CHAPTER 2 – CAN GOBLINS PERFORM PHOTOSYNTHESIS?

I passed through the dimensional veil and a new floor presented itself to me. Now how can I explain it to you? Because I myself was too confused to see the structure and topography of this region.

I was standing on a small rocky projection at the top, almost touching the ceiling and almost 500 meter below me stood a village made of temporary huts and strange green coloured creatures were going in and out through the doorways.

The whole floor was divided into 5 section based on height and had eccentric buildings built over them. The lowermost region consisted of small huts, but the next elevation over 10 m consisted of somewhat clay-built buildings that showed complete lack of architectural knowledge and negligence.

The third elevation on the left side of over 20m consisted of two or three storied wooden buildings. The same went at 40m where two strongholds of barricaded towers stood.

Finally, at the center of the front wall, stood a huge shrine like structure whose gates were closed and below this mount was an opening which must have been the entrance to the next upper floors.

This entrance was closely guarded by several tiny creatures having green coloured skin ranging from light shades to ultra dark. They had wooden spears or maces with thorns embedded. They had a brutal built and looked intimidating at the same time. At the centre of all was a giant tree but instead of having leaves, chunks of Magitite crystals were hanging from the branches. It almost looked like a tree laden with beautiful and shining crystals.

There was no doubt about it; these were the standard fantasy Goblins everyone talks about. In some stories they are shown as ruthless barbaric creatures, while some showed their soft side by building cities and developing ties with other races.

However, I always wondered what do they eat and why? Since this looks like a civilized town I can try to explain them my situation and ask for a special emergency exit. But what if they are like ‘Come in, dine with us on the table, and after eating we will listen to your problem.’

Noooo. What do you mean ‘on the table’ instead of chair and who do you really want to eat? I could almost see myself on their chopping board while the gob-butcher stares at pale face with the anticipation to finely chop it into small pieces.

They are perverts. They deserve to die!

Die. Die. Die.

The goblins always appear to be green and just maybe and by any chance they could have chlorophyll pigment in their skin and can perform photosynthesis.

Or maybe I am thinking too much.

Just then I heard some goblins carrying a small wooden cart covered around with wooden bars – resembling a mobile jail. Inside them were other goblins. But they looked pretty old and weak to me.

TCHK.

TCHK.

Without any concern the other armed goblins put together their spears and impaled the prisoners.

I almost let out a loud cry, but controlled myself by biting my inside soft cheeks, that’s how I usually control my facial expressions. That was painful!

No way, no way.

They cannot. A goblin with a long sword lifted the wooden plank which worked as the primitive lock of the prison and started slashing them to pieces. Blood sprayed through the air and the cell was covered with the colour and smell of death.

That’s Cannibalism.

I thought as the butcher picked up one of the fallen meat piece and chugged it down its throat. It was satisfied as if measuring the quality and other food standards of the meat. Obviously, those weak goblins are in no position of committing crime, unless their crime is that of old age or some other weak ailments. They served as food for the other strong goblins. The young fed on the old and rusted, that was the harsh reality for those who lived in this labyrinth.

There’s no way I am gonna end up like that. I saw other goblins enter the cell, while some of them savoured the meat, the others collected them in a huge sack and carried them to the other floors and houses. I am going to survive, this hell.

On that note this place was really huge, and I wondered just how big this labyrinth could be. Whatever. I’m getting hungry. There’s no point in hanging around here forever, so I’ll just have to get a move on and come up with a plan to annihilate them.

I used appraisal and was surprised to see, that this whole place is actually five floors coexisting together from 49-45 floors, just the same as the number of elevated lands here.

There were many types of goblins:-

Goblin Fighters – LV 500 to LV 1000

Goblin General – LV 2000

Goblin Magician – LV 2500

Goblin Chief – LV 4000

All of the normal goblins had high combat skills and high defenses. But the above floor goblins were in the realm of their own and specialized in what their names supposed of them to be. The Goblin General had sword skills like {Piercing} and {Quick Draw}. The Goblin Magicians were well versed in {Dark Magic LV 4} {Earth Magic LV5} and {Wood Magic LV 4}.

The Goblin Chief was a tough opponent with both sorcery and hand-to-hand combat skills. He could be also called a sorcerer brawler. With skills like {Shadow Movement LV 4} {Fire Fist} {Water Magic LV 6} {Dark Magic LV 5} he was fit to rule over the goblin village.

The levels matched to the floor and their heights, also representing who is the Boss here.

But, what concerned me the most was the – Shrine. Neither my Appraisal worked nor my Magic Senses picked up anything. It’s as if the whole place was under the cover of an anti-magic field. Considering the situation up till now it’s not impossible. However my danger sense always went berserk when I looked at the gateway of the shrine.

Weird, right.

By now no goblin had spotted me, neither someone would expect that a tiny little spider would be plotting against them while it hides above the sky. I crawled to the roof and headed to the centre where I hid myself in between the cluster of white crystals almost camouflaging with them.

The Goblin Fighters were almost 200 in number, while there were four Goblin General, two Goblin Magician and one Goblin Chief. 20 Goblins were always at patrol near the entrance and four goblins would bring the cage after every four hours and wait under the tree for the butcher.

By now I already knew their weakness – FOOD. I just need to exploit this point and I could turn the tides in my favour.

Heeeehe, I can see the future.

