Later in the afternoon, Minerva decided to take a nap. I decided to use this opportunity to search the forest for my shrubs. She would probably have been pissed if she woke up and I wasn't back in the cave so I would make sure to come back very early. No more than an hour out. I had the agent acting as a timer for me.
So now, I was flying through the forest, testing how fast I could go and damn, was I fast. It was pretty cool zooming through the forest. So this was how fast I could go with 600 speed? Then how fast was Shiro? I think she had 200 plus speed. Was that average speed for humans? But that wasn't as fast this. Ah well.
How fast was Minerva? Her agility stats were crazy high. I wondered just how fast she could go, and how long it would take for me to reach that level of capability.
I decided to take a break and land somewhere on the ground so I could try using my special fusion of my perception skills. I once again tried the use of [Mana Perception], [Auto Mapping], [Goggles] and [Heat Sense]. This time, I managed to keep it up for 5 seconds before puking.
It would seem my [Mental Damage Resistance] was slowly growing stronger.
[You have acquired the skill [Mental Pain Resistance]]
I also acquired a new skill. But that was practically a ward against headaches and other stuff. I decided to ignore it and focus on my current predicament.
'Predicament? Hmm… can I call it that when I'm in literally no trouble at all?'
I avoided a stone that was thrown at my head easily.
'Hmm, should I say situation? No, that still seems like I have an issue.'
I took a step back avoiding a slash at my neck from a little green man holding a stone dagger. Obviously it was a random goblin. Its stats too weren't promising in the slightest. The goblin kept attacking me and I simply kept avoiding the stones being thrown at me.
'Um, maybe I shouldn't be thinking about this for now. It's actually getting annoying dealing with these retards.'
I was referring to the four goblins surrounding me. Two of them were hiding in the bushes, throwing rocks at me. One was attacking me up front, probably acting as a diversion and then there was the idiot trying to run away.
Normally I should be thinking that he was trying to go get more goblins to come aid, but with my new unique skill [Hunter], I could tell the character traits of various monster species and come up with the best simulated strategies to hunt them down and kill them.
What this meant was that, I could easily figure out the motives of my enemies by merely seeing them. Although I doubted that it would always be useful. According to the agent, there would certainly be moments where my guessed outcomes would fail especially on humans, since they sometimes acted out of the norm.
Still, this was a good skill. That timber wolf king had quite the ability on him. I guess that was how he managed to become the leader of a pack of crazy powerful bloodthirsty timber wolves. Ah, that's right. That damned black wolf! I would kill him.
In a rage, I cut down the annoying goblin in front of me by accident.
'Oops… ah well. I guess you guys are next.'
I glared at them through the bushes. They must have noticed because they ran like hell. I flew at them, but I didn't kill them. I simply kicked them to trees. They wouldn't get up so quickly from that. I changed my attention to the other goblin who was running away at first. He had stopped and was walking this way.
'Huh? What's he planning?'
He came out of the bushes. My [Hunter] skill wasn't working anymore, because this wasn't normal in the slightest. His hands were raised as he came out with a nervous smile on his face.
"E-easy. Easy there. No need to get violent."
He stammered.
I looked at the cheeky bastard. He was treating me like I was some kind of wild dangerous animal.
'I was a human before, you know? I'm not some wild beast you dirty goblin!'
I wanted to say this so badly to it, but I simply couldn't because I was a damned bird. I would fight the being that made me into a bird. I would kick his darn ass into oblivion.
"Hehe… C-Could you please help us?"
The goblin started pleading for help all of a sudden.
'Help?'
"Y-You see. M-My people. We are starving. Y-You can help us, right?"
'Huh? I'm supposed to help you? How and why? Wait, do you guys want to eat me?'
I drew in closer to the goblin. He shut his eyes and was shaking feverishly. It were almost like he was going to piss himself, but then
"Please! I beg you! Help my village! Or else we will starve to death! I beg of you O' powerful chicken!"
'Eh?'
***
So, the goblins were the most pathetic monster race I would probably ever see. They were so weak to the point of requesting for help from a chicken. Or what they assumed was a chicken. AKA me.
