101. Consequences (Start of Volume 3)

101. Consequences

The night was cold and silent. The ramshackle hut lay abandoned, forgone to nature. But nature had not reclaimed this artificial structure; its hollow, echoing quiet was proof it had been lost but found.

A light gust of wind sighed through the trees, the run down wooden door creaked from its pressure. Fire flickered deep within its halls, under the shelter of a staircase leading to a collapsed second floor. Huddling around the flames were figures. Small, dark figures dressed in tattered clothing.

They were eating with quiet determination, slurping on their bowls full of a crudely boiled soup. It had begun so well, this late supper. They had avoided making any noise whatsoever for as long as they could. Until one of them dropped their wooden spoon, feeding the fire by accident.

Laughter ensued. Or garbled sounds that were similar to it. Then the one who had dropped their spoon reached across the fireplace with their long, thin arms and snatched the spoon of another. A fight broke out.

These hairless, pinkish gray creatures struggled with one another, tumbling across the wooden floorboards. Then they came to a stop by a tall shadow.

The two stared at the creature looming over them. The terrifying four armed Demon that bared its teeth and bent over.

“Hi.”

I casually greeted them. They stumbled back, drawing their rusted short swords and axes. Noises left their mouth— odd, grunting and squeaking noises. These were not words. At least, not to my [Racial Skill: Universal Language Comprehension].

It was like the bark of a dog or the meow of a cat. The roar of an angry beast or the cry of startled man. Taking a step forward, I spread my arms out wide.

“Are you four perhaps the Goblins I’m looking for?”

They didn’t answer. They just glared up at me. I crossed two of my arms as my other two created swords.

“I’m only going to give you this one warning: leave this place and don’t return. The Humans here are not happy about how you keep killing them!”

The threat was backed by the facts. Each of them were far lower leveled than me; they were Gold Rank, yes. Each of them were around Level 40 or 50. They were marked as low Gold Rank threats or high Silver threats.

Certainly, it was not something I was supposed to be tasked with. I was a Platinum Rank after all. And yet, here I was.

Sighing, I shook my head.

“I see then.”

The Goblins rushed me— all at once. The four didn’t break out into some kind of a tactical formation; they were not like Human adventurers who would surround me and attack my flank. They simply stabbed at me, despite the fact that I was bigger than them, stronger than them, and higher level than them.

I parried the strikes easily, blocking the attacks with ease. Then my claws sheared through the first Goblin, and the reality of the situation settled into the others.

They backed away from me as I dispelled my own fire weapons. I didn’t even need it here. That had been nothing more than to threaten them with. They didn’t speak a language, so I assumed it was fine if I used gestures and objects to convey the message.

But even after I killed the first Goblin, they still didn’t understand. One of them let out a garbled war cry. They rushed me, entire body blurring into two as they spun and struck—

I grabbed him, it… whatever… and tossed him at the stairway. The wood splintered and its foundations collapsed, crushing the Goblin entirely. The notifications dinged in my head as I glared at the other two.

Yet despite that show of force, they remained undeterred in trying to kill me. The last two Goblins charged me with all their might. Their screams felt like it shook the entire building. There was a Skill here— maybe even multiple working in tandem.

But it didn’t stop me from clawing through them in an instant.

“Well, that’s that.”

I left the bodies with one last glance before walking out of the hut. Its foundations looked weaker now. Perhaps the fallen staircase was what kept it sturdy even throughout the years it had been abandoned. But now that it was gone, after my battle with the Goblins, it would lead to the entire structure’s eventual collapse in the future.

My body twisted as I passed through the dark trees, heading back to the road Daniel, Edithe, and I agreed to meet in. I arrived at the location now looking like a Human. My silver hair flowed slightly shorter than before, and I stood taller. Literally.

I was as tall as Edithe now. My blue jacket fit me even better than before. It had been given to me by Daniel, so it previously had been too big for me. It still was, but its sleeves no longer covered my hands, and I could actually feel the cool wind of night on my fingertips now.

The red haired woman turned to face me as I arrived. She and Daniel had both been waiting for me. And by the looks on their faces, they probably had been waiting for a while.

“Salvos, what took you so— why are your clothes slightly torn?”

Glancing down at myself, I saw that my pants indeed had some holes in it. My shirt was in better shape, and my jacket never ripped as long as I stayed hunched over.

“Oops.”

Daniel averted his gaze only slightly, scratching his black hair; apparently the damage done to my clothing was too little for him to be flustered over. Edithe spoke with a frown.

“You changed to your Demon form to fight a group of Goblins?”

“It’s not a Demon form. It’s my normal form. And yes, I did.”

“Why would you do that?”

The Human woman was not upset. In fact, she regarded me with an inquisitive look more than anything. I opened my palms and shrugged.

“I was trying to scare them off.”

“Did it work out?”

“Uh…”

I trailed off and glanced between the two of them.

“No?”

“At least you tried, I guess.”

Edithe tried to give me a reassuring look, although it ended up coming off more as pitiful. She spun around and started down the road, leading the way back to Viechester.

The three of us trudged along the path, our feet grinding against the soft, wet dirt to make a slapping sound. It had been raining earlier this afternoon, and it muddied the earth, getting my feet all sticky. My shoes were torn.

I struck up a conversation with the two, asking them about how their end of the mission went.

“We exterminated our group of Manticores without a problem. We had to track them down to their nest since they were treating some of the nearby towns as hunting grounds.”

“You didn’t try scaring them off?”

I cocked my head and Daniel stared at me.

“What about you, didn’t you try using your new Skill, [Intimidation] on those Goblins?”

I protested, raising my hands defensively.

“I haven’t even chosen any of my new Skills yet! But I don’t think that’s how [Intimidation] works either!”

“Well, we certainly haven’t found any information on such a Skill in any of our company’s books.”

Edithe piped up casually from ahead. I nodded.

“Exactly. I don’t even know if it’s good or not! I can’t just replace one of my precious Skills with it!”

“Didn’t you gain two new Skills Slots?”

Daniel pointed out.

“I did! But I’m still thinking about it.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

And I really was. I had evolved— I had broken Level 70 and gotten a new Species, a new Subspecies, and a bunch of new Skills. But despite all that, even after a week had passed, I still remained undecided.

Salvos (Death of the Destroyer)

Species: [Greater Demon of Pride] (Mortal Form – Human)

Subspecies: [Asura Changeling] – Lvl. 71

General Skills:

[Advanced Mana Manipulation] – Lvl. 5

[Identification] – Lvl. 5

[Racial Skill: Universal Language Comprehension] – Lvl. 1

[Racial Skill: Mortal Form] – Lvl. 3

[Rest] – Lvl. 3

[Lesser Enhanced Wisdom] – Lvl. 1

[Title Skill: Zealous Call] – Lvl. 2

Stats:

[Available Stat Points: 0]

[Vitality]: 79 (+5) (-5)

[Strength]: 52 (+5) (-5)

[Endurance]: 74 (+5) (-5)

[Wisdom]: 103 (+5) (+5)

[Agility]: 163 (+5) (-5)

Skills:

[Available Skill Points: 7]

[Advanced Fire Creation] – Lvl. 30 (Maxed)

[Barrage of Cinders] – Lvl. 1

[Ember Core] – Lvl. 1