In the past, when Bane hunted as a human, he had to use expensive magical weapons to take on the higher level quests.
Leaving a weapon was a great loss and something that he would have avoided at all costs.
But since when were the goblins so sophisticated?
Their weapons was nothing but crude. The dwarven goblins were a shame in the name of the actual dwarven race.
Bane had no attachment to his lost dagger.
Rather...
There were already too many weapons around him to even count.
With every goblin that fell from the grace of life, he left behind a weapon behind to use for the others.
Now the question was...
'Who uses a dagger?'
Bane wanted a dagger specifically as it was in congruence with his skill. He would be able to fight much better if the weapon in question matched his skillset.
Bane looked around in search of a new weapon that wasn't too drenched in blood.
Bane felt like he was in an all he could pick buffet. Numerous weapons whose owners had already died laid out in front of him as he swept his eyes.
But...
'Not a single one is in good condition.'
Some were smeared and dripping with goblin blood while others were trampled by the stampede breaking their wooden poles in half.
Bane was specifically looking for a dagger but it looked like it would be harder than he thought as not many used it. A goblin was already short in height. Why use a short weapon too?
As Bane eyes continued to graze around while trying his best to avoid all swing from the forest bear, his gaze landed on a single spot.
A tree with a thick bark... and under that tree was a single dead soldier holding a spear in his hand. Probably because of the force of the bear's paw the soldier was thrown a bit farther away from the crowd but yet not too far to reach the archers. That alone aided in saving its spear from being trammeled by the crowd.
Bane rushed there and checked if the goblin was really dead.
"He is..."
Bane knew who that goblin was. It was the one who caught him branching off from the herd and brought him back. His self proclaimed 'supervisor' or at least that was what Bane remembered him as.
"So he died too huh?"
Bane stared at the body for a moment. It was unwilling to move.
The other goblins were complete strangers to Bane. For a goblin it might not matter as they would still be brothers but for Bane they were no different than strangers.
The one in front of him was the same.
But even if for a short while they did have an exchange. He was just talking and grunting normally just a while ago, not at all expecting such an outcome.
Bane felt it with his whole being how absurd hunting the forest bear is. Goblins continued to die every moment. And the fact that he could die too made him even more wary.
'Human hunters were never like this.'
Hunting as a human sure came along with dangers too. But no one charged so foolishly to an enemy they knew they would be killed against.
Bane had no idea what the goblin shaman leader was even thinking bringing them to such a mission.
"Ha..." Bane sighed as he grabbed onto the spear. The pole of the weapon left the fingers of the dead soldier.
Bane wanted a dagger but since he wasn't finding any this would do for now.
"I am borrowing this."
Bane jerked the weapon in the air to get rid of the little blood the weapon had on it. Swinging the weapon in his arms he rushed towards the forest bear.
The bear charged it assault highly lacking with any sense of direction.
The reigning arrows and the poison rushing through its brain made escape for it even more so impossible. His body was too sluggish for that. Now it was just him or the goblins.
And among the goblins Bane fought too.
There was nothing he had to defend against the paws. Even if he were to block with the spear, the poor weapon would only break apart.
Not to mention he had no spear mastery skill, unlike the 'goblin warrior' he had fought against at the tribe who had raised it to a high level.
And as one would expect, Bane's technique soon fell apart.
Bane was unable to dodge one of the swing of it paws. It came out of nowhere so much so Bane could only wonder how the poisoned bear could move so fast.
Bane tried his best to dodge in the last moment. But he couldn't avoid it altogether.
The sharp fangs brushed across his green skin. But that alone was enough to rip his green skin to shreds.
"Grrr"
Bane gritted his teeth enduring the pain as he pulled back even further allowing the other goblins distract the bear away from him for a while.
*HP -330*
*HP: 100/430*
Bane had no bandages to treat this kind of thing. Hell, the only piece of cloth he had on his was the one around his groin. And even that was something whose credibility Bane was unsure of. Was it second hand or a new one? Bane had no way to know.
Bane didn't know how a goblin's body worked either.
Do they get infections if a wound is left in the open? Or will their bodies adapt unlike humans?
But Bane knew one thing that his current situation was bad.
