[ You have died. ]

‘This…’

Being sent back to stand among the scattered Goblin corpses, Damian’s face turned stiff as he remembered the last moments of this life. His head was separated from his body in a split second.

As expected, since it had been so long since he experienced ‘death’, the erupting emotions that he had adapted to were harder to suppress. Even then, Damian’s thoughts were still mostly occupied by something else.

‘Can that be even considered a Goblin?’

The swings that Damian saw could no longer be described as nimble, they were closer to blurs. Even with just a rough estimate based on his own specs, Damian could tell that the special Goblin’s Agility definitely surpassed 25 points!

‘It’s probably close to 30.’

To overcome such a large gap in Stats just by relying on skills and passives, Damian needed a much better trainer.

‘Well… Isn’t this an opportunity in itself?’

The first few minutes of his return were filled with grief, regret, and contemplation. Would having moved differently matter?

Nonetheless, once Damian managed to stabilize his state of mind, he realized the opportunity presented by the mysterious Goblin.

It was such a high ceiling to challenge, but this was exactly what Damian thought from his training with Goblin groups… Something that they ultimately weren’t able to present.

A true battle of life and death, a situation where everything was on the line, one where each side couldn’t take one step forward until they took down the other!

Due to the repetitive lifestyle that had worn him out for the past week or two, Damian had been so impatient that he acted out of character.

‘I can take the next step.’

Although he was greatly humbled by this swift defeat, Combat Instincts had shown Damian a future where he could win that fight. He just had to make it so his skills could catch up and listen to its instructions!

‘Let’s go!’

Dashing into the tunnel, Damian didn’t take his time to get to know the Guardsmen once again.

[ You have defeated a Goblin Guardsman. FP+2 ]

[ You have defeated… ]

[ You have defeated a total of 5 Goblin Variants… ]

[ You have… ]

With determined concentration, he made quick work of the half dozen variants, reclaiming the 2nd Tier Achievement in the process.

‘Let’s change weapons.’

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Not too long ago, Damian had been so excited to defeat his last opponent that he neglected to replace his worn-out shortsword and the dull knife that only acted as an Aura receptacle.

Compared to his limited Gear, the Guardsmen’s shortswords were a notch more sharp and sturdy!

‘Concentrate.’

Seeing the special Goblin stand up, Damian made use of the cutscene to gather his thoughts. Due to how restless he was in the last fight, he wasted the chance to analyze his opponent, making his first death here end in vain.

But he wasn’t going to repeat the same mistake again!

Swish!

Rather than going on the offensive, Damian only brandished his blades with the intent to block according to Combat Instincts’ guidance. Everything else would be focused on dodging while analyzing his opponent.

‘Focusing only made it look scarier.’

Even compared to the Hobgoblin’s skull-crusher, a single swing from the Special Goblin caused more apprehension in Damian’s heart as he was almost unable to tell where it was going.

Left, right… right again, the special Goblin obviously didn’t only have superiority when it came to Stats. Damian was sure that he was fighting a battle veteran that had high-level skills.

Thankfully, although Damian’s grueling training didn’t make unrivaled as he imagined, it still allowed him to keep up to a very minimal level.

Otherwise, meeting this Goblin would have resulted in a volley of instant deaths that were incomparable to the Hobgoblin’s surprise head explosions.

‘Here it comes!’

Unfortunately, this wasn’t just a battle of skills and stats either. Damian had just gotten the same magnified warning that he received right before he died the last time. He wasn’t able to properly see it then, but it definitely wasn’t a simple swing!

The Guardsmen’s leather armor might have been lacking, but Damian’s completely covered the neck. Unless its sword was enchanted with some sort of magical property, it couldn’t behead Damian that quickly.

Using everything he had to focus on the Goblin’s main shortsword, Damian was able to get a glimpse of the green sheen that covered its blade.

‘I knew it.’

It wasn’t Aura, Damian could tell that much thanks to constantly using his own. Instead of the refined stream that he was familiar with, this was something much more raw and primal.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t the least bit weaker!

This specific slash was too fast for Damian to dodge. He could only bring his new shortsword forward to block it, but it almost melted its way through the whole thing!

‘It went halfway through.’

Jumping back in surprise, Damian felt like he was facing a superior version of himself. Although he didn’t have the luxury to test Aura on weapons before, the Goblins’ ability had to be at least as strong as his Aura.

So far, while his opponent usually had superior Stats or Physiques, Aura had always been Damian’s one and only trump card. However, that was no longer the case.

‘Should I try lowering the difficulty a little bit?’

Faced with a wall that only kept going higher, Damian was reminded of the weapon that he had sealed a while ago. Perhaps a little medication was necessary to ease into this battle.

‘It won’t be easy, but it’s worth trying.’

Against an opponent like this, even just nicking him was a difficult feat. However, for the sake of a step-by-step training program, Damian was willing to invest effort into this attempt.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Avoiding strike after strike, Damian smelled death more than once as the Goblin kept using his green coating in between. Thankfully, after persisting for so long, he finally found a very small opening.

‘Take it!’

Going as far as to cover the poison knife with Aura, Damian managed to leave a gash on the Goblin’s waist. Now, all that was left was to wait for it to take effect… Or so Damian thought.

‘It’s not working?’

No matter how Damian looked at it, it seemed like he had to take the most difficult path in the end.