[Maximum experience reached. Skill Dash Level 1 Unlocked]

Evaluation!

[SKILL: Dash Level 1]

Increases your speed by 5%.

When used, your SP will decrease by 1 every minute.]

Not enough!

Mamadou felt his Speed stat receive a boost, bringing it close to 13, but he knew it wasn’t enough to get him out of this mess. He immediately grabbed the axe strapped to his back.

Mamadou clenched his teeth. He had to break through the encirclement.

My level is too low. All I can do is leave scratches on them. If only I had been able to raise my level as much as possible...

This time, Mamadou took the initiative. He wanted to create the opportunity himself—the opportunity to escape.

Mamadou charged toward one of the goblins and brought his axe down vertically.

His eyes narrowed.

His attack had been blocked by the goblin’s axe. Not only that, but the recoil shattered the bones in his arm.

He didn’t even have time to retreat before another goblin stabbed him with a spear.

Mamadou gritted his teeth, switched the axe to his other hand, and cut through the spear that had pierced his abdomen.

He was beginning to feel pain, and its intensity increased over time.

He had never figured out how much SP his skills consumed, aside from Dash, and he had never had the presence of mind to test it. Now his SP was too low to maintain Pain Resistance.

Left. Right. Up.

Thrust. Slash. Bam.

Mamadou dodged the goblins’ attacks thanks to their predictability and took two steps forward.

Although he wasn’t landing any decisive blows, he was slowly moving the battlefield without the goblins noticing.

The goblins continued attacking fiercely. The fight resembled a game of cat and mouse.

He failed to dodge the next attack and blocked it with his broken arm.

The pain was intense.

The Goblin Chief, who was still observing the battle, suddenly felt that the monkey’s movements were slowing down.

Slash! Whoosh!

Had it finally adapted to the fighting style of the goblins he had sent?

Crack! BAM!

No, that wasn’t it.

His eyes could be deceived, but his experience never lied. The intervals between the monkey’s evasive movements were growing longer as it slowed down.

The Goblin Chief knew that at the beginning, the monkey had been dodging attacks before they were even launched, creating the illusion of tremendous speed. Combined with the monkey’s agility, it had made things difficult for his men. It had been a form of stalemate.

But now the monkey was taking more hits than before.

So it’s almost over? thought Chief Oro.

[Maximum experience reached. Language Skill Level 1 Unlocked]

"This is not the time!" Mamadou shouted.

"..."

The large goblin smiled when he heard the monkey shout.

"I knew it could understand, but to think it can speak our language. That changes everything."

"Stop!" he ordered.

The Goblin Chief was no fool and thought quickly.

Just as he was about to tell his men to stop playing around and finish things seriously—they still needed to hunt for food afterward, so they should capture the monkey alive as quickly as possible—an uneasy feeling struck him.

He removed his hand from his chin and looked more closely at the monkey.

It had stopped moving.

Its leg muscles compressed. Taking advantage of the moment when the goblins had paused, it leaped out of the encirclement and rushed directly at him.

Why is it moving now? Has it lost its mind...?

After all, if it had leaped in the opposite direction, it would have reached the trees toward which it had been gradually shifting the battlefield and might have escaped.

Although surprised, the Goblin Chief didn’t hesitate.

He clenched his fists.

He was being challenged by a dying creature. Naturally, he would answer.

Whoosh.

The Goblin Chief dodged the monkey’s claw strike and immediately responded with a punch to its abdomen.

The monkey fell to the ground and, even while down, tried to claw at the Goblin Chief, but he stepped back half a pace.

It’s different.

If it had been trying to flee all this time, now all it wants is to kill.

It’s finally behaving like a real monster.

I don’t feel the intelligence that was driving it anymore.

"Is it acting on instinct?" wondered the Goblin Chief.

The monkey immediately leaped at him again and this time threw a punch the way a goblin would.

The Goblin Chief didn’t dodge and took the hit.

???

This is definitely different from when it was fighting the others.

"But still not enough!"

The Goblin Chief shouted as he grabbed the monkey by its tail, spun it around, and slammed it into the ground.

As if it ignored pain entirely, the monkey immediately bit him.

Shwaaaah!

Murky fluid burst from the Goblin Chief’s hand, causing him to immediately pull it back.

"Chief Oro!" the other goblins called out in concern.

"Stay back!"

The goblins immediately retreated.

"You’ve gone from prey to opponent. We goblin warriors respect only strength. And among my kind, I am different. I don’t just respect strength—I respect battle itself. That’s why I even respect the weak. And today, you did not disappoint."

"If you agree to answer my questions, I can spare you."

Grrrrr!

"I see. You’ve completely lost your mind," Chief Oro declared as he watched the monkey stand up again with a completely feral expression.

He approached the beast several more times but had to step aside to avoid its fangs.

He only needed to make the creature lose consciousness, but his previous attack had failed to do so.

It was much harder to deal with the beast if he had to keep it alive. If he used too much force, it would die instantly in its current condition.

Frustrated, he tried to break the monkey’s other arm, but since the monkey was airborne, the blow merely sent it crashing to the ground once more.

Rhaargjg!

The monkey got up again and tried to claw at him.

"Come now. If you die from this blow, then that’s all you were worth."

The Goblin Chief threw a punch in his head that sent the monkey flying.

Its back slammed against a tree.

What am I doing? thought Mamadou.

He looked at his shattered arm and his battered body. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

About four meters away stood the goblins, and farther beyond them was the terrifying gobelin-like figure that had been constantly observing him.

Shit.

He ran.

The opportunity he had dreamed of had presented itself on its own.

He ran, then climbed from tree to tree toward the mountain.

The Goblin Chief immediately understood where the monkey was heading.

He barked an order.

"Find him before he reaches Mount Meru!"