Gods.

The Collector began to circle around the red hobgoblin, its tusks aimed down, ready to gore the variant in a charge. The Collector knew what the concept of gods were. Worshipped, fancifully constructed entities from tinkerer species during primitive stages of their development.

Usually created in their image, vain as these tinkerers often tended to be. A socially constructed fantasy to explain the decisions of nature, the fires that might destroy their crops or the lightning strikes that might kill their young when the tinkerers were yet too primitive to truly grasp the nature of these phenomena.

The Collector recognized that species of this advancement would likely be at a stage where they did worship these imaginary entities. It thus filed what the hobgoblin had just said under nonsensical, primitive babble.

The Collector had more useful topics to devote its mental processing to.

This red variant of hobgoblin did indeed possess an uncanny resistance to heat that reached well past the melting point of many metals. It was a property that was not immediately apparent from its innate biology, for nothing about its skin or musculature indicated heat resistant properties.

"Ganth, pull back. Using [guard] at the last minute saved you from dying, but if this creature can smash through even that-,"

The Collector swiped at the red hobgoblin with one of its arachnid arms while it distracted itself speaking to its companion.

The red variant, however, despite not even looking directly at the Collector, managed to evade the sweeping slice by jumping backwards with an agile flip, landing on the ground almost as if in slow motion.

"I…fight," muttered Ganth as he managed to raise himself to a knee, though his deep wheezing indicated a soon to be mortal wound from the severity of his internal bleeding. Likely, judging by the rattling cadence of the breaths, a broken rib had punctured a lung.

"Just go!" said Shun. "Alert Juzo but try to get your thrall Hrunt here too. I can stall, but I cannot hold this creature for long."

Ganth grunted, took a look at the battle, then at his bleeding side, and turned, limping back further into he camp.

The Collector surged forwards again, this time calculating a series of attacks to minimize evasive maneuvers. It first swung its head forward, striking with its long, bladed tusks, and then its arachnid arms splayed out, ready to catch the red hobgoblin from any angle if it dodged the initial strike.

Shun evaded the tusks with remarkable agility and then raised his blade against the onslaught of arachnid spider legs.

The Collector's monomolecular claw tipped legs sliced through the blade as cleanly as if nothing was there at all. Two of its arachnid claws struck true, sinking deep into the red hobgoblin's sword arm shoulder.

The red hobgoblin moved back in a burst of immensely quick movement that the Collector did not expect. Such movement bordering on small-scale warping did not seem at all within the red variant's muscular capacities.

The Collector grew increasingly confused and, for the first time since it entered this world, frustrated.

Miscalculation after miscalculation, and yet why? It had perfectly perceived and analyzed the physical abilities of both hobgoblins, and though they were certainly taller and bigger than the black ones, particularly the white skinned variant, that alone would not explain these inexplicable movements.

The Collector growled and clanked its mandibles together, eyeing the red hobgoblin. At the least, it would seem this one would soon fall.

The twin strikes the Collector inflicted upon the red variant had severed major tendons and muscles, causing blood to spurt form open gashes that exposed lacerated bone.

"Well then," said Shun as he eyed his right shoulder. His arm hung limp, completely useless. His volcanite odachi lay in two, cleanly sliced pieces on the ground. "To cut through reinforced volcanite, those claws are truly exceptional.

Adamantite, is it? No, even sharper than that."

"Cease your incessant babbling, primitive," said the Collector as it lunged forwards, scything its arachnid arms to break the red hobgoblin into pieces.

Shun dodged the incoming strikes, his qi focused entirely into his eyes to utilize sense. He did not have the luxury to react to the fact that the creature could speak their language, for he had to spend every ounce of his thoughts on survival.

At the very least, this creature did not seem magical in nature. He could not sense that it was projecting any mana, making it so that without opposing magical aura to throw off his [sense], he could read every single one of the creature's movements before they even happened.

Shun saw the creature lower its center of gravity, and immediately his vision flashed red. Mortal danger. He leaped backwards, making distance between himself for the ensuing charge.

"Judging from your facial expressions and body language, you are capable of perceiving my actions the moment I begin processing them. You move before I move. I calculate a high probability of psionic capabilities, and yet, I cannot sense any psionic charge from within you," said the Collector. "Curious."

"I…have no idea what that means, nor who sent you, monster," said Shun as he breathed in deep, focusing his qi, focusing his will. He had to stand his ground here. Stall for time. "But you best give up and go crawling back to whatever human sorcerer created you, for he did a bad job. Without any mana, I can read you as clearly as a springside stream. You will never strike me."

=== (This will indicate PoV shifts)

Shun narrowed his eyes.

This was a bluff.