After five hours, a new cage with ten goblin prisoners arrived being escorted by four goblin fighters. They halted near the tree and took positions at each corner of the cage.

It sure is a good strategy to keep the food safe from ground attacks, but they sure didn’t expect an enemy lurking in the sky.

This was my chance, to wreak havoc, as I descended from ABOVE.

SHEESH. SHRRR.

SHEESH. SHRRR.

One could hear the sound of a rope twisting around the goblin’s neck as it quickly fastened itself; the grip being so tight that even before the goblin could cry out their last words, life was flushed out of them. My webs were so sharp and the pressure was so high that they cut deep enough that blood started flowing out.

I activated gluttony for the first time and black colour threads came out from my body and started curling around the dead goblin corpses covering them from head to toe and finally squeezing them to the point that the ball of black webs vanished.

It almost felt like I ate something. All the four dead goblins met the same fate. So this is how gluttony actually works.

First this special kind of black webs envelops the targets and through special kind of organic processes dissolves the matter and organic substances converting them directly into raw energy which works as nourishment for the user; which is me.

What would have taken me almost ten minutes to eat four goblins was now done in less than a second. It saves time and also the gross feeling of eating something nasty and…. I don’t know how to put in words. But you get it and if you don’t then I welcome you to try eating raw cabbage dipped in coconut oil and covered all over in chili powder, because that’s how it actually felt. Not to forget that it was just the head.

By now the goblin prisoners started panicking, by the sudden turn of events and the appearance of a friendly little white spider.

“ Hi!”

Sorry, that you met such fate, but all I can do is put you out of misery and end your life without suffering the pain of being mercilessly chopped. I created some ice lances and severed the necks from the bodies in an instant and hurriedly used gluttony on them.

Finally I made sure not to leave any traces of blood and my smell as I fled from the crime scene. I am glad that the gluttony skill leveled up because it proved to be handy. I want to level it more just like my unique skill. They are all very useful.

Thanks to Lady Athena, my Unique Skill, proved to be the most important skill I needed to survive in this hell. Who need some stupid or high-specs destructive skills, could they even bother to come down here and help me.

***

PLAN IN MOTION

Ten minutes had passed and the goblin butcher finally made its appearance. Just a short distance away from the tree squatted a goblin, yawning. The green-skinned monster spinned around his long broadsword and slowly approached the cage. At first he stuttered and stumbled on the ground. His face went pale as he stood and started banging on the cage bars. At first it was in panic but then started mumbling to himself.

“$##$$%$%%^##@@#$”

You can’t understand it can you. I know, it’s tough when someone approaches you and suddenly starts speaking in a foreign language. You are frustrated and at the same time suspicious that you are being bad-mouthed by a prankster or a foreigner when some of the words starts sounding familiar to your own dictionary of slang words. But don’t you worry because I can’t either.

Break a leg. J : - )

From here on it is my duty to translate the most expected dialogues from these goblins as the story unfolds. But, don’t expect too much from me, there’s only so much that a little spider like me can do.

“Those stupid gobs are gone and ran away with the food. Eahh. Unforgivable. Justice, I demand Justice. But the blame will fall on me. I will for now pretend nothing happened and return for the next serving.”

The Gob-Butcher for some reason was waving both hands in the air and spouting some long words, as if cursing someone. And after he vented out his frustration he left.

It seems that he did not care what happened to those prisoners neither bothered to inform any other guards. Well, your ignorance works in my favour.

My plan was to create a deficiency in their food stock and leave the goblins stricken with panic and hunger. I passed my time eating the remaining beetles. Even though I could use gluttony somehow chewing them made time move faster, or I was just too alone again.

Another 4 hours passed…..

This time 6 goblin fighters escorted a cage filled with 12 prisoners. All of them were lifeless with bruises and burnt marks. So even before being butchered instead of doing something like ‘tell me your final wish and we will fulfill it’, they prefer to torture them and break them mentally till they beg for their deaths.

I felt a bit sad but my emotions didn’t matter the least because I was no different than them. It was a heart-breaking realization, but I needed to differentiate within the monster that was in front of me and the monster that resided inside me now!

“Commence Attack.”

This time I used my new freezing magic-

[ABSOLUTE ZERO]

All the goblins were rendered still and dull, their bodies were shining and yet they show no signs of life. Wait are they dead!

Ooopsie! I forgot; bringing all their cells to an inactive state will also stop their heart, and eventually they will be dead in an instant. And if they don’t have a heart even then their brains will suffer blood-deficiency and they will be declared brain-dead. Death was certain. What a frightening spell, I need to keep its power in check.

I thought of gluttony and the skill activated itself with threads covering the dead bodies and vanishing just like that. But while using it I made sure to leave an arm behind which I finely chopped down from one of the dead prisoners.

Yummy!

Though I could not feel any taste, I could feel my appetite being satisfied.

“Food secured. Retreat.”

This time the Gob-Butcher was quick in his steps and anxious too. Rubbing its bald head again and again. Licking its dried lips with its tongue, but it seems that it was in search of moisture in itself.

Could they have a water scarcity too. I get it, only the Goblin Chief has the luxury of water. While offering the meat they get water, or either they drink their own kind’s blood. That would explain the dried dead looks of the prisoners.

This time he was in full panic mode. Just the reaction I wanted.

