Fourteenth day after the summoning.

  “Araneida, to your right!” Jack shouted, tossing a rock with great force, blowing off the head of an evolved green goblin, causing the rest of its body to fall to the ground. The arachnid quickly devoured the body of the large goblin, her entire body becoming shrouded in a dark red mist, while her eyes shone red.

  Sallow dashed in towards a group of goblin casters that had been keeping their distance from the trio, before with one swing of his blade, killing all of them in an instant. Jack on the other hand, dashed at a large, large goblin.

  This goblin was much bigger than the others, and its muscle density was a lot more impressive. Its presence was also greater than the pushover goblins that they had taken out, so it felt like it was more powerful. However, Jack wasn’t even the tiniest bit afraid. Instead, he dashed at it with incredible speed – which caught the large goblin off guard.

  It lifted its arms into the air, sending them down to try and interrupt Jack and smash him, however, Jack leapt into the air above the goblin, before giving himself a boost from the caves ceiling and crashing down onto the large goblin with the Grey Kings Slasher, slicing it cleanly in half.

  As the two parts of the large goblin fell to the ground, the status ping appeared.

  [ ALERT ]

  You have levelled up.

  70 > 71

  [ ALERT ]

  Jack sighed lightly, before swinging off the blood covering the shortsword in his hand. “Just enough for me.” He mumbled, throwing the two gained stat points into the health stat, before turning around and sheathing his shortsword.

  Araneida was busy devouring the corpses of all the goblins, an ominous aura surrounding her.

  It has been a long time since I arrived in this world. If I had to take a rough guess, it’s most likely approaching a month since my summoning. After defeating that Wraith, we have been encountering much stronger foes than before – many of them being above the C-Rank in terms of strength.

  However, with our current power, despite our lower ranks, those higher ranked foes are but childs play.

  Both Araneida and Sallow managed to unlock their own ‘classes’ – granting them access to greater strength and unique class skills. Sallows class is ‘Striker’ a melee oriented class, which excels at physical power using his bare fists.

  In fact, his sheer punching power has greatly outweighed any strength he possessed in my first fight with him — even out-powering the strength he had when he had activated ‘Monarch Transformation’ back then.

  As for Araneida…

  The arachnid let out an ear piercing shriek, a great force of magical energy being sent out from her body and across the entire cave. She had just finished devouring the corpse of the largest goblin. After that, she breathed heavily — her body shrouded in darkness with her eyes shining red.

  …She gained a unique class.

  ‘Absorber’ - a class that allows her to devour other creatures and absorb not only their magical energy, but also their strength and experience. While she can’t gain any of their skills, the magical energy she gains greatly outweighs that.

  Sallow moved back over to Jack, staring at Araneida. “How much longer will you act like you’re frenzying?” The Grey Goblin King asked. The arachnid looked over at the two, before sighing and immediately breaking her ominous appearance, the darkness that shrouded her disappearing and her eyes returning to normal.

  She skittered over to Jack, hopping in front of him excitedly, as if waiting for praise. Jack laughed, kneeling and patting the spider gently on the head. “Yes, yes – well done as always.”

  The spider looks quite pleased.

  Sallow scanned the cave around them. “It’s a bit strange… It feels like we’ve been encountering more and more Green Goblins recently – and not the pathetic unintelligent kind.” Sallow narrowed his eyes, before turning his attention back at Jack, whose expression changed to a more serious one as he rose back up to his feet.

  “You’re right – It is a bit strange.” Jack scratched his chin for a minute, before looking at Sallow. “Tell me, was the goblin clan led by you the only one on this dungeon floor?”

  “Hardly.” Sallow replied immediately, before turning his back. “There were five goblin clans, mine included before it was destroyed by you my Lord.”

  Jack looked away awkwardly, while Sallow continued to speak.

  “Other than the Grey Goblin Clan, there was the Green Goblin Clan – who were our main enemies, mainly because of their king. Then there are the Red Goblin Clan and the Black Goblin Clan – both of which were allies to my clan and would often work with us to trade resources. They’re also known as the most powerful ones. Lastly…” Sallow looked at Jack over his right shoulder. “There is the White Goblin clan. A completely neutral clan, which is led by an Ogre.”

  “An Ogre? An Ogre can lead goblins?” Jack raised an eyebrow. Sallow shook his head. “The leader went through rank evolution – a rare occurrence within the monster world, where upon ascending to a higher rank, the creature has a chance to undergo a powerful evolution that will turn them into a more powerful species that shares a common ancestor with the creature.”

  “I see… I’m going to guess that the reason it has been able to remain neutral is because none of the other clans are willing to go to it – correct?”

