Chapter 29 - Game of Tag (1)

Northwest side of the Plainlan forest.

Alina frantically dashed forward while searching for Kiro's whereabouts.

"Kiro!" Alina called his name in anxiety, as her eyes cautiously gazed at the surrounding forest. Then she heard a noise behind her back.

She abruptly turned around to find at the source of the disturbance, when she saw the greeny figure behind the tree-trunks, Alina was alarmed.

Grasping the handle of her short saber, while staring at her surrounding. Only then, Alina realized that she jumped into the pack of Goblins.

With the huge commotion outside, the nearby Goblins inside the settlement would naturally become curious about the disturbance inside the forest; what is more, a horde of Goblins with a higher existence that giving them a chain of command, low-grade monsters like them have no right to refuse their Master's order.

Noticing the impending danger, Alina stepped backward in fright, as she cautiously thought of a way to leave this place; because of her negligence, she accidentally ran into the group of Goblins.

However, before she could, the Goblins attacked her.

"Kekeke." One of the Goblins laughed horribly while gazing at her from top to bottom.

"Keeh!"

However, the leader of the group hit the laughing Goblin's head.

*𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒*

"Stop daydreaming! Hurry and capture that human girl!" The leader of the Goblin said.

"But, Hobgoblin, did not the boss say, we are allowed to have fun if we caught one."

"No... Komoblin, this time, we're short of supply, our Master said he needed a fresh one." Hobgoblin replied to another Goblin named Komoblin.

"Then it can't be helped, because of the boss binding we cannot disobey him," Komoblin said dejectedly. "After receiving the boss name blessing, my aptitude in reasoning increased."

"Nevertheless, my reasoning became higher as the day went by. I realized that I cannot escape from his shackle. Don't you feel the same, Hobgoblin?"

"Stop talking nonsense, without our Master blessing we would remain stupid like them," Hobgoblin said as he eyes fell at the two low-intellectual Goblins.

"Alright, Hobgoblin is correct, without the boss' ability, we would remain ignorant like them," Komoblin said. But deep inside his eyes, a tint of shadow slowly formed.

Alina stared at the two Goblins weirdly. She could not help to think, what was wrong with the two. But, when she noticed that the group of Goblins was not paying attention to her. Alina decisively left the place without alarming the crowd.

Komoblin glanced at Alina's direction, but to his surprise, their target had already left the place.

"You guys! Go and find that human!" Komoblin screeched to his subordinate.

"Keeh!" The two low-grade Goblins shriek in fright when they saw Komoblin's terrifying gaze.

"Tsk! A useless bunch."

Hobgoblin, who was watching the scene unfolded in the silence, wore a complicated expression while glancing at Komoblin.

It would be a lie if Hobgoblin said he didn't want to be freed from the shackles of their Master. The first day when he gained his knowledge, Hobgoblin felt fortunate. However, as the day goes by, the more Hobgoblin increased his level, the better understanding he got from reality.

Hobgoblin wasn't contented with his current status as a slave.

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"Haa… Haaa… Ha… What a weird Goblin, but thanks to that, I managed to escape." Alina said while trying to stabilize her breathing.

Slowly observing her surroundings, Alina was relieved to find that there was no pursuer behind her back. She subconsciously loosened her guard down. "I need to find Kiro as soon as possible," Alina said while her eyes flashed with determination.

She did not know why she was acting so impulsive when she heard that Aldin was willing to abandon Kiro. However, when an image of the lifeless body of Kiro flashed inside her mind.

Alina could not sit idle and do nothing. "Kiro—please be safe."

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On the other side of the forest.

A man with an ink-like hair and his pitched black sharp eyes that were cautiously scanning the surrounding area.

Right at this moment, Kiro was hiding behind the tree-trunk. "Curse it, demented beast! Why would you appear inside the beginner's stage forest!" Kiro exclaimed his irritation. When he was about to leave the forest, he ran across with a two Goblin Commander who pursued him tirelessly.

"I better get out of here, if there were two Goblin Commander inside this forest, now I'm more certain that there's a Goblin King deep inside this woods," Kiro said while he scanned the surrounding once more when he noticed that he was out of danger, Kiro cautiously crawled beneath the bush.

*𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑒 * 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑒*

However, he suddenly heard a crinkling sound.

Kiro was taken aback when he heard the noise, glancing behind his back. Kiro swore upon seeing the greeny figure who was staring at him jeeringly as if he was a dead prey.

"Keeeh!" The Goblin Commander screeched, signaling the nearby Goblins.

