V2 Chapter 14

Lafetti nodded her head at Scarlet and immediately rushed towards the Rain’s direction.

“Get looooooosssttt!!”

Lafetti let out a loud roar as she launched her violent attacks like an evil beast killing lambs that were brought to the slaughter.

Yes, these monsters right now were the lambs that were brought to the slaughterhouse!

Her body emitted a trace of faint blue light with a smear of blood red. And the bloody killing intent suddenly caused people to feel cold to their bones spread out. She held her sword tightly, and her magic power exploded before unleashing consecutive hits on the monsters that were ganging up on her.

The surrounding Goblin heads immediately exploded. As soon as she got rid of the monsters that tangled around her, Lafetti lifted her head and looked at the others. The Goblins were attacking at an alarming speed and there were a large number of them. Even she had realized that this is completely unnatural. Then, with her long, bristly tail, she swept aside an enemy approaching from behind, then grabbed one in front and spun it around before flinging it into a wall.

“GORARA?!”

“GROOROBB?!”

Sword and claws and tail. The Lamian’s whole body was a weapon, and Lafetti’s fighting style is as brutal as a whirlwind. Her enemies were like an unending horde. But she didn't lose hope. Rather, she become even more spirited. All her limbs and tail lashed out ceaselessly, seeking something to strike.

“Aaaaaahhhh $%#$%#@#!!!”

The Goblin Champion, who was battling Granite, used its hand to block the Barbaric Hand Axe. Taking advantage of the shock from the attack, it knocked Granite back and raised its club high, creating a flash of cold light like earlier.

Granite felt her shield would not be able to block the monster’s attack, and at worst, it might actually break after several hits. It seems like she really underestimated the monster, and perhaps, even the club it was holding was a high-level magical weapon judging from how it glows.

This Dungeon is really not simple! Even a mere Goblin Champion would have such an incredible Magic Weapon.

At this moment, Granite was actually quite jealous of the Goblin Champion’s weapon. It was certainly an Artifact, and perhaps a pretty good one at that.

She wanted it!

She hides her body behind the tower shield, and as if a mountain had rammed against her, she was knocked a few meters away after feeling a numbing, impact that caused even her bones to tremble. She felt disgruntled and dizzy.

For the first time, she had met her match. Even Drova might even have a hard time fighting this guy, though she would surely win but with more effort.

Looking at the once again swinging club that was rushing at her face, Granite gnashed her teeth and forced her body to move even in its numbing state. She also prepared herself to get bashed—though it would deal with fatal damage, it would not be enough to instantly kill her.

Pain is just pain…who had never experienced it before?

However, as she had resolved herself like this, suddenly—

“Granite!! Move!!”

With this scream, Rain ran off like a gust of wind. He drew his rapier from thin air and charged at Goblin Champion like a flash of light.

“NO! Rain, this is out of your—”

Granite who saw Rain charging towards them immediately paled.

She wanted to stop him, but Rain’s running speed was much faster than she could ever imagine. Before she could even finish speaking, he was already behind the Goblin Champion, appearing like a ghost.

His reckless strike hit the back of the monster while its attention was on her. But judging from the tip of the sword that had barely pierced on the monster’s skin, it was obvious that it only made a tickle.

Right. It didn’t do any kind of damage at all. In fact, it felt like stabbing a piece of elastic cowhide. Although the rapier pierced a little deeper, the skin barely breaks!

This was a first for him. And his eyes couldn't help but spread wide in surprise. He knows the piercing power of his sword more than anyone else. But to think it would hardly penetrate through the monster's skin.

The Goblin Champion roared, then turned around and swung its morning star downwards. The prickling pain from his attack had increased its anger.

Rain immediately jumped back to dodge, but he couldn’t evade it completely and was knocked down by the shock wave. The second strike then swung towards him without hesitation.

Rain was already prepared beforehand. With [Blink] skill he would just disappear, and furthermore, in terms of evasion and escape, Rain was confident he toppled Lafetti and the others. However, the others didn't share the same confidence.

Seeing his situation, their brains stop. Especially Granite, who the moment who saw it immediately cried out in horror, as well as anger.

“You dare—!!”

Granite felt her body go cold with fear as she tried to fling herself between Rain and the blade. Her shield barely managed to deflect the attack in time. Then, she felt an impact across her whole body as the shock wave hit her.

What’s even worse is that, because she was desperate to protect him, her guard went down. And before she knew it, her tail was caught by the monster and was thrown over. Whether it was intentional or not, but the direction where Granite was flung over was actually towards Lafetti.

