Chapter 82: Goblin

He walked into the first chamber without wasting much time, the beast smell still lingering, and the floor muddy and damp.

On one side, there were bones stacked up in a pile that looked wrong, on the other side, blue veins lined the walls and pulsed every now and then.

He glanced at the timer.

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[Time Remaining: 01:26:11]

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Less than a minute has passed. He kept moving, and shortly after that, a pile of bones moved and a system screen bloomed into view.

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[You have encountered: Goblin]

[Rank: C]

[Quantity: 4]

```

Four figures slowly crawled out, and when Ethan squinted his eyes, he was able to see what was in front of him.

Goblins... Four creatures about four feet tall, moved towards him. They had green skin, pointed ears and a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth as they growled.

Two of them held oversized bones while the other two had claws so long, it scraped the floor when they moved.

Ethan backed up, then reached into storage...

From his shadow, Bef and another Beowolf came out. He could have chosen to take out the iron golem instead. But he decided not to as he chose to conserve energy. In a dungeon where he wasn’t leaving till he cleared it, it was only safe to assume that something stronger was lurking deeper within.

He felt wolves settle into the link and gave one simple command. "Move."

The first clash was already messy.

Bef charged at one of the goblins and ran straight into it with a collision that Ethan felt.

The goblin braced and caught the wolf, wrapped it’s hands around it and hurled it up and above it’s head, flipping it the other way.

Bef fell, rolled, and shot back upwards as it rushed the monster with a snarl. ℯ

The other Beowolf rushed towards the second goblin, launched itself into the air and started mauling it. It bit into the flesh of its face and tore, spreading blood and viscera.

The goblin, enraged, curled its fists and hit the wolf in the side so hard, Ethan could hear something crack.

When the Beowolf recovered, the goblin rushed after it and began hitting the wolf while it tried it’s best to dodge...

The remaining two that were armed turned to Ethan and ran, already preparing to swing.

He activated Death Control and clashed with the first bone, dodged the second and managed to deliver a blow of his own.

The second goblin recovered faster than he thought, and swung the bone directly at his face.

Ethan panicked, brought his hands up and forced death energy to coat all of his arm.

**TRRGGH**

**BZZT**

The goblin’s weapon bounced harmlessly off his arm, and Ethan withdrew his it as the shock ran up his body.

"Leak," he hissed, "gotta be careful with the leaks..."

He could hear Ava in his head, already explaining how he would have been caught in a mild explosion if that amount of leaked energy burst.

"Crazy stuff..."

To think such small mistake could lead to that. It was something he still found hard to believe...

On the other side, the wolves were slowly gaining the upper hand but the fight was ugly. Bef latched on a goblin’s arm and pulled, the other took a hit that would have crippled a living animal but kept moving anyway.

Ethan dodged another swing and clicked his tongue. At this rate, he wouldn’t time to think of something as the goblins kept closing the distances he created. The goblns being stronger than the wolves was bad enough. Now being robbed of doing the one thing that could actually give them a realistic shot at winning was just unfair...

He sighed. Guess there wasn’t any need for trying to come up with something.

He looked at the wolves and gave one command. "Destroy them."

Both wolves stilled for a moment, green sockets brightening as they began to move erratically.

They flanked one of the beasts, ignoring the beatings they got. It’s attention was so fixed on the one that came from its side that it didn’t notice the Bef moving towards it from behind.

The wolve’s jaw caught one arm, and in the next second, Bef landed and bit into its neck, spraying green blood everywhere.

One down.

He turned to the second pair he was facing and rushed towards them with his hands crackling with Death Energy.

He swung at a goblin so hard, it’s stomach caved in. The goblin growled, flew backwards and got impaled through its chest from an outcrop of stone shooting out from the ground.

Two...

The second goblin launched itself into the air, and swung the bone down at him. Ethan blocked with his hand, winced as he felt a jolt of pain moving up his arm and slammed the monster on the ground.

The goblin convulsed and tried to stand, but when it did, Ethan kicked it in the side of the face.

**BANG**

The head twisted violently to the side, and it flew all the way to the other side and hit the wall. When it came down, it went still, unmoving.

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[Time Remaining: 01:24:03]

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He ran to the last goblin with his fists charged. Bef ran to attack it but it vaulted off the wolve’s head and attempted a downward strike to it’s skull.

Then—

**BANG**

Ethan came through with a solid punch that shot the goblin into the wall on the other side.

He shook out his hand, the sparks fading as his exhaled. "Well, shit."

He checked his Death Energy pool...

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[Death Energy: 1094 / 1200]

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Not bad, considering he used Death Control while still commanding the wolves. He opened the timer again.

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[Time Remaining: 01:22:47]

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He nodded once. He still had time left.

He took one last look at the dead bodies. He would have loved to raise the goblins, but with the way they were beat up, their quality would most likely be between poor or average.

’Nothing to worry about. You’ll find better materials soon enough...’