novelraw Chapter 88: Goblin attack (02)
Chapter 88: Goblin attack (02)
[NT: For those of you who read the previous five Chapters earlier, I’ve gone over them again, since I let a lot of mistakes slip through. I apologize and promise it won’t happen again.]
The moment Ethan activated the Blood Emperor’s Ring, a reddish aura enveloped his body, and the blood flowing from the hobgoblin’s chest trembled.
Tiny droplets of greenish blood rose into the air, flowing toward the red ruby on the ring on Ethan’s index finger in thin, shimmering streams.
[You have absorbed the blood of a lower beast.
Target still alive; it is not possible to absorb all the blood.
Blood reserve 8/1000]
[Target still alive; it is not possible to absorb attributes/talents.]
Ethan couldn’t hide his disappointment upon reading that, but in the end, he just sighed.
It was good enough. He just needed to kill his targets first, right?
The young man’s lips curved slightly, and he prepared to attack again.
The hobgoblin stared at him in shock, still processing what he had just seen.
In the end, he was still a beast, and it took only a moment for his instincts to take control.
The creature with green skins roared ferociously, raising the axe above his head before bringing it down on Ethan with full force.
Not that it did much good.
The goblin’s strength stats hovered around 120, while Ethan’s reached only 106. However, with the Burning Blood Body Enhancement Technique active, his strength jumped to over 150, easily surpassing the hobgoblin’s.
And that’s without considering the difference in intelligence between them, which was even more colossal.
Superior strength and stamina were the only real advantage orcs and hobgoblins had over other races.
Without that, they would be the most useless warriors in the world.
The axe collided with Ethan’s sword once more, and for an instant, the young man seemed on the verge of being crushed by the gigantic figure before him.
Then he used the aura slash.
A metallic clang echoed through the air, sparks of molten metal scattering as Ethan’s blade sank into the hobgoblin’s rusty blade, the aura slash cutting through without resistance.
The creature had no time to react.
Ethan’s feet slammed into the ground with a thud, and he slashed upward in one fluid motion, slicing a gash from the creature’s groin to its chest.
The hobgoblin’s guts spilled out of its belly with a wet, nauseating sound, the hot stench of blood and entrails filling the air around them.
The creature panicked, trying to hold its own intestines with its enormous hands as its knees buckled under its weight.
It raised its head just in time to see Ethan’s sword rip through its neck, slicing through the powerful muscles and crushing the bones with a crack.
The blade emerged on the other side with a spurt of dark blood, and the hobgoblin’s head rolled across the floor.
[You killed: 1x Elite Hobgoblin!
+30% XP
You received: 1x Lower Weapon Enhancement Stone]
[You leveled up! 35 -> 36
+2 free attribute points]
Ethan didn’t hesitate. The moment the green-skinned creature fell, he reached out, activating the Blood Emperor’s ring.
This time, it wasn’t just a few drops. All of the hobgoblin’s blood flowed toward the ring’s ruby, which glowed.
[You have absorbed the blood of a inferior beast.
You absorb a small fraction of the target’s talent and attributes.
+1 Vitality point
Blood Reserve 35/1000]
Ethan let out a soft sigh, a hint of disappointment escaping with the breath.
It was obvious that a single hobgoblin wouldn’t be enough to improve his talent by a whole level.
Still, he was satisfied.
With the ability to gain unlimited attribute points without relying on system quests or level-ups, his base attributes relative to his current level would be unmatched.
They were already high thanks to the Rank S advancement pearl, but they could get even better.
With an excited smile, Ethan fixed his gaze on the goblin army in the distance. The creatures’ eyes were glued to him, paralyzed by shock.
Had that small, frail human killed one of their great leaders?
Soon, war cries erupted and small feet sank into the soft mud as the horde charged toward Ethan.
The young man immediately retreated back inside the wall, feeling the searing heat of Alice’s fireballs tear through the sky above him.
She had three thousand five hundred mana points in reserve, more than three times Ethan’s aura reserves.
Since each fireball cost fifty mana, she could wreak havoc on the goblin ranks before even needing to resort to recovery potions, and still have enough mana left to unleash the sea of flames.
Ethan turned as he reached Evelyn, just in time to see two fireballs land on the front line of the goblin army.
Powerful explosions engulfed everything around them, the heat scorching Ethan’s face.
Mages were truly terrifying creatures.
He had never seen his mother fight, but she was at the fourth stage.
If Alice could cause so much destruction, what would a talented fourth-stage mage be capable of?
More than thirty corpses fell to the ground under the barrage of fireballs, and Alice was already preparing another, allowing just enough time for her mana heart not to overheat.
"Shields!" Ethan ordered, and the guard closed an impenetrable wall of shields around them.
After about ten seconds, the first goblin reached them.
The creature had barely taken a step before being crushed like a cockroach by Evelyn’s skull-crushing axe.
The three hobgoblins entered shortly after, each advancing on a different target.
One lunged at Ethan, another at Doran, and the last at Evelyn.
The other four guards from the second tier positioned themselves to protect their allies’ flanks as the goblins flooded through the gate.
It was at that moment, with the battle raging all around, that Alice flashed a smile.
She crouched slowly, pressing her palms against the wooden floor.
Her beautiful blue eyes closed for an instant, and when they opened, they were cold as ice.
Those damned, filthy goblins would not be a problem for her man.
"Burn." Alice’s voice echoed as she unleashed a sea of flames.
Instantly, the goblins entering through the gate stopped, looking down just in time to see flames rising from their feet.