“?!”

Lafetti was suddenly caught in the dilemma. To avoid Granite and rush towards Rain first, or catch her, and also to help her sister and protect her from being attacked by a group of Goblins that was just waiting on the side while she was recovering.

“Lafetti!!”

Rain cried out anxiously and stared at his Lamian lover, with determined eyes. But there's a will in his eyes that she was able to understand.

"...?!!"

Without even saying anything, Lafetti had already understood what Rain wanted. She gritted her mouth, but eventually, she stops and watched as Granite’s large figure flew towards her.

She rotated her sword in the air, and suddenly she points the tip on the ground and stabbed. Her sword pierced through the ground, but even more so, when she did, a kind of shock wave was produced, and all those monsters that were trying to rush in their direction were struck by invisible-like blades, cut into pieces, and died. Then, with open arms she caught Granite.

With the Lamian's current appearance, and the rock armor covering her, Granite was damn, heavy. Lafetti felt as if she was catching a small hill-size boulder. Still, she gritted her teeth in pain and released a loud cry as she caught the rock Lamian, skidding on the ground.

Releasing all her strength, she would have crashed against the wall and prepared herself for it, but suddenly an extra help actually came from behind.

Two Killer Ants, and two Antmen, for who knows when had appeared behind her, and hurriedly supported her, stopping their momentum. The Killer Ants innate strength is something even the Lamians acknowledge. With their strength, they easily stop Granite and Lafetti's crash.

Lafetti ignored the creaking pain from her bones, which some seemed to have been dislocated, and laid Granite down on the ground. The Killer Ants and the Antmen also surrounded them immediately, protecting them from the surrounding monsters that might take advantage of the situation and attack.

“Granite, are you okay?”

“R, rain,”

“…he’s fine, but you are not,”

Lafetti looked at the wounds on Granite’s body and frowned. After the rock started falling from her body, one can now easily find the purple bruises and bleeding wounds on her arms, chest, and tail. It seems like fighting against the Goblin Champion had truly taken a toll on her, despite having a rock-like defense.

Although Granite was strong, she was, after all, still a second evolution Lamian, and her strength is still limited. Though, this is also a testament to the Goblin Champion’s real power.

Now, she knows better than to underestimate that silly-looking Goblin.

But what about Rain?!

Lafetti thought in a panic if even Granite was hard-pressed, Rain would be nothing to speak of either.

While letting Granite drink a healing potion she took from her small sachet, she turned towards Rain and the Goblin’s direction and could help but stare in surprise.

“Wretched human!… DIE!”

The Goblin Champion roared deeply and slammed its horrifying morning star towards its new target.

BOOOOM!!

The enormous weapon left a deep mark on the earth. However, Rain had already rolled out of the way. At that moment, he had already fled and circled around its side. The Goblin Champion let out an annoyed roar, frustrated as it couldn’t catch his 'small insect' opponent, and then once again raised its weapon again in anger, and swept it towards him in frustration.

A ‘Named Monster’…! No wonder.

Rain’s eyes narrowed as he saw the monster status above the Goblin Champion. Now that he was close to it, he was finally able to see its status; though, only the name and HP of the monster:

[Goblin Champion: Gragro]

That was the name of the monster.

And because of it having a name, it only meant one thing; a ‘Named Monster’—a unique type of monster that is far stronger and more powerful compared to its kind.

This kind of Monsters often has special abilities, skills, and greater firepower than you can ever imagine, making them very hard to deal with. Some even needed a lot of people just to defeat it, making its strength and powers transcending.

Demi-humans have names, especially humanoid monsters that acted like humans. That was natural. However, for monsters, having a name is unusual. They might be people who gave names to monsters, but it doesn’t mean it was their true name.

A monster who had possessed a name can only truly be called a ‘Named Monster’ if when appraised, the name would appear beside their race.

It was said that this name was given to them by their God—they called it 'True Name'.

It was not a name made by anyone in particular, not, of course, names chosen by themselves but one that they had heard from the [Divine Call].

Demi-humans such as Lamians and Antmen have it as well, but they can only obtain it when they reached a certain point in their evolution, or that they had managed to make an incredible feat that dazzles even the Gods. Just like Granite and the others- though that was their name, but it was not their [True Name].

That is why, when they are appraised, only [Amani Lamian] would appear without a name.