He went inside the cage again and again and finally chopped down the bars. The wreaking of the wooden cage brought other goblin fighters attention.

They were armed and headed to the Magitite Crystal Tree.

At first they were unable to understand the situation and the half broken cage but seeing the Gob-Butcher in fury and a hand in his hand with the prisoners missing or rather their meal, they lost it.

“HO! HO! Hey you. Listen to me. Just what do you think yo are doing. With a sword in your hand and a piece of meat.”

For some reason, I thought he was into rapping. Even though it was bad, I could see other goblins somehow enjoying the way he spoke. Labyrinth or not, talent can be found anywhere, you just need to have good eyes. I gave the famous director approach look, thinking of wearing black goggles and using my four legs to form a square screen in front of my eye as I continued to watch the show.

“Yessss, why don’t you answer us. Or are you pretending deaf. Oh you poor soul that seeks the truth, let me put you on the chopping block and relief your fingers of this heavy duty as you answer us.”

This one looked like the lonely melancholy singer, who lost his proposal ring in bet to the ex-boyfriend of the girl he was going to propose.

“EHAA, it’s not my fault. They disappeared on me. It seems that there is an intruder. Let’s catch the intruder!!”

The Gob-Butcher tried to make a fair assumption, but raising the same hand with a piece of meat in anticipation of getting other’s cheering on the hunt response. His zealous voice was met with the fool’s faces.

“Says the one who ate all the fresh meat.”

“Hand the hand over to me. FOOD. FOOD. I haven’t ate any.”

“Me too, I didn’t even get the previous serving. We are out of stock now. What are we going to present the bosses?”

All the gob-hunters which had now collected in hundreds made a jump on the Gob-Butcher.

SLASH.

CHIISSP.

THUMP.

AHHAAAAAGH.

URAAAA. URAAAA.

There were all sorts of cries. Some were laughing, some were crying in anguish and the cause of the conflict – the chopped hand - was displaced in the stampede. Blood was spilled. Their own kind had turned against each other. I doubt most of them even knew the cause, or rather they just bumped in to be the part of this crazed fun.

While the dead fell, new lives joined in the fiasco and burn along with others in the flames of ignorance as they lifted weapons against each other for almost no reason.

No one noticed that the dead bodies were vanishing as I used gluttony on them and were instantly consumed. The populace of 200 goblins was reduced to a mere 120 within fifteen minutes.

Just then a huge mace came in flying and raising fumes of dust everywhere my view was obstructed.

It was one of the Gob-Generals. Its physical abilities were no way a mere sight to behold, with those thick muscles around his biceps and belly made it evident. They were the result of hard-training and patience as they maintained their ideal daily routine.

“What are you all doing? Killing each other like blood-thirsty maniacs.” This time this Upper-Head figure was standing in between the chaos and caught everyone attention in a flash.

“We were just…”

THOMP!

Before the goblin could finish its sentence – its head was smashed to a pulp by the mace.

“Did I give you permission to speak. You there answer me…”

“……” This new goblin spectator was now cowering in fear, trying his best to choose his words carefully. But, maybe it was just too late for him.

“When I say speak… then SPEAK. Damn it.”

Another head went flying in the air as other goblins watched. Some went towards the head while others collected near the body, in the hopes of getting a taste of the fresh lump of protein.

‘WOW! What a nut-job. The true figure of a tyrannical head. Such haughtiness, just at the second level. HUMPH’ I thought to myself.

CRACK.

Oh, I forgot I was up till now enjoying the whole play, while having some roasted beetle with crisp crust. If only I could have some tomato ketchup. Yes, not to mention the play was so life-like and the violence seemed unbelievably real. I wonder what started this commotion in the first place.

Stupid me! I was the culprit. So does that make me some kind of a genius or a villain?

[NEW TITLE – SECRETIVE PLOTTER]

“Oh! A genius with a villainous mind.”

“Wait, WHAT!!! A new title achievement. That’s wonderful, but it has such an ominous tone. But I will accept it. After all circumstances maketh a woman.”

Back to the show at hand. After all I went to great pains to set it all up.

By now two more Generals made their appearance. One was holding a broad-sword. The other was barehanded with black thick rug tied around its wrists and a long white linen cloth wrapped around its forehead – maybe a hachimaki. Was he a Karate-dude, but maybe more into fashion sense?

Since I don’t know their names so why not refer them with numbers. That sounds about right.

“Hey, One what’s the matter. Why are they killing each other?”

“I say why not continue Two. FOOD everywhere. SEE.”

Three tore a hand from a body like separating a wing from a mosquito you just knocked unconscious. Without adding any supplement or cooking he chewed upon the meat and threw the bones that were crushed to pieces under the pressure of its molars.

I know the stuff keeps on getting gruesome and nasty. But that’s how things were going.

“One it seems that they have been hogging the food for themselves. This demands punishment and put the souls of the violators to rest. The chief and the magi’s are angry.”

“Hey you, go get the chief.”

“Okay”

Another head went flying off as Two unsheathed his sword and swept it across the air to get rid of the blood covering the blade.

“Where are your manners while addressing your superiors?”

Suddenly the earth started shaking and from the ground appeared another goblin in purple robs with a long hood attached at the back. For some reason all the goblins stopped making commotion and even the generals became stiff as if taking a safe stance against someone extremely powerful.

