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Emery, Thrax, and Julian stepped forward and took their fighting stance, while the dozens of green creatures continued their advance.

Julian raised his crystalline silver sword and positioned his shield in front of his chest, eyeing the approaching creatures, his demeanor portrayed that of an emperor ready to annihilate his enemy.

Thrax placed his shield in front of him, positioning his tier three bronze spear horizontally, as he prepared to charge forward and thrust his spear. Julian raised his eyebrows at the defensive yet offensive stance Thrax chose.

Emery didn't wanna lose to his two friends, he immediately brandished his sword, placed his left leg in front and lowered his center of gravity, giving him the option to dash forward or slash using the power of his entire body.

Screech! Screech!

Thunderous shrieks echoed in the air, as the horde of goblins quickly approached the location where Emery and the rest took guard. Seeing the green creatures up close with their maddened expressions and their red bulging eyes, any normal person would receive a great shock to their spines, not for Emery and his two friends, however.

The moment the distance between them closed to about 3 meters, Emery pushed his foot foward and shot toward the goblin swinging his sword downwards!

Splat! *Thud* *Thud*

The little humanoid creature was instantly cut into two parts from its neck to waist when Emery's slash hit its body, followed by sounds of its two bisected parts falling to the ground. Seeing the goblin's cleaved body and how easy the blade sliced through it, Emery couldn't help himself but think about how the tier three Reunite Sword was way sharper than he had estimated. He never thought it would manage to cut the goblins so effortlessly. The black sword itself was more than enough to fight these monsters. Moreover, he didn't even use his [Dark Infusion] spell yet!

Nodding his head in satisfaction, once again thanking Magus Xion in his mind, Emery turned his attention back to the goblins and began the slaughter of his life. Dashing toward the horde of goblins, Emery proceeded to slash and kill the goblins efficiently as he moved his body left and right like an elusive ghost. At the same time he also dodged every strike the goblins threw at him. He continued to shift his position while his body ducked, hopped, tilted and spun as he faced the goblins' relentless attacks.

There were also moments where Emery couldn't change his position anymore due to the overwhelming number of goblins, but he kept his calm and smoothly parried the attacks he couldn't dodge.

The goblin, who got its attack parried by Emery, was pushed back and, before it managed to stabilize itself, a sight of a sword descending towards it was the last thing it saw before everything turned to darkness.

As more and more goblins approached and attacked them, Emery continued to utilize his sword skills as best as he could, while holding the line and preventing the goblins from bypassing him. Seeing the dozens of green creatures around him, he thanked his master's teachings about sword fighting as the only reason he still hadn't received any injury yet.

Flashing a faint smile on his face, Emery maintained his offensive and swung his sword over and over as the goblins began to fall to the ground, dead.

When another goblin died and fell to the ground, Emery finally noticed the goblin bodies he previously killed were nowhere to be found except the one he recently killed. Seeing the strange sight, Emery then decided to observe the goblin he had just killed. As he observed the goblin while still moving and swinging his sword, Emery noticed that its body gradually turned into particles of light and dispersed into the air, leaving only nothingness behind.

Looking at the strange yet fascinating sight, Emery couldn't help but think, "Well… that's sure is a one-of-the-kind experience." Smiling inwardly, he continued the massacre.

Every now and then, Emery would take a peek at the two teammates who were also fighting beside him to see how well they were doing. The two of them arguably had similar weapon skills to him, however, judging from the actions and decisions they made, Emery could tell that they both had much more battle experience than him.

For example, Julian didn't just use his shield to block the goblins' attack. Perhaps because of his Roman heritage, which allowed him to learn and adopt the roman legionnaires' fighting style, Julian would also use his shield offensively, using it to bash the goblin ahead within reach. The powerful impact from the bash instantly threw the goblins back, as they crashed into the groups of goblins running behind, creating an opening that gave Julian an opportunity to kill the downed group.

