Chapter 20

Alex began moving through the cave down towards each room that he had mapped out before. He quickly went towards the area where the larger goblin was preparing the food.

He did not see me last time so I’ll take the chance to assassinate him while no one can come to his aid. The others that were in the room were weak so I should have no problem dealing with them after I kill him.

Alex continued moving towards the kitchen area. He smelled the sickening aroma of human flesh cooking like he did the last time he ventured into the goblin's den. Again it made him nauseous but Alex had a sense of pride knowing that this smell would never be here again after today. Alex rushed to the room and when he entered it was nearly identical to the scene he saw last time. There was one unfortunate exception. This time the goblin chef was actually cooking a human being on a rotisserie spit like Eve cooked the rabbits at home. It was a female. Her skin was browned and dripping juices off of it. Alex unconciously gagged before looking closely at the larger goblin. Its status screen appeared in front of me.

Race: Hobgoblin Tier II

Level: 13

Class: Warrior

Job: Cook

Physique: 11

Mental Ability: 9

Physical coordination: 6

Reaction Speed: 5

Speed: 4

This one is much weaker than the leader but its physique is still higher than mine. I need to end this in one attack so that there is no way that I have to fight the 4 small goblins and this one hobgoblin.

As I moved in closer, it began to speak.

“Oh you are back huh?”, said the hobgoblin cook. “What brings you back here? Are you here to kill me? If so it will not be easy. Come out and face me like a real warrior and not a coward.”

The other goblins began talking amongst themselves. Alex paid no attention to them and kept moving while keeping his camouflage active.

It seems that he can sense my presence in the room but he doesn’t know exactly where I am. I will have to use that to my advantage.

Alex stalked closer towards it and kept his hand tightly clenched on his nanite-enhanced sword. It made no movements towards me as he got closer.

He still has his hand on that massive cleaver but I have the reach advantage and the huge advantage of being unseen. I’m going to take him out.

Alex moved closer and closer. The tension in the room became palpable. Alex fought his desire to respond and continued inching closer and closer to his prey.

“If you are not going to show yourself then I will have to find you!”, it said as it charged forward from behind the table it was working on in the direction opposite of where Alex was.

It rushed off to the corner of the room and placed its back firmly against the corner. Then it began swinging its knife around randomly at an enemy that was not there.

Just as I thought it knows I’m here but not where I am. That is a good strategy putting its back to the wall so that I can’t sneak up behind it but that won’t make any difference if I don’t fight in close combat.

Alex lifted his sword and aimed at the hobgoblin the reticule in his eye showed that his aim was dead on. Alex watched for a moment as the monster flailed away at nothing but air. Alex waited a little longer as it slowed down its random slashes. When it appeared that it was running out of stamina, he threw his sword with all of his strength toward it. The sword struck the monster directly in the chest cavity. The blade pierced all the way through the monster’s body causing the monster to be impaled into the cave wall. It grabbed at the sword in vain as it was unable to remove the blade from the wall. The other goblins screeched in fear as another sword came out of nowhere and began slaughtering them. They looked around for their unknown assailant but they could see nothing as the blade seemed to move all by itself and kill each and every one of them.

Well now that they are done I can finish off this guy.

Alex removed his camouflage and slowly appeared before the eyes of the wounded hobgoblin that was slowly dying with the sword piercing his chest.

“You are one tough bastard you know that! I mean you have been up there while I killed the other four that were working on preparing food.”

“You… You …. You… You are a human?! A mere human was able to kill our leader and all of the warriors that live here in this colony? Impossible! Who sent you? Who was with you? Was it orcs? Werewolves? Vampires? Who damn it? Who sent you? Who helped you?”

“Well I guess I can tell you since you are only a few breaths away from dying at this point. No one sent me. I am simply a human who found you were holding other humans hostage so I came to rescue them and I couldn’t do that without slaughtering the members of your colony.”

