Rise Of The Hoarder

>BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<

Shattering sounds of cracking, devastated wood, rang out as the entire fence I stood on broke apart.

My body barely dodged the spear launch, thanks to reflex and my heightened physique being pushed to its limits.

>WHOOOSHHH!<

I became a blur, but not before shrapnels from the devastated wooden fence found me. Like raging bullets, many shards of wood came for my disoriented body.

Fortunately, none were strong enough to pierce my defenses, so I was unscathed… physically, that is.

“Guh!”

Without any platform to stand on, my body helplessly descended to the ground. Still flailing about in the air, I struggled to regain control over my body and twisted it quickly.

Instantly, I recovered from my stunned state and allowed myself to freely fall to the ground._.

>CRASH!!!<

The massive structure erected to protect the Hobs was decimated as the pieces of wood made loud noises with each fall. A bit of dust gathered, and I could see the large spear poking out of the pile of damaged wood.

With barely anything separating the third and fourth compound, it seemed like a whole new world was open.

‘Concentrate, Jeremy! Now is not the time!’

The Hobgoblin Champions already had their eyes on me, no, on the commotion the spear caused. Their weapons, for those who had some, were raised and their positions took the form of ready soldiers, raring to attack.

Even though they couldn’t see me clearly, I doubted that would last for very long. I had to do something… quick!

With this line of thought, my eyes darted back to the Boss, transversing the crowd that stood between me and it. I saw its hand outstretched, with a bit of smoke coming from it. Judging from its posture, the Boss Hobgoblin had to be the one who launched that spear at me.

‘Shit! The moment I took my eyes off it, thinking it wouldn’t do anything… that was when it took the chance to catch me off guard!’

The monster certainly was smart!

I wanted to try looking at its Stats, but for some reason, it seemed I needed to move closer. Most likely due to the insane gap of strength between the both of us.

‘I have to deal with these small fries first…’ I gritted my teeth in frustration.

But, I couldn’t take too long, else I would only be wasting my time and energy. Plus, if I was too focused on fighting the Hobgoblin Champions—which would take a lot of concentration— the Hobgoblin Chief could use that chance to throw another one of its javelins at me. I couldn’t have that!

‘Think, Jeremy!’

If I resorted to my old tricks, the shield those Chiefs erected would protect the Hobgoblins, and the only way past them was through. I could easily bypass the shield by taking the affected areas into [Subspace], but then what? If I resorted to a large-scale explosion while within the shield, it would affect me too!

In the end, I had to be amidst them!

“Well, it’s back to basics!”

With a wide grin on my face, I cracked my fingers and prepared my legs for some hardcore exercise on its way.

“GARUIIIIIKKKKKK GAU GURU GROIIIIIKKK!!” The Hobgoblins gave this war cry and charged in my direction.

Wasting no time at all, I also rushed into the incoming crowd of bloodthirsty Hobgoblin Champions and brandished my fist, ready to begin their execution.

Once again, I felt a distortion in space, but this time I was prepared. Using [Subspace] to take away the invisible barrier blocking my route, I marched on and steadied my inventory chock-full of goods.

In such a situation, there was only one thing to do… take them out—not as a collective, but individually.

That didn’t mean I had to do all the work, though.

“<Automatic Summon>”

I dived into the crowd of Hobgoblin Champions, and with that came a barrage of unexpected weapons flying at my foes. I used my usual smokescreen tactics to blind the enemy while racing through their ranks.

‘This will blind the Hobgoblin Boss, so he won’t be able to pinpoint my exact location!’

By using <Automatic Summon> to bring out juiced-up Venomous Spikes to temporarily poison the Champions, as well as Fireballs and Demon Cores to kill off others, I would her rid of the small fry, while safely making my way to the big bad.

That was how I wanted it to go!

Unfortunately, once again, my plans were thwarted.

>WHOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<

In a flash, another spear roared as it shot at me with frightening speed. It was faster than the previous one, but thanks to my total focus in the direction of the Hobgoblin Boss as I ran accordingly, I was able to see it approach before it was too late.

The results of the spear was devastating, nonetheless, though.

>SHUUUUUUUUUU<

The clouds of smoke parted ways as the spinning spear neared me, ready to rip me to shreds despite being in an enhanced state.

“Well, shit!”

This time, I had no intention of dodging!

Thanks to spotting the object early, I sucked it into [Subspace], only barely though.

However, by the time I had done that, the damage had been done. The wind pressure from the javelin of destruction was enough to chase away all the smoke I had used for cover, leaving the area bare once again.

I found myself at the center of an army of Hobgoblin Champions, seemingly exposed.

‘It’s okay… the effects of <Camouflage> and <Sneak> are still on!’

I was about to heave a sigh of relief and continue my march toward the Boss when I spotted an evil, malevolent, utterly crafty grin locked on the lips of the Boss my eyes were on.

“GUUUUUURUUUUKKKK!!!” The creature of green flesh and absolute nightmare gave a deafening roar, causing my bones to chatter and my ears to ring out in protest.

A string of emotions was let loose within me and my instincts screamed only one thought into me as the warning burned itself into my body.

‘Something’s coming!’