Chapter 4. Goblin (4)
Chapter 4. Goblin (4)
It's one of the party members I saw on the previous floor.
It was a party made up of three men and two women, but right now, only one person is visible to me.
She, with brown hair and brown eyes, possessing an average appearance and an average build, was sprinting toward this location with all her might.
She looked quite exhausted, as if she had been running from quite far away. Since she might be chased by a monster I can't handle, I stayed still and held my breath.
"Haa... haa...!"
"Raminel...! Stop right there!"
So the woman's name is Raminel. The man shouting from behind is... one of the party members from earlier.
I don't know why, but a man who was in the same party is chasing the woman. Did she steal something?
'That doesn't matter.'
A man who can't properly catch up to a woman whose physical abilities are significantly lower. The woman named Raminel has now entered my field of vision, and the man was slowly walking toward this place from a rather dark area.
A limping leg. It seems he can't use one of them properly.
"Hand it over, Raminel. It's not an item that a bitch like you can possess."
"Ha...! Don't make me laugh. Look at your leg and then talk. I can use this better."
Raminel, catching her breath, snorted and pulled something out from her chest.
A green stone.
I don't know what that is, but I know it's a valuable item, enough to betray her hometown colleagues to run away with it.
A man who can't even run properly due to injury. And an exhausted woman. Above all, a green stone with enough power to turn a party built on strong trust into ashes in an instant.
One skill I can get by Mating with the woman, the massive experience points I'll get from killing the two of them. And that green stone.
There is so much to gain. But high risk for high return.
'Come closer.'
The man isn't at the right distance for me to ambush him right now. Since the injured man is far more dangerous than the exhausted woman, I have to take him out first.
Especially since he doesn't have the shield he was holding before and only has a heavy greatsword, even someone like me should be able to take him out with a surprise attack now that he's injured.
"Tsk... just give up now. This is mine."
"Damn it...! You were given a jewel last time!"
"A jewel? Ha... I'll give you that jewel. So I'll take this. Shall we do that?"
"Do you think that makes sense? It's a C-rank Skill Stone!"
A Skill Stone. It seems I'm not the only one who has skills.
Is it that you can only acquire skills through Skill Stones, rather than gaining sword skills by repeatedly swinging a sword like in a game? Otherwise, there's no reason to go this far.
Come to think of it, how many times have I reacted to the Cave Centipede's attacks so far? I also had several other skills... so, except for the skills I was born with, can everything be obtained using Skill Stones?
Just as I was inferring this while listening to their conversation, the woman named Raminel put the Skill Stone back into her bosom.
'Why isn't she absorbing it right away?'
It seems she can't acquire it immediately. If she could, she would have acquired the skill right away to deal with the man in front of her.
As Raminel turned to run away after putting the Skill Stone in her bosom, the desperate man dragged his leg, which he couldn't even put proper strength into, and hurriedly approached Raminel.
Seeing him chase her even though he's practically lost one leg, that man must be quite strong.
Raminel, who glanced at such a man, started running away again, and at that sight, the man increased his speed even more.
His vision, having become desperate, narrowed, and to me, who is prepared to do anything to survive, he no longer looked like an object of fear, but prey.
"Damn it...!"
Just in time, he was dragging his right leg while holding it with his right hand. His left hand was spread out to maintain balance.
My location is to his right. So, to react to me, he has to take his hand off his right leg. His left arm is too slow.
With all calculations finished, I moved my body little by little.
Because it was a bit far for me, who was in a corner to hide.
He, who was hurriedly moving while bleeding, couldn't hear my footsteps due to the sound of his dragging leg and his rough breathing.
"Keureuk!"
Puk!
"Kyaaaaaaaak!"
Damn it! Damn goblin!
I pulled off the ambush well, so why did I scream at the end? Damn it...
The man moved with incredible reaction speed in an instant.
Feeling that the dagger missed, he unconsciously swung his right arm toward me immediately.
Whoosh!
But it didn't reach me. Having lost the hand that was supporting his right leg, he lost his balance and fell backward.
Thud.
The area I stabbed was right below his neck. I originally intended to stab his neck, but he jerked his body, so I ended up stabbing the dagger below his neck.
Thanks to him jerking away, the dagger came out and returned to my hand.
"Kieeeek!"
Puck!
"Kkeueok..."
Even if a man with a sturdy physique has fallen, rushing in immediately is madness. Calming my excitement as much as possible, I threw the rock, my favorite weapon that I had been carrying since the previous floor, at him with all my might.
Whether it was luck or fortunate, the rock hit his head, and he made a dazed expression, perhaps because his brain was shaken.
Since he can't use his right leg properly anyway, I hurriedly plunged the dagger into his left leg.
Puuuk!
"Aaaak! You, damn...! You dog-like...! A mere goblin...! My leeeeeg!"
The place I stabbed was exactly on the kneecap. Now this guy has become a cripple who can no longer walk properly.
With deep wounds already on his right leg, left knee, and below his neck, he will die from excessive blood loss soon.
A cornered rat will bite a cat. Instead of choosing to rush at him, I stepped aside and picked up a rock.
"Damn it! Come here! Come here! I'll kill you!"