Yes, these disgusting green scum at the bottom of the food chain have deemed it fit to plead to me for help. My chance at becoming a proper Isekai protagonist had come along! I wasn't going to miss this opportunity for the world.
The problem however was the lack of food for goblins. They were so weak they weren't even able to hunt for their own food without losing several members in a single day. So, this little guy wanted me to help them by bringing them food. To be honest, I didn't kill him because of his bravery. I was sort of interested.
At least that explained why they kept going to Minerva. And that was probably the reason why Minerva didn't listen to them. They wouldn't go for food for her. Instead they wanted her to get food for them. Lazy servants were truly useless to a leader who was already too lazy. The damned retards.
The goblin race was a really annoying one filled with retarded hungry creatures.
So, to help them I decided to catch twenty rabbits for them. About fourteen horned and six fanged. I went up by two levels. I ate one of them to see if I would level up like before, but I didn't. I most likely needed a lot of food for that or maybe powerful monsters.
Nine bunnies should be enough to feed an entire tribe according to the bastard. It was probably because of their size. Like, one goblin was at least half the size of a horned rabbit. They were really tiny. It almost made no sense how they evolved into such big creatures like hob-goblins.
Anyway, we grabbed the other two goblins and headed towards the goblin's village. When we got there, there were a bunch of goblins standing out there, waiting for me. I looked at the little bastard next to me.
Had he tricked me so I could be killed? I was planning on using [Fire Breath] to burn the bastard to a crisp.
Sensing this, he walked forward and calmed down the other goblins. He explained the situation to them, but mentioned some bull about me being some sort of "Fire bird"? I had no idea what he was saying so I asked the agent. The agent said it was also unsure and that more investigation into the matter would be necessary for it to narrow down the possibilities and give me an accurate answer.
I simply shrugged it off, since it would be a headache to try to ask the goblin to tell me about the firebird or whatever nonsense that was. However, it would seem I wasn't permitted to have an enjoyable stay, as today was one that would most likely stick in my mind for the rest of my second life.
-----------------------------------------
In the west of Larm, there was a disgusting race that roamed its bushes in secrecy. They mostly appeared during the day hiding in the shadows of trees and trying to stay out of sight, but failing at that badly. They were weak and despised by all races. They were relentless, violent, rapists that just pillaged and stole food they didn't work for. They were more of an annoying pest than anything. They were little green menaces that were sometimes called devils. The only advantage they had against other races was not their brains (They were dumb as shit), not their strength (Weaker than shit), not the fastest (Slow as shit), but their number (Shit, they were a lot).
If you were to ask anyone the creatures with the most population, the first name to come to mind was goblins. However, there was an incident that took place six years ago that forever changed this. The goblins lost most of their number and their rate of reproduction went down. At the moment, there were not more than seven hundred goblins in the West of Larm.
They were weak, dumb, slow and few in number. Now they were easy pickings waiting to be wiped off the map. Back in a certain era, if you had said goblins were near extinction, anyone would have laughed at you, but now, they would simply shrug at the thought as if it were normal, which was not so.
Right now, in one tribe of goblins, there was an uproar. The goblin village was excited when three of their members returned from the forest with not one, but nineteen rabbits. That was enough to feed their entire village for a week. Two if they rationed it (They wouldn't). Even better they had brought a chicken along with them. It was bliss for them.
This news was so amazing that the others completely ignored the fact that one of their members had died. Then again, it was a normal for members of their village to die every day. Still, that didn't change the fact that some of those who had very close relationships with the deceased would be affected. Yes, as absurd as it sounded, even the goblins could forge proper relations with each other. Them being on the verge of extinction was due to a lot of reasons and this was one of the reasons why they weren't dead yet.
A young goblin had been sharpening a stone dagger very deep in the cave. He was surrounded by 3 other goblins that were like his brothers. Although they were all technically siblings, since most of them were birthed from one mother, goblins didn't think of it like that. They were just born from the same womb, that didn't mean they were related. That was their mentality. They simply didn't believe in blood relations. Although there were the rare few exceptions.
