Rise Of The Hoarder

>BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<

An explosive sound of shattering good rippled through the air as everyone behind me seemed to tense up as a result of my display of strength.

It could be seen to be terribly frightening—that a human could break through what could seem to be a fortified gate with such ease. None of them seemed to have perceived the mana coating the door, yet they all seemed so impressed.

It was a good thing my Strength Stat was already so high up.

With the disappearance of the gate, as I expected, the Demons poured thousands of projectiles our way. The sight of over a thousand—that would be an understatement—arrows and claws coming our way made my skin tingle in excitement.

As for the others behind me, shrieks of fear and despair confounded them. Some looked like they remembered quite a bit of an unpleasant thing. If I had to guess, it was most likely due to the fact that some of their comrades were massacred by Hobgoblin Archers not so long ago.

The trauma must have still been fresh.

That worked in my favor, though. After all… the deeper the fear one possessed—

‘—the higher the gratitude that will be expressed when a rescuer saves them from their despondency!’

“Don’t cower. It’s all going according to plan, isn’t it?” My voice rang through the fearful shrieks of everyone around.

The tone I chose was soothing, comforting, yet brimming with confidence!

In a flash, my range of vision increased and I spotted multiple arrows at once thanks to my heightened perception.

>WHUUUUSSHHH!!!<

Dissipating sounds of emptiness replaced the whirring arrows that were launched at us. Within mere moments, the glowing claws and arrows imbued with mana had vanished.

“W-wha-?!”

Awe and surprise didn’t begin to encapsulate the feelings expressed within the words that the spectators blurted out in response to my nearly godlike feats.

How could a person— a human— achieve such a level as to make thousands of arrows vanish in a few seconds?! Their minds seemed to burn with several questions, but even if they mulled it over for eternity, their small brains could never figure it out.

“Are you all ready? We’re charging in!” I roused their shocked state and began moving forward immediately.

I caught glimpses of their unrecoverable gazes of amazement and deep respect as the people quickly moved, refusing to be left behind by their masked hero—me.

“GARUIIIIIKKKKKK!!!” The several thousand Hobgoblins that had once again occupied the first compound like rats all screamed at our approach.

Launching another set of projectiles like last time, the idiot monsters thoughtlessly gave me more weapons to stock up in my inventory, [Subspace].

I grinned satisfactorily as our charge sent shivers running down the spine of the Demons. Compared to their multitude, our numbers were despairingly small. However, being able to completely nullify their barrage of ranged attacks, not once, but twice, proved that were by far no ordinary group.

Of course, I was the only actual threat among the group, but the Demons were equally wary of us.

Upon seeing that the ranges attacks were being rendered ineffective, the Hobgoblin (Advanced) Archers, Tankers, and Warriors all decided to take a more direct approach. I saw no Casters, though, making me a feel a little uneasy about their formation.

‘Of the types I should be wary of, those magic-wielding bastards stand at the top… at least for now…’

“GARUUURUUUUUKKKKK!!!” Following their disgusting cries, the army of Hobgoblins moved from their stationary state and charged like the army they were.

The earth trembled and sent shivers down the spine of everyone who was with me. The Gifteds I led all halted just like I had told them according to the plan. Though, I had a feeling they would have stopped either way.

Only an exceptionally brave lad would continue charging Toward such a massive army, or an exceptionally strong person. I fell under the second category while the Gifteds with me were neither. It was no mystery why they had instinctively paused.

With the Hobgoblins drawing nearer by the second, everyone’s eyes darted toward me for a miracle.

‘I feel tempted to just leave them here and let them die. They’ll fetch a good amount of (G) Karma Points as is…’

However, I had to shake off such negative thoughts. In the first place, the reason I was going through this much of a hassle was for the returns. If they Leveled Up more, they would be able to give equivalently higher points as profit.

Since it was (G) Karma Points that was in question here, it was clear I had to wring out the most out of every single individual. In essence, Level them up to their limits.

“Leave it to me!”

In a flash, I summoned the multiple arrows and claws that were in my [Subspace] thanks to their stunts from earlier.

Mixing in my mana into all of them thanks to the terribly high MP I possessed, the result was catastrophic.

The arrows all sparked as they appeared close to the approaching Demons. Before they could react with their demonic screeches, the deed was already done.

>BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!<

Countless melted, burned-up, and dismembered Hobgoblin corpses filled the area by the time the smoke was cleared up within a moment due to me collecting it.

Standing dumbfounded were the bunch of Gifteds behind me. In what seemed like a flash before their eyes, over half of the Demon’s forces had been whittled out, leaving a little over two thousand survivors left to fight. It was still a large number, but considering it was barely five minutes in and I had already achieved such a feat, two thousand didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore.

The surviving Demons were equally shocked. Some had sustained some damage from the explosion, having some part of their body caught up in it while others were only affected by the shockwave alone. In any case, it was something very terrible—for the Hobgoblins that is.

They were now standing at the edge of death!

My head turned to face the Gifteds behind me and once again, I donned a chivalrous tone.

“I’ve done what I can… now we begin an all-out attack! I’m counting on everyone!”