A message suddenly popped up as Nox neared the settlement.
[You have entered a domain belonging to a hostile entity!]
As if a veil had just been raised, Nox felt a surge in the arcane energy around him.
'Looks like I've just entered the barrier which blocked me from noticing the settlement.'
Jumping up on a tree, Nox examined the settlement closely.
The settlement spread over a vast area, almost three hundred acres.
The three-meter walls surrounding the entire settlement were made of rough wooden planks held together by thick ropes. In addition, two watchtowers were erected right beside the main gate.
Tents and wooden houses were set up inside the walls. The fact that the goblins built structures such as these, meant that they had resided there for a considerable time.
Now that nothing blocked Nox's 'arcane sense', he could clearly feel the power of the entity residing in the centre of the settlement. He was also able to sense the sheer number of goblins spread across the settlement.
"There are at least four thousand goblins in there. Will I be able to do it?" mumbled Nox.
Even though he'd be able to take care of them without too much trouble, with the help of his shadow slaves, their numbers were a problem.
After all, a huge group of ants could easily take down an elephant. Moreover, there were limits to how long his shadow slaves could fight before he ran out of arcane.
But the real problem was the entity that set up the barrier, which prevented him from sensing so many goblins. To fight someone like that, Nox couldn't joke around anymore.
After pondering for a while, he finally decided to dart straight toward the centre and take care of the boss while his shadow slaves would prevent the normal goblins from interfering in their battle.
"Magician!" Nox called out, jumping down from the tree.
The shadow magician appeared behind Nox, and after it chanted something, a screen appeared before Nox's eyes.
[Your agility has increased by twenty per cent for 2 minutes!]
Kicking the ground, Nox darted towards the goblin settlement.
.
.
.
"Grrr!" growled the goblin standing atop the watchtower, pointing towards the forest.
"Grrrr?" replied the goblin standing on the watchtower beside it.
Even though they were just average goblins, they were able to detect the immense arcane approaching them.
The goblins glared closer at the forest in front of them.
"Grarr–"
Before the monster could finish what it was saying, a dagger flew out of the forest, piercing its forehead.
The other monster was taken aback and ran to ring the bell at the corner of the watchtower. But, as soon as it moved its feet, its neck was broken by the man who had appeared behind it.
Quietly, Nox placed the lifeless monster on the ground. Then, calling back the moon dagger, Nox jumped down from the watchtower without making a sound.
After all, infiltration was his speciality.
Fortunately, most goblins were in their tents since it was still night. As a result, only about a hundred goblins roamed the streets. Most were guards, while the others were just wandering about.
The layout of the settlement was somewhat simple. There were four main roads leading to the centre. Anything that wasn't a part of the road was made into a spot for tents and housing. As such, many tiny allies had formed across the settlement.
"Assassin, take care of the headaches," Nox ordered, weaving his way between the tents towards the centre of the goblin settlement.
Heeding his call, the shadow assassin emerged from his shadow and disappeared in the opposite direction. Soon, it started stealthily slaying the goblin guards and hiding their bodies.
Although the shadow assassin wasn't the best combatant among his shadow slaves, he was the most discrete one. The Shadow Knight and Red would have made too much noise, waking up the entire settlement.
Thanks to the shadow assassin, Nox's path had been cleared of any unnecessary monsters.
Soon, after sprinting for a couple of minutes, Nox reached the road just across the building in the centre. Unlike the other buildings, it wasn't made of thatch and temporary materials. Instead, it was made of polished stones and was way more prominent than the standard housing. Large enough to easily fit a hundred goblins.
Five goblin guards roamed around the building.
Unlike the average goblin, they were well equipped with armour and weapons. Even their size was larger than usual, at almost six feet tall. They had a sturdy and strong-looking build, and their muddied skin made them look even more frightening.
[Elite Goblin]
Although Nox would have liked to continue being stealthy, he wouldn't be able to fight all five elite goblins without making enough noise to wake the entire settlement up.
Nox moved to the rooftop of a building to examine the guards more clearly.
All of them wore full body armour without a helmet. Two of them carried a sword; the other two carried shields, while the third one carried a spear.
'I wonder if this'll work,' he thought, taking out the great wolf's fang from his inventory.
