‘Don’t they say that third time's a charm?’

With a renewed spirit, Damian charged at the Goblins as his eyes shone with self-confidence!

[ You have defeated a Goblin. FP +1 ]

With one Aura slice, Damian’s first victim fell to the ground according to schedule. He also picked up its poisoned knife from the ground.

This time, however, he stored it in his Inventory. Instead, he used the residual shock as an opening to stab his bloody knife into the second Goblin’s neck, twist it, and then pull it out.

“Gra… G-”

This still left the little monster struggling on the floor all the same as Damian picked up its shortsword.

‘I was too wasteful.’

Damian had only wasted the valuable Status Ailment weapon in the last run because he was trying to be thorough. Yet, in reality, leaving the knife in the Goblin’s neck just to paralyze it to death was counterintuitive.

Taking it out so that blood loss would end them quickly was more efficient. Sadly, this was something that Damian only realized after quickly revising his battle.

His first attempts at battle were just too miserable. The required fast pace forced Damian to act out on the first thought that came to his mind, logical or not. His repeated death by the same method just made his mind convinced by it.

However, now that he was fully aware of how easily a Goblin could be neutralized, he could save more resources for the final battle!

Moreover, this wasn’t the only change of plans that Damian had in store.

“Greeeen!”

Rather than confronting the three Goblins in front of him, Damian chose to run in the opposite direction!

“Greee?”

At first, the Goblins thought that the strange invader ultimately decided to escape out of fear. To their surprise, however, he just had a different target in mind.

“Sorry, someone already spoiled your role.”

Looking down on the Goblin that was sneakily hiding behind one of the rocks, Damian stomped down on its neck before giving it the same treatment as its brother. Thrust, twist, and pull.

In all honesty, Damian didn’t know why this Goblin was hiding there from the very start. However, he learned its location from a very trustworthy source, and that was enough for him.

‘Thanks, Iris.’

Once again, Damian only picked up the weapon without bothering to finish off the Goblin. By making use of the confusion that he created by eliminating half of the group, he wanted to finish off the other half.

There was no time to waste on two corpses that were already at death’s door!

As someone who had already gone through the script twice, Damian earned the privilege of doing a sequence of actions that made him seem like someone with instant reactions.

On the other hand, the Goblins had to react to everything for the very first time, making them seem extra slow in Damian’s eyes.

‘No time to wait for the next charge.’

Raising the shortsword in his hand, Damian slashed at the neck of the Goblin at the utmost left. Naturally, only a very small part was cut off, but this wasn’t the end.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Circling around the Goblins, he kept slashing its neck over and over. By the time the other two turned around to help their friend…

“Gree-”

[ You have defeated a Goblin. FP +1 ]

Its neck was barely hanging to its head, but its eyes had already turned white.

Of course, Damian would have preferred more stab-and-pull action. Unfortunately, reality didn’t work like games where he could choose the type of attack he wanted.

Since the Goblins caught up a bit during the seconds he spent running back, they were already on the defensive.

Now to mention three stabs, if he tried to get close enough for one, at least two knives were guaranteed to sink into his body. Attacking with some distance kept was the best option!

‘That is if I want to be fully lucid for the ugly skull crusher.’

[ You have defeated… ]

[ You have… ]

Confirming the deaths of the two stab victims, Damian finally turned to his last two opponents. For these special survivors… There was no need to change anything about how they died!

The method that his mind came up with then was not only still viable, but it also consumed the least stamina. Unreservedly kicking one of the Goblins with all of his strength, Damian tackled the other and tore its throat open.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

[ You have defeated a Goblin. FP +1 ]

Just when he was about done, the kicked Goblin stood up and tried to stab him as well. Nonetheless, its attack was too easy to avoid, so its turn went on quickly without any hitches.

[ You have defeated a Goblin. FP +1 ]

‘Finally.’

Even despite all of his futuristic interjections, Damian guessed that he only saved about an extra minute compared to last time. However, he was more than glad to achieve this much.

He was truly improving every single time, not endlessly stuck in a loop. This time, he not only had more stamina left, but was also yet to be poisoned.

‘Quick.’

Since setting up a favorable battlefield in one minute was impossible anyway, Damian didn’t keep staying in place. He only took in a deep breath and let out before charging at what he believed to be the Hobgoblin’s entrance.

“Graa… Gree?”

Just when Damian was going to inspect the rock wall to find his way in, part of it was pushed away as an angry green face emerged.

It looked like the Hobgoblin was ready to bellow in annoyance until it was surprised by Damian’s face.

“Perfect!”

