Chapter 16: Goblin Chief Part 2

[Sophia's POV]

I sighed, seeing my subordinate excitedly go out into the cave to wash with blood.

It's good that she's happy and all, but at least shows resistance when being ordered to do such gross things, I thought so as I planned what will I do, of course, I already presumed that I will win against the goblin chief as I said, I became arrogant because of that place.

Anyway, I am planning on not killing the chief, because first, when I kill him, I will have another tanky type soldier and it will cause some kind of imbalance, plus he, with a little help from me, can be a trainer for the goblins and that's a spectacular idea, I just have to make it so that he will have more Intelligence and as [Guide] has confirmed, monsters can have more brain size when they are named.

Hmm... Sounds good, but, for the first time since I came into this world, [Guide] interjected in my trains of thought.

He is still mechanical in sound, but still, how strange this is, but because I don't have much leisure time, I ignored it and listened to him.

[Master, killing and not killing the head of the goblins can  severely affect your future path to take.]

I blinked, staring at the lake in which is in front of me all the time, as I asked.

How so?

How can choosing peace and violence lead to two different futures?

[Guide] replied.

[Master, choosing "peace", as you call it, will give you the title [Magnanimity of the Strong], the title includes being able to acquire the sincere allegiance of the goblin chief that will also lead to acquiring the undying loyalty of the village, however, the title had a Title Skill [Respect].

Title skills are skills obtained through titles, not exactly unique for titles are universal, but still rarer than common skills.]

Huh... I see, wouldn't that be the best choice then? I thought of that but still, find myself curious why is there a "however" when he said about the Title Skill.

To my question, [Guide] replied.

[Master, the Skill [Respect], as the name suggests will make you feel more respected by the race that had given their loyalty to you, not considering whether or not the individuals of the race gave their servitude officially.

However, on the flip side, your actions must be "respectable" all the time, meaning that killing, plotting against someone, and more that you already did and are also things worth to be frowned upon will make your subordinates lose their respect towards you.

Completely losing respect will have the title punish the holder.

The skill will grant the same EXP. Share ability as the [Necromancy] unique skill has.]

Woah...

I have never seen a portrayal of the word "respect" and "Magnanimity" like it was the last thing I should do in this world, I am not being magnanimous, I just want it so that my needs will be met in the best possible way for me.

Do you get that [Guide]?

[Guide] continued to explain, ignoring my question.

[Master, on the other hand, killing the chief of the goblins and choosing "violence" will give you the title [Merciless Tyrant] that will give you the ability to make people submit by the force of fear to you.

The title will grant you the Title Skill [Fear] which will let you subdue a whole community by killing its leader.

Any slaves you will acquire will be bound in a signed contract by the blood that any acts of betrayal towards you will be punishable by electrocution.

On the flip side, having slaves will not let you have the EXP. Share ability.]

[Fear]? Not [Slavery]?

[Master, [Slavery] is not a title skill but a common skill.]

I took a deep breath knowing the last information but ignored it as I weighed down my options.

Well, if I want to use the EXP. Share, then the former is what will I want, but the title will leave me in a force pacifism-like state, and honestly, that feels ultra restraining for me.

On the other title, I got subordinates that cannot go against my will, but the downside is that I can't benefit from their kills, I presume that only the proper [Slavery] skill can give me the same abilities... Though... I don't think I want to acquire that skill right now.

Oh, but I noticed something, [Guide], why is it that it is more detrimental to choose [Respect] than [Fear]?

[Master, because that's how the system made the skills and titles.

Other than that, I have no idea because of the lack of information...

Temporary information acquired from Master's brain, master, it might be because Respect is hard to gain and easy to lose than fear.]

Oh, you took the explanation out of my mouth, indeed that's basically how the logic between those two titles worked, Respect is something you worked hard for and needed to keep working hard to maintain, one single slip-up will make respect disappear.

While fear is something that will be engraved in a person's heart, traumas are the best examples.

Damn, when did all of this become contemporary?

Anyway, after deliberation, I decided to just kill the chief, in the logic that Fear is easier to earn and keep than respect, even though they became unconsciously loyal to me, they will still fear that I will kill them if I didn't get what I want, like "earn respect by fear" logic.

So after I killed him, I will turn him into an undead that can supervise his former kinsmen, plain and simple. He will still train the soldiers after being thought of by me, but now as one of my undead.

The only thing that sucks is that I won't get EXP from the kills of the soldiers, but who am I to complain, I think that not having scraps of EXP is better than being stabbed in the back by your people(slaves).

[Guide], I shall choose to slay the chief, thank you for giving me adequate information about a decision I otherwise think is the best.

For some reason, [Guide] didn't respond for a few five seconds.

[Master, it is my pleasure to give you my assistance.]

Right... I am happy to hear that.

And so with that, my path was officially sealed. In the future, will this give me fortune? Or will it hand me my downfall? All of this is unknown to me, after all, I am not a god.

.

.

.

After that conversation with my skill, I immediately called out Kabuto as he, who is behind my back the whole time knelt, looking at the ground as I turned around to face him.

"My Lady, I have once failed you and shall never do it again, command me and I shall prove myself worthy of your trust."

He said, having a regal expression in his eyes, it's good and all to recognize mistakes, but this is somehow awkward because no matter how much he knelt, I am still looking up at him, he is four feet taller than me, alright?

