Daemon retrieved the glowing stick he had dropped while baiting the goblin, then retraced his steps back to where he had first encountered it, following the trail it had left behind.
He did this deliberately. He had gotten a taste of being hunted, and he detested it. "I am not going to be the hunted one no matter what." From this point forward, he was the Hunter, and they were the prey.
"Let's keep exploring and see if there are any more monsters. Hopefully, they'll be goblins."
It wasn't that he feared other types of monsters. The problem was simple: a stronger creature with natural night vision, in complete darkness, was something Daemon couldn't beat right now. Not with his current stats, not in this environment.
It wasn't a lack of close-combat skill that worried him either. By the time students left school in the real world, most had received basic combat training — a necessity, given the combat-oriented nature of Awakener classes.
Daemon hadn't been the best in his class, but he'd learned enough. You couldn't survive long on the outskirts without knowing how to throw a punch or take one.
What his gut told him was this: the speed that goblin had shown, combined with how easily he had overpowered it, told him everything he needed to know. If the creature had possessed even a little more endurance and strength, the fight would have gone bloodier.In a place like this, wounds could very well be a death sentence.
At the very least that was what his gut feeling told him. Goblins were the only creatures he could comfortably handle right now. Kobolds, perhaps, but only barely.
Had he been closer to the centre, he might have even received some help by now. However, his spawn point was probably far from the only safe refuge in this wretched underground labyrinth, The Hidden City of the Fallen. "I hear that some lucky new Awakeners had even spawned directly in the city."
"The Hidden City of the Fallen" what had once, judging by its scale, probably been a residential area for some kind of ancient kingdom.
But what was on Daemon's mind was the name, it scratched at him as he moved through the wide corridor. "Who had been the genius that named the only safe refuge in this wretched place "The Hidden City of the Fallen" Could they not hear how ominous it sounded? Maybe they had heard it and they found it fitting or they simply hadn't cared. Maybe they were just an edgelord with a flair for the dramatic.
Daemon didn't dwell on these thoughts for long, as he was still technically very much in danger, but it itched at him regardless.
Shortly after moving through the large corridor he encountered his second monster.
"Should I be happy or not?" Just as Daemon had hoped, he encountered another monster and it was a goblin, just as he wished.
However, this one was clearly higher level than the last. A higher-level goblin wasn't dramatically more dangerous — goblins had a naturally weak constitution and gained almost nothing beyond raw racial stats as they leveled, since most monsters had a different advancement path which had far fewer class options than Awakeners.
Still it shouldn't be too tough for Daemon if he planned well, but he stopped planning too detailed, the horrendous smell of the goblin irked the hell out of him. He wanted nothing more than to kill the thing and be on his way.
He even consider shooting the goblin and avoid approaching all together
Of course, Daemon only considered this. Until he was in real danger he wouldn't use his gun, for the moment he preferred close-range combat with the monsters; it was also cleaner, quieter, and he trusted his hands more than a weapon he had never actually fired. Plus there were no better teachers out there for learning combat.
Approaching as slowly as possible trying to kill without the goblin knowing, but that was only Daemon wistful tincking. The moment he was within 5 meters from the goblin, he had immediately noticed him.
"Grruk!"
So they have some kind of awareness. Smell? Hearing? Both? Daemon filed the question away for later. Right now all it mattered was killing it before it could escape and call for reinforcement.
Daemon sprung like a bullet, with the glowing stick clenched between his teeth, the shield raised in his left hand, and the sword in his right. He probably looked more like a monster than the goblin did. Scaring shitless the poor goblin in the process.
The goblin tried to strike Daemon with his poor excuse of a sword but he was prayed with the shield and struck fatally by the sword.
[You have killed a Level-4 Goblin, +3 exp]
"So they are quite cowardly, Daemon said, catching his breath. "The best way to deal with them is to scare them first." He started to understand a little more about the small, ugly, green and foul-smelling little shits. And the more he understood them, the more he detested them.
As Daemon continued his journey, he discovered for the first time a small camp fire and what seemed to be a group of 4 goblins. Daemon stared at the goblins, about 20 metres away and slowly crawled further.
What he was looking at was disgusting. Two stood guard while the strongest of the group had pinned down the weakest and was doing something that made Daemon's jaw drop.
"I heard that goblins are lecherous but this is beyond my imagination." Daemon had thought humans were bad. He wasn't wrong, humans were bad. But they weren't alone at the top of that particular list.
He measured the distance. At this range, the axe had a chance."I wonder if it would be effective at this distance," Daemon thought, uncertain. If it had been farther, he wouldn't have tried, but within such a limited range he had a chance.
Without letting himself second-guess it, he hurled the axe at the nearest guard and charged for the second one simultaneously.
"Griek!" Only one goblin had had the time to scream before dying; the other one had died with the axe in his temple.
[You have killed a Level-4 Goblin, +2 exp]
[You have killed a Level-4 Goblin, +3 exp]
Unexpectedly he had killed both guards before the strongest goblin had even finished registering what was happening.
Looking at the goblin in heat, Daemon didn't give it time to process what had just happened and attacked. The strongest goblin in the group scrambled for his weapon but he was too late Daemon reached him and brutally kicked him, sprawling him, and the following with the sword before it could even try to put a defense let alone reach its weapon.
[You have killed a Level-5 Goblin, +3 exp]
He stood there for a moment, breathing. Right at his foot was the goblin, bleeding heavily from the wound struck with his sword. The blood was washing the stench rapidly, making Daemon feel better.
"Grr!" Hearing the sound Daemon looked at the last goblin alive. "Are you that eager to die, goblin?" He took out his sword and walked to the last goblin.
The goblin staring up at him. Its small hand was raised, not as a threat. Almost like a plea.
Daemon looked at it for a long moment. Then he spoke, not because he expected the thing to understand him, but because he wanted to say it out loud.
"You see, goblin, I detest you and your race with a passion. At first I didn't know why, I thought maybe it was because of your foul-smell." He glanced at the bodies around them. "But the more I look at you the more I understand it's not just for that. It's much more than that." He paused. "Your kind seems to be a reflection of the ugliest parts of mine. And I detest that side of my race too."
After saying all that He struck without a shred of pity.
[You have killed a Level-2 Goblin, +2 exp]