Those who possess true names tend to not use them, as they believe them to be sacred. Zarda has a ‘True Name’, which only she knows, not only the other Lamians know of it, though she told it to Rain before. So, now she and Rain knows about it.

Among the Lamians, those who have a ‘True Name’ are only Threia and Zarda… though, with the Addition of Scarlet, there were now three ‘Name’ Holders within the tribe.

And from what Rain knows to be a ‘Named Monster’ those who possess it had been crowned as [Monster Kings], some might not, but at the very least, one of the qualifications of becoming a Monster King is to have obtained their [True Name] or so that’s what they said.

Nevertheless, whatever it is, having a ‘True Name’ for a monster is the testament of its power!

And this goddamn Goblin Champion is one of those horrifying creatures!

As he watched the massive club with dreadful spikes all over it, spanning towards him, Rain abruptly lowered his body and slipped into a slide.

Baaaang!!

The Goblin Champion’s sweeping attack hurtled above and past his head. The fierce pressure alone was enough to cause pain as the wind scraped against his cheek.

Just a little bit slower and I would’ve been swatted into the air by its attack.

Rain smiled wryly while feeling somewhat frustrated. It already needed his all just to dodge the monster’s attack, and divert its attention from Granite and the others. He just couldn’t find any good opportunity to launch an attack, as its strength was even more beyond him. Not only its strength was powerful, but it was also far nimbler and had good intuition.

Certainly, clashing against it was an incredibly bad idea.

Even though he was confident with his rapier, personally made by Miyabila, but he feared that one clash against the opponent’s weapon might break his rapier in an instant. Hence, he didn’t dare take the monster’s attack head-on.

“Damn it—a Goblin Champion is already this strong, then what about a Goblin Lord, or a Goblin King?! Who said that Goblins are beginner-level?! They can eat shit!”

Rain cursed as he jumped back. Side-stepped, then back step. Then the third step. The three seconds felt a bit longer. But the moment he took his third step; the Goblin Champion once again swung its weapon at him, this time vertically, the massive scary weapon rushing downward.

With an incredibly strong power. It had gauged down the ground in front of him, and Rain felt being hit by the debris but it was better than being hit by that horrifying weapon. One hit by that and he would be full of holes!

Even still, to think that it has even more strength than Drova. Fighting this kind of monster would certainly be impossible for me. Though, the only saving grace for me is the fact that it seemed to have no idea how to wield this amount of power.

Without skills, techniques, and tactics, the monster seemed to believe, simply swinging the weapon around is enough. Its combat ability only relies on brute force. In other words, it’s just a moron with a lot of strength.

It means that the power it possesses is not it's own…perhaps, it’s the weapon?

That spiky club is an artifact of the higher rank, damn… Miyabila would certainly be so excited she would be jumping around like a rabbit the moment she saw this kind of artifact.

I just hope that kind of weapon would drop the moment it dies if not, I don’t know what Miyabila would do to me if she found I didn’t bring it back with me.

Rain mumbled as he continued desperately dodging the opponent’s attacks. Though, one should notice the fact that, while he was desperately dodging, the directions that he was going are those with many groups of Goblins gathered together. Hence, as he was going around, running and dodging, the Goblin Champion who didn’t know anything but swing its club was slaughtering the Goblins faster than Rain or the others could ever do.

Rain dodged as he had turned into the wind, dazzling anyone who was watching him. All the attacks of the Goblin Champion failed to land on him, and in fact, it was not even able to touch the hem of his clothes. But the attacks of the Goblin Champion became more and faster, and violent.

The adaptability of this large, stupid monster with an ugly and silly face was truly amazing. It was unexpectedly able to pick out of the regular pattern of his ghost-like footwork. It was to the point that it had nearly landed a hit on him a few times. Still, he was able to barely dodged everything, mainly thanks to his [Blink] and [Flicker Snap] skills.

His movements seemed awkward whenever he evaded the Goblin Champion’s attacks. Each time Lafetti, Scarlet, and Granite who was still recovering but was already pushing her body to stand up again, believed he was going to get hit from one of the attacks and was suddenly felt their hearts throbbed, they would discover that he actually miraculously survived by dodging, rolling, or jumping out of the way at the very last second. More or less, he appeared to be more scared than hurt as he survived every encounter without mishap.

Lafetti, however, felt shocked by Rain’s actions. Although she had seen him fight before, never actually had this kind of scene. Unlike his previous battles, at this moment what Rain had displayed beautifully was not his combat ability, but reflexes, reactions, speed, agility, flexibility, and lastly… his incredible perception.

