Chapter 122: The Tenacious Goblin (Part 3)

"All step aside, I'm coming." The enemy were all wolf riders; the cavalry's warhorses lost all morale when they met the Qingwolf Beast, and many men fighting them had their horses slain by the Qingwolf Beast. Seeing the situation turn badly for her side and the army on the brink of annihilation, the Young Marshal realized the only way out was to capture their commander. She let out a loud shout, spurred her mount to leap over the heads of two guards, and swung her Dual Knives to clash with the Goblin Chieftain.

After roughly thirty rounds of combat, the Young Marshal could only parry and had little strength to counterattack. Seeing the bad turn, several guards stepped in to block the troops behind, while the others pressed forward, joining the Young Marshal; six of them combined to assault the Goblin Chieftain.

The Young Marshal's twelve guards were all warriors of green-quality aptitude, and all their weapons had been polished with green Magic Crystals. The Young Marshal's Dual Knives were further reinforced with blue Magic Crystals, so that even Li Bucai's Spear snapped after she struck it a few times with a skill. At that moment, six of them jointly pressed the Goblin Chieftain; after more than a dozen rounds, the Chieftain could barely keep all their weapons at bay, increasingly unable to parry, yet he did not summon his subordinates for aid. He simply ignored the five guards' weapons, using his ancient holy armor to hard block, only defending against the Young Marshal's weapons, because he dreaded weapons reinforced with blue Magic Crystals.

Under the combined assault of the guards, the Goblin Chieftain could ignore them, yet they frequently managed to deflect attacks aimed at the Young Marshal, leaving both sides locked in a hard-to-break stalemate.

Seeing the guards unable to affect it while it only dodged her own attacks, the Young Marshal recalled that people from Sky City knew only a little about the ancient holy armor and not its full workings, and she believed her weapons could pierce its plating. With that in mind, she feigned a slash and stepped back a few paces; the Goblin Chieftain gave chase. Seizing the chance, the Young Marshal gambled everything and unleashed a full-force "Snowflake Dance", launching herself in a flying attack.

The Goblin Chieftain kept charging forward, never expecting her to turn and strike back. By the time he saw her, it was too late to dodge; a crisp crack rang, and countless knife shadows slammed onto his helmet, sending up a burst of sparks. After the Young Marshal's move, she had assumed the strike would land squarely on his head and shatter it, but when the sparks settled, she was startled to find the Goblin Chieftain completely unharmed.

It turned out that, although the ancient holy armor feared blue weapons of similar tier, the Young Marshal's Dual Knives were only a 10th‑level weapon, shaving merely 10 points off the helmet's 100 durability—far from breaking it; and the green‑clad guard's weapon, in this frantic hacking, didn't even expend five durability points.

While she was dazed, the Goblin Chieftain lifted his dual axes and swung a head‑on chop toward her crown. The Young Marshal hurriedly raised her Dual Knives overhead to meet the axe. She was wielding Gale Mantra, far weaker than the Chieftain. A crisp crack rang as the first axe landed on the knives, numbing her arms; then another crisp crack, "clang!", and the Young Marshal could not hold the knife handle, which was knocked to the ground. After the two axes, the Chieftain immediately raised the first axe he had set aside and kept hacking toward her head...

The Young Marshal had no weapon in hand, and the Goblin Chieftain's three axe swings were extremely fluid. Once the weapons struck the ground, there was no room to evade, and she watched the deep‑green ancient holy axe slash down toward her crown...

At that instant, a wedge‑shaped gust of air rushed past the Young Marshal at high speed. When the Goblin Chieftain's axe was only half an inch from her crown, the gust slammed into him, and with a "thud" a Scepter struck his ribcage. The powerful impact flung him off the wolf's back, sending him more than ten steps away; he landed, then slid back a few meters before the backward momentum stopped.

"Is it injured?" Li Bucai turned his head and asked the Young Marshal.

The Young Marshal was still reeling, having assumed Li Bucai had already withdrawn back into the Key Pass; fortunately he arrived in time, or she would have become a ghost beneath the Goblin's blade. Naturally bold, the Young Marshal steadied herself within moments despite the shock, shook her head, hurriedly picked up her Dual Knives, and still intended to charge forward for revenge, saying, "If we all work together to hold that Goblin, none of us will be able to get away."

Li Bucai held his Scepter horizontally, shielding her, and said, "Give it to me; you lead them out of the encirclement. Yue Ji is waiting on the outer perimeter to support you; after breaking out, retreat quickly."

After speaking, he spurred his mount forward, driving toward the Goblin Chieftain.

At that moment, the Goblin Chieftain was hit in the ribcage by Li Bucai's full‑force "Wind‑Assault Stab". He had just risen, half‑kneeling on the ground with one hand clutching his ribs, when the Primeval Holy Light sigil on the back of his cloak began to glow steadily. That sigil could increase a penetrator's vitality by fifty percent, providing a healing effect. After a short while, the pain in his ribs eased, he seized two short axes, straightened up, glared at Li Bucai, let out a fierce roar, and immediately charged at him.

At that moment, the Head Wolf beneath Li Bucai's hips glared at the Goblin Chieftain's mount, fighting solo. Li Bucai didn't wish to exploit a Goblin, and seeing the Head Wolf eager to punish the Qingwolf Beast, he gave it the chance, leapt from the wolf's back, and landed before the Goblin Chieftain, who had already launched a "Sky‑Slash" at his waist. While still airborne, Li Bucai executed a Qinglong Tail Sweep, and with a "thud" the ancient holy axe struck the Scepter. Both of them stepped back a few paces; the Goblin Chieftain retreated three steps, while Li Bucai fell back five steps before halting. Its strength surpassed Li Bucai's by ten percent.

The Goblin Chieftain halted his retreat a step earlier, unable to resist letting out a creepy, eerie laugh.

At that moment, Li Bucai felt a faint numbness in the web of his thumb, and his heart sank: its strength, block rate, defense, and evasion all outmatched his, and without a suitable weapon he could not kill it. Victory was impossible; the only recourse now was to find a way to stall it and buy the others time to break through.

Even a single person, no matter how powerful, has limits; as long as one can keep it from harming oneself, after dozens of rounds its strength will be greatly depleted. Though the Goblin Chieftain far outmatches him in many attributes, Li Bucai resolved to employ a boxing‑ring technique to wear down its power, seeking an opening and adopting a strategy of waiting for the opponent to tire...