Chapter 8: The Last Monster Group

Chapter 8: The Last Monster Group

The goblin tribe originally had seventy-two members, including the one that spawned in Jacks cave. Five were hobgoblins, and one was their leader, the Goblin Shaman. On the first night, seven hunters failed to returnthree had been killed by Jack. On the second day, the goblin squads went out as usual, but a whooping thirteen goblins never returned.

On the third day, nine more went missinghowever, this time, the goblins had learned to avoid the other monsters. They couldnt have lost nine goblins naturally. Something was hunting them.

Of the seventy-two goblins, only forty-two were left, and that alarmed their leader greatly. He didnt know what they were facing, but he knew that something was after themsomething that didnt dare attack the tribe but could pick off hunter squads.

That night, the goblin tribe echoed with whispers of the Hunter.

When morning came, seven squads left the tribe. Each was led by a hobgoblin or a Level 5 goblin, and each numbered five goblins instead of three. The leader would have liked to condense his forces even further, but they still had to procure food for the entire tribe. This would have to be enough.

***The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

Crap Jack stayed in his bush and let them pass by him. This squad had five members, one of which was an evolved version, a hobgoblin. Theyre onto me.

It was bound to happen eventually. He had already killed a total of twenty-two goblins, including the one in the cave, so if they hadnt caught on yet, they would be extremely stupid.

Its okay. All good things must come to an end.

Jack let this squad go; he probably couldnt take them yet. However, since they were bound to reach this stage, he already had a plan.

The first order of business was to finally scout out the last monster group. Now at Level 5 and with multiple bonuses from the pond, he was confident he could either beat, escape, or hide from most things. If the System gave him kung-fu tigers, wellthat would just be playing dirty.

He had to take the risk at some point, and since the goblin squads had just gotten dangerous, now was a good time. Depending on what he met, he would just brave the risks to keep attacking goblins or switch to the new group.

After the hobgoblins squad was past, he receded into the shadows. His destination was north-east, approximately where the final monster group would lie, according to his calculations.

He also hadnt met the Dungeon Boss yet, but he had no idea where it could be. His best assumption was the big rocky hill at the center of the reserve, because why not, so he took a roundabout route. His cave was in the southern part and just a bit to the west, so he circled around the center to the northeast. No other goblins crossed his paththere were too few squads by now.

Jack was careful, so the journey still took two hours.

As he approached the north-eastern part of the Greenway reserve, he knew his suspicions were correct. The forest was different here. Wilder. Silent.

The trees rose higher, reaching up to thirty feet at places, and their foliage was thicker. The System had clearly messed with this part of the forest, as such vegetation had certainly not been here before. Moreover, despite the forests silence, its floor was strewn with shit as if suffused with wildlife.

His previous thought about tigers crossed his mind. It had been a joke then, but now

Could it be true?

Jack hesitated. If there really was a strong, fast enemy here, proceeding might be a mistake. However, hed already spent two hours to reach herefour, including the return trip. Was it such an ugly risk?

He decided to keep going. His pace slowed to a crawl, and his eyes constantly surveyed the overgrowth. As he snuck from hiding place to hiding place, the distant caws of birds made him jump. He bit his lip and steadied his hearthe shouldnt be nervous.

He continued for another hour. Gradually, he relaxed, not meeting any enemies. Only some random forest critters got in his way, but they all quickly disappeared. Jacks eyes never left the overgrowth, and thats why he saw it.

I will remember this, monkeys he said through gritted teeth before finally turning around. He couldnt defeat them nowbut soon, he might, and then hed get revenge. Hed make them eat their damn poop.

Ridiculous! Goblins and magic bears, and then poop-hurling monkeys? He fumed on his way back. It took you this long to show your true face, System? Fuck you! You will not make a joke of my death!

He spent the entire trip hurling insultsmental poopat the System before finally calming down enough to think. Hed been so high-strung lately that seeing something even remotely funny had completely riled him up.

In the end, he realized he was lucky. Maybe the monkeys were annoying, but they hadnt tried to harm him, only kicked him out. That was a good thingand, at the same time, a bad one.

He couldnt afford good monsters. They had to be evil, like the goblins, to justify killing them and turning them into Level material. Those Gymonkeyswhat an awful namedidnt want to harm him, just to be left alone. They were animals, not monsters.

Had the System lied? Werent all monsters evil? Or had he only assumed that?

Jack didnt enjoy that train of thought.

Whatever, he concluded. For now, Ill keep fighting the goblinsI cant handle the monkeys or bears, anyway. When the time comes, Ill revisit the issue.

He used to hate how manipulative the System was for engineering the goblins and making them such easy to kill creatures. They were weak, ugly, clearly evil, and exceedingly hostilethe perfect humanoid enemies for someone unused to violence.

Now, he understood their utility. If the System wanted himand all humansto dive head-first into a world of violence, goblins were, indeed, a good solution. He was thankful for that because, if he had to kill a more peaceful species while dealing with this change, he might have been in such harrowing confusion that hed end up dead.

He still hated the System with a passion, but he acknowledged that it was good at its job.

Whats the end goal, though he wondered, walking through shrubberies and undergrowth. Are they training us to fight a war? Are they broadcasting our struggles as a tv show? Is this simply a form of torture? Since the System can clearly enhance us, why demand we level-up instead of simply augmenting us to the point of superheroes?

These were difficult questions, and unfortunately, he didnt have the information to answer them.

Maybe the Goblin Shaman will know more. If possible, I will capture it, he resolved grimly. He hadnt captured any goblin yet or even exchanged words with them, fearing that it would make him soft. He had acclimated to this new world and its law of the jungle by now, but he didnt want to give himself the opportunity to regress.

The forest around him suddenly became familiar. He had reached his area, his territory, and that meant he was ready. He had scouted out all monster groups and could determine a plan of action.

Kill the goblins. Kill the bears. Kill the monkeys. Dodge the Dungeon Boss for as long as possible.

It was simple and clean. The bears came before the monkeys because they were solitary, according to his earthen knowledge. Even if they were strong, he could ambush them and hopefully deliver a blow strong enough to take them out immediately. He could start from the weakest bears and slay them one-by-one.

The monkeys wouldnt be as easy. Whenifhe did attack them, he would need to be a one-man army.

Oh!he exclaimed, suddenly realizing the pattern. The goblins are many but weak. The bears are strong but few and solitary. And the monkeys are something in between.

It was only a hypothesis, but it checked outand, even if it wasnt done on purpose by the System, it still held.

Now, Jack was ready to continue his war against the goblins, and he would do so by killing his first hobgoblin.

He cracked his knuckles as he slid into the shadows. He was the hunter. And he was coming.