Goblin Raid ll
In the middle of the settlement stood two figures, one had a short sword embedded into his chest while the other had lost an arm and was simultaneously losing a lot of blood.
During the fight before this, Astaroth had charged at the hobgoblin hoping to end this confrontation with a decisive blow, and he almost succeeded, if he had accounted for the hobgoblin having a hidden weapon.
Even though he had slashed off the hobgoblin's dominant arm with his lightning dagger, the hobgoblin, in a last-ditch effort, had pulled out its hidden short sword and stabbed it right into the left side of Astaroth's chest.
If any normal human had been stabbed like this, then they would've most likely died, however, the species demon lord wasn't just a cool name.
No, those under the species demon lord have strong physics, which allows them to take beatings way better than other races.
So, while this may seem devastating to others, Astaroth simply pulled the sword out from his chest, and instead of throwing it away like some Shonen protagonist, he instead chose to wield the sword.
Astaroth looked at the sword and used (Appraisal) to see if there was anything special about the sword but he saw there was nothing noteworthy about the simple iron short sword.
After swinging it around a couple of times to gauge the weight, he smiled and said...
"It has been far too long since I've wielded a sword!"
"Now, back to business, you think you can just stab me and get away with it you bastard, I'll make sure to kill you extra slowly," said Astaroth in a cold authoritative tone
The hobgoblin noticeably shuddered after hearing the declaration, however, not letting fear control him, the hobgoblin rushed towards Astaroth channeling what little mana it could into its fist for one last punch.
As the hobgoblin got closer, Astaroth got down into a stance holding the sword out in front of him ready to take on the hit.
The only reason the hobgoblin dared to get close to Astaroth was that it thought after their last exchange he would be low on mana, if only that were true, then maybe the hobgoblin would still be alive today.
But alas, as the hobgoblin got closer, instead of trying to infuse mana into the sword like a knight would Astaroth went for the easier yet just as strong alternative.
He instead infused mana into his muscles all around his upper body to give them some extra strength and power.
This was one of his original techniques that helped him vanquish his foes on the battlefield, this technique helped him take on many foes early on when he wasn't one of the strongest beings in existence.
Once the hobgoblin was within a meter, Astaroth swung his sword with all his might and mana combined.
When the blade made contact with the hobgoblin a huge explosion rang out.
As the dust settled around Astaroth, all that could be seen was him standing there holding just the hilt of the sword as the blade was destroyed, and in front of him were the remains of Trak, the hobgoblin Fighter.
The once-proud chief of the goblin tribe was now lying there lifelessly cut in two by Astaroth's strike.
After a couple of moments passed, a series of notifications rang out.
[300 (Goblins) slain - 3,000 DP]
[1 (Hobgoblin Fighter) slain - 150 DP]
[Congratulations! your skill (Basic Lightning Magic) has leveled up Lvl 05 -> Lvl 08]
[Congratulations! your skill (Basic Fire Magic) has leveled up Lvl 03 -> 06]
[Congratulations! your skill (Basic Mana Manipulation) has leveled up Lvl 06 -> 07]
[Congratulations! your skill (Basic Mana Reinforcement) has leveled up Lvl 03 -> 06]
[Congratulations! you've learned the skill (Basic Swordsmanship Lvl 01)]
[Congratulations! you've learned the skill (Slash Lvl 01)]
[Congratulations! you've broken through to mid 2nd Aura tier
"Status," said Astaroth
[Name: Astaroth]
[Race: Demon Lord]
[Main Class: n/a]
[Sub Classes: (Apprentice Mage) (n/a) (n/a)]
[Magic tier: early 3rd circle]
[Aura tier: mid 2nd tier]
[Innate Skills: (Perfect Memory) (Aura of a Conqueror Lvl 01) (Appraisal) (???) (???)]
[Skills: (Basic Mana Meditation Lvl 04) (Basic Mana Manipulation Lvl 07) (Basic Lightning Magic Lvl 08) (Basic Mana Reinforcement Lvl 06) (Basic Fire Magic Lvl 06) (Basic Swordsmanship Lvl 01) (Slash Lvl 01)]
[Dungeon Points: 3,200]
[Dungeon Management]
[Dungeon Point Shop]
[Demon lord tutorial: have 5 subordinates - 2/5]
"Hmm, not bad."
While the skills certainly were a help, what Astaroth was most satisfied with was the DP acquisition.
"Maybe I should cause a goblin genocide for DP." Thought Astaroth with a viscous grin
Even though it was pretty hot outside, Volcanis felt a shiver run down his spine.
"My lord! are you okay?" yelled Lapis while running over
"I'm fine Lapis, can you use your healing magic on me? I've lost a lot of blood it seems."
As he said that, Astaroth stumbled a little bit until he fell to the ground, while he hadn't lost consciousness, he would remain on the ground for another 10 minutes while Lapis use her healing magic on him.
Once he was good as new, he walked over to where Volcanis was and saw that they had captured 7 goblins, 5 of whom were combatants and the other 2 were women.
"My lord, I felt these goblins might be useful to you, the 5 fighters were especially gifted on the battlefield and 3 of them even came close to taking my life." bowed Volcanis
"Hm" nodded Astaroth
"Now, I give you all a choice, either submit and join my ranks... Or die!" said Astaroth releasing his skill (Aura of a Conqueror Lvl 01)
A few moments went by after he said that, and to his surprise none of the goblins moved, that is until 2 of the fighters and the other 2 women spat in his face and spoke.
"We'll never submit to you, ptui!"
"Hmm, I see, that's fine by me, Lapis!"
"Yes my lord"
"Burn them to a crisp," said Astaroth with an evil grin
"Of course, my lord," said Lapis with that same grin
With that being said, Lapis walked over to the 4 hostages and lit each of them on fire with her azure blue fire magic.
