Chapter 35
Meanwhile, at the same time as the purple cloud first descended...
SLASH
A guttural, wheezing cough escaped the goblin's throat as it knelt, thick globs of saliva and mucus splattering the dusty ground.
[>>[QUICK ADAPTATION(E)]<<]< p>
The proficiency of your passive skill has been increased by 0.01%!
In a blur of motion, a razor-sharp jian cleaved through the creature's neck, its wicked edge leaving a crimson wake in its path. The goblin's severed head hit the earth with a dull thump, viridian eyes still wide with shock as its body crumpled lifelessly.
From the roiling miasma of noxious purple mist arose the attacker, a lithe figure wreathed in an aura of deadly grace.
The jian in their grasp glistened, coated in a grotesque mixture of goblin blood and ichor. As they stepped forward, crimson eyes flickered with an eerie inner light, glaring balefully at the remaining goblins struggling to regain their footing.
"I know it's unfair, but you came with an army," the attacker remarked, their voice cutting through the fog like a knife. Their form shimmered and phased in and out of reality, the poisonous vapors parting briefly to reveal chiseled features set in an impassive mask.
One particularly massive goblin, clutching a greatsword nearly as tall as itself, let out a guttural war cry. Veins bulged obscenely beneath its mottled green skin as it charged, each thunderous footfall shaking the very earth.
SLASH!
[>>[QUICK ADAPTATION(E)]<<]< p>
The proficiency of your passive skill has been increased by 0.01%!
With a horizontal sweep of its blade, a fan of virulent emerald droplets exploded outward.
The attacker's body flickered once more, the jian becoming a blur of motion that ended with its razor tip buried in the goblin's throat.
The creature's pupils blew wide, a gargled death rattle its only eulogy as it crumpled bonelessly to the ground in a spreading pool of its own vile ichor.
No sooner had one foe fallen than the attacker had phased through the miasma to engage the next, the jian carving a deadly through the air. A goblin head sailed in a grotesque arc, jaw still locked in a perpetual snarl, before thudding wetly into the dirt.
One by one the goblins that had besieged the village fell, hewn apart by an unstoppable flurry of strikes that left their broken forms littering the ground.
At last, Ji Wuye, the crimson-eyed swordsman whose jian ran slick with vital fluids, came to a halt before the shattered remnants of the wooden palisade wall.
With measured strides, Ji Wuye advanced, right arm extended as the jian's razor edge caught the wan rays of sunlight piercing the miasma.
THUD-!
THUD-!
THUD-!
With each footfall, his form shimmered and phased, leaving a wake of severed goblin heads bouncing across the trampled earth.
His steps slowed as a familiar silhouette resolved itself from the roiling vapors in the distance. "Still indifferent, huh?" he murmured, shifting aside in a single fluid motion.
SWOOSH-!
A fierce gust of wind rushed through the space he had just vacated, momentarily parting the thick purple mists to reveal an elf woman, holding a bow.
A flurry of strikes left a trail of goblin corpses scattered in her wake. The elf woman's strikes were as precise as they were lethal, each blow a calculated expenditure of pure, economical violence.
In her wake, the street lay strewn with broken goblin forms, their viscera intermingling in a grotesque tapestry of greens and crimsons.
Yet amid the carnage, scattered like fell blossoms upon the bloodied cobbles, were unmistakable human remains - severed limbs, torsos cloven nearly in twain, all bearing mute testament to the elf's indiscriminate fury.
She moved on, features an inscrutable mask of indifference, leaving behind a trail of horror - not just the shattered goblin corpses, but the slack, lifeless faces of elderly villagers, eyes still wide with their final moments of shock and pain.
Dirt and mingled blood streaked their pallid countenances in macabre rictus grins.
"Sigh…" Ji Wuye dropped to one knee amid the butchery, throat constricting as he gently slipped his fingers beneath the eyelids of each fallen elder, closing their eyes with a reverence that seemed discordant amid such wanton destruction.
Prying apart the rictus jaws, he sealed their mouths, granting them a semblance of peace in death. When at last the grisly task was done, he rose and bowed deeply to the still forms, holding the stance for a solemn moment of silence.
Humans and elves have developed natural defenses or adaptations that provide some resistance against the lethal effects of the poison.
Despite appearances, the poison—or rather, the combination of poisons—used to cloud the battlefield was specifically formulated to affect only monsters such as goblins.
Unlike humans, goblins have a distinct respiratory system that rapidly absorbs the poison, leading to swift and lethal effects. Additionally, their skin is more permeable to the specific toxins in the poison, allowing it to quickly enter their bloodstream.