“Blah…”, the hobgoblin coughed a mouth full of dark red almost maroon colored blood out onto to the floor. “Human you should be careful of all of those other groups that I mentioned because now that we are no longer here in this mine, they will come to take possession of it in order to spread their territory. Hahahaha! Blah...Those groups will be much more difficult to face than us. They will kill you and all of your human companions or worse.”

“Well that is not your problem and if they come for me I will do to them the same thing that I did to your people, I’LL KILL THEM ALL!!!”, Alex said as summoned his ki to increase his strength.

“What… What…. What are you?!”, cried the hobgoblin.

I let out a light chuckle and said, “I will tell you so that when you go to hell you can let all of the others know who sent you. You can call me, Spartan! Now DIIIIIIIEEEEE!!!”

Alex yanked the sword from his chest and blood squirted out onto his face and chest as the hobgoblin sunk down to the ground in a heap of blood and flesh. Alex released his ki and took a deep breath to calm himself. He took out some water from his inventory and poured it on himself to clean off his face and armor before placing the sword he used to kill the goblins back into his inventory. Alex picked up the large cleaver that the Hobgoblin was using and placed it into his inventory as well before leaving to check around all of the other rooms. Alex made sure to resume his search with his camouflage on.

Alex rushed to the place where he saw the humans being raped and tortured. When I got there only a half dozen goblins were standing watch. He looked around and saw the men and women were there. More than a dozen were locked up in chains and another 10 were being raped and violated by another set of goblins.

I’m sorry for leaving you all here the last time I came but this time there will be no running away. This time I will kill all of these goblins and lead you out to freedom.

Alex rushed in and began slaughtering the goblins standing watch. By the time they even knew what was happening, he had already slashed the throats of three of them. The others began trying to stab blindly into the air but they had no idea where he was. His camouflage was an advantage the goblins just could not overcome. Alex just took them out one by one.

This camouflage is amazing but I do need to figure out how that hobgoblin was able to detect me.

Once Alex was finished with all of the goblins in the room, he removed my camouflage and showed himself to the humans who were in the room.

“Who… Who… are you?”, asked one of the men.

“You can call me Spartan. I’ve come to get you out of here.”

“Thank you… thank you… thank you”, many of the people said.

Alex went around and broke the shackles that were on the people with the blade of his sword freeing them one after another. Spartan counted as he went around. There were 22 humans 15 females and 7 males. Alex led them to the front of the cave.

“Bella and Eve can you two lead these please lead these people back to our house. I know it is not big enough but right now we can’t leave them in this cave. I’m going to go back in and look for more survivors.”

“What about you? Will you be ok coming back on your own?”, asked Eve.

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Take the Accalia and Boris with you to make sure that all of you stay safe”, I replied.

“Boris and Accalia go protect these people on the way back home”, Alex said to the wolves through their link.

The wolves nodded their heads in agreement and began walking with the people Alex had freed and his two female companions Bella and Eve. Once Alex saw them head back into the forest, he ran back in the cave.

This is the part that I didn’t want them to have to see. Any of the women pregnant with goblin children, I will kill them so that no more of these things will be born here.

Alex slowly walked back through the corridors to the place where the pregnant women were kept. He didn’t even put on my camouflage as he was seething with anger and resentment for what he was about to do. He had committed many sins in his time as a soldier but then he was following orders. Now, he was making a decision to do this all on his own.

Alex continued walking at measured pace until he got to the chamber. Alex was met by a screeching older looking goblin. She rushed towards him with breasts sagging swinging her hands which had sharp claws. She had no fighting skill whatsoever. Her attack was almost laughable. Alex dodged a few of her attacks before decapitating her in a single swing. Her head flew off and the smaller new born goblins ran to a corner of the room. Alex didn’t spare any of them as he executed them all with extreme prejudice. Finally, there were three women in the room that were screaming in pain looking like they were about to deliver.

“Please….!! Huff….Pufff…. don’t let me bring another one of these…. OUUUUUUCHHHHHH… things into the world. Kill me please kill me”, one of the women said.

“Me too… Please kill me too!”, another said with tears in her eyes.

