7 Goblin Slayer

{AN: Sorry for the late update. The chapter is a bit longer than usual also I'll be speeding along giving him some powers}

3rd pov

Aiden is walking through the green fields heading to where he killed the goblin a day ago. Aiden knew that returning there would allow him to locate the goblins' settlement; he had a relatively simple plan to sneak into their settlement, then he'd reduce their numbers as much as he could without being seen. For a strategy like that, he'd have to wait until they're at their most vulnerable, which was at night.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

"!!!"

Because of his enhanced senses, Aiden heard multiple heavy footsteps around two and a half miles away.

"What the hell is going on?"

Aiden became curious about the sounds, and as any idiot would when they hear a weird sound, he headed in the direction of it.

*Fwoosh* *Fwoosh* *Fwoosh*

It only to Aiden two minutes to cover the distance, and this was without using dash.

"!!"

What Aiden came upon shocked him three hundred goblins marching; some are riding on wolves his height, others carrying staffs, and the rest short swords. But that wasn't what was surprising; it was the two dozen hobgoblins leading them.

'Why did they deploy an army? Is it for me? But why would they deploy an army of hundreds for me? I only killed two of their allies, and I doubt goblins care that much about each other for a response like this.'

"Hmm, but this is a great opportunity for me; deploying this much of their forces most likely left their village defenceless."

'I'll sneak in their village now instead of waiting for night. Kill those who have left in their then set a trap for when they return.'

*Fwoosh*

Aiden activated his dash ability instantaneously, taking off in the direction of where the army was coming from while avoiding their senses.

Arriving at the goblin kingdom in only mere minutes when he saw their wood wall, he made sure to search for any lookouts on watchtowers or atop the wall.

Seeing none, he used his enhanced hearing to pinpoint how many goblins remained inside.

"Around thirty of them, huh. A bit more than I thought would remain, but I should be able to kill them. I'll have to take out the two at the gates simultaneously shouldn't be too hard."

Unknown to Aiden, it wasn't thirty goblins remaining but thirty-four, but because Aiden's enhanced hearing couldn't pass the iron wall due to the goblin shaman's magic, he couldn't count those inside the goblin's lord castle.

*Tap* *Tap*

Aiden walked towards the wall, pulled out the broad sword and dagger. As he bent down, then the muscles in his legs start bulging a bit.

*Boom*

A small explosion happened as he launched himself off the ground and over the wall. Hearing the explosion, the guards got ready to check what was happening before they could even move off. But, instead, they saw a shadow pass over them.

"Shriek?"

Both the goblin riders looked up to see what it was.

"!!"

The goblin riders saw Aiden staring down at them with cold glowing blue eyes.

"Shri-"

*Schpluck* *Schpluck*

Before they could cry for help, Aiden throws his short sword, which pierced the neck of one of them while using the broad blade to split both the goblin and the wolf carrying him in half.

When Aiden landed, he beheaded the other wolf and pulled his dagger from the other goblin's throat. Once again, Aiden could feel himself become a bit stronger from killing the four, but it wasn't as much as when he killed the hobgoblin.

"I should probably hide these bodies and go on my killing spree."

That's precisely what he did; he went around assassinating all the remaining goblins without them even getting a chance to scream for help. Then, after his massacre, he came upon an iron wall much larger than the one before.

"This must be where the boss stays. Maybe I can defeat him now, and if I can't, I could just always run away with this new ability."

Aiden's body started blending with his surrounding, essentially turning him invisible. Finally, Aiden went over the iron wall and made his way to the castle. When he entered, he was flabbergasted by what he saw bones hanging on the walls as decorations.

While he was walking through the castle, he came across a room full of high-quality weapons of all sorts, but what caught his eyes was a dagger. Its blade was so dark it seemed as if it was absorbing the surrounding light; it had black mist swirling around it, with the handle having red energy embedded in it.

Aiden could feel the dagger calling to him, and as if possessed by something, he approached it. When he grabbed the handle of the dagger, he could feel himself get stronger, then all of a sudden, he vanished from his spot and appeared in one of the object's in the room shadow.

"Holy shit, this thing is awesome," Aiden shouted in pure joy at the treasure he managed to find; he felt that it could offer way more abilities than just allowing him to travel through shadows. And he wasn't wrong. 'I should probably take a look at the boss now, especially now that I've got you.' Aiden thought while he traveled through the castle using the shadows and his new camouflage ability.

