As Tsukuru stared at the new creatures, a thought came to him.
'Hobgoblins…' He thought in astonishment.
It would make perfect sense.
Tsukuru had just got done fighting a group of Goblins, and Hobgoblins would explain why they looked so similar to them.
It was then that something surprisingto Tsukuru happened.
His System's "Scanner" function activated.
However, as he did, his eyes widened in utter shock.
Like always, his System's "vector" appeared over the middle "Hobgoblin"'s head.
A line extended out towards the left, leading to a square showing a close-up image of the "Hobgoblin"'s head.
However, the part that shocked Tsukuru was the information displayed under the image.
[Name: Hobgoblin
Grade: Pawn*
Pawn Points: 0/5]
As the System's "Scanner" function scanned all three Hobgoblins, the same information was shown.
Tsukuru stood there, stunned for a moment.
'Wait…' Tsukuru thought. 'Are these…Summons?!'
Tsukuru's eyes then narrowed, as he thought to the strange asterisk that had appeared after their Grade of "Pawns".
It was the lowest Grade, the one that all his Summons started out as.
The strength of mere Basic-Tier Beasts.
However, Tsukuru had seen that asterisk before.
On Quinn, when they first met.
Back when Quinn was, well to steal a phrase from the old world, "Human with extra steps".
He was "human", yet displayed basic traits of Vampires, such as drinking blood, being weakened by the sun, and even an almost supernatural level of physical strength.
Did this mean that these Hobgoblins were more than just mere Pawn Grades?
After all, he didn't make them.
Everything that had appeared in this "Battle Arena" was made 100% by the System.
Seeing the look of pure shock on their 'liege''s face, the three Hobgoblins are wore mischievous smiles, showing off their sharp teeth.
It was as if they were in on a joke that only Tsukuru was unaware of.
It was then that Tsukuru craned his head down and brought his hand to his forehead.
His shoulders began to shake.
A light chuckling could be heard.
He then threw his head backwards, his fingers still on his temple, and his light chuckling exploded into full-on laughter.
"I fucking love this place!" He yelled.
When he brought his head back to in front of him, the Hobgoblins could see an excited grin on his face.
It was the look of a kid who had just found a shiny, new toy.
Like with the Swarmers and the Goblins, Tsukuru extended both of his arms out.
A set of three groups of pixels appeared under his left arm, and another set of two groups of pixels appeared under his right arm.
Each group of pixels clustered together into the form of one of Tsukuru's daggers.
Tsukuru's grin widened.
"Well then…" He replied, before his eyes widened, a light fire being able to be seen burning in his pupils.
"Let's see what you got, new recruits!" He yelled, as he swung both of his hands in front of him, his elbows crossing when they met in the middle.
The five daggers went flying through the air at high speeds, each one zeroing in on a specific Hobgoblin.
The Hobgoblins all exchanged manic smiles.
The one in the middle glanced back at Tsukuru.
Her smile grew even wider.
"As you wish, my liege!" She replied.
At once, all five Hobgoblins lunged forward towards Tsukuru.
While Tsukuru had had no problem running the Swarmers, and even the regular Goblins through the head with his daggers, he held a familiar attachment to the Hobgoblins, due to them being his Summons.
Growing up alone and lonely, he seemed to have latched on to his Summons, similar to the parental bond and love that a mother would have for a newborn child.
In a way, his Summons were his one true family.
For even if the whole world turned against him, they would still be by his side.
Because of this, he had subconsciously "pulled his punches" as it were, holding back without even realizing it.
Rather than launching the daggers at the Hobgoblins' foreheads, as he had done with the other two types of creatures who had appeared in this arena, his aimed seemed to drift away to other, less lethal locations.
The Hobgoblin on the far left, with whom Tsukuru's dagger was lined up to hit her right shoulder, twisted her body to the side, causing it to whizz past her.
To Tsukuru, it looked just like how Erin had dodged his thrown dagger during their match on the first day of combat classes.
The Hobgoblin on the far right, who also had a dagger lined in to piece her shoulder, reached her left arm, which was holding her spear, over to the right side of her body, hovering above her right shoulder.
She then swung her left arm back over to the left side of her body in a long arc.
The spear's tip collided with the incoming dagger.
A sound like clashing metal was heard, as the spear tip deflected the dagger, sending it flying off in another direction.
The fourth Hobgoblin in the line, who had a dagger lined up to piece her rib, also twisted to the side, causing the dagger to whizz past.
