The goblins, unaware of the traps that Gray had set up, were falling victim to them one by one. Although some were not killed by the spears that they had inadvertently run into, they were incapacitated, left to bleed out and scream for help much like their prey.

However, their brethren were too busy chasing the intruder to worry about those that had fallen during the chase.

Soon there were only 4 goblins left. They began to move more cautiously as they realized that their numbers had greatly diminished.

"Have they caught on?" wondered Gray as he noticed that the goblins weren't as close behind him as they had been before.

"Well, killing them this way was kind of boring anyway," muttered Gray as he turned around, creating a short sword in his right hand.

"This should be easy to swing in these tunnels,"

"However I wonder if I can create shields with these powers. Do shields count as weapons?"

[Shields are considered weapons and thus the blood weapon skill has the authority to create them. However, the strength, thickness, and sturdiness of the shield will depend on the amount of blood the user is willing to pay. Shields are also limited to designs that the user is familiar with.] replied the voice in Gray's head.

"Hmm. I already used a lot of blood creating the blood spears earlier. I can't afford to lose consciousness in these tunnels. I guess I'll just have to create a blood bath first then," smiled Gray as he stalked his way back through the tunnel.

Goblins were hard to deal with if they surrounded you in numbers. However, the tunnel pathway was only wide enough for two people to walk through at the same time, meaning that in effect Gray only had to face two goblins simultaneously.

When Gray had made his way back to the remaining goblins, he found that they were using the body of a dead comrade to test for any traps ahead by throwing the corpse and seeing if it got caught in anything.

"Smart, and thank you,"

The corpse they had thrown landed right beside Gray. Although Gray couldn't see the goblins any better than they could see him, it was a different story when one made noise.

Every sound produced was amplified within the tunnels, echoing throughout the tunnel walls. Gray created a throwing knife he had once seen in a certain manga and threw it blindly in the direction from where the corpse was thrown.

"Aaakh, akkhhh!"(AN: Goblin screams. Ye, SFX are childish but whatever.)

A goblin had been hit in the eye and began screaming in pain. The other goblins were put on high alert, but it was already too late.

Gray followed the screams of pain that the goblin was making, and began swinging his sword haphazardly, hoping to hit one of the goblins in the dark.

One of his swings managed to connect with a goblin's head, causing it to die from the trauma. Gray tried pulling out his short sword, but it was stuck in the dead goblin's head, and the blood made the handle ever so slippery, making it hard for him to even hold on to it.

The other goblins realized that their attacker was right on top of them, and began throwing their spears.

"Fuck" muttered Gray under his breath.

One of the spears had managed to puncture his leg, causing a steady stream of blood to flow out of it.

"Come on, come on," thought Gray urgently as he tried his best to dodge the incoming attacks by randomly moving his body. He was impatiently waiting for the cooldown of his skill to finish.

"Finally!"

Gray created a huge tower shield using the blood of a goblin corpse nearby him, turning the corpse into a shriveled-up green skin bag.

"Yup, never creating one of these using my own blood,"

The tower shield was so tall that it scraped the top of the tunnel and was so wide that it left barely enough space for someone to pass through the sides of the tunnel walls.

Gray charged ahead, limping as he did, trying to push the goblins as far away back as possible.

However he only managed to move them back a few meters before they began to retaliate, although goblins were weak individually, there was no way for Gray to overpower three goblins with an injured leg.

"I just have to buy some more time." thought Gray as he let himself be pushed back and then retaliated just as the goblins got comfortable, causing them to tumble over.

"That won't work again. Isn't there a way to reduce the cooldown of this skill?"

[Affrimative. Leveling up the skill will cause the cooldown and blood price to be reduced.]

"How the fuck do I level it up then?" asked Gray harshly as sweat dripped down his pale face.

He was losing a lot of blood due to the injury in his leg, and if he continued to move around, the wound would only become worse.

[By repeated use of this skill, and through the use of skill level-up pages obtained as a reward for completing dungeons and ruins,]

"Fuck that," shouted Gray in a frustrated voice. Although he was in very dire straits, there was a wide grin on his face, as if he were enjoying the situation.

"I never thought that goblins could be so fun. No wonder these guys became easy prey,"

As a goblin tried to squeeze itself past the small opening on the side of the tower shield, Gray let the shield fall forward, temporarily pinning down the other goblins.

Meanwhile, he grabbed the goblin that had been trying to squeeze itself through by the head, once it had come close enough for him to see and slammed it on the tunnel walls.

He picked up one of the spears that the goblins had thrown at him and used it to stab the goblin in the neck.

"Apparently it's called the jugular. Though I'm sure my lessons are wasted on the likes of you," smiled Gray as blood gushed from the goblin's veins, sprinkling all over Gray.

"It seems I have a tendency to be soaked in blood lately. Not that I'm complaining though,"

Gray created a long pole using the blood from the goblin corpse, just as the other goblins made their way from underneath the tower shield.

"Well, this is awkward," smiled gray nervously as the surviving two goblins screamed at him in rage.

Normally he would've been able to take care of the two of them easily. However, after paying a bit of his blood to create the pole, he was paler than ever, and his vision was getting blurry.

"I'll need you to step back a little," said Gray, as he randomly struck his pole in the direction that the goblin's screams were coming from.

Once he couldn't feel anything with his pole, he moved to recover the tower shield. However, a goblin had hidden itself along the tunnel walls, avoiding the pole. Once Gray came close enough for it to see him, it jumped out of his leg, stabbing it three times.

Gray kicked out in retaliation flinging the goblin away, however, the damage was already done. Gray used what little strength he had left to pin the pole under the tower shield allowing it to stand on its own.

He left just enough space for the goblins to pass through on the sides and waited for them to fall into his trap.

"Sucker," smiled Gray as he saw a little goblin head trying to make its way past the space. He moved the tower shield to the side, attempting to pin the goblin down, however, he was too weak for it to be effective.

"Fuck this," muttered Gray as he quickly snatched the weapon that the goblin had in its hand and used it to stab the creature multiple times in the chest.

Every stab was shallow due to his reduced strength, however, due to the number of stab wounds it had, the goblin began to bleed out.

Gray slouched his body against the tower shield, causing it to fall forward once again. He stumbled his way to the pinned-down goblin and used the spear in his hand to stab it in the eyes. Pile-driving it deeper in by pushing his weight against the other end of the spear causing the spearhead to dig in deeper, puncturing the goblin's brain.

"What a mess," laughed Gray as he staggered towards the clearing from where the goblins had been gathered.

"I can't pass out in these tunnels. I have to find a hiding place,"

Gray knew it was inevitable that he would pass out. The amount of blood he had lost was significant and he wasn't even sure if he would survive this. Though he kept moving on, using sheer willpower to drag his body forward.

He entered the goblin clearing with the demeanor of a zombie.

"This looks like a good hidi-" Gray was about to say before he tumbled over, falling unconscious.

"Savior?" whispered a hoarse voice in the dark, once Gray had fallen unconscious.