Chapter 28: Battle Against Elite Goblin

Originally, the ordinary goblin soldiers couldn't match William and David's speed; at this moment they were repeatedly blocked by three collapsing buildings, and William and David easily threw them far behind. By the time the goblins ahead crossed the last wall of fire, there was no trace of the attacking humans.

The helpless goblin soldiers, while continuing to chase in the direction the two humans fled, also sent someone back to report to the chief.

After learning that his subordinates had failed to catch the humans and had let them escape successfully to the southeast of the village, the Goblin Chief exchanged a glance with the subordinate who had previously made the supposition, thought 'as expected,' smiled, did not blame the messenger, and ordered the army to continue pursuing southeast.

He had made up his mind; he would make the humans, who had suffered heavy losses, pay the price.

After putting some distance between themselves and the village, William and David saw that they had shaken off the pursuing goblin soldiers, and a surge of relief at having survived welled up in them. Nevertheless, they did not let their guard down, continuing to run at full speed toward Mobius Town, knowing that only when they met up with the reinforcements would they truly be safe.

Just as they reached the intersection of the main road, several arrows shot out from the woods on either side not far ahead. Seeing this, David and William hurriedly rolled to the sides to dodge; the arrows struck the ground where they had been. After dodging, they quickly got up, drew their swords, using the trees along the road for cover while advancing to attack the archers who had shot at them.

The Elite Goblins ambushing in the forest, seeing their sneak attack fail, also drew their swords and came out. When David and William saw that their ambushers were actually Elite Goblins, numbering over a dozen, they immediately halted.

David stared sternly at the dozen or so goblins opposite and whispered to his son beside him, 'William, you go first.'

'Hmm.' William nodded and replied softly.

An Elite Goblin's strength is comparable to that of a bronze‑rank adventurer; William realized that staying would only hinder his father's retreat, so he immediately sprinted toward the woods to the side.

Seeing the human child among the two flee, the lead Elite Goblin also knew that their main opponent was the human male left behind, and signaled to his subordinates with a side‑to‑side gesture, saying, 'Huhuhla.'

Immediately, two wounded Elite Goblins who had survived the explosion in the wheat field pursued William's fleeing direction. Seeing this, David hastily swung his sword to move forward and block them, while the other dozen or so Elite Goblins also rushed up. Several goblins stepped forward, swinging their swords to block David's path, while the remaining few attacked from a short distance behind with bows and slings.

David, while fending off the Elite Goblins' close‑quarters attacks, also had to dodge incoming arrows and stones. Under the coordinated assault of over a dozen Elite Goblins, his steps were trapped and he could not break free for a moment. Gritting his teeth, he silently prayed, 'Damn, all I can hope for now is that William escapes from those two Elite Goblins.'

After running only a short distance, William sensed the two Elite Goblins giving chase behind him and felt uneasy. In his previous life, at the peak of his strength he could at most handle two or three Elite Goblins; in this life, although his magical talent is two grades higher than before and he has mastered more martial arts and magic, his body is still under eleven years old, so his physical strength falls far short of what he achieved after training as an adult in his former life.

Although each of the two Elite Goblins bore some wounds, they quickly caught up to William, who was fleeing at full speed. The rear Elite Goblin swung its blade at William's head, and William immediately ducked to avoid the incoming long blade.

William rolled forward, rose to his feet, and instantly drew his sword, vigilantly defending against the two Elite Goblins,

The two Elite Goblins attacked William simultaneously; their blade speed was extremely fast for William now. He barely managed to sidestep one Elite Goblin's downward slash, when another's horizontal slash followed immediately.

William had no time to dodge; he raised his sword horizontally in front of him with a clang, and the Elite Goblin's strike landed solidly on his longsword, the force knocking William flying backward.

Although the two Elite Goblins had suffered heavily from wounding these humans earlier, even now, upon seeing that William was merely a human child, they did not let their guard down. After William was blown back by a blow, they immediately pressed the attack. William, ignoring the pain in the tiger's mouth of his right hand gripping the sword, instantly extended his left hand and cast the Fireball spell at one Elite Goblin.

