Rise Of The Hoarder

The desperate screeches of the Hobgoblins filled the air, calling the rest of their comrades for help.

Of course, since it was late at night, the entire force wasn’t going to move. They would most likely send a few of their forces to eliminate the threat.

“I’ve killed over a hundred Hobgoblins already… about thirty remain. That’s approximately 150 Hobgoblins in this batch.” I muttered, staring at the survivors who glared at me.

Taking their numbers into account, I could predict that the next group to come in response to their screams would be considerably larger since they had to eliminate someone that gave the previous team problems.

‘I should be expecting at least 300 extra Hobgoblins.’ My mind rang.

The thought of this made me smile before I noticed. My blood began boiling as my heart raced in excitement.

‘Yes… more… more enemies to fight!’

At that moment, my <Aura> Skill expired, causing the red glow on my body to dissipate. Upon seeing this, the Hobgoblins took it as a window of opportunity. I was already weakened as a result of the buff vanishing, giving them a bit of an opportunity to inflict injury on me.

I watched them draw closer to me, though their movements were already rendered sluggish due to the venom that coursed through their bodies. In all honesty, I didn’t even need <Aura> to take care of the remaining Hobgoblins.

Taking a sprint stance, I readied myself to strike, elongating my claws once more.

>FWOOOSH<

I propelled myself toward the band of monsters, twisting my body in a frenzied dance while slicing their bodies in large chunks. I dodged their slow attacks which consisted of bites and claw scratches. Their strength and agility were way higher than the regular Kobolds, but unlike the latter, these Hobgoblins had no specialized skill for mid or long-range combat.

Against an opponent like me, that was fatal.

>SPLURGEEEEE!!!<

More blood splattered across the area as the dead Hobgoblins turned into dust, leaving behind their Demon Cores.

The red stones on the ground all glowed in the dark, drawing my attention to them. The bright lights emanating from them made their locations known, so it wasn’t going to be too difficult to retrieve my prize.

‘There could be a Skill worth learning…’ I mumbled.

Since I still had some time before the reinforcements arrived, I picked up my pace and collected all the Demon Cores that were on the floor.

Some were located on the branches of some trees since the Demons died atop them, so I had to leap to the trees and retrieve them. I made sure to collect Evey single piece in order not to cause waste.

‘Even if I don’t need the Skills, I can use them as bombs by injecting mana into them. Ultimately, they’re still useful regardless of the Grade.’

Just like clockwork, a few moments after I was done picking the last one of the red cores, the Hobgoblin reinforcements arrived.

They rushed in multitudes, and even from their distance, I could tell that they were way more than I bargained for.

The earth shook as a result of their march, and the skies were filled with their cries of war. Judging by their sounds, they had abandoned the quiet ambush strategy, since the ones I just dispatched used that method. Instead, they were going for an all-out fight.

“That’s more like it! Beasts should be beasts!” I grinned, watching them come into my line of sight. In a few seconds, we would clash.

“400… 500… 530… there should be nearly 600 Hobgoblins here alone. That’s a large number!” I muttered.

Now that I thought of the estimate Daniel made, it nearly made me laugh. 500-700? The total number of Demons I would kill this night alone would be over 700. And this only meant that there were way more where they came from.

“Thousands upon thousands… I can’t wait!”

Still, I needed to focus on the matter at hand. Their numbers were by no means small, and these Hobs were stronger than the average Kobolds I faced in the past. Sure, I had grown stronger than before, but even I would have a little trouble facing off against these numbers, especially since my <Aura> Skill was in cooldown.

‘Plus, the commotion of this battle would have attracted the attention of the scouts. They should be here shortly. I have to end this fast!’

Me against odds like these… it just made the match all the more stimulating.

A few more seconds, and we would clash… this was no time to be standing still. However, for me, perhaps it was.

“Sorry, fellas… it’s time to stop going easy on you.” I grinned, retracting the spikes all over my body and the claws.

By canceling the Skills which were active, I automatically sent them into cooldown, meaning I couldn’t use them for a while. However, I wasn’t worried. Because…

“<Summon>”

In a flash, dozens of weapons within [Subspace] appeared, lunging at my targets.

>WHOOOOSHH!!<

The dozens of blades began piercing the Hobgoblins, easily tearing through their flesh. Sparks of energy burst from the enhanced weapons and loot I obtained from killing the Kobold King.

Twenty <Hell Kobold King Tooth>

Ten <Hell Kobold King Claw>

A hundred <Core 1 Enhanced Daggers>

Fifty <Core 2 Enhanced Daggers>

And finally… appearing in my hand was the weapon I would personally be using, the one <Core 5 Enhanced Sword>

180 projectiles, one main weapon, against over 500 Hobgoblins… the odds appeared to not be in my favor. However…

>SPLURGE!!!< The blood of several Hobgoblins who were struck down by my weapons burst out as they died, turning into dust.

The few <Kobold King Tooth> and <Kobold King Claw> that I launched at the Hobgoblins killed more than one in a single strike. This whittled down their numbers in an instant, causing them to drop drastically. However, there were still many more who approached.

Unfortunately for them, I could easily restock.

“<Recall>…” I whispered, and all the expended items I had used to kill the Demons vanished, returning to my [Subspace]

Grinning widely at the remaining Demons who ragefully approached me, I said the magic word once again.

“<Summon>”

And so, my weapons of war appeared once more as I gripped my blade tightly, prepared to join the fight.

The Demons stared at the incoming projectiles with shock and disbelief while I prepared to dash toward them.

“Let’s dance!”