The Lich's Master

Chapter 10: If Stealth Doesn't Work...

First of all, Kyle thought to himself as he looked at the view before him, why on earth was there a high level metal tower shield in a random monster camp like this? Secondly, how come could a small goblin carry such a heavy piece of equipment?

While he had no way of answering the first question, the second one was quite easy to figure out. The answer was that it was a goblin chieftain, not an ordinary goblin.

“Oh.” Kyle muttered as he looked at the goblin chieftain from head to toe.

First of all, the damn thing was about two meters tall. Secondly, it was wearing nothing but some rags, which made the cast metal tower shield look even more comical. But looking at the ground, at the miniature chasm the tower shield had left in the earth, Kyle wasn’t laughing. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he exclaimed.

This goblin chieftain was an elite enemy. And elite enemies weren’t supposed to spawn often. In fact, they were supposed to be quite rare, and were hunted by powerful player groups.

Kyle, however, was alone, and in no state to hunt such a powerful enemy.

The goblin chieftain let out a wordless scream and lifted up the tower shield, preparing to charge at Kyle. The young man’s eyes widened. As much as that shield was meant to be a defensive one, being hit with its immense weight couldn’t result well.

He pushed himself up on his feet as the goblin chieftain rushed towards him, then took two wide steps to his left. The chieftain ran right past him until the shield hit the large rock the now dead lookout was laying on.

Good, Kyle thought to himself as the chieftain paused, then looked at his shield. Gladly for Kyle, his splattered remains weren’t stuck to the large, wide metal surface of the shield, nor was there any blood.  

The creature was slow, both physically, and from a point of intellect. Kyle could use that.

“Hey!” He shouted, “Over here!” He waved his sword in the air, catching the goblin chieftains attention.

The creature shouted something in a crude language. Kyle couldn’t understand the words, nor did he care to. Goblin was probably one of the last languages he would ever want to learn. Instead, he stuck his tongue out. “Can’t kill me!” He mocked the creature, hoping to make it angrier.

To nobody’s surprise, his plan worked, and the creature ran towards him at ramming speed once more. Two wide, fast steps to the right saved him once again, though this time Kyle didn’t just stand and watch, he ran after the creature, and swung his blade at its back.

He pressed the blade against the creature’s thick skin. As it finally came to a halt. It took a moment before he broke the skin and drew blood. He grinned, then noticed the creature grasping the shield with both its hands, and quickly stepped back.

The goblin swung the tower shield, turning his body with its enormous weight. Kyle’s heart skipped a beat as the pointy lower end of the shield grazed his clothes. He had survived by little more than pure luck.

Drawing a sharp breath, he took a few quick steps back in an attempt to put some distance between himself and the goblin chieftain. That massive tower shield the god damned creature was carrying was a bigger threat than he first thought.

The creature shouted something in goblin again before rushing at Kyle once more. The young man easily evaded the ramming charge, but he didn’t chase the goblin chieftain this time. His sword had barely cut through the creature’s skin, and the wound it left was negligible at best.

He bit his lip as he retreated towards the large rock he killed the scout on. Usually, these elite enemies would be creatures to be tacked with in groups. No solo player would try and kill an elite enemy the same level as them.

But then again, Kyle was too stubborn to give up now. He was able to wound the creature, and that mean he would be able to kill it if he used his brain a little.

He climbed onto the large rock and snatched the bow and arrows from the dead body of the goblin scout. Perhaps he could try and shoot the chieftain? As long as he aimed correctly, he couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work.

He hopped down the rock and ran to the side, around the campfire, with the chieftain chasing him. Each step the creature took shook the earth a bit, making it difficult for Kyle to keep his balance as he tried to put some distance between him and the chieftain.

“Slowpoke!” He shouted as he finally put enough distance to aim a bow and arrow. He wasn’t sure if the chieftain understood that it was being mocked, though his voice alone seemed to be enough to send the chieftain into a blind rage.

The creature screamed and charged at him again.

Kyle took a quick breath and stepped aside moments before the charge hit him. As soon as he was in the clear, he turned around to face the goblin chieftain and hooked an arrow to the bow.

As someone who had never used a bow and arrow, he didn’t expect to hit the creature on his first try. He drew the string of the bow, took a deep breath, and released the arrow, sending it flying into the woods several meters off the mark.

“Well…” He muttered to himself. Maybe right now wasn’t the best time for learning a new weapon. He threw the bow aside and dropped the quiver. This wasn’t an ordinary game after all, he actually needed to be able to aim, there was no system assisting him.

Fully aware of the time he wasted, he rushed after the creature. He was going to have to do this a different way. “Hey!” He shouted at the top of his longs. “You can’t catch me!” He ran past the goblin chieftain, into the woods. If his sword wasn’t strong enough to wound the creature, all he needed to do was make it hurt itself somehow, right?