Goblin Hero

Dragon blood could not have appeared from nothing. Richard could not help wondering which dragon had such indiscriminate tastes that dragon blood and goblins had crossed paths.

Yet for this lucky goblin, that bloodline from a dragon had indeed brought about an earth-shaking transformation from the worthless to the miraculous. Wielding two double-bladed battle axes, he looked imposing and majestic, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings with the bold, clear light of heroic courage in his eyes.

This was the confidence only a true warrior could forge through an undefeated life, a privilege reserved for the great heroes of the age. How could he possibly be compared to those listless things of his own kind?

"Come forth, my giant beast!"

He was actually speaking the Common Tongue of the Continent with crisp, flawless pronunciation.

Amid a dull rumble, a swaying monster crawled out from a cave by the riverbank. Richard and the barbarians took one look and all sucked in a sharp breath.

It was a giant beast nearly three blades tall at the shoulder, resembling a pangolin magnified countless times over, though far more slender and handsome. Its heavy scales had been soaked by river water and reflected a gentle sheen beneath the sun.

Though goblins were cowardly by nature, everything that existed had its own way of survival.

They liked attaching themselves to the strong for protection, so these little creatures sometimes provided food for large beasts, forming a peculiar symbiotic relationship. Over time, goblins could even rely on their slightly sharper minds to become the masters who raised giant beasts.

However, only Hobgoblins and Bugbears generally had the means to do so. Ordinary Goblins found it incredibly difficult just to feed themselves and usually had no surplus food to spare for giant beasts.

"Outsiders! Prepare to die!" The large Dragon-blooded Goblin had actually cultivated battle aura. With a flick of both hands, a mottled milky-white glow appeared over his axe blades.

"Ouk! Ouk! Ouk!" The Goblins seemed to have seen a god walking the earth and screamed themselves hoarse. Even those bleeding heavily were no exception, vomiting blood as they cheered loudly.

"Fuck you, Ouk!" Gunther raised his hand and threw a spear.

He was a burly man over two blades tall and more than two hundred pounds, with muscles as perfectly sculpted as a statue, not a single unnecessary lump on his body. His strength was beyond doubt. Yet when his spear struck the giant beast's heavy scales, it rang out with a clang and bounced aside, leaving only a dent in the dark scales.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Gunther looked as though he had seen a ghost. With his strength, he could pierce even iron armor, but this was the first time in his life he had been stopped cold by scales.

The large goblin flipped onto the giant beast's back and drove his mount into a charge at the enemy.

This monster, over three blades tall, weighed conservatively more than three thousand pounds. Its footsteps alone could make the earth quake, and at full speed it could smash down the gate of a medium-sized town. Yet what stood before it now was merely flesh and blood!

The scattered goblin corpses had already enraged him beyond measure. Only crushing the enemy completely into pulp could ease that fury even slightly.

"Get the hell out of the way!" Richard gripped a spear, took a rough aim, and hurled it.

His aim was truly terrible. The spear merely grazed the giant beast's shoulder, and his control over its landing point was worlds apart from Gunther's. But their strength differed by far more than heaven and earth. Unparalleled brute force could bring about a qualitative change in everything, and no one present could catch the spear's trajectory with their eyes!

Like a ballista bolt, it skimmed past the giant beast's shoulder and shaved off a strip of scales like a razor, leaving behind a bloody gouge.

Blood poured out as if it cost nothing. The giant beast, wrapped in heavy scales, must rarely have been injured and was especially sensitive to pain. It could not help letting out a pained cry, and its charging steps staggered.

Richard shot forward like an arrow leaving the string. Before anyone could react, he bent down and grabbed one of the giant beast's forepaws.

The barbarians froze. They could tell their leader wanted to overturn the giant beast, but... was that really something a mere human could do?

"Hah!!" His face turned red from the strain, thick veins bulging at his temples as the muscles in his arms trembled violently!

Before everyone's eyes, Richard's waist slowly straightened inch by inch!

The pangolin-like giant beast let out a mournful cry and staggered several steps in the direction Richard was pulling, then crashed down like a collapsing mountain!

With a dull boom, the earth beneath their feet shook as dust scattered in all directions.

The simplest, purest brute force delivered the most shocking visual impact. For a moment, the battlefield fell so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Even the dying Goblins could not help closing their mouths.

"I'll kill you!"

The Dragon-blooded Goblin was incomparably fierce. When the giant beast fell, he had leaped aside and avoided being crushed. Now he charged Richard without hesitation, swinging both axes.

Axes were traditional heavy weapons. Their swings carried enormous momentum and were generally difficult to block directly.

But the gap in strength could erase all differences. With just one strike, Richard easily knocked aside both axes. His nimble blade cut through skin, severed muscle, and pierced straight through the gap between the ribs into the heart, extinguishing all life in the blink of an eye.

Experience +175

The few remaining Goblins instantly collapsed when the large goblin fell, wailing as they scattered and fled.

The barbarians eagerly began searching for spoils. Having lived on the ice plains for so long, they knew little about Goblins. They did not yet realize that goblins were practically synonymous with poverty, and that the vast majority of their pits could not possibly contain anything valuable.

Only the cave occupied by the large goblin yielded anything at all: a small chest of Pompeii Coins and a Battle Aura Manual. The coins were mostly copper, with little silver and scarcely any gold. The Battle Aura Manual did not even have a title, so it could only be considered better than nothing.

The real gain was that after the battle, another six Barbarian Spearmen could advance into Barbarian Warriors. Even Gunther had accumulated enough experience to gain a level.

Richard himself received two attribute points every time he leveled up, while the heroes in the party received only one. Given Gunther's fighting style, the most valuable use for that precious point was naturally to add it to Strength. Every attribute point in the system increased the original value by a percentage, so even one point could bring a rather noticeable improvement.

"Boss, look what this is!" Gunther came running over in a great fuss, holding a pile of black, wet mud-like stuff in his hands. He flared his nostrils and sniffed it deeply twice. "Found it in the cave by the river. I think it might be some kind of mineral?"

After one glance, Richard immediately withdrew the hand he had half-raised. "No. It's the digestive product of some creature."

"Digestive product?" It was the first time Gunther had heard that term, and he vaguely felt that something was not right.

"People also sometimes call this sort of thing... shit."

"..."

Gunther began searching everywhere for water to wash his hands. Watching his back, Richard suddenly hesitated. Perhaps using an attribute point to make up for his intelligence would have been the better choice.

"Boss, are we doing anything about these goblin corpses?" Another barbarian came over.

Richard looked down at the large goblin's corpse by his feet and suddenly sighed softly.

By every measure, this had been a very different sort of goblin.

His tall frame made him appear more proportionate than other Goblins. Tempered by his bearing, even the Goblins' exaggerated facial features compared to humans had softened considerably. Though his clothing was crude, it could not conceal that strikingly heroic air.

The fact that he had learned the Common Tongue showed that he was not stupid. He must have known he was no match for Richard, but in the final moment of his life, while his fellow Goblins scattered and fled, he chose to attack.

"Knowing he couldn't win, yet still willing to die on the road of a charge... this guy was probably some kind of extraordinary hero among goblins."

"Find a good place and bury him."