[SS] Chapter 22: A Hob-Goblin isn't stupid and that fact has surprised many.

Krrrgg was running for her life. The thing-that-was-NOT-a-slime had explained its plan to survive an attack by the Alpha [Dire Wolf] and its army. Krrrgg had no idea if it would work but it had given her the tools to succeed.

She cut down another [Wolf]. Her new axe was made of metal. She didn’t know what kind but it was glorious. She hoped she got to survive. Today could not have possibly gone worse. She had been sent out as a scouting party to investigate the weird Desire every Goblin had been feeling towards this part of the Wolf Forest and had run into a free lunch. A little extra boost never hurt anyone. The [Goblin Chieftian] never let them eat wolves and no one would even be able to tell she had eaten the slime if she was quick enough!

So she had ran forward, only to be attacked. She should’ve stopped there but slimes had so many strange evolutions that a magical attack wasn’t too weird. So she had tried to [Dash] at it after pretending to run away. It hadn’t worked. It had caught her axe and then refused to let it go. The next events were both fast and slow and painful. She ended up knocked out and with a broken nose that hadn’t healed yet. But that was the least of her troubles.

When she woke up, she was being carried through the air by the thing-that-was-NOT-a-slime. Seeing the massacre and False [Hob-Goblin] had explained everything. A [Dungeon Master]. It didn’t make any sense, they never leave their homes, especially the strong ones. But now her fear of death had well and truly taken her over. She was going to be killed and sacrificed for mana.

She had sat there, resigned for death, wondering how her day could possibly get any worse. Then the howls started and she cursed herself for angering fate. Now she was running through and murdering as many wolves as she could before the [Dungeon Master] activated his plan.

Her eyes widened as a pure abyss with sharp teeth appeared in front of her face. She barely managed to [Dash] back in time.

A [Dire Wolf]. One of the eight that the Alpha had brought with him. It was only experience with wolves that saved her as she used [Dash] to fling herself away again. From behind her, another [Dire Wolf] was clawing through where her head had just been. Both were growling at her. She could possibly take one [Dire Wolf]. Not two. And none of that mattered if either one of them had raised their stats to the Maximum for their Generation. She still needed to eat a lot more to reach the limit.

Still, stats weren’t everything. Her weapon was Dungeon made after all. It could probably cleave through their hide pretty easily even if they were as tough as she expected. There was an intense stand off. She heard the walls come down and she moved.

Neither [Dire Wolf] was surprised. Becoming a [Dire Wolf] wasn’t hard. Surviving the Alpha trying to murder you for doing so, was. Only the best of the best survived. Goblins avoided most of the Wolf Forest for very good reasons and this small area was one of them. Sadly, that meant she was going up against fairly experienced combatants.

She swung with her axe but the wolf was already dodging, letting the other attack her from her side. She rolled across the ground and swung as she did so, catching one of their paws that had tried to swipe away her head with the flat of her axe. She jumped back, both lunging at her at the same time and nearly tripped in doing so.

It was a hectic back and forth, neither could reliably take an attack from the other. If she attacked, they dodged, and they countered, again and again. Things were going poorly. Already some regular wolves had come by to try to attack them and had been eviscerated. Sadly, that had given the two [Dire Wolves] a chance to attack her and now she was bleeding from her legs and arms. Surface level wounds but it all added up. She was going to lose at this rate and running away was, well, never an option. She was faster than them but she had raised her Agility to 50 and Dexterity to 25. Not her Endurance. She would never outlast them before getting back to her tribe. It was kill or be killed, same as any other day.

She tripped and fell backward. Her heart was slamming into her chest. The two wolves were pouncing towards her. Today could be the day that she died.

The claws were nearly touching her skin.

But it wouldn’t be right now. She shot a blast of pure Darkness into one of the wolves eyes and vanished next to the other. By the time the [Dire Wolf] had shaken the Darkness away, Krrrgg was standing next to a beheaded wolf, a bloody iron axe in her heads, and a massive evil grin on her face.

[Black Mage’s Cuffs - When worn, gives the wearer Magic Skill (Dark) at Tier 4 and the ability to turn into an inky immaterial shadow once per day.]

The-thing-that-was-NOT-a-slime was certainly generous. She raised her axe and [Dashed] toward the [Dire Wolf].