  Sallow nodded. “While the leaders or ‘kings’ of the clans all undergo special evolutions, these special evolutions are nothing compared to the rank evolution that the leader of the White Goblin clan went through.” He looked down at the rocky, stone floor. “The power difference between the two evolutionary paths is far, far too big.”

  Jack crossed his arms, staring at Sallow with a serious expression, while a little lost in his own thoughts. “So this ‘White Goblin Clan’ is one we should avoid. If Sallow isn’t confident in being able to beat it, then I have no right to overestimate my strength.” The Tamer sighed, before walking up to Sallow and lightly patting him on the back.

  “So then, I’ll assume these green goblins are from the Green Goblin clan?”

  “That would be correct my Lord.” Sallow confirmed, looking at the leftover skeletal remains of what once were the dead bodies of the goblins. “More specifically, they seemed to be a portion of the clan's main army forces, as they were all led by a Goblin General.”

  “Why would they send out portions of their main army?”

  “Because the Green Goblin clan is the largest one by far. It has the most territory and its residents are in the most fruitful number.” Sallow replied, going silent for a moment, before exhaling. “And also… because their leader is quite the idiotic bastard.”

  “Ah, so a shitty leader is in power.” Jack commented in his mind before chuckling and looking away. “Well, if we keep encountering their clan members, we’ll just slaughter them all. They're free experience after all.”

  Sallow looked at Jack with an amused expression before nodding. “Of course, my Lord.” Jack found a nearby boulder to sit down on, before opening his status window to check on things a bit.

  “System start.”

  [ STATUS ]

  Jack Alfred Gragbone

  Gender: Male

  Title: Goblin Slayer

  Level: 70 (1)

  Rank: F

  Class: Tamer

  Stat Points: 0

  Health: 540 / [23]

  Magical Energy: 1,350 / [24]

  Strength: 410 / [31]

  Defence: 310 / [21]

  Agility: 370 / [27]

  Skills;

  [Interpreter]; Common Skill

  [Combat Experience]; Unique Skill

  [Battle Hungry]; Unique Skill

  [Spider Venom]; Unique Skill

  [Leaders Transformation]; Unique Skill

  [Taming]; Class Skill

  [Animal Body]; Class Skill

  [ STATUS ]

  “My stats have improved a lot since the fight with the wraith. I have mostly been prioritising Strength, Agility and Magical Energy as these three stats are what allow me to properly utilise my strength in a battle.” Jack analysed his stats, before his eyes swooped up to something new he had unlocked.

  “When I hit level fifty, I unlocked a title – which apparently is just a record of someone's experience or achievements. Or in other words, ‘title’ appears to be purely cosmetic.” He commented in his mind, before leaning forward a bit. “With all that being said – ‘appears’ is definitely the right word to use here, as I do feel like I gain some extra strength while facing goblins.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  His eyes swooped down from the top of his status window and down towards his skills. Other than his stats and level, one more thing had improved. His skills.

  While he hadn’t gained any new ones – he had managed to ‘level up’ or ‘upgrade’ some of his existing ones.

  [ STATUS ]

  SKILL LEVELS;

  Taming - Lv 1

  Animal Body - Lv 2

  Spider Venom - Lv 2

  Leaders Transformation - Lv 1

  Combat Experience - Lv 1

  Battle Hungry - Lv 1

  Interpreter - Lv 2

  [ STATUS ]

  Skills seem to be a lot harder to level up. As for the benefits of them levelling up – it appears that when they do level up, they become stronger.

  A perfect example is ‘Spider Venom’ – which when I initially got it simply could poison an enemy with venom that would normally cause the enemy to become immobile and essentially turn them into a sitting duck.

  However, stronger enemies would be able to brute force their way through the effects of the venom — something I had experienced while facing a different large group of goblins.

  After it levelled up however, its effect became much more powerful and even began to damage the target if they tried to brute force their way through the venom's effects.

  ‘Animal Body’ new level allows me to simply handle two different morphs of my body at once – however keeps the limitation of it needing to be one body part at a time. A good example would be that now I can transform one of my arms into a turtle's shell, while the other one I transform into a large scorpion stinger.

  While Jack was exploring his status window, Sallow was busy checking through the clothes and other equipment that had been dropped by the Green Goblins the three took down. “Hm?” He noticed something shining inside a large bag, which had been dropped by the Goblin General.

  Walking over, he kneeled down and picked the bag up – opening it. “What is…” His eyes widened as he saw what the item inside was. He immediately picked the item up and out of the bag, before dropping it down to the ground. “How did this…”

  “Everything alright Sallow?” Jack asked, approaching from behind – having finished poking around in his status window. The grey goblin looked at Jack with a still slightly shaken expression. “Everything is fine… I just found something that had been in the possession of the Goblin General.”

  “And that would be?”

