Chapter 149 - 150: The Trick

Chapter 149: Chapter 150: The Trick

The Hobgoblin charged with a roar that shook the leaves from the nearby trees and sent birds scattering into the sky, its massive club raised high above its head and its red eyes burning with the kind of rage that had been building since the first goblin fell to Daniel’s bullets.

Daniel didn’t move.

He stood there with his hands in his pockets and his expression calm and his eyes cold, watching the creature come at him with the patient stillness of someone who had already seen this exact moment play out in his mind a hundred times before.

The Hobgoblin swung its club with all the terrible strength it could muster, and it was fast and powerful and deadly in the way that a collapsing mountain is deadly, and it should have connected with Daniel’s skull and ended the fight in one brutal blow.

But Daniel didn’t dodge.

The club hit him.

It passed through him.

It hit the ground and the ground cracked and dust flew and the Hobgoblin stared with its mouth open and its eyes wide and its breath caught somewhere between a roar and a scream.

"What?" it whispered.

Daniel flickered once, twice, and then his image wavered like heat over a fire and disappeared entirely, leaving nothing behind but empty air and the echo of something that had never been real.

It was a shadow clone.

The real Daniel appeared behind the Hobgoblin without a sound, his dagger already drawn and his eyes already cold and his hand already moving as he drove the blade deep into the creature’s back.

The dagger pierced through muscle and sinew and hit something vital, and the Hobgoblin screamed with a voice that cracked in the middle and turned into something closer to a sob as it spun around with its club swinging wildly at the empty air where Daniel had been standing a moment before.

Daniel had already disappeared.

The Hobgoblin stumbled and clutched at its back and blood poured between its thick fingers and dripped onto the ground in dark, steady streams.

"You," it gasped, "you tricked me!"

Daniel appeared on the other side of the clearing with his dagger still dripping and his smile still cold and dangerous.

"I did," he said.

The Hobgoblin screamed and charged again with its club raised and its eyes wild and its breath coming in ragged gasps that spoke of pain and fury and the growing fear it was trying desperately to bury.

Daniel didn’t move.

The club hit him and passed through him and hit the ground and the ground cracked and dust flew and another shadow clone dissolved into nothing.

The real Daniel appeared behind the Hobgoblin again with his dagger already moving, and he stabbed again and the blade went deep into the creature’s side and hit something vital and the Hobgoblin screamed and spun and swung and hit nothing but air.

Daniel had disappeared again.

The Hobgoblin stumbled and clutched at its side and blood poured between its fingers and it fell to one knee and pushed itself back up with a roar that was half rage and half desperation.

"Stop," it gasped, "stop doing that!"

Daniel appeared on the other side of the clearing with his dagger still ready and his smile still cold.

"No," he said.

The Hobgoblin screamed and charged again and swung again and hit another shadow clone that dissolved into nothing, and the real Daniel appeared behind it and stabbed it in the leg and the blade went deep and hit something vital and the creature screamed and stumbled and fell to one knee.

Daniel stepped back and watched as the Hobgoblin struggled to rise and failed and struggled again and failed again, its breath coming in short, ragged gasps and its eyes beginning to lose the burning rage that had carried it this far.

"You’re slowing down," Daniel said.

The Hobgoblin looked up at him with eyes that were still burning but also beginning to show something else, something it couldn’t hide no matter how hard it tried.

"I’ll kill you," it gasped, "I’ll kill you!"

It pushed itself up with a scream of effort and charged again with its club raised and its eyes wild and its movements slower now and more desperate.

Daniel didn’t move.

The club hit him and passed through him and hit the ground and another shadow clone dissolved into nothing.

The real Daniel appeared behind the Hobgoblin and stabbed it in the other leg and the blade went deep and hit something vital and the creature screamed and fell to both knees and stayed there.

Daniel stepped back and looked at it, at its broken body and its bleeding wounds and its exhausted eyes.

"You’re done," he said.

The Hobgoblin looked up at him with rage still burning in its eyes but fear now visible beneath it, and it whispered: "What... what are you?"

Daniel smiled a cold and dangerous smile that did not reach his eyes. "I’m Daniel Black," he said, "and I’m the guy who’s going to kill you."

The Hobgoblin screamed and its body began to glow with red energy and its muscles began to bulge and its veins began to pop as it tried to enter berserk mode one final time.

Daniel didn’t let it.

He moved with a speed that surprised even himself and appeared in front of the Hobgoblin with his dagger already raised and drove the blade deep into its chest and through its heart.