*HP -1*
*HP -1*
Hp was decreasing every moment. But it was not because he was getting attacked or anything. Rather...
"Oh shit, is there a skill to deal with this?"
Bane began to search his skill shop. This was why he had saved up a bunch of skill points in the first place. Emergencies! Emergencies!
Apparently he had got the 'bleed' status effect due to his injury. As long as Bane kept losing blood his HP would keep on decreasing with every passing moment until it reached the rock bottom.
While such thoughts passed through his head, Bane heard a whisper in his ears among the battle cries.
"Zweaty Heal, Griguek."
The goblin shaman cast its spell enveloping Bane's body in a iridescent light. It was a timely aid before Bane could lose too much blood.
'Thanks a bunch.'
*HP: 250/430*
Bane probably had disdain for the shaman. Bane thought its leadership was nothing but foolish. But receiving its help first hand amidst battle, Bane had to be grateful for it.
But Bane still held the goblin shaman responsible for the current scenario.
"I can't let myself run to death like him."
Bane started scrolling his skill shop again. If he went in again in his like before this time he might surely die.
Although no skill would be enough against the forest bear had he been alone, but Bane still wanted to decrease his chances to die.
He wasn't scared of death and for some reason, neither were the goblin who were charging along with him. He had already experienced death before in much crueler way, so he could hardly sweat about it now. But even then, he had to preserve his life for the sake of his purpose.
*Skill Points: 340*
Bane had used some point for buying dagger mastery earlier on. And Bane had gained some point too when he had killed the women in the nest giving him a whooping three levels without doing much.
"All weapon mastery type skills at goblin level are 50 points. I would need one of that."
It was always better to be proficient in only one weapon. Magic weapons came at a cost after all and the last thing one would want was to have the skill but not being able to bye the weapon of suitable level.
But for Bane it was an emergency. It wasn't something he was planning on but he had pull out all of his resources to survive.
Being proficient in just one weapon wasn't kicking for Bane anymore. Bane knew that a time would come but he hadn't thought it would be so soon.
*Spear Mastery: 50 points*
"This one."
With this skill Bane not only would have a better time wielding his spear, but he would also have a far better time dodging the attacks with his spear wielded too. So it was definitely a must for him.
"But I need something more..."
He wanted something that would help him dodge better than a simple weapon mastery which increased his evasiveness by only a little bit.
'Something like a sixth sense perhaps, that would tell me when the attacks are coming.'
There were a lot of high tier skills among the humans that were capable of that.
Bane wasn't really too hopeful for it though since such skills would never be acquired in such a weak body through the system, let alone learned by a goblin.
'But there was no harm in brushing through the list, was there?'
That is when Bane's eyes crossed against a skill whose use he had seen just a little while before.
*Danger Sense: 200 points*
It was the same skill that his self proclaimed supervisor was using. It wasn't really anything fancy as compared to the skills the humans used in higher tiers.
But it was definitely useful for a goblin.
'I wonder how good lvl 1 of this skill would be?'
Bane didn't have any idea in regards to this. Humans didn't get such a skill as they grew up.
But he picked it up anyway. Bane had skill points to spare.
Not to mention there wasn't anything else good enough to pick from.
*Acquired Spear Mastery (lvl 1)*
*Acquired Danger Seanse (lvl 1)*
*Skill Points: 90*
*Danger Sense (lvl 1)
A 40 % chance to sense an oncoming attack irrespective of the direction it comes.*
"Good enough"
If it meant having a 40 % chance to avoid an injury he received just now Bane was satisficed. And this was only but lvl 1 of the skill.
'But that would be an overestimation.'
'Even if it was a 40% chance to sense danger, there is no telling if I will be able to avoid it or not. It might be a completely unavoidable skill attack. Honestly this would be a gamble.'
But even so, the forest bear was growing sluggish by every moment due to the poison. And Bane had doubts that it would be able to catch him off guard like before.
"I should be in the safe spot now. In fact all the goblins are..."
The battle was finally tripping towards the goblin's victory. Their numbers were large and along with the shaman's spells they were tenacious enough to hold out this battle of attrition.
The forest bear fighting alone couldn't hold out for much longer.
Equipped with the spear, Bane was prepared for the final charge.