The man shouting at me while excited. It seemed he had sensed his own end.
I, who had gathered a total of 5 rocks, threw them at him with all my might.
"You damn..! Aak...! You son of a... Kyaaaaaaaak!"
Oh, lucky. His hand, which he tried to block the rock with, broke.
If you swing your arm strongly against a rock thrown with full force, of course your hand will break. How have you survived until now?
"Kkeueuk... kkeueok..."
Puuuuuk!
"Kyaaaaaaaak! Gurgle..."
I snuck up to the side of him, who was groaning in pain without being able to gather his senses, pulled out the dagger, and immediately stabbed it toward his crotch again.
The man screaming. Eventually, he frothed at the mouth and collapsed due to the immense pain.
'Is it shock?'
Well... he was stabbed there with a dagger, so how could he not go into shock?
I approached slowly and then drove the dagger into his neck.
Puk!
[You have killed a human.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
...
This is crazy.
I went up a whopping 13 levels.
Plus, Strength, Stamina, Agility, Mental Strength, Magic Power, Physical Resistance, Fire Resistance, and other miscellaneous things all went up.
Having reached level 20, my body can no longer be called an ordinary goblin.
Was the level difference with this guy that big?
My fatigued body and mind were restored in an instant.
Seu-euk...
I pulled the dagger that was stuck in the man's neck and, with a body that was... no, far superior to before, I hurriedly ran in the direction the woman had run off to.
My skill, Blood Scent Tracking.
Thanks to this skill, I could easily tell where she was.
'She's close.'
Perhaps she heard the man's scream, she didn't run very far. Since it seemed the man had been taken care of, she must have intended to rest for a moment.
And my thought was correct.
"Heu... hehehe..."
Raminel, looking at the glowing green stone, that is, the Skill Stone, with a face full of greed and laughing like a fool.
'...It's different.'
It's different. It's different from before. It's glowing. That means there's a very high probability that Raminel is absorbing the Skill Stone right now.
Having grasped this, I gave up on ambushing and decided to first stop her from acquiring the skill.
"Keeeeeeek!"
"Damn it...! A goblin?"
As I shouted and ran, Raminel was startled. The feeling that she seemed shorter than before must be because my height had increased thanks to my level going up.
Eventually, she took her hand off the Skill Stone and raised her dagger toward me. Seeing the light gradually fading, it seemed I was right that she had been absorbing the Skill Stone.
Looking at that face full of annoyance.
Whoosh!
"Kyaaaaak!"
Stupid.
When I threw one of the rocks I had picked up earlier, Raminel, who was trying to counter my charge, hurriedly dodged the rock. And at that moment, I immediately dove under her and plunged my sword into her leg.
"Kkeueueuk...! Die!"
Puk!
"Kieeeek!"
Damn... it hurts like hell! You crazy bitch!
Raminel, enduring the pain of being stabbed by the dagger, plunged her dagger into my shoulder. Pain beyond imagination. I almost lost consciousness for a moment and hurriedly jerked my body backward.
Splat.
"Keeeek..."
Crazy... it hurts so much. I feel like crying.
"Haueuk... it hurts..."
But this is the same for Raminel.
Since I stabbed the dagger into her leg so she couldn't run away, she is the same.
They said it had been a year since they came here last time, so it's not for nothing that she survived for a year.
Seeing her not taking her eyes off me while enduring the pain, she was definitely on a different level from the women on Earth.
A very brief standoff.
Chiiiiiiik...
"...What? A goblin has a regeneration skill?"
White smoke rose from my shoulder, and seeing this, Raminel made a shocked expression.
Since it was definitely not good news for her, Raminel bit her lip hard and raised her dagger toward me.
If time passes like this, I will recover, and then Raminel will inevitably be defeated by me.
"Damn it... I did everything, and in the end, I have to become a goblin's plaything? That can't happen."
She, firming her resolve. I watched her quietly and then said.
"Keureuk... keureuk.."
"Damn it, what are you saying?"
I thought it would work, but it doesn't. I can understand, but I can't speak.
Eventually giving up on conversation, I raised my dagger like her.
Raminel, surprised to see me do that.
"...You. Can you understand what I'm saying?"
Raminel asking in a trembling voice.
What should I do?
The thought didn't take very long.
Nod.
"Ha... haha... this is crazy. A variant? And one with a regeneration skill that can even understand language?"
A variant? So there are a few others like me.
Just then, feeling good for no reason at the new information, Raminel, who bit her lip, said to me.
"You want... this, right? Here... I'll let you use this. Instead, don't kill me. How about it?"
Chiiiiiiik...
My shoulder had already stopped bleeding.
Seeing this, Raminel secretly pulled down her pants and showed her panties.
Throb!
"Hehe... you can understand me, right? Wouldn't it be better to have a living one than to fuck a corpse? Come on... how about it?"
Spread...
She, who had already taken off her panties, spread her pussy wide open.
But I'm not someone who would fall for that.
Throb, throb!
"Umm... be quiet. Johnson."
When I stayed still, Raminel eventually bit her lip and put the dagger down on the floor.
Clang...!
"There, happy?"
Raminel, with her pants and panties down, raising both hands high.
Nod.
I nodded at her appearance.