Chapter 21
The jade-green spear stabbed towards the goblin king’s throat only to be blocked by a huge axe. Sparks flies as the two weapons collides. Nonetheless, Rennel wasn’t done yet. She quickly draws back her spear and stabbed forward, this time it’s aiming for the goblin king’s legs!
The goblin king of course would not accept being stabbed on the leg. It’s no idiot. Compared to the Rennel; the goblin king is slower. If its legs were to be injured, wouldn’t it be a sitting duck just waiting to be slaughtered?
Bang!
The earth shattered after the goblin king forcefully bring down its axe to defend against the spear that was heading towards it legs.
But as the spear and the axe was about to collide, the spear suddenly change direction and stabbed towards the monster's abdomen instead!
Puchi!
Green blood blossomed like flower as it flies in the air. It was wounded. Rennel successfully pierced the goblin king’s abdomen!
The goblin king staggered back because of the pain but didn't fall down. It might be because of pride or stubbornness but the goblin king withstood the pain and remained standing!
“Damn… human!” The goblin king roared.
As if expressing its displeasure, the goblin king spoke in the common language as it gives the girl a gaze full of killing intent.
“You… forced me!” the goblin king exclaimed. “You. Must. Die!”
Between gritted teeth, the goblin king spoke the last sentence word by word. And then… its eyes glows read.
Seeing the goblin king’s condition, alarm bells rings on Rennel’s head. She didn’t know what it was trying to do but she knew that she couldn’t allow it to continue!
Following her instinct, Rennel launches herself towards the goblin king, and aim her spear towards the goblin king’s head!
The goblin king ignored Rennel’s attack as if it didn’t see it. Moreover, red aura started appearing on the goblin king’s body. This aura formed a protected layer that stopped Rennel’s spear from penetrating the goblin king’s skull!
“What is that?”
Rennel’s eyes widened in shock as after the mysterious red aura stopped her spear on its tracks. No matter how hard she pushes, the mysterious red aura wouldn't budge.
What's more, upon sensing that things are getting worse, the girl quickly retract her spear and jumped back.
Even Chaos who was just watching the whole fight from above was slightly startled, and narrowed its eyes into slits as if something interesting caught its eyes. But despite noticing something, Chaos did not do anything and simply observed.
“It seemed that someone decided to interfere. Can't wait anymore?" Chaos muttered mysteriously.
Although there’s plenty of suspicious points about the sudden development, Chaos did not interfere and instead wanted to see how Rennel was going to deal with the situation.
"How are you going to deal with this situation?” Chaos thought to himself with an interested look.
Not long after, the mysterious red aura that was protecting the goblin king disappeared. But despite this, Rennel didn’t dare to be careless. Although she didn’t know what was happening, she could instinctively feel the danger.
What’s more, although the goblin king was just standing in one place with its head lowered looking rather defenseless; the girl didn’t attack it carelessly. Instead, her instinct was telling her that she would be killed if she makes a move!
It was rather baffling feeling even for her but that’s what she was feeling right now.
A few seconds later, the goblin king finally raised its head. Looking at it, there’s not much change in its external appearance except for the fact that its eyes were now red!
The goblin king looks at the girl with its sinister eyes. It then let out a sinister grin that sends goose bumps all over Rennel’s body!
Rennel felt extreme danger and jumbed back using all her strength!
Bang!
Debris and rubbles flew as a huge axe splits the ground were Rennel previously stood!
It's too fast!
Rennel didn’t even see when or how the goblin king attacked. Thankfully she was able to sense the danger and jumped back instantly thus avoiding the fate of being sliced in half!
But it was really a close shaved, in fact, so close that she only dodged the attack by a hair’s breadth. Still, despite dodging the attack, the hooded cloak that she was wearing was cut open; revealing her true appearance!
Seeing that her cloak was destroyed, Rennel could only throw the cloak to the sides as it’ll just get in the way when she fights.
“How did the goblin king suddenly get so strong?”
