Chapter 7

“Alice, I think we should go save them. I agree with you that things would be safer if I had some other people to accompany me.”

“Very good Spartan! Use the rope you have to hang your meat in one of the taller trees then I will show you their tracks. Based on my database, goblins do not possess very acute senses so if you stay quiet and downwind you should be able to sneak up on them quite easily. Be careful though once they spot you, they will attack you without mercy because they will think you are trying to take their women away from them.”

“Understood.”

Alex threw the end of his rope up over a thick tree limb and then I tied the other end onto the legs of the rabbit. Once it was secured, he hoisted it high up into the tree. Next, he walked back to the edge of the waterfall and found some mud.

I just go clean but this is the best way to camouflage myself out here in the woods. Alex reached down and grabbed a handful of mud and began smearing it on himself.

When he finished his entire body was covered in a dark brown almost black substance. Once he finished he ran off in the direction of the tracks that Alice had illuminated. He immediately started following the tracks of the goblins. It was strange following them. It felt almost like when he was in the military doing surveillance work. He had done this hundreds of times in the past now it was like second nature. He kept himself hidden each time he moved. Alex stayed in the shadows of the large trees and moved softly over the plants to keep the sound he made down to a minimum. Alex quickly caught up with the slow-moving monsters.

The women looked to be in pretty bad shape. They looked to have been wearing underwear like he was but their tops were pulled off. They used their arms and hands to cover their breasts to give them a bit of modesty. Their bottoms were barely hanging on from the rips and scratches on them. The women struggled to stay on their feet as the small green men yanked them forward by the chains that were attached to collars that were around their throats. One woman was taller than the other. She was a blonde with a deep tan. The other woman was a black woman with jet black curly hair and bronze-colored skin. Alex couldn’t really see anything more from that distance so he started to move a little closer.

As luck would have it one of the goblins walked off away from the group. It was carrying a 1 meter long wood club and what appeared to be a wooden round shield.

This is my chance. I just need to sneak up on it and kill it. Reducing their numbers will increase my chance of survival when I take on the rest of the group. Plus that shield would be a good addition to my equipment. If only I could find one of them that was a bit larger so I could take its clothes then I could stop wearing just these stupid briefs.

Alex moved quickly on an intercept course towards the little green monster. As I got closer I hid behind a tree. The mud camouflage I was wearing allowed me to blend into the shadow of the tree he was in front of. As Alex was hiding he stepped on a tree branch and it broke with a cracking sound. he quickly ducked down to hide behind another massive tree. The goblin looked in his direction but apparently the mud camouflage and he heard nature's call. That must have taken precedence over its interest in figuring out what the noise was. First it placed its small shield and club on the ground. Then it took off its loincloth and began squatting near a tree.

Perfect! It’s disarmed and not focused on being attacked. I should be able to kill it easily.

Alex began making my move. He stalked closer and closer to it. As he got closer, the smell emanating from its excrement was overwhelming but Alex continued getting closer. When he got within 6 meters, he dashed as quickly as he could towards it. The goblin was completely unaware of his presence. At the last moment it must have heard his footsteps because it turned to face him. Unfortunately for the goblin, Alex's blade was on a direct path towards its head. It tried to dodge but it was simply too late. Alex plunged his sword deep into its skull rendering its body completely limp. He quickly threw its club into some leaves and equipped its shield on his weak arm. Once I finished looting its items, I picked the body up and walked off to a secluded area to hide it.

“Alice, now there should only be 3 left. I think I will wait and see if they send another out to check on this one. If they do I will kill that one as well. Then I will attack the group. With hypercognition it should not be much of a fight.”

“That is a good plan Spartan, however, I suggest you attack now because you don’t have much light left. In places like this, there are much more fierce predators that come out at night.”

“Understood, I guess that means it's time to finish this.”

Alex followed the trail left by the goblin he killed with the shield. When he was about 25 meters awayheI saw something that made my stomach turn upside down. The goblins were forcefully having sex with the two women. One had his tool shoved in the black woman’s mouth while another bent over the white woman with the blonde hair. The two women were screaming and crying. The goblins were enjoying themselves thoroughly. The third goblin was keeping watch.

