Danger.

I was sent flying away after the hobgoblin tore my orcs apart with a set of brutal swings. My body was able to handle the weight of its club this time, but that only worked because I utilized both my hands to share the burden of its assault instead of one.

As I tossed and tumbled, sending dirt upwards and clouding my vision, I was forced to switch out the soul of The Orc mage with the Nightblade. I wouldn’t survive another minute of its attacks if I didn’t run away, and after my body vanished; I was allowed to breathe for the first time since it went berserk.

Strategy-wise, defeating this Evolved Hobgoblin wasn’t any different than the one before; Sure, I had no Phillip to deal the fatal swing this time, but I’d reckon that my bolts would kill it if I sent enough of them towards its figure. The first bolt had dealt a lot of damage, but judging from how well it was still moving, I would need at least 5 or 6 more of my bolts to ensure a kill. The loss of the mage’s soul also reduced both my arcane stats by 5, which was a blow when one single point of difference would result in either my death or its demise.

And then, the one magic I had underutilized. The Armor of Death.

I chugged a mana potion down, then used the time to figure out what my move should be.

The release of the Orc mage’s soul also gave me the ability to summon it outside. While I doubted that the mage’s reduced attributes would harm it — even with my Summoner’s Command aura active — I’d still assume that the mage’s bolt served as a good distraction.

And the distraction was what I needed.

My target attempted to figure out where the hell I went after it smashed me away, shuffling its head around, while it brushed the blood that flooded its eyelids.

Meanwhile, I stayed as far away from it. The goblins had bad eyesight, and at a certain distance — on top of the fog — they were almost blind to a fault.

Raising my right arm, I conjured the Orc mage’s soul to my side. The other goblins had caught up to its position, and the hobgoblin made quick work of their short lives. During the commotion, I loaded up both Bolts in my hand while stepping away from the mage, then gave it Death’s armor, hoping that it would allow my mage to survive at least one attack.

My invisibility was running out, apparent from the visuals of my figure beginning to fade into existence, then, with my eyes clutched close with prayers, I ordered the mage to fire first.

Its bolt—bigger than I remembered—flew.

If there was a point that I disliked about my bolts other than their potential self-harming effects, it would be the amount of sound generated when they moved. This killed any options of using them when stealth was paramount, which I needed in cases like this.

My target noticed the incoming death alarm from its side and turned away from the carnage that it was unleashing. A goblin was stuck between its steps, halting it in its tracks as it dashed to the side, causing the bolt to bump its right shoulder, ending with a small-scale explosion while it tripped to its side.

But that wasn’t all, while it struggled to maintain its balance with its rage-infused arms, two more bolts zipped to its location and shattered the ground where it lay. My new bolts were weaker—the loss of my arcane. power taking effect—and the lack of any mana feedback indicated that this thing wasn’t dead after all of that punishment.

Really? I hoped that my initial salvo of bolts would end this fight, but that was way too naive of an assumption to make.

Through suffocating smoke, its figure barreled through the darkness as it bolted high, leaving a trail of dark fog behind its back as it assaulted where my orc mage stood. I was just about to finish the priming process of my last sets of bolts, but I wasn’t quick enough.

A smash, strong enough to produce tiny quakes on the ground, slammed against the armor that the mage wore. My heart almost stopped at the sight, losing my mage here would be a death sentence, but then, the second effect of my armor triggered before it shattered.

It was faint, but I saw it. A ghastly smoke emerged outside of the armor, then coagulated into the form of the hobgoblin, with its lime-tinted transparent body already in the middle of the hobgoblin’s swing motion.

Slam.

The hobgoblin’s head was pounded by the reflective damage. Sure, my armor didn’t possess the strength to just… eradicate its existence, but it was powerful enough to topple the hobgoblin to its side, sending blood outside of its vessels, and spraying the air with a dark, violet mist.

My Orc mage was alive, but barely. It wasn’t able to move according to my commands, so I couldn’t recall it back into my compendium. My eyes then traced the hobgoblin’s whereabouts, who was reeling on the ground, losing its famous red luster as it had suffered enough trauma on its head to prevent it from moving the way it wanted to.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Gritting my teeth, I used the remaining mana I had to blast its kneeling body apart.

Explosions after explosions filled the scene with a dark smog so thick I couldn’t see past it. I swallowed another blue potion whole; Because even after all of that, I couldn’t sense any mana returning to me. How sturdy is this thing?

My eyes widened in panic and awe — when I saw its figure emerge past the smog, limping, its muscles and skin that used to be on top of its head were rotting and falling apart.

This image was a close recollection of what happened to that goblin. It reminded me of how far I’d gotten, even if not all of my achievements were somewhat cheated, but I was mirth about the outcome. Happy that I made it this far on my own this time.

I wasn’t hesitant, I wasn’t pitying myself either, I savored this moment of defeating what I’d consider impossible.

