by Matthew Peed
Glancing around the corner again, I waited for the goblins to position themselves so that the scouts would be the most likely to inspect the noise rather than the whole party. It took nearly ten minutes for them to get how I wanted them. Being careful, I tossed a rock at the wall across from me, lightly enough so that it could have been a slip in their attention.
I waited a good minute before repeating the sound, slightly louder this time. I had to thank the goblins that had had Keen Hearing on the first floor. My harvest from them enabled me to hear as two of the new goblins started making their way down the passage toward me. I debated making a third sound but decided to hold off until they seemed like they were about to turn around.
I wasn’t sure if they were ordered or just knew they needed to actually check past the corner, but they kept up their approach until I could practically smell them around the corner. That was saying a lot, given the lingering stench that blanketed the entire dungeon. I saw the point of one of their weapons and held my breath.
When I saw the hand, I lurched forward and grabbed the wrist attached to it. With a yank, I pulled the goblin all the way around the corner. I didn’t hesitate at all as I drove my hand through the creature’s eye socket. Bending my fingers while they were inside the goblin’s skull, I tore up its brain. It only took me four seconds, and the creature only managed to give a small yelp.
The other goblin rushed around the corner and swung its club at me. I still had my hand wrist deep in the brain of the other goblin, so I lifted its corpse into the path of the club. I was impressed that the goblin managed to tear its ex-companion’s arm off with only one swing. Not wanting the battle to last any longer, I swung my new cleaver and was surprised when the second goblin’s head went flying so easily.
I didn’t have much time to celebrate my victory before I heard the other three goblins start to rush down the passage. The scout was in the lead, followed by Fancy Loincloth and Helmet. I wasn’t sure how I knew that without looking, but I could just tell by the sound of their equipment.
I left my hand in the first goblin’s head. It made a good shield, and if those two were able to use magic, I would want a shield. The scout was the first around the corner, and I was glad that even though they were smarter, it wasn’t by too much. The scout was well ahead of the other two.
Without hesitation, I brought my cleaver around, and the goblin scout lost his arm. Blood sprayed over the wall and me. Not letting the moment go to waste, I twisted the cleaver as much as I could and brought it back down. To my surprise, the blade popped and flipped around, adding nearly half a meter to the weapon’s reach.
Thanks to the sudden gimmick, I ended up burying the base of the weapon into the skull of the goblin. While my action killed the creature, it made it hard for me to pull the weapon free. I could hear the other two were about to turn the corner, so I reached up with my foot and kicked as hard as I could. The corpse went flying and rolled two or three times into the center of the passage.
Helmet was in the lead and crashed face-first into the ground as he tripped over the dead goblin—a nice coincidence. Fancy Loincloth came to a stop, and I heard gurgled words. I didn’t take the chance. I leaped forward, the dead goblin still clasped from inside the skull. Coming around the corner, I threw the dead goblin shield onto the recovering Helmet, then turned to Fancy Loincloth and spun, using the momentum to bring my cleaver around.
Fancy Loincloth was definitely cleverer than the other goblins, as he thought to dodge as he dropped to the ground. I continued my spin and ended up stepping squarely on Fancy Loincloth’s back. I made sure to push down as hard as I could but failed to hear a crack.
Stumbling to a stop, I jerked around and charged Fancy Loincloth again. Still on the ground, he’d managed to continue his chant. A bright bead of light appeared just in front of him and quickly turned into a sea of flames. Jumping back, I avoided the flames as best I could. I had to pat my leg to put out some flames that had latched on.
The spell was rather weak after the display it gave. It was already dying after only ten seconds. Still, that ten seconds had allowed Helmet to join Fancy Loincloth. I could tell from the red tint to his eyes that he was not happy to have his patrol turned into meat sacks. As we waited for the flames to die down, I felt something rise inside me.
It was like my conscious mind took a back seat to my body. As the flames died, I shot forward, twisted the cleaver to bring it back to its smaller form, and charged Helmet. He roared in response and moved to meet my charge. I grinned, my newly pointed canines poking out of my mouth. At the last minute, I reared back and threw my cleaver, twisting my arm in the process.