Aiden found the path to the throne room not long after, but he immediately got frozen in place when he took his first step to get there. He sensed three powerful bloodthirsty energies at around rank B. 'So one out of those three is the boss, or is it all of them?' Aiden contemplated in his head. He knew at present that he wouldn't be able to take on three rank B monsters at the same time, so he left the castle and returned to the area for the regular goblins.

"So I can't take defeat those three rank Bs. But if I manage to wipe out the army, I should be able to do it afterward. My traps will have to wipe out a majority of their numbers."

......

Two days have passed since Aiden's been working on the traps. Over that period, not once has anyone from the castle come to check how's everything doing going here. This made Aiden conclude that anyone in charge of this place doesn't care about his subjects' well-being. Not that it matters to him; if anything, it was a big help allowing him to work undisturbed.

*Thoom* *Thoom*

"So they've finally returned." Aiden's enhanced earing picked up the heavy but tired marching of the army from miles away. "They couldn't have arrived at a better time." A smirk got plastered on his face, justifiable one at that it was night currently, and the fog was so thick an average human wouldn't even be able to see just a foot in front of him.

This type of condition is where traps show their true value. A few minutes later, the army reached the gate, and without them even saying anything, it opened. Now, if they weren't so exhausted from 48hrs of continuous marching searching for someone, they'd never find they would have noticed that this was strange. But because of their exhausted state and with goblins and hobgoblins being lesser intelligent creatures, they continued forward to their huts.

*Boom!* *Boom!*

"SKRIEEE!!" Before any of them could get into their homes, the ground began caving under them; they screamed in terror as they approached the spikes in the pits that will grant them their inevitable death.

"Skriiie! What the hell is going on!" The remaining hobgoblin leaders shouted in confusion as they saw their fellow hobgoblins and their lesser variants, the goblins falling in pits and getting skewered by spikes. But to Aiden, their incoherent shouts just sounded like the cries of his prey.

"SKRIEEEE!" The shouts of fear and terror finally settled down. "Calm down! And form up, use your weapons to check the ground before you walk there!" The shaman goblins and hobgoblins told the army. The previous army of three hundred got mowed down to almost two hundred a third of their original numbers.

"It's an enemy attack." One of the hobgoblins stated to no one in particular.

"Explains why there are no guards; they killed them. It was foolish of us shamans to not realized." The goblin shamans were ashamed of their lack of awareness; as the second most intelligent goblin species right after their king, it was humiliating.

"The king, we'll check on him and make sure he's safe." A hobgoblin said and pointed out a few goblin riders and goblin shaman to follow him. "Ok, go, we'll find the intruder." As the group of goblins approached the iron gate separating their lord's castle from them, their shadows came alive and skewered them.

"!!!" The goblin army was frightened at what happened; their allies didn't even have time to scream. "What should we do!? We're all going to die." "We're going to die! We're going to die! We're going to die!" And in response to the smaller goblins' terror, their whole village was immediately lit a fire.

*BWOOSH!*

The flames started burning bright, reducing their numbers even faster than the pits did, but that wasn't the end of it; their shadows started coming alive and massacre all of them. The hobgoblins, similar to their lesser brethren, began panicking as well. While the goblin shamans tried to stay calm but their tiny bodies couldn't survive long in the heat of the flames.

The wolves that the goblins riders began running around in fear of the fire, causing the riders to fall off and either trampled, burned, or impaled to death by their shadows.

.......

Meanwhile, in the castle of the goblin lord, he was currently looking at his small kingdom as it burnt down before his very eyes. This enraged him the mere fact that the intruder would boldly humiliate him like this "Guards." At his thundering shout for them, the two goblin champions came rushing into the throne room with heavy footsteps. "Grr, What should we do?" They growled in controlled rage as they saw the smoke and fire from the outer settlement.

"Nothing, we'll wait here for him once he tires himself with those incompetents fools, then we strike."

"WHAT! So we should sit here while he destroys our kingdom!" The goblin champions were clearly infuriated by this suggestion, and of course, they were; after all, they are what you'd considered muscle heads. They'd rather go out there without a plan than sit here like cowards waiting for the enemy to tire.

"My kingdom, and if those fools weren't strong enough to kill him, they could die for all I care; at least they'd be at use of tiring him." The goblin lord retorted back at the champions, who reluctantly held down their heads and stepped back.

"Your plan is as perfect as always, my lord." The goblin's lord right-hand man, a goblin shaman, commented.

"There's no need for you to tell me that. Now prepare for battle. I don't want you dragging me down." The goblin lord told the shaman and went for his one-handed axe.