“The chief is very angry with the missing servings and now this commotion. Don’t think you will not be held responsible. Where is the food? If his Holiness awakes then there will be no one alive.”

“It’s missing. But we have killed lots of healthy goblins. Collect each dead body.”

Everyone started looking at each other’s faces, not knowing how to response. Every dead body was missing, after all I consumed them, while some were eaten by the other goblins themselves on spot. Well I am glad that this gluttony skill works on any dead body or person I kill and works fine at any distance.

Such barbaric behavior!

“There are no dead bodies here. Have you taken me to be a fool? It seems that you don’t love your life anymore.”

All the four generals suddenly started panicking; anyone can become a mouse in front of the real lion.

“Give us some more time. I will give you more food and ascend to the above floor.”

“No, you won’t Two. I am the one going because the Magi promised me.”

“What are you talking about Two and One. The Magi made it very clear that I am going to the above floor.”

At this Three punched Four and claimed his right of being the one to go to the above district. Where you might get to live in a bigger house and more food to eat and water to drink.

At this all the four generals started fighting amongst each other. While One wielded his mace and smashed Two’s face. Three started punching Four in the stomach. But Two had yet not lost the fight and picking up his sword started attacking One and pushed him back.

While all the other goblin bystanders started fighting amongst each other again at the sudden appearance of a new opportunity.

“FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT.”

“KILL. KILL. KILL FOR THE FOOD.”

I think so were the cries that became louder and louder by every second as the ground was stained red with their blood.

This was my time to shine now. I was getting pretty bored. Everyone was in their own business to save their own hide. No one would expect a small little innocent spider that was up till now lurking in the shadows to take full charge strategy and cut down their numbers.

SLASH.

SLASH.

CHOP.

I went behind every enemy’s back like an assassin and sliced their neck with my claws. I then activated gluttony and consumed them. For faraway enemy’s I created sharp piercing small daggers of ice which I projected towards them. It was a total massacre. All the remaining goblin-fighters were now dead. That was a superb meal!

Now I was enjoying the fight between the generals. It seems that Two and Four are down. Now it’s come up between One and Three.

Surprisingly the magician goblin was now working as an unofficial referee making sure to not get caught in the crossfire. Making his best to scrape the barrel, I see.

One took a step back and then quickly charged forward towards Three bringing down his mace on him with full force. Three moved to the right dodging the deadly attack as it landed on the ground leaving small holes and cracks wherever the heavy weapon landed.

Well, I think this will be a stalemate for a long time. So I shouldn’t waste my time.

“Ya! Hello” I shouted.

My shrill voice drew attention of the three savage gentlemen. Not that they understood what I said. At first they looked up and then stared down below. Unable to find their comrades, they charged at me without thinking.

I dodged their attacks without any problem. All my senses were enhanced thanks to my unique skill and my movements had gotten faster thanks to gluttony as I absorbed too many goblins and my stats improved. Maybe sometimes having quantity is better than quality. But now I had quality food at my disposal too.

[WIND CUTTER]

The wind pattern changed and a gust of wind like an invisible blade headed at maximum speed towards the Goblin Generals.

Three was torn down to pieces, while One still charged forward with his mace.

‘What stupidity I will still be able to dodge.”

“Heeeh...ehh...”

I was unable to move; I looked down and was surprised to see my legs stuck in wooden branches coming out from the ground. I looked at the magician and he was probably casting wood magic since his right arm was raised up pointing in my direction and a green magic circle floating in front of him.

“HAAAH. Take this.”

The mace landed exactly at the target’s location without any doubt and the whole area was covered with a smokescreen of dust.

“Got you. Serves you right for killing my Brothers and precious comrades. I will make sure that their every body part is put to their maximum use.”

SHHHHRR. SHHAASH.

A very thin yet strong white web wrapped around the neck of the goblin. His neck choked, unable to breathe and make any noise, I was standing exactly at the back of the goblin and pulling the string. I had used teleportation in the last second and got at his back.

“That’s it for you. Why don’t you join your people? You hypocrite!”

I pulled the string in a shock and the neck of the goblin split apart from the body.

I activated gluttony and ate the four generals.

The smokescreen cleared, but instead of expecting a one on one fight, with the magic user. A 5 times taller, sharper and stronger figure stood in front of me. Accompanied by another purple robe magician while the previous one was probably pouring a stream of complaints against my improper actions.

“ROOOOOAAAR.” The Goblin-Chief was in full fury.

The magicians disappeared into the ground and appeared above the next floor and seems that they are preparing for their magical attacks.

Did I do something to make them angry. Could it be because I killed their people. No that’s not it. It’s something much more simpler. What makes someone most angry, that is to eat other people’s food! Before I could collect my thoughts….

Several punches rained over me. I was quick enough to dodge them since I was able to sense his movements with my magic senses. So that was Shadow Movement skill. This Chief is a magician brawler. I need to make each of my moves carefully.

Wherever I went this monster suddenly appeared in front of me, rising from the shadows and started punching me. All his moves were straight-forward and lacked creativity. Even though he was fast, his attacks were dull.

Maybe I spoke too fast.

The Chief roared again and he was suddenly shrouded in a black aurora. It was something I had never seen before any monsters do.

His fists covered in black flames, he roared again and charged towards me leaving a small trail of dust smoke in its wake.

I did my best to dodge it’s every punch but I suddenly found myself cornered, with nowhere to run as I was surrounded with earth walls on three sides.