Normally, they were a group of 5, but one of them went on a hunting trip with some other goblins on this day. Goblins took daily shifts, as to who was supposed to hunt. He had no choice but to go, because it was his turn and they normally went out in fours. The reason for this? Completely stupid and unnecessary. This young goblin was not a fan of the idea of his friend going out with a bunch of weaklings, but there was nothing that could be done about it.
"WOOOOHOOO!"
"YAAAY!"
As he was sharpening his tools, screams of his people could be heard coming from the entrance.
'What? Happening?'
He turned to look at behind him curiously, but he wouldn't be able to see. He would have to get closer.
"What is going on?"
"Did something happen?"
Things like this could be heard from his companions who also took notice of the screams. All of sudden,
"You guys! You guys! They have returned!"
A younger goblin was running towards him, waving its hand.
The goblin who had been sharpening his dagger perked up when he heard that 'they' had come back. He was thinking about the chief and his crew that had gone on an expedition 2 weeks ago. The chief was known as the strongest goblin in their history, second only to his predecessor. He even managed to evolve into a hobgoblin through rigorous training and had been protecting the village for nearly 7 years. He would sometimes go on expeditions to get supplies for the goblins or would stay back and protect the goblins from other threats such as timber wolves. He was nothing like that foolish outcast that had become a Tyrant. He was certain that she didn't deserve her title as the Tyrant of the West and that the chief should rather become the Tyrant. But it had been 2 weeks since they last heard from the chief and they were getting restless.
"The chief is back?"
He grabbed the younger goblin by its shoulder and asked, not waiting patiently for it to catch its breath.
"No… The… hahaha… Other… Guys… Who… Went… Hunting… At… Noon."
He panted after each word.
"Tch!"
He clicked his tongue. He was excited for a moment because he thought that the chief had returned.
"So why is everyone excited?"
The little one had finally caught his breath and he excitedly explained the situation,
"They brought nineteen rabbits and a chicken."
"Nineteen rabbits?"
"Im-Impossible! They would have been killed by the rabbits."
The word escaped his mouth. There was no way a squad of just four goblins managed to kill nineteen rabbits. That made no sense whatsoever. And where would they get a chicken from in a damned forest?
"You better not be lying young one, or else..."
He threatened the child, but the little one responded with a smile.
"I swear on the Wicked Witch's name. They actually did."
"Yo kid! You know what you are saying?"
One of the goblins questioned.
"You can't swear on the Wicked Witch's name and lie, you know. That will curse you!"
"Oi kid! If I find out that you're lying!"
He nodded his head quickly.
"Go see."
When they got to the front, they were surprised by the sight. There were actually nineteen dead rabbits and there was an actual chicken. It was bigger than what he had been told by the chief. But much like the stories, it had yellow feathers and looked weaker than the average bird in Larm. What was alarming though was the antenna like structure on its head and the dark violet tips it possessed, as well as black beak and talons.This was an amazing development. He was certain his brother was the cause of their victory. He was interested in the story of how his brother managed to gather this much food. He wanted to hear all about it then boast to the chief once he returned.He looked around for his brother but couldn't find him, so he went to the leader of that hunting expedition. That goblin was considered the smartest of them all, right after the chief and the sorceress, but he was also one of the physically weakest goblins in the cave. And seeing as the goblins were s
I was led towards the deepest recesses of the cave, where the chief's "throne room" was. He wasn't what I was expecting from a Hob-goblin. From manga that I've read, goblins were savages that just killed without regard for their surroundings. As long as they were satisfied, they didn't care. Although weak, they were numerous and used that fact to their advantage. Hob-goblins, although not as numerous as goblins, weren't exempt from this fact. In fact, they rarely associated with goblins, so this was weird. Sitting in front of me, was the Hob-goblin chief, who I presumed to be the most violent goblin in this village, drinking a bowl of slime. Apparently slime was like a delicacy to these goblins. I had also been offered one but was cautious about it. I then took a sip of it and surprisingly, I acquired some skills and resistances. [Due to the unique skill [Evolver] you have acquired the following skills] [You have acquired the skill [Predator]] [You ha