Helmet was not expecting it and threw his arms up to block the attack. He wasn’t the target though, and the cleaver spun end over end and sank into the chest of Fancy Loincloth. He had another spell on his lips, but the impact of the weapon made him lose it. His head quite literally exploded, spraying just about everything in a three-yard radius with blood and brain matter.
Helmet turned back to me and roared with even more force, enough to actually shake the tunnel. I felt something inside me want to roar back at him but was able to control that impulse. I simply raised my hand and gave him the bird. My grin only grew wider when the message was fully received.
Abandoning all intelligence, Helmet charged me, raising his sword fully. As he wasn’t controlling himself, I was able to anticipate the wild swings. Still, I could tell Helmet was higher level than me, as his speed quite outpaced mine. If I relaxed for even a moment, I knew I would lose a limb or worse.
Finally, after nearly a minute of my frantic dodging and one nick across my chest, Helmet thrust his sword clean into the wall. In the moment where he tried to pull it out, I shot forward and with one hand raked four gashes across his throat and punctured where the goblin’s lung would be. Even with that damage, Helmet managed to thrash around for a good twenty seconds until he bled to death.
With the battle over, I felt whatever was fueling and controlling me leave my body. I wobbled and fell backward against the wall. I started breathing several times heavier than I was during the battle. If that was Malice, then I was both glad to have it but worried about the future. When I managed to regain a bit of strength, I harvested all the body parts I could before the dungeon reabsorbed the bodies.
As I looked at the pile of body parts and organs, the potential gains made me snicker. Before long I was full-on laughing. In the back of my mind, I knew I probably sounded like a lunatic. Still, at the moment, I didn’t rightly give a shit. This was the most powerful I’d felt in an extremely long time. Part of me couldn’t wait to sink my claws into Kyle’s face.
I rubbed my hands after I’d recovered my Aether. I decided to start with the purple. It was a new color, and I could tell it was higher on the chain than orange. I grabbed the object, which I found was Fancy Loincloth’s heart. I gulped, worried that Malice would grow stronger, but something inside told me it wouldn’t.
“Harvest.”
As before, the heart melted and flowed along my arm until it sank into my chest. I braced myself for the pain I knew was coming but was still unprepared for it. I was sitting up but ended up slamming my head against the wall from the pain. This was even worse than orange. I hoped that I would survive whatever was higher on the chain.
Thankfully, the pain passed much quicker than before. It was possible my body was adjusting to the ability, or I was becoming less human. Either way, I felt there was no going back. I checked what I got from the heart.
Tunnel Shaman’s Heart – Black Heart’s Armor
I wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed or not. I was kind of hoping to get the fireball spell the goblin had used. Though now that I thought about it, that he’d been chanting it indicated it was likely learned, not gained through birth. I took a breath and absorbed all the lesser parts quickly.
My nails and fangs had stopped getting longer and were instead getting denser and sharper. I was sure with a fe
w more victims they’d be as strong as a sword. Not that I wanted to test it without a way to regenerate my fingers. I was lucky and got a pair of ears, which increased my Keen Hearing. Finally, there were two oranges and another purple. All of which came from Helmet.
I absorbed the thing I was dreading the most first. The eyeballs. Sure enough, a moment later it felt like someone had stabbed a fire sticker into my eyes. I felt a wetness on my cheeks. Reaching up, expecting tears, I found I was actually bleeding. I ground my teeth and waited for the experience to pass.
Up next were Helmet’s lungs. Ranked orange like the eyes, they were absorbed quickly, and I hoped for something good. I was starting to feel like I was playing the lottery. Some could be winners, while others were losers. I guessed it was up to me to turn everything I got into an advantage.
Lastly was his heart. I knew he was a higher-ranked goblin compared to the others, and had the fight gone a different way, he could have very well have used magic as well. I hovered my hand over the heart for a good minute before deciding to take the plunge. I absorbed the organ and waited for the pain to pass before checking my new harvests.
