Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP
Chapter 26: Stealth

Chapter 26: Stealth

I swung with everything I had, throwing my whole damn soul into the swing, gravefang flashing down in a deadly arc, aimed straight for flesh.

And then, a spray of blood followed, thick and hot, splattering across the ground in a violent crescent.

I was shocked

I hit it...I actually landed a strike!

Ding!

[Venomous Slash activated]

[Target afflicted with Toxic Bleed]

The Mooncat let out a low hiss, twisting sharply, surprise flickering across its glowing eyes.But I didn’t even get a full breath in before it retaliated—those claws came whipping around, fast and furious, with murder in every swipe.

I barely had time to react—just a flicker of instinct and sheer panic pushing my body to move

Warp.

I vanished and reappeared a few meters ahead, landing on one knee, panting but grinning like a madman.

"I got a hit in?" I whispered, relaxing.

But that was a mistake, as the moon moved fast. Too fast.

In an instant, the beast was on me again, its claws just inches from burying themselves into my skull.

Once again...

Thank God for Danger Sense.

I warped, blinking away just in time, appearing atop a tree branch high above the clearing. Bark cracked underfoot as I caught myself, lungs burning, adrenaline surging.

My heart pounded in my chest like a war drum.

The Mooncat stood below, blood dripping from the wound on its side—a bright, angry line etched against the sleek black fur.

It glanced at it, licking the blood with a casual swipe of its tongue, then raised its head and locked eyes with me.

"You’ve done it now, worm," it growled, voice a deep vibration that seemed to come from the trees themselves. "I’ll rip your limbs off while you’re still breathing. Then I’ll bite through your spine like twine."

"Wow," I called down, crouching on the branch. "That’s... needlessly graphic."

I stared down the beast.

I wasn’t intimidated.

I had the advantage here.

That slash from Gravefang hadn’t just been for show. Gravefang’s passive effect, Venomous Slash, had kicked in, and the poison was working now.

All I had to do was keep it up. Stay alive.

Keep hitting and running.

Eventually, the beast would slow.

Hopefully, before I did.

I pushed off the branch and dropped like a stone, gravity clawing at me, Gravefang ready, Warp ready to be used—I was gonna keep the pressure up, never let it breathe.

But then the Mooncat vanished, all of a sudden..

"What the hell—?"

I blinked, literally and mentally.

One second it was there, fangs bared, the next—it just wasn’t.

Just... gone. Like a light switched off.

Caught off guard, I warped away instinctively, landing several meters off to the side, crouched, and scanned the clearing.

But there were no traces of it.

Just trees, rocks, mist... and silence.

Too much silence.

The kind of silence that makes you realize how loud your heartbeat is. How loud your breathing is. And how alone you really are.

My eyes darted around, searching the shadows.

Where had it gone?

It had moved before—fast, yes. Unbelievably fast.

But this wasn’t speed.

This was something else.

I frowned, a pit growing in my stomach.

Could it teleport?

No... that didn’t feel right.

The sensation I’d felt as it disappeared wasn’t like warp.

It was quieter.

Wrong, somehow.

Then, I felt a chill on my spine, and immediately, I warped.

I reappeared several feet away, my breath catching as the space I had just left exploded in a woosh of movement.

Again.

That feeling crept over me. Like something brushing against my neck, like a whisper of death.

And again, I blinked away.

The air I left behind was shredded by something sharp and deadly.

My hands were shaking now.

This was the mooncat, and whatever it was doing, it wasn’t teleporting.

Danger Sense flared wildly inside me, flashing red warnings I could barely keep up with.

Each alert wasn’t just a nudge—it was a slap across the face.

The skill had never been this active before.

It attacked again and again.

And I blink away in response.

I blinked once more, but miscalculated.

I landed in front of a thick tree trunk, my shoulder slamming against it with a thud. Before I could get my bearings—

WOOSH!

I blinked again, a tad bit too late though, as the moment I reappeared, a flash of pain tore across my cheek, sharp and searing. I stumbled as I landed, knees buckling slightly.

Without thinking, I reached up to my face. My fingers came away warm and sticky with blood. Something had slashed me. It was fast, invisible, and dangerously close. My cheek throbbed where the cut burned, and for a second, all I could think about was how easily that could’ve been so much worse.

Behind me, a CRACK shattered the quiet, and I turned in time to see the tree I’d slammed into, erupt in splinters as something invisible slammed into it, cleaving halfway through the trunk.

A cold breath escaped my lips.

If I’d hesitated a heartbeat longer...I would have lost my head.

And then—

Out of the corner of my eye—I saw it.

A faint ripple in the air, like heat distortion. No, like glass—shimmering, wavy, almost translucent. A mirage that shouldn’t be there. It flickered and shimmered like the surface of a pond.

Then it turned to face me.

The Mooncat.

Its outline was there. Just barely.

Then it vanished again, making no sound.

My breath hitched as the realization finally settled in.

The mooncat wasn’t teleporting.

It wasn’t moving at super-speed.

It was cloaking.

Camouflaging itself into the forest, wrapping itself in the shadows and moonlight like a second skin.

This was stealth.

Real stealth.

Now I know why the moon cat was so feared. With this skill, it wasn’t just a predator—it was an apex predator. The kind of beast designed to destroy prey before they even knew they were being hunted.

This whole time, I thought I had the edge with warp.

But now? Now I was being...