Chapter 8. Close*

It took a whole week for the skills to reach level twenty-four.

Seven days of continuous grinding brought the skills up by five or six levels and I had no idea when the skills would reach a limit, so instead of having the skills max out the goal, for now, was to bring them up to level twenty-five and then fight the chief.

I stopped swinging my hatchets and read the notifications.

[Dual-wielding mastery gained a level]

[Axe Mastery gained a level]

[Mana Circulation gained a level]

[Demon's Fighting Instincts gained a level]

[Observe gained a level]

Yesterday was the first time no skill level-ups had occurred. I was going to stop either way because if the skills did not level up for two days, they probably had to be maxed out and if they did level up they were going to take a long to get another level.

My status looked good now with the numbers all rounded out, and today I was finally going to fight that monster. It felt good after changing from that linear boring routine that I had for the last week.

I robbed a shield goblin of its shield and tied it to my back using the scarce amount of clothing that I had left. After trying it out and cutting out the parts that hindered my movements, I had an oval? looking shield on my back that covered my behind if I was not able to react in time.

Now we can proceed to fight the last boss, hopefully, the last.

This is a problem."

The E grade goblins that were in the settlement, were the problem I was talking about.

If the chief was to fight and die here, the other goblins would not just stand there and look as if their leader was killed in front of them.

From here began the process of cleaning the settlement, every goblin E grade, or team that went out of the village never returned and from the looks of it, even the other habitants did not care.

Only a few armed goblins and the chief remained after two days of cleaning the surrounding. Two teams to say that could interfere in our fight. It was finally time to duke it out and complete the quest.

The chief was in the center of the village, obviously noticing the decrease in the population they had suffered.

It was fully alert and the goblin knew something was coming for it. I knew sneak attacks would not work but there was no harm in trying it out.

I picked up a hatchet, which I totally did not steal from a warrior goblin after killing it, and threw it using all of my strength. And just as expected it ducked and the hatchet missed.

The chief was looking right at me and so were the other six goblins.

They ran towards me but they stopped as fast as they started, all due to a screech. 'Probably an order by the chief.' I thought looking towards the leader of this settlement and knew that it was an order from him.

'It wants a one-on-one fight, that laughing bitch.'

It made make me angry, really angry but I wasn't someone who would lose all reason over anger. The chief probably made the other goblins not engage but only temporarily. They did not drop their weapons, ready to engage at the first call of their leader if he were to lose for a second.

The chief drew its two axes, as big as my arms, ran towards me, and swung one of its weapons. I brought my two hatchets in front of me and braced myself for the impact that was come, and I was sent flying.

I crashed on a nearby tree, my back somewhat protected through the shield but it was still painful. This goblin was strong, five times probably seven times stronger than the normal goblin warrior.

I got up, remembering to not be overconfident and parry the attack as I had learned from my axe mastery instead of taking the punch like a goddamn idiot.

It attacked again, and this time I parried the attack properly, pushing it away using one and slashing it with the other hatchet. At least I tried to. The goblin had a tough skin, my weapons were also not sharp enough to cut through it.

It looked surprised probably not expecting to get hit, I smirked. My attacks did not do much but they left shallow marks, enough to draw trickles of blood from its torso.

The chief became much more serious after that attack but it was not able to hit me and I continued to draw blood. The next thing though blew me away.

The chief's attack speed tripled and its strength doubled as the axe hit me drawing a deep gash on my side. The ground didn't soften up to ease my pain. 'I really need a healing skill.' The gash was deep, a couple of inches deep, my bones hopefully not cut and broken just yet.

Remember when I said those things like before upgrade if I fought it would be a standstill, that all was just me being stupid.

If I fought it before the upgrade I would be dead by now, just after the upgrade both an arm and a leg would be lost, and now I could only run as any sane person would. But was I sane, no I was not.

I laughed as I looked at the goblin and spit out, not that there was blood in my mouth.

This action though did anger the goblin as it growled and ran towards me. I got up and ran to the goblins, not the chief but the 2 teams that were left.

They were just staring at us, not ready for a surprise attack after the beating I just took, not that it would have affected the outcome. I only hoped that the little life energy thingy I got from killing them would help me.

And it did not by much, but it did slow down the bleeding and a scab started to slowly form over the wound.

I picked up a shield from one of the dead goblins and threw it toward the chief. Confused but alert it smacked away the shield was not ready for the two hatchets flying towards its head.

It brought one of its hands up to defend while I picked up the last shield and hit one o the wrists as hard as I could.

The chief dropped its left axe, which I grabbed and moved away from it. The axe was heavy but I could handle it with all the improved strength and vitality.

The axe was sharp, experienced personally by me and this axe was the only one that gave me a chance to fight against this monster. It was also now the only weapon I had, a lot easier to deal with than having to keep my eyes peeled, tracking an attack from the opposite sides

We both ran towards each other now, the only ones left alive in this dome. Its attack speed once again increased as the attack came near me but this time I was prepared as I ducked and the axe passed overhead.

The axe in my hand swung out towards its leg even though I was still down but preventing it from moving was a huge plus in this close fight.

I had a disadvantage it being probably two tiers above me but the longer the fight went on, the lesser the fear of losing the fight and dying became while the excitement of living on an edge came over me.

My mind wandered back to the silhouette I saw during meditating but this time instead of the silhouette it was me and our movements matched perfectly. Everything just clicked.

A cut on the torso, broken ribs, and an arm that almost got cut. The injuries kept increasing but that was true not only for me but also for the goblin.

It couldn't walk anymore but still moved its hand to block my attacks, it fell down to its knees and that was the moment when I rushed forward and cut its neck off when the chief had its balance shaken from the sudden collapse.

A burst of life energy entered me, far stronger than any others I have felt before. My wounds closed and my body was nearly back at its peak. I looked down at the now headless body and then looked up at the sky, laughing as exhaustion overcame me. I fell down leaning against a tree and the only thing that came out of my mouth was,

"It was fun."