I have to stop this now!

“Alice, when the first one sees me activate hypercognition.”

“Affirmative.”

Alex rushed as fast as he could toward the tragic rape scene. As he got closer the goblins ended up switching. The goblin that was watching joined in as the one that was ramming his member into the black woman’s mouth blew his load in her mouth so much that it came out of her nose. She vomited it all out on the ground. The other goblin that had been on the lookout replaced him and threw her on the ground and pushed her feet behind her head and started plunging into her with reckless abandon. Alex reached the group just as the one goblin was getting its weapons. It was too late when it saw him.

Alex swung his sword across its neck nearly separating its head from its little body. It fell on the ground holding its neck as it let out a quiet whimper. The whimper alerted the other two who quickly managed to get their weapons that he assumed were sitting on the ground near them. As soon as they reached for them, Alice activated hypercognition and once again everything seemed to slow down.

The first goblin Alex rushed towards had a stone hatchet that it threw at me. The avenging human could easily see the trajectory so he avoided it and continued forward. It jumped to the ground looking like it was searching for something but this was more than enough time for him to finish it off. Alex moved closer and just as he was about to strike the other goblin came swinging a sword that it held in both hands. Had he not been in hypercognition it would have cut his head clean off. But because of it he managed to duck under the attack. Alex followed by kicking it in the face knocking it flat on its back. It tried to stand but Alex slashed completely through its leg severing it at the knee. It was completely incapacitated. The other goblin apparently found what it was looking for, a bow and a quiver full of arrows.

The first arrow flew but the speed was not fast enough that he couldn’t see where it was going. Alex dodged as he ran towards it with all possible speed. It had a chance to fire one more arrow. He raised the shield and blocked it. It tried to knock another arrow but Alex thrust my sword into its chest before it could do so. It fell to the ground with a thud but it was still alive. A pool of blood was forming underneath of both of the remaining monsters. He looked over to the two women both were hiding in fear.

Congratulations! You have completed the achievement: The enemy of my enemy!

By saving another prisoner from enemy hands, you have gained 1 ability point and 1 Skill point!

Yes! The original announcement said that I would have to find ways to gain more points. I guess achievements are the way it has to be done. Now I have to figure out what some of those points might be. Anyway I need to consult Alice to help me with what I can do with these points.

“Sorry to do this but I need you to come out.”

They continued cowering behind a log on the ground.

“Come out now!”, I yelled in the strongest voice that I could muster.

The two women sprang up from behind the log and stood there both holding their hands to cover their breasts.

“If you want to survive here you have to kill. Now pick up the weapons from these guys on the ground and kill them”, I said as I cut the arm off of the goblin wielding the two handed sword.

The black woman immediately grabbed the hatchet and went over to the goblin. Its eyes were wide as saucers as the woman came towards it with the stone hatchet in hand. She stopped at its legs and raised the hatchet. The weapon came down on the goblin’s “weapon” that caused her so much pain and disgust. She turned it into a eunuch with one stroke. It writhed on the ground screaming at the top of its lungs. The other woman grabbed the two-handed sword but it seemed a bit heavy for her. She dragged it on the ground moving closer to her prey. Her eyes were glazed over as if she was not really conscious but Alex watched on. She got over to the last goblin and used all of her strength to lift the sword and drop it straight into its head killing it instantly.

Both women fell to the ground breathing heavily. Both were filthy covered with dirt, grime, and bodily fluids. Alex gave them a few moments as both of them were crying. He watched as the crying continued.

"Alex, the women are obviously dealing with the trauma of being raped. Although it will take the a while for them to work through the issues, you will need to return to your shack very soon as the sun is going down."

"I know but how can I just make them get up and get it together?"

"I understand but you will have to do something or you will all be in grave danger and they will not be much help in a fight."

Alex struggled with the decision he had to give them some time so he decided to look through the weapons that the goblins had. He found a stone axe, the long sword that the goblin wielded as a two-handed weapon, and a bow with a quiver of arrows.

