Tier 1 Gate (5)
The goblins were already limping when the hobgoblin barked its order. All ten turned as one, some with crooked weapons, others with nothing but sticks. A few were bleeding from earlier. Their morale? Lower than that one guy that lost all his crypto money. But the big guy growled, and that was enough to make them charge.
Lanz stepped out of the treeline with a grin under his helmet.
"Alright. Aura-farming speedrun."
He cracked his neck and flexed both wrists, his dagger glinting faintly in the firelight. His limbs felt light. Adding four points to strength and four to agility really paid off. The final point to intelligence was more of a future bet, but right now, it was all blades and feet.
The first goblin swung wildly with a chipped axe. Lanz caught it with the dagger's edge, turned his shoulder, and redirected the blow. As soon as the goblin stumbled, he grabbed its head and twisted it.
Another ran up to him, jumped and aiming for his head, but his knee came up, catching the goblin in the stomach. It folded like a paper bag. The goblin was knocked away by about a meter, but before it could even land, Lanz cut off its head while his other hand was intentionally on his pocket.
One tried to attack him from behind, but he cut off it's hands in a swift motion. He didn't finish it, instead, he sidestepped, dragging the goblin into the path of its friend's swing. Steel hit its skull. "Friendly fire is an unfortunate way to go out." He whistled, then grabbed the goblin — that killed its teammate — by the neck, and crushed it with ease. "That was a minus one for teamwork coordination."
Two more rushed in together. Lanz rolled forward, sliced the tendon behind one's knee on his way up, and baited the other into lunging.
He faked a stumble. The goblin overcommitted, and Lanz spun, kicked its leg out, and pinned it under his foot.
"I'm cooking with this choreography. Please someone clip it," he begged, hands together like his praying. He then dragged his dagger across its chest.
Another came at him from the left, dagger raised.
He blocked with his cloak-wrapped forearm, then elbowed the goblin's jaw before disarming it with a clean wrist twist. He let it panic for a second, then jabbed low at the ribs.
It collapsed. But he jabbed it again, and again, and again, until he confirmed it was dead.
He counted mentally. "Six down, four to go."
One had the bright idea to throw a rock. It missed badly.
He dashed in and punished the thrower with a low sweep, tripping it backward onto a stump. While it wheezed, Lanz flipped the dagger in his grip and tapped it on the goblin's forehead.
"Boop."
A second later, it stopped moving, mouth foaming.
The last three came together in a final burst of desperation. One bubbling, the other cried, and one ran ahead like a martyr.
Lanz parried high, ducked low, caught the screamer's wrist mid-swing and pulled it into the crying one. They both toppled.
He spun and slashed the third across the back, then flicked his blade once to get the blood off.
He whipped a dramatic pose, but unfortunately, there were no wind gust.
The EXP hit a second later. +30 EXP.
He tapped his chest. "And that's how you farm aura, kids."
Around him, ten goblins lay scattered like a poorly managed training dummy batch. He wasn't breathing heavy, he wasn't even scratched.
Behind them, the hobgoblin finally stepped forward.
Lanz adjusted his stance. The system pinged in the back of his vision, quietly showing: [EXP: 69 / 90].
"Nice," he muttered with a smug look.
Lanz cracked his neck again. "Boss round already?"
The hobgoblin then charged.
Lanz barely raised his arms before the axe handle slammed into him. Not the blade, but the flat end, right across his collarbone. The hit knocked him back a few steps, boots skidding over loose dirt and ash.
He braced, used [Feint Step], veering left, low to the ground. But the hobgoblin wasn't fooled, its eyes followed, its stance adjusted. It swung again, this time with the axe arcing wide. Lanz ducked under, felt the wind slap his cheek.
"Okay. HOW THE HELL IS THIS A TIER 1 BOSS?!!"
He rolled behind a burnt-out rack of supplies. The wood crumbled under his hand, singed and ready to collapse. The hobgoblin didn't rush, it paced forward with measured steps, watching him.
Lanz was stood, trying to process everything that's going on, but the hobgoblin lunged again.