He kept his qi projected outwards from his body and circling around the monster with the [sense] skill. This meant he could perceive the creature's movements and aggressions, but constantly projecting his qi outwards accelerated qi expenditure drastically, and without qi to reinforce his movements, it did not matter if he could see the attacks coming if he was too slow to dodge them.

And this creature was immensely strong in terms of sheer physical power, speed, and durability.

As if to prove this point, the monster sped forwards, once more striking first with its tusks. Shun swerved to the side and then ducked under a row of sweeping arachnid legs. He put qi into his legs and then leaped away as the monster swiveled its body, sending its armored tail into Shun's side like a club.

Though Shun perceived the attack, he was a little slow. He reduced the damage with his qi empowered backstep, but he could still feel a large bruise welling up from shorn and bloody skin where the club-like end of the monster's tail barely grazed him.

In purely physical strength and speed, this monster was easily on par with a three-star adventurer, far beyond any of the hobgoblins and matching or surpassing even Juzo, the champion.

Though the monster lacked magic, it possessed claws sharper than reinforced adamantite, making any ordinary defense utterly useless against it, though it seemed skills like [guard] could work.

If the beast managed to surprise Juzo or even lord Zoll as it had surprised Shun when it sliced through his volcanite odachi, then it was entirely possible for the monster to instantly kill either of them if they were not being cautious.

Hrunt was best suited to kill this creature with his ranged magic.

Shun grimaced, steeling his resolve. Hrunt was on his way to this camp from the inner one, but he was still quite some time away.

If Shun could not hold this monster here, then he had no doubt it would devastate the vast majority of hobgoblins and goblins in the camp for none of them were Awakened to any high degree, relying only on the strength of their flesh and bone.

"I will hold you here," declared Shun as he took in a deep breath, spreading his stance wide to allow for larger ranges of movement. "Whether I live or perish. Soon, you will come to know the might of the tribes of Oe."

"Does your tribe specialize in fleeing like vermin?" said the Collector. "I am unimpressed, primitive. I will enjoy tearing your flesh from the bone."

"Go ahead and try," said Shun. He held in a breath; his senses tuned to the max. He could feel and hear his rising heartbeat, he could smell the bitter, foul scent of burned grass, and he could feel the tiniest breeze of wind touch against his skin.

With [sense] like this, he would evade everything this monster could muster.

The monster moved, rushing in towards him.

Shun readied himself, his muscles tensing as he ascertained the creature's intent.

Would it swipe at him with its spider claws? Strike at him with its long tusks? Whip at him with its tails? So many possibilities, and yet, [sense] meant out of all those countless paths, he would perceive only the one the monster decided on.

Shun froze. He had never felt anything like this. He saw what the monster decided on, but-

===

The Collector rushed past the red hobgoblin's body, its body low and its six arachnid claws stuck out in front of it, a breath of victory escaping its maw as a cloud of fog.

A moment later, the red variant's severed head landed in front of the Collector, blood spilling out onto the darkened grass, an expression of utter surprise still etched into its red eyes.

The Collector clicked its mandibles as it looked down at the expression on the hobgoblin's severed head.

Once the Collector knew the primitive had the capacity to read its movements and foresee them, it devised a strategy against it.

Certain tinkerers with psionic charges possessed the same ability. Collector variants at their full power never really had to deal with them as they possessed an innate psionic defense sourced from their link to the Collective that rendered anything possible by an individual tinkerer ineffective.

But it seemed that in its current weakened and disconnected state, the Collector was susceptible. It had improvised, however.

If the hobgoblin primed its movements based on a precognitive perception of what the Collector decided upon, then the Collector would simply overwhelm the hobgoblin with a surplus of options.

With superior mental processing systems, the Collector could commit itself to dozens of attack paths at once in equal intensity.

The red hobgoblin had likely been swamped by the sheer density of attacks it predicted, and its primitive mental systems simply could not keep up, freezing it in place.

The Collector's muscular, prehensile tongue lashed out and gobbled up the hobgoblin's head. It heard the hobgoblin's decapitated body fall behind it with a thump.

The Collector turned and consumed the rest of the goblin. It would have liked to savor the red variant's taste for though its erratic movements had irked the Collector, it had still challenged the Collector as a warrior.

>>>

*Biomass gained (+15)*

Biomass Level: 34/100

*New genetic material availale*

Stored Genetic Material:

-Black Ant

-Black Hobgoblin

-Human

-Giant Scorpion

-Stonecrusher Beetle

-Jumping Arakka

-*NEW* Lesser Oni

>>>

There was no time to fully savor the meal, however. The Collector had to continue its attack and catch up with the white skinned variant before it could fully alert the rest of the camp.

Pushing with its bulked up hind legs, the Collector surged forwards, continuing its charge in the direction of the white skinned variant's escape.