Chapter 34: Shadow Partners

"Kew Kewew Kewew!"

The sadistic and cruel laughter generated from the goblin's vocal cord sent a chill down Venn's spine. For the first time ever after he was given a second chance to save Rena, he was trembling with fear.

The fear he was feeling was not caused by the goblin or its terrifying presence, but rather, what was at stakes if he loses.

The stakes of the upcoming fight with the goblin was so huge that it weighed heavily on his mind.

By selling the monster core in his possession, every problem he was currently facing could be solved in the blink of an eye. 

If only he could safely log out… but that was out of the question as it requires Venn to remain motionless for a minute during the countdown to log out from the game.

Clenching his teeth, Venn had made his last stand. 

Right now, he just wanted to wipe the smug glee from the goblin's hideous face.

Even though the mission to liberate the Oni clan was supposed to be handled by three level twenty plus NPCs according to Lilith, he was determined to complete the mission singlehandedly, or at least die trying.

Pointing to his chest as he faced the goblin at close proximity, he declared proudly, "I'm not fucking dying! You are!"

And with no way of avoiding the fight, Venn crushed the monster orb in his palm with grit and threw it into the air as the starting signal of his attack. 

In the instant that he did so, multiple dark rays emitted from the crushed orb in mid-air, temporarily blinding everyone in the room except for Venn who was prepared.

And with the sweet sound of system notification in his ears, Venn swiftly closed the distance between him and the goblin.

[Ding]

[Shadow Partners Learned. (Dark Elemental) (Level 1 Mastery)]

[Conjure and control shadows up to a maximum of three shadows from your position. Each shadow has 10% of the user's stats and the percentage can be increased by 10% more per skill mastery level. Shadow can last for a maximum of one minute and has 300 health points. Reactivate the skill to teleport to one of your shadow's locations.]

[You can only conjure a maximum of one shadow.]

[Cost: 5 stamina points per activation. 300 health points per shadow conjured.]

"Only one shadow?" Venn was displeased by the skill description of the monster core, but he did not stop himself from charging straight into the goblin. Like a bow that had its string drawn, there was no time for him to adjust his plan.

Taking the great window of opportunity where the goblin was temporarily blinded, he clenched the murasame sword in his hand and swung its blade at the goblin's neck swiftly.

However, as if it had sensed Venn's presence nearby, the goblin scout swung its sword wildly in front of him as a precaution.

Facing the irregular attack pattern of the goblin scout, Venn did not pause his attack for even a millisecond. As if he knew that the goblin would panic when its eyes couldn't see, Venn activated the skill that he learned recently just a second ago.

"Shadow Partner!"

Immediately, Venn's health bar decreased by a little more than half, down to a dangerous level where he would be instantly killed with just one hit from the altered goblin scout. And in such a dangerous state, Venn's consciousness was split into two.

An identical figure whose appearance was exactly the same as Venn emerged from within his shadow, and appeared behind the goblin after travelling some distance along the ground surface. 

By launching his skill, he had teleported a small distance by leaving behind a black silhouette in his original position.

With a clear straight line to the goblin's vulnerable neck, Venn rapidly slashes at its vital spot as quickly as he could. And with each strike, the goblin in question shirked in agony.

[Ding]

[Sword Mastery Learned. (Level 1 Mastery) Equipping a sword increases damage by 7.5%.]

[Tri-slash Learned. (Level 1 Mastery)] Slashing the target thrice in quick succession will deal 80%, 90% and 100% damage to the target.]

[Bleeding inflicted on target.]

"Yes! " As soon as Venn saw that the goblin was bleeding, his mood was uplifted. By slashing at the vital spots of the monsters in the game, various status effects could be inflicted on the target, and that was what he had placed his bet on!

Although the bleeding effect was weak to the point where the afflicted target would only drop 1% of its health every twenty seconds, there was another status property that bleeding would incur on the monsters as well.

By rapidly striking at vital points, bleeding could be stacked up to a maximum of five times!

Against an opponent that had more than 20 levels of difference, that was the only way he knew he could win against it.

Furthermore, to achieve his goal in doing so, he had handpicked the final battle ground to be in the cramped tent they were currently in, rather than the open ground. His shorter sword would be easier to manoeuvre around the small space in the tent compared to the long sword that the goblin was wielding, thereby erasing the range advantage the goblin had. 

Without giving any time for the goblin scout to recover its eyesight, Venn immediately swung down his blade again. However this time, despite landing multiple blows successfully, no bleeding effect occurred because of the RNG factor acting in the game.

Although he was disheartened, he kept going on by shuffling his feet to constantly remain outside the goblin's line of sight as it kept frantically searching for Venn's figure after it recovered his sight.

"Sixteen minutes and thirty seconds." 

"Eleven minutes."

"I can do it!"

Venn counted silently in his mind as he squirmed and wiggled around all over the place like an annoying rat, avoiding the wild thrashing of the goblin's sword as the furniture and objects in the tent got smashed around.

Before long, the estimated time to take down the goblin had shortened rapidly and he could see a gradually achievable dream until his sight toppled a three hundred and sixty degree and his face landed flat onto the dirty ground.

Venn's leg was swept by an unexpected leg sweep by the goblin. And before he could recover, a huge sword was plunged into his abdomen with its tip appearing on the other side of Venn's body.

"Fuck…This is why I hate fighting against humanoid monsters..."

As Venn's figure dissipated into black smokes, all his hopes and dreams had disappeared along with him as well.

Venn had died.