NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: Cruel Precaution
Zyrus was able to see the goblin riders as the distance between them shortened.
They were charging in groups of threes and fours. If any players were dumb enough to engage them with the same number as them, they would die without a doubt. Of course, he wasn’t going to allow that.
‘They’re as impatient as ever,’ Zyrus chuckled and swept his spear towards one of the group.
Despite the spear's length it could only strike two riders. But that was more than enough to draw everyone’s attention.
*Sweep*
-100,-150
*Slash*
-200,-150
Exp +600
Their leather armor wasn't able to do much apart from making him move twice. In one fell swoop his spear claimed the lives of both of them.
The groups that had charged ahead were also startled by this. Striking while the iron was still hot, Zyrus didn’t hesitate to attack the nearby goblin riders.
*Sweep*
-100,-150,-56
He swept his spear left and right which didn’t leave any room for them to draw their bows. As for the wolves? They were out of the fight from the moment they sensed Zyrus’s aura.
They were common animals to begin with. There was no way they could attack him after facing his bloodline pressure. On the other hand, Zyrus was also unable to get any exp from killing them.
This led to both sides ignoring one another, much to the dismay of the goblin riders.
*Slash*
-48,-265
Exp +300
*BUUU*BU*BU*
‘Tch.. I could only kill five of them,’ with a gloomy face Zyrus looked at his surroundings. The goblin riders had changed their target and were now encircling him from all sides.
From the moment he first struck to the bugle sounds, only a couple of minutes had passed. The goblins had changed their strategy in such a short time.
Zyrus was strong enough to kill them in a couple of blows, but it was useless if he wasn’t able to strike them.
The goblin leader who was greedily looking at Zyrus’s head, had also realized this fact.
*BUU*
Time was one of the most important assets in a fight. Without wasting any of it, the goblins sieged Zyrus with a different strategy.
The goblin riders who were guarding their leader now encircled Zyrus in a 10 meter radius. At the same time, dozens of goblin archers moved behind them and shot their arrows at his location.
‘How clever,’ Zyrus became solemn and half-heartedly evaded the arrows. From the moment since he had noticed the goblin leader, he hadn’t made any other moves. The terrain didn't have anything that he could use. He could neither fly in the sky nor burrow into the ground.
Faced with the encirclement of goblin riders he had no other choice except a bitter fight.
Red strings of damage numbers floated above Zyrus’s head as iron arrows hit him one by one. The goblins had a good accuracy, even while riding on the wolves.
But as Zyrus had expected, they were impatient. After seeing him getting hit without being able to retaliate, the goblin leader was excited and the attacks became even more aggressive.
“Hahaha…”
Contrary to the goblins' expectations, Zyrus laughed as he saw the dozens of goblin riders approach him close by.
He had two goals in this fight, one was to assess his newfound powers and the other was to kill the goblin leader in a short while.
And as luck would have it, he would be able to do that simultaneously.
*FUUUUUU*
Dark blue miasma spread from Zyrus's mouth like the previous time.
-300,-300,-300,-300,-300,-300,-300,-300
-300,-300,-300
-300,-300,-300,-300,-300
Exp +4800
And despite the goblin's natural resistance and armor, the results were the same.
“Kiiieekkk”
The goblin leader screamed in horror as he looked at the scene. It wasn’t because Zyrus had killed his loyal guards, it was because of what he did after that.
Red light flashed in his yellow reptilian eyes, and with a wave of his hand, a bloody mist erupted from the fallen corpses.
Zyrus looked back at the goblin leader with a wicked gaze and sucked in the blood-red energy.
Be it the goblin rangers who had surrounded him or the humans who were keeping an eye on the conflict, everyone felt a shiver down their spine as they witnessed the activation of Blood fusion.
In a single breath, all of the blood was drained from the corpses. Whether it was the goblins or the gray wolves, none were spared.
“This is amazing!” Zyrus smirked in glee as he saw the green text in front of him
+100,+100,+100,+100,…
Half of his HP had recovered in the span of a few seconds. Much to his surprise, the blood fusion had a stun effect on the onlookers as well.
With this complimentary effect, those on the same level as him wouldn’t be able to harm him once he activated the talent. Besides, the main function of blood fusion was to replenish his stamina. Stamina was the fusion of vitality, strength, and agility. He could feel his sore muscles relax thanks to the talent's effect.
