Chapter 81 - Fear

Hobgoblin, it was known as an evolved creature from the goblin race. Its height was comparable to an a.d.u.l.t human male, with a sturdy and balanced body, it is way stronger than the variant or Elite Goblin. In some lore, it was known to be a sentient being, unlike most where it was just another evolved monster. Sheila wonders if the hobgoblin in front of her is in any of the two cases. Because of the sixth sense that alarmed her for the danger of being noticed if she went way too close, Sheila just watches over the Hobgoblin from a distance while hiding within the shadow. 

Sheila would have thought that the Hobgoblin at the front was the boss if not for the fact that she could still feel the powerful aura in the center of the Forest. Although the evolved green creature in front of her gives off yet a sense of danger, she could tell it is not comparable to the boss of this floor; she definitely has the strength to handle it. Since the hobgoblin was in the wide-open space where there is no tree close to it, Sheila decides to use Fire Magic as an attack.

Without any long chanting that would take a lot of time whatsoever, Sheila conjures the spell easily by will it in her mind. She put her hand to the front as the atmosphere around her starts to get hotter while the spell took place. Although she didn't need to chant, just conjuring such a spell would take her a while before it could be fired out. Eventually, the hobgoblin starts to feel the change in its surrounding and look warily around it as the atmosphere steadily becomes hotter. 

But obviously, it couldn't see Sheila as she was still within the shadow of a tree. It wasn't long before a small ball of flame materialises right in front of her as her figure also followed right behind, the hobgoblin noticed the sudden intruder appearing near a tree not so far away from it. Obviously, it won't let her do as she pleased as it immediately sprints toward her with its frightening speed incomparable to that of Goblin King. 

Sheila could see the figure of the hobgoblin sprinting toward her, but she has no fear on her face at all as she focused on the spell. When the hobgoblin has gotten approximately close to Sheila, it suddenly comes to a halt. Sheila grinned in response before opening her mouth to speak. 

"You think I wasn't prepared, did you? Sorry, but I have already decided to bind you with my shadow skill from the very beginning so that you could become a sitting duck for my spell! Inferno!"

When her words approaching the end, the spell was ready to be fire and without waiting further, Sheila blast the hobgoblin to dust with the maximum power of Inferno. The hobgoblin tried to resist the binding with its strength from her shadow skill, but it didn't have much time to evade as the blast of Inferno finally reached it when it has broken through. Since she didn't hear the notification of slaying the hobgoblin, Sheila believes that it still survived from such attacks. 

"GROOOAAAARRR!"

And as she had expected, the hobgoblin roared before waving its robust arm to spread the smoke away, and the burned figure of the hobgoblin appeared. Although some part of its body has been burned black by her spell, it seems that it still has enough vitality to continue the fight which she could see from its eyes that has changed to crimson red. It was apparent that the hobgoblin has now entered a frenzied state. Sheila immediately equips the sword in hands as the hobgoblin dash toward her with speed a little bit lower than before due to injuries it received from her spell. 

When the hobgoblin was right in front of her, it immediately sent a powerful punch to her, but Sheila evades it by stepping to the side and swing her sword horizontal to its stomach. 

"Roar!"

The sword clashes against the hobgoblin's arm that was used to protect its stomach on the last second, but due to how strong it is, the sword only left a deep cut before Sheila agilely jumped back to dodge another incoming punch. 

"it's annoyingly persistent, huh? I guess this is where I should try the technique I have just learned."

Sheila said before gripping both of her hand onto the sword hard, and make a stand with the sword before sprinting fast toward the hobgoblin. Although it didn't expect for the female human to rush toward it, it angrily sent two powerful strikes which Sheila dodge it by hair breath before gritting her teeth and shouted. 

"Sword Technique — Tornado Sweep!"

The moment she said it, Sheila could feel the wind slowly gathered before revolving around the sword. Noticing the strange wind surrounding the female human, the hobgoblin tried sending more strike in the hope of stopping whatever that the female human plotted on doing. But before it could do so, it was bound again by her shadow skill. Because of how close they are, Sheila didn't need to worry about the hobgoblin breaking out of the binding and slash horizontally with her sword. 

Her eyes went wide at the scene in front of her, a wind of tornado sweeps the hobgoblin upward, and if she looked closer, she could see cutting wound starts appearing around its body as it trashes around in anger. But it couldn't do anything to relieve from its irritation and watch as its body getting wounded all over and when the tornado finally diminished, to its unhappiness, it could see another familiar blast of Inferno flew toward it and exploded. 

While the hobgoblin was trashing around in the tornado, Sheila pulled out a mana potion from the inventory before drinking it to replenish the low amount of mana in her body. After feeling the mana inside of her being filled to the brim, Sheila immediately conjured the second Inferno and sent it toward the hobgoblin right after the tornado disappeared. 

『 You have killed the Hobgoblin Lv. 20! 』

Finally, the announcement that she had been waiting is here. Surprisingly, the hobgoblin is actually level 20, no wonder it could defend once against the Inferno. 

Thump!

"GROOOOAAAARRR!"

Suddenly, she heard a loud and overbearing roar with heavy footsteps sprinting toward where she is. Just from the roar alone already brought chills all over her body, there's no way she would stand here waiting for it like an idiot. Without wasting any more time, Sheila jumped into the shadow before distance herself from the place where she fought with the hobgoblin. In about five minutes, suddenly a huge figure broke out of the forest and crashed onto the wide-open space while leaving a deep spider-like crater on the ground. Just by that alone showed how strong this monster really is!

When the dust settled around it, she could finally see the monster but not before gulping a mouthful of saliva down her throat as she broke into a cold sweat. This monster...is definitely way beyond what she had expected. The frightening aura around it already almost suffocated her, thankfully, she had hidden herself within the shadow. But to her surprise and fear, the monster's crimson eyes somehow manage to find her even with it. 

Before the situation could get even worse, Sheila immediately thought of exiting the Trial Tower in her mind, and her vision went dark. But the last thing she saw caused her nearly pissed in her pants on the spot, the damn Ogre was right in front of her and was halfway of striking her with its mighty first. When her vision return to normal, she was already in her bedroom.

"That was...really scary. If I were a little bit later, I would have died there."

Just thinking about it caused her to sweats even more. She didn't expect for the boss of the Fifth Floor to be an Ogre, especially the speed; it was so darn fast! She looked up in the mirror and saw the pale complexion of herself in the reflection. Even now, Sheila could hear her heart beating so loud without putting her hands on her c.h.e.s.t. 

"I am still weak, huh?"

A wry smile appears on her pale complexion after saying that. She had thought her strength had progressed very well, but guess not. She never becomes conceited from her strength; that's because she knew that there is still someone out there that is stronger than her, after all. Sheila couldn't help but sadden from the thoughts of all the effort she had wasted on getting stronger. I guess I need to put even more effort into this.