AuthorPalt

Tutorial Rewrite 33 (Patreon)

Published:

2023-01-07 16:47:49

Imported:

2023-03

Content

There’s a goblin standing right there, by the entrance to the woods. He’s holding a torch and nothing else, and I’m pretty sure it’s a guy because of the mane and the build. To preface, I didn’t exactly have time to put the goblin’s head into my inventory before this guy popped up, so I’m still holding it like a football in both hands.

Uhh… It’s not what it looks like?

The head disappears from my hands and into my inventory.

The goblin stumbles back a step. “A… AAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!”

Hey, hey, hey, no need to scream like a damn raid siren, what’s that for?!

Moving like greased lightning, I fly up to him, shoving the butt of my knife into his maned throat.

“Gck—?!”

Grabbing him by the neck with both hands, I jump onto the side of a nearby tree and use my teeth-climb no jutsu to make my way up. The whole thing took probably less than ten seconds.

<You have learned:

Fang Lv.6>

And once I’m up, I quickly sink my sharp teeth into his neck. Yummy warm blood flows into my mouth as he begins to kick. I consider using Touch of Reverse Tolerance on him, but I don’t think it’s needed. Once my teeth have made a big enough hole in his neck, I use my claws to rip up his airways and whatever arteries can be found in his neck. Baddabing baddaboom, goblin no more.

<You have learned:

Bloodlust Lv.2>

My position has already been more than given away, so without even trying to loot the body, I drop it down to the ground again.

Hm. I’m not sure what to do, honestly. I don’t know how many goblins are here, but I’ll need them all to completely clear the level. At the moment, I can’t be sure of anything. If I hide they’ll probably go away eventually, but I don’t think I’ll get another opportunity to defeat them.

However, if all of them are at level 7 or so, I won’t be able to take them all on. Not at once, at least. I’ll need to make them spread out, and pick them off, one by one. The issue is that I’m not omnipotent. How will I know where all of them are at all time-,

Sniff sniff.

Sni—ff.

Yeah. I can smell them.

Let’s see… Sniff sniff…

20, no… 27? Yeah, 27 goblins. They don’t smell very sweet, but they smell like goblin meat. And I like goblin meat. Since there are so many of them it’s harder to tell where any one individual is, but I’m lucky, because they seem to have split up into five smaller groups. Always the first mistake. And, in many cases, much like this one, the last.

The closest group is heading here at a pretty fast speed, probably in response to the scream. Two of the other groups are also heading this way. Speed-wise, it would be the fastest to take out the groups closest to me, but that gives the groups further away more time to run. If I shoot for those further away, it will also confuse the ones closest to me, so that’s the best choice.

Let’s see, the group furthest away… Sniff sniff… Seems like they’re at that wooden hut I defeated those four goblins at earlier. In that case, I know the way.

Confident in my own abilities, I set out, leaping from tree to tree like some sort of cross between a cheetah and a chipmunk. Jump jump jump.

<You have learned:

Claw Lv.9>

<You have learned:

Climb Lv.4>

And within only a few minutes, I arrive.

And there they are. There are six of them, and all of them are big. This would suggest that the small goblins are some sort of spawnlings or whatever, while these big ones are the normal ones. That would also explain the name difference, now that I think about it. In the end though, a small goblin is just a yet-to-be-big goblin.

Four of them have kind of low levels, but two of them are almost as high as my own or higher. The most important thing for me is to remove their advantage in numbers, so my number one objective is to kill the weaker ones. I need to hunt them like a lioness, except that I’m a guy. The moment one of the weaker ones leaves the pack, I strike.

<You have learned:

Stealth Lv.4>

<You have learned:

Stalk Lv.5>

Silently, I creep closer to the level five. I think it’s a woman. The lack of head hair makes the otherwise feminine clothing look out of place. Somehow, she also looks a fair bit younger than the others, and shorter, too. If I compare their height to my own, the men seem to be about slightly taller on average than the women, though both are still only about as tall as older children or teenagers. Not counting one guy. At least, that’s what I think. Somehow, it feels thrilling to, for once in my life, be the tallest in the room. Forest. Whatever.

It makes me wanna squish ‘em.

Oh, chance!

The level five just stepped behind the hut to check it out, and in swoops the great I, grabbing her by the throat and dragging her up into a nearby tree. And then… Chomp.

<You have learned:

Bite Lv.5>

Our eyes meet. She seems more confused and surprised than afraid. She doesn’t even have time to struggle before her eyes go dim.

Still keeping my attention on the goblins down below, I climb higher into the tree and hang her body way up where it can’t be seen. Normally speaking, goblins are shown to be nocturnal, or at least have night vision, but these ones are actually using torches and lanterns to move about. Maybe they stole so much from humans that they developed hubris and now use human technology even for things that don’t need it? Not sure.

Anyways, after a minute or so, the other people in the group notice that she’s gone, and start shouting a new word. I think it might be her name, but since she’s a goblin, it might just be a title, or what she works with. Unsure. Whatever the situation is, the fact that they’re looking for someone new means that now, they’ve split up even more. From what I could see, the level twelve was the one that coordinated this split. But since the amount left is odd, one goblin had to be left on its own. And like the good leader he apparently is, the level twelve decided that he should go on his lonesome. How inspiring.

I leave him to himself and go after the group with the level six and the level seven.