As the 4 hostages burned to death wailing and screaming, the other 3 fighters who were left, watched in horror as their kin was roasted alive right in front of them.
"Now, what will it be, submission? or be burnt to a crisp."
After a few moments of thinking, the 3 goblins with a defeated expression said.
"Fine, we'll submit."
"Good."
"Trust me, you won't regret it," said Volcanis
Once the 3 were untied, they walked towards Astaroth and all 3 of them knelt in front of their new master.
[You've obtained 3 new subordinates; would you like to name them?]
"yes"
"Do the three of you have names?"
"No, my lord, we don't, we are merely peak G rank." said the kneeling goblins
"Hmm, I see, then I'll name you."
When the goblins heard that all three of their faces lit up like a Christmas tree.
"What should I name them? Hmm."
After some thinking, Astaroth decided to stick with the 4 elements theme and named them accordingly.
The three goblins' new names were.
Akamu, which is Hawaiian for "of the earth"
Aenon, which in Hebrew equates to "water spring"
And finally.
Notus, which is the name of the Greek god of the south wind
As he finished naming the last of the trio, three pillars of light that matched their respective element came down and washed over the three goblins.
Once the change was finally done and the light disappeared, instead of the three green goblins being only 155 cm tall, now stood 3 jet black goblins who had tattoos of their respective elements on their hands like Volcanis does, and these goblins were now 165 cm tall.
When they finally regained awareness, all three of them looked down at their hands and inspected their bodies, as well as their new powers, and were stunned.
All three of them simultaneously knelt in front of Astaroth and spoke.
"Thank you, my lord, for allowing us to go through this glorious change, we swear to always serve you to the utmost of our abilities till the end of time!"
"Hm." nodded Astaroth in response
Now that the three new additions had finished with their transformation, Astaroth ordered Lapis and Volcanis to burn the remaining thatch huts of the settlement.
Even though night had already descended on the world, Astaroth still ordered the group to walk back to the dungeon, the trek back was only a couple of hours to the south so he thought it would be more effective to go back now instead of waiting.
As the group was walking, Astaroth used (Appraisal) on his new subordinates, he knew Volcanis gained magic properties pertaining to fire so he wanted to test out what would happen to name the other 3 with their respective elements.
But before he could activate the skill, he saw a new option on the status that resembled an option button, so he clicked the option curiously and found that this was an option to "personalize" the status screen.
Every option was pretty useless like color-changing, font change, and other basic things like that, but one thing piqued his interest.
This option would change the rank classification on monsters to levels, this was a special option for demon lords to have an easier grasp on when their subordinates would evolve.
Now when a monster or beast evolved, their level would reset to Lvl 01 and from there could level up again to evolve.
However, the levels that which monsters and beasts evolve are different per every evolution and even among different species.
With the new option on, Astaroth finally activated (Appraisal) to check out the goblins' status.
[Name: Volcanis]
[Race: Goblin (Dungeon variant)]
[Level: 07]
[Innate Skills: (Basic Fire Resistance Lvl 05)
[Skills: (Basic Fire Magic Lvl 06) (Basic Mana Manipulation Lvl 04) (Basic Mana Meditation Lvl 01) (Strike Lvl 04) (Mana Punch Lvl 03) (Dash Lvl 02)]
[Blessing of Demon Lord Astaroth: Makes evolution 50% easier as well as gives a boost to exp for skills]
[Name: Aenon]
[Race: Goblin (Dungeon variant)]
[Level: 05]
[Innate Skills: (Basic Water Resistance Lvl 05)
[Skills: (Basic Water Magic Lvl 01) (Basic Sword Mastery Lvl 03) (Basic Mana Reinforcement Lvl 01) (Basic Mana Manipulation Lvl 01) (Basic Mana Meditation Lvl 01)]
[Blessing of Demon Lord Astaroth: Makes evolution 50% easier as well as gives a boost to exp for skills]
[Name: Akamu]
[Race: Goblin (Dungeon variant)]
[Level: 05]
[Innate Skills: (Basic Earth Resistance Lvl 05)
[Skills: (Basic Earth Magic Lvl 01) (Strike Lvl 02) (Basic Martial Arts Lvl 03) (Lesser Fortitude Lvl 03 - Infuses mana into the skin to make it harder) (Basic Mana Manipulation Lvl 01) (Basic Mana Meditation Lvl 01)]
[Blessing of Demon Lord Astaroth: Makes evolution 50% easier as well as gives a boost to exp for skills]
[Name: Notus]
[Race: Goblin (Dungeon variant)]
[Level: 05]
[Innate Skills: (Basic Wind Resistance Lvl 05)
[Skills: (Basic Wind Magic Lvl 01) (Basic Eagle Eyes Lvl 02) (Dash Lvl 02) (Basic Bow Mastery Lvl 03) (Basic Mana Manipulation Lvl 01) (Basic Mana Meditation Lvl 01)]
[Blessing of Demon Lord Astaroth: Makes evolution 50% easier as well as gives a boost to exp for skills]
Astaroth was pleasantly surprised to see the three goblins had pre-existing skills as well the fact Volcanis had leveled up his skills as well as himself.
Once the group reached the entrance to the dungeon, they entered and went through the portal door to the first floor which was a plains biome, then to the second floor which was a lush forest biome.
The second floor was where he wanted to set the goblins up and hoped later down the line they could establish a village here, however, after looking at the four goblins' status and seeing their expertise was different, he had another idea in mind.
He decided that instead of them forming one village, he would have each found their own village and tribe.
For now, though they had to stay on the main floor with him and Lapis since they couldn't build a whole village by themselves, however, he had an idea on how to grow the population of goblins under him, and that was...
The Dungeon Point Shop!