Alex gripped his sword tighter and wiped the tears from his eyes and walked toward the horrified women.

Can I do this? Am I capable of killing innocents like this? No, I am a soldier. I complete the mission regardless of the obstacle. I have to do this. There is no other way!

“Please forgive me for this”, Alex said as I stabbed my blade into their stomachs one by one killing the women and their unborn goblin children.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Alex fell to his knees as the weight of killing the innocent women weighed on his conscious. Once the tears stopped flowing from his eyes Alex stood up and left the room and headed towards the room where the leader sat.

Alex made his way through the corridors that were dimly lit. The torches flickered as he walked by. Step by step he got closer to the place where he found the leader the cave began to widen out. Once Alex entered the room there was nothing around.

Why hasn’t my quest been completed? Haven’t I killed all of the goblins here yet? Are there more here that I haven’t killed? I guess this is the last room so if there are any left then I should be able to see them.

A cold chill ran down his spine as Alex took a step into the room.

What is this that I feel? What is going on? I didn’t feel this even when the leader of the colony was in here last time. What is here that makes me feel like this?

“Spartan, my scans are showing that there is another enemy ahead and it is powerful. Be careful”, Alice warned.

Alex paused and closed my eyes using my energy detection skill he found the source and it was at least twice the size of Eve’s energy signature.

What the hell is that? Being careful is definitely not going to be enough.

Alex looked down at my arm and tried flexing his hand. It seemed to be back to normal. Alex clenched his fist a few times to see if his strength had returned to his arm. With his strength back to normal, Alex pulled one of the metal shields he confiscated from the slain goblins and armed him with it before walking towards the throne made of bones.

Alex slowly walked around the throne with his camouflage activated trying to conceal myself. As soon as he walked around the throne he saw it. There was a huge bed with four tall wooden posts. Each post had a beautiful woman chained to it. They were completely naked and cowering at each corner of the bed. As Alex walked closer and there he saw it. There was an older looking hobgoblin wearing a dark cloak that covered most of it face and body. It was standing with assistance of a large cane. Alex looked it in its eye and in an eerie voice it began speaking.

“Ah, so you are the intruder stirring up trouble amongst my children?”

Alex said nothing as I moved closer.

“Your pitiful hiding ability may conceal you from the weak-minded but I am far beyond that. Your existence is blurred but I can still see where you are”, it said pointing directly at Alex.

Race: Hobgoblin Tier II

Level: 19

Class: Mage

Job: Researcher

Physique: 6

Mental Ability: 29

Physical coordination: 6

Reaction Speed: 4

Speed: 4

What the..? His mental ability is almost 30? What the hell? No wonder its energy is so high.

Alex dropped his camouflage and lowered his weapon.

“You, human, came here to crush my colony?”

“Yes, you kidnapped and raped human women. You tortured human men. I could not let that stand. Are you the last one?”

“Ah, yes we do take human females to breed and satisfy our sexual desires. So you are here to seek vengeance?”

“Yes, I am. Are there more of you? Are there more goblins in this cave?”

“No, I am the last. This room belonged to my son the leader of this tribe and for you to enter here he must already be dead.”

“Yes, I killed him.”

“Hmph…. With your weak strength that is unlikely. You must have had companions but that doesn’t matter because now you are all alone and I am going to kill you! It was foolish for you to come here alone. Once I'm done with you I’m going to hunt down your companions one by one. The women will become my slaves and bear my children so that I can regrow my colony. The men, I will cook alive on the rotisserie and eat them until nothing is left but their bones!”

“Over my dead body!”

“That is exactly what I was thinking you puny, pathetic human.”

I know he is a mage so he is weak against physical attacks. I have to get close to him so that he can’t cast too many of his spells. I’m going to try and fight him with my base level to begin with and then use hypercognition combined with my max ki enhancement as my trump card.

“You aren’t the first thing to try to kill me and you know where all of them are now? They are in HELL cursing the name Spartan!”, Alex yelled as he rushed towards the monster.

Alex felt a trembling in the ground.

