Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

Looking at them properly now, I couldn’t help but feel a flicker of awe at just how monkey-like they were.

Their limbs were too long, proportions stretched as if their entire bodies had been engineered for acceleration rather than comfort.

Their upper torsos were thick and barrel-like, packed with muscle, while their legs were digitigrade, built for explosive leaps rather than steady walking.

And then there was their long prehensile tail.

It hung loosely behind them now, but I could already imagine how it would coil, how it could be used for balance mid-leap… or to wrap around a throat and crush the life out of someone.

Yeah. From the way it moved, I had no doubt it could do that.

They stood close to six feet tall, covered in coarse black fur, with hardened, reinforced areas around their shoulders, forearms, and claws. Those patches looked like layered keratin plates, natural armor grown over the parts of their bodies most likely to bear impact.

Their leader, however, was different.

Its fur was darker overall, but a thick white mane ran from the crown of its head down its spine, streaked through with charcoal-black strands that made it stand out immediately.

Its arms were crisscrossed with old scars, not shallow ones, but deep, healed marks that spoke of battles survived rather than avoided.

Along those arms were dense, bone-like plates grown naturally into the flesh, layered and reinforced, and at the end of its hands were hooked fangs instead of simple claws, brutal things that looked more suited to tearing armor apart than rending flesh.

I narrowed my eyes and activated [Analyze].

Information surfaced instantly.

[Alpha Varkuun Howler | Level 52]

Then the two beside it.

[Elite Varkuun Howler | Level 45]

[Elite Varkuun Howler | Level 46]

…Oh.

The alpha level was higher than mine, with on the same level as I was and the other a level higher.

Not that numbers alone decided fights, but they did tell a story, and this one said I wasn’t dealing with fodder.

The alpha stepped forward, each movement deliberate, heavy with authority.

The forest seemed to quiet around him as he spoke, his voice deep, rough, and carrying a strange resonance that made it feel like it vibrated through the ground itself.

”Where is the fiend?”

Fiend?

Was he talking about Narg?

”What do you want with him?” I asked, keeping my tone steady even as my grip tightened around Gravefang.

The alpha’s expression twisted into a deep scowl, lips peeling back to reveal those jagged fangs.

”Isn’t it obvious, goblin?” he growled, and let out a thunderous bellow that shook the forest canopy and sent birds screaming into the air:

”I WANT HIM DEAD!”

The hatred in his voice was raw and overwhelming.

It rolled off him in waves so thick it made my skin prickle.

He took another step forward, fists clenching.

”The carrier of that power invaded my home and slaughtered everyone,” he continued, his voice dropping into something darker. ”He turned them into bones, drained their lives until nothing remained. I was the only one who survived.”

His eyes burned as he fixed them on me.

”I swore revenge. I will have his head.”

The carrier of that power…

My thoughts clicked into place instantly.

He wasn’t talking about Narg.

He was talking about the previous wielder, Jael.

But Narg wasn’t Jael.

I doubted, though, if I told the alpha ape it would give a damn.

Judging from the way the alpha’s aura churned with hatred, telling him that wouldn’t make the slightest difference.

So I didn’t bother explaining.

”Look,” I said instead, my voice calm despite the tension coiling in my chest, ”the goblin you’re after is under my protection. I’d rather you not kill him. Thank you very much.”

The alpha didn’t even hesitate.

”Then…” his lips peeled back as his jaw widened unnaturally, energy swelling inside his mouth, ”…I’ll just kill you and him.”

The air compressed.

Before the words fully settled, a concussive shockwave detonated outward, violent and focused, the pressure ripping through the forest in a straight line.

I activated [Swap], and in the blink of an eye, my position was exchanged with the Howler standing beside the alpha.

The elite didn’t even have time to realize what had happened before the shockwave slammed into him head-on, sending his massive body skidding backward like he’d been struck by a siege weapon, his chest caving in with a sickening crunch as he tore through dirt and stone.

I reappeared exactly where he had been standing, right beside the alpha.

And without pause, or wasted motion, I dove in immediately, twisting my body forward as Gravefang flashed in my hand, void energy screaming along the blade as I slashed toward the alpha’s exposed side, fully intent on ending the fight before he could unleash another attack.

The alpha sensed me almost the instant I moved.

My slash carved through empty air, but the one behind him wasn’t so fortunate.

Void energy peeled off my blade in a violent arc, and the trailing Howler lost its arm cleanly at the shoulder.

Blood sprayed as it staggered back, letting out a raw, pained cry, a sound that barely finished forming before I closed the distance again, taking its head with a second slash.

The howler’s body collapsed, and I turned towards the alpha ape.

The alpha pupils shrank at the sight, then flooded red as rage detonated behind its eyes.

In the next instant, it vanished from where it stood and reappeared in front of me, speed so extreme it felt like the space between us had folded.

A massive claw swept toward my head, carrying enough force to shatter bone, but it struck nothing as I swerved aside, just enough to let the attack tear through empty air, the pressure alone blasting leaves and dirt outward like a shockwave.

I countered immediately, and the alpha slipped away again.

But I didn’t stop.

I pressed harder, chaining slash after slash, void energy screaming as Gravefang carved through the space where it should have been.

Trees behind him were split.

Stone was cleaved.

The forest itself bore the scars of my missed strikes.

But the alpha kept moving.

It was too fast and precise.

”In that case…”