Village of Noobtown: A LitRPG Adventure (Mayor of Noobtown Book 2)

by Ryan Rimmel

  The sound of an arrow smashing into a body behind me was totally unexpected. I spun around just in time to avoid getting murdered by another goblin that I hadn’t even noticed. This goblin was leaner and more angular than any of the others. His skin appeared a healthier puke green color than any I had seen before and his shadow flowed around him irregularly. I was certain this particular goblin had not been amongst the 12 at the mine entrance.

  Twisting around, I saw that SueLeeta had shot the goblin, which had been moving behind me to backstab me. Cat’s head popped up from the grass, only to immediately take a dagger to the face, courtesy of a throw from our new opponent. SueLeeta’s trap had given her a moment of respite where, instead of finishing off the goblin in front of her, she’d managed to shoot the one sneaking up on me. Luckily, she had shot before he’d gotten fully ready to shove his weapon into my guts from behind.

  I activated my Lore Skill.

  Chal’dor’sic: Shadow Goblin Level 8

  Health: 91/100

  Stamina: 112/120

  Mana: 20/20

  Sword Initiate: He gains +3 to Damage with swords.

  Dodge Initiate: He is skilled at Dodging.

  Stealth Journeyman: He is capable of totally hiding his presence in plain sight.

  Shadow Goblins are Elite Goblins who have been blessed by drinking the blood of the Shadow God. They are imbued with his power and are much more cunning and capable than normal goblins. They like to keep normal goblins around as servants. Normal goblins will always listen to and follow the orders of Shadow Goblins, due to their magical nature. Goblin armies use them as assassins and spies.

  That was bad. The last Shadow Goblin I fought, I had every possible advantage. It was one of the harshest battles in my life, and it was only one on one. Here, he had allies, and the ground wasn’t nearly as prepared as I would have liked for this sort of battle. I also had allies this time around, but that seemed like more of a disadvantage at this point. I couldn’t just retreat and leave them here.

  Twisting to the side, the Shadow Goblin moved forward in a blur. His movements made it difficult to actually track him. I did manage to deftly parry his first strike, only to find that he had carved a slice up my forearm. I had bracers for that purpose, but they only managed to reduce the damage, not ignore it. I tried to swing at him, but he flowed backward. It appeared almost like he was made of water. With each movement, his shadow seemed to envelop him, until all that could be seen was a morbidly twisted essence. He easily avoided my first strikes.

  Suddenly, my Stone Blood Goblin was upon me again, swinging his hammer. He was easier to Dodge and avoid but doing so allowed the Shadow Goblin to get back into position. I barely avoided the worst from a series of quick strikes, while still suffering several slight wounds. I wasn’t managing clear parries, so my Riposte skill wasn’t triggering. I also couldn’t clearly target him, so, actually using any of my other strikes seemed dicey. I stalled for time by backflipping away, desperately hoping that Fenris and Kappa could get here, or that SueLeeta would be able to support me.

  Unfortunately, at that moment, poor, wounded Cat attempted to sneak up on the Stone Blood Goblin moving towards SueLeeta. The goblin had broken free from the trap before SueLeeta had had a chance to kill him. Cat’s pounce ended up meeting the business end of the Goblin’s hammer. Cat went down miserably, stunned and out of the battle. The only thing saving it from death was SueLeeta. She managed another hit on the goblin as he moved to deal the pet a killing blow. This put him back on the defensive, but still left SueLeeta attempting to engage an opponent with a body shield. Her Melee Combat skill wasn’t remarkable to begin with, and especially not now when her Stamina was so low.

  I tried to make a break towards SueLeeta and her target, but the Shadow Goblin chose that moment to press his own attack. His blade moved faster than I could see it; it was pure luck that I managed to block or parry all but one strike. That slash caught me in the upper thigh and pierced deeply into the muscle. Iron Will, my pain resistance talent, activated as he twisted the blade. The pain dropped down from crippling to just terrible.

  The Shadow Goblin’s face became visible for a fleeting instant. His black eyes shown as he grinned wickedly, pulling away from me. I noticed him taking a moment to admire his blood covered blade before his body began to wreath itself in shadows, again. I was in trouble and, while I hated to do it, I needed a moment to think.