Dorm let out a yawn as he remembered the party that he had attended the last night. It was an extravagant one held by the goblin tribe of Krav. There was an event where chiefs of each of the goblin tribes met annually to share news about events on their sides. He didn't want to go, but as a chief and as the warrior that went on an adventure around the world, he needed to attend to trade very important information."Hey Chief! What's with the yawn? Didn't get enough sleep?"The one who asked this was a young goblin Dorm treated like his son. He had taught him a lot about fighting and survival skills needed and the young goblin looked up to him like a father. People who didn't know that Dorm had married a human woman sometimes thought that they were a father and son pair. (They knew him to act more like a human than a goblin)"Of course he didn't. Did you see all those human women they had?""I know right. Who would sleep when there was an all you can eat b
Dorm had left Ooo.That was all the goblins could think of. Their last line of defense had left them because of their selfish attitudes. They realized how grim their situation was and were arguing amongst themselves. They wanted to someone else to be chief but did not know who.There was no goblin nearly as smart or as strong as Dorm was. Even his protégé, who was the closest to him had left alongside him. The goblins reached a consensus. They needed to find Dorm and beg him to come back.Sadly when they tried, either the goblins came back with multiple injuries, or they didn't come back at all. They had sparked a very dangerous hatred in the heart of Dorm. That was why he left. He knew that if he had stayed he would have killed more of them.Now, Dorm just spent his days in the forest, searching for his child. The spirit had said that the child was safe, so he had assumed that the child was in the care of the spirit. He could only think of
"Oh, why did we even take the job?"A pained feminine voice asked."Because we are broke and we need money."A male voice answered."No! It's for the thrill of the adventure!"Another voice yelled.The owners of the other two voices stared at the last guy with disbelief. He was their party leader and had gotten them into all sorts of trouble before, but they were certain that not even he was that stupid. At least, that was what they thought.Together, they were a rank B- party. The B rank attack mage, Charlotte, The C+ rank Swordsman, Aden, and the B- ranked support mage, Ross. They were quite the infamous party back in Dirthhaven, the capital of Keiman, for the kind of dangerous jobs their useless leader would take and barely manage to complete.Right now, the reason why they were in the Larm forest was because their leader had accepted the job of going to take resources. In secret, he actually wanted to fight the Mad Witch of
Minerva had just finished hunting for dinner. Normally she and her pet, Fang would have gone out together but she told him to stay in the cave and guard it. Why did she do that? Today would mark their one month celebration of meeting so she wanted to get something nice for him.So she found a bull deer and was dragging it back, but on her way there she could smell something burning and smoke was rising to the sky. It came in the direction of her cave, so she dropped her bull deer meat and ran as fast as she could towards the cave. When she got there, she saw 3 humans standing there and Fang was dead in front of her cave which had been set on fire.She walked towards Fang's corpse, tears in her eyes. The humans hadn't noticed her presence even after she had squatted down next to Fang. The poisonous fumes had no effect on her due to her natural resistance to poisons she had acquired from eating several of them in attempts at surviving by herself.She then shifted
Minerva had finally calmed down and could think rationally. Although when she lost her rage she became a somewhat mindless beast, she was by no means stupid. She had been told about the king of the forest, Larm.The creature that had single handedly created this forest to protect various species. The being that created a creature powerful enough to destroy an entire nation by itself. The existence known as god amongst most of the creatures in the forest. That very being now sat in front of her.She would have to admit that Larm was very beautiful and she exuded a divine presence that was suffocating. Such a being would have nothing to do with a simple Hob-goblin. Which is why the words that came out of her mouth were all the more unbelievable."Y-you want to make Minerva, your child?"Larm nodded with a pleased smile on her face."Of course as a child of mine it would also become your responsibility to protect this forest in my stead.""Huh?