Finally, the last two Hobgoblins, the second and third ones in the line, got hit in their right shin by a dagger.
The sudden impact caused them to lose their balance, them falling down to their good knee.
Seeing what had just happened, Tsukuru let out a deep sigh.
A look of pure melancholy appeared on his face.
'Someone with a heart as soft as mine is a liability in a world this harsh.' He thought.
He was now suddenly glad that the Green Family had never gotten a pet.
He would probably have spent weeks crying when it inevitably died.
The Hobgoblin on the far left flung out her spear towards Tsukuru, it flying straight like an arrow shot from a bow.
Tsukuru's eyes widened, as he saw the spear flying towards him, aiming to hit his shoulder.
Tsukuru leaned his whole body over to the side, causing the spear to fly past him.
'Holy crap!' Tsukuru thought, glancing back to where the spear had zoomed past, his heart pounding. 'Good thing I put so many Stat Points into Agility!'
He then saw a large shadow appear in front of him.
Turning back around, he saw that one of the Hobgoblins was standing in front of him, looming over him like a giant.
She smirked, and plunged her spear downwards, aimed to stab him through the right side of his chest.
Tsukuru grit his teeth, and threw his left arm out.
He gripped his hand around the sharped stone tip.
Tsukuru's face morphed into a look of pure annoyance from the utter stupidity of what he had just done.
Thank god he was still wearing the Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets.
Otherwise, he would have just cut his own hand up.
As Tsukuru's grip tightened, the Hobgoblin stopped moving.
It was similar to when Quinn had grabbed Brandon's spear in their match.
Looking at the Hobgoblin's athletic, muscular physique, he was reminded of Vorden.
Tsukuru had no idea what "peak physical strength" was for a human, but seeing how the Hobgoblins were Beasts, and not human, he'd spitball that it was probably around what Quinn's strength was at after evolving into a Halfling.
Maybe something like "12" or "13".
Either way, it didn't matter.
Even though Tsukuru's base Strength was only "11", with the Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets equipped, his Strength was at "18".
So unless the Hobgoblin had a Strength Stat of "20", or something absurd like that, it was unlikely that she could overpower him.
He pulled his arm holding the spear's tip towards him, pulling the Hobgoblin towards him as well.
"Whoa!" The Hobgoblin exclaimed in surprise, her eyes widened, as she felt herself being pulled forward, knocked slightly off balance.
Tsukuru then swung his left leg out in a sweeping motion.
Tsukuru's foot collided with the Hobgoblin's right calf.
This forced her shin to the side, causing it to collide with her left calf.
Her sense of balance now fully compromised, the Hobgoblin collapsed to the floor, her legs literally being swept out from under her.
As she fell, Tsukuru pulled hard on the spear's tip.
It appeared that he was indeed stronger than the Hobgoblin, as he easily wrenched it out of her grip.
"Ugh!" The Hobgoblin grunted in frustration, as she smashed her closed fist onto the ground in annoyance.
As she looked up, her eyes widened in horror.
She saw Tsukuru standing over her, in the same position she had been in a moment earlier, his arm pulled back with the spear aimed right at her head.
As she looked at Tsukuru, she saw a single tear drip down from his right eye.
"Sorry." He muttered, before he thrust the spear downwards.
The spear's tip pierced the Hobgoblin right between the eyes.
Instantly, her eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly.
In her last seconds, she looked at Tsukuru, and Tsukuru could have sworn he saw a proud smile on her face.
The Hobgoblin's eyes rolled back into her head, and her whole body seemed to seize up.
A second later, her torso began to fall backwards, the spear sliding out of her forehead in the process.
The Hobgoblin hit the concrete floor with a thud, landing on her back.
A moment later, she exploded into pixels.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed a Hobgoblin. 50 XP awarded. First time killing a Summon in the Battle Arena. 50 Bonus XP awarded. First time killing a Hobgoblin. First-Time Kill Bonus: 30 XP. XP: 562/800]
Tsukuru looked down at the spot where the Hobgoblin had fallen, panting heavily.
"I…did it." He muttered, as if surprised by his own actions.
However, Tsukuru then noticed something…strange.
As he held the Hobgoblin's spear in his hand, he felt a strange strength enter his body.
In fact, it was the same feeling he got from wielding his daggers and wearing these gauntlets.
Tsukuru looked down at the spear.
'Wait, could this be…'