Sanguine Paradise

∼ Day 11 ∼

‹ Micheal - 10 minutes before ›

Watching the proceedings from a hitch in the wooden wall, I simply observe. With the dusk that had fallen and my obscurement activated, I was practically invisible to everybody. While goblins and hobgoblins were able to see in the dark much better than humans, it still wasn't perfect night vision like I have.

So I observed the many goblins taking orders from the hobgoblins, to set up bonfires and lay forth tools for whatever they were doing. But it didn't take any detective skills to know that they were preparing a feast of sorts. With the warband returning with loads of prey and all the bonfires, it was pretty obvious.

Looking to the leader of the warband, that both Bob and I had been stalking, I see him sitting on a cushion amongst four other seats, most likely for the leaders and the chief. And if to an affirmation of my speculations, four other hobgoblins showed up one by one and took their seats, and in turn, I appraised them.

-Appraisal!-

[Appraisal - Hobgoblin]

Name: "???"

Race: Hobgoblin

Sex: Male

Rank: G+

Level: 18/20

Health: 182/182

Stamina: 82/82

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 31

VIT - 25

AGI - 13

DEX - 12

INT - 8

CHR - ???

WILL - ???

MAG - 0.3

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - ???

Traits - ???

Titles - ???

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 6

Mag. Resistance - 2

Men. Resistance - ???

Well, this one big beefy boy. His size and frame are definitely reflected in his stats too but he isn't too much of a threat.

[Appraisal - Hobgoblin]

Name: "???"

Race: Hobgoblin

Sex: Female

Rank: G+

Level: 18/20

Health: 75/75

Stamina: 44/44

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 13

VIT - 11

AGI - 30

DEX - 25

INT - 15

CHR - ???

WILL - ???

MAG - 20

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - ???

Traits - ???

Titles - ???

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 6

Mag. Resistance - 7

Men. Resistance - ???

...

Uh, what?

Can anybody explain to me why the hell her magic power is off the charts?! She has even more than me! Even her magical resistance is crazily high.

Unfocussing from the prompt, I retrain my gaze on her.

While she definitely wasn't beautiful, she was quite cute in some sense. Jet black hair with a short bob-cut and a small lined nose definitely contributed to her cuteness factor. But to be honest, for goblin and hobgoblin standards she's actually quite the gem. Most goblins females were almost indistinguishable from their ever-so ugly male counterparts, and the female hobgoblins simply looked more human with slight facial features of a goblin while she just looked mostly human without the goblin features.

Other than her face, her body was quite nice. The thin and small frame of her contorts, and hips gave a nice compliment to her tender and very perfectly shaped curves. While she wasn't a curvy kinda girl, sporting small breast and a nice round and small ass, it all played into her cuteness making me actually prefer it.

But her most interesting quality was really what stunned me for a solid minute or two. Most goblins and hobgoblins had simple black irises and pupils. But after properly taking a look at this seemingly inconspicuous and calm-looking hobgoblin girl, I ended being absolutely captivated by her unnatural and magical eyes.

It almost felt like they were calling out to me -wait, are they actually calling out me?

Her irises were tinted a deep crimson red and pitch black pupils contrasted it, making her eyes seem like ruby gems. When looking even closer, you could tell that the lines within the irises were like crystal contours. In the flickering lights of the many bonfires, her beautiful gem-like eyes glinted and sparkled.

The more I looked at them the more I felt like they resonated with me.

But the only instance in my memory of feeling such a similar feeling... -was back when I found the crimson core.

As the resonating feeling grew ever stronger, it seemed that I was not the only one feeling it. Suddenly the cute hobgoblin seemed to also feel something as confusion settled on her face. And out of nowhere, to my surprise, she suddenly cast her gaze directly in my direction. Immediately rocked from my stupor, because of the suddenness of her action, I refocused all my attention on keeping my presence hidden again.

Luckily after scanning the surroundings for a few bated breaths, she returned to calmly stare at the proceedings of the feast before her.

What the hell is she?

Now genuinely intrigued by her, I place a mental note to remember this seemingly mysterious hobgoblin girl.

Getting back on track I quickly appraised the two remaining hobgoblins.

-Appraisal!-

[Appraisal - Hobgoblin]

Name: "???"

Race: Hobgoblin

Sex: Male

Rank: F-

Level: 20/20

Health: 139/139

Stamina: 58/58

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 25

VIT - 22

AGI - 25

DEX - 15

INT - 12

CHR - ???

WILL - ???

MAG - 0.5

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - ???

Traits - ???

Titles - ???

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 5

Mag. Resistance - 1

Men. Resistance - ???

The hobgoblin chief even managed to rank as an F- monster. And his biggest strength most likely doesn't lay in his body, but rather his skill with the dual short shorts stepped to his hips. He should definitely make a good challenge for Bob.

[Appraisal - Hobgoblin]

Name: "???"

Race: Hobgoblin

Sex: Male

Rank: G

Level: 13/13

Health: 81/81

Stamina: 30/30

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 11

VIT - 12

AGI - 20

DEX - 22

INT - 8

CHR - 4

WILL - 5

MAG - 0.2

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - ???

Traits - ???

Titles - ???

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 4

Mag. Resistance - 0.8

Men. Resistance - 1

Uh... this guy is pretty fucking weak...