Tunnel Goblin Patrol Leader Eyes – Dark Vision (lesser)
Tunnel Goblin Patrol Leader Lungs – Concentrated Breathing
Tunnel Goblin Patrol Leader Heart – Dominate
Looking at the new harvests, I was most impressed with the eyes. I quickly rushed back down the passage to the pitch-black corner and was impressed by how much they had improved my sight. While I wouldn’t be running down the tunnel anytime soon, I wouldn’t be feeling my way forward anymore either.
I put the rest of the hearts from the other goblins into my Storage. I planned on giving them to the other dungeon later. Better than having them go to waste. Done and filled with renewed energy, I turned away from the fading bodies and started down the tunnel. I cracked my knuckles and couldn’t wait to crack some goblins skulls.
~~~
The second floor turned out to be quite small. I wasn’t sure how the dungeon system worked, but after the first party I only encountered two more before I arrived at what looked like a very sad attempt at grandeur. A . . . wooden door stood at the end of the passage with a banner draped across it that looked like it’d been used for toilet paper once or a hundred times.
Two goblin patrol leaders stood guard on either side of the door. I’d already tried to lure one away with the rock technique but that failed. They knew something was down the passage, but they wouldn’t budge from their spot. I scratched my head as I thought about what to do, rushing being the only that came to mind. Really, a long-distance skill would have been wonderful right about then.
I tightened my grip on the cleaver and readied my state of mind. While I couldn’t outright control Malice, I could direct it. I imagined what I wanted to happen when I reached the end of the passage. Taking a deep breath, I activated Concentrated Breathing, and my need for oxygen drastically reduced for the next few minutes.
Taking a runner pose, I used Scurry and shot down the passage. The goblins easily spotted me and braced themselves. One had a sword and shield, while the other used a spear. They held their ground, waiting for me to come to them.
When I was just eight feet away, I bent my knees and sailed into the air, almost hitting the ceiling of the tunnel. With a twist of my hand, my cleaver extended. I dropped foot-first onto the left goblin’s face, slamming him into the ground. The spear wielder whipped his weapon around, aiming to slice into my side.
I turned and met the blade of the spear with my claws. Turns out they were able to handle these weapons. I allowed the force from the spear to push me off the downed goblin while I dropped my right hand that wielded the cleaver straight down. The weapon lodged in the downed goblin’s shoulder.
“Not enough force,” I mumbled as I finished falling away.
The downed goblin managed to get to his feet while the spear goblin kept me occupied. He yanked the cleaver out and tossed it a decent distance away to keep me from going for it. Clever, clever. I hopped back, then used two of my other new abilities.
“Black Heart’s Armor! Dominate!”
My skin turned pitch-black, starting with my hands. The spear goblin thrust his weapon, aiming for my heart. Instead of dodging, I met the point with my palm. I had the wall behind me and was able to use the extra force to completely bring the weapon to a stop. Not only that, but the pole snapped in half from the resistance it met.
I quickly grabbed the spearhead and spun it in my hand. Using it like a crude dagger, I shot forward. The spear goblin went to drop his broken weapon when Dominate kicked in. He stared as if death itself was approaching. I never thought a goblin could be more disgusting than it already was, but a goblin that defecated and pissed itself was quite nasty.
I brought the spearhead down and stabbed the goblin in the throat. He gripped at the broken shaft but wasn’t able to muster the strength to pull it free. That threat dealt with, I turned to the shield goblin. I decided there was no reason to extend this. I rushed forward, and when the goblin went to block me with his shield, I kicked the round shield with my full force.
The force smashed the goblin’s head into the wall behind him. While he was dazed, I smacked the shield to the side and clawed the goblin’s throat before jumping away as he swung his sword. The knowledge that he was dying was evident to his eyes, but the goblin charged forward, swinging wildly. I would have been fine except the spear goblin collapsed to the ground just at that moment and tripped me as I stepped backward.
