Chapter 17: Infiltration and Assassination

Outside a secluded cave located somewhere within zone one, a massacre was currently taking place.

Kate stood on the sidelines and shot an arrow at one of the creatures approaching from the sky.

In front of her stood Bradford and Allen who were fighting a large variety of beasts that were rushing at them from deep within the cave.

Looking at the mountain of corpses that had piled up besides then, Kate felt cold sweat flowing down her neck.

After Bradford and Allen proposed their deal to work together with her, she accepted, under the condition that she would reach one hundred points before half an hour passed.

Immediately after she agreed, Bradford led her and Allen to a strange cave that was deep within the woods of zone one. It took them around fifteen minutes to arrive here.

As they arrived, Kate inquired what the cave was about but before she could get an answer they were suddenly attacked by a massive wave of monsters exiting from the cave.

Kate was stunned at first and immediately wanted to run away as she saw the massive group of beasts approaching.

As she was about to turn around and run away, she looked on at Bradford with a shocked expression as he ran headlong into the wave of beasts without hesitation.

At first she thought he was suicidal but quickly realized her mistake as he managed to single handedly stop the wave of beasts!

Both her and Allen were deeply shocked at this scene and couldn't move for a long time.

After a while however they snapped back to their senses as a few of the beasts managed to breach Bradford's line of defense.

Without hesitation, Allen and Kate got into battle position as they dealt with any creature that managed to get past Bradford. Kate would shoot down anything that got past in the sky while Allen dealt with those on the ground.

Kate was also shocked to see Allen's performance during the battle. During the qualifier test she had seen Allen's fitness index, which was only around 0.85, and had also seen that he possessed no mana.

She had honestly wondered why he was even in this group, but after seeing how he performed on the battlefield, her entire impression of him had changed.

Allen had taken up a variety of weapons during the preparation for the test. Kate had seen him pick up a longsword, staff, spear, longbow and two daggers. At first she thought he was overestimating himself and wanted to show off, but after watching his fighting style she realized that she had severely underestimated her ally.

Allen was constantly switching between weapons as he fought. One creature would be pierced with his spear before another was decapitated with his sword. When there was no creature within range of his melee weapons, he would switch to the longbow and assist Kate with shooting any creatures approaching from the sky.

He did all of this in one swift and smooth motion making it look like he was doing a dance instead of fighting against a horde of monsters.

After another 10 minutes had passed, the group had managed to clear the group of monsters that were rushing out of the cave.

Looking at the corpses that had piled up around them and Bradford who stood in the front with blood dripping from his longsword, Kate felt a chill run down her spine.

There were at least over 100 carcasses surrounding them at this moment yet just the three of them managed to kill this entire group of monsters in less than 15 minutes without sustaining any injury! Other than being slightly exhausted, neither Kate nor Allen had sustained any injury.

Bradford, who was on the frontline, dealt with most of the enemies while Kate and Allen only had to kill the ones that got past his "net".

Looking at Bradford who, besides having a few blood stains from the monsters on his armor, was completely unharmed. Kate honestly thought that even if Allen and her were not here, Bradford would have still been able to come out on top against the horde of beasts.

"There are around 400 points worth of monsters piled up here. Everyone can scan them individually and get their one hundred points. With that, we have also fulfilled our end of the bargain Miss Kate, so I expect you to fulfill your end." Bradford said as he expressionlessly began scanning the monsters that had surrounded him.

Hearing his words, Kate nodded her head slowly as she said, "No need to worry, I will keep my end of the deal."

Soon after she also started scanning the creatures around her to gather her points.

As she scanned she was also taking occasional looks at Allen and Bradford. In her head she was wondering just where these two "monsters" came from. As she wondered she also remembered the appearance of another monster with an extremely high fitness index. This monster had somehow managed to trick the mana detection device in her eyes and was also extremely mysterious.

When she had arrived home that day she had sent for people to investigate his background but she was immediately stopped by her parents the next day who had forbidden her from looking any further into his background.

This had left her completely stunned and only served to make her even more curious about just who this unknown man was.

Thinking about it now, she hadn't seen him since the test began, "I wonder what he's doing right now?"

…

In the plains of zone two, a river crossed almost the entirety of the grassland. This river also ran through the goblin fortress.

At this moment a lone goblin was comfortably peeing into the river that ran through the goblin fortress as it happily whistled to itself.

The spot he was currently peeing in isn't normally visited by other goblins as it was in a secluded part of the fortress. Thanks to this he was never interrupted or scolded for peeing into the river, a habit he usually enjoyed.

The only other person who knew about this spot was one of his buddies that was a part of the hunting party. Thinking about it now, his buddy should have returned by now with the results of today's hunt. Remembering that the party went out to hunt the three horned bison, he couldn't help but drool as he remembered the glorious taste of the bison meat he had over a month ago.