A wyvern with white scales clad in armor soared through the night sky gracefully, cutting through the dreamy clouds. On its back was a young figure clad in dark grey armor that reflected the moon light, giving it a silvery allure.She had just finished making her rounds. It was her mission to go to and from human countries as a delegate of the Ogre Tyrant. He had created illegal trade between most of the human nations and had made a huge profit out of it.Although it was not permitted for humans to enter the Larm forest, there was nothing saying that he wasn't allowed to trade resources with the humans. Or so the ogre would say. Through this he had acquired a hefty amount of weapons and money from human nations. That was the back-up plan the Ogre Tyrant had come up with, in the case the First Tyrant ever noticed what he had been doing.This delegate was returning to the Ogre's fortress with a letter the king of a nation had made for the Ogre tyrant and so they h
‘It’s so booooorriiiiiiiiiingggg!’I was bored out of my mind surveying the edge of the dome for enemies. It was practically a ghost town at this point. And the only thing that used to be interesting was the notifications I kept receiving from my shadows about catching bombers. So far, we found three dozen pairs of people planting the bombs.It was shocking how many people had been coerced into doing this. And I still hadn’t tracked down an actual member from the invaders. What if the invaders actually weren’t coming? What if the princess was lying about this entire thing for a completely different reason?‘This princess is giving me a headache.’‘I know right? It’s like talking to a brick wall.’‘A-An overly in-intelligent one.’‘Hey guys!’‘Ah!?’‘New guy?’‘I-I have a j-junior now?’‘What will we call him?’‘Call me Hyakkiyago.’He told us out of nowhere. We were all stunned, since everyone who came so far didn’t even know that they were now sharing a mind with someone. Yet, this g
NANEK POVThe prince looked at the meal set before him. Skewered tentacles, seaweed wraps, jagged oyster shells, lunaris and so on, all in bountiful amounts. He felt like gagging from the mere scent of the food. Nanek never liked such food, and as such this was strictly removed from the meals his siblings served him regularly.This event was different. It was before the entire city and it was a meal that the goddess had chosen for this year’s feast. Him not eating it was an insult to the goddess and would make the people think less of him.He looked at his mother, the priestess, sitting blindly next to the king and being fed her meal by some of her personal assistants. She had no concern whatsoever when it came to this and he found it terrifying, since he had been told by the older generation that she hated these kinds of meals.Several years in service to the goddess must have changed her. Maybe if he spent several years trying to overcome his distaste for the meal, he would overcome
SUNALLA POVThe storm spirit had left off towards a chamber in the palace to enact the final plans of the princess. To be honest, she wasn’t expecting the princess to tell her what her final plans were, but after hearing them, she was completely stunned. For the princess to have planned all of this for just that, it was beyond her imagination.However, for something like that, she knew her father would give up his life in a heartbeat. At least, she could rest easy knowing that he died for a cause he had been fighting for all his life. Still, it hurt that she couldn’t even see his corpse even though it was delivered to them. Did they think she was so weak that she’d break down from seeing the body?She had definitely seen worse, so why wouldn’t they let her? Was this the royalty’s way of showing consideration to the Captain of the Royal Guard’s kin? If so, the royals really had no idea what people actually wanted in such situation.While swimming, a stray guppy came in front of her. Sh
King Zigruk ElrIek Sox Anon Den Yorul II waved at the people who were gazing at him admirably from outside the hall. After a considerable amount of praise appreciation and greeting, he sat down on his seat and dropped his trident.The trident floated by itself at his side. Strange enough, this weird sight was ignored by most of the onlookers. All of them except the candidates for the throne that knew the true value of the trident, all of them shocked by how carelessly their father handled it. Then again, if you were built just like the Zigruk Elriek Sox Anon Den Yorull II, you wouldn’t think too much of the trident.Once again, trumpets sounded thunderously, drawing the attention of everyone to the overly massive ship that was approaching them. Dubbed the Neptune, the largest piece of magical machinery ever made in the history of all the three kingdoms.One mermaid, much bigger than the rest emerged from the Neptune. She was dressed in a simple peplos, wearing a golden crown of leaves
