Chapter Nine: Batting With Goblin Commander
"Gol and Gam, you two take on the other goblins. I will handle the commander."
"As you command, lord."
Swish!
Activating their Dash skill, the two figures disappeared from Lan Sol's sides.
Lan Sol activated his barrier and rushed toward the Goblin Commander.
The Goblin Commander was a little shorter than Lan Sol but could be considered huge for a goblin, who are normally about the size of a human's stomach.
Bang!
The Goblin Commander slammed its stone club on the ground. The ground cracked.
Then it rushed toward Lan Sol with a creepy face.
Lan Sol and the Goblin Commander collided. The club struck at Lan Sol but was avoided as the metal sword cut a small part of the Goblin Commander's chest.
[-10 HP]
The damage was incredibly low, as its defense was tough. The sword couldn't penetrate its skin, so cutting deep wasn't possible.
The Goblin Commander let out a small shrill, and its body was enveloped in red light.
It was dim, but faintly visible.
"So, you activated your skill, huh? Annoying." The sword couldn't cut its skin, and 0 damage was done.
However, the stone club was highly dangerous. A single strike nearly shattered his barrier, taking 70% of its durability.
Thankfully, the barrier was magical, absorbing both shock and impact, so even with a direct hit, he wasn't thrown away.
"Kkkkrrrr! Kkkrrrr!" It let out ear-piercing sounds as it had noticed the slaughter of its minions.
The Weak Goblins were simply massacred by Gam. The weak goblins could barely do damage, while his spear knocked out goblins with a single stab to the head.
On the other hand, Gol was agile as a monkey and jumped around. He aimed his spear at the vital parts of the Goblin Soldiers.
Clang!
The metal sword collided with armor, barely damaging it, while his spear caused 50-70% damage.
Two to three strikes were enough to kill one Goblin Soldier.
Ducking to avoid attacks, jumping, and sliding smoothly, Gol didn't let most of the attacks hit him.
He never went to the center. He was always at the edge, taking on one or two Goblin Soldiers at a time and retreating when others reached him.
It was a tactic focused on agility and speed. Even with the armor, he moved around skillfully.
So the fight was pretty one-sided. But with the Goblin Commander's ear-piercing scream, all the goblins' eyes turned red.
Their speed doubled.
Weak Goblins did double-digit damage even when attacking unarmed!
Gam was startled, and before he could escape, 10% of his HP was lost.
The same was true for Gol, who was even worse off. 30% of his HP was lost, and he was severely injured.
Bleeding from his legs, neck, and head, all of his vital parts were in worse condition.
"Kekekekeeke!" The Goblin Commander laughed.
Lan Sol jumped onto the shoulder of the Goblin Commander, catching it by surprise, but it wasn't scared as it still had its Hardened Skin.
However, Lan Sol ran away from the Goblin Commander and reached Gol.
Gol was running away and attacking, but he was the one getting more injured.
So he retreated far away, literally running from the enemies.
Lan Sol touched him and healed him.
[+10 HP]
[+10 HP]
[+10 HP]
…
He healed him completely in ten seconds and then said, "Group with Gam and deal with the goblins together."
He didn't go to Gam, as he wasn't injured severely, and he didn't wish to waste his mana.
Gol nodded.
[Due to your kindness, Gol's loyalty toward you has increased! Loyalty increased by 5!]
Lan Sol didn't even glance at the notification and charged toward the Goblin Commander again.
The Goblin Commander wasn't as fast and agile as Lan Sol, but it wasn't too bad either.
Lan Sol attacked from all angles, chipping away a meager amount of HP.
[-1 HP]
[-2 HP]
[-1 HP]
…
Lan Sol was cautious not to take any damage, attacking from both long and short range.
He used his spear, which sometimes got parried, and ran around to attack from the Goblin Commander's blind spots.
He truly utilized gamer moves: dodge, move, attack, dodge.
It was a simple strategy used in many RPG games—mainly attack the enemy, dodge, and run around, then attack from another direction.
But doing that in real life was very risky.
"Gah!"
[-20 HP!]
While attacking, the Goblin Commander anticipated his move and swung its club at him.
Not only was his barrier completely broken, but he was also thrown back, losing some HP.
"Ah, feels like my back is broken." Lan Sol stretched his back after colliding with the wall.
Crack!
A terrifying cracking sound reverberated in his ears, making him feel as though his back was broken for good.
[+10 HP]
But after using his healing skill, he was back in shape.
The Goblin Commander ran toward him.
"That's very scary." The Goblin Commander, with its disgusting face and club, looked exactly like a nightmare.
A child would have lifelong trauma if they witnessed it.