Not bad, this wasn’t a bad haul. If these two can fight alongside of me then I will have a much better chance of surviving. Now I’ve got to see what kind of shape these two are in.

“Hello, I’m sorry about yelling at you two earlier.”

There was no response the girls just continued to cry.

“Spartan, from my data on human psychology I believe these two women have suffered massive trauma. They were both being raped just now. They may have been raped multiple times prior to this. If they can recover, they will need time to process this. I would suggest that you get the weapons and lead them to the waterfall so that they can clean themselves and then let you follow them back to your shack. Maybe some safety might help them.”

“Your suggestion is great as ever, Alice. Alright ladies you don’t have to talk to me but if you want to clean up I can take you somewhere that has clean water and then to my place where you can get some food and sleep.”

There was no answer but both women’s heads lifted and I could see their eyes. They were both tired and looked at me with eyes full of pain. They slowly made it to their way to their feet and began walking toward me in silence. I placed the quiver of arrows around my back and I handed my sword to the black woman and the stone axe to the blonde. I picked up the longer sword. It felt good in my hands. It was definitely heavier than the previous one but not so heavy that I couldn’t still use it with one hand.

Why couldn’t she lift this? Is she that weak? Is she injured in some way or is it that my physique makes me that much stronger? Anyway I have to get back to the waterfall so they can clean themselves up. Then we need to get back to my shack.

Alex began walking back towards the waterfall as the two women followed behind him. The sun was starting to move towards the horizon so he knew he had to keep moving. He tried not to look at the women as they were missing their tops and he wanted to at least give them some dignity. Alex quickened the pace just a little so that we could reach the waterfall before dark. After a few more minutes they reached the waterfall. The women dropped their weapons and rushed towards the water. They both stood in the falls vigorously scrubbing themselves. He waited while they continuously cleaned themselves. When they finally finished they came towards Alex.

“Thank you for saving me”, said the black woman.

“My thanks as well”, said the blonde

“You are welcome. After being in the water for so long you must be getting cold. Follow me back to my place. I know it’s not the best but I will build a fire and cook some meat so that you can be warm and have your stomachs filled.”

The women looked at each other and nodded at him showing that they would take him up on my offer. Alex looked around and saw that there were two large bunnies on the opposite side of the lake.

These two aren’t really in any shape to fight so I’ve got to finish this with no help. I used up enough time on my hypercognition so I need to find another way. No I think we should avoid them for now but we can’t cross farther down river because of those snake things in the water.

“Alice, help me aim this bow and take those things out from over here.”

“Understood Spartan”

Alex pulled the bow off his back and knocked an arrow. He had fired it a few times when he was in the military when I was doing some advanced training but he was never really good at it. As he pulled the bow string back he saw a cross hair appear in my vision.

“Is this you Alice?”

“Yes Spartan. Using your senses I have taken into account all of the variables for firing the arrow. As you move the bow your cross hair will move. When it turns red take a deep breath and hold the bow steady. Then release the string and let the arrow fly.”

“Thanks Alice. Well let’s test it out.”

Alex moved the bow around until the cross-hair turned red. As instructed, he took a deep breath and fired. The arrow shot out from the bow towards the closer of the two large rabbits. The arrow hit the target directly in the head. The arrow pierced all the way through its brain causing it to slump over onto the ground. The other bunny turned towards Alex. It began snarling but it wouldn’t enter into the water to come to his side of the lake. He pulled another arrow out and knocked it. He smiled as the monster snarled back. Alex drew back on the bow string again and took aim. As the cross-hair turned red once again, he fired but this time the rabbit dodged to the side and the arrow missed by about a meter.

Well I guess it's not that great if the creature can see the attack coming. So now I have no choice. I have to go over there and kill it.

