Chapter 63：Goblins Village (2/2)

Before he realized, engaged with fighting and honing his fighting skills, twilight already died the sky soft orange as the sun started hiding behind the mountains. The day announced its end as darkness came to overtake the world.

Kira has also started growing bigger, eating the flesh of different types of monsters in a short amount of time seemed unusual for the common unranked monster. It seems it was another meal or two before it could evolve to be a primitive monster.

With the night already here, Arthur had Kira stay in his artificial cave for now. It was hard to convince the wolf to leave his side and stay alone, but Arthur managed to convince it somehow by leaving food in the cave.

With the darkness as cover, Arthur used his camouflage rune to blend in. For some reason, he felt revitalized by the darkness and gloomy atmosphere. Arthur knew this was not a hallucination since the Dark Essence was still on his mind.

Experimenting a bit with his mana the previous days proved that it had gone several shades darker. There was no doubt that he would witness a qualitative change once he became a Vetus-ranker.

He dashed across the forest, avoiding the trees and rocks. He jumped over the stream and headed toward the location of the goblins' village. He would scout the area and strike if he felt like he had a chance of winning.

Using a branch as leverage, he started jumping on the trees to advance. The night was dangerous even for the goblins as more monsters appeared, so they have stuck to their village and its periphery. There were a couple of patrols going around but Arthur easily infiltrated the camp using the trees.

His camouflage skill decreased other's perception of him by 5 points, and Arthur doubted these goblins had a high perception, making this skill work perfectly with the night to conceal him. With the distance he put by climbing the trees, infiltrating the camp was even easier.

Standing on one of a hut's poles, Arthur stared at the giant hut in the middle. It seemed even the goblins knew of hierarchy systems, as this hut was different altogether. Its walls were built of rocks and soil, showing a disturbing scene of human-likeness.

Arthur shook these thoughts as he reminded himself again of his resolve. He needed to get stronger to fend for himself. The trial, Jizo, his father, Erin, Jin, and Tyrin. He told himself not to forget why he needed to get stronger.

His detection rune showed that the village's 'chief' was resting in the hut, with two middle-mid-tier goblins guarding the hut. Arthur jumped from one tree to another, before making a long-jump that placed him directly atop the hut's roof. His body started descending as his internal organs shifted upward due to his fall, making him a bit uncomfortable.

He was still using his detection rune to figure out where the chief was at exactly. Before crashing to the hut, he used his Shadow Swap skill to reappear above the chief.

Befitting of his high-mid-tier rank, the chief opened its eyes as soon as Arthur was inside the hut. Arthur felt slightly intimidated by the large stature of the chief, as it was over three meters tall with giant fangs on each side.

Arthur appeared from the shadows on the ceiling, placing his feet on the ceiling to gain a propelling force downward. He held his dagger in hand as it was the strongest weapon he currently possessed.

'Release!'

BOOM!

Using his rune for a fraction of a second again, a booming sound echoed as the hut's ceiling collapsed from Arthur's jump downward. This was his sneak attack and he can't fail to utilize it properly.

With an explosion creating a hole in the ceiling that was made of trees' trunks, Arthur was like a cannonball as he flew toward the goblin chief.