‘Is something coming?’
[No, but it’s been several hours, and the meat has long since been dry. Unless you plan to spend the night here, I think it’s time to wake up. I’m sure you don’t want to be wasting any more time here than you already have.]
‘Ah, shit! I forgot to tell you what time to wake me up, it’s good that you did. Thank you. I definitely can’t waste any more time. A very important future for Goblins is on the line here!’
[Of course. So now what are your plans for the night? It’s now 1800 and as you can see, the sun has already set.]
‘Well, because I took that long-ass nap, I say let's travel through the night, but at a much slower pace.
‘Hopefully, the night is peaceful, and we can cover a lot of distance even at a much slower pace. Heck, maybe we can even run into some Goblins and can find somewhere to sleep.’
[Unlikely.]
‘Yeah, you're probably right. For now, can you bring up my status please? I'll take a look at it, then we can continue moving.’
[Understood.]
{Name - Rick}
{Age - 20}
{Race - Royal Goblin}
{Tier – Two}
{Strength – 55}
{Agility – 40}
{Dexterity – 40}
{Intelligence – 18}
{Endurance – 50}
{Essence - 0}
{Evo Points - 99/180}
{Skills}
{Velora}
‘Since we’ve been splitting the Essence absorbed, I’m only made it to 99/180 Evo Points. Still quite a long way to go before I reach Tier Three.
[That should be accurate. If evolving into a stronger monster was easy, then everyone would be as strong as that fox.]
‘Yeah, I know. No pain, no gain.’
- ??
Rick then gathered his dried meat and his latest spear, which was still in relatively decent shape, and promptly began moving through the night.
It wasn’t easy to move both silently and stealthily when one was so large, but being the same color as the surrounding foliage helped.
Also, having his own radar to continuously scan the surrounding area was a huge boon as well.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Rick safely moved farther and farther westward throughout the entire night while avoiding beasts. He tried to avoid them if he could, because he felt fighting monsters at night would only be bad news.
Especially if he had to fight too many monsters at once. He could still see pretty well in the dark, but he didn’t exactly have night vision, so he would be at a disadvantage against beasts who were born to see better at night.
Now while he tried to avoid all the fighting, there was one moment where he had to fight during the night, well, if you could even call it fighting. The beast was one that had somehow escaped the constant radar from Velora.
It was probably the most dangerous fight Rick had been in since his time fighting what he refers to as a Saber Ostrich before he evolved into a Tier Two Royal Goblin.
POV Rick
‘What time is it, Velora?’
[It is almost 2300.]
‘Okay gotcha. It’s still going to be awhile before it hits daytime.’
[Yes, it will. The sun should not rise until 07…SOMETHING IS CLOSE! DUCK!]
“AHH! MY SHOULDER!”
[I think it’s some type of flying monster! I didn’t detect it until it was already right next to you! Stay quiet and stay alert!]
‘Dammit! Were you at least able to scan it?!’
[No! It was moving too fast for even that!]
- ??
After diving in and leaving a large gash along Rick’s right shoulder, the mystery assailant quietly landed atop a nearby tree.
It eyed Rick as nothing more than a large piece of meat that stumbled into its hunting grounds. Just like it did with every other monster, it planned on killing Rick slowly, with multiple diving attacks too fast for him to cope with. The monster itself wasn’t very strong in a head-to-head battle, so of course it chose to simply never engage in such things as that would be foolish for it.
It trusted in its speed and ability to blend into the darkness more than anything. It had yet to meet another monster who could best it in speed and stealth.
If Rick saw this monster, he would immediately associate it with a hawk of some sort.
Except it was no hawk that Rick had seen on earth. It was covered in sleek back feathers that made no sound when flying through the night sky.
From its feet to its talons, to its very beak, everything was all black. The only thing on its body that showed a different color was its eyes. They gave off a beautiful blue tint that was perfectly in contrast to the night sky.
Truly a beautiful monster perfectly fitted with the darkness of the night.
Though most creatures never really get the chance to marvel at that beauty.
POV Rick
‘Dammit! It’s obviously faster than me, and I have no way to track it. My eyes are not good enough to even see it coming which means my options are limited.
‘Velora, my survival will depend a lot on how fast you can detect it and how fast I can react to that detection.
‘Focus everything on that!’
[Understood!]
‘Where are you… Show yourself…’
[LEFT!]
“SHIT! My other fucking shoulder!!”
[Move positions! Try to get out of its territory!]
‘Dammit!’
[Behind! DIVE!
[YOU BARELY MADE IT! GET UP AND KEEP RUNNING!]
[LEFT!]
[RIGHT!]
[JUMP!!]
- ??
The hawk was getting frustrated. It had only managed to strike Rick twice, but he had yet to show signs of stopping or dying.
To make matters worse, since the second strike it couldn’t seem to hit Rick anymore.
The hawk was in peak condition and could tell that it was much faster than the green creature running away from it, yet it couldn’t hit him anymore.
The timing and precision of the hawk’s attacks were sharp and swift, but no matter how hard the hawk tried, the creature dodged at the very last second.
Rick had even given up on trying to fight back. He was only running as fast as he could while performing various evasive maneuvers at the last moment before being hit.
And although the hawk was still full of energy, it knew it couldn’t hunt the green monster for much longer. It was moving farther and farther away from its nest and hunting grounds.
So, it only chased Rick for roughly another forty-five minutes after the second attack before frustratedly finally giving up on such a large piece of dinner. Of course, the hawk truly found this a shame.
Rick didn’t know this information yet, though. He kept running for two whole hours after the hawk left with Velora staying on high alert, primed and ready to warn him of any type of danger.
They were still in the wild and even without considering the hawk anymore, anything could attack at any moment.
The only reason Rick finally stopped to catch his breath and tend to his wounds was because his legs were simply about to give out after running that hard for that long.
Stopping was better than collapsing after all. Plus, he finally felt a little safe, which helped his decision to stop.
Though all it did was delay the inevitable. Velora was yelling in his mind to keep him awake but it didn’t stop him from collapsing right then and there.
Still barely conscious. But laying weakly all the same.