The Chief, took the hint from the trap set by the magicians and launched a heavy punch on me. I used teleportation again and strangled its neck with my strings.

But it was no use, he picked up the webs with those huge arms and spinning them around with me attached at its free end threw me in the direction of the tree.

The tree creaked with the heavy blow I dealt to it with my body slam and fell down. I was still in healthy condition, thanks to my high HP which was still at its three-by-fourth.

I created several ice lances and projected them at maximum speed towards the goblin chief, leaving me in disappointment and some small scratches on his body.

“So, simple, weak attacks won’t work.”

The Chief again charged towards me with his fist still burning in the dark, but he suddenly slowed down in its movements.

It seems that he is still confused by my trap, which I setup moments ago.

I quietly collected the soft earth particles in its paths and then used large amount of water produced by magic to convert it into quick swamp.

The more he moved, the deeper he went inside.

The chief was still struggling, but not seeing him panic made me a bit concerned. Was he just a big idiot that he did not know how grave his situation is or is he just that confident?

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the second case, as a huge storm of water engulfed me, the swamp and the surrounding area.

“From where did such a huge water storm appear. Oh yes! I remember the Chief can use water magic too.”

I saw the chief in mid air flowing along with the water waves. If I don’t do something soon, then I will be wasted.

I cannot allow someone to just splash water over all my hard work. This is not going to end like this.

[Gravity Magic – Gravi-Field]

The huge water storm abruptly vanished into a small stream of waterfall. The mid-hovering Chief fell back into the swamp, while I landed a bit further away.

The Chief had yet not given up and even while being sucked in, he tried his best to reach the shore. It doesn’t matter what you do now, because you have literally pissed me off.

I concentrated the whole Gravi-field spread in the entire area over the swamp especially at the Chief.

He roared loudly in pain under the huge pressure, all his tricks have failed, and his physical prowess is no use if he cannot move. The other goblin magicians are also under my Gravi-Field and hence unable to do anything.

The swamp quickly turned into a whirlpool of thick sand as the Chief’s huge body was mashed and torn apart, being attracted to the eye of this revolving mess.

Soon the sand settled and I heated the collected clay quickly to dry it up.

“Super kick. Take this.”

The big thick pile of earth collected in front of me got smashed into pieces and out of it fell the corpse of the Goblin Chief. I activated gluttony and consumed it, though it took a bit more seconds than usual, but it felt so gratifying. My HP was restored and I could feel my magic powers growing and the message display of –

[ACQUIRED DARK MATTER MAGIC]

Now I can take it a bit easy on the magicians. I removed the Gravity field and suddenly I was attacked by loose branches coming out of the ground which kept on following me endlessly.

I teleported to one of the magicians and bite it at its neck, inserting the poison. It first writhed in pain for a second and then died instantaneously. I then consumed it again in my black threads.

The other magi panicked as it saw its friend meet such a fateful end. It used earth magic and then made himself underground, trying to hide.

“That won’t work either. Hiding is useless.”

I scanned the whole area standing at the second elevation with my magic sense and found the Goblin-Magician hiding underground below the tree.

I used ant-gravity magic and pulled him out. Then without wasting a moment I summoned several icicles and threw them at the Magician.

He saw the rain coming and started running towards the entrance below the shrine to take shelter. His right leg was impaled with one of the projectiles while he successfully managed to dodge or block the others and yet he still kept running to save his life.

Suddenly, my Danger Sense went berserk. I have a bad feeling about this.

The gate of the shrine was ripped apart and the roof just went flying off.

“This presence, and this high magic density, suddenly forming in the surrounding. Is this what they call being unlucky in the eleventh hour or things never go as planned.”

Something leapt out from the huge opening, created by whatever that inside creature is called.

At that time, an explosion occurred, which uprooted the surrounding trees and caused a blast that gave significant damage to the ground, but I was unharmed. A meteor falling from the sky, that’s how one would describe it, even though I was so up close.

When the center of the explosion had faded and the dust that wrapped that thing had rolled up, the whole figure of it was revealed.

‘A mountain, no a giant, look mamma it’s the GOBLIN KING.

It’s bad habit to point finger at people let’s go from here honey or we will be caught up in someone else’s fight.’

I think that’s what happens when the final boss monster makes a surprise appearance in a big city and the public cannot hold their excitement to see their home-city being taken over.

An unbelievably tall, almost as huge as a five-storied building green goblin with a pot like-underbelly stood in front of me. For some reason, it seems that he has woken up with all the chaos going around. At first he scanned the ground and its gazes finally stopped at the goblin magician.

This time the magician was bent down in respect and his head tilted down, he looked up and almost offering prayers,

“Your Holiness, you have finally awakened…. What are you doing? Please pass your judgement on the enemy and avenge your people!.....Noooo.”

But before he could finish; this new character picked up his devote and slowly yet steadily shoved him in its mouth like a candy being eaten by a 10 year old kid.

Usually this is what happens when you pray to someone whose exact nature you don’t know.

Then this out of this world being looked in my direction, almost immediately spotting me. He bent down a little and almost taking a runner’s starting stance, he jumped. HE JUMPED. HE JUMPED. HE LITERALLY JUMPED.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!

He exactly landed near me and pulling the huge club, almost half of its own length, he swung it down to crush me. I leaped backward to dodge the attack, but the giant club’s impact made a blast and caused fissures on the ground in the surrounding area.

