More and more creatures started to make an appearance, causing everyone to take the threat seriously. Ethan had confidence in their small group, but what he feared was the unknown. ‘’Stay close to the shelter’s entrance. I’ll try to take a look at the city and see if there are any high tiers. Get ready to retreat from where we came from any time.’’

‘’There is no need,’’ Hayley said, seemingly frightened by the number of the enemy. She pointed at the biggest mushroom in the city. ‘’These are Catillo Funguses, and that one is around mid tier-6. It means no creature nearby could advance to tier-6 without killing it or waiting until it reached tier-7.’’

‘’Is that why most of the goblins are at tier-5?’’ Carl asked, gaping at the lofty mushrooms.

‘’They won’t be a problem for us, right?’’ Ethan asked with a frown.

Hayley shook her head. ‘’Not if you don’t attack them first, but still, Vi and I are useless in this battle. Maybe we should retreat?’’

‘’If they are all tier-5, we should be able to handle it,’’ Fraeya said, calling her double-bladed staff.

‘’Are we gonna fight in the open, Ethan?’’ Liam asked, his eyes on the floating shamans. ‘’The shelter seems like a better choice.’’

‘’No. It’ll be over if we get surrounded there. We need a better stronghold,’’ he said, stopping his gaze on the closest black tower which had even more goblins on its balconies. ‘’Since we plan to search these places, we might as well conquer one and make our base.’’

Above them, one of the shamans created a fireball, but a [Fabric Tear] showed itself at the same time, and a red dagger came from inside, penetrating the goblin's skull.

Ethan pulled back Devi and let the shaman drop from that high while the other goblins started screaming loudly. ‘’Beet and Carl will protect Hayley and Vivian while Liam and Fraeya will open a path toward the tower. Understood?’’

The others affirmed whereas Liam turned to him. ‘’What about you?’’

Ethan licked his lips. ‘’I will be everywhere.’’ A [Blink] carried him upward, in front of another shaman before he slashed its throat swiftly. The splashing blood was the color of violet, influenced by the blue light that covered the city, just as the cyan color goblins themselves. Right after the first drop of blood smeared on his cloak, he was already far away, killing a clueless hobgoblin when least expected.

Along with Ethan's opening, the already antsy goblins went wild. Some of them started flying to chase him and the rest charged at the group with loud cries. Ethan kept his distance from his companions less than 100 yards and gave his constant attention to see if they need any help.

It soon became apparent that Liam, Fraeya, and Beet didn’t need any support at all. With the spinning fire rings, Liam was able to cut through the shaman’s fireballs and even kill them by cutting their heads off. Indeed, somehow those small fire rings didn’t only give fire damage, but they were also cutting the flesh like metal discs.

Fraeya had her ice armor to protect her from the fire, whereas Beet was using his shades without any fear. They were both matching the speed of Liam’s slaughter, but the others weren’t having a good time. Carl was barely holding his ground against tier-5 hobgoblins while Vivian and Hayley were just staying close to each other and following the others.

Ethan knew that the wolf girl was a pacifist when it came to battles, but he was pretty sure that Vivian was still hiding a lot. He didn’t believe that she only had a single top-notch concealment skill, but he also wasn’t sure about her fighting capability. I’ve gotta talk to her about this. I hate it when–

A claw attack slashed toward his face, much faster than before. He used [Overcharge] and threw himself backward while cutting the creature’s hand with his dagger, but the sharp claw still made a bone-deep injury on his chin. How is it so fucking fast? Looking up, he saw that a goblin shaman was using a different skill and boosting the stats of hobgoblins nearby. He swung his dagger and appeared behind it, cutting its head off instantly. Another [Blink] carried him next to the group and he went to aid Carl while yelling at others, ‘’Kill the shamans first! But don’t get delayed too much, we need to enter that tower as soon as possible!’’

The closest stone tower was less than a mile away, but new goblins were popping up everywhere in the city, keeping them busy. Everyone was focusing on the shamans, who were shorter and thinner compared to the hobgoblins. In the streets of the ancient Imperial City, with much struggle against the numbers of the enemy, the party made themselves a bloody path toward the courtyard of the black tower, and they realized that a big part of the goblins had started to back off. The closer they got to the courtyard, the more goblins retreated.