Is this the earth spike spell? I better dodge and avoid it.

Alex immediately rolled to his left away from the rumbling feeling. As he completed his forward roll, Alex got back to his feet and a circular area with a radius of about 5 feet was covered in earth spikes. Spartan quickly regained his footing and rushed forward again. He was determined to close the distance between himself and the. old hobgoblin. He began hearing some strange words coming from the old one and its eyes went white.

Oh now this is bad. This must be one of his stronger spells. I need to move out of the way of this.

Alex focused his eyes as much as he could to see what direction the spell might move into but he could not. The hobgoblin was still gathering energy.

I need something to disrupt his energy channeling. That’s it! Since he won’t let me get close, I’ll attack him from range.

Alex put his sword and shield into his inventory and pulled out his bow and arrows. Alex continued running around the room and began firing arrows. The monster lifted his hand and a shield made of ice rose up and stopped the arrows. With a flick of its wrist, the large block of ice flew in Alex's direction. It moved far too slow for it to hit Spartan but it stopped him from firing arrows. Alex fired off two more arrows that the hobgoblin mage once again blocked with another ice shield. It became a war of attrition, Alex's arrows versus the mage's shield. Alex continued firing arrows and dodging the ice shields until it happened.

The monster completed his spell and then several lightning bolts flew from his hand. Alex had no way of avoiding them all. All he could do was try and maneuver himself away from as many as he could. Alex dodged most of them but he was hit by four of the bolts and the most painful of the group hit him in his chest burning a hole straight through the front and back of his armor.

“AHHHHHHHHH!”, Alex screamed out in agony falling to the ground.

“Sp…Arr…T…an”

“Alice, what is going on?”

His body began spasming. Muscles contracted at random. It felt like he was having a seizure of some kind. His chest felt like it was pounding. He couldn’t breathe and his stomach was going crazy! None of his limbs would respond.

What the hell is going on? Why can’t I move? Is it….? My nanites are machines. They are very sophisticated machines but machines all the same. So when I was hit by the lightning it may have short-circuited everything including Alice. I guess I’m all alone now or at least until Alice reboots. Hopefully that won’t take too much time.

“Human, you are still alive? Hahahaha! You are stronger than you look.”

The monster walked over to Alex and raised his hand in front of Alex's face. Spartan could barely move under his own power and Alex knew the mage thought it had Alex dead to rights. Alex waited until the spell was forming in the mage's hand.

“Now human it’s time for you to die”, said the monster as a fireball formed in his hand.

Alex could feel the heat coming from the mage's hand. It was as if the sun was shining right on his face. Alex smiled at the monster and a confused looked formed on its face. Alex took control of as much of his ki as he could in that instant. The energy exploded in his body. The feeling returned to his arms and legs. Alex swung his sword with all his might as the monster let the flame go. Alex's sword sliced through both of its arms severing them both. Unfortunately for Spartan, his attack only altered the course of the flame. The flame spell still hit him at point blank range in the chest. It burned through Alex's armor as if it wasn’t even there. He felt his skin begin to melt. Alex's body was racked with pain and he began writhing back and forth on the ground trying to extinguish the flames.

Please let my nanites come back online and begin healing me soon or even if I survive this I will die anyway.

As the fire extinguished, Alex's entire chest was burned completely black down to the subdermal armor layer. His face was burned so badly that part of his skull was exposed on the right side of his jaw. Alex looked like a walking corpse as he rose from the ground gingerly.

“What the…? H..H…H… How are you still alive? That attack should have burned you to a crisp”, the mage said as he used his feet to push himself with his back against the wall.

“I….Huff…puff….told you…huuffff…..puuuuffff… I’m stronger than I look. Now its…. My….turn!”

Alex had his sword in hand and he looked the hobgoblin mage in the eye as he staggered toward the mage. The old hobgoblin no longer had his hands or his staff.

He can’t cast any more magic because he had to channel it through his hands or his staff. He is completely defenseless now and apparently scared shitless. This is my chance.

