Chapter 159: Next Level

The stone door creaked open once more and, this time, the silhouette covering the light was much larger.

Information regarding their upcoming enemies appeared in Emery and his friends' vision.

[Level Two - Hobgoblin]

[Battle power : 30]

[A bigger and thicker skinned goblin, three times the size and two times stronger than an ordinary one. The improved version of a failed creation.]

Even from a distance, everyone could see the next creature they were about to face was reminiscent of the goblin. Only this time, the hobgoblins were much larger: about three times the size of the small goblins they had fought against in the first round.

As the hobgoblins neared, the trembling of the stone bridge underneath Emery and his friends' feet grew more evident. The moment the hobgoblins were within striking distance, Klea once again preemptively struck and cast her [Wind Sphere], causing about two hobgoblins to fall to their deaths in the seemingly endless pit of darkness on which the foundation bridge took root from.

This caused a reaction in the hobgoblins, as those in the front hurried their steps. Once they were in front of the mudwalls Julian had summoned, the first hobgoblin raised its huge club and bashed it into thousands of pieces!

Julian cast his spell [Mudwall] only for it to be broken on the second time. This told them their tactic of funneling these hobgoblins into a more manageable wave would not work.

Fortunately, the ugly creatures were still a good 200-meters away from the orb. Their numbers were lesser than the goblins of the first round. Moreover, the 8-meter wide stone bridge only allowed half a dozen hobgoblins to attack in a row.

As the hobgoblins reached the 150-meter mark, a dark arrow whistled through the air and pierced through one of the eye sockets of the most forward hobgoblin, felling it dead before vanishing into particles of light. A second cut past overhead Emery and hit another hobgoblin!

[Harrowing Longbow - Tier 3]

[Length 1.3 meter, weight 4.2 kilogram]

[Special skill - Dark missile]

Chumo's long range tier three bow was really great. Not only because it was powerful, but because Chumo didn't have to stock arrows for it to be fired, which meant, as long as Chumo had enough spirit energy, it would never run out. This was, however, its drawback too: if the user didn't manage the consumption of his spirit energy well, it would spell trouble for them.

"Don't worry they are not that difficult!" shouted Julian, who had ran and attacked the hobgoblin behind the second one Chumo had eliminated, while removing his crystalline silver sword from the heart of a hobgoblin. "Save your energy, Chumo, Klea."

Emery had also rushed forward alongside Thrax and Julian, facing the fourth hobgoblin, he raised his tier two sword, managing to block the creature's strike with his sword in an x-guard. True to hobgoblins' being thrice the overall strength of goblins, the hobgoblins' large maces threw him back a couple of steps. This time, he could feel their swings did have some weight in them.

After experiencing his first stagger against these creatures, Emery knew he couldn't keep blocking them. Parrying was an option, however, it wouldn't be sufficient against a larger creature that was at least three heads taller than him.

Emery then noticed that although these hobgoblins had twice the battle power of that of a goblin, its physical prowess was at least three times of it while its speed was lesser. He figured that the increase in battle power didn't necessarily reflect these creatures having an overall increase on all aspects of their fighting capability, so he decided to use his speed to fight these monsters instead.

And like what he had expected, its agility was lacking compared to him and his friends. Emery easily dodged a hobgoblin's large mace and managed to finally score a kill by piercing its chest with his black sword.

This path of attacking and dodging was also being used by Julian. Thrax, instead, seemed to welcome the blows through his bronze shield.

Therefore, as long as they managed to continually get out of harm's way, these hobgoblins were lesser of a threat than the goblins earlier.

As more time passed, countless hobgoblins fell to the swords of Emery, Julian and Thrax. This second level couldn't be said to be harder than the first one. On the first round, what had given trouble were the sheer number of the goblins flooding out of the stone gate into the funnel. Although the goblins were weaker, having to face multiple enemies, about five at a time, had been a challenge for the three youths on the front line, it was way more taxing than facing two hobgoblins at a time. Even if these hobgoblins were three times stronger than the goblins.

