NOVEL WEB Ch. 28
Even though Zyrus knew a lot about the past, he didn’t know about minor fights such as these. With the butterfly effects caused by his actions, a new future was sure to unfold.
BUUUU
“What do we do?”
“We fight of course.”
“Do you know what that is?” Ria could hear the sound of horns that were getting closer and closer, but she wasn't worried by much. Zyrus had already taught her to prepare a contingency plan.
“They’re goblin riders. But don’t mistake them for the ones we saw during tutorial.”
“How so?” Ria gave Zyrus a questioning glance, but that was unnecessary. The answer had revealed itself.
ThumpThump*
Accompanied by the loud thuds, the figures behind the dust were revealed one by one. Over a hundred and fifty goblins were riding on gray wolves.
Compared to the feeble goblins they had faced in the tutorial, these ones had strange white and red tattoos on their exposed skin.
“How is that possible?”
“They have armor!”
“Fall back, idiots! Don’t you see the bows on their back?” Ria shouted from the top of her lungs and changed the player’s positions.
Even the defending players were caught off guard. Unsure of what to do against the new arrivals, both sides faced one another in a stalemate.
“Keep up with the plan, I’ll handle them,” Zyrus replied before Ria was able to ask.
“…”
“..?”
“Okay,” Ria responded after a bit of hesitation. Although she didn’t know how he’d deal with the goblins, she threw that matter at the back of her mind. His instructions were clear; all had to obey when he gave a command.
On the other hand, Zyrus had moved a dozen meters towards the goblin riders.
‘It’d be rude to decline a free meal’
He looked ahead with a menacing glare and took out his spear. The goblin riders were charging in groups of threes and fours. If any players were dumb enough to engage them with the same number as them, they’d die without a doubt. Not that he was going to allow that.
He jumped into one of the group’s path and swept his spear in a fan-shaped arc. With the spear's length it could only strike two riders, but that was more than enough to draw everyone’s attention.
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 had claimed the lives of both goblins.
Awoooooo
The wolves became feral and tried to bite his neck and arm. The current goblin riders shared a deeper bond with their rides.
“KNOW YOUR PLACE.”
His low, thundering roar made the wolves scamper back in agitation. They wanted nothing more than to kill him and avenge their masters, but their primal instincts held them back. A hierarchy existed between different species, and a Sylvarix wasn’t someone who a bunch of wolves could defy.
The groups that had charged ahead were also startled by this. Striking while the iron was still hot, Zyrus didn’t hesitate to throw one of his javelins at a faraway goblin rider.
[Vector Throw]
Unsurprisingly, it was another one-shot kill. His skill dealt 150% additional damage when attacking a target in the range of 50 to 100 meters, not to mention the 15% Armor Penetration effect. The goblin’s HP was reduced to zero as there was to way to survive after having your skull skewed with a javelin.
Zyrus moved around like a shadow and didn’t leave any room for the goblins 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, so 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 since the system didn’t acknowledge them as either players or monsters.
This led to both sides ignoring one another, much to the dismay of the goblin riders.
Slash
-48,-265
Exp +300
BUUUBU*BU*
‘Tch.. I could only kill five of them,’ with an unsatisfied 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 seconds, but it was useless if he wasn’t able to strike them.
The goblin leader who was greedily looking at Zyrus’s head, also realized this fact.
BUU
Time was one of the most important assets in a fight. Without wasting any of it, the goblins besieged 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. His senses were assailed with clouds of dust and hooting of the goblins, but they were in for a surprise if they thought that he’d lose his concentration so easily.
‘They’re getting more and more clever,’
Zyrus half-heartedly evaded the arrows. 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. That’s what he wanted them to think anyway.
Red strings of damage numbers floated above Zyrus’s head as iron arrows hit him one by one. His scales deflected most of them, but no defense was truly unbreachable. The goblins had a good accuracy even while riding on the wolves. They targeted the same spot over and over to break off his scales.
The pain of having his bare flesh exposed wasn’t new for Zyrus. Dust and arrows aggravated his wounds and yet, he endured without making a sound.
He knew that goblins were impatient creatures, and he was correct.
“Kiekiekie!”
After seeing him getting hit without being able to retaliate, the goblin leader became excited and the attacks became even more aggressive.
It failed to notice the bloody grin on Zyrus’s face as dozens of goblin riders approached him closer and closer.
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
[Poison Breath]
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
Despite the goblin's natural resistance and armor, the results didn’t change. The mana poison was unstoppable unless one had awakened the mana stat.
“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 an emotionless gaze and sucked in the blood-red energy. Be it the goblin riders 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.
[Effect: Absorb your enemy’s vitality to regain your stamina]
MP and Stamina were stats that weren’t unlocked in the first ring, but it didn’t mean that they didn’t exist. Stamina was the fusion of vitality, strength, and agility. Being a regressor Zyrus had a wealth of information whose value was immeasurable.
In a single breath, all of the blood was drained from the corpses, leaving them dried like autumn leaves.
+100,+100,+100,+100,…
‘This is amazing!’
Half of his HP had recovered in the span of a few seconds. His scales grew back and all of his deeper wounds were healing at a visible speed. The trolls would kneel down in worship if they saw the current scene.
And much to Zyrus’s surprise, the blood fusion had a pseudo-stun effect on the onlookers as well. With this those on the same level as him wouldn’t be able to harm him once he activated the talent.
‘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.
His tense muscles had relaxed by now, so he decided to use this trusty method once again. His javelin was aimed straight towards the goblin leader.
[Vector Throw]
Hzzzzz
‘Tch, as I thought, the bastard has a barrier skill,’
Zyrus ignored the goblin riders who were firing arrows at him and kept his pace towards the goblin totem. A pale golden barrier was covering the latter from head to toe, but they both knew that it wouldn’t last.
The goblin leader raised its wrinkled green hands and started to chant a magic spell. This was the go-to tactic for any mage who had a barrier skill. Its best utility lay with defense and anti-interruption.
A pity though. Trusting your magic spell would work against the former lord of arcana was a grave mistake.
“Buy a staff in your next life.”
Zyrus didn’t need to use his Eyes of Annihilation to find the weakness of the barrier. The crude magic stood no chance against his bloodspine spear.
Thrust
With a simple and effective thrust, the symbol of the goblin clan fell at his feet. Zyrus didn’t even bother to look back because he knew how the goblin’s hierarchy worked.
He didn’t pick up the crown from the fallen totem’s head and instead, untied the necklace it was wearing. The hundred goblin riders watched in silence as he wore the bone necklace over his scaled neck. It wasn’t due to fear, but respect.
“Follow me.”
Awooooooo
The crown on the totem’s corpse scattered into the air, for its clan now served the last Sylvarix.