Since they couldn't beat it in raw stats, they shouldn't try to compete on stats.
This was Roger's current thought.
The strength, speed, and regenerative abilities of this goblin were far superior to his and Irene's; head-on combat would only lead to death.
Although Irene didn't understand the details of Roger's plan, she sheathed her sword as soon as he shouted. Dodging the purple beams shooting at her once again, she sprinted toward the goblin at full speed.
White energy constantly surged from her body. Her strength and speed surged during this reckless burst of power, her every step stamping a shallow crater into the gravel ground.
At the same time, Roger cast Windwalk and dashed toward the goblin from the other side.
The goblin's gaze tracked both of their movements simultaneously as a dark purple glow lit up inside the skull's mouth once more.
Irene rushed in front of the goblin before the beam could fire, grabbing the middle of the bone staff with both hands.
“Quick!”
Roger followed close behind, grabbing the other side of the bone staff and instantly issuing a command to the system in his mind:
“Recycle!”
The bone staff instantly dissolved into specks of light and vanished.
“Points +1,300. Total: 8,700.”
Seeing this, Roger knew his plan had succeeded.
Although this wouldn't completely neutralize the goblin's combat power, it at least stripped the creature of its spellcasting tool.
The moment the bone staff vanished, a look of sheer bewilderment appeared on both Irene's and the goblin's faces.
“What on earth did you do?!” the goblin hissed, so enraged that it even spoke in the Common Tongue.
“Just a little trick.” Roger had no interest in humoring its emotional outburst. He had already commanded the Arcane Hand in his mind.
The blue hand, gripping the Fine Steel Sword, chopped down from the goblin's blind spot, aiming straight for its nape.
However, the goblin simply reached back and grabbed the blade with its bare hand. Roger had the Arcane Hand press down with all its might, but the Fine Steel Sword didn't budge an inch.
“Even without the bone staff,” the goblin's voice rasped from deep within its throat. The hand clutching the blade gradually tightened, causing cracks to spiderweb across the metal. “I can still crush you two little rats to death.”
The blade instantly snapped in two.
As the words fell, an even more violent surge of energy erupted from the purple crystal. The light spread along the twisted lines across its body, forming a glowing web beneath the goblin's skin.
Nourished by this infusion of energy, the bone spurs all over its body grew further. Even the withered tentacle-like appendage on its left arm swelled and thickened, each tentacle writhing frantically as if possessing a mind of its own.
In the next second, the goblin swung its right fist.
Irene's pupils dilated. Seeing the fist closing in, she kicked off the ground with her right foot to dive to the side, but the goblin's fist slammed into her ribs like a battering ram.
She was sent flying sideways, rolling several times across the gravel-strewn ground.
Just as she propped herself up, the goblin closed the distance again, its right fist hurtling straight down at her face.
Irene forcefully yanked the longsword from her waist, holding it horizontally to block. The fist slammed into the scabbard, sending a shockwave through her arms. The skin between her thumbs and index fingers beneath her gauntlets split open, and blood began to trickle down the hilt.
She quickly used the momentum to roll backward and steady herself on one knee. She drew her sword once more, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped the hilt.
Roger opened his system inventory and found that his standard arrows were completely depleted, leaving only two poison arrows. He notched these two poison arrows onto his bowstring, aiming at the goblin's back.
At the same time, the Arcane Hand gripped the broken half of the Fine Steel Sword, and a blast of Sword Qi flew from the broken blade, cutting toward the goblin's back.
Without even turning its head, the goblin whipped the swollen tentacle on its left arm through the air.
The tentacle clashed with the Sword Qi in midair. The Sword Qi exploded into a burst of white light at the point of contact, tearing a wound into the skin of the tentacle.
After a brief pause, the goblin began walking toward Irene.
Irene gripped her longsword tightly again, blood dripping from the hilt onto the gravel. Yet, she still aimed her sword tip at the crystal on the goblin's chest. She slowly rose from her kneeling position, resuming her offensive stance.
