Chapter 27: Boss Fight! (Part 2)
Stab!
“Aaargh!”
The leftmost spearman in the second rank screamed as a goblin shortsword stabbed into the side of his stomach. He collapsed onto one knee, clutching the wound.
“Kreee…” The goblin grinned viciously.
Whoosh–Thud!
An arrow instantly buried itself into the goblin’s neck. The goblin dropped dead before it could even pull its blade back out.
“Shit!” Tara cursed as she quickly nocked another arrow. “They need more cover!”
But the moment she glanced around at her squad, she immediately realized the problem.
Everyone was already occupied.
Her archers were firing nonstop at goblins trying to slip around the phalanx, but the berserk-enhanced creatures refused to stop moving unless the arrows killed them outright. Shots to the arms, shoulders, even the stomach barely slowed them down.
Anything less than a lethal hit was meaningless.
“Tch!”
Tara released another arrow immediately.
Whoosh–Thud!
A goblin stumbled backward with an arrow through its eye.
Then she drew another one without pause.
---
On the left side of the throne chamber, David launched another sling bullet at the goblin general chasing him.
Whooosh–Thud!
“KREEEK!”
The bullet smashed into the goblin general’s cheek, splitting flesh and drawing green blood, but still not enough to put the monster down.
The goblin general swung its axe again. David ducked underneath it just in time.
Good thing about being a halfling was that dodging became a whole lot easier when most enemies swung above your head by default.
“Holy hell…” David muttered while retreating sideways. “This thing’s way tougher than Goliath.”
He spared a quick glance toward the others before turning back to the goblin general again. That brief look was enough, years of battlefield experience let him read the situation almost instantly.
Matheo’s phalanx was getting pressured hard by the berserk hobgoblins. Tara’s archers were overloaded trying to stop the goblins from flanking. Theo was… somewhere.
“Not good…” David muttered.
Then his eyes shifted toward the naked elf, who was still casually watching the entire battle unfold.
“Miss elf over there!” David shouted.
“Me?” The elf tilted her head and pointed at herself innocently.
“Yes ma’am,” David replied while narrowly sidestepping another axe swing. “Would ya happen to know how long this defense buff spell lasts?”
“Oh? Hmmmmm…”
The elf tilted her head thoughtfully, placing a finger against her cheek.
“Anytime soon would be mighty appreciated, ma’am,” David said while rolling away from a vertical slash that smashed the stone floor apart.
“Hmmm… I think around… three hundred to four hundred heartbeats?” she answered casually.
“Thank you kindly!”
David immediately raised his voice toward the others.
“Everyone! Just hold on a few more minutes! The buff’ll wear off soon!”
Tara and Matheo both gave small nods after hearing that.
Thankfully, David had habits of asking the villagers everything he could about this world’s monsters, magic, charms, and how the fight’s work. Right now, that habit was paying off.
---
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the chamber, Theo was also busy struggling for his life.
“Fireball!”
He thrust his palm forward, launching a fireball toward the goblin shaman.
The spell had far more destructive power than Mana Pulse, after all.
Fwooosh!
The fireball slammed directly into the shaman’s magic shield and dissipated instantly.
“KRREEAAH!”
The shaman snarled and pointed its staff toward Theo. A much larger fireball immediately formed at the tip before blasting toward him.
“Gyaah!”
Theo yelped and threw himself behind a large slab of rock.
Boom!
The fireball exploded against the stone, sending heat, dust, and shattered pebbles flying everywhere.
Then another fireball hit the rock.
Boom!
And another.
Boom!
And another.
“Why the hell aren’t you taking turns attacking like RPG enemies?!” Theo shouted as another fireball blasted the rock apart.
---
Back on David’s side, he finally noticed the glow around the goblin general beginning to fade.
“Is this it?” he muttered while pulling another stone bullet from his pouch.
Then he spun his sling again and released.
Whooosh–Thud!
“KRRRAAAGH!”
The goblin general screamed as the bullet buried itself halfway into its temple, making the monster stagger sideways in pain.
David smirked.
“There you go,” he muttered.
Then his eyes quickly shifted toward the other goblins and hobgoblins. The red glow surrounding them was fading too, the berserk spell was finally wearing off.
“Everyone!” David shouted. “The spell’s broken! Press harder!”
---
The moment Matheo and Tara heard David’s shout—and saw the fading glow on the enemies themselves—they reacted immediately.
“Everyone! Push the hobgoblins back!” Matheo ordered.
“Suppress the goblins!” Tara shouted toward her archers.
Whooosh–Thud!
One of the arrows struck a goblin in the stomach. Before, the creature would’ve kept charging without caring. Now?
“Kiiieegh!”
The goblin collapsed to the ground, writhing and clutching the wound instead.
And the rest of the goblins noticed it too. The berserk spell was gone, so was their courage.
“Push!” Matheo roared.
The phalanx immediately drove forward harder with shields and overlapping spears. This time, the hobgoblins actually began losing ground.
Step by step.
---
On Theo’s side, the goblin shaman also realized the buffs on his allies were expiring.
It immediately turned away from Theo and raised its staff again, beginning another chant to recast the spell.
But then—
Thud!
Theo’s Mana Pulse slammed directly into the staff. The weapon flew from the shaman’s hands and clattered across the floor.