......…

Aiden was finishing off the last of the goblin army, and honestly, he felt disappointed by them; he thought they'd at least put a better fight. The goblin kingdom hadn't been to war since the last intruder attacked them and wiped out their whole civilization, so this generation of goblins have never been to war before, which explains their lack of coordination and tactics.

"Well, there's no way the boss missed this. I better get going then." Aiden said as he slashed the last hobgoblin neck.

He looked towards the castle, tense the muscles in his foot, and took off at speeds he wasn't capable of before.

*BOOM!*

He managed to crack the ground when he took off and reached the castle in mere seconds. When he reached the passage to the throne room, the presence wasn't as oppressing as before. Aiden burst through the double doors of the room; not wasting a second, he threw his dagger, impaling the goblin shaman in the head.

With the broad sword in his left hand, he dashed at one of the goblin champion using dash to increase his base speed by 30%. Unfortunately for Aiden, the goblin champion#1 was quick enough to block his attack with its bastard sword.

*Boom!*

The collision resulted in a shockwave; Aiden and the champion#1 struggled for dominance, with Aiden slowly coming out on top.

*Slash!*

Champion#2 attacked Aiden, but he could practically hear him coming from a mile away with his enhanced senses. Which allowed him to duck then sweep his feet off the ground. Aiden went to finish him off, but champion#1 interrupted with a downward slash with all his might trying to split Aiden in two.

*Boom!*

Aiden used camouflage and jumped away from the attack that created a two meters wide crater. "Arggh!" Aiden still wasn't given time to breathe as the goblin lord slashed at his neck with his axe; Aiden barely managed to bend back. He saw the axe pass over his head in slow motion and watched as it took some of his hair.

Aiden continued his bending motion kicking the goblin lord on his chin and flipped back. "Phew, this is going to be difficult."

"Pesky peasant, you think you could attack my kingdom and live."

"!!!" Aiden's eyes opened wide when he heard what the goblin lord said. 'How the hell can I understand him!?' He was puzzled by this after he couldn't understand the goblins and hobgoblins' speech. "Well, I can't put you three and the others on the same level, can I."

Immediately after he finished saying the champion#1&2 attack him simultaneously.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang* *Crack*

'Shit!' In the resulting clash between them, Aiden's broad sword finally took all the punishment it could eventually breaking. When the blade broke, Aiden lost his footing, making him stumble. The goblin lord took advantage of it and slashed his chest.

"Gahh!" The attack pushed Aiden back to where the goblin shaman was killed. 'Dammit!' The attack left a large gash on Aiden's chest. Instead of feeling weak, though, he started feeling stronger, albeit the wound was still painful.

"To think my army would lose to a weakling like you." The goblin was disgusted by the thought.

"Tch, maybe if we even the odds like a one on one, you wouldn't be so high and mighty." Aiden bit back, which angered the goblin lord who came rushing at him. Aiden looked over at his dagger as he grabbed the handle he got sucked in by his own shadow.

"!!!" He appeared behind the goblin lord and took the hand he held the axe with. "ARRRGHH!." The goblin lord shouted in pain as it held his new stump.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Both champions #1&2 screamed as they rushed at him recklessly, not taking note of what happened to their lord. And that stupidity was their undoing.

*Whirl* *Whirl*

Their shadow grew tentacles wrapped around them and immediately immobilize them. "Gruuh, you tiny coward!" The champions shouted at Aiden with their fifth-grade insults. Aiden wasted no time on them as he could feel his control over their shadows breaking, so he instantaneously attacked both champions.

*Thud* *Thud*

Effectively removing their heads from their shoulders, Aiden turned around looked at the goblin lord with his eyes glowing blue. "You're next." He pointed his dagger at him and appeared before the goblin lord in the blink of an eye. He held the goblin lord by his head and used his strength to make him kneel before him.

"Gaah y-y-you damn human. This isn't the end you think that I'm th-." Ignoring his rambling, Aiden silenced him by slashing his throat.

"Geez, why the hell do all villains have to do the same shit."

'Where's that portal to get me the hell outta here? My mana is almost empty. Well, at least my wounds started healing.'

.......

Aiden has been walking around the whole castle aimlessly for minutes, trying to find the portal; it was futile, though, but at least it allowed him to finally realized he had one of the essential skills to any protagonist, an inventory. So he hauled all the weapons he founded in the room where he got the dagger from. He even came upon their treasury. Regrettably, there was only one treasure chest in there, but there was at least 40 million worth 0f gold in there from how heavy it was.