Alex continued using all of his ki and moved toward his enemy. Alex's speed was basically non-existent but his strength was still working just fine. Spartan plunged his sword directly into the mage's face. The sword went through the creature's skull like a hot knife through butter. Alex began to lose consciousness but he refused to fade out until he saw the life drain from that bastard’s eyes. The mage's eyes went dark and Alex knew the creature was dead. Then several blue screens began popping up in front of his eyes. Everything began to fade away.

“Spartan! Spartan! Spartan!”

“Alice… I …. Can’t talk right…..now”, he said as I fell on my back.”

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From Alice’s perspective

System Reboot Complete

“Spartan… Spartan! Spartan!”

“Alice… I …. Can’t talk right…..now”, Spartan said as he fell on my back.”

“I need to assess his damage.”

Host Status Critical

3rd degree burns over 60% of the body

4 puncture wounds cauterized by unknown source

Compound Fracture of left forearm

Muscle and connective tissue damage from excessive enhancement

Current prognosis imminent death

Initiating nanite rejuvenation protocols beginning with most critical injuries first.

Now he will not die from his injuries. I need to perform a sweep of the area to make sure he is no longer in any imminent danger from enemies in this place.

Sensor Scan Initiated

Life forms detected

Four human females detected

Threat level: 0

Now, all I can do is wait for his body to heal and for him to regain consciousness.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Hours Later------------------------------------------------------------Spartan’s Perspective

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!”

At least I know I’m still alive because this pain is real. I do remember Alice coming back online so she must have started the nanite healing process. That battle exposed the flaw in my ability. I cannot deal with electrical damage from lightning-based attacks. I have to keep that to myself. I can never let anyone know about that.

“Alice, can you hear me?”

“Yes, Spartan.”

“What happened to you?”

“It was as you thought the massive electrical discharge from the lightning attack was like an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). It disrupted all of my systems causing multiple errors. It forced all of your nanites and me into our emergency protocols which are to shut down and reboot. It only took about a minute but that was apparently more than enough time for you to be put into a critical state.”

“Ok, so next order of business we need to find some way to defend against lightning-based attacks.”

“Understood.”

“Damage report?”

Host Status Stable

3rd degree burns over 60 of the body 42% complete

4 puncture wounds cauterized by unknown source 17% complete

Muscle and connective tissue damage from excessive enhancement 0% complete

Compound Fracture of left forearm 80% complete

Current prognosis: full recovery

Nanite rejuvenation protocols remaining time: 16 hours 45 minutes

“Well that was pretty detailed”, I said with a slight chuckle. “So I am stuck in here for the next 17 hours?”

“Yes, you have damage that requires extensive healing. You were saved by that subdermal nanite armor. If it was not there your organs would have melted resulting in instant death. Heat of that level does not have any effect on your nanite armor.”

“Well, then I need to get some nanite armor on the outside of my body.”

“Calculating….. You will need to get some form of metallic armor and let the nanites infuse into it. It would take trillions of nanites to make a full suit of armor to cover your body. We will do that in the future. On another note, you have some messages waiting for you. I will bring them up in your vision.

Quest Complete: Destroy the goblin colony.

You have wiped out the entire goblin colony.

Rewards:

The land held by the goblins in now under your control.

You gain experience

You gain 20,000 gold coins

Congratulations you are now level 14 You have 1 point to allocate to your mental or physical stats

Congratulations you are now level 15. You have 1 point to allocate to your mental or physical stats

Congratulations you are now level 16. You have 1 point to allocate to your mental or physical stats

Congratulations you are now level 17. You have 1 point to allocate to your mental or physical stats

Congratulations you are now level 18. You have 1 point to allocate to your mental or physical stats

Congratulations you are now level 19. You have 1 point to allocate to your mental or physical stats

Your wolf pet Boris has increased to level 25

Your wolf pet Accalia has increased to level 25

Your home has now been upgraded to a human settlement

8 new homes have been built around yours to house the people in your settlement.

