Goblin's Reward

The goblin chieftain was standing by the riverbank, hollering in fury. It appeared he was ordering his minions to hunt down the murderer. Half goblins got into the water, swimming to the opposite bank, just as Keanu had expected.

The goblins emerged on the other side, swinging axes, searching for the clue. It seemed something was stirred up in the undergrowth, and a small shadow darted out. The goblins hooted and hollered, hot on its trail.

The goblin chieftain, eyeing his men give chase, led his remaining entourage of over twenty goblins back to the camp. Once they arrived, they found their entire camp turned disorderly.

The two goblin sentries that were left on guard dangled lifelessly from the trees, evidently fallen victims to some grisly fate. The sight triggered a wrathful roar from the goblins.

The goblin chieftain, angry, yelled directives from the camp's epicenter. All the while, unbeknownst to him, a tiny thing was emitting a faint glow not far from his feet.

The next moment, that thing began to emit a blinding light, enveloping the camp like a sun flare.

The trap of light - a one-time-use good - releases the light of the sun, a deadly trap that inflicts substantial damage to all undead creatures around, within a radius of 5 meters. This was the same item Keanu had procured after slaying the silver wolf.

Regrettably, the tool was quite impractical. It required strategic placement and a waiting period before it could take effect, and the attack radius was limited. It took lots of careful consideration for Keanu to finally decide on using it now.

The camp was an inevitable return point for the goblins. He finds out all he had to do was lay the trap beforehand and leave the rest to fate. As luck would have it, it seemed God was lending a hand.

Under the sweeping light of the sun, over twenty goblin soldiers were reduced to ashes. Only two or three who stood farther away seemed unhindered.

With this, Keanu had grossly surpassed his mission of killing ten goblins. However, the emblem gave no sign of the completion of the primary mission since the goblin chieftain was still alive.

The chieftain was remarkably resilient. Withstanding one direct hit from the radiant light, he was badly wounded and reeking as thick, fetid fluid ran down his body. One of his eyes was blinded, and he was howling in agony. He was summoning his goblins from a distance.

Keanu extended his spiritual exploration towards him:

Goblin Chieftain, Attack 9-20, Defense 5, HP 200/500.

Special Skills:

1: unknown

2: unknown

3: unknown

Undead creature. It inflicts extra damage from divine attacks, Strength type.

It appeared that the trap of light inflicted a one-time damage of 300, so it was insufficient to defeat this goblin chieftain.

Keanu smiled lightly, looked back at Anna, and said, "I'll take care of this big guy. Can you handle the smaller ones?"

"No problem," Anna promptly replied.

Keanu lunged forward and took a shot at the goblin chieftain. The chieftain, howling, leaped towards Keanu, brandishing his massive axe, sending a chilling wave of cold.

Keanu swiftly retreated backward, firing another shot at the goblin chieftain.

After two consecutive shots, the chieftain's torso blossomed with sprays of blackened blood.

The few surviving goblins balked at the sight and charged toward Keanu, only to be intercepted by the rushing figure of Anna.

Sensing his backup was thwarted, the goblin chieftain lifted his head and let out a monstrous howl.

Keanu sensed trouble instantly and jumped sideways purely on instinct.

The chieftain's axe, however, flew out of his hand and soared through the air towards Keanu.

Keanu's timely dodge saved him from the lethal hit, but unbeknownst to him was the boomerang feature of the axe, which, after the initial miss, came flying back from behind, and lodged itself into Keanu's back.

The goblin chieftain's ultimate skill: goblin boomerang, throwing a boomerang axe, causing double assault on the target, each attack damage 9-20, causing continuous damage of 3 per second, lasting 5 seconds.

Keanu dodged the first attack but couldn't evade the second.

The strike was so enormous that it nearly cleaved Keanu in half, lodging itself on his shoulder blade at the back. Blood spurted in a terrifying jet.