The Hobgoblin gasped and its eyes went wide and its body went still, and for a moment it hung there on the blade like a puppet whose strings had been cut before it fell backward and hit the ground and didn’t move.

The camp went silent.

Daniel stood there with his dagger dripping blood and his expression calm and his eyes cold, and he looked at the others, at Lyra and Cheeky and Paul and Fluffy and Mittens and Brick Head, and they were all staring at him with their mouths open and their eyes wide.

"What?" he said.

"That was..." Lyra started, and then stopped, as if she couldn’t find the right word.

"Awesome?" Daniel offered.

"Terrifying."

"Same thing."

They gathered around the Hobgoblin’s body with the kind of cautious reverence that people show to things that had recently tried to kill them, and Daniel looked at its broken form and its bleeding wounds and its still face.

"We need proof," he said.

Paul nodded and pulled out his knife and knelt beside the Hobgoblin and cut off its ear with a few quick, practiced motions, and he held it up so the others could see.

"This should work," he said.

Daniel nodded and looked at the others. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

They nodded, bruised and tired but alive.

Cheeky was holding her side where her iron skin had cracked, but she was smiling.

Fluffy was holding her head where a bump had risen, but she was smiling.

Paul was holding his arm where a bruise had formed, but he was smiling.

Lyra was holding her gun which was still smoking, but she was smiling.

Mittens was hiding behind a tree and scared, but she was smiling.

Brick Head was picking his nose and completely oblivious, but he was smiling.

Daniel smiled a warm and genuine smile. "Good," he said. "Let’s go home."

They walked back to the village with the sun setting and the sky turning orange and the clouds turning pink and the stars beginning to appear, and they were tired and sore and exhausted, but they were happy.

They had completed the mission and earned the silver and taken one more step toward Heaven’s Domain.

Daniel walked in front with his hands in his pockets and his expression calm and his eyes sharp, and Lyra walked beside him with her gun holstered and her eyes scanning and her body ready for anything.

Fluffy walked behind them small and quick and quiet as a shadow, and Mittens walked beside her nervous and scared but present.

Cheeky walked behind them with her cloak pulled low and her hood covering her ears, hiding but also smiling.

Paul walked beside Cheeky with his hands in his pockets and his expression tired and his body exhausted but present.

Brick Head walked at the back picking his nose and humming a tune and completely oblivious to everything around him.

They reached the village and the guards saw them and raised their hands. "Halt," one of them said. "State your business."

Daniel stopped and looked at the guard with his expression calm. "We’re adventurers," he said. "We completed a mission. We’re here to collect our reward."

The guard looked at him, at his clothes and his face and the others behind him. "You look like you’ve been through a war," he said.

Daniel shrugged. "We have."

The guard blinked and looked at the others, at Lyra and Fluffy and Cheeky and Mittens and Paul and Brick Head. "You’re armed," he said.

"We’re adventurers."

The guard nodded slowly. "Adventurers. Fine. Go on in."

Daniel nodded and walked through the gates and the others followed and they were in the village.

They walked to the guild, which was small and old and worn but busy with adventurers coming and going with weapons and armor and tired eyes and determined expressions.

Daniel pushed open the door and stepped inside and the others followed, and the guild was small with a mission board and a bar and a few tables and a few people.

Daniel walked toward the receptionist, a young woman with a kind face and tired eyes. "We completed the mission," he said.

The receptionist looked at him, at his clothes and his face and the others behind him. "Which mission?" she asked.

"The goblin camp."

The receptionist’s eyes widened. "You completed the goblin camp mission?"

"Yes."

"Proof?"

Paul stepped forward and held up the Hobgoblin’s ear, large and ugly and bloody. The receptionist stared with her mouth open and her eyes wide.

"That’s a Hobgoblin’s ear," she whispered.

"Yes."

"You killed a Hobgoblin?"

"Yes."

"And its camp?"

"Yes."

The receptionist was silent for a moment as she processed what she was hearing. "Congratulations," she said finally. "You’ve completed the mission. Here’s your reward."

She reached under the counter and pulled out a pouch and handed it to Daniel, and he took it and opened it and looked inside at the thirty silver coins that gleamed in the light.

"Thank you," he said.

The receptionist nodded, still staring at the ear.

Daniel turned and looked at the others. "We did it," he said.

They smiled, happy and proud.

Daniel smiled a warm and genuine smile. "Now," he said, "we can pay for the caravan."

[Magic Castle = 5 bonus Chapter’s the same day]

[Space craft= 15 bonus Chapter’s the same day]

[Golden gachapon= 25 bonus Chapter’s]