Armored Orc's Assault I

As nighttime approached, the group was growing extremely fatigued. Tilok had ordered the group to camp out, not willing to return without accomplishing his task in fear of death.

"Ilk! I command you to stay on night watch first!" Tilok demanded Ilk with a smug look on his face.

"Mmn" Ilk gave a short reply, not having the energy to deal with Tilok's attitude after being on high alert for hours.

Soon, Tilok and the other two goblins fell asleep near the small fire they had made to keep warm. Ilk stared at the embers as they slowly floated up from the flames, before burning out into nothingness soon after.

"Is my life to be like this ember? Burning passionately for only a short while, before burning out into nothingness..." Feeling a sense of existential dread, Ilk once again reaffirmed his goals.

'No, I will live, I'll soon evolve into a higher sub-species. I'll kill this disgusting bastard first,' Ilk thought, as he stared at Tilok's drooling face. 'then I'll strengthen myself and kill Nabik and take his position!' All Ilk has ever wanted was to prove his worth as a warrior. He was unfortunate enough to be born under the command of Nabik, who was famous in the Goblin Kingdom for ruling over his minions with an iron fist. He would not allow them to surpass him, yet he never trained himself. He simply would kill those getting close to his level, or send them on suicide missions.

He was truly a hypocrite, who complained about other not working when he himself leeched off of their accomplishments. 'Maybe that's why he favors Tilok so much, they are one an the same...'

Staring into the mesmerizing dance of the flames, Ilk began to drift away. The warmth of the fire soothing his tired body, his eyelids getting ever more heavy.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Roy watched the camp from a safe distance away, he noticed that all of the goblins had finally fallen asleep.

"Took ages, but this is finally the right opportunity to strike!" Roy said aloud, looking at Solus who was to his left. Inbellis had hidden away inside his backpack to avoid the upcoming dangers.

"Solus, ignore that one sitting by the fire. I don't know if he would wake up sensing our killing intent or something." As Roy gave this advice, he remembered the dangers of leaking killing intent that was often spoken of in novels. He has no idea if it even exists in this world, but he wasn't willing to find out in this situation.

As Roy stood up, he began creeping towards the camp. His dark figure slowly being basked in the light of the small campfire.

A figure that was almost entirely covered in a black and brown armor was exposed. Roy had quite a few hours, waiting for these guys to expose an opportunity. Using that time, he continuously used [Keratin Growth] to grant more of his body protection. He started with the exposed parts of his body, giving his feet priority. It took a lot of design improvements to make sure he kept full mobility, while being able to maximize the protection. He eventually finished the design, giving himself keratin boots with thick armor covering the top of his foot with layered armor at the sections that needed to bend. They had sharp studs, like cleats, and a tri-knife dagger sticking out of the toe section. He angled the dagger upwards slightly to keep himself from tripping.

Moving past his foot, Roy made sure the Achilles Heel was well protected. He did not want to lose his ability to walk. He covered the rest of his calf, and shinbone in armor with a break right before the knees. He placed small spikes on the shinbone to add to the kicking damage.

Roy's knees had a special design that covered the patella. It extended a bit past to cover the rest of the front of the knee, yet still allowing it to move. The kneepit and the olecranal of the arms were given layered armor that allowed it to bend freely.

The quads, hamstrings, biceps, and triceps were all covered in regular armor that stopped at the glutes and shoulders. Under the armpit, was given the same layered sheet design as the kneepit. The glutes, groin and shoulders had a cup design, wrapping around these parts of his body.

Roy's torso was covered in an armor that perfectly wrapped around his muscles. His heart getting extra protection using a lattice structure with a layer of keratin covering it. This gave his pecks a more pronounced look, making him look extremely buff. It offered great protection, as the impact absorption of lattice designs were no joke.

His neck was covered in the same style as the kneepits, except thicker. It was slightly less flexible, but it allowed one of his most vulnerable body parts greater protection. After killing so many goblins with neck shots, Roy knew how important it was.

His right hand had gained many improvements over his left. He could now bend his fingers, and he added tiny curved spikes to the bottom of the fingers to help with gripping the wooden handle of his hatchet. The fingertips are rounded, fitting well against the fingers themselves, as this hand is for weapon wielding. On the back of his hand and knuckles, Roy also added extra protection. He also completed the thumb of his left hand using the same design he used on his right.

Finally, Roy had begun the work of his helmet. He was still in the drawing phase currently, so he had to put it on hold till after the goblins here were dead. Though through the process of completing the rest of his armor, Roy had leveled up [Keratin Growth] to level 6, and [Apprentice Crafting] to level 8.

...

As his figure proudly stood in front of these sleeping goblins, Solus stepped out into the flame light as well. Now donning Roy's old armor, as it didn't really fit him anymore especially with his keratin armor created.

'I wonder when I'll be able to detach the keratin I've made from my body without ripping it off? If I can do that, I could make weapons and armor for Solus as well...' Roy thought, giving a soft look to Solus who enjoyed her new gear.

Roy quickly steeled himself, before stepping forward. This would be an extremely dangerous fight if the level nineteen woke up. He moved as quietly as he could, fully utilizing his assassin skill.

Roy and Solus approached the closest enemy to them, which was one of the two other goblins. Roy braced himself before grabbing its mouth with his right hand, the small spikes stabbing into its face. His left hand coming down viciously as all four fingers penetrated his chest cavity and stabbed the heart. As it was about to release a muffled scream, Solus sliced the windpipe to make sure it made as little noise as possible.

Quickly killing the level 13 goblin, the two moved on to the level 4 leader. As they approached, Roy noticed that the level 19 goblin shifted in the corner of his eye. He quickly darted his head to look at it and realized that it was waking up! Roy quickly used hand signs to tell Solus to ignore the weakling and move over to the only other goblin that could pose a threat.

[Goblin killed]

[60 EXP Received]

[Goblin killed]

[66 EXP Received]

[Enough Experience has been accrued]

[Level up 6->7]

[Enough Experience has been accrued]

[Apprentice Tamer Level up 10->11]

[Enough Experience has been accrued]

[Inbellis Level up 4->5]

As the highest level goblin opened its eyes, it witnessed the death of its comrade. Ironically killed in its sleep, the same as they had done to the kobolds just the night before.

"Tilok!!!" The high level goblin screamed, alerting the only survivor aside from itself. The weak and worthless Tilok opened his eyes to see the dead goblins next to him, their bodies mutilated. Realizing the situation, panic filled its eyes.