  I shifted into my menus, causing time around me to slow. I glanced at the Shadow Goblin, but he remained a mass of shadows. I wondered if maybe my Perception skill would be able to see through the spell.

  “What are you doing?” asked Shart, causing me to shudder involuntarily in my mind.

  “Trying not to die,” I replied. “There is a Shadow Goblin, and I can’t even see him to attack him.”

  “He’s using Shadow Magic,” stated Shart. “You’d need to Counter Spell that.”

  “How the fuck am I going to do that?” I asked.

  “Dum Dum,” sighed Shart. He was watching me like I was some sort of strong idiot. I had the Counter Spell skill.

  I had some limited experience with goblins casting spells at me. When the Weird Sisters had done it, I’d used what little I’d known about magic to try to counter them. That had earned me the Counter Spell skill. It relied on magically ‘grabbing’ the magic of your opponent and eroding the effectiveness of it. It also increased the opponent’s cost to maintain the spell. If you were good enough with Counter Spells, you could break the spell entirely. When I’d used it on the spell casting goblins, I’d only managed the first effect. Trying to break the spell entirely would be a brand new experience. I broke out of menu time and attempted it on the Shadow Goblin.

  With me a few paces ahead of the Stone Blood Goblin, I had a moment to reach out magically. While the Shadow Goblin was lost in a patch of shadows, the spell was actually easy to find. Knowing what I was looking for helped, but just finding the spell didn’t do much to show where the Shadow Goblin was. I grabbed the spell and started twisting it with my own Mana.

  The Shadow Goblin didn’t even struggle against my magic. Considering Chal’dor’sic’s stats, he may not have known how to. One moment, he was a mass of shadows; the next, he was standing there looking shocked. He was one ugly motherfucker. I hadn’t broken the spell, just caused the duration to decrease from several minutes to a single second. The Shadow Goblin moved backward, his free hand gesturing in some arcane combination. This left me alone with my Stone Blood Goblin

  The goblin moved forward with his shield and hammer, and I hobbled to counter him. My leg wound wasn’t as serious as it would have been on Earth, and I only had 12 more seconds before it recovered. The Stone Blood attempted to close but, even with my leg injury, I was able to keep him back using just my sword skills. I had to wait the twelve terrible seconds as my timers cleared.

  SueLeeta was still firing arrows steadily into the shield of her methodically advancing goblin. She had tried to jockey for a better position, but it was next to impossible. She simply couldn’t move far enough to either side quickly enough to matter. All her opponent had to do was keep pointing his shield at her. She had steadied herself into firing arrows fastidiously while stepping backwards, trying with every shot to slow her attacker. It was failing her. The strain was starting to spread on her face, as she realized the futility of her situation.

  With my 12 seconds up, I used my newly healed leg to Lunge. The thrust forced the tip of my blade through the back of her attacker. SueLeeta was ecstatic. She had been too preoccupied to notice me withdrawing from my opponent. I had broken away easily, due to my superior speed, and had charged at the rear of her foe. He hadn’t been expecting it at all. I’d gotten a backstab on him, gutting the monster and killing him instantly.

  The final Stone Blood charged me from the rear, slamming into me with his shield. This sent me tumbling forward. The damage had been minimal, but it left me horribly out of position and momentarily stunned. The g
oblin attempted to follow up with his hammer, only to have his entire plan go in the crapper.

  By shield slamming me, he’d put his shield out of position. While SueLeeta had been challenged with putting arrows past the shield of her previous target, she had no issues here. Using her Multi Shot talent, she fired three arrows in unison. Finally, our final goblin dropped.

  The sudden stillness was only broken by the sounds of Kappa and Fenris, still fighting in the distance. For the first time in nearly a minute, I glanced at the Party Tracker. I noticed that both of their health bars had taken heavy damage. I looked around for a moment, sudden realization hitting me like a ton of bricks.

  “We have to get to Fenris quickly,” I stated. “The Shadow Goblin is there!”