But Lanz followed. He angled his shoulders, slipped past the swing, and dragged his blade across its thigh. It wasn't deep, but it bled. A roar erupted from the creature's chest, echoing through the camp.
"There it is, you feel that? That's fear. I mean, it is from me though."
The beast yanked a tent pole from the ground and hurled it like a spear. Lanz jumped to the side and the pole slammed into a nearby tree with a thick, cracking thud.
He didn't waste time and went in again.
[Feint Step]
This time it worked, he blinked to the hobgoblin's side, slashing toward its neck. Missed just by inches, but the blade carved across its shoulder, still, it wasn't deep enough to do real damage.
The hobgoblin spun and backhanded him. Lanz barely blocked with his forearm, but the impact numbed his fingers.
"You f*cker!" he hissed. "Do you know how much that hurt my favorite finger?" he said, lifting his middle finger. But, obviously, the hobgoblin.
They circled each other, the flames behind them crackled, shadows shifted, painting their duel across the torn cloth and scattered debris.
The hobgoblin rushed forward with another wide swing. Lanz dropped, slid forward on one knee, and raked his dagger across its calf. It staggered, but it was not enough.
He backed up, chest heaving, blood trickled from a cut above his eyebrow. His cloak was torn, and his dagger was chipped along the edge.
The hobgoblin was slowing, it wasn't limping yet, but close. Its side was bleeding and its shoulder stiff. It dropped its axe and grabbed a broken glaive from the wreckage and spun it once in its hands.
"Right. Because we needed weapon upgrades. Isn't that f*cking great!"
Lanz flexed his fingers and his grip shifted. He pulled out the boar tusk from his side pouch, now it wasn't just a trophy.
He readied himself.
Next round was coming.
Smoke curled through the broken camp as embers drifted like lazy fireflies. The hobgoblin stood tall, scarred and bloodied, but far from finished. Its breath came in low, guttural grunts. Glaive in one hand and death in the other. And across from it — cloak tattered and sleeves stained red — was a dumbass.
He didn't move right away.
His arms felt heavier than they should, his legs had taken too many glancing hits. But the second he saw the hobgoblin reset its stance, Lanz grit his teeth and stepped forward.
"Alright, final boss–kyun, let's dance."
The hobgoblin didn't wait for another invitation.
It charged, this time with a little more caution. It wasn't just swinging wildly now, it angled the glaive low, then high, then jabbed like it was testing his rhythm.
Lanz tilted sideways, avoided the thrust, and lashed out with his tusk. Sparks flew as steel met bone. He reversed direction on the backswing, aiming for the side of the neck, but the hobgoblin raised its shoulder just in time.
The counter came fast. A sweep with the glaive nearly clipped his knee. Lanz hopped back and stumbled as his foot caught on scorched wood.
"Come on, footwork. Don't betray me now."
They reset.
Lanz exhaled and tapped the menu open. [Skill Upgrade Token Available] flashed at the top. His thumb hovered over [Feint Step] for a second, but something made his eyes drift downward—toward [Combat Awareness Lv.1]. He selected it.
[Combat Awareness has leveled up to Lv.2]
A brief shimmer crossed his vision. The world didn't slow down, but something shifted, it was in the angles, the weight of the hobgoblin's steps, the twitch of muscle near its elbow, the way its chest expanded before a move.
Smoke twisted between them, the flickering firepit behind casting long shadows. Lanz watched the way its shoulders shifted, the twitch in its wrists. [Combat Awareness Lv.2] wasn't just prediction, it was more like a second sight.
It lunged again, and this time, Lanz met it head-on.
He slipped inside the arc of the swing, letting the tusk glide under the hobgoblin's ribs, and used his free hand to shove a crate between them. The crate splintered under the monster's weight, but the brief pause gave Lanz space.
They circled.
Lanz ducked a wide cleave and slashed low. The hobgoblin roared, swung horizontally, forcing Lanz to drop into a slide that tore his knees through gravel and ash. He popped up behind it, breathing ragged.
