Cole locked blades with a goblin and quickly turned it in the direction of an incoming blast of fire from one of the shamans. The goblin in question let out a startled cry as the car splashed on his back, Cole responded by grabbing it’s neck immediately.

[Sin Eater]

The influx of energy he received from the Goblin was enough to finish it off, as he quickly rolled to the side, avoiding another fire ball, as he got himself Tangled in between the legs of two other goblins. He grunted in pain as he felt a spear come down on his calf, but he took it in stride and rolled, bringing both goblins to the ground in a tangled heap. The only thing unfortunate about this position for them was that they were both facing down and he up.

He short sword flashed left and right, finding purchase in their backs, right above their waist. The third lumbar down… Riddick’s sweet spot.

Cole waved his sword in his face as another fire blast exploded off it. It was not enough to deflect it from him as the flames licked his skin, but the clothes he had one provided some measure of security for his body. But there were still two shamans standing, and they had nothing else to do but continuously lob fireballs in Cole’s direction.

[Gravity]

The next fireball followed a curved path to the left where it smashed into the face of the goblin that had been sneaking up on Cole. It went down with a pained screech as it’s head caught on fire and it quickly spread to the rest of it’s body.

Cole had figured out why the goblins were just so damn flammable during the course of the fight. They stank to the high heavens, and their sweet was thick and viscous, all over their bodies like grime…. It was a new realization for him…. At least for this floor anyways….. Goblin sweat was highly flammable…. Perhaps even their blood too.

This also explained why they were required as a resource and he had to bring back their bodies as opposed to just the ears as it had been in previous fantasy games, or games where he had to hunt goblins. Either way, guess this was something that would be added to the Trivia.

[Spectral Rover]

To the naked eye, Cole’s body became a purple, blue and red blue with arcs of sizzling green lighting wafting off his body. He made it to the middle of both shamans, going down on his knee as he swiftly stabbed into their sides. He cursed softly as his blade had caught on the ribs of the Goblin shaman on the right, but it was dying last so he had enough time to attack again, this time sliding the blade through its neck and watching as it’s head fell to the ground with a thud.

[Sin Eater]

As all his small Nick’s and cuts and bruises were healed, Cole absorbed energy from the other Shaman. He had not gone for a killing blow just for this reason. He needed to replenish his reserves. For some reason, all of his absorption had not given him any permanent increase to his energy, it was still the same as it was.

Cole couldn’t really figure that out at the moment. He was the only Raen Spawn in existence, at least for now anyways. So he was left all by himself to figure out the links for his race. Either way, Cole was sufficiently intelligent enough to have a few working theories.

It was just entirely possible that the goblins were considered too weak a race for his ability to plunder energy from them, or perhaps the difference was in their origins. These goblins are dungeon creatures, they were not an original life form but were instead made. So perhaps due to that, his skill could not absorb energy bases permanently from them, but just absorb energy to top off what he has spent.

But then again it could just be something else entirely, he did not have an instruction manual for this shit. He was a demon, or at least a variation of it that can and will grow incredibly strong with enough time. There’s bound to be some weak points in it’s early stages. But Cole was still in the middle of a fight, trying to figure out what a Raen Spawn can do, would take a bit of time.

“Re Me Du Ke Fu Je He Ki Ye Me Du Ke Mo Ke!”

“Yeah Fuck You Too Ugly!” Cole yelled back at the five remaining goblins who had taken to insulting him. Of course he knew it couldn’t just end with them, the moment they were all dead, the Hob-goblin bosses bidding their time in those three tents will come out and have his guys for lunch….. or he would be the person eating them instead….. he was getting really good at ‘eating’ his opponents after all.

The Goblins got impatient and charged, Cole backed away. Carefully dancing around a few obvious mounds in the areas, until he ended up right in the middle of a cluster of them.

There were three such clusters around, and Cole already had plans for them. The goblins were predictable, in all honesty so far, it was his fight with the goblins that had been the most game like mechanic he had experienced since this event started.

They rushed forwards blindly and angrily. And Cole was banking on that as he drew on half his energy reserves and drew his body in tucking in his arms and his knees together as he made his body as small he could.

The air sizzled with energy, it flickered and crested distortions in the air, creating a sort of concave shield that was in front of Cole’s body. And when the goblins were just two meters away from him, after arranging themselves well enough that they were within his range, Cole tunnels all of the energy he had pulled into a skill.

[Gravity]

It was like an exhale, only of course it was the most powerful exhale Cole had ever released. The ground was ripped up in chunks, filthy bags with red sigils all over them were unearthed and thrown in the direction of the approaching goblins. Cole quickly crested a small bubble around his body, but even that wasn’t enough to stave off what came next.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BANG!*

He was blasted backwards his body bouncing off the ground multiple times until he slammed against a pillar, caving it in before a metal ladder that seemed to lead upwards into the pillar stopped his movement. But that was easier said than done as Cole felt more than a couple of things break in his body as he landed on the ground with a thud, his entire body on fire.

The Dings of notifications could be heard as he grunted in pain and gritted his teeth to endure and deal with it. There was dust in the air entwined with the scent of burnt flesh and the wails of goblins set ablaze by their own traps.

Cole felt a steady drain on his energy reserves, he pulled out 1 out of his remaining 5 energy capsules and used it. He was still pretty much low leveled, so the capsule topped him off quickly enough. But even at that the drain on his energy was still constant as he felt bones pop back into place.

For all intents and purpose he should be dead, but his [Demon Constitution] skill was a chest in and out of itself. Cole suspected that the stronger he becomes, the more energy that would be required to heal him, which means energy capsules would be probably be his go to go consumable from now on. 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕.𝚝

He had two more healing pills left, he threw them into his mouth, ignoring the adrenaline inhalers sitting there. He used another energy capsule. But even that too was bottomed out. At that Cole wondered just how badly he was injured, but it was in that moment he felt three spots in his spine snap into place, drawing a pained gasp from him.

It was then he had realized that he had not been able to move anything from his waist down, and he had only been able to use his left hand while his right laid uselessly by his side, his fist still wrapped around his sword. The realignment of his spine put everything back into perspective for him, as he used another energy capsule.

His energy reserves drained until it was half full, and then it stopped, Cole was completely healed. But in the few seconds it had taken he had lost the initiative.

He quickly rolled to the side, dodging the massive axe that smashed across the metal ladder that had broken his back. He felt more than saw the bolt of lightning heading his way as he condensed gravity around himself to act as a shield that deflected the attack to the side, blasting a massive hole in the ground besides him, with rocks pelting his form as he rolled away, dodging a massive metal javelin adorned with skulls that smashed into the ground besides him.

[Spectral Rover] helped him create distance as he was now face to face to with the three hob-goblins standing in front of him. They all easily went over the seven foot mark, and they looked like they were built from a template of Conan the barbarian.

[Boss Guroks The Three: Hob-goblin Berserker/Level 25/Iron Rank]

[Boss Guroks The Three: Hob-goblin Lightning Mage/ Level 27/Iron Rank]

[Boss Guroks The Three: Hob-goblin Lancer/Level 25/ Iron Rank]

“How the fuck is this the first floor of a fucking Dungeon! Fuck!”