  Sallow handed Jack the item. It was a rough, jagged orb – big enough to fill Jack's entire palm. It had a deep red colour, with a small orange and black colour combination in its center. Jack raised an eyebrow.

  [ ITEM ]

  Hell Gem

  A Powerful item imbued with the power of a hellish flame. The flame is one that is impossible to put out using normal methods and is able to burn apart even the strongest of souls.

  [ ITEM ]

  Jack felt a bit confused. “I mean, it sure as hell sounds and looks impressive, but I don’t see why it’s a big deal that this big brute had it.” He replied, handing it back to Sallow, who sighed, looking back down at the orb.

  “This orb… It’s an item that you can only acquire by defeating a Greater Demon.” He explained. The short explanation caught Jack's attention and interest almost immediately as he smiled. “Oh? And are these ‘Greater Demons’ powerful?”

  “Extraordinarily so. A regular demon on its own has enough power to wipe out a large town – a Greater Demon? It could wipe an entire country off of the map.” Jack shed a slight sweat.

  “Wipe a country huh? That does sound like quite tremendous power.” The man rubbed the back of his neck. Sallow stared at the orb for a few moments, before gripping it more tightly, clearly confused and frustrated. “But I don’t understand… How did the Green Goblin clan get their hands on this? And why did they hand it to a general?”

  That was a good point.

  If the item was something that could only be gained by defeating a creature of tremendous power, then it was strange that a goblin, who by no means was strong enough to wipe a country, let alone a village, possessed such an item. Jack lightly scratched his chin, staring at the orb. Then, he exhaled.

  “How about we ask them? Seeing as we keep running into residents of this Green Goblin clan, then it wouldn’t hurt to trace them back to their camp and ask them how they got their hands on this item.” Jack suggested. Sallow looked a bit unsure, still staring at the Hell Gem in his hand, before sighing and nodding.

  “I suppose that is one thing we could try.” He slid the Hell Gem into a small bag he was carrying around his waist, closing the bag. “Although, I doubt they’ll tell us anything about it willingly.”

  Jack smirked.

  “Well, then we’ll force the information out of them.”

  The man turned his back on Sallow, walking over to Araneida, who was sitting around lazily not that far away from them. “While we really don’t have a reason to bother with this… We need to get stronger. And if those punks at the Green Goblin clan have gotten their hands on an item like that...”

  He grinned widely, kneeling down in front of Araneida and gently rubbing her head. “That means they could be pretty strong and thus, defeating them could boost our strength.”

  “Even if I doubt all of it.”

  Sallow looked a bit uncertain for a bit, before sighing and nodding. “Very well. Then I will lead you two to their clan camp.” Jack's grin widened even more, before he looked away, his eyes shining orange. “...Perfect.”

  I do wonder…

  What we’ll encounter there.

  The trio moved through the cave-like, rocky environment for a long time – encountering all sorts of monsters on their way, which they dispatched very fast and with relative ease. As they moved, the environment around them began to change slowly. It eventually became less uneven and rocky, with clear paths and other signs of obvious life beginning to appear around them.

  Random camps, which seemed to be outposts, set up in places, stakes with direwolf skulls scattered around the place and even traps began to appear. It seemed like they were inside the Green Goblin clans territory now – most likely being close to reaching their main camp.

  “It’s not that far anymore. Just a bit farther and we’ll be there.” Sallow commented at the front, throwing his gaze back at Araneida and Jack, who were walking behind him.

  “Tell me something Sallow – why were the Grey Goblins on bad terms with the Green Goblins?” Sallow remained silent for a bit. Then, he exhaled lightly. “As I said before, it’s mainly because of their leader. He’s… honestly, there’s no words that would be befitting to describe him.”

  “Can you at least try?”

  “...He’s greedy, doesn’t value anyone else's life other than his own, way too arrogant and all in all, a shitty creature.” Sallow shook his head. “We used to be on good terms with the Green Goblin clan, before he took over. As soon as he did, he almost immediately began to ignore established territories of the goblin clans and invaded our territory. Naturally, we fought back – but despite all his negative features, the bastard is a good battle schemer and managed to rip away about half of our territory and force us to retreat.”

  “I see… It’s because the current King of the clan decided to essentially do what politicians did in my world.” Jack looked down, scratching his chin. “Any reason he targeted your clan and not the others?”

  “Because to him, we appeared as the ‘weakest’. As I said before, Red and Black Goblin clans are regarded as the ‘strongest’ and the White Goblin clan is led by a leader that went through a rank evolution. The Green Goblin King isn’t stupid enough to underestimate them – so he decided to instead instigate a fight… or rather, a war with my clan.”

