Chapter 32: The Hob Slaughter [Pt 1]
"Huu..."
Rey could sense a bunch more Hobgoblins hiding close to the entrance of the clearing, waiting for him in ambush.
They expertly used the darkness to cloak themselves, and from what Rey could tell, these Hobs were very crafty.
'Something tells me they weren't always the apex predator here.'
It was very possible that they had managed to become the top of the food chain by conquering the Dungeon themselves.
That would make a lot of sense, considering how adept they were.
'Some are hiding on the ceiling, waiting to get to a drop on me, while others are underground.'
They were all prepared for him.
'It's too bad, though...' Rey sighed as his eyes began to glow red once again.
'... They aren't prepared enough.'
~FSHUUUU!~
Beams of light traveled to the ceiling, instantly killing the Hobgoblins that were stationed there.
As the burning light seared through their flesh, they were decapitated by Rey's accurate aiming.
He drew lines on their bodies using his heat vision, especially on their necks, so that their heads began rolling down long before the Hobs even realized it.
~THUD!~
Heads began to fall from the ceilings, and not long after, their bodies followed.
'You guys think you're smart. Sending those two to serve as decoys in order to test my strength and also grant me the illusion that I have bested your guards... in the case that they failed to eliminate me...'
Perhaps that would work on anyone who hadn't read ahead, or who wasn't strong enough to overcome their strategy.
But their plans didn't work on him because he had both qualities.
He was too strong for them to properly poke at the depths of his power, and he was already well versed in Hobgoblin tactics.
At least, the simple ones like these.
'You never attack in small numbers, that's for sure..." Rey could already notice fidgeting among the hidden Hobs.
It almost felt like they were in the middle of deciding whether to break out of their disguise and attack him, or whether to remain hidden and hope they weren't caught.
'Their Chief probably instructed them to do this...'
The Goblin culture was very hierarchical. The monsters followed their leader, no matter what.
The Chief's words were absolute.
'They probably don't want to defy the orders they were given, but they're also considering the current situation.'
Their survival instincts were probably screaming at them to take action before it was too late and they were killed off like mere cattle.
This created a dilemma for them, causing the Hobs to falter in their orders.
'How miserable. Allow me to choose for you.' Rey grinned as his eyes glowed brighter than ever.
~FWISH!~
His beams of light cut through the air as they traveled to the targets, slicing through their bodies like hot knife through butter.
"K-KRIIIII!!!"
"G-GRUUUKKK!"
"KRAAAA!"
The Hobs began jumping out of their hiding positions, running away from Rey's intimidating presence.
After encountering such an apex predator, they could already see how superior he was.
The distance between his power and theirs was so abysmally huge that they had no choice but to defy the culture ingrained in them and simply follow their instincts.
I'm essence, they chose Flight!
"Where do you think you're going?" Rey whispered, stretching one of his hands forward.
"[Force]."
His Skill—Force—allowed him to do two major things.
Push and Pull.
Just earlier he had used the 'Push' quality.
But now...
~VWUUUUM!~
The fleeing Hobgoblins found themselves being drawn towards the slayer of their brethren.
"K-K-KRIIIII?!"
Perplexed expressions and whimpering sounds radiated from the dozen or so survivors.
Like sniveling rats, they prayed for mercy that they knew would be denied them.
This was the Dungeon—a place where survival of the fittest had never been truer.
Since they were weaker, it was only inevitable that they would die.
"K-KRUUU—!"
~FWIIISHH!~
... Even if they didn't want to.
As the last of the Hobgoblins fell, their blood littering the ground at this point, Rey closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.
'I guess using [Heat Vision] for too long burns my eyes. It stings a little...' His thoughts trailed.
Most Skills had drawbacks, duration periods, cooldown times, or some kind of requirement necessary to utilize them.
Sometimes, these requirements were simply an ample sum of Mana, but other times, it could be more complicated.
'I guess I should hold off using this Skill for now...' Rey smiled as he advanced forward.
"Ah, I forgot to take their Cores!"
Doing this for dozens of Hobgoblins was tedious, but Rey did so anyway.
These were his rewards, and he wasn't going to let them go to waste even though he had no current use for them at the moment.
Since his [Subspace] had a limited amount of slots, Rey had brought sacs just for this moment. He would put all the Monster Cores into the sac, and put the sac into a slot.
That way, more space was preserved.
'I'll probably just sell the Monster Cores in bulk when I can. For now, though, I can just stockpile them and think of it as insurance.'
With that thought on his mind, Rey picked the last Monster Core, deposited it in his sac, and proceeded to the opening that was now only about a dozen meters from him.
'I can only imagine how many Cores I'll have to pick up once this is all over...' Rey sighed to himself.
He wished he had some kind of mechanism that allowed him to automatically farm the Cores, but no such means existed in his arsenal.
He wasn't omnipotent or anything.
He just had a limited set of Skills, with limited sets of abilities.
"Well, I've made it this far... might as well complete the job." Rey grinned and floated forward.
"I hope they make it entertaining for me."
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
We'll get to see more of Rey's Skills, which I think is what makes his fights so fun to read.
Looking forward to it!