"*𝐵𝐸𝐸𝑃!* you won't stop until I'm dead, huh?" Kiro gritted his teeth as he summoned his longbow.

"[Arrow Shock!]" Kiro aimed at the Goblin Commander's left eye.

When he first saw the Goblin Commander's size, Kiro was surprised to see the oversized Goblin, it's half-meter taller than the Goblin Mage, but the more he observed the Goblin, the more shocking it became. The Goblin Commander wore a crafted iron plate mail, as for its weapon of choice. A one and a half meter tall heavy sword.

The Goblin Commander split Kiro's arrow into two, as its sword swung downward, going straight to Kiro's direction.

Seeing the upcoming disaster, Kiro rolled on the ground to dodge the Goblin Commander's blow.

*𝑆𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ*

A piercing gust of wind crushed to the ground, Kiro tried to stabilize his footing, but the reinforcement had already arrived.

*𝑆𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑠ℎ*

An arrow flew in his direction, Kiro used the body of his longbow to bash the upcoming attack.

After deflecting the arrow, Kiro aimed at the troublesome Archer on their ranks.

* 𝑆𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑠ℎ * 𝑆𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑠ℎ * 𝑆𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑠ℎ *

Three consecutive arrows flew at the reinforcement group direction.

Tud! Kiro successfully slayed the Goblin Archer, but he did not stop his continuous barrages.

"Master, Be careful!" Suddenly Fixie cried in alarm. Since the battle of Goblin Mage, Fixie hasn't intervened. But this time, Fixie was worried about the sudden development. "The other Goblin Commander is already here. Hurry and leave this place at once."

Hearing Fixie's reasoning, Kiro was alarmed, glancing at his surrounding Kiro, then saw the figure of another Goblin Commander who was watching the show from afar.

"I honestly don't want to use this arrow, but you guys left me no choice," Kiro mumbled as he summoned the runic arrow, the same arrow that he used to kill the silver wolf inside the wilderness.

Taking his aim, Kiro channeled his mana to the shaft; as the arrowhead shone with glaring blue's light.

"[Mana Blast!]" Kiro shouted the keyword, a piercing blue light beamed at the Goblin Commander was about to pounce at Kiro.

*𝐵𝐴𝐴𝑁𝐺!*

The Goblin Commander's head burst into pieces, while the other Goblins were petrified from the scene, taking advantage that the group of Goblins wasn't paying attention to him. Kiro put the strength on his leg, as his figure disappeared within the forest.

"Gaaaaooor!" The other Goblin Commander cried furiously, as commanded his subordinate to chase after him.

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"Phew~ that was dangerous," He said while he hid behind the tree trunks. "Fixie, do you think I can defeat a Goblin King with my current capability?" Kiro asked in anxiety. He roughly wanted to know the capability of the Goblin King.

"With Master's current capabilities it would be difficult. But it isn't impossible; however, a Goblin King ability wasn't measured through its raw strength, but by how many Goblins its command." Fixie explained as she added.

"Don't Master find it odd? You have a passive intimidation skill, correct?"

Upon hearing Fixie's word, Kiro remembered his intimidation skill. "Now that you mentioned it, the low-grade monsters like Goblin should be terrified with my aura, right?" Kiro wondered. "How come they aren't afraid when they get near to me?"

"I'm sorry if Fixie didn't warn Master much sooner, it probably because of the Goblin King's subordination buff skill," Fixie said. "It negated the negative buff like intimidation."

"However, the most troublesome skill of the Goblin King is the [Goblin's King Blessing] with this skill, the Goblin King can grant his subordinate a name but don't underestimate the naming of the Goblin King." Fixie paused for a second as she continued.

"Once the Goblin King found a suitable candidate to bestow his blessing, not only it would enhance the low-grade monster intelligence, It also enhanced their battle prowess."

"Wa—what? The Goblin King can do that?" Kiro exclaimed his astonishment when he heard Fixie's word. "Then, aren't I in trouble?" Only then did he realize how dangerous the situation was.

"Yes... Master is indeed in big trouble but on the bright side; with this experience, it would help Master to grow further." Fixie said. There was two reasons she didn't stop Kiro to dash inside the forest. First, she trusted Kiro could overcome this hurdle for the second. Fixie wanted Kiro to progress in this situation.

"Haah~ well I'm the idiot one who dashed through the forest without thinking," He stated. "So Fixie shouldn't feel down, It is my fault," Kiro responded with a soft tone, he could feel the tinge of regret from Fixie's voice.

While they're chattering; Kiro heard a movement, but when he saw the figure of the person. Kiro called out its name.

"... Alina?"