The Goblin Cave [1]

The goblin guards didn't attack Max, instead they backed away and formed a circle around him, keeping their spears pointed at him so he couldn't escape, unfortunately for them, they didn't know yet they were the ones trapped with him.

"GROAK KRAAK!" one of them suddenly screamed and charged at him, making the others do the same.

But Max didn't panic, instead, he skillfully dodged the spear aimed at his chest, then swung his sword, cutting the necks of five goblins with a single attack.

'Oh wow,' he thought as he blocked another attack and stabbed the attacker in the heart, killing him instantly.

The exchange kept going for a very short amount of time as the black-haired boy quickly finished off the rest of the goblins, not giving them enough time to react to his attacks.

And just like that, he was surrounded by the corpses of dozens of goblins, each one of them having died in a quick and painless manner, this was the only thing he could give them as mercy.

"Phew~" he wiped the sweat from his forehead and sheathed his sword, "that was easier than expected."

[Good job Host, you have made a minimum amount of noise so as to not attract the attention of those inside the cave, as expected from my link!]

[+48 Assassination Points for killing "Goblin Guards" (+30 bonus for flawless victory)]

'Oh wow!' Max exclaimed, he didn't know he could get bonuses but they were very welcomed as he anticipated the moment his "Assassination" ability would finally upgrade.

[It is time to enter the cave, Host]

He nodded and started walking towards the entrance, being careful to not step on any corpse as it was disgusting, he didn't even bother taking the monster cores as goblin ones must be extremely cheap.

The goblin guards weren't very strong, and he doubted he would have a hard time dealing with them if they attacked him, but he still wanted to stay as stealthy as possible, after all, he was an assassin, and assassins kill silently, his vision of things was slowly changing because of his divination's small comments, and he enjoyed it.

The interior of the cave was dark, and it smelled like shit, but Max didn't care, he had gotten used to such odors thanks to his days in the forest, plus his body odor was probably the same as he hadn't discovered any river to take a shower.

He couldn't see anything, which was a problem, but before he could ask his divination, he heard a resounding ~ding~ in his ears.

[Thanks to the Host's level and situation, his "perception" skill has been upgraded]

He hadn't had time to understand what it meant that red outlines of everything around him started appearing, including the walls and ceiling, allowing him to move without bumping into stuff.

[An assassin needs to see all his surroundings, no matter the environment]

Max shrugged yet again, so many things would happen at the same time thanks to his divination that he just accepted it as something that would happen on a regular basis now.

He then resumed walking through the cave, killing every goblin he came across, he was too strong for them to even stand a chance, and he didn't feel bad about it, they were the ones who wanted to kill him first, so he was simply returning the favor.

But the deeper Max went, the more skulls he could see the outlines of around him, meaning some adventurers had reached this point before but had died at the hands of these small green monsters.

The goblins that attacked him were all carrying torches, but he hadn't even bothered taking any of them as him being able to blend into the darkness while still watching his enemies resulted in easy kills for him, "an assassin should always be able to kill his target without them noticing," was what his divination told him.

And little by little, the further he went inside the cave, the more goblins appeared before him, trying to stop the human that was slaughtering all their peers.

But it was futile as they would end up like everyone else.

[Level up!]

No matter how many goblins came, no matter the amount and the level.

[Level up!]

Max would mercilessly kill them all, without any regrets, without any remorse, or thinking that they were living things as well.

[Level up!]

Eventually, after hours upon hours of killing, the act of swinging his blade became numb and systematic to Max, he didn't even care about which opponent was in front of him, whether they tried to kill him or they were running away, he still ended their lives.

He advanced forward, along with his divination, who praised him for his acts.

[Amazing work, Host, you have become strong, but it is not over!]

Max was still conscious, mumbling "Status Window" every time he noticed his level going up to assure himself that his strength was increasing, but his sense of reality was slowly becoming numb, almost as if the darkness was taking him over, he had a neutral opinion about this feeling, because it allowed him to continue the horrible acts, leaving hundreds of corpses on his way.

[Level: 34]

[Assassination Points: 947/1000]

He was getting extremely close to finally upgrading his special ability, so he needed to keep going even though now, each goblin gave him less than 2 to 3 APs.

'I'm almost there...' he thought, 'just a bit more.'

But suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from ahead of him, and soon, the outline of a giant figure appeared, one that was way taller than him, and much bigger too.

"Groak Crawk!" it roared as it saw Max standing in front of it, holding an axe covered in blood.

Max didn't say anything, instead, he looked at the monster's name with the same neutral expression he had since the beginning of this conquest.

[Goblin Chief - Level 35]

'This isn't the king,' he thought as soon as he saw the name, after all, why would the king leave his throne, plus the names didn't align.

The goblin chief had the appearance of a normal goblin, except he was way taller, at least ten times their size, he was also wearing heavy armor and holding a stone axe in his hands.

"Kraaaak!" the chief roared again as it raised its weapon and rushed towards Max.