  Sallow fell silent for a bit, while Jack watched him from behind. “And judging from the state I found that clan when I first met him, I’m going to guess that this war has not been in his favour. And now, he doesn’t even get to continue it, as I essentially wiped out the entire Grey Goblin clan.” Jack commented in his thoughts, before exhaling and smiling. “Well, be happy.”

  Sallow looked at Jack a bit confused, while Jack just walked over to his side and gently hit him on the back. “If things come to it, you’ll be able to knock that leader's teeth in. Consider it as payback for what he did.” Jack looked at Sallow, who looked a bit surprised by Jack's statement, before smiling. “Of course, my Lord.”

  Then…

  Woosh – Chip.

  An arrow was fired and hit the ground in front of them, stopping the trio. All of them immediately looked towards where the arrow had flown from. A top a small cliff edge, was what looked like about fifty green goblins, all armed to the brim with some impressive looking gear – steel armour, actually well made bows and swords and physiques, which looked a lot more impressive than the goblins Jack had encountered when he first awoke in the dungeon.

  Amongst them, a couple of magic casters could also be spotted – hidden under well made, black robes. “Not a step further.”

  The goblin that had fired the arrow stated. It was a bit taller than the other goblins and its physique was a lot more slender and lanky – similar to Sallows. Jack leaned in towards Sallows ear. “Green goblin clan?” He whispered.

  Sallow nodded and narrowed his eyes. “..Indeed.”

  Jack smiled and laughed, before turning towards the large group of goblins and walking towards them. “Seems like our prey has come to us.” Without hesitation, the same Goblin that had fired the initial arrow fired another one towards Jack, which the man simply blocked by quickly morphing his right arm into an armadillo shell, which deflected the arrow.

  The archer looked a bit surprised. “A Morphing spell? Doesn’t matter.” The archer narrowed his eyes and gestured to the others, who immediately prepared for a fight. Jack grinned.

  “Araneida, Sallow – it’s go time. Just, make sure to keep that archer alive.” Araneida and Sallow nodded, with Sallow taking his greatsword off of his back and smashing it into the ground. “And the rest?”

  “You already know.” Jack closed his eyes. Sallow grinned.

  “Right.”

  Then, Araneida shrieked loudly towards the goblins, sending an intense wave of energy towards them, which put a great pressure on the goblins, forcing most to fall to their knees.

  Araneida has activated [Intimidation].

  “What… is this…?!” The archer thought.

  Then, Araneida leapt in and devoured one of the frontal goblin warriors, tearing through its armour and flesh with ease, before dashing through a large chunk of the group. On the other side, Sallow dashed towards them, before tearing apart about fourteen goblins with one swing of his greatsword.

  The archer's eyes widened.

  “I can’t move a muscle…” The archer thought. Then, Sallow knocked him down the cliffedge, removing the effects of Araneidas ‘Intimidation’. The archer rose up, as Jack approached him, with his left eye shining orange. “What… the hell are you?”

  “Who can say?” Jack replied, before cracking his knuckles. “All you need to know is that you won’t die…. Yet.” He grinned. The archer looked frustrated, before reaching for his arrows – however Jack quickly closed the distance between them, before pummeling the archer in the stomach, sending it flying into the cliff's wall.

  The light armour on its body had been shattered, its bow reduced to broken bits and pieces and the arrows in the quiver on its back – vaporized into basically nothing. The archer coughed up blood, staring at its right hand. “A single punch… Damaged me this much..?”

  Jack stood over the Archer, staring down at it with a wide grin.

  The Archers pupils shook with fear, while the Tamer reached out towards it and grabbed the Archer by its neck, picking it up. “Alright then – This is how things will go.” Jack exhaled, glaring at the Archer with a menacing stare. “You’ll willingly lead us to your leader. Capiche?”

  The Archer struggled for a bit, before spitting at Jack. “Go to hell… Human! My forces will—”

  Jack sighed, before leaping up onto the cliff edge and dropping the Archer onto the ground. The Archer coughed a bit, before its head was grabbed and forced to look at the scene behind it — which made its eyes widen even more in fear. Sallow and Araneida were standing over the slaughtered and torn apart bodies of the other goblins.

  All fifty of them had been wiped out – even the magic casters.

  Sallow looked at Jack and the Archer, smiling. “It’s done, my Lord.” Araneida on the other hand, was busy devouring the corpses of the dead goblins, throwing a menacing glare at the Archer.

  “Wh… what? We… Are the elite… How…”

  Jack knelt behind the Archer, still holding its head up, before leaning in towards the ear. “Understand your situation now? Either corporate or you’ll join these useless critters in hell.” He whispered quietly, with a sinister grin spread across his face and his right eye, almost flaming orange.

  The Archer remained silent, staring at its slaughtered kin, before looking at Jack, with a terrified expression. “...I made a mistake.”