Chapter 39: The First Trial (5)
Taking the sniper out of his pocket, Michael quickly unfolded it and aimed for one of the goblins before pulling the trigger.
He had half expected it to not work again, however, instead of cleanly slicing the mana in half, this time it pushed the goblin back a few meters and seemed to damage his swords as well.
’Concentrated mana..’ Michael had remembered what Freya told him, about that little mana refining orb, if he diligently used it, his mana itself would become many times stronger.
The people around Michael saw the scene unfold with widened eyes, they didn’t even know what kind of weapon he used, yet it was able to do.. that.
"The Goblin Generals are approaching, everyone, don’t let your guards down!" The leader shouted right behind Michael, making sure to grab the attention of all the people present.
Michael’s expression hardened ’Goblin Generals.. so the leader is not here after all.’
He began shooting with his sniper constantly, however, the mana drain was starting to slowly add up which irked him a little bit, if only he had been better at using mana.
The goblins suddenly stopped when they were just around 50 meters away from the small army, they held out their swords which were raised in the air.
It seemed like they were shouting something, however, Michael was not able to hear it.
But it did not seem to be the same case for others, as some looked mortified, while others now had grave expressions.
Whatever those goblins said, demoralized the army for some reason.
As the atmosphere became much more intense, the leader started running at them for some reason, sword in hand and all.
’What is he doing?’ Michael thought with a confused look, while he was good at commanding others, his battle power was nowhere near Michael’s, much less the goblins.
And he was right, as the moment the leader got within a few meters of one of the goblins, his head was sent flying off into the distance, another slash, his body was cut into a few more pieces.
The sight was gross, enough so to make the few individuals who could see everything clearly, vomit.
Even Michael did not like the sight in the slightest, the goblins had something coated on the dual swords which made the slashes they inflicted rot their opponents.
’Crude fucking animals’ Michael began feeling an unknown rage building up inside of him, it felt familiar, however, the emotions were a bit alien.
But even if they were, he could agree with them, these monsters are ruthless and unforgiving, they eat humans and kill the innocent.
Even with Michael’s resolution, he was still not sure how to deal with all of them, he believed he could take on maybe 2 or 3 at once, however, 20? No chance.
His mana control was a bit better in closer combat as he could couple it with the military fighting style that he had learned in his past life.
Michael decided to finally approach, the other adventurers doing the same with careful steps, everyone present was weaker than the goblins standing in front of them.
The goblins reacted as well, taking slow steps to meet the others in the middle, he could see many mocking grins on their ugly faces.
Once they were all within 10 meters of each other, Michael acted and sent Mana Spears flying at the few in the middle, creating a hole in their formation.
From this distance, he was able to push the goblins back slightly, enough for others to capitalize on this small chance.
And he too, decided to go in, scattering mana particles all around his body to redirect any sudden sword strike that could potentially come.
For some reason, the goblins seemed uninterested, while he was trying to hit them, they focused completely on defense, not attacking him at all.
Your next journey awaits at мѵʟ
He knew they were strong, even with his current power, they were at most equal, so why were they holding back?
Michael kept barraging them with his attacks, some even landing and creating small gashes on their bodies, however, they healed them incredibly fast.
He turned to look at the others and his eyes widened in shock.
Many were lying dead on the ground, the others stood with cut off limbs that had started rotting, effectively sealing their fates.
’Fuck’ He understood what their plan was, stall him while they deal with the others.
The goblins glanced at Michael and smirked, before finally launching an attack.
The swords traveled at a speed he could still react to, he ducked under them and noticed another pair of dual swords traveling at his side.
He jumped up and kicked the flat edge of one of the swords, momentarily knocking one of them off balance, enough for him to deal a blow.
A bunch of colorless thin swords appeared out of thin air and traveled at the goblin’s body, piercing through his body effectively killing it.
Or so he thought, however, he missed the vitals, even with literal holes in its body, it was still able to survive as long as he could regenerate.
’The heart or the brain..’ He concluded that if he didn’t go for any of those, winning this fight would be incredibly difficult.
"Keeee!" A screech resounded from behind him, one of the goblins looked infuriated as it charged at him.
Michael preferred to not get hit, he was not sure if his passive healing capabilities were enough to ignore whatever rot they were inflicting.
Therefore he diligently dodged the attacks to the best of his abilities, his previous life’s combat ability shining bright.
He dodged, he kicked and sent Swords of Mana at them, however, he couldn’t hit their vitals for some reason.
One of them was pierced in what seemed to be the heart but it did not die, it did not even stumble back.
’Are their organs somewhere else?’ Michael had a thought as he continued dodging the onslaught of attacks from the now 4 goblins.
Some of the stronger adventurers gathered in parties and managed to ward off a few of the goblins, strength in numbers sure was great.
He just wished there was someone like that to assist him, he could hold them back, but dealing actual fatal blows seemed impossible.
That was until one of his Swords of Mana missed and hit the very middle of a goblin’s abdomen, making some kind of a popping sound.
Immediately, the goblin staggered and fell to the ground lifeless, it seemed he managed to somehow hit a vital spot, one that killed them nearly instantaneously.
Michael couldn’t hide the grin that began forming, startling the surrounding goblins.
The tables have turned, he now had a way to actually kill them.
However, as he momentarily let down his guard, he got nicked in the leg by one of the swords, causing a sharp pain to travel across his entire body.
The surrounding tissue had begun darkening, albeit at a slower pace than for the others, the pain nonetheless, was excruciating.
Michael’s arms shook a little as he attempted to cast purify or even heal out of instinct, however, nothing happened.
The goblins began approaching him while the rot was slowly spreading in all directions, his expression turning serious.
’I have to finish this fast.’