(Zack)

"RAAARGH!" I yell, then explode into laughter at the goblin's expression. "Got you, A'Minra!"

I burst into laughter again as it snaps at me in its primitive language. That was so much fun. It didn't even notice me sneaking up on it.

"Come on," I take a few steps back, drawing my sword. "Fight me, boy! Don't, and all the other gobbies gonna know you're just a coward at heart, you little tiny weakling!"

A'Minra draws its sword and charges me, and I deflect its blade, doing that as it strikes at me again and again. I don't let up on the taunts, mostly because it's funny watching an enraged Goblin Bounty Beast trying to defend its honor.

I do have to be careful, though. A'Minra isn't a lightweight. He's no Fallen Adventurer or Goblin Chieftain Bounty Beast, but he is strong as fuck.

Thankfully, I'm stronger than fuck.

After a few minutes, he manages to nick my arm, and once he does that, I strike back, running my sword through his stomach, the sound of the steel of his armor being ripped by more metal grating on my ears.

Gritting my teeth, I shake my head to clear the sound, then realize I still have to pull my sword out. Gritting my teeth again, I pull my blade out, then shake my head to clear the sound from it as I sheathe my blade.

Bastard One: dead. Time to locate A'Kuta. It took me all of the morning and part of the afternoon to locate this one, and I'm betting A'Kuta is probably hiding, too. He may have even left the 'safe' zone.

No matter, though. I will find him, and since I'm hunting this time rather than simply observing, I can expand my safe zone a bit. Nik's already given me the rundown of where all of the Fallen Adventurers wander.

Or at least… where they used to… I suspect the Shadow of Life has changed a few things in anticipation of my return.

A suspicion that's probably confirmed when I spot half a dozen Bounty Beasts chilling around a fire, talking in their primitive tongue. Sounds like a war plan. Should I go Monster Mode and surprise them? Run for my life?

How about… Monster Mode as I figure out a certain spell? Ah, fuck. Wait, I can't use that spell, it costs 5,000 Mana. I still need 510 Mana more to be able to do that. Dammit. Hrm.

At least I'm in Monster Mode.

Yeah, I'm going to slaughter these things. Two are Goblin Giants, though, and that makes me a little bit wary. I'll need to take them and that Shaman out, then I can handle the two Knights and the Archer.

These things are probably plotting how to kill me, considering they don't belong in this area. There's no other explanation I can find for it.

The Shadow of Life wants to ensure I don't leave this place alive.

Well, joke's on him, because I'm living to the death of existence itself. Ha!

Actually, since Bryce and I are Children of Existence, does that mean that we'll continue to live after existence ends? Or at least, this existence? I mean, I can exist outside of existence, so that's a plausible theory, right?

Shaking my head, I refocus on my battle plan.

The Goblin Giant Bounty Beasts would make for good springboards. They stand over ten feet high each and both are pretty thick with meat and muscle. They'll hit hard, though, so I'll have to make sure I'm faster than them.

Probably not hard, regular Goblin Giants are waaaaaaay slower than me already.

The Shaman will actually be the most troublesome, but I can probably use his attacks to my advantage. As long as I can dodge them, I can probably cause him to hit his allies. Once he does that, he'll likely be more wary of casting a spell, especially if one of his allies are behind me.

The Goblin Archer will be the easiest to deal with. I don't see any knives on him, which tells me he's likely a ranged fighter only. His build doesn't suggest martial arts, either, unless it's hidden under that disgusting fat of his.

Put on some fucking clothes, will you? Same to you, Goblin Giants! You guys need to wear something more than loincloths!

The Shaman and Knights are at least somewhat built. Well, the Knights are built.

Focus, Zack! Focus! Gotta finish your battle plan.

Shroud of Darkness will help a bit here, as it'll slow them down and weaken them, but I can only sustain it for so long, especially if I'm using other Skills at the same time. Augment that with Aura of Darkness, and I can be devastating if I use my darkness-based attacks.

Again, though, I'll need to be careful. There are six of them, and they're Bounty Beasts. Level 25, and much more powerful and intelligent versions of the normal versions of them.

The question I have to face before I start fighting, the most important of them all…

Is which do I kill first? One of the Goblin Giants, or the Goblin Shaman? I can use all three against the rest, but at the same time, they're the most worrying.

After much internal debate, I walk up to the Goblin Bounty Beasts and greet them. They give me curious looks, then chatter in their language.

"I'm sorry," I walk up to the Goblin Shaman, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But I can't understand a word of what you're saying, because while I can pass as a monster… I'm not one."