Alex walked towards the waterfall and traversed across the small ledge behind it to engage the rabbit in close melee combat. It continued moving back and forth snarling. As soon as he emerged from behind the waterfall the rabbit rushed towards him. He raised his shield and sword and started jogging towards it. Alex wanted to test the strength of his new shield so he dodged its teeth and smashed it in the head with the shield with all the strength he could muster. It fell back and one of its teeth broke off. Alex's lips curled up into a devious grin as he rushed toward the monster. It had no chance to attack as his new blade slashed through its torso. Blood sprayed out onto me blinding me momentarily. That was more than enough for the rabbit to attack. It smashed into me and bit down on my shoulder.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”, I screamed out in pain.

Its teeth were digging down into my shoulder. I was quickly loosing feeling in my arm that was holding the shield. I quickly pushed my sword into its underbelly. The sword ran through its body like a hot knife through butter. Its jaws tensed up biting deeper into my shoulder before it jaws relaxed and it released him before falling dead on its side.

congratulations you are now level 4 you have 1 point to allocate to your physical or mental attributes.

“Alice…. Huff…..pufff… Do you have the nanites healing me?”

“Anytime you are injured they are programmed to immediately begin healing you Spartan.”

“Thank you Alice.”

Alex began shaking his arm a few times before standing up and looking toward the women. Their eyes were in shock and awe.

Had they never seen anyone fight back against this world’s monsters? Did the goblins that abducted them simply take them without a fight? If they will not fight I cannot take care of them. They will have to earn their keep. I will have to let them know after we get back to the shack. I am not into charity.

Alex waved the women over and they walked over to me. He rubbed his arms and saw that his shoulder injury was already healing at a visible speed. As he rotated it he didn’t feel any real pain and the numbness had faded away. He grabbed the two dead rabbits and lifted each of them onto each of my shoulders and began walking towards the shack. After another 30 minutes of walking his shoulders were on fire and his stamina had waned. The sun had just finished setting but the group of 2 women and 1 man had made it to their destination. Alex walked them inside and placed the two large rabbits on the table. Alex look at his fire and noticed that it was almost completely out.

“Let me have the stone axe. I need to cut some fire wood.”

The blonde woman handed him the axe and he walked out to cut some firewood. After a few minutes, he came back with some branches and began hitting the pieces of flint he had found outside together to start the fire. The two women were sitting backs against the wall holding their tits with their hands. Alex tried not to stare. Once the sparks reached the kindling the fire began to smoke. He quickly put some brush onto the fire to get it going. He walked back outside and grabbed another larger piece of wood to keep the fire going for a while. He waited for a few moments to make sure the fire was roaring before trying to skin and cook some of the rabbit.

It took me a lot less time to skin the rabbit as his skill in doing so had gone up considerably since he had been in this prison. The women were a bit grossed out with the blood and organs coming out but once the meat began cooking their inhibitions went away. The blonde was visibly drooling.

How long has it been since they ate? They did have that emaciated look. Both of their eyes had dark circles around them and the cheeks were sunken in. What should I do with them?

When Alex finished cooking one of the rabbits, he used his sword to begin cutting it into pieces. The meat sizzled as he cut through the tender flesh and the juices from the meat flowed slowly onto the table. The women’s eyes widened as they slowly got closer.

“You don’t have to worry, I’m not going to hurt you. You can eat.”

Upon hearing his words the two women dashed as fast as their weak bodies could to the meat and began stuffing pieces into their mouths. Their appetites were voracious as they consumed piece after piece of meat. Alex laughed inwardly as I looked on at them.

“Alice, what are we going to do with these two?”

“What do you mean, Spartan?”

“I mean that they went through a very traumatic experience and their minds are clearly not recovered yet. I don’t want them to try and kill me in my sleep because I’m a man. So what should I do with them?”

“You have three choices. You make them sleep outside and barricade the door. Second choice is to trust them and let them sleep inside safely with you and risk them killing you in your sleep. Third kill them now and then not worry about them at all.”

“My thought is to make them sleep outside. What would you suggest?”

“I would suggest option 2, which is to let them sleep inside with you. Human nature would suggest that they will feel deeply indebted to you for saving them from their ordeal and now that they have seen you fight they probably do not feel that they could kill you so you should be safe from attacks.”