"Keanu!" Anna cried out in agony. Keanu bore the brunt of the heavy blow. He aimed at the mask-clad face of the unarmed goblin chieftain and fired. The mask shattered, revealing an incredibly ferocious and ugly face beneath. The goblin chieftain, perhaps aware that his end was near, chose his final moments to display the fierceness of a leader, lunging headfirst at Keanu.

Goblin Special Skill: Headbutt Attack, using the head for a berserk attack, causing 20 damage, with a stunning effect lasting 1 second.

The goblin chieftain hurled his body at Keanu, his headbutt landing on Keanu's midsection, causing a momentary pause in Keanu's movement. That split second was enough for the chieftain to land three punches on Keanu, knocking the gun out of his hands.

Bereft of his axe, the goblin's unarmed damage decreased significantly. Still, each punch felt like a sledgehammer to Keanu's body. Keanu spat out a lot of blood, splattering the chieftain. Seizing this instant of blurred vision, Keanu lunged for his gun on the ground.

Knowing that one more bullet would finish him, the goblin chieftain tried to hug Keanu's leg. From afar came the hollering of the goblin soldiers, apparently returning in response to the call. A smug smile crossed the face of the goblin chieftain; just a few more seconds and this despicable human would be done for!

"You really think I was going for the gun? Fool!" The goblin was taken aback as a sword plunged into his head from above, effectively pinning him to the ground.

※※※

"You have successfully killed the goblin chieftain, completing primary mission 2, reward 500 CP."

Upon hearing this prompt, Keanu pulled out his sword, chopped off the chieftain's head, and picked up the box and gun dropped by the fallen leader.

"Let's go!" he shouted at Anna. They took off running.

Behind them were more than twenty howling goblins in hot pursuit.

One particularly robust goblin at the front suddenly halted, drew a small axe from his waist, and hurled it fiercely at Keanu's retreating figure.

As the axe flew, Keanu dropped his head, and the axe flew past his scalp, embedding itself into a nearby tree.

Immediately, a rain of thrown axes targeted Keanu. These goblins, despite their small stature, proved to be quite proficient with axes. The entire forest buzzed with the sound of whistling blades as if a tempest of blades were pouring down.

These flying axes chopped Several large trees, and one nearly smashed into Keanu.

Keanu didn't have a chance to look back and was running frantically. The axe still lodged in his back was seriously obstructing his speed. Gritting his teeth, Keanu grabbed the axe handle and yanked it out – a fountain of blood spurted forth. The ensuing intense pain almost made him black out. Despite the pain, Keanu relentlessly pressed his hand against the wound on his shoulder. Activating despicable healing, the acute pain immediately lessened significantly, and the wound started to gradually close.

His dexterity is 16, which had gifted him with a run speed surpassing any average person – a qualification for the Olympics at least. Those goblins were short with stubby legs. Though they might be artful with their axes, they didn't stand a chance in a race against Keanu. As for Anna, her dexterity in evading the goblins' assault, with years of practice, was unmatched.

Once they managed to get rid of the goblins, there was no chance for them to catch up. Watching their target get farther, the goblins could only brandish their axes and let out roars.

The pair continued their run to the fields of Transylvania, only slowing down when they lost sight of the goblins. Keanu led Anna to the ruins of an abandoned windmill. Two weary people sat down to rest.

"I didn't think you could kill the goblin chieftain. What the Villares clan couldn't accomplish in centuries, you did. Name your wager," Anna said, smiling at Keanu.

Her eyes held no coyness, only sincere anticipation.

If you could say Keanu killing the silver wolf earlier was 10% skill, 30% effort, and 60% luck, this triumphant kill of the goblin chieftain was entirely due to his sheer capabilities. It was no wonder that Anna's fondness for Keanu intensified.

"Close your eyes," Keanu replied.

Anna complied, her lips twitching slightly.

Next, Keanu…

Opened the box in his hand.

※※※

He had been anticipating this moment for a while – the chieftain's loot box.

Keanu found himself increasingly fond of the Infinity City survival mode. It was a cycle of adventure, rewards, and leveling, followed by more adventure. He was unsure how others perceived this world but as someone who had once faced death, he cherished it.