Ethan noticed that only a tenth of the original number was following, but more additions were coming from the tower they were heading to. The courtyard’s gates were closed, but the walls that surrounded were full of goblins, just like the tower itself. They are territorial. That’s why the others don’t want to enter enemy territory, and they don’t care if we cause damage to their enemy. Good. After taking this place over, maybe we can have some time to rest and plan ahead.

A fireball, big enough to engulf him completely, made its way toward Ethan, but he [Blink]ed at the last moment. Yet, the flames still licked the back of his hand and left a shallow wound. The bizarre thing was his cloak as it wasn’t damaged in the slightest. That was excellent news in this kind of environment, but he had no way to cover himself fully like Fraeya. In the end, the fire immunity of his cloak stayed as a nice touch but wasn’t a game changer.

Disregarding his aching hand, Ethan grasped his daggers tightly and resumed his dance among the cyan creatures. Since they didn’t know how many more enemies they had inside the tower, he did his best to save his mana. The [Void Wrap] was out of the question and while the [Shadow Spikes] was somewhat effective, hitting the agile hobgoblins through [Fabric Tear] was damn difficult.

However, he was still surprised by the smoothness of this fight. It looked like Liam and Fraeya didn’t have the chance to shine when they were battling against the sandworms. Perhaps it was because of the oversized creatures or the constant sonic attacks, but now, they were both dominating the small area they fought in and still finding time to help others. Liam was keeping the shamans busy while Fraeya was slicing the hobgoblins like vegetables. Though there was something eerie about her fights. Regardless of the body parts of the goblins flying around wherever she passed, there was no blood in sight. Every time she cut flesh, her blade was freezing the wound instantly, and while she was still killing the goblins, the corpses around her looked like broken toys.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

‘’Should we jump over the wall, Ethan?’’ Liam shouted.

Ethan [Blink]ed close to him and swung Devi with an [Overcharge], cutting another goblin in half. ‘’Yes. Send the others first and use the shades if necessary. I’ll be on the other side.’’ He [Blink]ed behind the walls and appeared inside the courtyard. To his surprise, there were only a dozen goblins, staying close to the stone tower’s door. Even after seeing him, they didn’t move.

‘’Well, if you insist,’’ he murmured before smirking. He made a stabbing motion with both of his daggers and opened two [Fabric Tear] at the same time, penetrating his daggers into two hobgoblin’s skulls.

The moment he pulled his daggers back, he was already in the middle of them. His [Mana Aura] flared as he slashed his daggers and cut the throats of another two. The remaining hobgoblins didn’t lose any time and jumped over him. Looking at the swift reception, Ethan knew their stats were boosted and the one responsible was the only shaman in the group who was escaping to the tower. With another [Fabric Tear], he pierced Devi into the shaman’s heart from the back and managed to kill it, but he still made a blunder in his timing.

A claw stabbed his shoulder and blocked his [Blink] while another scratched his back, giving him a long and gory wound. Gritting his teeth, he used [Overcharge] and jumped up, getting rid of the contact. Just when he was about to teleport, he noticed mana was gathering in the ground, below the goblins.

As the goblins jumped behind him, a giant [Skeletal Hand] rose beneath them and actually managed to grab three of them. Two of them were inside the palm and the other got stuck between the fingers. The tight grasp was enough to hold them for good but insufficient to kill.

Ethan sent his daggers to his ring and fetched two bone spears instead, throwing them to the last two creatures. One of them made a hole in the goblin's throat but the other missed the target. He [Blink]ed behind the last one and held its chin with his left hand before putting his right hand to the back of its head. In a split second, he snapped the creature’s neck, letting it drop to the ground.

Beet came near him on top of his shade as the others were jumping down from the wall.

Ethan gave him a thumbs up. ‘’Good job, bud. Go on, kill the rest.’’

Beet shook his head.

Ethan blinked his eyes before understanding. ‘’Oh? Since you can’t get the essence, do you want me to do it? How considerate of you.’’ Calling Devi back, Ethan moved to take the trapped goblin’s life, amused.

‘’What a kind gesture, indeed,’’ Fraeya said as she walked toward them, her ice armor dissolving slowly. ‘’I know a certain bastard who also can’t get any essence from his kills, but he never suggests such things.’’