Rennel was feeling very confuse at the goblin king’s sudden increase in power. Aside from its eyes suddenly glowing red and the red aura that protected it earlier, it didn’t do anything at all.
“No, it must have done something. It’s just that I didn’t see what. It’s possible that the outside didn’t change but the inside did. Also, it said that… I forced it?”
The girl was trying her hardest to recall the clues that she might have missed earlier. But no matter what she does nothing comes to mind, except…
“Did the goblin king use a forbidden technique? Judging by the monster’s earlier words; that might actually be the case.”
The only thing that comes to girl’s mind was that the goblin king used some sort of forbidden skills to empower itself. Unfortunately for the girl, she didn’t have time to contemplate on the subject. No, the goblin king won’t allow it.
****
The sudden improvement in the goblin king’s abilities caught everyone’s attention, especially those in the area. Guild Master Tigre, General Souren, Clyde and his party, and other adventurers that were currently fighting could not help but look as well. Thankfully, even the remaining goblins turned their attention towards their king which prevented any sudden attacks.
“What just happened? How did the goblin king become so strong all of the sudden?” One adventurer asked.
The nearby adventurers could only shake their heads. That’s because no one could answer the adventurer’s question. Just like him they were caught off guard too.
As everyone watches, they saw Rennel jumped back with all her strength. Following that they all heard a loud ‘bang’! On the ground, a huge axe was buried; destroying the spot where the girl previously stood.
Everyone was shock. The goblin king had thrown its axe towards Rennel without them noticing!
“When did the goblin king attack?” Everyone thought.
Everyone then turned their attention towards Rennel the moment she threw her cloak away. Seeing the damage on the cloak, everyone knew that the girl barely dodges that attack. It was a really close call!
Without her hooded cloak, everyone finally saw Rennel’s true appearance. The girl’s long silver hair tied in braid glows under the moonlight. Her beautiful face and her star like black eyes caught everyone’s attention. Even her solemn expression was beautiful to behold.
“She’s so beautiful!” Mina murmured to herself after seeing Rennel’s true appearance. Even though she’s girl herself, Mina could not help but mesmerized.
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement; even the elves in the group that were known for their beauty could not help but admire the girl’s appearance.
External appearance aside, it was actually her skillful movements that could somehow match the “upgraded” goblin king’s movements that truly caught their attention. Despite the goblin king’s overwhelming power, Rennel has yet to fall.
But…
“It’s amazing that she could still match the goblin king but if the situation continues, she’ll run out of stamina soon!” The shield-bearing Darius observed.
“Wasn’t it the same for the goblin king too? That monster shouldn’t be able to maintain that state for too long. As long that silver-haired girl holds on till the effect of whatever technique the goblin king was using, she should be able to win!” Natalie, the magician, argued.
“No, Darius is right. If nothing was done to mitigate the situation; the girl wouldn’t be able to hold for too long.” Tyr countered.
“It’s difficult to feel it from here but the goblin king had been releasing an invisible pressure after it entered that mysterious state. Facing that pressure, the girl’s stamina would be drained quicker.”
“No way! Isn’t there anything that we could do?” Mina exclaimed, panicked.
Hearing Mina’s words, Tyr grow slightly hesitant and didn’t reply instantly. Noticing his teammate’s hesitation, Clyde who had been observing the entire fight asked, “Do you have any idea, Tyr?”
Tyr turned towards Clyde before nodding. “There’s indeed a way. As long as we distract the goblin king, the pressure on the girl should be lessened. But once we entered the fray, the goblin king’s attention would be placed on us. At the goblin king’s current state, it’ll be difficult for us to defend against its attacks. What’s more, the other goblins won’t let us assist the girl without doing anything.”
“You can leave the other goblins to us. So if you can, please assist the girl,” Guild Master Tigre, who silently approaches them, pleaded.
Clyde and his party stared at each other before nodding almost simultaneously.