I quickly draw my sword, cutting through him before any of them can begin a defense or realization. As soon as he's dead, however, they're attack, my Monster Mode neutralized by their knowledge that I'm not one.

"TREMBLE BEFORE THE GOD OF DEATH!" I yell in my Demonic Voice, and they give pause, giving me enough time to ram my sword into one of the Goblin Giants.

Unfortunately, he shifted as I did, so it wasn't a killing blow. He's got Bleed, however, so I know he's going to die whether I finish him off or not. All it takes is a single nick from Zack's Blood, and these monsters are doomed.

I doubt any of them have a powerful enough Cure Bleed to deal with it.

The other Goblin Giant attempts to kill me, its massive fists clamped together and swinging down. I jump back, evading the strike and jumping off the Goblin Archer, which is attempting to put some distance between us.

The Goblin Archer flies into a building from the force of my kick as I launch forward, cutting into the Goblin Giant's arms. My cut manages to completely sever its right arm at the bicep while only cutting the left arm.

Pivoting as I land, I cut with my sword again, my blade driving into its side. Hearing something move behind me, I quickly flip my sword around while catching an arrow with my other hand. A blade clashes against my sword, and I spin, driving the arrow into the Goblin Knight's stomach before rolling to the side, dodging a punch from the other Goblin Giant.

An arrow glances off my arm, and I'm reminded that arrows' power isn't based on the Strength of the archer – not without Skills.

Though… if this is a Bounty Beast, shouldn't that mean the fucker has some? The next arrow flies with a lot more force, and this time, it does graze me, but still doesn't do any damage.

It's testing my defenses. That's why the first arrow was easy to catch and the second didn't even graze me.

Crap! I spin, dropping to the ground to evade a swing from a Goblin Giant. Springing back to my feet, I swing my sword up, cutting through its arm. I wasn't close enough to cut it off, but that should still render it mostly useless.

The other Goblin Knight strikes at me, and I stop its blade while barely catching an arrow that fades away. That one was made of magic. The fucker didn't want to risk me stabbing another ally of its, did it?

Fuck! Forgot to use Shroud of Darkness and Aura of Darkness!

Well, I'm doing well enough as it is!

"Shroud of Darkness! Aura of Darkness!" I summon up those two Skills and begin a mental timer. Two minutes is all I'll give myself. "Dark Strike!"

I lunge forward just as an arrow passes by where I'd been standing. Another magic arrow. I'm curious about if those are weaker once they enter the range of my shroud or not. The Goblin Archer itself is probably fine, since it's taken a vantage point up on a roof out of the range by now.

The Goblin Knight is a little too slow to completely avoid my downward slash, though it does manage to avoid an instantly-fatal blow. Unfortunately for it, Zack's Blood cut through its shoulder, severing its arm as well as that chunk of shoulder and ribs.

As it wails in pain, I dodge around it, avoiding another blow from a Goblin Giant, then ram my sword through the back of the Goblin Knight.

Two down, four to go.

The Goblin Giant with the missing arm charges me, and I wait until the last moment, then dodge to the side, cutting through its left leg. As it drops to one knee, I slash through the other Goblin Giant's stomach, swinging my sword upwards as I do.

Three down.

I spin around, cutting through the back of the remaining Goblin Giant, before dodging the first Magic Arrow to come near me since the initial one after, only to find another striking my jaw. That fucking hurts!

I'll deal with him after I kill the last Goblin Knight, which attempted to take advantage of my distraction from the arrows to stab me in the back, beneath where my armor rests.

With my Shroud of Darkness active, it's too weak to penetrate me, not with a weapon as pathetic as that. It's not even made of a rare ore.

Spinning with a Strike of Darkness, I cut off its head, then deactivate my AoE's and Jump into the air, flinging my Zack's Blood knife at the Goblin Archer. The thing attempts to run away, causing the blade to pierce its shoulder rather than its heart.

I land on the rooftop beside it, slashing upwards with my sword and cutting the beast in half. With that dead, I flick my sword, letting the blood slide off, then sheathe it before doing the same with my knife.

After doing a stretch and loosening shake for my muscles, I assess the changes. Two more Levels before I've mastered this shit and can move on to Apprentice Spearman.

"Thank you, O Stupidity of Life, for allowing me to gain these wonderful Levels on my first day here!"

Here's hoping he heard me!

Now that I think about it, so far today, I've killed seven Bounty Beasts, increasing my damage dealt to them by an additional fourteen percent, and I've also killed a Fallen Adventurer, thus qualifying me for Fallen Hunter as a Subclass, though I can't take it on at the moment, since my slots are all full. I could remove Chef, but nah.