OSVETA POVThe feast hall, the biggest part of the royal palace that went unused for many years till there was an important ceremony taking place. It was so large it could take in half the number of royal family members that lived. And that was saying much given the fact that there were over a thousand of them with each being at least three times as big as the average merman.The hall was a space next to the palace grounds shrouded in hardened Atlantean styled glass to prevent any peaking or breaking. Due to the occasion, the styled glass had been removed, revealing a large beautiful platform with a marble table in a U-shape set down. The table was big enough to occupy at the very least 20 members of the Royal family.However, today, only four members sat on opposite ends, with two extra, grander seats, being reserved for the most important guests. The King of Atlantis and the Chief Priestess of the Sea Goddess Temple.The current members were Rondel, the eldest son of the King, repre
Inside of Hinotori’s mind, somewhere deep in her subconscious where she would never notice anything happening, there was an announcement.[The Exclusive Skill [Legend of Pandemonium] Chapter 1, Act 1, Part 1: Army Drafting has been completed]-Hidden Events> Fight Against the Apostles of the Sea Goddess Temple (Completed)> Kill over a dozen members of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)> Enslave the members of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)> Establish friendly ties with the members of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)> Become an official member of the Sea Goddess Temple (Incomplete)---- Insufficient events completed to receive any rewards+[The Exclusive Skill [Legend of Pandemonium] has unlocked a new section]Chapter 1 - #@$^&!Act 1 – Battle For AtlantisPart 2 – Preparations--- Preparations for the incoming invasion have been set up. Hopefully they will be enough for the coming storm. ---*Rewards for creating this scenario will be delivered at the end of this Chapt
On the day of the Royal Feast, in the princess’ quarters, several mermaids about her size were attending to her. Brushing her hair, applying make-up, and carefully fixing ornaments in her hair. She was dressed in the most elegant lilac-coloured chiton that had silver lacings on it and a triangular pattern over at the bottom over her tail. Over her left hand, her peplos that was a whitish-blue with a similar design, but more transparent. The peplos also managed to serve as a sort of hood for her head.As the princess observed her features in the mirror, she couldn’t help but think along the likes of,‘Would Hiro like this appearance?’‘Maybe it’s too much make up for his taste?’‘Is this even enough to cover my blemishes?’Of course, Hiro was not going to be partaking in this event. In fact, he wouldn’t even know that it was happening and neither would he know about it. Still, a maiden in love could only dream, right?“You are looking absolutely stunning, your highness.”The one attend
The hell did I just hear? Did she just confirm that she was the mastermind? No way, right? There was definitely no way that she did it, right? No.I couldn’t doubt the possibility of her having done that. Knowing her, it was highly likely. And from what Sunalla said, the princess didn’t like it when things happened out of her control. A surprise invasion from an enemy nation definitely doesn’t sound like having everything under her control.Still, for her to go this far just for the throne. She was the worst kind of person. They’d do anything to achieve their goal, even if it negatively affected those looking up to her for support. She was worse than scum.I had several things to tell the princess, but no one else in the room heard our conversation. The princess simply said vague things in their eyes and ears. Maybe Sunalla and Osveta would believe that princess did something like that.The problem was if they gave a shit. They’d known her for sometime now so it was possible that they
That was completely sudden and out of nowhere for me. I never imagined to hear such a thing, least of all from an old man in a city that was thousands of feet underwater. Of course, after hearing such a thing I was intrigued in finding out more, but he kicked me out with the promise of trying to find a way to Minerva for me. He stole more strands of my hair though. Turns out he didn’t need the first strand for anything. He simply wanted it for his private reasons… creepy pervert.On the way back, I could tell that the princess was beaming with excitement. I asked why, but she told me not to think too much about it. In times like this, it was really annoying not being able to read her mind. The only solution was to keep pressuring her till she spoke, but she was tight lipped. In the end, I decided to ask if she knew about Vermillion.According to her, there wasn’t any concrete text about Vermillion, but her father had once told her that there was an individual named Vermillion who came