The dying shield goblin gurgled as it brought the point of its sword straight down at my stomach. Without a thought, I used my palm to block the blow, and the point of the sword sliced through my hand an inch or two before coming to a stop. I quickly kicked the goblin off me, rose, and backed away. After thirty seconds of thrashing and twitching, both goblins finished bleeding out.
I pulled some gauze from my bag and wrapped my hand. I was glad I’d purchased it from the store along with all that junk food. Then I dropped to the ground to rest from the high-concentration fight. Glancing at the door, I could only sigh.
“Definitely a boss room,” I mumbled, then chuckled. “I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far by myself.”
After finishing my routine of rest, harvest, rest, I got up and stared at the door. Before pushing it open, I pulled up my status. I wanted to have a good idea of how far I’d come and how far down the rabbit hole I might have jumped.
Lance Teron
Age: 20
Level: 13
Race: Human
Type: Harvester
Aether: 100/110
Skills: Harvest
Harvests: Scale of the Corrupted Lizard – 50% Poison Resistance
Tunnel Goblin Heart – Savagery +10 -> (Malice +2)
Tunnel Goblin Patrol Leader Eyes – Dark Vision (Medium)
Tunnel Goblin Patrol Leader Lungs – Concentrated Breathing (+2)
Tunnel Goblin Patrol Leader Heart – Dominate (+4)
Tunnel Shaman’s Heart – Black Heart’s Armor
Tunnel Goblin Lung – Poison Breath (+4)
Tunnel Goblin Claw – Natural Weapons (+70)
Tunnel Goblin Fangs – Eat Anything (+56)
Tunnel Goblin Bones – Durable (+20)
Tunnel Goblin Ear – Keen Hearing (+12)
Tunnel Rat Tendon – Scurry (+2)
Lower Mimic Storage Sac – Storage
Achievements: Trading With Chaos – You achieved something few could claim. While it might appear to be dumb luck, even luck has a place in the universe. Aether gain +1 per hour.
After level ten, it had been a grind to level up again. Before, my level rose after just one or two goblins. I’d killed seventeen goblins on the second floor, and it had only moved twice. But from what I’d gathered on the divers’ forums, that was normal.
I placed my hands on the wooden door. “Well, I hope whatever is on the other side of this door gives me a nice juicy level,
” I said, then pushed the door open. I was worried it was going to fall off its hinges until it finally swung open with the loudest creak mankind had to have ever heard.
Stepping into the room, I was dumbfounded by what I found. A very, very round male goblin sat on a throne made of bones. The creature was clearly asleep and had piles of bones from some type of animal it had consumed. Several dozen female goblins sat around the edges of the cavernous room. I’ll spare the details and just say they were filthy. I thought it would be a mercy to end their lives.
I stood there and thought about what to do. Surely, a boss monster in a dungeon wouldn’t be this vulnerable. Even the few female goblins that clearly saw me weren’t making any noise. I pulled my cleaver off my belt and walked forward carefully. The snores only seemed to increase in volume as time passed.
Standing less than two feet from the giant ball of a goblin, I used Harvest. I was actually taken aback at how many purple spots lit up. I moved to the side so that the giant goblin’s neck was clear in my view. Rearing back, I swung down with all the force I could muster. The blade didn’t fail to deliver and sliced clean through the goblin’s neck.
The giant goblin’s eyes opened as his head went flying to the floor. I stayed tensed in case there was a gimmick. After a full minute of nothing happening, I relaxed, then switched the cleaver to its short form and started carving the goblin up. I wasn’t sure if the boss disappeared after a set time, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
It took longer to carve the boss up than it did to kill the damn thing. The parts that I could absorb took almost as much space as me. The thing that interested me the most was the tiny gem that I held between my fingers. It glowed a soft blue. I could feel a large amount of energy packed into it.
“Harvest.”
My body suddenly moved on its own as I put the gem in my mouth and bit down. My entire being trembled as pain coursed through me. I dropped to the ground, leaving grooves in the stone as my clawed fingers sank into it. A blackness started to eat at the edges of my vision.