Chapter 187 The Shadows - Part 12

Chapter 187 The Shadows - Part 12

Beam's sword split it in two. He made sure to wreck the body as much as he could. He wasn't sure if that truly did anything to the process of monstification – if it prevented crystals from being used. But from how he'd seen the shadowy figures strive to keep the corpses intact, he thought that at the very least, it would serve as a hindrance.

Eight pairs of eyes drifted around at the goblin's warning. Even this close, Beam could not see any faces beneath the hoods of the shadows.

They turned to him, with less urgency than one might expect for people – or things – whose lives were certainly in danger. With an arm motion from one, the goblins, as a collective, gave a shriek. The hobgoblin bounced delightedly to the front of the enraged army, as though pleased to have been relieved of its task of dealing with the fire.

Beam met it with irritation in his eyes. No matter what happened, the sight of a hobgoblin still did not fail to stir his blood. He breathed in deeply, calling upon more of himself, as he prepared for battle.

With his sword lowered, he ran straight in. The hobgoblin charged to meet him, drawing back its fist. Its movements were flanked by four lesser goblins, two on each side, as they tried to catch Beam in a pincer attack.

Just before he got within striking range of the hobgoblin, Beam drew back, just in time for a massive green fist to go flying past his face. And then Beam pivoted to the side, attacking the lesser goblins instead. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The creatures attempted to halt their movements and change direction, but they were much too slow. The edge of Beam's sword found the first one's shoulder, before slicing straight through its spine.

For the second one, Beam was forced to lunge in and slice off a leg, before following up after it, and crushing its skull under his boot.

With speed in mind, he finished the rest of them off.

As he stood there, surrounded by corpses, he felt the weight of that speed. He hadn't been paying the attribute much mind lately, but now he noticed that he was, without a doubt, faster than before, and stronger too.

"I can't neglect what I'm good at," he murmured to himself. Speed, strength, misdirection and pure animalistic chaos. The day had been ripe for new insights. That was without acknowledging the building of victory, the imitation of what he had seen Dominus carry out, though he had yet to understand it.

In the same way that his side steps and his moves forward had served as a victory before, he used his attacks against the goblins to build a victory against the hobgoblin. He knew it had seen the fight; it had seen the movements, and so it had learned to fear them. Beam used that fear against it, even without using his power.

He closed the distance between the two of them. The hobgoblin's weight was already drawing back, as it attempted to put more distance in between them once again.

Beam recognized those fearful eyes. He well understood that emotion. He'd felt it more than once. It was half of what was necessary to be a struggle.

The other half? That was found on Beam's face. The hardness of heart to recognize that fear and charge forward anyway.

Beam ducked in low, attempting a kick, just as he had done on the goblins before it. Having noticed the strike, and recognized it, the hobgoblin overreacted. There was a look of overexcited glee, as its fear found it an opportunity, and it put all its weight behind a strike.