Although he appeared staggering while evading, but every time she thought that the monster attack would finally hit him, he would actually slip away as if he was a loach. And most of all, as she stared at his actions, she noticed that before the monster made his move, Rain had already started moving. It’s as if he could see the future, and knows what the monster would do.

But, did he have that kind of ability…?

Well, Lafetti knows about his unique and monstrous ability to obtain skills of those he had eaten, but she was not keeping tabs on what kind of ability he had obtained. Same with Zarda. As it would not really matter whatever it is, as no matter what happens, even if he becomes the strongest in the future, they would still be protecting him. So whatever kind of ability he had, it’s not really important.

But still…Lafetti knows that among the rarest and strongest skill that could be seen possessed by the monsters inhabiting the Desolate Cave, [Precognition] is one of the rarest there is.

In fact, the species that can possess it can only be counted with one hand at most. But to think he had it. Though, even if he had it, it’s not as exaggerated as this. After all, there is always a limitation. And the success rate of that skill is low. But why does it feel as if he was even more accurate?

How is that even possible?

[Precognition] can only show bits and pieces of the attack, less accuracy, and it had an even shorter range. And most of all, from what she knows only at Lv4 and above would [Precognition] would actually matter in a fight. And even at that level, the range that the skill could give only matters within three to four seconds. If not, everyone who had it would become extremely powerful.

But how did Rain do something like this, especially in this high-speed fight?

Looking at him, evading by hair’s breadth, and even seemingly manipulate the opponent to do what he willed, was an unbelievable sight. It really made her awestruck!

But unbeknownst to her, this was just not only [Precognition] but there was also Sylphy who had been calculating all the Monster’s possible attack patterns, as well as other skills at work such as [Hyper Instinct], [Concentration], [Keen Eye], [Luck] and other skills that boosted his mind, senses, physical attributes, and most of all… luck.

[Luck] is a skill that greatly boosted his Luck and fortune. Well, it’s still greatly attributed to Sylphy’s effort though.

With Sylphy’s help, the Goblin Champion might be extremely fast, perhaps, even faster than him by a quarter. Nevertheless, its attacks were slow and predictable.

It was simple and extremely easy, just like an adult being asked to do a grade schooler’s math homework. Each attack gave more than a second of reaction time to get out of the way. Thus, evading its attacks really wasn’t much of a problem.

And Rain noticed, that although the Goblin Champion is strong, but compared to Drova, it was still weaker. It was not even as fast as she is. And perhaps, it was only able to overpower Granite that much because of the weapon it was using.

The Goblin Champion’s physical original stats are probably comparable to Granite, and even just a bit weaker in reality, especially in terms of strength. Just that, the magical weapon made a lot of difference.

Rain even wondered that if Granite was the one holding the weapon, she would have pummeled the Goblin Champion in seconds. Still, this can’t go on.

Although he was confident he can dodge the opponent's attack, it still doesn’t change anything. Sooner or later, he would be the one to get killed if this fucking monster is not dead.

But what are the others doing?

Rain wondered while evading. Granite should have recovered, and Lafetti should be attacking right now. With the three of them together, hell, if they still lose, he might as well let himself be stabbed by a goblin. But what the hell are they doing?!

When he turned towards their direction, his eyebrows couldn’t help but twitched—they were actually just watching him?

The hell!?

“I can use some help, right now,” he cried out.

His cry snaps the others from their daze and they couldn’t help but laugh in embarrassment.

Granite seemed to have recovered fully and held the barbaric battle-ax in her right, and the tower shield on her left. Though, on the surface of the shield, there seemed to be already spiderweb-like cracks, with a little crater, and small punctured holes.

Granite had known about her tower shield’s toughness and even higher ranking magical weapons would barely scratch it as it was made from the strongest ore they could possibly find in the Desolate Cave. And it had served her for countless years already. Hence, she is extremely sentimental about it. But to think it would finally show its limit today.

Rain saw Granite and Lafetti finally rushing towards them and felt relieved. Because the Goblin Champion was still focusing all its attention on him, it doesn’t seem to have noticed the two Lamians charge. And he was determined to let it be that way.

The Goblin Champion dealt blow after blow. However, not hitting anything makes it even more frustrated and angry. Its eyes were already bloodshot and it was clear that its temper was on the rise like a rocket.

"Roooooooaaaaarrrr-!!"