The instant a fireball coalesced in William's left palm, it shot out toward the Elite Goblin he aimed at. The fireball flew swiftly; seeing it, the Elite Goblin had no time to dodge, raised its blade in front of itself, and bluntly blocked the impact.

After casting the Fireball spell, William showed no hesitation, immediately invoking other magic and martial arts: 'Enhance, Energy Focus.'

With his attributes boosted, at that moment another Elite Goblin had already closed in on William. The Elite Goblin swung its blade to chop; William directly used the Sword Strike martial art to block, the sword's aura amplified by the enhancement, yet William could barely parry the opponent's relentless rapid slashes.

At that moment, the Elite Goblin hit by the fireball had also gotten up from the ground. Although it had taken William's fireball squarely, the long blade blocked it, so it only suffered a minor injury. It then surged forward, reaching William's rear and slashing horizontally at William, who was caught between his allies.

William was already exerting all his strength just to parry the attacks of the Elite Goblin in front of him; seeing another Elite Goblin also coming at him, he dared not meet it head‑on, hastily dodging to the rear‑side. The Elite Goblin that had been attacking William head‑on, noticing an opening, slashed his arm, blood spurting out and staining the yellow‑green leaves littering the forest floor red.

William winced as he looked at his right arm; the wound was deep, and he could faintly see white bone within. He immediately cast Minor Recovery to heal the injury. Once his arm regained feeling, he dared not lose focus to continue using Minor Heal to stop the bleeding; after only a Minor Heal, he raised his longsword again, warily watching the two Elite Goblins opposite.

Seeing that they had the human child under control, the two Elite Goblins finally relaxed, immediately revealing a strange smile as they looked at William.

'Damn, Dad definitely can't free himself to help me right now—I need to think of a way!'

William's mind raced; the first thing that came to him was the residual power of Demon King Kusara within him—using that Demon King's magic might let him escape these two Elite Goblins, but William felt some aversion to the idea.

In his previous life, he and his wife had indeed been killed by Demon King Kusara, who had also slaughtered the entire populace of Bigen Village; William did not deny that his rebirth might be linked to Demon King Kusara, and he had twice been saved by that demon's power. Even though he was not the saintly savior people spoke of on Earth before his transmigration, the more he was rescued by his enemy, the more he resisted using that enemy's power, for it would only intensify his hatred of his own weakness.

'What other options are there? Think fast, all my abilities... do I have to rely on my cheat ability? But my cheat ability is the skill Appraisal, which has no offensive power at all... what should I do?'

Upon thinking of his cheat ability, William's eyes lit up instantly.

'Right, how did I forget I have the Devour skill I acquired? But what can I devour now? The two goblins? No, if I could subdue them, I'd still have to figure out how to devour them.'

William's mind raced while he glanced around with his peripheral vision, looking for anything he could use or devour, but found nothing.

As the two Elite Goblins drew nearer, William gritted his teeth, despair creeping in, and he muttered unwillingly, 'Could it be that I really have no choice but to use Demon King Kusara's power?'

'That's it! The Demon King Kusara's power left inside me!'

With that thought, William activated the Devour skill and began to devour the Demon King Kusara's power lingering within him.

The difference between skills and magic or martial arts is that magic and martial arts require mana to cast, whereas a skill can be used as long as certain conditions are met; this is why William feels that the world he has transmigrated to lies somewhere between a game and reality.

When the vast demonic power left by Demon King Kusara inside William sensed an external threat, it surged violently. Admittedly, the total amount of William's own mana is negligible compared to that colossal demonic power, yet that tiny fraction, bolstered by the Devour skill, actually rendered the demonic power unable to resist, continuously being devoured and refined by William, simultaneously enhancing his magical aptitude and raising his strength cultivation.

Instantly, a tremendous dangerous aura erupted from within William's body. The two Elite Goblins about to approach him sensed the terrifying aura emanating from the human child's body; although they did not understand what he had done, they realized the situation was dire, and, unwilling to continue underestimating him, they immediately brandished their blades and slashed at William.

Swish—swish!

Several blades of light flashed past, passing through William's former position; the two Elite Goblins came to their senses and realized that the human child who had been standing there had vanished, and they had both struck nothing but air.