3 Chapter 3: Enemies
Back above the clouds in a very faraway place from where Robert now resided, the goddess could be found taking pleasure in how easy it was to solve her problem. She sent off her mistake to another world and then gave his blessing to a random cancer scientist. She wasn't exactly sure who but she was sure he would get the job done. Nothing could have gone better, or at least that's what she was thinking before the messenger god who had been with her when she made that small mistake appeared; his face a deep red and filled with rage.
"What did you do!?" The very well-known messenger god screamed at the goddess while standing right behind her, he knew she had no idea he was there, but he didn't care. His anger had reached the boiling point, and he could only scream at her to help ease his frustrations. The goddess didn't even flinch at this, she had clearly been expecting him to return.
"What do you mean? I solved the problem, what else?" The goddess said as she brought a chair into existence, sat down in it, and began rocking it back and forth. She wasn't sure why he was throwing such a huge fit, it wasn't like she could bring the human back to life, that would cause even more problems.
"What do you mean you solved it? I just searched the whole world for him, and I couldn't find him!! What have you done!" At this point, his screams were beginning to be heard by the other gods, and they were peaking their interests, some even began to walk their way.
"I sent him to another world and gave his gift to another human! That should fix the problem!" She said, trying to keep her voice down a little, hoping that the other gods wouldn't come over, but some had already committed in their path.
"Ahhhhhh" The messenger god was done; he had had enough. And so, as he screamed not only could the other gods hear him but if the mortals were paying just enough attention, they would have heard the faint sound of screaming all around them, echoing like a faint memory around most of the humans, if Robert had been paying attention he might have heard it as well.
As Robert walked in a random direction hoping to find a town, he began to wonder what had happened to his body, did he get buried or cremated? Was his mother in tears or did she finally buy that beach house she always talked about? Questions he would never have answers to formed and spun around in his mind. Until that he heard a screeching wail come from about a hundred meters in front of him.
There hunched up with slimy green skin, pointed ears that could pop a balloon, and a smile that could only come from the pits of hell themselves, was a Goblin and one who looked like he was ready to eat anything that moved.
Robert immediately began to back up, trying to create any amount of distance between him and the creature as he could. But as soon as he was just a few steps back from where he began the creature looked up and began staring directly at him. Its red eyes had a bloody shine to them, they were deeply sunken into its eye sockets and every part of its body was small and looked malnourished, ribs could be seen through its skin. When it had taken enough time to stare down its prey it turned and began walking towards Robert.
Then like lightning, it sprung at him covering the grassy ground that sat between them in an instant. A rusted and chipped knife in one hand glistened in the sun as it moved at high speeds toward Robert, then with the one hand that wasn't holding the knife, the goblin pushed Robert back as it brought the knife downwards towards Robert's falling chest. But as Robert fell his foot flew upwards hitting the goblin's knife and wrist sending both into its heart as he fell onto Robert.
Robert lay there, eyes shut tightly as if he was trying to avoid seeing the scary part of a movie, but after a few long seconds of realizing that he wasn't dead, or at least there wasn't any pain, Robert slowly began to open his left eye. Then like a light getting turned on, he opened both eyes to see the dirt-covered, slime-ridden goblin laying on top of him, knife firmly lodged in his chest, blood rushing all over Robert,
Robert almost immediately pushed the goblin off of him letting the body fall the little distance left to the ground. Hitting with a very soft thud Robert pulled the knife out of its chest and stared at it knowing that he would need it later if he ran into any more of them. But all his thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of a ping, a blue box appearing in front of him.
"Exp: +500, Next-Level: 1,000," the blue window said, hovering right above and in front of Robert's eyes. Robert knew this was the same kind of thing he would see in any standard RPG but at least it was easy to understand.
Robert just stared at the window in disbelief, he knew that this was a fantasy world and that the goddess had told him levels were a thing, but he didn't believe that you would get experience from killing things. That's the type of thing that only happens in Web Novels, manga, and anime, not in real life. After a few very long sets of seconds, Robert pushed himself up off the ground and surveyed the area trying to see if any more of those creatures were standing about waiting for him to enter their domains.
Once he was somewhat sure that no more goblins were going to attack him for a little bit Robert began making his way in the random direction he had once been pursuing, this time keeping a watchful eye out for anything that could be lurking in the fields. Every moving piece of grass is now a potential enemy, and he was ready to attack. Back above the clouds and far away from Robert once again, the screaming of a well-known messenger god had finally come to its conclusion.
"Ok, I need you to tell me exactly where he is so I can go retrieve him!" The messenger god said with so much spite and malice in his voice that if you didn't know that gods couldn't kill other gods without explicit permission from the head god, you would have sworn he was about to kill her.
"Umm, I sent him to Esteria," The goddess said while slowly beginning to float upwards and away from the messenger god, for once in her existence the diva god who cared about no one other than herself was afraid for her life, if the head god found out about this then she might actually be in serious trouble.
"You DID WHAT?!" The messenger god screamed, a vein began to pulsate on his forehead as he approached the goddess slowly, his face completely red and a murderous intent spreading across the area with no restraint.
"NOW WE CAN'T GET HIM BACK!!" Finally, he lunged for her with all his thoughts about the rules going to the wind. He wouldn't end up killing her, but it would still be enough to leave a lasting impression on her for millenniums to come. The messenger god would also remember it but not in a bad way, instead, he would be revered as the only god to get away with nearly killing another, the other gods who had been watching the situation unfold just turned around pretending to see nothing.
After over two days of Robert walking in the random direction he had chosen and not coming across any living beings, he couldn't even find another goblin to kill so he could level up. Nonetheless, he still kept the dagger he had stolen from the first goblin in his hand at all times, waiting for one of them to spring on him from the grass, the incident still burning in his mind.
Then like the light appearing in the void after thousands of years, Robert finally spotted a village sitting on what looked like a floating island. It loomed far overhead, casting a shadow that lasted for miles, not a blade of grass lived in this area and the temperature instantly dropped over twenty degrees when you entered it. It was suddenly clear to Robert why he hadn't seen any more goblins since the first one, this city must have people who go out and kill any goblins or other beasts that get too close to the city. With a smile on his face Robert finally put the knife into one of his belt loops and began picking up the pace, hoping to reach the city before nightfall.