Even in that huge blast and rocks flying all around, I could still see his half upper body. He is really big. I took the advantage of the chaos and teleported myself outside the goblin forest at the very bottom.

“Can I defeat him.” The hostility I felt from him by my senses was almost making me feel choked, as if air was being sucked out of me. It was sickening. This labyrinth, why does it has the last floor difficulty even before the mid-floor?

In the meantime while I tried to hide myself behind the huts which were built closely packed without any town planning; I used appraisal on this new calamity. Even though I was prepared to face anything, this is just asking me to drink poison and make me jump from a twenty story building. Finally asking me about which one of the following was the cause of death – poisoning, body wreckage or heart failure as a result of excessive fear.

Damn it! There was even a third option.

This is utter nonsense. This was never the part of the deal with the author I signed for.

It originally had a grim face, but his face quickly became grimmer. It appears that he’s quite angry since I escaped his mind-blowing blow. He pulled his club out of the ground and lifting it again made a small jump downwards, almost blowing away all the huts in the front.

Has it been about 30 minutes since the battle started? All I have been doing is avoid his blows. If you are asking me why I avoid and why I can’t fight in a normal way, then you should just look at the ground. All the huts, the trees, the flora are gone. All there are left are huge craters, as if he was intentionally making a film-set to shoot a scene about the moon’s surface.

Are there cameras in this new world? If I am able to click a good photo of his, then maybe I could win a photography contest and the best award of the world’s best monster image recorded in the history.

His club goes by in front of me with a thundering roar, causing a windstorm from his every single swing; the dust is annoying. Also the Goblin King seems to be getting impatient. He wields his weapon angrily. However, he just seems to swing it carelessly, giving only an accurate, sharp attack once in a very few times.

I took the chance and the Fusion Ball I had been preparing for so long launched at it. I was relieved to see the fusion ball almost hitting the brute, and thinking that it was all over, I underestimated him.

He lifted up his wooden club diagonally and blocked the attack by taking its full impact on it.

That wooden club should have burnt or at least appeared to be a little cracked. But that was not the case unless its weapon was special and magically augmented. This was my first time seeing a magical weapon as I appraised it.

Just my lucky luck, and its sweet vibe!!! HAHAAAH.

While I was still despairing another blow came over. I thought I dodged it but….

The collision of the giant wooden-mass and me, unleashed a tremendous amount of energy, generating a huge blast and energy dispersion. The collision, gouging the earth, ripping the atmosphere and creating a dazzling light as a golden-yellow aurora suddenly wrapped the monster’s entire body.

“AUUgggggh!?”

I was greatly bounced by the collision energy and landed in the blast after doing a few spins and regaining my position. I waited for the dust at the hypocenter to clear up, but I found that two of my hind legs were missing while the others went numb.

Was it one of his skill attacks! I need to be more careful. My preparations are almost complete, time for the spell for which I practiced the most.

I cannot lose this, not just yet, when I have come this far. I don’t have even the luxury to heal myself because this goblin had proved to be the most entertaining one that if I lift my eyes off him or give it a second then I could say this show ‘goodbye’.

“RooooAAArghhhh.”

It seems that this Mr. is getting annoyed too.

I was at my limits by running all day around and it seems that the Goblin King was suffering from starvation too.

By far I have used every attack like wind cutter, gravi-sphere, icicles and all of them proved to be useless. Either they were blocked by its weapon or even if he took the full damage and almost appeared to be half dead, he regenerated instantly thanks to his {Self-Regeneration} skill. It sounds too unfair, for only one party to possess it.

Poison won’t work either, even after reading its ‘immunity’ status, I still bite him several times out of spite, almost replacing half of its blood with my poison and yet he still possesses that intimidating ever-growing blood-thirst.

We need to finish this quickly.

ANOTHER DEADLY BATTLE FOR ME WHICH ALMOST SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN.

***

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MONSTER DIARY

PRIMORDIAL GOBLIN KING {WORLD-DISASTER MONSTER}

NAME : GOLATH

AGE : -----

RACE : PRIMORDIAL GOBLIN

LEVEL : 5800

HP :60000

MP : 50000

SP : 80000

SKILLS : [QUICK MOVEMENT] [MOUNTAIN FORCE] [WOOD MAGIC LV 8] [LIGHT MAGIC LV 5] [SELF-REGENERATION] [IMMUNITY]

TITLES : THE UNBLEMISHED , THE KING OF DESTRUCTION

LEGENDARY WEAPON – CLUB – THE LUX

DESCRIPTION – A small part of the trunk of the tree of life. The Goblin King, to ensure the survival of its race during a severe crisis during the Great War started climbing the never-ending roots of the tree of life from the realm of dead. It is said that sensing his strong desire to grow stronger and gain ultimate pure strength. The Tree of Life rewarded him with this Club. Since then, the Goblin King had never lost a battle and is now worshipped as the Divine Being of the Goblin race.

ABILITY – Possesses almost an infinite amount of life force & magical energy, and is almost unbreakable unless someone possessing extra-ordinary strength almost equal to the Tree or is blessed by the Tree itself tries to do so.

***

THE KING OF DESTRUCTION

This was going to be the final move for us, which would decide the CONQUEROR.

