Seeing the Hobgoblin that was closing in on him, Damian was reminded of the time he had met the stray Hobgoblin.
The possibility of ending it all with a single strike tempted Damian to use the Goblin Bat once again, but his clear head completely threw that idea out of the window.
‘Let’s give it a proper go.’
Fate wasn’t something that a human could manipulate. It wasn’t always going to work just because it did once. Rather than relying on chance, Damian wanted a proper fight with his ultimate enemy.
If even that ended in failure, Damian would gladly accept the result, but he wasn’t a gambler who would waste all of his effort on one single bet.
Most importantly, he was no longer the same Damian who had to struggle to stand up to his opponent. His body might still be lacking, but he was now an official knight!
“Greee!”
Although he only had a shortsword in his hand, Damian felt extremely confident for some reason. He didn’t wait for the Hobgoblin to reach him before lunging forward.
Swish!
Learning from his past experiences, Damian’s first Aura Slash went for the Hobgoblin’s stomach. The beast quickly reacted by constricting its stomach muscles.
However, while the shortsword wasn’t able to reach the Hobgoblin’s organs, enough window was opened to insert a proper injection.
“Grrrrrr!”
The Hobgoblin swung its club horizontally, but Damian was already prepared to duck. He knew well enough not to be greedy for hits. The poison shot only came after.
“Argh!”
Having delivered the poison into the Hobgoblin's bloodstream, Damian no longer planned to take out any more daggers. He wanted to focus on the battle instead.
An intravenous injection would have been more reassuring, but Damian didn’t have the leisure to choose the mode of application. Besides, this magical poison took no time to work as long as it was somehow inside the target’s body.
“Grrr!”
“Grrr!”
The Hobgoblin continued swinging left and right while it still had most of its stamina. Unfortunately, it only met empty air.
His exchange with the first Hobgoblin was truly educational. Though it was merely part of the reason why he found this battle to be a lot easier.
‘The effect isn’t that apparent when it comes to running, but things are much smoother now.’
The effect of increased Agility wasn’t limited to walking or running speed, it affected every single movement that the body could make.
An increase of 2 points barely affected something like running where the whole body contributed to the action. However, when it came to ducking, leaning to the side, or even slashing, Damian could recognize his new advantage.
It might not have felt that great if he was fighting a buff Goblin, but this Hobgoblin was just as slow as the first one.
Swish!
With stronger Aura, Damian only needed one successful slash to cripple the Hobgoblin’s dominant arm.
It quickly changed hands once it found itself in such a precarious situation. However, its clumsy movement with it made it easier for Damian to cripple the other arm.
At this point, the battle felt incredibly repetitive, but that was just how predictable Hobgoblins were, especially when Damian applied the very same tactics.
‘It might no longer be necessary.’
Although the poison started to take effect by then, Damian no longer found it to be crucial. The Hobgoblin’s flailing arms weren’t exactly that threatening.
Before the Hobgoblin got too dizzy to walk, Damian delivered two Aura Slashes to its neck and sent its head flying with the third.
[ You have defeated a Hobgoblin. FP +2 ]
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After running for so long and dealing with a whole Den, Damian had to be out of breath even with an additional 2 points in Constitution. That being said, he wasn’t going to wait to check the Hobgoblin’s body.
‘Great.’
The first loot box ended up being full, so Damian didn’t stop there, he turned to the close Goblin and opened it up to find another Life Stone.
He didn’t run towards the next Goblin, but Damian took fast steps forward. If his harvest was big enough…
‘It’s raining.’
Despite the recent shortage of drops, this Den wasn’t the least bit inferior to the first one that he encountered. Including the Hobgoblin’s, Damian pocketed 5 Life Stones!
Coupled with the ones that he already collected, 10 Life Stones felt like a perfect number to attempt another absorption session. Attacking the next tier might be even possible!
“Iris, pay attention. I might need your help.”
Damian was just guessing at the next threshold, but Iris was the one who had practical information. Just in case something went wrong, he needed to be able to ask her about it.
After all, just because he could always retry it, struggling to succeed the first time was still better than immediately surrendering to the fate of death.
{I will try my best!}
Iris had been watching Damian as he excitedly collected the last Life Stones, and she couldn’t help sharing that excitement. All she felt before were foreboding emotions, but she was just starting to learn about looking forward to things!
‘Now!’
Trying his best to pass his Aura hooks into the 10 Life Stones at the same time, Damian felt a rush of energy going through his body.
These Life Stones weren’t that much bigger compared to the ones he used in the last absorption session, but the volume that they produced was stronger.
Absorbing more resources at once was definitely more beneficial for Iris!
[ Aura +1 ]
This time, Damian didn’t feel his body becoming bloated as the hungry ring kept feeding on everything that it saw.
[ Aura +1 ]
[ Aura +1 ]
It kept growing thicker and wider as the energy supply kept going strong!
[ Aura +1 ]
[ Aura +1 ]
However, at one point, Damian suddenly felt a painful tightness in his heart. Did the ring grow too big? Damian could barely focus on anything as the pain assaulted all of his senses.
“Iris!”
{What happened?!}
Seeing Damian’s expression, Iris rushed forward, floating as close as she could. Unfortunately, as ghostly as she appeared to be, Iris couldn’t actually see through Damian to figure out the problem.
“The ring… Is too… Heavy…”
It was painful, but Damian managed to collect his thoughts somehow, mouthing out what he felt.
{Try splitting it!}
Although Iris was quite shaken, she still gave the first proper answer that came to her mind. She didn’t know the proper process of advancement, but she was at least aware that the number of rings should increase.
On the other hand, Damian had also reached the same conclusion. At first, he thought that the ring would change automatically on its own like the first time it was formed. Yet, the pain didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
No matter how he looked at it, it appeared like he had to get involved in some way or another.
As lost as Damian was, he quickly came up with a plan of action. While couldn’t use physical force to affect what was happening within his body, he just had to do the same thing he did to the Life Stones.
With the little concentration he had left, Damian drew some Aura out of the wrong before attempting to form two hooks.
The process was still quite a struggle. The shape and form of whatever he created felt strange, but Damian didn’t care about it. As long as it could act as his hands, anything would do.
‘Break open!’
Without further ado, Damian used his Aura Tools to hold the sides of the ring, trying to pry it open into two. However, even when he gave it his all, it still didn’t seem to work.
Just as Damian was starting to think that this pain was a necessary process, the ring suddenly clicked!
[ Aura +1 ]
With the addition of the last deposit of energy, the stubborn ring split open with the slightest touch!
[ The Second ‘Aura Ring’ has been condensed. ]
The split happened from both sides as if Damian’s actions were unnecessary, forming an acute angle between the new double rings.
[ ‘Platinum Aura Nurturing’ has reached Tier-2. ]
The System Messages appeared as soon as the pain in Damian’s heart started to disappear. Even when he had achieved his target, Damian was still perplexed.
‘So I just had to wait?’
Did everyone who advanced have to endure so much pain? Did what he did have any meaning at all?
This was yet another disadvantage that someone like Iris had. Lack of basic information.
{Is it over? Is everything alright?}
As Damian’s face eased a little, Iris stared at him, hoping that nothing bad had happened. She didn’t even care to ask if the advancement really worked.
“It’s alright. The advancement was a success.”
{Eh?}
Having expected the complications to result in failure, Iris was surprised to hear that everything worked out in the end.
“What do you think? You should be the fastest one to jump two tiers in a matter of days, right?”
Looking at Damian’s smile, the surprised Iris wasn’t sure what to feel.