"Hahaha! This is even easier than the first level!" roared Thrax skewering two hobgoblins, deeply immense with his own fight.

Another hour had passed and they were getting a bit tired, nevertheless, the three youths, along with the occasional support from Klea and Chumo, dominated the battle.

In one of Emery's encounters, he had tried using his tier two sword as his main weapon since he had decided on dodging instead of parrying and blocking. That hadn't been a good idea though since his tier two sword had barely cut the hobgoblin's thicker skin.

He realized that, if they had fought in the Magus Games using tier one or two weapons, surely they would have had a really hard time fighting this second level. He wondered what would be of them on the third level? Luckily, due to a stroke of luck with that girl's master, they had managed to get sufficient spirit stones and upgrade their weapon, else this battle would not have been so easy.

After the last of the hobgoblins fell from Thrax's spear. Thrax let out a battle cry, while lifting his spear and shield high in the air. A second later, new information entered their sight.

[Level 3 will start in 5 minutes]

Emery and his friends took out some drinks to refresh themselves. They all gave each other a satisfactory smile for they were able to finish the hundred hobgoblins five minutes earlier than the announcement of the third level.

"Look, I can tell we will win this game," said Thrax after pouring water all over him. He raised his weapon and shield getting ready to fight.

The five minute had elapsed and the stone gate threw itself open once more. This time, from the shadow of the gate, a rhythmic drumming resounded, which reverberated into their bones.

Information about the level three enemies filled their sights.

[Level Three - Orcs]

[Battle power : 50]

[These creatures make up the bulk of the elves' armies. After the failed creations of goblins and hobgoblin, the elves managed to create this third tier of creatures: Orcs. They are grunts raised to become the tools of war. The ultimate race, bloodlust for battle.]

The figure of creatures with beefy arms, torsos, thighs and large yellowish teeth exited the stone gate. Its height was about the same as the hobgoblins, however, their crimson-red eyes radiated an immense thirst for battle as they orcs walked in sync with each other in a simple row.

At that moment, a distant memory resurfaced in Emery's mind. He had fought with these orcs before in Elder's Respite, so he knew what capabilities these orcs had. Of course, he had become much stronger from that time. But a sense of caution still filled him up.

"This doesn't look good," said Julian with a frown on his face. "Barbarian! Get back here now."

"Bah, you're such a worrywart, roman. I'm sure it won't be that much different. Watch as I impale these orcs to the ground." Immediately after the last words exited Thrax's mouth, he dashed and used the momentum of his charge to deliver a deadly thrust into the orc's chest!

Blood splashed across Thrax's face, making the orc roar! However, these were orcs, not goblins or hobgoblins. In Thrax's earlier exploits, this would have been the moment where the enemy would dissipate into flufs of lights, however, that didn't happen this time. Instead, the orc let out another maddened roar as it grabbed the body of the spear whilst a nearby orc jumped at Thrax swinging its huge cleaver sideways!

Thrax tried to pull out the spear but it wouldn't budge. And in that split second, Thrax failed to lift his shield as his body received the full force of the second orc's cleaver! He got thrown back to where Emery and Julian were standing. Emery felt the need to buy some time so immediately cast [Mudwall] just to hold the orc until Thrax could get back his bearings.

"Excellent choice of spell, Emery," said Julian. He then shook his head at the Thrax who had a reddened face. "Did you enjoy playing with your new toy, barbarian?" Julian mocked.

"Dammit! W-what are they!" bellowed Thrax while using his spear, which had been pulled out due to the force of the orc's swing. His uniform now had a rip on it. Underneath it was a dark, metallic clothing which seemed to have glowed for a moment. He then checked the status of his tier two protective armor .

[Protective Vest - Tier 2]

[Light Armor]

[Weight : 3 kilograms]

[Protective Energy 69/100]

With just one swing from the creature called orc, Thrax had lost a third of its protective energy.

"Huh! Damn green creature!" retorted Thrax.

Just as expected with only one hit, the mudwall created was easily destroyed. When the orc finally was only a few steps away from the front line, Thrax screamed and his body glowed with an aura.

"[Battle Art Skill!]"