You have rooms that can be changed into free standing tier II building for 2500 gold each

Training Room tier I --> Training Center Tier II

Room now is an entire building. The building comes with two NPC human trainers and training targets that cannot be destroyed. The NPC trainers will teach new members of your settlement basic combat skills with any weapons that they choose. They will also teach students how to use ki energy as warriors. When in the training center stamina will decrease 25% slower allowing trainees to get more workouts in before they are exhausted.

Smithy room tier I --> Tier II Blacksmith Shop

Room is now an entire building. The shop will come with an intermediate blacksmith capable of creating tier II weapons from materials like steel and silver. NPC will teach citizens whom it deems worthy how to smith. NPC will sell items to citizens and give procurement requests to citizens.

Tannery Room --> Tier II Leatherworking Shop

Room is now an entire building. The shop will come with a tailor who will work on cloth items and a tanner who will work on leather items. Both NPC’s will teach their trades to citizens whom they deem worthy. They will also sell their finished items to citizens and give procurement requests to citizens.

Alchemy lab --> Tier II Alchemy Shop

Room is now an entire building. The shop will come with an intermediate Alchemist capable of creating tier II potions and poison from materials midgrade level materials. NPC will teach citizens whom it deems worthy how to create potions and poisons. NPC will sell items to citizens and give procurement requests to citizens.

Wow, this is a lot but all of it is incredibly important. With all the money I’ve collected 10,000 doesn’t really mean much. So I will purchase them all.

All buildings will begin construction immediately

“Alice, how much money do I have now?”

“Currently you have 17550 coins remaining.”

Before reading the next screen, Alex had Alice open his status so he could allocate his points.

Name: Spartan

Level: 19

Class: Nanotechnician

Physique: 7

Mental Ability: 8

Physical coordination: 10

Reaction Speed: 6

Speed: 5

AP: 0

Abilities

A.I. Companion Tier III

Ki Manipulation Tier II

Beast Taming Tier II

SP: 0

Skills

Nanite manipulation Tier IV

“Alice 3 points to physique, 2 points to mental ability, and 5 points to speed. That should make all of them 10.”

“Understood.”

For reaching the peak of human physique you have a choice between 2 passive skills related your physique

Enhanced Strength Tier I

This passive skill gives the user greater than human strength. Humans have been able to lift up to 1000 lbs. at their peak but this will give you double that. Your body will be twice as strong as the strongest human.

User receives 2 point increase to physique

Enhanced Durability Tier I

This passive skill gives the user greater than human durability. Your body's durability will now be much higher allowing you to take numerous internal or external blows without taking damage

User’s healing speed increases by 25%

For reaching the peak of human mental ability you have a choice between 2 passive skills related your mental ability

Divided Mind Tier I

The user is able to focus to split his mind into pieces without sacrificing thinking power. This can be improved with practice. Beginners start with being able to split their mind into two pieces. Gives the user an increase of 2 points towards mental ability

Perfect memory Tier I

This gives the user the ability to perfectly recall any memory he has from birth to the present including taste, sound, smell, feelings, etc. Any information the user’s brain has taken in can be recalled perfectly.

Provides user resistance to some mental attacks 50% of the time if the caster is at or below the user’s level.

For reaching the peak of human speed you have a choice between 2 passive skills related your speed

Accelerated Probability

The user can sense all the variables of any given situation, predict the outcomes and what choices one could make to reach the conclusion they want. When utilizing this ability, they sense paths projected in front of them, illuminating possible courses of action, they can then foresee the best tactic, and accelerate themselves along that path.

Flash Steps

User can perform a burst of speed that allows the user to move so fast it appears as if they have teleported (in some cases, the user actually does teleport short distances), many users can sustain only short dashes. In most cases the user is able to maneuver at the high speeds accurately and does not cause any shock or disturbance to the surface they stop on.

My mind is going crazy here! This is so many skills to choose from. Wait, is it that these same skills will come up again and again? I mean divided mind was already an option after one of my nanite upgrades so maybe the others will come up again. What will I choose?