Thrax, on the other hand, had a very different fighting style from Julian. Julian's roman legionnaires style focused on a conservative approach, where he blocked and then countered every attack coming at him, while occasionally striking when there was an opening. Thrax fought as if he was an immovable mountain, his fighting style was focusing on an aggressive approach, where he charged ahead and fiercely stabbed every goblin in front of him, while occasionally using his big shield to obstruct the goblins' attacks and movement. As Emery watched, Thrax stabbed and swiped his spear at the goblins, he noticed Thrax's spear skill seemed to have advanced to another level.

Julian, who saw Emery's battle, was amazed by his performance and couldn't help but say, "Emery, you fight much better than I thought!" He then added his words while laughing, "But you really should have brought a shield to this kind of fight!"

Unfortunately Emery didn't have a shield on him, so he took out a tier two sword and started to do a dual wielding swordplay. The already wrecked horde of goblins were getting even more destroyed, when Emery began his dual wielding. He started attacking with the tier three sword and defending with the other one, tremendously increasing his destructiveness and efficiency. Even though Emery didn't know much about dual sword technique, it seemed the fact he had once lost one of his arms allowed him to use both hands equally well.

So many goblins attacked them and coupled with Thrax advancing and leaving the line, several goblins managed to break through the line and stormed to the back. Luckily, Chumo was ready to welcome them. He took out a knife and used his [Shadow Steps] skill. As Chumo dashed forward towards the goblins, he left faint shadow trails on the ground, while the goblins fell dead to the ground one by one with their throat cut open. Thanks to Chumo's attack, not a single goblin managed to approach Klea.

"Thank you, Love.." said Klea as she winked at Chumo, making him miss a step and trip his leg.

Julian could only shake his head when he saw the situation, unsure of how to deal with that barbarian who charged to the front alone. Sighing his head, he decided to shout, which prompted others to look at him, "Guys, move back!" As soon as the others saw him, a yellow colored light immediately appeared below him as he chanted.

[Mud Wall - Tier 2 Earth Spell]

He slapped the ground and it violently shook! They could see two walls 2-meter-high rapidly rising on each side of the bridge, which then gradually merged at the top into some sort of funnel. This funnel created a much smaller opening, which further restricted the mobility of the goblins, rendering them unable to take advantage of their large numbers to attack. Making it easier for them to fight the incoming goblins.

Seeing the funnel, Klea shouted from the back, "That's smart, Julian!"

In the front within the funnel, it appeared that Thrax didn't even care about the creation of the funnel as he continued stabbing his spear towards the goblins. "Is that all you got, you monster?! It's not enough! Come! All of you!" screamed Thrax in excitement while laughing loudly.

The fight then kept going with Emery, Julian, and Thrax maintaining the line, while Klea and Chumo only occasionally attacked those who managed to bypass the trio.

Finally, after two hours of fighting, Emery could see that the waves of goblins coming out of the stone gate were slowly thinning. A few minutes later, the stone gate closed and a notification simultaneously appeared on their mind.

[Level 2 will shortly start in 5 minutes]

Seeing the notification, Thrax grew even more excited as he advanced alone leaving the line and ferociously killing the remaining goblins. "Come here, you little creatures! Bring everything you have to me!"

Seeing the reckless bull charging ahead, Julian instantly shouted with the loudest voice his throat could muster, "You're too far away, barbarian! Return to your position now!"

Julian's shout fell into deaf ears as Thrax continued his charge and killed all the remaining goblins in the distance. Watching the spectacle, Emery could only shake his head and smile wryly as he slashed the goblins nearby.

When the rest of the goblins had been killed, a bluish light suddenly shone upon Emery and the boys' bodies. The light made them comfortable as Emery could feel all his fatigue and exhaustion being swept away by it.

[Soothing Mist - Tier 2 Water Spell]

Turning his head towards Klea, who was holding her staff that was exuding a purplish glow, Emery said while smiling, "Thank you, Klea." He then turned his attention back to the stone gate that was slowly opening its doors again.

"Get ready, guys. The next wave is coming."

To be continued