Rise Of The Hoarder

“Do you have anything else to offer? Show me!”

The Demon energy I just harvested was going to be useful, but I wanted to see more tricks. I wanted it to show me more abilities and throw more stuff at me before it met a miserable end.

It would be a waste if I didn’t get as much as I could out of the monster. Unfortunately, time was running out.

‘Its HP is depleting at a fast rate. At this pace… It won’t be long before…’

I now had no other choice.

Rather than slowly feel one’s life force getting drained, a quick and obviously painful death would be better, not so? In my benevolence, I looked at the dying monster and came to a conclusion.

“It’s time for you to die, uh?”

But, to commemorate with the Demon who had offered so much entertainment, it wouldn’t do to just send it off like that. I had to make the end spectacular… without wasting any resources.

“Let’s see… how about a game of tag? You’re it!”

I summoned basically every Grade 2 weapon that could damage the monster and pointed them straight at it. If all of them lunged at it with full speed, death was assured._.

The Hobgoblin King must have realized that too since it donned a slightly frightened expression at the multiple weapons about to descend upon it.

But, I wasn’t so heartless as to just kill it off without having a little fun first.

“Don’t worry, I won’t make them attack at once. The rules are simple, really…”

My dear green Hobgoblin monster looked at me with suspicion upon hearing what I said, certainly wondering what exactly I was up to. I did see a look of relief break upon its face though.

“It’s a simple game… I’ll launch the weapons at you one after the other. If they miss, I’ll recall them and never summon them. If you manage to dodge all of them without a single one hitting you, then that means victory ok your end. If that happens, I’ll spare you.”

My lips curled up in a sincere smile, but somehow, I felt like the monster didn’t believe me.

“Hmmm…” A growling sound filled with inquisition echoed from my adversary.

Still, it wasn’t like it had much of a choice. Death was imminent, the least the creature would do was to pick the best option that would offer even the tiniest hope for survival.

And, just as I expected… the idiot accepted my game offer.

“Will do it. Will be free!”

I shrugged and gave a ‘whatever’ look. It wasn’t going to win, anyway. This was just entertainment. I wanted to watch it struggle until death, and since it was ultimately a beast of instinct, survival would push it to keep clinging to life.

“Let us begin!”

A grin appeared on my face as I resorted to one of the Hobgoblin Chief’s Daggers as the first of my weapons… just to test the waters.

>WHOOOOSSHHHH<

The Hobgoblin King seemed to muster all the strength it could and jumped out of the way of the speeding weapon just seconds before it could pierce any skin.

>BOOOMM!!!<

The earth rumbled as that single dagger made an impact with the ground instead.

Wasting no time, I sent the second dagger, and the monster miraculously dodged it once more.

“Oh? Not bad.” My voice contained amusement.

More weapons took turns, but the Hobgoblin King kept dodging them. The will to live was something never to look down on, and this Demon showed me precisely why that was true.

“Oh? Nice!”

“Close one!”

“Barely missed!”

“Would you look at that!”

I kept making comments with each splendid dodge the Hobgoblin King made. Determination filled the monster’s eyes as I egged it on. I was certain I saw a glint of hatred and humiliation flash in its eyes, but the monster could do nothing but put up with it.

Finally, after many ‘whooshes’ only one weapon was left. It was one of the fallen king’s very own Javelins.

“If you evade this successfully and the javelins hit the ground, it’s your win.”

Upon hearing me and the sincere tone by which I spoke, the challenger gave a grin. So far, it had managed through thick and thin. It was going to survive this too!

Armed with the confidence obtained from its previous trials, the Hobgoblin King eyes the weapon that was already ready to strike.

“Now!”

The Hobgoblin King’s Javelin swept through the air and made its way toward its target, the Hobgoblin King himself!

It whirred, sparking with crimson energy as it drilled its way through and transversed the distance between them like it was nothing.

At the very same moment, the Hobgoblin King made its move to evade. Judging by their current pace, it was clear that the Hobgoblin King would successfully evade the strike, leading to its victory.

Was I aware of this from the start? Of course! That was what made this so much fun!

As the javelin was about to miss the Hobgoblin King who had skillfully gotten out of the way, it vanished! Yes, the spear vanished.

Before the Hobgoblin King could guess exactly how and why it disappeared, the very same spear appeared behind it, in its blind spot, while it was stuck in midair, and— ‘Whoooosh!’

The Javelin made its way into the green flesh of the shocked Hobgoblin King, piercing its back muscles, and sending blood gushing out like splattered jam out of bread.

I saw everything in slow motion, making me capture every beautiful detail of that moment.

In a flash, yet for way longer in my perspective, the game of tag was over… and it ended in my victory!

“Looks like you lose… shame… You were just a little step away from victory, too…”

The moment the wounded monster heard me say this, it growled and glared at my smut smile, returning it with hate and contempt.

“You… Bastard! What did you do!?!”

Well, in all honesty, I obviously wasn’t going to let it live.’

It was all just for fun… but that was over now!