Chapter 362: Star Fall

"Tsk!"

Shadow just clicked his tongue, a little annoyed at the Hobgoblin for thinking of him as an easy prey.

Shua!

He put his sword away and replaced it with his usual dagger.

Shadow glanced behind the Hobgoblin and saw that the battle was almost finished, and so he quickly placed his attention back to the Hobgoblin in front of him, and charged forward!

Swoosh!

The Hobgoblin just smiled and placed his sword before him as he waited for Shadow to get within his striking range while watching his movements.

'Sh*t, he's one of those intelligent monsters'

Shadow had that thought when he saw the monster's actions, and he quickly came up with another plan.

"Huh?"

The Hobgoblin uttered a confused cry when the human charging towards him suddenly disappeared from out of nowhere!

But in fact, Shadow didn't disappear, but instead, he performed a sliding tackle that footballers do in a football game!

The Hobgoblin heard something weird below him, and when he was about to look down.

It felt like time was in a slow motion, as when his eyes slowly moved down.

He saw a pair of feet slowly coming into his field of view, and when the Hobgoblin finally realized what was happening.

"H-heok!"

It was already too late for it to organize a defensive measure towards Shadow who had narrowly passed through the gap between the monster's legs and attacked a certain weak point for any men!

Slash!

Klang!

"K-kwraaaak! (It...huuuurts!)"

Followed by the tearing sound of a flesh being cut open and the sound of a sword falling onto the ground, was the pitiful and painful scream of the Hobgoblin as he held onto its bleeding private part!

[You have dealt a CRITICAL BLOW to the target!]

[You have dealt 373 damage to the target!]

[The target fell into an abnormal status for 5 seconds!]

"Ohhh~! That's nasty!"

After a quick comment about his nasty deed, Shadow quickly took advantage of the situation and relentlessly attacked the Hobgoblin that's lying on the ground while holding his bloodied crotch!

Shadow had quickly switched out his dagger for his broadsword and attacked the Hobgoblin relentlessly with his skills mixed with normal attacks in between.

"Press Impact!"

"Cleave!"

[You have dealt 103 damage to the target!]

[You have dealt 73 damage to the target!]

[You have dealt 129 damage to the target!]

…

..

[You have defeated the Hobgoblin, Nul.]

[4,300 experience has been acquired.]

When that happened, the Hobgoblin turned into a motes of grey lights before disappearing.

Shadow quickly picked up the items on the ground while gulping down a mana and health potion simultaneously.

Then Shadow [Charge] towards the already exhausted and heavily injured Hobgoblins who had just finished killing the two Kobolds after sustaining heavy injuries which could kill them any minute if they are left untreated!

"K-kwraaak! (H-human!?""

"Kwraaak! Krwak! (Nul! Nul is dead! R-run!)"

The Hobgoblins noticed that they're companion was already dead and turned around and made a run towards the opposite direction!

"Eh? W-what?"

Shadow was quite startled seeing their actions that he couldn't help but stop in his tracks.

"Bastards! Come back here!"

Quickly realizing that they are slowly getting away from him, Shadow immediately picked up his speed and chased after them!

But not before taking the items lying on the ground!

"Dammit!"

"Haste!"

Shadow couldn't help but cursing while activating a speed movement skill.

He was a bit frustrated because he wasn't expecting them to actually flee from him. After all, he had never really encountered any monsters that would flee from him until now.

In fact, there had never been an instance where monsters would actually flee from a fight especially when a player already engaged them as they entered their aggro range.

'Could it be because we're in Hobgoblin territory?'

Territory... is an occurrence that Shadow and his friends had discovered when they first arrived here. Its where a land considered as a territory by a monster or a group of monsters would be considered its entire aggro range.

It's like how a pride of lions works where the Alpha male would go around patrolling its territory and killing any threatening intruders.

And that same thing applies to monsters in this map, they would attack the moment they see anyone inside their territory no matter how far away that creature is from them.

This is how the tribe of Grey Orcs from before were able to chase Shadow and the others for long distances and only stopped when Shadow and his friends reached the outskirts of the Snowy Forest.

"You can't escape, or my efforts would be in vain!"

Shadow yelled while he activated his grappling hook and swung himself towards the direction of the fleeing Hobgoblins.

"Graah! Stay right there!"

Shadow yelled towards the Hobgoblins as he was sprung towards their direction using the rope as a swing!

"Kwraak! Kwraak! (Human, begone!)"

The Hobgoblin that's running behind the other one couldn't help but turn his head and yelled in anger and horror when it saw Shadow flying towards their direction.

"Kuhahahat! You're mine!"

Shadow couldn't help let out a crazy laugh when he saw how terrified the once arrogant Hobgoblin.

Shua!

Shadow skillfully spun in the air as his broadsword appeared in the middle and he executed a powerful downward slash!

"Die!!!"

Dang!

But the Hobgoblin, knowing that escape now is almost impossible, quickly stopped in his tracks and turned around as he brought his raggedy sword horizontally above him and blocked the incoming attack!

"Keok!"

But because of the attack's momentous force behind it, this normal attack from Shadow became more powerful as it forced the Hobgoblin to kneel on the ground on one knee with a groan.

[The target performed a block! Resisting 50% of the incoming damage!]

[You have dealt 125 damage to the target!]

[You have successfully created your own skill! Please name it!]

"Star Fall!"

[You have acquired skill "Star Fall"!]

[Star Fall

Perform a spin in mid air, creating a powerful momentum and striking your sword downwards towards the target.

Mana Cost: 200

Cooldown: 20 seconds

Proficiency: Level 1 (Basic) - 1%

Shadow just blurted whatever words he could think of at the moment as he doesn't have the luxury to think about it while the monster before him is still alive.

Shadow freed one of his hands and pointed his palm towards the Hobgoblin.

"Fireball!"

Boom!

The spell was casted almost in a point blank range, and it flew towards the Hobgoblin's head in a second, and struck it hard that the monster's head whipped backwards as he fell on his back.

[CRITICAL HIT!]

[You have dealt 223 damage to the target!]

[The target is suffering in a stunned state for 3 seconds!]

"Okay!"

Shadow smiled triumphantly before charging towards the monsters and started bullying it with attacks like its previous predecessor.

"Press Impact!"

"Seismic Slam!"

[..]

[You have defeated the Hobgoblin, Bar]

[4101 experience has been acquired.]

The Hobgoblin turned in motes of grey light and disappeared.

"Dammit!'

Shadow could only feel a little bit happy because the other Hobgoblin didn't even turn around to help its friend and just fled, already out of his sight.

So all in all, Shadow at least managed to kill 1 Kobold and 2 Hobgoblins, bringing his experience bar by another two percent.

After that, Shadow quickly beat a hasty escape from the scene, afraid that he might attract monsters more powerful than the Kobolds and Hobgoblins combined.