Chapter 13: Annihilating the Goblin Camp

When Zi Liyuan saw the goblin wizard in tattered mage robes at the center of the goblin army,

he immediately commanded the skeleton behemoth to charge, while the crossbow skeletons unleashed a barrage of arrows, aiming still at the ordinary goblins.

Then, he kicked a skeleton knight off its skeletal horse, somersaulted into the saddle, and controlled the horse with his spirit to retreat down the mountain.

In just a short time, the skeleton behemoth was beaten to death by a mob of goblins, and after shooting down more than a dozen ordinary goblins, the crossbow skeletons were also smashed into bone fragments by the enraged goblins.

However, by this time, Zi Liyuan had successfully retreated to the foot of the mountain and then began to summon the skeleton army again!

After replenishing the skeleton army with behemoths, knights, and crossbow skeletons, he continued the assault up the mountain.

The goblins had not pursued them down the mountain, which did not align with Zi Liyuan's plan.

Ascend the mountain to meet death, descend to summon, toggling back and forth, each time they managed to kill about 20 ordinary goblins.

In this manner, when all the ordinary goblins had perished, four hours had already passed.

In the vast goblin encampment, the remaining. goblins numbered only one rare BOSS goblin wizard and sixteen elite BOSS great goblins.

For the purpose of besieging these 17 BOSSes, Zi Liyuan had to readjust the skeletal configuration once more.

With 23 skeleton behemoths charging forward as cannon fodder, the main damage output still came from the crossbow skeletons.

This time, Zi Liyuan joined the fray himself, dealing damage while continuously summoning skeleton behemoths to serve as fodder.

Luckily, summoning a variant skeleton consumed only 20 points of spiritual energy at once, which could summon 8 at a time. Otherwise, Zi Liyuan might not have had enough potions to maintain the expenditure.

Elite great goblin BOSSes, with their normal attacks plus skills, could shatter a skeleton behemoth with one combination of moves.

But the skill cooldowns lasted 15 seconds, so during that lengthy downtime, they could only rely on normal attacks for damage, needing to hit three or four times to break the second skeleton behemoth.

Zi Liyuan could certainly take advantage of this cooldown window to resummon a skeleton behemoth to fill the gap.

The only troubling aspect was the rare goblin wizard BOSS. Its magic damage was truly high, and now all the summoned skeletons lacked magic resistance.

Whether it was a skeleton behemoth or a skeleton knight, they stood no chance against the rare goblin wizard BOSS's magic attacks. Each spell took down a goblin as if snatching away a small child's toy.

If it weren't for the fact that this creature lacked area-of-effect abilities, and that casting its spells took 3 seconds, the skeleton army would have been delivered as a feast of ribs.

Fortunately, twenty crossbow skeletons, with each volley, could deal about 80 points of damage.

When Zi Liyuan unexpectedly cast a "Shadow Arrow," it could explode for 450 points of magic damage.

Even if the great goblins were elite BOSSes, their magic resistance was extremely low, which made the aggro very unstable.

The "Shadow Arrow" damage was explosive, but with a 30-second cooldown, which was too long. Worse yet, upon hitting the target, it generated a tremendous amount of aggro.

If it weren't for controlling the skeleton behemoth to keep charging at the great goblin, diverting its pursuit, Zi Liyuan might have had to endure a marathon of love's magical circles with the BOSS.

Fortunately, with the tactic of undead cannon fodder, after persisting for 2 minutes, the first elite great goblin BOSS was taken down.

With one BOSS gone, the rate at which the skeleton behemoths perished decreased a notch, easing Zi Liyuan's pressure slightly, even allowing him to start casting surprise spells like "Shadow Arrow Rain."

"Level 3 Shadow Arrow Rain," with a 2.8-second cast, could shoot 5 shadow arrows at once, causing 82 X 5 magic damage. Although the attack hit 5 targets, the total damage could reach around 400 points, especially with only a 15-second cooldown.

Incorporating an area-of-effect damage skill into the output rotation, though it increased the consumption of Zi Liyuan's spiritual energy, greatly accelerated the pace of eliminating the BOSSes.

And as the goblin chieftains fell one by one, the situation became clearer and clearer.

When only the Goblin Wizard remained, the outcome of the battle was sealed.

[Goblin Wizard (Rare BOSS)]

[Level]: Level 30

[Stats]: Magic Damage 80, Physical Defense 20, Magic Resistance 40, Health 10K.

[Skills]: Fireball Technique, Big Fireball, Flame Blast, Flame Burn

[Combat Power]: 120

5 Skeleton Behemoths and 38 Crossbow Skeletons started a relentless beating on the BOSS.

The BOSS had four skills, each capable of instantly killing a Skeleton Behemoth, but the last three had cooldown times, ranging from 8 to 15 seconds.

The only skill without a cooldown was the Fireball Technique, which took 2 seconds to cast and could also shatter a Skeleton Behemoth with a single hit.

Thus, Zi Liyuan had to ensure that there were no fewer than 3 Skeleton Behemoths, since both Flame Blast and Flame Burn were instant-cast skills.

The former dealt massive instant damage, while the latter caused continuous high-temperature burns. If there were fewer than 3 Skeleton Behemoths, the BOSS would start slinging spells at either Zi Liyuan or the group of Crossbow Skeletons.

Zi Liyuan had no desire to face a Big Fireball head-on. If the BOSS's small fireball could instantly kill a Skeleton Behemoth, who knew how much overflow damage the Big Fireball would cause.

He even dared not cast Shadow Arrow at the Goblin Wizard, fearing that it would disrupt the aggro and result in him being burned to death by the BOSS's magic.

The Skeleton Army, with total disregard for martial ethics, ganged up on the rare BOSS, which did not last long and ended its tragic life with a wail.

[Defeated Goblin Wizard (Level 30, Rare BOSS), Experience +10K]

[Equipment acquired: Flame Staff (Blue) x1, Magic Power Robe (Green) x1, Beastskin Boots (White) x1]

[Materials acquired: Goblin Magic Bone (Blue) x2, Goblin Wizard's Blood (Green) x4, Iron Ore (White) x10]

A flash of golden light briefly shone on Zi Liyuan as the BOSS fell.

After wiping out this goblin camp, the experience gained totaled an impressive 98K. Combined with the experience he already had, it propelled him straight to Level 19.

After cleaning up the battlefield, he packed up all the loot and then led the Skeleton Army to search the goblin camp for any chests or the like.

This prolonged battle annihilated the entire goblin camp, resulting in over a thousand goblins killed, including 18 elite BOSSes and 1 rare BOSS.

Zi Liyuan, who was in good grace with Lady Luck, amassed an amount of materials and equipment that was frightening.

Unfortunately, not a single piece was something he could use at the moment.

Killing monsters well above his own level significantly boosted his experience gains, but it also meant he was restricted by high-level equipment drops. Especially since he roamed in Level 25 monster zones, the loot required at least Level 20 to equip.

Having searched the entire goblin camp, he found only three chests in the end, one green and two white, which all contained only ore, useless to Zi Liyuan for the time being.

However, in a cave halfway up the mountain, he discovered a mining shaft, which explained why the chests he opened were filled with iron ore and fine iron ore.

"Wild ore veins, huh? If I report this to White Crane Academy, it seems I can get a fair reward."

Without his own force, mining the veins was practically impossible, let alone in a goblin camp that required constant guarding and regular monster clearing every day.