  Chapter 6: Why I Dislike Shadow Goblins

  I sprinted toward Fenris and Kappa, hoping I could make it in time. They had been driven behind the smaller building, so, I didn’t have a clear line on them. Even as we closed, the Tracker showed Kappa take another hit to his health. I didn’t even bother going around the building. Using my Jump skill, I leapt on top of the 10 foot tall roof and quickly dashed to the other side.

  What I saw was heartbreaking. Kappa was badly bleeding from several wounds on his side. Fenris was desperately trying to fend of the Shadow Goblin, who was back to being encased in a living shadow. Two of the Stone Goblins were still standing, along with one of the smaller types. They were working in tandem, trying to split the two companions apart.

  I leapt from the rooftop, while reaching out with my mind. I successfully grabbed ahold of the Shadow Goblin’s spell again. Chal’dor’sic did not resist at all. I was now nearly positive he wasn’t much of a caster. Not only was he not resisting, my poking around with his magic didn’t seem to register at all. I timed the ending of his spell right as he closed with Fenris. With a target suddenly visible, the Woodsman struck with all he could. Fenris drove a powerful slash into the Shadow Goblin’s guard, as the spell came apart around the goblin.

  As I was still mid-air, I had a moment to gather some valuable tactical intel from my shoulder advisor. “What the hell?” I thought to Shart, “How is he casting spells?”

  “Oh, Shadow Goblins have that as a special ability. He doesn’t know one bit of magic aside from that.”

  “So similar to my Magic Shot?” I asked, as the wind rushed past my ears.

  “Eh, kinda,” replied Shart, as he considered. “Close enough, I guess. That might be how a moron equates the two. It is a Stealth ability that Shadow Goblins get from drinking the blood of the Shadow God.”

  “Do I get that ability if I level up?” I thought as I looked down. I was really high up.

  “Not unless you have an appetite for Shadow God blood,” replied the demon. I had questions about that as well, but now was not the time for them.

  Such were the stray thoughts of a man who had leapt nearly 20 feet into the air while aiming towards a small, moving target. I was falling at a tremendous rate. My final thought before landing: I really shouldn’t have jumped quite that high up.

  Then, I had no time for demon talks and stray thoughts. I landed on the back of one of the two Stone Bloods. Normally, I would have tried to strike at him with my sword, but, even here, I’m only human. Landing in a blazing sword strike was just not physically possible. Instead, I went all Super Mario on the goblin. He didn't even have a chance to realize what happened; he splatted in all directions as my fully armored body landed on him feet first. The other two goblins wheeled around to face me as I crashed to the ground next to them.

  Getting distracted was a mistake with a Warg so close. Kappa was injured, not dead. He grabbed the ankle of the other Stone Blood and pulled him to the ground. Where Cat had been able to savage a goblin, Kappa was fully capable of tearing one limb from limb. The last regular goblin realized his peril. Dropping his weapon, he turned to run as fast as his stubby little goblin legs would let him. I ignored him, shifting over to the Shadow Goblin.

  Fenris was at less than half health and covered in bloody wounds. The Shadow Goblin had been surprised when his spell failed, but, overall, he was a far more potent combatant than the Woodsman. He darted forward against the beleaguered Fenris, driving his sword into my comrade’s arm before I had a chance to come to his aid. Fenris’ sword flew from his hand as he collapsed backwards in a spray of blood.

  The Shadow Goblin wasn’t completely unscathed, but he was far from grievously injured. He had a few cuts from where I’d gotten him earlier, and more from where it appeared that Kappa had gotten at least one good bite. The rest was a series of minor wounds caused by Fenris.

  Chal’dor’sic couldn’t get into position to further attack the Woodsman, so, he readied himself for me. I Lunged, striking from five paces off in the blink of an eye. My sword seemed to pierce his chest, but he exploded into shadow. My sword uselessly cut through the empty air.

  That’s some damn Ninja garbage right there.

  Instantly, he was behind me, his own blade seeking my back. Unfortunately for him, I was far more agile than any Duelist had the right to be. I rolled forward, giving him too small a window to make a successful attack. I came up, swinging my blade behind me. He was forced back as he dodged my strikes.