Moreover, due to their smaller size, goblins inhale a relatively higher dose of the poison compared to larger races like humans and elves.
On the other hand, the current reaction in humans involves the poison's psychoactive compounds, which induce hallucinations in humans and elves, even at lower concentrations.
These compounds interact differently with the brain chemistry of non-monster races, causing vivid and terrifying hallucinations without the lethal effects experienced by goblins.
In short, what the non-monster races are experiencing right now is merely how they 'imagine' being poisoned. Each person's reaction varies; one might immediately faint, while the majority have their vision altered to see the scenario they imagine.
"Also, the effect should be gone in a few minutes," he murmured, shaking his head. "Yet I forgot to consider her indifferent view."
A weary sigh parted his lips as Ji Wuye's gaze roamed across the broken corpses once more. It seemed achieving zero casualties hidden achievement was an impossibility as long as the elf remained here.
His plan had been to utilize the noxious purple vapors to incapacitate the goblin horde while the villagers remained safely sheltered, emerging once the threat was neutralized and the challenge cleared.
But the elf's interference had introduced an unforeseen variable, one with tragic consequences.
Suddenly…
COUGH-!
COUGH-!
The sound of raucous coughing and pained shouts snapped Ji Wuye from his morose reverie. Pushing aside this matter, he strode towards the commotion to find a familiar knight surrounded by a knot of goblin assailants.
Though grievously wounded, chainmail rent and weeping crimson life from a dozen punctures, the knight fought on with grim tenacity.
His guard wavered as he was forced to pause, doubling over to expel thick gouts of blood in a spasm of hacking coughs. Under normal circumstances, such a paltry cluster of foes would prove little challenge.
However, the knight's imagination of being poisoned felt overwhelmingly real. Despite there being no signs of poison—only the stab wounds from countless daggers inflicted on his body—the knight acted as weakly as if he had been poisoned with a deadly toxin.
"That's the limit for one person," Ji Wuye muttered, shaking his head as he accelerated into a sprint, jian held low.
Leaping off the spot, he launched himself into the melee in a soaring leap, right arm cocked back as the blade's razor edge sliced parallel to his cheekbones.
Pulse of the Blade: First Move, Gentle Breeze!
Ji Wuye's lithe form swayed with a dancer's grace, his movements harmonizing with the gentle currents of air as if guided by some unseen choreographer.
The jian became an extension of his being, lashing out in blurred arcs to the left and right. Each strike met its mark with surgical precision, goblin heads toppling from ruined necks to become macabre ornaments skewered upon the blade's slender length.
[>>[PULSE OF BLADE SWORD ART(??)]<<]< p>
Your understanding of Pulse of Blade Sword Art has slightly increased!
The cadence of Ji Wuye's footwork merged with the wet patter of blood striking the ground, composing a perverse rhythm that seemed to goad him into an ever-quickening tempo.
When at last the final goblin fell, its decapitated corpse joining its brethren in a sprawl of broken forms, an eerie stillness descended once more.
[>>[PULSE OF BLADE SWORD ART(??)]<<]< p>
Your understanding of Pulse of Blade Sword Art has slightly increased!
With an almost casual flick of his wrist, Ji Wuye sent the grisly garland of severed heads tumbling free, the gory mass impacting the packed earth with a sickly squelch reminiscent of a dropped barrel.
The Pulse of Blade Sword Art comprised a vast repertoire of techniques, yet Ji Wuye had only glimpsed the opening movement as demonstrated by Song Jia.
Yet, here, thanks to the Tower's system, Ji Wuye could feel each strike and parry, which incrementally deepened his understanding.
A faint smile played across Ji Wuye's lips as this realization took hold. Turning to face the battered knight who leaned heavily upon his blade. "What a great performance, wake up, Knight of Averial House—this poison only works on those monsters."
[!] Congratulations, Climber Ji Wuye, on successfully defending Kenlan Village!
[>>[INFORMATION]<<]< p>
Challenger Ji Wuye,
Congratulations on successfully clearing the third floor!
[!] You've encountered a hobgoblin! A being who should not be involved in this challenge! The gods are impressed by your incredible achievement!
[!] You have defeated a Hobgoblin, impressing all the gods who are watching your performance! It is truly a remarkable feat!
[!] You have single-handedly defeated 3/4 of the goblin army, which is an incredible accomplishment!
[!] Your participation in defending Kenlan Village is unparalleled, and you have accomplished an extraordinary feat!
*Tired of waiting? Purchase a membership on my Patreon.com/dragonknov! that costs very cheap! 5 members have already become patrons!