Then, the fight was over. I limped over to where the corpse of the Hobgoblin was, attempting to extract its soul, however, it didn’t work. I was one level shy. One.

Mission Completed - Eliminate the goblin squad

Rewards - 1: 1200 pts + 600 pts.

Rewards 2: 1 x class upgrade stone.

The moment I saw the mission’s complete message, all the tension that had built up inside my veins was released, resulting in my limp figure slumping against the ground. The bonuses from the enhanced difficulty were nice, especially the second reward — the class upgrade stone.

Which is interesting; So much so that I wanted to just pull it out and see what it was all about, yet my body refused to follow what I urged it to do. What was left of my brain wanted me to rest my eyes and do nothing for a few minutes. A request that I found hard to deny, so, I obliged.

With my eyes closed, I let sleep take over me, allowing myself to relax and enjoy what little peace remained. God knows how long I was stuck between the realm of sleep and real life, but I was back at the nexus when I opened my eyes.

The sound of whispers and murmurs accompanied the bright view. Naturally, It was a strange sight to see a person sleeping right under the obelisk, but upon waking up, the interest surrounding my sleeping figure waned in an instant, overtaken by a bunch of strong-looking people being berated by an individual.

I turned my head aside to locate the source of the commotion. Near the obelisk, Maya was talking to her party members and it appeared that she was discussing something quite serious, judging from the tense expression on her face—which was hard to see since her skin melded with the bright lights around her—but it didn’t take a genius to know that she was upset.

What happened? I wanted to step closer and eavesdrop, but that didn’t seem to be appropriate, nor was it necessary. It would be better if I just walked and asked her, but…

I shifted my attention away from them. I had other things to do.

First… The class evolution stone.

Taking it out in the public would be an invitation to disaster, but I was just so drained that I couldn’t be bothered by the possible attention that this act would attract.

I had to remind myself that the majority of us, even after the mass culling from the Observer’s snap, wouldn’t make it past today. The limitation of a hundred people was heart-wrenching news, one that urged each of us to be as strong as possible.

And that itself, the fact that I had grown cold towards protecting another human life, irked me to some level. I had never been a saint, nor did I claim to be one, but I didn’t expect to be nonchalant about it either.

I snapped my thoughts away from the future, then focused on the stone in my hand. What is this thing?

Holding the warm, dark stone in my left hand, I played around with it, feeling each tiny surface with the pores on my hand. It was the size of a pebble, far, far smaller than I imagined it to be. Initially, I thought that I’d somehow picked up a random rock and stored it in my inventory, but that wasn’t the case, this is the evolution stone.

Tier 0 Class evolution stone

Rarity : - | Tier : 0

Use to advance a class to a higher tier. Requirements :

- Class must be at level 10.

-Class must be at tier 0.

One use only.

Level 10? What was my current class level again?

I opened my stats page, browsing the fields for the necessary information; Sighing at the class-level field when I was still leagues away from fulfilling the requirements for the evolution. 7 more levels? How long will that take?

One level away from the evolved hobgoblin, 7 levels away from my class evolution…

Not just that, three out of four of my orcs had met their demise, meaning that I wouldn’t be able to use them until tomorrow. A drawback of my skill that had never occurred, happened at the worst possible time. I would say that witnessing them survive the hobgoblin’s first attack was a testament to the utility of my Summoner’s command; Had that aura not been there, they would’ve died instantly, and the events after would result in my death.

Then, the armor, the spell I thought to be… ineffectual, turned out to be the key to beating the Hobgoblin. From a glance, one might say that the reflected damage was based on the assault that the armor had received, hence the form of the hobgoblin it took when it retaliated, but it didn’t appear that it reflected the full damage, just a percentage of it.

Ruffling my hair, and with my orcs out of commission, I needed a party for sure. The multiple avenues of getting stronger had been closed off, and knowing that I might face evolved enemies later meant that I couldn’t bring randoms with me. If Maria was with me… I’d just put her party in danger. The only candidates viable would be those within the top 10s or perhaps a few ranks below it. Anyone else would just be eradicated.

But before that… I had enough points for the armor set.

Now that I was wide awake, I noticed the different armor sets that were worn by a small percentage of the population roaming the Nexus. They reminded me of the armories I’d seen in fantasy and medieval movies before; Thick plated vests with small adornments on their shoulders, worn by the bulky subset of the small crowd. Then there was a lighter version of it, covered with a neat pattern of leather, with chainmail underneath, fitting the image of archers and rogues in typical fantasy games.

Then, the final one, and this one encapsulated my attention. A mix between both, a heavier subset of the leather armor, providing decent defenses, but it wasn’t so big that one couldn’t move well. It wasn’t favored as much as the others, perhaps due to it mixing and matching between different attributes instead of focusing on one, but until I checked what was in store, I wouldn’t know for sure.

Excitement filled my heart as I opened the shop menu.