Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

Veyra, who had been silent until now, shifted her weight slightly and spoke without taking her eyes off me.

”We could gain his abilities if we manage to defeat him though.”

”Don’t rile him up, V,” Drel replied calmly.

”I don’t even care about abilities,” Kharos growled. ”I just want the bastard dead.”

His body still leaned forward slightly, ready to spring, but Drel continued, pressing his point with steady logic rather than emotion.

”Listen,” he said. ”That goblin cannot get through the barrier. If he could, he already would have. And he knows that.”

He gestured subtly toward the dome overhead.

”There is no reason to entertain him and risk our innate skills in the process. That’s the entire purpose of the barrier. To keep out disturbances like this.”

”Have you no pride?” Kharos snapped, clearly insulted.

Drel’s eyes hardened slightly.

”Pride?” he repeated. ”Grakk had pride. Look at where that got him.”

Kharos’ gaze flicked toward the charred remains scattered across the ground below.

”Be smart,” Drel continued. ”This… that,” he gestured toward me, ”is not an issue right now. And you know the chief will agree. He specifically told us not to risk anything before the Games.”

Kharos clicked his tongue sharply in irritation.

He knew Drel was right.

But logic was pressing against his pride, and for a few seconds, the two wrestled visibly inside him.

But he came to a conclusion and exhaled through his nose.

”Fine,” he said, though the word carried obvious reluctance. ”But if there’s any issue because we chose not to engage, it’s on you.”

”Fine by me,” Drel replied without hesitation.

He then turned toward the goblins manning the ballista.

”Stop shooting at the enemy. Stand down. Leave him be. He cannot do anything.”

The order rippled outward immediately. The archers relaxed their bowstrings. The ballista crews stepped back from their mechanisms. The tension along the wall lessened, though the vigilance did not disappear entirely.

I clicked my tongue softly in frustration.

To think there was a goblin here with actual common sense.

Most Chosen I had encountered rushed headfirst into confrontation. They underestimated me, or their ambition overrode caution.

But this one…

This one understood risk.

Especially the one in reinforced cloth with metal rings, Drel.

He had weighed the situation and concluded that staying behind the barrier was the correct move.

And from a strategic perspective, he was absolutely right.

If they stayed inside the barrier, I couldn’t simply warp in and start dismantling them one by one.

I sighed.

Since reason had won for them, I decided to try something far less refined.

Rage baiting.

”Wow… are you guys leaving?” I called out, folding my arms loosely as I looked up at the wall. ”I didn’t think you were cowards. Especially you, Kharos.”

No visible reaction from my angle.

”Unexpected,” I continued, ”from candidates of the King’s Games.”

Silence.

I couldn’t see their faces clearly from below, but I knew they were listening.

So I kept going.

”I’m willing to stay here as long as necessary until I get what I want,” I said casually. ”I can wait. I’ll attract monsters. I’ll take down any goblin foolish enough to step outside that barrier. I’ll make this place a constant inconvenience.”

That earned me a response.

”There’s no point in doing that, fool!” Kharos shouted back down.

Ah.

So they were still very much paying attention.

”It’s best to take me out now, Kharos,” I replied smoothly. ”Don’t worry. I’ll even give you an advantage.”

I tilted my head slightly, as though genuinely offering a generous deal.

”You get the chance to unleash five powerful moves on me. I won’t attack back. I’ll just stand there. How about it? Feeling less scared now? With that kind of head start, your odds of killing me increase, don’t they?”

The words hung in the air.

But no response came.

Not from Kharos, Veyra or Drel.

They weren’t take the bait.

”Come on now,” I called out, spreading my hands slightly as if negotiating a bargain. ”You really don’t want to miss this offer. How about I make it ten?”

Still nothing.

”Twenty.”

Silence.

Rage baiting wasn’t going to work.

There was no doubt in my mind that Drel was the one keeping Kharos steady.

The hotheaded one might have jumped at the challenge alone, but under Drel’s watch, pride was being forced to kneel before strategy.

And worse… my continued offers probably made me sound desperate, so I gave up on that idea.

Fine.

If words wouldn’t move them, action would.

I reached into my inventory and drew out [Gravefang]

I hadn’t actually tested any of my offensive abilities against the barrier yet as my attempt to warp through it had been rejected violently, but spatial intrusion and direct force weren’t necessarily the same interaction.

There was no reason not to try.

At this point, it was the only path left to me.

I gathered void energy into my blade once more and, with a clean, deliberate swing, unleashed a rift slash that tore through the air with a deep, vibrating hum and struck high against the barrier, precisely where the three Chosen were positioned atop the wall.

WHOOM!

The impact did not explode outward like it would against stone or flesh. Instead, the barrier’s surface rippled violently, the translucent dome flexing inward as if it had been punched by something massive. Pale blue currents surged across the point of contact, converging around the tear in space I had sent at it. For a brief second, the distortion from my slash pressed into the dome, flattening against it like a blade meeting reinforced glass.

Then the void energy destabilized.

The rift collapsed in on itself, its edge dissolving into fragments of spatial distortion that were swallowed by the barrier’s glow. The hum faded, and the dome smoothed out as though nothing had happened.

Even a rift slash couldn’t pierce it, huh? I muttered under my breath, watching the barrier carefully.

And then I sensed it.

Right at the moment of impact, there had been a fluctuation.

The density of magic in that exact section of the barrier had weakened significantly before stabilizing again. It wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but I could sense it—like pressure equalizing after being disturbed.

A grin slowly spread across my face as I raised my blade again.

The barrier hadn’t been invincible. It had resisted, but resistance required energy. The dome had drawn power to neutralize my slash, and for a fraction of a second, its structural integrity in that area had dipped.

Which meant it could be strained.

And if it could be strained…

Then it could be broken.