Liam snorted behind her. ‘’Like you never killed my burning prey off.’’

Ethan killed the three goblins and the stolen essence closed the wound on his back. His health was close to full, but his mana was less than half. He had no idea about what was expecting them inside the tower, but he assumed that another mana potion would be sufficient.

‘’Why are they not coming down?’’ Vivian asked, looking up at the balconies of the black tower, which had quite a few goblins in them. ‘’Could it be a trap?’’

‘’I doubt it, but we should be careful anyway,’’ Ethan said. ‘’Is everyone okay so far? Since no one seems to be coming, maybe we can rest in the courtyard for a time.’’

Everyone turned to look at Carl who was in the worst condition. His chain mail was broken from different places and he was covered in blood, breathing roughly. ‘’No need. I’ve yet to drink any potions. Let’s clear this place and rest afterward.’’

The party entered the tower with leery steps. Inside these walls, [Mana Sense] was good as useless, but thankfully what they’d feared didn’t happen. The largest floor of the tower, the entrance, was empty.

Ethan heard some faint noises from the second floor and opened his [Void Mute] to cover the group. ‘’I’ll go [Blink] to the upper floor and cover them with [Void Mute]. Wait for a little as I distract them and join me swiftly.’’

Once the others nodded, he did as he said and teleported up, but only after covering himself with [Void Wrap]. On the second floor, he noticed 10 hobgoblins and 5 shamans, all in the position at the end of the stairs, waiting for the enemy.

Ethan sneaked behind two shamans and punctured his daggers at their heads before opening [Void Mute] to cover the room. The other goblins abruptly turned to him in disbelief as he grinned. ‘’What? You think you’ve won since you have the high ground?’’

The next second, all hell broke loose in the stone tower, but other than the second floor, it was quiet as a grave. Soon after, the others joined him in the carnage and they tore the goblins apart like a calamity. This goblin’s tactic was just making it too easy for them.

One by one, they climbed up the floors and cleared them with ferocity. The numbers of the enemy were varying, but it was still manageable. Some floors were completely empty while the most crowded one had 25 goblins in it. On short notice, they arrived at the top and gave their last battle against the leader of this tower.

It was a peak tier-5 goblin shaman and it had 20 buddies who were at the same tier. The battle was definitely harder than the rest, but they still killed them despite their heavy injuries. Because once Beet used [Isolate] on the leader, Ethan easily killed it with his [Void Wrap], and since Hayley and Vivian weren't in the room, the others were able to coordinate with each other much better.

‘’Fuck!’’ Carl cried as he dropped on his ass before lying on the floor. ‘’I’m too old for this shit.’’

‘’You’re only 25,’’ Hayley said as she joined the rest with Vivian.

‘’Exactly,’’ Carl grunted.

‘’I don’t understand. How could you use [Blink] without [Mana Sense]?’’ Fraeya asked as her armor dissolved, looking at Ethan with a frown.

‘’I have a different way to locate the space. [Mana Sense] helps for accuracy, but it isn’t necessary,’’ Ethan replied, looking at the leader’s corpse, especially toward its boots.

‘’Is that how you can [Blink] all the time?’’ Fraeya probed more. ‘’I had friends in the Union with the same skill. None of them were able to use it more than 10 times. Not even high tiers could use it as much as you.’’

This time Ethan turned to her, perplexed. ‘’10 times? Are you sure?’’

‘’Mm,’’ Liam confirmed with a nod. ‘’Many rich people use that skill, but it is always a trump card. You’re definitely the weird one.’’

Ethan cocked an eyebrow. What the hell? Are we using different skills or… Oh, shit. I’ve advanced the skill by combining it with the Void Manual, but if others want more range, they have to sacrifice more mana. So, their [Blink] requires 200 mana per use? More? That’s–

‘’Um, guys?’’ Vivian sounded. She was smiling from ear to ear as she held a red necklace in her hand, kneeling next to the shaman leader’s corpse. ‘’I think we have a clue about Anpu’s artifacts. This thing is actually giving life essence to its user.

Ethan burst out laughing. ‘’To think it lasted for 100 thousand years! Now that’s quality!’’ he commented as he gaily made his way to the leader’s boots, already dismissing his thoughts about the ridiculous advantage he had with [Blink].