“You analysis is great as usual. They can sleep inside but I will take the weapons just to be on the safe side”, I said to Alice.

“That would be wise.”

Alex began eating after the two women ate their fill. He could see their stomachs were protruding outwards showing just how much they ate. In comparison to me it was still much less because of the nanites requiring so much energy. The two women had eaten the meat off of the rear leg of the rabbit while he finished off all of the meat from its torso and one of the front legs. His body felt invigorated after eating the meat. As he finished eating he saw the women sit themselves against the wall on opposite sides of the room near the fireplace. They both had the same posture, knees bent up towards their chest with arms clasped around them and head down.

I guess now that they have eaten they must be tired. I guess Alice was right they have no intention on attacking me. They simply wanted to eat and rest. Well I guess that is fine for tonight. Tomorrow they will have to learn to become productive members of our team or they will have to leave. Now let me consult Alice about my increases.

“Alice, bring up the abilities and skills list that I can get now. Filter out anything that is not beneficial to my current path of using nanotechnology and Artificial intelligence.”

“Understood”

Ability:

Upgrade A.I. to tier II

Ki Manipulation

Beast taming

“Hmm…. Alice, why ki manipulation?”

“Your nanites need a source of energy and food is not going to be able to provide enough energy as you continue to increase your nanites. In addition, ki will give you access to increased physical abilities.”

“What about the A.I. upgrade?”

“It will allow me more access to my databanks thus allowing me to give you more information about your environment and enemies. For example, It will allow me to pass on language acquisition to you through analyze facial features and sounds from languages you hear. I can also analyze and help you recreate the attacks that others use.”

“SO what your saying is that if you observe someone with ki you can tell me how to use it?”

“Yes and no. Yes I can show you how to use it but you must be able to manipulate the energy and that is a latent talent that must be acquired using the ability point.”

“Ok I think I’ll take ki manipulation”

Do you wish to spend 1 ability point on ki manipulation? Yes

Suddenly, Alex felt something begin to swirl around my abdomen. Then whatever it was began to move from there throughout my entire body. As it spread through his body, it felt like it was on fire. He fell to his knees in pain. Some kind of liquid was coming out of his pores. As the process continued, he fought to keep myself from losing consciousness. Then he coughed up some kind of dark-colored liquid from his mouth and the pain stopped. When his eyes came back into focus Alex could see that whatever came out of me was a dark almost black colored liquid.

“What the?! What is that?”

“Based on preliminary findings that was your ki beginning to purify your body. As it does this thick black mucus will be expelled from your body just not in as large a quantity. As your energy increase in the amount and is purified you ki will increase in quality and quantity.”

“I hope it was worth it.”

“Well you will soon find out. Now what will you do with your skill point? My suggestion is upgrading your nanite manipulation skill. This will reduce the energy need to create and utilize them by 15%. There are some others like empty-handed combat or sword mastery that will give you increases in your fighting ability but I my calculations show that increasing nanite proficiency would be far greater of an increase to your overall survival than anything else.”

“Yes you have a point there. Those things are incredible and now that I have an energy source that can fuel them we can get to make more so that I can begin to upgrades.”

Do you wish to spend 1 skill point on nanite manipulation? yes

This time there was no major change within his body. He simply knew that everything was more powerful and required less energy to use and create. This was much more welcomed than the first time for his abilities. Now that everything was done he laid down on the rug after placing another hunk of wood on the fire. He had no idea if the weather was going to get cold that night so he wanted to be prepared.

“Alice, commence using my ki to power nanite production as well as any extra food that I have eaten.”

“Affirmative. Your ki energy is much more efficient to power them. Over the course of the night tonight we will surpass our goal of 4000 nanites to upgrade your sword. However, I would ask you to refrain from that until we reach 10,000 nanites as you do not want to have too few. If you have too few some of the healing abilities you have currently would not heal you quickly enough. So if you were attacked by a snake similar to the one from the other day the nanites could not stop the poison and you would have died.”

“Then let’s do that. Alice I have no idea what I would do without you.”

He closed his eyes and curled up on the fur rug and quickly fell asleep.