21 Goblins
“CUÁÁÁÁ” One of them squealed furiously, and its four canine teeth were exposed. Those fangs were as big as a tiger’s.
Meanwhile, the other two put on metal helmets and started running toward the half-wolf.
‘One, two, and three,’ thought the boy, carefully counting the accelerated heartbeats, excluding Nathalia’s.
Preparing another thrust, the half-wolf stepped hard and exhaled densely through his teeth, calmly.
‘At least I have a bit of a head start.’
His feet left the ground with a shrill sound and an explosion of dust. Then, a short distance from the first enemy, Luke stared into his eyes and propelled himself forward with the help of the trees.
Not fast enough to react, the Goblin felt his neck being torn apart in a line full of irregularities. As it was pulled, the curved sword of the half-wolf came out of the back of the first monster’s head, and a spray of blood painted the leaves of the trees red.
Luke didn’t get emotional; he just focused on his next opponent. Braced by the clash of the sword with the bone in the spine of the first Goblin, the half-wolf chose to wait for the next one with a helmet to come at him. His hands steady themselves on the handle of the small, dragon-like sword.
The moment the Goblin came within three feet, the boy spun around, and with a sudden burst, the monster was decapitated. The head flew upwards, and the sword continued its downward carving.
Enraged at seeing two of his companions killed in seconds, the leading Goblin pulled a scroll out of his side pouch.
“Don’t let him use that!” Nathalia shouted.
However, it was too late, and the monster was more than five meters away.
“Desruc! Gnieb erupmisiht! Foerutaneurt ehtevlosba, do—” A thin throwing knife struck the Goblin’s neck, but this could not stop its screams. “retsnom eht foyrufeht…”
Dead, the Goblin’s sturdy body collapsed. The dry thud reverberated through the woods, a moment that was followed by an eerie silence.
With his face still splattered with blood, Luke walked over to Nathalia and questioned in confusion, “What was that language he was speaking?” The sword, soiled with blood, went quickly into its sheath again.
“It wasn’t a tongue; it was a curse.” She said as she stood up with his help.
“What’s the curse?”
“Impossible to say. It could be anything, but I don’t think he could finish reading the scroll.”
Analyzing the bodies, they found no clue as to why there were monsters there. Although they were Superior Goblins, their items were not the best. The knives that those in the helmets used were already almost blunt. Their clothes were old too, which indicated that their last victims had been there for some time.
Inside the leader’s side pouch, Luke found several other papers, and the one the monster read to him no longer had any words written on it. This did not necessarily mean that the curse had been applied because a scroll can only be opened once.
However, Luke did not know this rule, and in a moment of distraction from Nathalia, who was staring in disgust at the severed head of another Goblin, the half-wolf opened another scroll.
Contrary to what Luke expected, there wasn’t a sea of symbols he couldn’t read on the paper, so he was happy. On the paper were three geometric shapes glowing in relief. They practically begged to be touched.
Fascinated, the half-wolf took one of his fingers to the square-like geometric shape that transformed into a rectangle and a hexagon.
When Nathalia noticed a faint glow coming from her left, she saw Luke with an open scroll and shouted: “Don’t touch!”
Too late, before she could realize it, he had already touched it, and a voice resounded in the half-wolf’s mind.
「Habilitation: Normal Inventory acquired 」
With a hard slap, Nathalia took the parchment from the boy’s hand, who was breathless as he let go of it.
“Hmph… Uff…” He exhaled and took a startled breath. “What was that voice?” Luke questioned, confused because somehow, the voice was neither female nor male.
Reaching out to help his companion to stand up, Nathalia asked: “Have you never heard the skill’s voice?”
“Voice of the skills?”
The girl thought it was impossible that Luke never had an ability. “You’ve never used a gene in your life?”
The half-wolf just denied with his head, as he knew only the basics of genes since it was common knowledge.
Gene is the name given to the core of a monster, and this drop was really rare. They come in many shapes and sizes, and because it is so difficult to obtain one, they are expensive.
There are three types of monster cores:
First – Edible: it increases the limits of the human body and can even increase the longevity of those who eat it.
Second – Item: a monster’s core is transformed into a Panspermia item. It is more common for monsters that use weapons to drop this type of core.
Third – Skill: the core offers you a skill that the monster had before it died. You can refuse or accept it.
“Anyway, if you ingest an Ability Genes, this voice talks to you.”
“I didn’t get a chance to refuse,” Luke said and crossed his arms like a spoiled child.
Nathalia found this secretly cute and explained: “This was probably a Scroll of Reminiscence. They allow you to rescind the skill, but we will talk about it later. What skill did you get?”
“Normal Inventory.”
“Ohh! That’s soo useful. Too bad I don’t know how to activate it to teach you.” Nathalia spoke and brought her hand to her chin.
“I don’t want to get involved with this Witchcraft of Genes.” Thanks to Yoelona’s teachings, Luke always thought it was wrong to use genes to strengthen the body because this was supposedly sorcery.
The young Miss Strogueher just shrugged and understood that there must be a reason. There were still three other scrolls in the leading Goblin’s pouch, which Luke did not dare to open as he had already learned his lesson.
“They are worth quite a bit. Put them away carefully.” Nathalia said as she saw all that the half-wolf got. “Should we take their heads too?”
Luke was impressed by that girl’s way of acting. She looked nothing like the one, he disputed simple fencing with.
Afraid that carrying the bodies over his shoulders would draw too much attention in the city, Luke took only the four fangs from each body and stored them in a small baggie.