specifically. They’d been weakened significantly, and now with Grimshard wiped out, that meant Gulgok was going to win by default. It wasn’t a satisfying victory, perhaps, but it would put every single goblin under his control.

That was something to celebrate, but not until the Day Hunter had been tracked down and killed. They would burn its corpse as part of the celebration, but only after he’d eaten of its organs and stolen its power. Gulgok needed to make sure he was the one to kill the Day Hunter too. It would be a rich source of XP for him.

The thought that the Day Hunter might actually win never entered his mind. The other tribes were weak. They produced weak warriors and had only held their place by the strength of their numbers. The Bloodbite way was for the strong to devour the weak, to take their power and become the elite, premier goblin warriors of the valley.

“Are there any hunting dogs left among the Bluerock?” he asked his Hand.

“One or two, perhaps. They were being held in reserve as a breeding pair I believe.”

“Get them for me. I don’t care if you have to shove a knife between Qarsik’s ribs first. I want those dogs. Bring handlers for them too. The Day Hunter has done me a great favor; it’s only polite that I go hunt it down… personally.”

Bulgrit’s grin matched his own. His Hand knew what that meant. There would be blood soon, and then more blood when they took over the remnants of the other tribes. He was going to be boss of everything, and nothing else in the valley would ever be able to challenge his power.

Gulgok heaved himself off his throne and picked up the massive sword he’d taken from his predecessor when he’d killed him and obtained his current rank as boss. The sword was ancient, a dozen or more generations old, and made from some metal none could identify. It had been taken from the original Day Hunter, and it was only appropriate that it be used to end this new one’s life.

Gulgok picked it up with one hand, unbothered by the fact that the blade was as tall as he was. Soon, he would hunt. It would be good. And then he would eat, for he was hungry.