It seemed that the excessive screams had made the Hobgoblin come out a little bit earlier, but Damian was all for it!

Shik!

“Here is your first injection!”

Reaching out with his hand before summoning one of the poison knives, Damian thrust it into the Hobgoblin’s chest as far as he could!

The Hobgoblin’s skin was much thicker but that didn’t matter, as soon as the knife was propelled out of its chest through its muscles’ reaction, Damian took out another one and plunged it in.

This was his only chance to do so while the Hobgoblin was still stuck in the tight entrance.

“Graaaaah!”

Of course, Damian still had to pull back after his second stunt. The Hobgoblin’s body might be restricted, but his bat could still swing upward!

Woosh!

Learning not to be greedy from his last mistake, Damian managed to evade certain death.

Now that he had reversed the situation and given the Hobgoblin two poison shots in his place, the battle should be more balanced!

Being jump scared by this crazy stabbing creature, the bat almost flew out of the Hobgoblin’s hand as it swung it at full force. However, what awaited it in the Den was much worse.

“Graararaaaah!”

Confusion, rage, and even a slight hint of fear mixed together in the muscle monster’s head. Nothing made sense, how could all of this happen when it rushed out this quickly?

It hadn’t even finished its food!

Swish!

“Gonna stay frozen like that all day?”

Closing in to take a slash at the Hobgoblin’s bat-holding wrist, Damian woke the monster out of its contemplation. Considering how scrawny he was, the Hobgoblin was surprised Damian dared to come close to it while it was thinking.

Annoying pest. Must Crush!

“Greeeeeeennnn!”

However, a sting that it had never felt emerged from its wrist. Damian was still using the shortsword, but he had applied the poison from one of the remaining knives to it. He had to tire out this beast as quickly as possible!

Moreover, it had a hard time keeping hold of the bat, some of its wrist tendons were actually cut!

‘Nice!’

Damian’s eyes shone as he saw the monster struggling, using an Aura Slash wasn’t a waste!

“Grrrrr…”

The Hobgoblin’s eyes turned bloodshot as it charged at Damian, this was something that it had never done before.

‘Was it too much?’

That being said, Damian still tried his best to keep calm. As long as he controlled the distance between them, victory was his for the taking!

“Grah!”

“Grah!”

“Grah!”

In order to deal with its wrist’s shortcoming, the Hobgoblin used his other hand simultaneously, wielding it like a two-handed weapon as it raised left and right in a frenzy.

Unfortunately, all that did was botch the accuracy even more.

‘You are doing great.’

Damian couldn’t ask for more from the Hobgoblin which was depleting its stamina all by itself. He didn’t repeatedly provoke it for no reason.

“Come on, you can do better!”

Damian’s stamina was gradually decreasing as he went back and forth. However, he was betting that the Hobgoblin had it worse. Just to be sure, he gave its injured wrist another slice.

Swish!

No Aura was added this time, but the bat completely slid out of the Hobgoblin’s right arm. Unlike its firm muscles, its unprotected tendons were an easy target.

“Graaaaaaaah!”

Although the Hobgoblin still held to its precious bat using its left arm, it was now far too clumsy with it. In just a few more seconds, it was starting to slow down.

‘That’s my cue.’

Waiting for the Hobgoblin to unleash one more empty strike into the air, Damian took out his broken longsword, loaded it with Aura, and went for a horizontal slash on its neck!

“Gah-”

The Hobgoblin’s neck muscles tried to resist like they did before. However, Damian only used the very tip of the blade to slash open an entry point. With most of the sword out of the neck’s reach, it was futile resistance.

The persistent monster still tried to raise its bat, but even its left hand shook in protest. The effect already started to paralyze everything.

“Put that away.”

Thud!

Just in case, Damian kicked the Hobgoblin’s left arm, resulting in the Goblin Bat’s fall. Now that this weapon of mass destruction was out of the way…

“Take this one instead.”

Holding the shortsword in both hands, he thrust them into the neck opening that he created.

Taking it out was a chore the first time, but it was a breeze after that.

Even the neck muscles had already started to completely relax, allowing Damian to add a twist after every stab.

“You are just as tough, I will give you that.”

The Hobgoblin’s neck was gushing with green blood.

Despite receiving a half dozen blows to its neck, the Hobgoblin remained standing thus far. Its neck was gushing with green blood, yet all that did was make it go silent.

At this point, Damian was also just as spent, but he wasn’t going to stop now no matter what. He still had to receive confirmation that all his effort wasn’t in vain…

‘Come on…’

[ You have defeated a HobGoblin. FP +2 ]

Fortunately, the Hobgoblin’s persistence was merely false bravado.