Thankfully, the Hardened Skin skill's time was up, so Lan Sol didn't fear anything.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Cold ice balls hit the Goblin Commander's chest one after another.
They were pretty fast, and before the Goblin Commander could defend against them, they hit.
Due to the force, the Goblin Commander was thrown to the ground.
[-5 HP]
[-5 HP]
[-5 HP]
Scarily low damage.
The Goblin Commander was really tough, as the frost balls couldn't do much damage.
But since the Goblin Commander was down, Lan Sol didn't waste his chance and threw stone spears one after another.
[-2 HP]
[-3 HP]
The damage was low, as the spears couldn't pierce the Goblin Commander's skin.
Lan Sol ran at the Goblin Commander while retrieving his spear.
The Goblin Commander stood and let out a long scream.
"Krrrrr!"
Lan Sol had only taken 50 HP, but his followers had done a great deal of damage.
With the cooperation of both Superior Goblins, they had dealt with the goblins more easily.
While the stat-boosting effects were annoying, they only lasted for 30 seconds, and since they were careful enough, they didn't take much further damage.
Weak Goblins, even with the enhanced stats, couldn't be considered a threat as their base stats were very poor, while Goblin Soldiers could be a challenge but were tough to battle.
But without any effects, the two Superior Goblins overwhelmed them.
"Gol and Gam, deal with this fellow." Lan Sol called them and ran toward them.
"I will deal with the remaining ones. Use your Superior Stab skill to wound it more seriously. I'll join you soon."
The two Goblins nodded and ran toward the Goblin Commander, leaving the remaining goblins behind.
There were only 10 goblins left. They tried to chase him, but Lan Sol jumped after them and attacked with his metal sword.
With his barrier active, he didn't care about damage and focused only on slicing their necks and heads.
Weak Goblins: one slash, one death. Goblin Soldiers: two slashes, one death.
On the Superior Goblin side, Gol activated his Superior Stab skill, and as he did, his spear glowed white.
Gam, on the other hand, fought with the Goblin Commander.
The Goblin Commander was beyond annoyed as it couldn't catch Lan Sol, and now it couldn't even touch a pesky goblin like Gam.
But as its attention was on Gam, Gol launched a sneak attack from behind.
"Kireeer!"
The Goblin Commander screamed in agony as the spear pierced the back of its bald head.
[-100 HP!]
In rage, it haphazardly swung its club.
Gam activated his skill as well and attacked its back.
The spear pierced the Goblin Commander's butt.
[-50 HP!]
Dodging the club, the two Superior Goblins attacked from different sides, confusing the Goblin Commander.
[-20 HP]
[-30 HP]
[-10 HP]
In less than twenty seconds, they had taken over 200 HP from the Goblin Commander.
Right at that time, Lan Sol joined the battle after killing the remaining goblins.
"Gol, take the left; Gam, take the right; and I'll come from the front. Now attack. I'll focus on using my skills and drawing its attention while you two aim for its vital parts."
Lan Sol's voice was soft as he summarized the plan. Without even waiting for a reply, he jumped in front of the Goblin Commander.
"Krr!" The Goblin Commander swung its club vertically with raging eyes, but Lan Sol shot frost balls.
The Goblin Commander was pushed back and nearly fell but managed to hold on. Before it could stabilize, it was attacked from both sides.
Aimed at its head, two spears pierced the two sides of its skull.
[-100 HP!]
[-100 HP!]
A terrifying amount of HP was lost.
"KKKRRRRRRR!!" It let out its loudest scream, ear-piercing and deafening.
Skin Hardening was activated as the skill refreshed. In its fury, it went straight for Lan Sol, as it was most angry with him.
Ignoring the two Superior Goblins completely, it rushed toward Lan Sol.
Its club swung without direction.
Boom!
Bang!
Lan Sol gave up attacking and focused only on running and dodging.
[-5 HP]
[-5 HP]
Due to the Superior Goblins' skills being on cooldown, their normal attacks couldn't do much damage.
[35/500]
Only 35 HP remained.
Lan Sol was cautious and fast.
In thirty seconds, the two brothers managed to chip off 30 HP.
"Kr…" The Goblin Commander was exhausted and on the verge of death.
It raised its club one last time and bashed it on the ground.
Bang!
Two frost balls hit it and took away the remaining HP.
[Successfully killed the Goblin Commander (LV. 5 Elite). Gained 1000 EXP!]
[Combatant Gol received 500 EXP. Combatant Gam received 500 EXP.]
[Goblin Commander (Corpse)] [Decomposable]
_____
The fight was boring, I think. It was also unnecessarily long. I'll try to shorten this type of fight next time.
Please donate me power stones.