CHAPTER 244: THIEVING GOATS

’W-Where the hell did these damned goats come from?!’

When he and Loki were at the foot of the mountain, there were barely any low-ranked beasts.

Now, there was suddenly a group of seven, B-ranked humanoid goats!

Iberians were quite the loose bunch, usually living on their own in the mountains. Rarely did they group up like this.

"Y-You damned thieving goats! I’m warning you. Hand that core over! I’ve worked hard for that!"

He didn’t exactly work "that hard" for it, but it remained the fact that it was he who risked his life fighting the Cragstalker.

The core was naturally supposed to be his.

Hal knew that thieving monsters wouldn’t understand him; it was just he felt extremely frustrated that, somehow, there was a huge group of dangerous monsters he had to deal with before he could reap his rewards.

He wasn’t even sure if he could take them all on.

He was able to easily kill one earlier since it was sleeping, but a whole bunch of combat-ready monsters was a different matter.

The Iberians only looked at each other momentarily in response to his accusations and threats before immediately moving to encircle him.

The bastards did not give a single damn.

Hal gritted his teeth, his anger rising to the high heavens at the sight of one of the Iberian Cliffscalers storing the core in its poorly made bag.

’Fine then, let’s fight!’

He wasn’t afraid of them, especially not when his stuff was taken from him.

Hal hasn’t been one to tolerate bullying.

Worst comes to worst, he was confident in his ability to escape.

The Iberians were slowly getting into a hunting formation, but of course, Hal wouldn’t allow that.

He quickly enhanced his physical attributes with a bunch of buff-type spells as he stepped back, initiating the battle with a [Weak Mana Blast].

The [Speedy] attribute caught the nearest Iberian Cliffscaler off-guard and was hit squarely on the face.

The spell detonated, dealing a small amount of damage that was at least enough to make the monster’s nose bleed.

Unfortunately, the bastards eat the headbutts of their rivals for breakfast.

It was next to impossible to knock them out.

The struck Iberian staggered backward, shaking its head while its comrades only turned to look momentarily before shifting their attention back to Hal, evidently angered.

In the next moment, furious and terrifying, raspy bleats echoed to the skies as all seven humanoid goats charged—one lagging behind the others after having just recovered from Hal’s attack.

They swiped their long, bony claws, sending Wind Cutters flying their opponent’s way.

"Hmph!"

Hal merely snorted in disdain, finding the attacks rather easy to defend against.

He summoned two layers of defensive spells, one [Reinforced Earthen Wall] and the other a [Reinforced Ice Wall], both working together to stop all seven wind projectiles.

The spells held.

However, the earthen wall had already crumbled, while the icy one was barely intact.

It was reduced to mere frozen rubble with a single swipe of the leading Iberian’s claws.

To the monsters’ confusion, the human...was gone.

They quickly looked around.

Left, right, behind, with a few even looking up to the skies in hopes of locating Hal.

But they couldn’t find him.

The next thing they knew, a rather sickening crunching sound echoed to their left, prompting the Iberians to look.

Their eyes widened in utter fury and disbelief.

There the human was, a huge maw of darkness in his hands, munching on one of their kin.

[Congratulations! You’ve earned 50 Chaos Points!]

Only their comrade’s lower body remained, and not for long, as Hal chomped on it again with the [Dreadmaw].

Even though this didn’t directly power up the spell, it planted seeds of a variety of negative emotions in his enemies’ minds and hearts.

Those were what would increase the now level 15 [Dreadmaw]’s effectiveness.

The brutal scene soon proved effective, as most of the Iberians were further angered by the unnecessary chomping.

They all quickly charged at him again, but this time, they had a plan in mind to counter his invisibility.

The Iberians rushed at him in confusing zigzags, nimbly leaping past small boulders or using them as a stepping stone to gain more speed.

Their special hooves and powerful legs made them faster than even the B-ranked Orc Captain that chased Hal in the Luminous Runeforest.

While their raw strength was weaker than the orcs, they were far faster and more agile, making it difficult for Hal to take them all in a head-on battle.

And why would he?

He had a lot of spells to work with, and he would be dumb not to utilize them to his advantage.

Hal flew, momentarily catching the thieving goats off-guard, though two of them immediately responded with powerful leaps.

The Iberians extended their claws, hoping to drag the human back to the ground before he could fly out of range.

Meanwhile, the others immediately rushed towards the mountain, aiming to use the rocky walls to extend the height and distance of their jumps.

Hal cunningly used his [Spatial Swap] on one of the approaching humanoid goats, causing the other’s claws to latch on its comrades’ goatly ankles, sinking deep into them.

The swapped Iberian bleated in agony, while the one who did the damage was confused.

It was impossible to notice the presence of the human beneath them in such a situation.

The next thing the two cliffscalers knew, they were both flying skywards, though one didn’t reach as high a height as the one directly hit by [Knockback].

Nonetheless, they both reached an unsurvivable altitude.

The swapped humanoid goat’s right leg was also ripped from the calf down due to the sudden burst of force that caused its comrade’s claws to tear through.

The creatures bleated in anguish and horror before falling silent as sickening thuds echoed at the foot of the windswept mountain, one sounding a second later than the other.

[Congratulations! You’ve earned 50 Chaos Points!]

[Congratulations! You’ve earned 50 Chaos Points!]

The Iberians, scaling the mountainside at unbelievable speed, froze at the sight.

They might be monsters, but unlike Fell Beasts, they weren’t mindless and could feel fear and danger.

The human they were trying to hunt was undoubtedly a dangerous adversary...