Coating it with his concentrated arcane, he flung it at one of the monsters carrying the sword.
Clang!
The sound of the projectile crashing into the shield of the goblin, who had suddenly appeared, rang throughout the area. The elite goblins simultaneously looked towards Nox, readying their weapons.
Understanding that hiding anymore would be useless, Nox jumped down from the roof and carefully approached the group of monsters.
"This'll be fun," he mumbled, tightly gripping the moon dagger.
The fact that the goblin with the shield was able to instantly move in front of the goblin with the sword meant that their agility was leagues higher than the average.
Nox could feel their bloodlust and power from their walk toward him.
From in front of his eyes, the two goblins holding the swords suddenly disappeared. Nox was calm. Due to him levelling up so much, his perception stat had risen significantly, allowing him to sense even the slightest change in his surroundings if he wished to.
Nox ducked, avoiding the sword swung with the intent to cut off his head by the goblin who had appeared behind him.
Grabbing the goblin's wrist, Nox swung it to the ground. Crashing into the ground, it shattered the ground around it.
"You're fast, but I'm not exactly slow," commented Nox, darting his hand beside him and grabbing the throat of the goblin who was about to swing its sword at him.
Tightening his grip, Nox crushed the monster's throat and threw it away.
He kicked the ground, darting toward the three remaining monsters, who had now begun to tremble in fear of him.
The two shield goblins stood beside each other with their shields raised, forming a wall, while the spear goblin stayed behind them and tried to sense the man who had disappeared.
"Grwrrr!?!" the shield goblin exclaimed, trying to find Nox, who had suddenly disappeared from their sight.
Nox sprinted at an inhuman speed, instantly reaching the shield goblin. Twisting his body, he sliced his dagger at the monster's throat.
But, he was parried by the spear put forward by the spear goblin. It looked like the group's fastest and most perceptive monster.
Nox lunged back, creating some distance between him and the monsters. He coated his dagger with arcane, ready to launch himself at the goblins again.
'These elite goblins have highly enhanced stats. As long as they are together, I won't be able to inflict much damage.'
After quickly assessing how he could take care of the elite goblins, he finally concluded.
Concentrating his arcane into his fist, Nox punched the ground with all his power.
BOOM!
The ground exploded as if a bomb had been blasted. The debris flew everywhere while the dust cloud covered the entire area.
"Come out," mumbled Nox, launching himself at the spear goblin. Even though nothing was visible due to the dust cloud, he could easily detect the monster's presence thanks to his arcane sense.
Emerging from his shadow, the shadow knight and Red rushed toward the shield-bearing goblins. If they were kept busy, Nox could efficiently deal with the spear goblin.
Nox swung his dagger, aiming for the goblin's throat. But, as he had anticipated, the monster parried his attack again.
In the dust cloud, the monster was able to sense the attacks. Even among the elite goblins, it was one of the strongest.
A flurry of strikes and parries followed the initial attack. Sparks flew around as the spearhead and the dagger collided repeatedly.
Even though it was just a monster, its proficiency with the spear was no joke.
"You are stronger than a group of fifty normal humans. Just whom are you protecting with that kind of power?" inquired Nox, parrying the spear strike aimed at his face.
It was strong. But, not strong enough to create the barrier which prevented Nox from sensing the settlement.
The spear goblin lunged back, but its eyes were fixated on Nox.
"Hum~an—, you are stro-ng for a hum-ann…" The goblin stuttered..
'I can understand it? Is it because of the 'translation' skill?'
"Who is it that you are protecting?" Nox asked sternly.
"My~ Mast-err. I mu-st pro-tect~ hi-m," the goblin replied, rushing towards Nox.
'Looks like he has an unending loyalty towards his master,' thought Nox, deflecting the spear thrust at his chest.
Even though he was able to understand the monster, it wasn't possible to get some information out of it due to its lack of intelligence.
Nox looked to his side. His shadow slaves had already killed the shield goblins.
"Well, that's enough messing around for now," he mumbled, parrying the monster's spear. Before it could regain control of its weapon, Nox launched his hand forward, gripping the monster's throat.
Raising the monster up in the air with a single hand, the man slammed it into the ground, shattering the ground as well as the elite goblin's bones.
[You have levelled up!]