11. Gather Points (2)

I stepped outside the villa and scouted for locations likely to have plenty of prey.

‘A place with lots of prey, huh.’

Killing ordinary civilians would only net me 15 points each. To gather 1500 points, I’d have to kill 100 people.

‘Huh, that’s not as many as I thought. If I play my cards right, I might be able to do it within today.’

Occasionally catching Awakened individuals would double the points, so even just 50 Awakened would get me to 1500 points.

‘Should I just raid the Academy?’

Frankly, clearing out just one Hunter Academy dormitory would probably get me the 1500 points I need by the end of the day.

However, former Hunter professors and the reckless troublemaker protagonist along with other exceptional students have likely already taken over the Academy and barricaded themselves inside. They might even be fighting amongst themselves by now.

Above all, the place is rigged with all sorts of barriers to prevent villain attacks, making infiltration extremely difficult. And even if I managed to get in, with my current abilities, surviving in what’s essentially become a battleground seems impossible.

‘Guess I’ll have to roam apartment complexes and kill civilians…’

Areas with high human populations naturally attract more monsters, so I should check out nearby apartment complexes.

While this area is packed with villas, the narrow streets make ambushes too risky, and it doesn’t seem very appealing.

‘In terms of “flavor,” supermarkets or warehouse-style stores would be the best.’

Plenty of goods and likely a good number of Awakened like me coming to loot the place. Just camping there and hunting survivors would be quite profitable.

‘I’m seriously lacking clothes right now…’

First, I should stop by a clothing store nearby.

The original owner of this body, Elena, only had flimsy skirts and dresses-nothing suitable for combat.

I need to find some sturdy jeans and tops.

“Keeeeeek!!!!”

“Kekeee!!!”

Just then, the unmistakable grating, shitty voices of goblins echoed from a distance.

‘What the…’

There seemed to be quite a few. What’s going on? Something must be happening in this neighborhood.

I cautiously moved toward the source of the noise.

‘Hmm…’

As I got closer, I saw a sizable group of goblins gathered in front of the local church, beheading people. They seemed to be conducting some kind of ritual…

‘That bastard…’

Scanning the group, one goblin stood out-shouting something in their bizarre language to the others.

[Name: Goblin Shaman]

[Info: A goblin capable of using shamanistic magic. Smarter than your average goblin.]

[Abilities: Basic shamanistic magic, commanding kin]

‘Ooooh…!’

Reading the Monster Encyclopedia supposedly gives information about creatures from the otherworld, and sure enough, details about the Goblin Shaman popped up.

‘There are regular goblins and hobgoblins too…’

There were about thirty of them in total-roughly ten hobgoblins and the rest regular goblins.

‘Looks like they’re planning to nest in the church.’

What would happen if a goblin nest sprouted just a 15-minute walk from my house?

‘Goblins have an innate hoarding compulsion and go full mast at the sight of women. Hmm…’

Goblins are an all-male species. That’s why they go berserk, kidnapping and “training” any female they see. They even use them as emergency rations-utter scum.

No wonder Goblin Slayer goes around slaughtering them exclusively.

‘Leaving them be would turn this into a great point farm, but it’s too close to home. Can’t be helped.’

Getting ambushed by goblin bastards in the middle of the night is a hard pass. Can’t have monsters setting up nests near my place.

‘Time to farm some points…’

I entered a building overlooking the goblins, planning to climb to the roof and rain fireballs down on them.

-Clank. Clank.

‘Fuck.’

Of course, the rooftop door was locked tight.

“Ah, fuck!!”

-BAM!!!! CRASH!!!

Two kicks later, the door crumpled open. With 28 Strength, two hits were enough. My foot stung a bit, but it was bearable.

‘Nice…’

Pressing close to the rooftop railing, I pulled out the Archangel’s staff.

Primary target: the Goblin Shaman.

Having fought both regular goblins and hobgoblins yesterday, they were nothing special. But the shaman was a first-smarter, with magic and command abilities.

So, taking it out first was non-negotiable.

“…Burn the enemy and open the path.”

After muttering the cringe-worthy incantation nonstop for 20 seconds, a fireball shot from the tip of the staff.

10 Magic Points drained as the fist-sized flame flew straight into the face of the loudly chattering Goblin Shaman.

-WHOOSH!!!

A small explosion later, the feather crown on the shaman’s head caught fire.

“Keeeeeek!!!!”

Being a basic spell, it wasn’t enough to kill in one hit. But at least setting its head on fire neutralized the threat.