This was the last room that Aiden had to search, and he still hadn't found the portal. "Goddammit! Where the hell is the portal!"

*Rumble* *Rumble*

Right as he shouted, the room started shaking, similar to when there's an earthquake. However, it didn't last long as it stopped a few minutes after the shaking stopped. "What the hell was that," Aiden said while he regained his balance.

*Crack* *Crack* *Thud* *Thud*

A part of the wall cracked and started falling to the floor; what revealed itself was a ten-foot-tall goblin dressed in full armor. From the amount of mana coming off of it was a powerful enchanted armor with a brilliantly shining white saber in his right hand and a buckler shield in his left.

"Hmrgh." He began groaning groggily, similar to how someone awakening from a long sleep would.

"You. YOU AGAIN!!" It shouted in a rage all of a sudden when it saw Aiden rushing him at a speed that he could hardly keep up with. The goblin paladin lunged, and fortunately for Aiden, he managed to dodge just by a hair's breadth with the blade only knicking his side.

'WHAT THE LIVING HELL! Is this some Naruto shit where villains keep coming one after another?'

{Refrencing to the 4th ninja war where enemies just keep coming one after another like how first it was Obito, then the ten tails, ten tails jinchuriki Obito, then ten tails jinchuriki Madara hen Kaguya. Personally, to me, it should have just ended with Madara. 7DS with its shitty animation did the same thing. Note I'm not talking about season one, two and probably three.}

"Arrggh! This time Monarch of Shadows, I won't be the one begging for my life. YOU WILL!!"

'And it looks like this guy has some beef with Jin Woo shit. Wonder if I told him I was a new Shadow Monarch, he'd leave me alone.'

*Whoosh* *Whoosh*

The goblin paladin's strikes were fast and precise; all of them were aiming at Aiden's vulnerable body parts. 'Nah, I doubt it. I better start focusing on the fight, and I also gotta watch my mana. It still hasn't fully regenerated from the last fight.'

*Whoosh* *Clang* *Bam!*

The goblin paladin lunged at Aiden's head again, but instead of dodging, Aiden parried with his dagger in his left hand and roundhouse kicked the paladin in the face. "Hmph!" Aiden gave a mocking smirk to him, and in retaliation, the paladin Spartan kicked him.

*Bam* *Crack* *THUD!*

Aiden barely succeeded in bringing his right hand up to block the attack that sent him across the room in the wall, which resulted in his harm breaking from the sound of it. "Dammit, you bastard!" Aiden shouted in fury as more strength filled his body when he got hurt. But, expectedly, all the paladin did was smirk mockingly at him.

"Tch!" Aiden increased his speed by 30% while simultaneously activating vital strike, which allowed him to see all the weak points on the paladin. Then, they both dashed at each other.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

Exchanging blow for blow but unlike the paladin, who hardly had a scratch on him because of his armor. Aiden was bleeding profusely from all of his body.

"Hooooh-haaaaa hooo-haaaa, that armor of his is too tough, and even with vital strike, I still can't hit his weak points." Aiden complained when he noticed how disadvantageous he a dagger user was against a fully plated enemy.

"HAHAHAHA! I told you, Monarch, you were the one who's going to beg for his life." The paladin laughed at Aiden and raised his saber at him, which began to glow.

"Fwooosh!*

A piercing white light was fired from the saber incinerating everything in its way. When the attack subsided, there was no sign of Aiden remaining. "HAHAHAHA, I did it. I avenged my humiliation from all th-"

"You let your guard down." Aiden appeared from the paladin's shadow using his last bit of mana, aiming for his most vulnerable body part, the neck. But the goblin paladin was quick enough to get a bit of distance and lunged at Aiden simultaneously. 'SHIT!'

Recognizing his predicament Aiden drop the dagger out of his left arm and caught it with his fractured right hand. He sacrificed his left hand by capturing the paladin's saber while amassing all his strength in his right. The goblin paladin tried bringing up his shield to stop the attack, but he was a fraction of a second late.

"You dropped your guard." Aiden said coldly with his glowing blue eyes while looking in the horror-filled ones of the paladin.

*Slit* *Spluurt* *Thud*

The paladin's blood spewed all over Aiden's body as he watched it fall. When he made sure that it was down for the count, he too fell from exhaustion. But unknown to Aiden, immediately when he fell, a shimmering dark fog started surrounding the paladin's body.