When he was about to finish relieving himself, he suddenly noticed something swimming in the river, however, before he could investigate further, he was startled as the water splashed up before its neck was cleanly cut by a sharp dagger that emerged from the river.

Watching as the goblin before him collapsed to the floor clutching its neck, Lake quickly emerged from the water before trying to desperately shake off as much as possible.

"Fuck! Did no one ever teach you that you shouldn't pee in a river!" Lake cursed as he looked at the goblin on the floor.

He had just read the fate of one of the hunting goblins that had returned from their hunt. That's how he managed to find out about the secret entrance to the fortress through the riverway.

What Lake didn't know was that he was going to be on the receiving end of a "golden shower" if he went through the river.

Shaking his head, Lake decided to "tactically" forget that life changing experience. Looking at the goblin that had finally died, Lake quickly grabbed the strand of Fate that started to fly away before scanning the goblin's corpse.

[Confirmed Kill on a Goblin (Low Tier). +5 Points.]

[Total Points = 30]

After confirming the kill, Lake quickly observed his surroundings.

From the past of the goblin he observed, Lake managed to get a solid grasp on the layout of the goblin fortress, and from what he saw, it would be more accurate to call this place a small town instead of a fortress with a population of around 200 goblins.

The compound was divided into three sections. There was the outer sector that was close to the walls where the goblin hunting parties spent most of their time. This area, Lake wanted to avoid the most for the time being, as the goblins there were all armed and ready to fight at a moment's notice.

The next area was the living sector, where the goblins had built multiple huts, equivalent to houses that they would stay in. Lake was currently located behind one of the huts in this sector of the compound. The goblins in this area were still armed like those in the outer sector, but from what Lake had seen, they were not as proficient in combat as those in the outer sector.

The final sector was the area where the goblin king stayed. It was a small portion of the compound where a huge hut was located. This area was the least guarded in the compound, however with Lake's current strength, he didn't dare to go near it as he wasn't a match for the goblin king with his current abilities.

After Lake got a decent grasp of his surroundings, he first walked up to the hut he was behind. The walls of the hut were made out of a hide like material so Lake was able to easily pierce a small hole through the tent with his dagger.

Taking a peek through the hole, Lake was able to see a goblin that was currently resting inside the tent. Looking ahead he can also see that the small curtain the goblins used as a door was closed.

After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Lake carefully used his dagger to cut a long line in the back of the hut.

After the cut was big enough, Lake silently moved into the hut where the goblin was peacefully snoring. Looking at the goblin's peaceful face as it slept, Lake steeled his nerves as he carefully positioned himself over the goblins body.

Lake clenched the dagger with his right hand as he took a quick glance at the goblin's fate. After gathering all the information he needed, Lake didn't hesitate anymore as he quickly plunged the dagger into the goblins heart as he covered its mouth with his left hand.

The goblin, having been stabbed in its sleep, quickly awoke and wanted to start screaming but found its mouth covered. The goblin struggled frantically as it kicked and flailed its arms trying to push Lake off its body, but no matter what it tried, it couldn't make Lake budge an inch as he held down the goblin's mouth with his steel-like grip.

Looking at the emotionless blue eyes of the predator atop it, the goblin was filled with fear as it quickly breathed its last. After the goblin had stopped moving entirely, only then did Lake remove himself from the goblin.

After scanning the goblin's corpse, Lake quickly moved onto the next target. Lake wasn't sure why, but he didn't feel anything even after killing another living creature. Even when he had killed the Black Reaver, Lake hadn't felt anything much beside the adrenaline that quickly faded after the battle.

Shaking his head, Lake didn't think much about it and considered it to be a good thing as it made it easier for him to do his job.

Walking forward, Lake stealthily peaked through the curtain at the front of the hut. Looking out he could see another goblin that was walking on the other side of the small pathway.

Seeing the goblin, Lake didn't immediately make a move as he first observed the Fate of the creature. What Lake was looking for in the past of the creature was its most recent memories. When he finished observing, he silently took a step back as he began to countdown in his head.

"7…6…5…4…3…2…1," When Lake finally reached zero he watched as a goblin walked past the curtain in front of him.

Without hesitation, he quickly reached out as he covered the goblin's mouth before dragging it into the tent.

The goblin that was previously walking on the other side of the street turned around as if it had heard something, but when it looked it saw nothing. Shaking its head in confusion, the goblin turned back around and continued to walk forward.

Inside the tent on the other hand. Lake was observing the past of the goblin that was slowly dying out on the ground. When the goblin finally died, Lake quickly scanned its corpse and grabbed its fate before releasing a soft sigh.

"This is going to take a while." Lake silently complained, however, if one were to look in his eyes, they would see an almost insatiable desire that was brewing in the depths of his soul.

"Well then, shall we begin the hunt," Lake softly said as a cold glint flashed within his eyes.