26 - Battle

Crouching in a thicket, Noah tried to keep his breathing as slow and quiet as possible so as not to alert these monsters. He knew that Rank E Fortress monsters were stronger, faster, and more sensitive than Rank F Fortress monsters, but he didn't know how much more sensitive they were. So in order not to cause unnecessary problems, Noah did the best he could do not to make noise at that moment. He could experiment with the sensitivity of these monsters to noise in the future, in some battle where he already had more experience.

Observing the group, Noah noticed that these goblins had two different classes between them. There were two warriors who carried rusty metal swords and a goblin in the rear carrying a blowgun in hand to serve as a long-range attack.

Seeing the composition of their group, Noah already remembered the strategies he saw of some Blesseds' recommendations and chose the one that would be the most effective for this moment.

According to what he had already experienced in Rank F Fortresses and what he saw on the internet, eliminating the enemy that attacks long-range first would almost always be the best strategy, but better than eliminating the enemy that attacks long-range would be to eliminate two enemies at once, taking advantage of the moment of surprise that only an ambush could provide.

As the goblins patrolled through the forest, Noah realized by looking at them that the path they followed coincidentally would pass close to where Noah was hiding. This could be a good thing, since Noah could attack from a short distance without them realizing before it was too late, but it could also be terrible if they noticed him hiding there because of the short distance. But charging out in front of them was not an option, so Noah calmly waited for the goblins to approach.

His idea was to wait for the goblins to pass him without noticing him there, then use the combat knife to guarantee a death on the rear goblin and set fire to one of the warrior goblins. Unfortunately, the ideal plan could only remain an ideal unless all went well. When the two warriors passed Noah, neither of them noticed him there, but for some reason the blowgun goblin heard something strange and screamed before running away from the bush, alerting the two warrior goblins.

Seeing that he had already been noticed, Noah, without thinking twice, jumped in the direction of the warrior goblin closest to him and, with one hand, stuck his knife in the throat of the strange green monster before he understood what was happening, while with the other hand, Noah aimed a slightly condensed fireball at the blowgun goblin, hoping to hit it. But that goblin was already prepared, and when he saw Noah jumping out of the thicket, he started running in random directions.

'These monsters are much smarter than I imagined... Damn...' Noah thought as he witnessed the blowgun goblin clearly making those moves to dodge the fireball by using unpredictability.

'Okay, as one has already died, dealing with the other two will at least be less of a problem,' Noah examined as he fended off the little green goblin who was attacking him with a sword amid wild screams.

The rear goblin picked up the blowgun and tried to shoot a poison dart at Noah while the other goblin distracted him, but the goblin was not the only one who was attempting to dodge long-range attacks. Noah, while fighting, was also moving randomly around the little sword goblin so he wouldn't be hit by a dart.

While the blowgun goblin was preparing to shoot another dart, Noah deflected the rusty sword from the warrior goblin with his knife using his right hand and with his left hand, Noah generated fire again and with great effort incinerated the little warrior goblin, who started screaming from pain while rolling on the dirt in an attempt to put it out.

Even if this monster was from a Rank E Fortress, he was no more resistant to Noah's flame than the Super Boss of a Rank F Super Fortress. He was probably not even as strong as a normal Boss from a Rank F Fortress. It would be nearly impossible for a party of Blessed to complete a same rank Fortress if all of the monsters were as strong as a Boss from the previous rank.

So the sin-purifying effect of [Hell Flames] was much more aggressive and effective on these monsters, just a little less destructive than it was against normal Rank F Super Fortress rats. For that poor little goblin, to be incinerated by these flames was worse than being cut numerous times in a second. The pain could not be described, but it could be estimated after hearing the screams of the little monster rolling on the floor, trying to extinguish the flame. Obviously, Noah would not let that happen while he kept energy going to sustain the flame, in addition to using the goblin's own flesh and sins as fuel to keep him burning.

The blowgun goblin, hearing his companion's cry of despair, was startled. In that instant, he didn't know if he should go to help or run for his life, since he knew that even if he hit the human with as many poisoned darts as possible, all that would happen would be for the human to become weaker and slower, but there was nothing that would prevent the human from using that terrible flame he was seeing in front of him.

Noah did not waste this moment of distraction for the goblin and took advantage of the interval to run towards him while creating another flame in his hand.

When the goblin saw Noah rushing towards him, he finally realized that he shouldn't have stayed put and paid attention to the flame to avoid the fireball while trying to flee from there. He certainly didn't want to have the same fate as his relative who had been screaming and agonizing on the forest floor until now.

As he ran, the goblin saw that another fireball had been hurled towards his left, which made him leap to the right so as not to be hit by the bright flame. But as soon as the goblin touched his feet on the ground, he noticed that the flame was not the only thing that was coming towards him. Due to the brightness and danger that the flame represented, the goblin unconsciously only paid attention to it, but when he he realized that a shiny silver object was coming towards him, it was too late; the knife that Noah threw had already hit the goblin's back, causing him to fall to the ground due to pain and loss of balance.

Noah saw the goblin trying to get up from the ground in despair as he crawled. He didn't show a shred of mercy and coldly conjured another ball of fire to hit the goblin who was now unable to deflect, hitting goblin's back precisely, adding another cry of pain and despair to the forest that had just become silent due to the death of the other goblin.

In the vision obscured by pain, despair, and flames, the figure of the human who caused him so much torture and suffering was no different from a demon- no, worse! For that goblin, the figure of that human was the Devil himself!

Noah had no way of knowing what the ugly monster was thinking about him at that moment, but if he did, he would definitely laugh at the irony that was that goblin's thought for Lucifer's own Descendant.

While the goblin burned, Noah wasted no time and threw another fireball at the goblin he had stabbed to death at the beginning of the battle so that his ability could soak up the monster's body and get closer to evolving.

After all three goblins were completely burned and made into dust, the familiar black window appeared in front of Noah once again.

[6 Exp acquired at level.]

[6 Exp acquired for the skill: [Hell Flames].]

Looking at that window Noah felt that the battle was really worth it. By killing these three goblins alone, Noah had gained the same amount of experience as he had by killing 6 rats in the Rank F Fortress, leaving aside that the time spent for this was at least three times faster than the time he he had spent to kill six rats in the other Fortress, since it was problematic to find the rats in the tunnels as well as battling with some who kept throwing themselves into the water all the time to try to put out the fire.

Staring at the ashes, Noah's desire to kill more goblins had grown exponentially, but due to the thrill of earning so many points and the distraction it caused, Noah did not realize that the screams of the goblins he killed caught the attention of other goblins close by, since because the Fortress had been open so long the number of goblins had increased; the chance of another group of goblins hearing a cry for help had increased by a fair margin.

For others, this could have been a major obstacle, but for Noah, even if unconsciously, it had turned into a fortune.

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As I can see, we will have 5 extra chapters tomorrow? :0

Save your stones to vote on it tomorrow, so next week we can do another mass release!

Sunday's Extra Chapters Challenge!

[1.300 Stones = 2 Extra Chapter]

[1.500 Stones = 4 Extra Chapters]

[+500 Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]

[Chapter edited by: Azurtha]