Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

The air between us immediately grew tense.

Ariel’s paws tightened around my lap, her claws lightly pressing through the fabric as if silently warning me not to push the conversation any further.

I ignored her.

Mordra tilted her head, studying me for a long moment before speaking.

”You’re quite arrogant...goblin.”

I gave a small shrug.

”I’m one of the chosen ones. I think I’ve earned at least that much.”

A faint crease appeared between her brows.

”So merely because you possess an ability that received an SSS rank, you believe you can defy the Archmage whose System granted you that power?”

I couldn’t stop myself.

”Did you give me my powers?”

The question slipped out before I had the chance to reconsider it.

Mordra’s expression hardened almost imperceptibly.

Beside me, Ariel slowly turned her head, fixing me with a look that very clearly said: Shut up.

I didn’t listen.

”My being here,” I continued, ”my waking up in this world as a goblin...that happened because you failed.”

The words came out calmer than I expected.

”You and the Order couldn’t stop Drugar, and you allowed him to seize control of the System.”

I took a slow breath.

”So forgive me if I find it difficult to accept being told this is now my responsibility.”

A heavy pressure began radiating from Mordra, spreading through the chamber in slow, invisible waves. The air seemed to thicken, and the mana around us stirred in response to her presence.

Her silver eyes never left mine.

”Goblin...” she said evenly. ”Are you trying to provoke me?”

She paused.

”Because it’s working.”

I immediately raised both hands in surrender.

”That isn’t my intention.”

And it wasn’t. There was no point antagonizing someone powerful enough to erase me with a thought.

I simply refused to stay silent.

”I just won’t allow you or the Order to do to me what Drugar intends to do.”

Her brows drew together.

”And what would that be?”

”Use me as a weapon.”

The words came out without hesitation.

”I’ll live by my own rules. I’ll make my own choices and act according to my own will.”

I took a slow breath before continuing.

”If that means walking the path that leads to Drugar and bringing him down...then that’ll be because I chose it.”

I held her gaze.

”And if one day I decide to walk away from all of this instead...”

I let the sentence hang for a brief moment.

”...then that decision will be mine to make as well.”

Mordra remained silent for several long moments.

The pressure in the room didn’t lessen. If anything, it became heavier.

Beside me, Ariel’s entire body had gone rigid. I instinctively pulled her closer, my hand tightening around her as though that alone could shield her from whatever was about to happen.

Then Mordra finally spoke.

”In that case...” Her voice was quiet. ”...you do not deserve to possess Aster’s fragment.”

The instant those words left her mouth, every instinct I possessed screamed danger.

There wasn’t even time to think. I used [Warp].

Darkness surged around me, swallowing my vision in an instant. For the briefest moment, relief washed over me as I thought I had escaped.

I was wrong

The moment I opened my eyes again, that confidence vanished. I wasn’t back in my clan, and I wasn’t anywhere I recognized.

I drifted weightlessly through what looked like an endless expanse of space. Countless faint lights shimmered in every direction, yet the place didn’t feel like a night sky. There was resistance against every movement, as though I were suspended beneath an impossibly still ocean instead of floating through a vacuum.

I slowly turned in place.

Ariel? Mordra?

There wasn’t a single sign of either of them.

My heartbeat quickened.

What the hell happened to me?

The last thing I remembered was Mordra moving.

No...Not moving. Lunging. Her body had dissolved into that strange liquid form of hers as she closed the distance between us with terrifying speed.

But I was certain. I had activated [Warp] before she reached me.

So why wasn’t I where I was supposed to be?

Something tugged at my leg.

I froze.

Looking down, I saw a mass of blackness wrapped around my ankle. It wasn’t simply darkness.

The moment I sensed it, I knew exactly who it belonged to.

”Mordra...”

My stomach dropped.

”Damn it!”

She had reached me before I could escape.

Instinct took over. I used [Warp], but it did not work.

I tried again. Still nothing.

It felt as though the connection between myself and the System had been severed completely. There was no familiar response, no flow of mana, no notification, not even the faint sensation that my skill had been acknowledged.

It was as if I’d been stripped back to an ordinary human. Powerless.

The darkness slowly crept higher, climbing from my ankle to my calf with relentless certainty. It wasn’t fast, but that somehow made it worse. It felt patient, as though it already knew resistance was meaningless.

I kicked against it and tried to swim upward through the strange, fluid-like void surrounding me.

For a moment, I gained a little distance. Then the pull returned. Stronger this time.

Every movement became more difficult than the last. My limbs grew heavy, as though invisible weights had been fastened to them, and the harder I struggled, the more exhausted I became.

My thoughts gradually lost their sharpness.

Even remembering why I was fighting started to become strangely difficult.

No...something was wrong.

The darkness wasn’t just restraining me. It was smothering my consciousness.

Just as my body began to sink once more, a warm sensation bloomed within my chest.

At first, it was little more than a spark. Then it rapidly grew.

Brilliant white light burst from the center of my chest, flooding the void around me before exploding outward with overwhelming force.

The darkness recoiled as the pressure vanished, and in the next instant, the strange sea of stars disappeared.

I stumbled forward as solid ground returned beneath my feet, a violent cough tearing through my chest as I struggled to catch my breath.

I was back. Back inside the Mordra’s chamber.

”Eli!” Ariel rushed over and climbed onto my shoulder.

”Are you okay?” she asked, her voice filled with worry. ”You suddenly started floating. It only lasted a second, but...”

I barely heard the rest.

My eyes had already found Mordra.

She was several meters away, down on all fours.

The composed Archmage from moments ago was gone.

Her breathing was uneven, strands of silver hair hung over her face, and blood steadily dripped from the corner of her mouth onto the stone floor. Her robes were torn in several places, as though she’d been struck by an invisible force and violently thrown backward.

I frowned.

...What exactly had she just tried to do to me?

Slowly Mordra...