"Okay, okay. I'm getting somewhere," he said proudly.
It started to limp.
The hobgoblin was bleeding heavily now. Long, deep cuts ran down its side, and the glaive drooped between swings. Still, it wasn't done. It lifted the weapon again, slow yet determined. But even monsters have limits.
Lanz didn't smile, he didn't dare to let himself relax, he knew how it could end if he slipped even once.
They clashed again.
The hobgoblin bashed him once with its free hand, sending Lanz sprawling into a collapsed tent. Pain flared across his back, but he rolled through it, took out his dagger from his inventory.
His cloak was nearly torn, his breathing was ragged. He was going to feel this in every muscle tomorrow, if he even make it that far.
The hobgoblin stalked toward him, glaive dragging.
Lanz forced himself up, his hand gripped the dagger. The boar tusk shard was already cracked, but still usable.
"Alright," he muttered under his breath. "Let's end this."
The final clash came without warning.
The hobgoblin let out one last roar and charged. Its glaive came up for a brutal overhead slam. Lanz braced, but he didn't dodge, or at least not yet.
He waited until the very last heartbeat.
Then he sidestepped low, as fast as he can, driving his shoulder forward to catch the hobgoblin off balance. He pivoted, dagger slashing deep across the beast's lower back.
It howled and twisted around, but Lanz was already moving. He flipped the boar tusk in his grip, jumped, and planted both feet against the deceased goblins to launch himself upward.
The tusk drove into its ribs with a crunch.
The dagger followed a second later, angled up between bones. Lanz twisted, using his whole body, digging bnose, weapons deeper.
The hobgoblin roared in his face, its massive hand clamped onto Lanz's arm, the grip was crushing, bones grinding against each other. He gasped but didn't let go.
He slammed his forehead into its nose, again, and again, and again.
With a final push, he kicked off and tore his weapons free. The hobgoblin stumbled, blood poured from its sides. It took one step forward, then another.
And collapsed, face-first, into the dirt.
Lanz dropped to one knee. His vision swam, his hands burned, and his left arm throbbed from the crushing grip.
He scoffed. "I forgot to use the river," he muttered under his breath. His breathing, heavy.
The System pinged.
[ENEMY DEFEATED – EXP GAINED: +20]
Lanz looked up at the screen, he blinked, then again.
"One point. I'm ONE point off. Are you kidding me?!" he shouted with a dumb look.
He threw his hands up in the air, nearly faceplanting from the movement.
"This system is actually rigged."
And then he just sat there. On the body of a massive hobgoblin, surrounded by ash, soot, and the smell of fried goblin.
"...I better get something cool at Level 10."
End of Chapter 11.
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ALT SYSTEM — USER PROFILE: ZERO
Level: 9
EXP: 89 / 90
Next Unlock: Skill Fusion Access + Stat Affinity Bonus (Level 10)
Global System Tracking: DISABLED
World Rank Association: UNLINKED
Stats:
STR: 8 | AGI: 8 | VIT: 3 | DEX: 1 | INT: 4 | WIS: 0
[Available Stat Points: 0]
[Derived Stat — MANA: 20 / 20]
Skills:
[Basic Footwork Lv.2]
[Blade Control Lv.1]
[Parry Timing Lv.1]
[Feint Step Lv.1] (Active Skill)
[Reflex Sync Lv.1] (Passive Skill)
[Combat Awareness Lv.2] (Passive Skill) (UPGRADED)
[Skill Slot Available — Unassigned]
Equipment:
Aged Blade Fragment (??? Rarity) (Bound)
Goblin Dagger (Looted – Rusted, Jagged, Minor Bonus to DEX when equipped)
Spiked Boar Tusk Shard (Trophy Item – No bonus, kept as memento)
Lightweight Chest Padding
Boots of Basic Mobility
Fingerless Gloves (Basic)
Starter Cloak: Faded Black
Training Ring (+1 VIT)
System Highlight:
Inventory Capacity: 10 Slots
Skill Fusion Menu: Active
Skill Upgrade Token: USED