“We can’t just let that little girl do all the hard work, can we? Let’s do it!” Darius said with a huge grin on his face.
“I agree. We can’t let the girl who obviously looks younger than us get all of the credits. That would be ruining our reputation,” Natalie commented with a nod.
“Yes! Yes! Let’s help her!” Mina nodded her head excitedly.
Hearing the words of his teammate, Tyr could only shrug his shoulder. “Since I’m the oldest here, there’s no way I could allow you “children” to outshine me, couldn’t I? So fine, let’s help her!” Tyr teases.
“Hey!”
“Who are you calling children?”
“I resent that!”
Clyde and the guild master smiled at this scene despite themselves. Now that everyone agreed to assist, they could only do their best.
“Earlier, we couldn’t offer our assistant because the girl was so focused on defeating her opponent. But the situation is different now. Since the girl’s on the defensive, and was pressured, she won’t mind even if we suddenly assist!” Try explained.
“Here’s the plan. Darius do everything you can to taunt the goblin king. Natalie and I would attack with range attacks, while Clyde tries to damage in close combat. Mina, you need to give all of the defensive in your arsenal to Darius – he’ll need it. Also, buff us as well with offensive buffs; we’ll need it in order to damage the goblin king. Lastly, try to communicate with that silver-haired girl and buff her too.”
Clyde and the others nodded their heads after listening to Tyr’s instructions. Before they start though, Mina gave everyone the buffs they requested. Giving that many buffs at the same time obviously tires the cleric girl. Fortunately for them, they have some potions that could help restore mana quickly.
After drinking a mana potion, Mina was able to recover from her man exhaustion. Meanwhile, the others had quickly adapted to the buffs, and are now gearing to go.
****
Renne is in a terrible spot. After the unexpected change in the goblin king’s abilities, the girl was forced into a passive position. In terms of stats, the goblin king surpasses her in all of them except for reaction time. But even that was slowly being affected by the sinister pressure that the monster was emitting.
Although she really wants to counter-attack, the girl couldn’t. So right now, Rennel could only focus on defense and evasion in order to stay alive.
Just like what Darius and Tyr said earlier, the girl was quickly running out of stamina because of the mysterious and sinister pressure that was
“If this continues, I’ll surely be defeated!” Rennel thought to herself. “What should I do?”
While Rennel racking her brain for a way to reverse the situation, the goblin king was suddenly hit by a mysterious ability that forces the monster to turn towards a certain person. It was Darius.
“Hey you big ugly, don’t you feel shame attacking a little girl? How about you fight someone your own size?” Darius taunted.
As a defender, Darius have skills that could attract the “hate” of the enemy. The one he used right now was a skill called ‘taunt”, an ability that angers the enemy by taunting it. The ability itself causes no damage but it’s very useful when trying to gather the attention of someone, humans or monsters alike.
The goblin king growls after hearing Darius’ taunt. But although Darius succeeded in getting the monster’s attention, the goblin king didn’t rush towards him but instead returned its attention back to the girl.
“Such mental fortitude!”
Darius was shock when the goblin king did not fall for his taunts. Any monster no matter the race should not be able to ignore the power of his ‘taunts’ and yet when used against the goblin king it had not effect.
Still, Darius wasn’t too disappointed. After all the true purpose of his taunt was not to force the monster to attack him but to divert its attention even if it’s just for a few seconds. And in that regard, he succeeded.
Twang! Twang! Pshew!
The moment the goblin king and returned its attention towards Rennel, it was hit by arrows and an ice magic to the face!
****
To be continued
Previous Chapters: https://read.cash/@beastion
I love your story. Very interesting. I love how you build the climax. But what I quarreled with was how the group decided to defend Rennel against the goblin king. I was wondering. Were they not fighting other goblins? Why were they not attacked when they decided to go for the king? A king is usually the last person to be fought because he is defended by the best warriors. So, for the group to talk of leaving other goblins to defend Rennel did not seem real. Well, you know how to write. Kudos.