We both never spoke about it or someone else told us so, but we could just look at each other’s condition and our clash of gazes translated it all for us.

Even though I was just a small little spider – a hunter noob, in front of the bulldozer goblin monster – a pro fighter, and yet he acknowledge me by putting up a magnificent pose, as if he was preparing for his final strongest move and finish this fight once and for all.

He raised his both hands and lifting his mighty club high, it started giving a very bright golden-yellow light. So this is how an attack of light-magic looks like!

In the mean-time I prepared my strongest Gravi-Ball pouring as much magical energy I could pour in it. The magic sphere turned black from purple to the point that I could see the light entering but the missing exit was just too astonishing.

The concentration of magical powers inside the club got stronger and stronger, until my eyes couldn’t handle the brightness; I shut my eyelids for a moment.

In an instant the Goblin King was standing in front of me and with all his strength he unleashed his strongest attack….

The scene that I saw then, how should I describe it?

It was almost as if the world was breaking into pieces and being crumpled into one place.

The King of Destruction — what a befitting title!

But if you think that you are finishing this in one blow then you are so wrong. If it would have been that easy, then that would mean that my whole struggle up till this point was meaningless.

“I always come up with a plan to annihilate my enemies and make them my food.”

Did I really just say that!

If you are thinking what I have done, then you can see that the whole body of the Goblin King was now glowing dark-purple. It writhing in pain as its inside organs and arteries were being crushed under its own pressure.

That’s right that Gravi-Orb made the Goblin’s stomach its centre of gravity. While I applied an anti-gravity field to the whole room and an additional anti-gravity field on myself directed away from the goblin.

All the ground-breaking efforts that the King had put in were now working in my favour. The floor was breaking as huge piles of earth gathered around the goblin slowly forming a huge sphere with him as its core. The earth kept on crushing and breaking and the huge disaster that the final attack had left made the goblin even more vulnerable.

If you still don’t understand then…

Simply put the whole floor was now falling towards the goblin, while I was falling away from the goblin to safety.

[PLANETARY FUSION] – That’s the name I came up with for this special attack magic.

A magic which has the potential to develop slowly into a black hole. It would be awesome if I could gain control over such power. Now when I think about it, isn’t my dimensional storage based on the same concept. Then maybe, when I level up even further, then I would be able to pull it off.

But leveling up is such a pain. If it is like a game then after defeating such strong enemies why I am still at level 2. Shouldn’t my notification window by now be filled with thousands of ‘you have leveled up’ labels?

“Guaaaaarrrrrrrh”

The Goblin King kept on removing the boulders and other objects mixed in the mash-up away from him and succeeded in keeping his head and other vital points safe from being crushed. However even after losing a leg and a broken arm I am sure it won’t give up.

“Don’t worry I know this is not enough to beat you.”

The floor was almost destroyed, anymore and we would have fallen down into the next floor. That would be bad, since I have to go upwards.

I need to play my next card carefully amidst all this chaos.

I jumped from one flying rock to another in succession and got close to the Goblin King.

Seeing my bravery, as I was getting near him, he brought his hands forward to catch me with it. He couldn’t wield his club anymore and his movements had considerably slowed down thanks to the huge circular mass formation around its body. I had nothing to worry about the danger of being caught. But I could feel that I couldn’t keep this up for much longer and the effects were already subsiding.

He had almost broken free through the upper left half corner. I need to play my next card more carefully, and not end up wasting my energy which would ultimately increase the efficiency and effectiveness of my spell.

[ABSOLUTE ZERO]

I focused on the Goblin King, as his body slowly started freezing. I started from the head so that he become unconscious as less blood reaches there with almost zero force, leading to blood coagulation in his arteries and veins.

It took longer than expected to freeze a five-storied giant monster. Several times it break through freezing at some of its body joints, but at some point neither of us knew when his life ended as the FROZEN KING honourably stood in front of me.

[WIND CUTTER]

The tall statue fell down slashed in half and the corpse of the Goblin King fell in front of me.

I too stood frozen and looked upwards at the high above ceiling, lost in thought.

Are all the battles with the above monsters going to be this impactful? For some reason I thought I was losing my previous self and turning into something else. Was that too thanks to being a ‘monster’?

I had cleared this floor, and instead of being happy, all I can think about is eating. Seeing such dark side of society and facing it upfront.

Is the upper world similar to this, where the strong eats the weak to survive!

“Saving The World – Huhh.”

If the upper world is going to be very much like this then I see no sense in being a hero. Those weak prisoners, even if I free them and took them to a safe place, they are not capable to sustain themselves and survive. As for the strong goblins since there is no alternate source of food they will start murdering themselves. Even among the strong the least strongest one, will be killed first.

So, in my plan somewhere or the other and in some way I ended up saving them. Didn’t I….…

I killed them. I killed them all. – TOTAL DESTRUCTION. COMPLETE ANNIHILATION. I EXTERMINATED THEM ALL.

There was no saving them. There was no answer. It was just a second ago and a second later. In that instant anyone could die anywhere. Is this the only way I can save someone, by destroying someone else. Just so that one group of people survives and find happiness – SUCCESS; the other group being sacrificed and stripped of all hope – FAILURE. Then was that the only purpose and meaning of the life of those who had to die and for what reason.

At present no one is here to care about me. Even if I die here, no one will care about me or remember me……….

“SACHI LET’S SAVE THE WORLD TOGETHER.”