Ascension probably allows for more Subclass Slots, and I'm curious about if Adventurer grants more at Ascension as well, since it already boosts them by one. Does Adventurer have more bonuses for Ascensions? I doubt most Subclasses will, but this one seems like it would.

Shaking my head, I stretch again. That Fallen Adventurer was probably a low-ranking one, based on the fact that I killed it without too much hassle. If it takes a team mixed of Dark Knights and holy people to kill most Fallen Adventurers, that was probably a weak one.

Best be careful, lest the Shadow of Life gets any funny ideas.

Once I've finished recovering from my fight against the half-dozen Bounty Beasts, I begin seeking out A'Kuta, killing a bunch of other goblins on my way.

When I find it, the fucker's got an army with him.

He knew I'd survive. Alexander knew I'd survive against the Fallen Adventurer and the half-dozen Bounty Beasts. He even knew I'd win and get stronger. This army… those were just distractions to keep me from noticing the gathering.

There are so many more types of goblins here than I've known, too. Specials and Holiday Goblins, no doubt.

Letting out a long breath, I assess my enemies. Every last one of them looks to be a Knight or Soldier of the varying types. Spook Goblins and Frost Goblins, I know. I can see regular Goblins as well. Then there are City Goblins, Spring Goblins, Flame Goblins, Blood Goblins, Dark Goblins, and Light Goblins.

So many types more. No wonder my psychic powers had me give so much space in the book – it was accounting for types of Goblins I'd never even heard of. I'm curious how these guys form, though – what makes them these Holiday Goblins?

My gaze fixes on the hundred Elite Goblins. A goblin gains a Level every week, even if inactive. This can be sped up by doing various things, such as fighting – I'm sure they hunt the rats, spiders, slimes, and such around the City.

In a Dungeon Zone, such as a Fallen City, the Level Cap is Level 10 for regular monsters. Once they hit it, they can advance to the next type, based on what they've done or currently do. It will take them ten weeks before that evolution takes place, and they'll be Level 1 again.

Once they reach the upper forms, such as Goblin Knight and Goblin Shaman, they can become an Elite Monster. It's the stage before Bounty Beast, and is a sign of their growing intelligence and abilities.

The requirement for that is an additional twenty weeks. They can advance to the next form in that timeframe, since that only takes ten weeks. If they don't and continue, they can become an Elite Monster.

Elite Monsters automatically morph at Level 15, and will then have to spend thirty-five weeks there before turning into a Bounty Beast, automatically at Level 25.

I'm counting around a hundred of them, too, and this is just for the Knights. Alexander must have had them hiding when Nik did his surveillance and while I was hunting and seeking stuff, just like this army.

It does make me wonder if someone's been here, though. It takes more than a year to reach that Stage, so I'd expect there to be a lot more Elite Goblins and Bounty Beast Goblins.

Not that there's a shortage of those here, either. Twenty-three, if I'm not mistaken.

They know I'm here, too. A'Kuta waves at me a few times as I do my assessment from the roof I'm sitting atop. I doubt they'll let me flee.

Alexander intends for me to die here, against this army of more than a thousand Goblins, including many types I've never seen before. There aren't any other monsters around here, either, something I found suspicious as I was traveling.

Good chance that they aren't here because the way I fight, there's a good chance they'd be hitting allies instead of me.

Alexander is clever. Oh, so clever. He knew he could trick me into this. He probably had this planned the moment he realized Nik was heading to check out the Fallen City. He knew I'd be back, alone, without backup.

Should I use the firework? I have not a doubt in my mind that I'll survive ten minutes – long enough for Nik or whoever to come rescue me.

At the same time, though… I'm confident I can win this fight. Even if I don't get pushed into turning into a Dragon, the odds are in my favor.

Pulling off my upper armor, I remove my tunic. It's damaged to hell anyway. I pull my armor back on and stretch a bit, getting a feel for how it feels without the padding of my tunic. With my Endurance, it won't hurt me or chafe me.

Once I've adjusted, I pull Zack's Holiday out of my Inventory and equip it on my back, crossed against Zack's Blood. There's a good chance I'll hit Level 10, which means I'll be switching to the spear in a bit as well, so I pull the Zack's Blood spear out of my Inventory.

Okay, so changing weapons to an unfamiliar one during a big fight like this might not be the best idea, but if things get dire, I'm drawing my swords again. I already know what Skills I need for the Spearman Classes, all the way up to Impact Drop, the one required for Dragoon, so I can easily learn those during the fight, too.

Other than the Elite Monsters and Bounty Beasts, the only thing that gives me even the slightest bit of worry would be what is obviously a Special Monster.

I'm really, really curious what a Goblin Death Knight's able to do.

Time to get killing.