‘They’re climbing up…’

My original plan was to spam magic from the roof, but the 20-second incantation turned out to be way too long. Instant casting would’ve been ideal.

“Keeeeeek!!!!”

Soon, goblins started scaling the building’s exterior. Unable to find the entrance, they clung to AC units and railings, brute-forcing their way up.

And they were fast-like green-skinned monkeys.

“Hyah!!”

I pulled out the wooden spears and cheap goblin weapons I’d collected yesterday and hurled them at the climbers.

-THWACK!!!

“Kyaaaaaa!!!!”

-CRASH!!!

One by one, they fell. For those hiding under AC units, I tossed out shikigami.

“Kyaaaa!!!!”

-THUD! CRASH!!!

The shikigami stabbed their eyes and clung to their faces, making them lose their grip and plummet headfirst.

[10 points acquired]

Even kills via shikigami counted as mine. The judgment range seemed pretty generous.

‘That’s twenty down.’

About twenty climbing goblins had been dropped to their deaths.

Though I’d already used up nearly half my shikigami, the payoff was huge. Holding the high ground was definitely the right call.

Their lack of familiarity with human architecture meant they mindlessly scaled the walls instead of finding the entrance, letting me rack up twenty kills with minimal effort.

‘Over time, monsters will adapt to Earth’s environment…’

Once that happens, these early-game exploits won’t work. As monsters integrate deeper, the hunters will become the hunted-by monsters in disguise.

“Graaahk!!!”

“Here we go.”

One finally made it up. Naturally, the stronger hobgoblins were the fastest climbers.

“Hoo. Hyah!!”

-THWACK!!!!

I threw a kitchen knife I’d prepared earlier with all my might.

“Gwaaaa!!!”

The knife pierced the hobgoblin’s chest clean through, making it lose balance and topple backward off the roof.

-THUD!!!

Gotta wipe them out before getting surrounded. Picking them off from mid-to-long range is optimal-getting injured just isn’t worth it.

“Kyaaa!!”

“Graaaaah!!!”

As I kept throwing knives at every climber, the goblins realized mindless climbing meant death and started hesitating, clinging to the railings to assess the situation.

“Hey!! I’m right here!! Come up and kill me!!”

“Keeeeeek!!!”

“Hmm.”

They just screeched back without moving. I considered harassing them with shikigami, but with only 22 left, I needed to conserve them.

Shikigami were useful but fragile-they’d tear easily if grabbed or hit. Spamming them would deplete my stock fast.

‘Stay hanging there forever, you bugs. I’m heading down.’

While the scared goblins stupidly clung to the railings, I hurried downstairs.

‘The shaman’s still alive.’

If it had died, I’d have gotten points. Since nothing came through, it must be critically injured. Left unchecked, it could become a problem.

‘There it is!’

The Goblin Shaman, with over half its head burned, was being escorted by two hobgoblins into the church.

“Hup!!!”

Out of knives, I hurled bricks from my inventory at them.

-CRASH!!!!

“Kyaaaaak!!!!!!”

A hobgoblin collapsed, spewing blood or vomit-hard to tell-as the brick shattered its spine. Yeah, that’s a death sentence.

“Huff!!”

Three more bricks later, even the fleeing hobgoblin and the half-burned shaman were down.

“Keeeeeek!!!”

Only three goblins remained, still cautiously watching the rooftop, unaware I’d left.

“Hoo. Die, just die already.”

I grabbed discarded goblin weapons and hurled them at the descending trio.

One got impaled through the waist, flailing before falling. Another tried smashing through a window but took a brick to the head mid-leap. The last, nearly down, twisted its ankle, staggered away, and got its skull crushed by my hands.

“Hoo…”

Total count: 34.

22 regular goblins. 11 hobgoblins. 1 shaman.

‘Regular ones give 10 points. Hobgoblins 15. Shaman 20…’

The shaman only gave 20 points-I expected at least 30. Guess not.

“Anyway, 405 points acquired. Hoo. Productive.”

Total points now: 559.

A short battle under 30 minutes earned me enough for the Night Vision engraving. Hunting seriously pays well.

“Now then…”

I collected intact weapons from the scattered remains, then used an undamaged knife to harvest goblin ears-44 regular, 22 hobgoblin, and one shaman pair. A crazy haul.

“Next, the gallbladders…”

My hands trembled slightly-the gallbladder recovery rate was under 50%.

Smashing things to death is my forte, but gallbladder extraction requires finesse I lack.

And worse…

“Fuck!”

Most of the fallen had burst gallbladders.

Ruined before I could even extract them. God-fucking-dammit.