Demon Chapter

Chapter 16: Trouble Approaches

After the dagger pierced the goblin’s body, Gavin Lin revealed himself and simultaneously received the damage readout from his Shadow Strike skill.

Your Shadow Strike dealt 38 damage to the goblin (Level 4)!

Without showing any emotion, Gavin Lin immediately followed up with another Shadow Strike as the goblin howled in pain—this time removing 31 health points.

After two strikes, the goblin finally noticed Gavin Lin. It let out an enraged roar, spun around, and swung the miner’s pick it was holding at him.

Gavin Lin sidestepped quickly to avoid the blow.

While attacking, he had already seen the creature’s stats:

Level 4 Goblin

HP: 240

Defense: 8

After his two Shadow Strikes, the goblin’s health had dropped to 171. It seemed easier to handle than the zombie Gavin Lin had killed last time.

However, Gavin Lin soon realized he’d been badly mistaken.

After missing its target, the goblin charged forward abruptly and swung its pick with astonishing speed. The impact sent a sharp jolt of pain through Gavin Lin—so intense he nearly screamed.

The goblin has dealt 32 damage to you!

Before he could recover, the goblin launched another attack. Gavin Lin had no choice but to leap backward to evade.

At that moment, all thoughts of underestimating the creature vanished. Even though he’d now officially become a thief and learned combat skills, the dangers of this world hadn’t lessened—in fact, here, any mistake could mean death. This goblin was clearly no pushover; its strength and speed far exceeded those of an ordinary human. A single misstep could cost him his life.

Using his sharp reflexes and the Shadow Strike skill, Gavin Lin eventually killed the goblin.

As it collapsed, a prompt appeared:

Goblin killed. You have earned a 15-minute time reward.

It had been a perilous fight. Gavin Lin panted heavily, but his mind remained clear. He now understood: from this point on, he could never again underestimate any monster. The scenery here might be more beautiful than Tristram’s, and the air fresher—but one thing remained unchanged: death lurked everywhere.

At that moment, Gavin Lin’s health was critically low. He immediately activated Stealth to recover slowly. After more than ten minutes, his HP finally returned to full. This time, he advanced with caution toward the next goblin.

With experience now on his side and no room for complacency, Gavin Lin barely took a hit from the second goblin before defeating it. His Agility—13 points—played a crucial role. Simply put, he moved faster than before, which made all the difference when dodging attacks.

In short order, Gavin Lin cleared the goblins near the mine entrance. It took him over forty minutes, but the rewards were substantial: seven goblins yielded a 105-minute time reward, and he also obtained a poor-quality hand axe.

This weapon—bulkier than a dagger and designed for chopping rather than stabbing—was clearly unsuitable for him at this stage. So Gavin Lin simply stowed it in the storage compartment of his belt.

He stared at the mine shaft entrance, hesitating whether to go inside.

Just then, a sudden sense of danger flashed through his mind. Acting on instinct, he ducked—and a split second later, something whizzed past his scalp with a whoosh.

Cold sweat broke out across Gavin Lin’s skin. He rolled swiftly and took cover behind a large rock. Glancing back, he saw what had nearly taken his head off: an arrow, now embedded in the wooden frame of the mine entrance.

His pupils contracted instantly.

Someone was ambushing him—and that arrow looked disturbingly familiar. Peeking out from behind the rock, Gavin Lin spotted several recognizable figures in the distance. The next second, a fireball slammed into the rock beside him.

“Damn it—it’s those senior contractors!” Gavin Lin realized at once they’d tracked him here. Fury surged through him, but confusion followed: How had they found him?

The only explanation he could think of was that they possessed an item capable of detecting a contractor’s current task world. But there was no time to dwell on it now. They’d clearly come for him—and each of those senior contractors was at least one level above him. If he didn’t find a way to escape immediately, he was dead.

Looking ahead, he saw two skeleton warriors wielding bone blades advancing toward his position.

Gavin Lin pulled back, took a deep breath, and activated Stealth.

He stepped out from behind the rock. In stealth mode, they couldn’t see him—but he quickly realized he was already surrounded.

In addition to the three senior contractors he’d encountered before, five more had arrived, forming a fan-shaped formation around the mine entrance. Each stood no more than three meters apart. Gavin Lin knew that three meters wasn’t enough space to slip through undetected.

Since these people had come to kill him, he doubted they’d show mercy. Capture meant certain death—so his only option was retreat. And the only path left was into the mine shaft.

Without hesitation, Gavin Lin slipped inside. He knew entering the mine was his only chance to survive.

Inside, two ogres lurked. Not daring to provoke them, he carefully navigated around them in stealth, moving deeper into the tunnels.

Soon, he heard the senior contractors cursing at the entrance, followed by the sounds of battle—and the screams of the ogres.

“They’re coming!”

Gavin Lin glanced back, then pressed onward. He couldn’t afford to disturb any more ogres. At first, their numbers were sparse, but as he ventured further, they grew increasingly dense. Some corridors were completely surrounded by ogres on all sides. In those moments, he had to calculate each creature’s movement pattern precisely—one step too fast or too slow would spell disaster.

After navigating a particularly treacherous passage, Gavin Lin rounded a corner to rest and assess his situation.

He was in grave danger. Had it not been for his quick thinking, his Stealth skill, and the decision to enter the mine, he’d be dead by now.

There was no doubt: capture by those senior contractors meant death. Discovery by the ogres inside the mine would lead to the same end. Though safe for the moment, he faced another problem—the eight contractors outside could simply overpower the ogres with brute force, then sweep the tunnels systematically until they found him.

Worse still, he couldn’t leave this task world yet. The system would only allow teleportation back to his “room” after the full 10-hour task duration expired—and only if the quest failed. But 10 hours was more than enough time for them to scour the entire mine.

His only hope now was that the mine was large and deep enough to give him a slim chance of hiding.

A flicker of killing intent flashed in Gavin Lin’s eyes as he thought of those senior contractors.

He’d never intended to harm them. Yes, he’d stolen kills from them before—but only to survive. Now, they wanted him dead. And Gavin Lin had no intention of waiting passively for his end.

After resting for three minutes, he continued deeper into the mine.

Thieves truly were a profession built for survival. Thanks to Stealth, Gavin Lin could move through monster-infested tunnels without triggering attacks. Without this ability, he would’ve been devoured long ago by the countless goblin miners. But luck wasn’t on his side today—ten minutes later, he reached a dead end.

The tunnel opened into a chamber roughly seventy to eighty square meters in size—the unmistakable terminus of the mine. Gavin Lin’s heart sank.

If the mine was this small, those senior figures outside would find him within the hour.