“Hah! Now let’s see how you fight without that cheating staff!” Theo declared with a satisfied grin.
“KRRRAAH!”
The shaman snapped its head toward Theo and snarled furiously.
“Now eat this!” Theo aimed his palm toward the goblin. “Fire—”
TING
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[ WARNING: LOW MANA ]
MP : 15/ 85
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A warning window suddenly popped up before the spell could finish casting.
“What?! Why now?!” Theo shouted at the floating notification.
“Kreeh!”
The moment the shaman realized no spell came out, it immediately dashed toward the fallen staff lying on the ground.
“Oh no you don’t!”
Theo lunged forward and slammed into the goblin before it could grab the weapon.
Thump!
Both of them crashed onto the floor, with Theo ending up on top and immediately pinning the shaman down with his body weight.
“Fuck this fantasy fight!” Theo barked angrily. “Lemme show you how people on Earth fight!”
Smack!
“Krii!”
The shaman shrieked as Theo punched it directly in the face.
Smack!
Another punch landed immediately after.
“This is how we fight on Earth!”
Smack!
“By paying—”
Smack!
“ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS—”
Smack!
“A MONTH—”
Smack!
“FOR CHEAP MMA CLASSES!”
At this point, the battle between two spellcasters had somehow devolved into an outright fistfight on the dungeon floor.
“Oh my,” the naked elf commented while smiling brightly. “That’s a very unique mage battle.”
---
“RRRGH!!!”
On the other side of the chamber, the goblin general roared while clutching its bleeding left eye in pain.
“Now one more…” David muttered excitedly as he continued spinning his sling.
The monster was thrashing wildly now, stumbling and swinging blindly, but David stayed patient while circling around it. He waited carefully for the opening to appear.
“There!”
Whooosh–Thud!
“KRRRRAAAAGGGHHH!!!”
The sling bullet smashed perfectly into the goblin general’s remaining eye.
The massive creature instantly dropped its greataxe and staggered around blindly while clutching both sides of its face.
“Thank you, God, for guidin’ my aim,” David muttered.
Seeing the goblin general completely blinded, David immediately sprinted away toward Matheo’s phalanx position.
---
The situation around Matheo’s squad had finally begun stabilizing.
Three spearmen were already down on the ground, but the rest still managed to keep the phalanx formation intact while steadily forcing the hobgoblins backward step by step.
The goblins behind them, meanwhile, no longer looked eager to fight.
Now they were trapped between two terrifying choices.
On one side, Tara’s archers kept aiming at them from behind the phalanx, ready to shoot the moment any goblin exposed itself.
On the other side stood Matheo’s wall of overlapping spears.
The goblins huddled nervously several meters behind the hobgoblins, too scared to charge forward, but also too scared to turn their backs and flee.
Whoosh–Thud!
“Keegh!”
The rearmost hobgoblin suddenly collapsed onto one knee as David’s sling bullet smashed directly into the back of its knee joint.
Matheo instantly noticed the opening.
“PUSH NOW!” he roared.
The phalanx surged forward again.
This time, it was easier. Without the berserk spell, the hobgoblins no longer had the same monstrous momentum behind them. Their footing faltered as the shields and spear wall forced them backward step by step.
Then the wounded hobgoblin behind them got in the way. The others stumbled directly into it.
“KILL THEM NOW!” Matheo shouted.
The phalanx immediately drove forward in unison, thrusting their spears downward into the fallen hobgoblins before they could recover.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
“KRRRIIEEGH!”
The hobgoblins screeched as spearheads pierced through armor gaps, necks, and stomachs. Within moments, all of them were dead on the floor.
Now only six goblins remained. And unlike before, the creatures no longer looked bloodthirsty. They looked terrified.
“Kiii…”
The goblins squealed nervously while staring at the advancing phalanx.
But Matheo’s spearmen never got the chance to finish them. Because Tara’s archers had already moved into position beside the phalanx with arrows fully drawn.
“Loose,” Tara ordered calmly as she released her own bowstring.
Whooosh–Stab! Stab! Stab!
The remaining goblins collapsed almost instantly, dropping onto the stone floor with arrows buried throughout their bodies.
“Aaaww… all the goblin-kuns are losing,” the naked elf muttered sadly before giving a few light claps. “But you all did your best.”
Tara and the others could only stare at the naked elf in disbelief.
“Captain,” David called while hooking a thumb toward the goblin general behind him, “mind givin’ me a little assistance? I can’t exactly finish that thing with slings alone.”
Matheo glanced over and saw the goblin general stumbling around blindly while clawing at the air with both hands.
“Ah. Right away, commander.”
Matheo and his remaining spearmen immediately moved toward the blinded monster.
A spear wall against an enemy that couldn’t even see anymore. At that point, it was practically an execution.
---
Meanwhile, back on Theo’s side, he was still busy punching the goblin shaman repeatedly in the face.
Thump!
“Ow!” Theo hissed as pain shot through his swollen fist.
His knuckles were already turning red from all the punching.
The goblin shaman looked even worse. Its face was bruised all over, with green blood dripping from both its mouth and nose.
“Alright…” Theo panted. “Time to finish you off.”
He raised his open palm directly in front of the shaman’s mouth.
“Eat this!”