A new voice shot at my head. It was so nostalgic and warm, that I would have given up anything to hear them.

I was pressed against someone very special to me, so close that there was no space between us. Almost inseparables and bound to one another. Like an infant cradled at its mother’s breast, I felt wholly untouched by anxiety or loneliness.

My eyes opened abruptly. Tears started falling through my eyes as this sense of unity and deep affection vanished without another sound.

Now, I knew or maybe I was always sure of but somewhere along this road I had forgotten that I was never alone here to begin with. Just like I was searching for someone, that someone was also searching for me. I still didn’t know how much time had passed but I knew neither of us had yet given up on finding each other.

If we were going to do anything then we would be doing it together and that includes SAVING THIS WORLD. Too.

It was time I prepare for the next floor. I transferred my trophy – the Magical Club LUX to my dimensional storage. After all I cannot let go of a legendary weapon. I am sure I can find good use of it.

[GLUTTONY ACTIVATE]

Long black webs appeared from my body and within seconds covered the entire corpse of the Goblin King and consumed it within half a minute.

[YOU HAVE LEVELED UP]

There’s my calling!

Sudden strong sleep was induced upon me as I felt weakened and the white webs started engulfing me.

This time I took precaution and connected one of my webs to the ceiling and pulled upwards till I touched the wall. I didn’t know for how long I will be out and so needed to take precautions to not let myself open for surprise attacks. This was not enough to ensure my complete safety but this was all I could do for now. In future I had to come up with more precautionary measures; I made a note of it in my mind.

The white cocoon in which I had to sleep got attached itself to the ceiling wall and soon I lost all the visuals of my surrounding as the silent noises of the dead died out.

***

10 DAYS LATER

[YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 3]

[SECOND FORM : KINETIC EYE]

[GLUTTONY REACHED LEVEL 3]

“WoHHHHHHOOO” I took a long yawn as I kicked the annoying shell holding me out of my view.

I was again asleep for this long. It’s such a pain and wastage of time.

But every time I wake up, I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger. The more correct way to put it would be;

EVOLVING.

I was born as a small, little spider in an unknown dangerous labyrinth as a mere level 1.

But now I think I had made up with the fact that I was a spider now. Being a human is important to everyone, but I can’t always hold onto that thing. If I wanted to survive, I needed to let go off that feeling. But in doing so, I think I had become something more. MUCH MORE THAN I WAS BEFORE MYSELF, BACK THEN.

The one, who was always being pushed around like trash, was now able to accomplish and had a dream of her own.

In the beginning I said it to myself that if I didn’t like my density then I won’t accept it. But there was much more to it, because that was an incomplete resolution. I needed to have the courage and strength to change it the way I want it to be.

Even if I acted sad over being born as a monster, nothing would change. Even if I cry nothing would change. That’s how things are in this new world I am reborn.

But being in a fantasy world, now I was sure of - there could be a way to turn myself back into a human. And if I can’t find it alone, then I have always someone I could count on for help.

I performed my daily routine work – clean up the mess.

As I analyzed my new updated status and collected all the Magitite ore for future need arises.

By now I had almost more than a tone in my dimensional storage. I soon need to find a way to put it to good use. This time there was no water here, but I still had a water reservoir in my storage. There was nothing to worry about my infinite space and I could always dump it in case.

In the dark, I slowly walked towards the entrance to the next upper floor – 44 ready to face my next adversary.

STATUS WINDOW

NAME : --------

AGE : 1 MONTH

RACE : ARACHNE

LEVEL : 3

HP : 88000

MP : ERR

SP : ERR

UNIQUE SKILL : ALL SEEING EYES OF THE GODS

Ø FIRST FORM: EYE OF INVESTIGATION

Ø SECOND FORM : KINETIC EYE

SKILLS : [GLUTTONY LV 3][POISON MAGIC][SAGE OF FIRE LV3] [SAGE OF WATER LV 4] [SAGE OF WOOD MAGIC LV 8] [SAGE OF WIND LV 2] [MYSTIC THREAD MAGIC][SAGE OF SPACE- TIME LV 3][SAGE OF ICE LV5][BODY STRENGTHENING LV 4] [BODY DURABILITY LV5][SAGE OF DIVINE LIGHT] [GRAVITY MAGIC LV 6][MAGIC RESISTANCE] [IMMUNITY] [SAGE OF DARK MATTER]

TITLES : LEGACY OF GODDESS ARACHNE , SECRETIVE PLOTTER

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SECOND FORM : KINETIC EYE

Another characteristic form of the ‘All Seeing Eyes Of The Gods – THE KINETIC EYE’.

Grant special psychic powers and domain over all the magical attributes. That includes:-

TELEPATHY – PRECOGNITION – TELEKINESIS – PYROKINESIS – ELECTROKINESIS – AEROKINESIS – PSYCHOKINESIS – CRYOKINESIS – CLAIRVOYANCE – HYPERVELOCITY – GYROKINESIS – PHOTOKINESIS – HYDROKINESIS – GEOKINESIS – BIOKINESIS.

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GLUTTONY – LV 2

DEVOUR CORPSES AND THEIR SOULS GAINING THEIR SKILLS, HP, MP AND SP ADDED TO YOUR OWN STATS. OBTAIN THE EXPERIENCE AND ABILITIES OF THE DEVOURED.