Roger released the bowstring. The two arrows traced two nearly overlapping arcs, burrowing directly into the wound torn by the Sword Qi.
The goblin's body stiffened slightly as the arrows hit, and the tentacle on its left arm twitched uncontrollably. It whipped around to face Roger, the purple light in its eye sockets flickering violently. The injured tentacle suddenly elongated, lashing out toward him.
The tentacle let out a piercing shriek as it tore through the air, but Roger had already activated Windwalk. The tentacle brushed past his chest, slamming into the cave wall and sending stone fragments flying.
Roger stabilized his footing upon landing. He pulled all his stink potions from his system inventory. Under the influence of Water Control, the corks popped open simultaneously.
The dark green, viscous liquid flew out from the four bottle mouths at once, merging in midair into a flowing ribbon of dark green fluid. Guided by his Water Control, he splashed the liquid directly into the goblin's mouth and nose.
The goblin immediately doubled over, gagging repeatedly.
Irene seized the opportunity and lunged forward, kicking off the ground with her left foot to launch herself like a cannonball. A burst of white light erupted from her blade, illuminating the entire passage as bright as day.
Aiming for the crystal on the goblin's chest, she thrust her sword forward.
The sword tip collided with the crystal's surface, the white light and purple glow clashing violently at the point of contact.
Irene gritted her teeth, the veins on her forehead bulging as she continued to press forward with all her might. A few seconds later, a faint cracking sound echoed from deep within the crystal, and a fissure appeared on its surface.
However, her sword could not withstand the continuous clash of the two opposing energies. With a sharp snap, the blade broke into two pieces. The magical backlash sent her flying backward, her back slamming heavily into the cave wall.
With the fissure now open, the crystal began flashing frantically at an unprecedented rate, wisps of glowing purple energy leaking from the crack.
The goblin finally recovered slightly from the choking stink potion and looked down. The crystal was crumbling, with the broken sword tip still embedded in the fissure. For the first time, a look of terror appeared on its face.
It tried to cup its hands over the crystal, but the energy continued to seep through its fingers.
From a distance, Roger raised his right hand. An arc of electricity streaked through the air, striking the embedded sword tip.
The electric arc conducted through the metal tip directly into the core of the crystal, completely detonating the highly unstable energy within.
The crystal exploded with a deafening boom.
The shockwave of the explosion rippled outward from the goblin's chest as a massive amount of purple energy erupted from the shattered crystal. The force tore the goblin's arms off at the forearms, sending dark purple flesh and bone fragments scattering in all directions. The skin on its chest was ripped open from the inside out, and the twisted lines covering its entire body completely went dark.
Once the explosion subsided, the goblin's massive frame slowly tilted forward and collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Points +800. Total: 9,500.”
“Chain Lightning upgraded to Lv2.”
“Magic upgraded to Lv3.”
Silence returned to the passage. Only a charred, smoking hole remained in the goblin's chest, the air filled with a pungent stench.
A few fragments of the purple crystal lay scattered among the gravel around the corpse, gradually losing their final glimmers of light.
Leaning against the cave wall, Irene slowly slid down to the ground. She looked down at the broken sword in her hand, then at the massive corpse, remaining silent.
Roger leaned against the cave wall, his hands resting on his knees. Once he caught his breath, he retrieved two bottles of Basic Healing Potion from his system inventory and tossed them to Irene.
He then slid down against the wall as well, closing his eyes and allowing Croft's Meditation Method to slowly circulate within his body.
After drinking the healing potion, Irene stood up. She rummaged through the surrounding debris and picked up a decent-looking longsword from beside the corpse of a goblin grunt.
By the time Roger opened his eyes again, his mana had recovered just enough to cast a few more spells. Only then did Irene ask, “What do we do next?”
Roger was about to browse the shop for a skill or item to help them escape the cave, just as he had planned earlier, but his gaze was involuntarily drawn deeper into the cavern.
“I want to go inside and take a look.”
Rate on N.U.
