CHAPTER 20: TRAP

Silva returned to the same gate as yesterday, this time determined to go deeper and find the hobgoblins and more.

He saw a lot of parties entering the gate, and like before, he didn’t pay them any heed. He walked into the gate and was transported into the forest.

He walked away from the gate and headed deeper into the forest. He kept walking until there were no more awakened within sight, yet he didn’t spot a goblin.

After a few more minutes, he finally ran into one. It was seated on a tree in an unusual way and was eating some sort of fruit.

’How did it get up there with such short arms and legs?’ Silva wondered. The goblin spotted him and then immediately threw the fruit at him with full force. Silva dodged it and it leaped down from the tree and started running.

Silva immediately put on his gauntlet and rushed after it. He ran at full speed, yet somehow the goblin was too fast for him to capture.

He attacked with Claw Strike, and much to his surprise, the claw strike was almost twice as efficient with the gauntlets on.

The goblin leaped into the air and dodged the claws, shocking Silva. "What the hell?" Silva said. He attacked again, but the goblin dodged for the second time.

It suddenly took an abrupt turn and ran down into a side of the forest with thicker trees, and then suddenly it stopped.

When it stopped, it turned and faced Silva, it stuck out its tongue. It’s then that Silva realized something was wrong. Immediately, he used his sensing and spotted ten figures around.

Not just any goblins, but ten hobgoblins. Silva swallowed hard as he realized that he had been baited into a trap.

He looked at the small goblin, and now it had a wide and sinister grin on its face.

Silva wasted no time, he dunked two stat points into strength and two into speed. He looked around for an opening, but the ten were already headed his way at top speed. Escape wasn’t going to be easy.

Without any choice, he lunged at the smaller one. It didn’t expect him to raise such actions, so he caught it without a single issue.

The goblin squealed and yelled, but he refused to let go of it. He grabbed it by the neck and lifted it up as the ten hobgoblins showed themselves.

"Don’t come any closer, or I’ll rip its head off," he said, his claws very close to the neck of the goblin.

The hobgoblins froze for a moment, but then all of a sudden, one attacked, lunging at full speed. It was fast, but Silva reacted quickly and tossed the small goblin at it. Much to his surprise, the hobgoblin swung its mace.

The hard wood slammed into the body of the goblin, shattering all bones and ripping its skin. In less than a second, it was turned into flying body parts and blood.

Silva was stunned by the brutality targeted at a fellow goblin, and one that had helped them as a matter of fact.

"Despicable," Silva said with a frown. "You kill those that help, you are using them as tools and not caring for their lives at all. You deserve death." He said and then lunged forward.

Roaaaaar!

The goblin roared and swung. Silva flipped into the air, his feet pressed against the mace and sent it down to the ground.

It hit the hard floor. Silva pushed off it, spun, and sent a kick right into the face of the goblin, knocking it back and shattering its nose and jawbone.

The goblin let out a pained roar, and in that moment, all the remaining nine came rushing in.

Silva took a deep breath. He had to make a way, and for that he needed to be calm. He pushed his sensing to the max and he could tell their every movement, their every breath.

All that information flooded his brain at a crazy rate. All he had to do was understand which was which and use them to his advantage.

A swinging axe came first and he immediately dodged it. Making sure he had no wasted moments, he rolled on the ground as another wave came slamming down. Then he spotted his small opening and dove for it.

With that, he got out of the circle, but he didn’t run. He planted his feet into the ground and turned with a Claw Strike. The purple arcs travelled fast and hit one goblin in the back. The deep slashes cut through its bones and ripped its heart.

The goblin let out a roar as it collapsed to the ground, blood gushing out.

[You have gained 20 Exp, 10 demonic energy]

Silva took a deep breath after that, his heart racing. That attack had used more energy than he thought it would.

The rest looked at their brother on the ground and then charged. Silva immediately started backing up while using Claw Strike repeatedly. He made sure that each one hit perfectly and took down the target.

But such precision was taking a heavy toll on his mind, and his body was already at its limit. After several Claw Strikes he was completely out of energy. Beads of sweat formed on his face and dropped to the floor.

He huffed and puffed as three hobgoblins stood before him, each one with a sword.

"Haha, seems this is the max of my energy," he muttered, then looked up, his eyes still burning with the will to fight.

"It doesn’t matter, I’m still gonna kill y’all. I’ve never felt so alive before, and that’s how I know I’m winning," he said, dropping his head down, his mouth open as he took deep breaths.

He lunged forward again and the goblins rushed forward to meet him.