But he does seem to be the only hobgoblin or goblin using a bow as his weapon of choice, although I'm not sure as to why this guy, in particular, is a warband leader. Anyways, it seems that the time has come. Seeing that two goblins were called out by the chief to step into the fighting ring or whatever it was, I move silently back to the entrance of the gate.

Moving past four dead gate guards, I knock on the wooden bridge. Immediately after hearing my signal, a giddy-looking Bob jumped out from under the bridge.

"Bob, its time you became chief" - Me

"Y-yes masta!" - Bob

...

Having already moved back to another hiding spot where I could watch the proceedings, I simply look at the interesting display before me. Watching the two goblins viciously fight each other whilst the hundreds of surrounding greenskins pounding the earth with their fists, I couldn't help but also feel somewhat intoxicated by the battle lust radiating from all angles.

Seeing the fight come to an end as one of the goblins abruptly bites the other goblin's throat out, I catch in the corner of my eye, a tall figure walking through the crowds of battlelust-filled greenskins.

Moving unhindered through the goblins, smacking any aside who got in his way with a simply smack of his backhand. Bob simply entered the ring. Without any further ado, he offhandedly decapitated the previously victorious goblin and slowly pointed his now blood-stained dagger straight at the chief.

Huh... Bob sure does like a dramatic entrance... -Wait, does he get that from me?

Unsurprisingly, the hobgoblin chief sitting in his seat of honor became enraged by the sheer arrogance displayed by Bob. There wasn't a single soul that did not understand the proclamation of what Bob meant with his actions. He had straight-up declared that the chief didn't even enter his eyes and that he was challenging him for his position.

With his nostrils flaring, the chief got to his feet.

"Who- the- fuck, DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" - Chief

At the start of his sentence, he had already drawn both his pristine short swords and was charging madly at Bob.

Meeting the chief's charge head-on, Bob parried both the chief's strikes with ease and simply smiled in contempt at the chief. Seeing this the chief was even more enraged. A flurry of lightning-fast slashes from the hobgoblin chief ensued, but Bob managed to parry, block, and dodge each attack.

While Bob didn't have the complete upper hand here, he was still relishing in the feeling of heated combat. Suddenly Bob managed to find an opening and slashed the upper pectoral muscles of the chief. The slash wasn't deep at all, but it was more than enough to completely incense the chief.

For quite a while, the hobgoblin probably hadn't faced any who could actually manage to harm or wound him, so the pure anger and malice now radiating off him was palpable. Even his skin turned more reddish, and steam rose from his body as the cold night breeze met his body.

Wait...

Did he activate a skill? This didn't seem like the battle frenzy skill that goblins have, since he definitely still has his consciousness in check. But it might be an advanced version of it. And as such his flurry of attacks became an onslaught and Bob was slowly being pushed back. He was even taking slight nicks from the chief now.

But to my delight, Bob's didn't seem discouraged at all by his sudden predicament. Rather his demeanor seemed to enter a state of battle mania, as he grinned wildly and simply slowly started matched the chief once again in his onslaught. At a visible level, I could see Bob's skill and battle prowess increase. This dangerous and life-threatening situation was putting Bob's talent into overdrive.

For a full 10 minutes, Bob and the chief exchanged strikes and slashes and were both now covered in wounds and blood. But this didn't hamper their battle-mania and battle lust even in the slightest, they were both still going at each other at full throttle. For just a slight moment a pang of worry radiated in a wave throughout my body, as I saw Bob block one of the short swords of the chief, but ended up now facing the other short swords bolting straight for his head.

Without any way to block the sword with his dagger and time to evade to strike, I though Bob was actually going to die at that moment. But to my amazement, my worry was unfounded as, Bob in a mad moment of inspiration, impaled his own hand through the short sword all the way to the hilt.

Holding on to the sword, now tightly grasped in his impaled hand, he held the tip of the sword only inches from his eye. Astonishment flickering in the chief's eyes, Bob wasted no time as he used the leverage of the chief's now pinned weapon to sweep his legs and pull him crashing to the ground.

Now disarmed and stunned, the chief tried to scramble for new purchase of ground. But it was too late.

Pulling the sword from his hand, Bob threw his dagger to the ground and lifted the sword up high to swing it down and decapitate the chief. But it was at this moment, my blood began to boil in righteous indignation. In the corner of my eyes, as Bob swept the chief to the ground, I saw a bow-wielding hobgoblin pull out his weapon and aim an arrow straight for Bob's unsuspecting head.

Seeing time basically halt to crawl, I wasted no time as I dashed with all my strength towards the motherfucker who dared to try and kill my Bob.

"YOU-MOTHERFUCKING-PIECE-OF-INGRATE-SHIT!" - Me

Feeling fury like nothing I've ever felt before, I flew towards the bow-wielding hobgoblin at lighting speed. Just before he was able to release the arrow, his whole entire head exploded into bloody chunks, and his body went limp. As his body no longer held onto the arrow and bow, it went off aim and released into the crowd of greenskins, hitting a rather unfortunate goblin in the gut.

Standing over the piece of shit that dared to attempt to kill my Bob in such a cowardly way, I look towards Bob who was standing over another corpse which was also missing a head.

Catching my gaze, Bob looked astonishment at the dead bow-wielding hobgoblin before me, and then towards the goblin now dead from an arrow protruding from its gut.

Not saying anything, I simply gave Bob a thumbs up.

"Good job Bob, you made me proud" - Me