Rivera the Goat Demon

Seeing this, Matthew smiled inwardly but did not relax.

He quickly notched another arrow and drew his bow. Since he could wear down his opponent with ranged attacks, as long as he still had arrows and remained in a relatively safe position, depleting the creature's strength even a little more would give him a better chance in the upcoming close-quarters fight.

As for the thin energy barrier the goat demon had summoned, Matthew was no stranger to it—he had already witnessed similar means during his fight with the kobold priest.

Moreover, the arrow just now had clearly proven that this barrier was not unbreakable.

In a flash, Matthew suppressed his stray thoughts. After silently steeling himself, he took a deep breath. His gaze became as calm as an ancient well, and his breathing grew as steady as a mountain.

“Ranged suppression, then look for an opportunity to close in—the established tactic remains unchanged.”

He muttered to himself, his fingertips hooking onto the bowstring once more. His sharp gaze locked onto the goat demon below, which was growing increasingly frenzied due to its injury.

“I'll empty this quiver first, then see how it reacts.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the bowstring twanged again. Another sharp arrow turned into a streak of light, piercing through the air.

But by now, the goat demon was already on high alert. Its reaction and movement speeds were incredibly fast as it dodged and ducked repeatedly. Although Matthew's subsequent arrows were fierce, the demon managed to narrowly evade all of them by a hair's breadth.

Taking advantage of a brief gap, the goat demon lunged forward and retreated behind a thick stone pillar next to the central platform, hiding most of its body behind the cover.

Seeing this, Matthew's heart sank.

“The distance is too far, giving it too much time to react... Furthermore, I can't fully activate 【Eagle Eye Gaze】. I must preserve enough Spirit for later just in case.”

For a moment, Matthew found himself in a dilemma. It was no longer feasible to hit it from a distance.

Moreover, drawing the bow each time consumed a significant amount of his physical strength, yet it failed to pose a substantial threat. Most importantly, the longer this dragged on, the more variables would arise.

At the same time, he remembered that his first arrow had struck the goat demon between its waist and ribs.

“Since it's already injured, its movements will definitely be affected.”

“Since ranged attacks are no longer effective, I might as well engage in close combat!”

“With the 【Dawn Sword】 in my hand, and the power of 【Melting Slash】 combined with armor penetration... I have a very high chance of success.”

In a flash, Matthew made his decision:

He would take advantage of its injury and launch a close-quarters assault. If things didn't go well, with the sharpness of the 【Dawn Sword】 and his own speed, retreating wouldn't be difficult either.

He immediately stowed his bow, drew the 【Dawn Sword】 from his waist, and darted downward like a ghost, lunging straight toward the injured goat demon below!

On the other side...

Backed against the stone pillar, Rivera held its abdomen wound tightly with its half-human hand, warm blood still slowly seeping out.

Its face contorted in pain and rage, and it let out a suppressed, low growl.

Immediately after, the muscles around the wound seemed to take on a life of their own, suddenly contracting and squeezing inward, forcibly stopping the bleeding.

Only after doing this did the ferocious expression on its face soften slightly, but the burning anger in its crimson pupils remained unextinguished.

As its gaze swept over the old and weak kobolds fleeing in all directions and huddling in the shadows, its cold killing intent almost materialized.

‘A pack of lowly servants... Once I deal with this human, I will slaughter every last one of you!’

However, beneath its anger, a deeper sense of wariness quietly emerged.

It had never expected that in this barren land on the outskirts of the forest, where energy was so sparse, it would encounter an existence that could truly threaten its life.

The wound in its abdomen still throbbed with pain, reminding it of how perilous that arrow just now had been.

Had the spell barrier activated at the critical moment not weakened most of the force, it would likely have been severely wounded by now.

At this thought, its fingers covering the wound tightened involuntarily, clenching into a fist.

Through its fingertips, the clear touch of a hard, cold object in its breast pocket was felt.

Its panicked mind seemed to be instantly stabilized by this cold sensation, calming down slightly.

Just as Rivera barely steadied its mind with the cold touch of the ring and was about to peek out from behind the stone pillar to observe the enemy above, its crimson pupils suddenly contracted.

The figure holding the bow up high had disappeared!

A cold shiver of alarm instantly shot up its spine.

It jerked its head back, its spine pressing tight against the rough stone pillar. The very instant its neck muscles tensed and turned slightly to the right—

A ghostly figure silently lunged down from the shadows above. The slender one-handed sword in his hand dragged a chilling blue-white arc of light, descending overhead with a low, air-rending howl!

It was Matthew!

“Roar!”

Rivera only had time to let out a roar of mingled shock and anger as its survival instinct overrode everything else.

The dark red, misty energy barrier around its body instantly flared up again in a reflex-like response, attempting to slow down the lethal sword light like viscous plasma.

The edge of the 【Dawn Sword】 rubbed violently against the energy barrier, producing a grating, ear-piercing sound.

The barrier fluctuated violently and caved inward, ultimately being torn open by force under the sharpness and armor-penetrating properties of the empowered 【Melting Slash】!

Yet, this brief delay, which was almost negligible, bought Rivera a crucial split second.

Its explosive power, far exceeding that of a human, was unleashed at this moment. Its sturdy body lunged to the rear-diagonal with an agility that completely defied its bulk.

The sword light swept past where it had just been standing, leaving a deep white gash on the rocky ground.

Having successfully dodged, Rivera did not pause for a second; its counterattack immediately followed!

Pressing its five fingers together like a blade, its half-human hand thrust fiercely toward the opening under Matthew's ribs exposed by his swing, carrying a foul wind. Simultaneously, its other hand curled into a claw, snapping toward Matthew's sword-bearing wrist in a ruthless, seamless motion.

Matthew's reaction was incredibly swift. Before his sword's momentum even ended, he used the force to spin, drawing a semi-circle with the 【Dawn Sword】 to parry the hand-blade thrust at his ribs. At the same time, his feet slid across the ground, narrowly evading the claw snapping at his wrist.

Rivera pressed on relentlessly with claws, shoulder strikes, and kicks. Its offensive was like a tempest, each strike packed with formidable brute force and aimed at tricky angles, targeting vital spots.

The sharp clashes of metal and the dull thuds of flesh-on-flesh impacts echoed rapidly in the cavernous space.

Their figures crossed and shifted as sword light and claw shadows intertwined, forming a dizzying blur under the dim light.

Within just a few breaths, they had already exchanged several blows.

However, whether it was Matthew's exquisite, swift swordsmanship combined with the penetrative power of 【Melting Slash】, or Rivera's formidable physical strength, neither could immediately find a fatal opening in the other.

After another intense clash, both leaped backward to disengage, opening up a distance of several meters once again, falling into a brief standoff.