At least this world was fair!

The rewards equaled the effort you put in! Upon opening the box, a voice echoed directly in his mind,

"Goblin Chieftain's Common Reward:"

"Goblin chieftain's hand axe - a high-quality regular gear, attack 6-10, attached with the boomerang skill. The axe can be thrown and reclaimed. Equipment priority: 6. 1500 CP."

So that was the source of the chieftain's boomerang axe. It wasn't a native skill but a weapon skill.

However, an axe worth 1500 CP seemed to have a rather low attack, didn't it? His special bullets alone, which cost 1.5 CP each, had a base damage of 12.

But upon reflection, he realized that the attack using the hand axe wasn't limited to the axe's damage; it also added to his attack.

His current attack was 8; adding the use of the hand axe would increase the attack to 14-18, certainly higher damage than the bullets.

In contrast, the gun's attack was constant, completely unrelated to the adventurer's attributes. Also, special bullets like holy bullets draining 1.5 CP each with a special effect only on the undead, had a higher consumption than melee weapons. This axe, however, had no such restriction—it could be used infinitely. As the adventurers gradually enhanced their attributes, their attack and defense would continuously improve, reducing their dependence on guns. Hence, while guns might be more suitable in the early stages when attributes are low, as an adventurer grows stronger, guns would play a lesser role.

With this understanding, he felt it necessary to carefully consider his enhancement choices upon his return.

Apart from the goblin chieftain's hand axe, there were two more items from the box.

"100% Difficulty Level Newbie-Extra Award: Inferior tangle traps x 4: traps target upon activation, immobilizing them. Immobilization time: 20 seconds. Higher creature level reduces immobilization time. Required to be installed beforehand, the trap lasts for 3 minutes. Equipment effect priority: 7. 160 CP."

This seemed common, but the other one appeared to be a lot more promising.

"100% Difficulty Level Newbie-Extra Award: Invisibility Pill x 1: Pill granting invisibility, lasts 1 minute. Can move during invisibility, cannot attack. Immune to all damage while invisible; attacking will cancel invisibility. 300 CP. Effect priority: 15."

With this, Keanu felt his chances of survival had significantly grown.

No wonder scar face said newbie missions were the most rewarding. To his surprise, the goblin chieftain was quite generous with his rewards and had given him two valuable items.

However, compared to the rewards from the silver wolf, there was a noticeable shortfall in the goblin's rewards. The rewards from Infinity City were demarcated as No-Grade, D-Grade, B-Grade, C-Grade, A-Grade, and up to S-Grade. The reward from the silver wolf - a D-Grade skill – was clearly higher than that from the goblin chieftain – a no-grade boomerang axe. Though the boomerang axe was of higher quality, it was downgraded.

The possible reasons could be that firstly, the goblin chieftain himself was of a lower power level than the silver wolf, secondly, Keanu had exploited a trick in the killing process. It seemed that while Infinity City allowed adventurers to exploit tricks to complete tasks, it resulted in a lowered reward.

In the case of the silver wolf, it was a perfect kill, while the goblin chieftain was a regular kill.

Keanu wondered about the quality of the reward he would get from the third main task. However, thinking about the reward of 1000 CP made him shudder a little, despite his fearless disposition.

That was twice the reward compared to the silver wolf.

Recalling the strength of the silver wolf and subsequently his struggle against the weakest half-blooded goblin chieftain, the thought of going up against three vampire brides and Count Dracula...

Keanu couldn't help but sigh.

"Hey? What are you doing?" Anna impatiently asked with her eyes still closed.

Keanu quickly stored the rewards in his emblem, gently pressed his finger against Anna's lips, and then put his arm around Anna's waist and said, "Taking you somewhere."

"What?" Anna was slightly taken aback by his 'kiss'.

Keanu gave a powerful stomp, and the wooden planks under his feet suddenly broke, revealing a large hole.

Both of them simultaneously started falling into the abyss...