  My longsword had better reach than his shortsword, but that was of little consolation. He was fast to the point of near insanity. He was built to get in, kill a target, then retreat. I had kept him at this battle far longer than he was comfortable with. I activated my Lore skill.

  Chal’dor’sic: Shadow Goblin Level 8

  Hit Points: 72/100

  Stamina: 59/120

  Mana: 6/20

  He was in rough shape, but I was mostly intact.

  Status: Jim

  HP 133/200

  Stamina 142/210

  Mana 20/40

  One of my advantages, I’d realized, was that my Duelist skills had cool downs, instead of Stamina costs. I’d be able to execute a few more powerful attacks without exhausting myself. The Shadow Goblin was forced to choose between committing Stamina to attack or defense. He was also low on mana. I was hopeful that there would be no more shadow spells.

  The Shadow Goblin was getting frantic. His strikes were coming even more quickly now, and he was not adequately protecting himself. Twice he slipped through my guard to land deep cuts. However, one of those times, I’d gotten him on the way back out, laying open his back as he’d scampered away.

  The goblin looked about and realized his predicament. Kappa had finished off the final Stone Blood, and, while looking worse for wear, he was still a potent beast. Fenris had gotten to his feet and was bandaging his arm behind the massive wolf. This tactic both removed him as a tempting target for the Shadow Goblin and promised to bring him back into the fight soon. Additionally, the Shadow Goblin didn’t know where SueLeeta was. That was a bad thing for him. It's hard to focus on the attack knowing that at any moment an arrow might strike you.

  Finally, it came to a head. He closed again, trying to drive under my guard, as I desperately fended off his blows. He overcommitted himself and I activated Riposte. He used his Shadow Dodge against it, appearing at my rear. I had assumed he would try something like this and was already bringing my sword back around. Suddenly, there was the thumping sound of an arrow meeting flesh. Chal’dor’sic stumbled with a shaft buried in his shoulder.

  His sword dropped from his limp hand as he staggered drunkenly to the side. Kappa snarled and rushed toward him, but the Shadow Goblin had one more trick. Using his left hand, he flung a vial towards the Warg. Kappa leapt to the side, but that left the vial flying through the air. It landed right next to me.

  A thick, green tinted smoke filled the area. I couldn’t see or breath as the gas engulfed me. I tried to move away, but I was disoriented. Several paces in one direction didn’t seem to get me out of the putrid fog. Trying to clear my head, I turned back the other way and ran a half dozen more paces; that didn’t seem to get me out, either. Finally, I jumped awkwa
rdly, straight into the air. I ascertained that the cloud wasn’t all that large as a wave of vertigo struck me.

  I landed badly, collapsing to one side. I was then forced to heroically crawl my way out. That, for whatever reason, seemed easier. Soon, I was breathing clean air again.

  “You could have helped, you little bastard,” I muttered.

  “Dude, what’s wrong man?” asked the demon.

  I glanced over at Shart, who’s pupils had both fully dilated. He was holding one hand in front of his face, slowly waving it around and giggling.

  “Who needs cocaine when you have that green stuff?” replied the demon. He promptly flew off my shoulder, crashed to the ground, and waddled back into the green mix.

  “Alrighty, then.”

  Meanwhile, Kappa had stumbled out of the gas toward Fenris. SueLeeta was firing arrows off into the distance, but the battle was over.

  Chapter 7: Licking out Wounds

  Drawing myself back to my feet, I walked over to check on Fenris. He had multiple wounds, several of which appeared serious. He was chewing on heal root and flexing his right hand slowly.

  “Didn’t expect the Shadow Goblin,” he muttered.

  “Sorry, it took me so long,” stated SueLeeta. “I knew I needed to get into a good position to shoot from. When I saw Jim leap on top of the building, I got overly ambitious.”

  Fenris shrugged, “You managed to hit the goblin. That’s good enough. Where did he come from?”

  “We fought briefly, but he ran away,” I said uncomfortably. “When I realized he wasn’t coming back, I knew where he’d gone.”