'Shit shit shit!'
Wind slapped against Lukas's hair, making it flap wildly even though it was relatively trim.
Looking down below, he knew that was the least of his worries.
He was merely thousands of feet away from becoming a red paste. With every passing second, his free fall accelerated.
'This stupid god... did he forget I'm a human? After all the kindness I showed him too.'
With the wind still rushing furiously, Lukas tried to force his mind to open the system interface. He had gotten some kind of class token; it had to help—
[System screen cannot be utilized while in air]
'F-f...'
"FUCK!"
BAM!
A second after screaming, Lukas collided hard into something. His head hurting and bruised, he laid on that thing for a few seconds before thinking, 'I'm not dead?'
Rising with a laugh, Lukas screamed, "Take that, Physsus! Not de—"
"Meal speak?"
"Quiet, meal!"
Two rough, small green creatures said as they poked Lukas with a stick.
[2 Goblin Arkinia–Riders detected; Level 3, HP: 50/50]
'Goblins?'
Well, it made sense. If there were mighty gods, there had to be lowly goblins. It's just... of all the people in the world they could've snagged for a meal, why did it have to be him?
Heaving a heavy sigh, he turned to them with a gentle smile as he zipped his lips. Rolling their eyes, one of the goblins climbed back into the saddle while the other held his spear, probably looking out into the world for more people to prey on.
Pushing aside that thought, Lukas tried bringing up the system again. Surely it wouldn't consider flying on some beast as being 'in the air?'
[Loading...]
'Haha!!' Lukas's eyes grew bright as he waited for the system screen, knowing he had been bailed by his captors.
[The system screen cannot be utilized while in air.]
"Fuck!"
"Shut it, meal!" Goblin 2 shrieked as he waved his tiny spear in front of Lukas's face.
...
It had been a lonely century of flying before they finally seemed to be landing. During that time, Lukas had done his best to learn what he could since the system was being a dick.
The thing they were flying on—probably an Arkinia—was some kind of mix between a dragon and spider. It had the head and eight legs of a spider, but the scales and wings of a dragon.
He had tried to find out more about the world itself, but neither of the goblins let him move around.
In just a half hour, he had heard enough, "Shut up, meal!" to last him an entire lifetime.
Therefore, he decided to simply relax as he bided his time. Without the boosts Physsus had given him, he doubted his ability to fight the goblins. Which meant he had to wait until they landed.
...
Thud!!
The Spigon landed completely unceremoniously, slamming its eight legs into the ground and causing dust to fly into the air.
"Come, meal!" Goblin 2 said as he poked Lukas with his spear.
Lukas jumped off the Spigon's back as instructed. The other Goblin was patting the Spigon's head, clearly agitating it.
Giving the Spigon a single nod, Lukas allowed Goblin 1 to continue pestering the beast. If it was like spiders back home, Lukas knew better than to bother them.
With any luck, that Goblin would end up as spider chow.
Turning to his new environment, Lukas was finally able to take a good look around.
'This place is a wasteland...' Lukas thought.
That was quite an understatement.
Nothing but dark black sand could be seen in any direction except northwest. There, hidden behind the vast expanse of a dead desert, was a wide and towering mountain range.
Even though it was miles away, he could still feel its pull, almost as if it was calling him. He tried to look away and already found it impossible.
Whatever it was, whatever lay in those mountains...
"Meal, move!"
A sharp pain in his back jolted his mind to the present.
'Right. I'm about to be Goblin chow.'
Strangely, it felt like they had saved him just now. However, he knew their 'hospitality' wasn't going to last.
It was time to claim his system rewards.
[You cannot access the system while enemies are nearby]
'W- what the fuck?' Lukas stood still for a moment, unable to believe this shitty luck.
What fucking use were these stupid perks if he couldn't even use them?
"Meal, move!"
Sidestepping the incoming slash, Lukas gave the goblin a slight smile before continuing the journey through the desert.
Only they had suddenly walked onto a small settlement.
It looked very destitute, with worn-down tents sprawled across the sand. However, he was very certain even this pitiful camp hadn't existed just a moment ago.
'Well, I am in some kind of fantasy land,' Lukas pondered, deciding that there was probably some kind of illusion magic at work.
If that was the case, it could be possible that there were other Goblin settlements.
Aka, opportunity for a sudden civil war. All he needed to do was find a way to escape and get them to fight.
Which was quite the long shot.
As he walked through the camp, he noticed it seemed to get bigger the more distance he covered. Like there were multiple layers to the illusion, each uncovering more and more of the overall settlement.
Dozens of Goblin archers scowled at him with their ugly green heads.
Those tattered tents became more reformed the further he walked, as if the civilians in this new section jumped tax brackets.
And then, at the end of this journey, was an entire crowd of goblins waiting for him to die. It was a rather nice welcoming party.
"Food! Food!"
"The new god has blessed us!!!"
"More food?"
"Aye! Two food today!"
'Two? New god?' Lukas thought, making sure to retain all the information he heard.
So far, he didn't see a second person. Not yet, anyway.
All he saw was red as that stupid spear poked him again.
"Food, move! Food stay good and die easy. Or, food be dumb and die slow!"
"Yea, yea," Lukas said, rolling his eyes as he placed his hands over his head.
All the while, a fantasy of stabbing that spear straight through the bastard entered his mind. He chuckled inwardly at the thought before setting it aside.
Right now, he had to focus.
"Food! Food!"
Which was really hard with all the ruckus.
Dozens of goblins gathered around, most half-nude with the few clothing they owned on its last leg. It was almost as if they spent all of their money on weapons.
'Or their lord,' Lukas thought as a single, fat Goblin made his way through the crowd.
Gold hung from his neck in layers. His crooked smile had some leftover food in it.
Roars of deafening applause came from the goblins as he approached, seemingly unbothered by his gluttony.
"Food! Food! More food!"
The Lord Goblin raised his hand, and silence followed immediately. Looking at Lukas, he gave a quick smirk before saying, "Hello, traveler. I've heard that both princesses and heroes are delicious. I pray that neither of you fail me."
Then he twirled his hand, giving another command that promptly had a beauty shoved into the center of the town hall, right next to Lukas.
Unlike him, she was bound ten times over. Hand to hand, feet to feet, hand to feet, head to feet. There had to be hundreds of ropes binding her as tight as possible.
Which meant she was dangerous—a ticket out.