‘Now then, it’s time to wrap this up.’
Zyrus charged straight ahead towards the goblin leader. He didn't want to give them the chance to recover their momentum.
On the other hand, Ria let out a sigh of relief upon witnessing Zyrus’s fight. She had some doubts about what they had discussed prior, but now she couldn’t help but acknowledge his cunningness.
His core tactic had remained the same. He would kill a dozen enemies at once to instill shock and fear in their minds, and when their formation was disrupted because of that, he would charge at the leader.
It was by no means a foolproof plan, but as long as there was a significant gap between their individual HP, this had a very good chance of success.
‘And he was right about them as well,’ she snickered as she looked at the defending camp leader. After witnessing Zyrus’s might, he knew that something was amiss in their fight. How had they held on for so long if the enemy leader was such a monster?
He ordered his mages to get ready to launch a counterattack, but it was too late.
Under Ria's command the melee attackers had stopped their offense altogether. At the same time, some from their groups discarded their swords and took out wooden staffs and crystal balls from the inventory.
Before the defenders had a chance to react, they found swaths of fireballs and ice shards on top of their heads.
Ria grinned as she saw the enemy mages deflect the elemental spells in a fluster. From the start, the mages that stayed behind were nothing but a ruse.
“Don’t panic! Their surprise attack won’t last long. Archers get ready, it’s a perfect opportunity to kill those scattered mages,”
“B-Boss look out!”
“Wha-”
*Swish*
A hail of arrows pierced him and the two mages nearby. The poor man died without figuring out that the mages were nothing but a distraction.
Zyrus’s archers were already engaged in mid-range combat. In the short window where everyone was focused on the mages, they had snuck close to the camp boundary in one fell swoop.
“Retreat!” Ria commanded in a somber tone as she looked at the players ahead. The ones responsible for protecting the archers were grievously wounded in the rush.
In order to get the archers as close to the enemy camp as possible, they used their bodies as meat shields. It was thanks to them that they defeated the opposing camp with only a dozen causalities.
Zyrus was also done with the goblin riders. It would be a different scenario if it were any other species, but it was a piece of cake to subdue a bunch of goblins without a leader.
“That was fast,”
“Yeah, They’re cowards. But on the bright side, I won’t have to worry about their schemes.” Zyrus replied while fiddling with a bone necklace that was dropped by the goblin leader.
[Bone necklace Totem (Common)]
A crude totem made by the goblin shaman.
Effect: MP +2
“What do you plan to do with them?” Ria asked as she pointed at the defending camp.
“Have they surrendered?”
“Kind of,”
“…”
“They want one of their own to be the next leader, otherwise they’ll fight us to the end.”
“Heh,” Zyrus scoffed as he looked at the players. Both sides had nervous expressions on their faces as they awaited his response.
Some were worried about their survival while others were plotting to get a better position.
“So, what’ll you do?” Ria asked with a curious expression.
“Do I look like someone who goes back on his word?”
“How would I know?” She asked him but from her expression, her answer was obviously ‘Yes.’
“In any case, it seems they need some mental training.”
“What?”
Zyrus walked ahead without caring about Ria who was giving him a perplexed look.
“QUIET.” he bellowed from the top of his lungs and jumped on the camp wall.
Everyone was caught off guard by his sudden move. Neither the humans nor the surviving goblins dared to move an inch.
“This is the first and the last time I’ll ask this, Do you surrender?” contrary to the deafening roar, Zyrus asked the players in a calm tone.
This did nothing to ease their fears as they were even more afraid of him. Even after sensing the calm rage, there were still some who hadn’t let go of their ambitions.
“We only-”
“Shut up. Those who agree can go back, you have one minute.” Cutting the speech of a young man, Zyrus pointed his spear towards his troops.
His intentions were quite obvious. Without a figurative head, how many would dare to stand against him?
“Will this work?” Ria asked with a frown. It was an effective strategy, but what if a lot of players refused regardless?
“Doesn’t matter. It’d be better if they become more primitive and don’t scheme on my back in the future.” Zyrus answered in a cold tone as he looked at the fifty or so players who stood without moving an inch.
‘This is going to be messy,’ Ria shivered as she looked at his ruthless eyes. She didn’t need her skill to envision the massacre that would soon unfold.