*************

Facing down imminent death, it really makes you think. For starters, theirs the doubt. Did I do the right thing in giving away my Black mage Cuffs to a random Hob-Goblin? Yeah, probably. It would let me dodge once but if it helped them survive, I might not get eaten by fifty wolves at once. It at least meant two [Dire Wolves] were out of the picture.

Should I have prepared my defenses better? The fact that I managed to use what was essentially a wooden turret to take down any number of wolves was amazing. The fact that I managed to arrive standing here with only seven wolves in front of me, was a god damn miracle.

Should I have tried to progress my skills, my magic, and my astra learning better? Oh, absolutely but I loved learning about that type of stuff, besides the aneurysm magic gave me. I don’t think I could have made strong enough gains without hitting some kind of breakthrough recently and who knew when those could happen?

What could I have done better? I mean, nothing? Well, I could have stowed away my dungeon when I knew it was drawing wolves in but give me a break. I had only started to break out of my mental funk today. If I hadn’t, I’d have probably continued to mindlessly murder and eat everything that got near me, without a second thought. Gone the whole dungeon route. I would have probably needed to store it like at least a few days ago to prevent a fucking army from appearing on my front lawn. And maybe not even then. It really feels like this was inevitable the moment I shoved that Dungeon Core into the air.

I looked across from me, focusing my attention on the Alpha. It was smirking. I don’t even know if a wolf should be able to, but it was. It fully expected me to die soon and for it take my Dungeon Core. Hell if I knew what it was going to do with it. Maybe become some kind of Dungeon Lord and rule over all the other wolves. Probably make never ending food for itself and an army to kill anything it doesn’t like. Sounds about right. Or maybe it’d work towards evolutions somehow with it. But I doubted it. The wolf was old. It had plenty of time to try and evolve beforehand. It either had chose not to, hadn’t known how to, or couldn’t.

The major flaw with the Alpha was obvious. Arrogance. It didn’t need to be here right now. It could have stayed in the back and attacked me over the course of time with regular wolves, worn me down. Instead it was directly attacking me with its strongest allies. Cautious, Smart, but Arrogant.

So it was absolutely no surprise to me when it rushed forward first, its lieutenants following. I summoned four spirit hands and used one to punch the Alpha in the face. It hadn’t been expecting it but its reactions were truly crazy as my hand went down its gullet before I could do anything. I quickly unsummoned and resummoned it.

They were nearly upon me, giants from my point of view. Towering 6x more than my own height. I felt like a human fighting buildings. They were colossal beasts of destruction, come to tear me apart. Their mouths wide open, like abysses of the deepest black, pulsating red within, mouths of horrors. My slime shook, fear took me, terror seeped through me. I was moments away from dying again, that same horrible feeling. My danger sense was screaming, the wolves were panting, my life flashed before my eyes.

I grabbed myself and threw me.

The wolves seemed to come to a sliding stop, still trying to lash out at the air as I flew above them. I was lightweight and my hands could throw quite a bit. Still, by the laws of gravity, I would have to come down soon.

A spirit hand appeared under me and I peered down at the disbelieving wolves.

The laws of gravity can go fuck themselves.

My spirit hands had my own strength and my strength at this point was nothing to scoff at. Well, maybe in this world it was, but not to me. I was stronger than most people on earth. This world was truly insane. That amount of strength was more than enough to carry my own weight. It was beyond weird holding your own body aloft in mid air and carrying yourself. There really weren’t good words to describe it. Weird would have to do.

I put myself out of reach of the wolves and curled my other three hands into fists. These wolves had no idea who they were messing with. At my core, I wasn’t a slime. I wasn’t a monster or a human. I wasn’t even Slimy Slime or Mark Wilson. I was a being made up of emotions and illogical nonsense. I was a soul and a mind glued together.

And more than anything else, I was angry.

I had been many, many things since coming here. No, since dying. Sad, depressed, scared, terrified, overwhelmed, disassociated, exhausted, helpless, weak, and even dead.

But anger had mostly been missing. At most I had been annoyed. Because my whole world had crashed around me. It was like the sky had fallen and my whole planet had blown up and then I was rendered as weak and defenseless as a toddler. Like I had no limbs and was told “hey, good luck.” That sense of powerlessness had been overwhelming, ever present, constant.

But now? Now I could fly motherfuckers and my fists could crack bones.

So prepare yourselves you asshole wolves. Because I am fucking furious. At you, at the world, at the gods and goddesses, at my own weakness, at my deaths.

You’re all going to die.