But I don't want to shatter his determination, so  I replied.

"Then, prove yourself, you shall, this time, not disappoint."

I put my two small index and middle fingers in front of him and said.

"Go and seek your two seniors, immediately get Lyra out of her laying position outside. After that, go to the village of the goblins and surround the gate and two more important points of the goblin settlements, they shall not be able to go out of their settlements as they shiver in fear by seeing the mere presence of undead."

I finished giving my orders, but Kabuto suddenly asked.

"But, my lady, will you be fine fighting the chief alone? It is not like I am not trusting your power, but..."

I just shut him up with all of my palms, I noticed that he is quite the blabbermouth and we already heard the howl of the angry goblin chief that got his already not-so-good mental health damaged further, so I just pointed in the direction of the sound as I said.

"You heard that right? I will be fine, be quick on following my command."

Reluctantly, he followed my order by answering "Then, as you command my lady." I then smiled a little giving thumbs up as I dashed my way out of the cave, there I saw a creature a foot taller than me, green in color, and had muscles as hard as a rock.

Hey, what is Hulk's son doing here- Oof!

"That's unfair!!" I said, inwardly, of course as I blocked the enormous fist attack of the maddened monster.

I stumbled on the ground, seeing crimson fluids, my blood spurting out of my delicate left hand with some wheezing sound in my lungs signifying my broken ribs, all of that happened by that single punch alone.

I immediately activated [Dynamic Vision] and started to dodge the flurry of attacks of the chief by rolling around, after some time, I regained my footing and started to dodge more accurately and gracefully as I asked about my body's situation to [Guide].

[Master, all of the left hand shattered, three ribs to the left broken, piercing parts of the left lung, plus minor stress in the kidney.

Master, you will die in 10 minutes and counting when you failed to evolve in that time interval.]

Oh so being able to evolve fixes the damage to the body huh?

I asked the unique skill as I widened the distance between the chief and me and coughed some blood, I lost blood that is negligible for an adult, but because I am just a baby, my head started to get fuzzy because of immense blood loss.

[Master, yes, it can.]

[Guide] replied, whilst another punch came down crashing in my head, I immediately jumped out of the trajectory.

_Evolving as a Method of regeneration is inconvenient, I shall obtain a skill for automatic regeneration later._

I made a mental note as I conjure [Sand Magic] under the circumference of the goblin chief, the sand stuck on his fist as he tried to lift it but saw several tentacle-like brown objects clinging to it, I didn't even hesitate for a moment seeing his confusion as I dashed under him and used [Punch], landing it on his chin.

"Payback madafaka!!"

I then used [Squirt Magic] as I saw him stumble a little backward, I ignored the unbearable pain coming in my left side for I used my left side as the "brace" to the ground and thus the side exerted the most force and bullets of blue sheen emerged in front of me and immediately assaulted the face of the chief.

The water bullets I created exploded in contact, making me squint my eyes, this attack is expected to pierce his body, but I don't have time to complain and thus immediately went backward just to see the extended fist of the goblin chief, I used my staff and changed its trajectory successfully, good thing there are still those "sand tentacles" restraining the speed of the attack and thus didn't broke my right arm apart, but still caused stress in my delicate body.

[Master.

WARNING!!

Further stress on the right side of your body will hold you completely incapacitated.

I Repeat!

Further stress on the right side of your body will hold you completely incapacitated.

]

Yeah I know, but this shit is strong, it continued to attack me with its fist, unusually, in a refined manner, it seems like he have a unique skill or a very good common one, so we started a bailout as I activated [Observe], I used [Squirt Magic] to create bullets that directed into his skull, but he dodged it despite not being able to think rationally.

He then punched me, and because of my short stature, his punches always landed on the ground every time I dodge them, suddenly both of his fists were aimed at the same time at me.

This is just what I'm waiting for.

I immediately dodged the attack, making both of his fists touch the ground which I set up the [Sand Magic], I used a lot of mana to the magic so that it will move faster, and so it did.

The magic clung faster into the hand of the goblin chief as I looked at him, sneering and making a vertical line in the air using my index finger, suddenly a blade of air came sweeping into the side of the chief, cleaving his right hand perfectly in half, the air blade lost some power and just sliced through a fourth of his left arm.

The sand tentacles lost what they are clinging to as blood gushed out like a mad flood into the sliced parts of the goblin chief.

"GRUAAAAGHHH! GGRRARAGAAH!!"

He shouted as if there is no tomorrow because of the unbearable pain of losing one lower arm, which will cause phantom pains.

I immediately used a large chunk of my mana making hundred of bullets appear on top of the still agonizing monster as I made them fall into him all at once, at first explosions because of the hardness of his skin preventing the piercing effects of the bullets was seen, but I make him still by using the sand tentacles and after some time, the blood of unlimited amounts came like a fountain, the goblin chief is in his death bed.

As I thought of that, the goblin suddenly ripped all the sand tentacles clinging to him as he stood up with bloodshot eyes.

[Master, the goblin chief is in berserk mo- Oh he dies- Bzzt!]

Again with the "Bzzt!"? Well, I ignored that as another air blade crashed into the body of the former goblin chief, tearing his body in half, lengthwise.

Useless berserk mode.