[END]
"Spread out!"
"Don't cluster!"
"Fall back!"
It didn't take minutes for the line of command to go in disarray. No one knew what orders to follow anymore.
Once mages were thinning out, the Grendelkin then repositioned using grapple to get the rest of the characters that were gathered around it.
To make matters worse, the Grendelkin use [Upheaval] as often as possible to stun characters, which allows it to automatically grapple the stunned characters and crush them to death.
We were outnumbered in the first place. Everyone was already having a hard time deflecting the goblin's attacks, but now that the Grendelkin was joining in the fray, it was no longer a battle – it was a massacre.
The Grendelkin was about to leap again when dozens of thick veins suddenly roped around its neck and limbs, ironing it on the ground.
The Grendelkin roared in fury, and its round red tiny eyes flicked at Teacher Fey.
"Hurry! I can't hold it for long!" Teacher Fey yelled at the others.
The Hunters were quick to their feet and used all their available skills to bring down the Grendelkin's HP to half.
The other melee combatants made sure to kill all goblins that aimed for the mages. So they couldn't disrupt the Mages' mid-casting.
"Kill it now!"
The hunters were ready, but the Grendelkin was still strong. It had a high defense stat and could take a lot of damage before dying.
It was an enemy that could easily wipe out a party if not handled properly.
But they didn't have time to be careful. They had to keep up the pressure on the monster until it died.
"Tch . . . !"
"Mages, kill it now!"
As soon as the Grendelkin's HP was below 50%, the Mages cast their ultimate skill.
A gust of wind blew from behind the Grendelkin, then followed by a hurricane of fire, earth, and water. It engulfed the monster in its might before creating a mighty force that, when it exploded, the ground beneath shook, debris and specks of dust flew in every direction, and some goblins were lung away at the force.
"It's over."
"We did it!"
Teacher Fey and the others smiled happily as the dust settled. Teacher Norman and Teacher Sharon all released a deep sigh of relief.
Surely, the Grendelkin was no more after those spell.
"Let's get out of this place before we attract more goblins."
"This is our chance, everyone!"
The Hunters were ready to strike at the Goblins as soon as the Grendelkin was dead.
But when the dust settled, and a giant still stood tall amongst the debris and smoke, everyone was stunned.
The Grendelkin let out a roar and charged toward them. It quickly grabbed hunters and players alike, and it was too late to evade. The Grendelkin had already reached them.
"No!"
Teacher Fey screamed in horror. She knew what would happen next.
The hunters' and players' HP bars drop rapidly as the Grendelkin crushed them to death. Some he threw towards the castle walls, and they splattered from the force, spilling guts and blood on the mote.
Everyone saw the Grendelkin's HP bar rose again while a seemingly unnoticeable jewel on its chest broke apart.
"What?"
"The Grendelkin was still alive?"
"How did that even happen?!"
"It's a magic item! The Grendelkin has a magic item!"
The Hunter, who was standing next to Teacher Fey, ran towards the Grendelkin with his sword raised high. He swung down at the monster's head, but he missed by a wide margin.
The Grendelkin turned around and grabbed him by the neck. It lifted him up like a doll and threw him against the wall, and his broken body crumpled to the mote with the other corpses.
A hunter swung his axe with all his might. But the Grendelkin stopped it with just a pinch of its hand. The monster then grabbed the Hunter's head and crushed it with just its fingers. A loud crack echoed through the area as the Hunter's skull shattered.
The Hunter fell to its knees. Its body was covered in blood, and its head was reduced to nothing but a sheet devoid of any bones and brain matter.
The other Hunters cursed and started running towards the Grendelkin. They all tried to attack the monster, but it was too fast. Its rage was also building up again, and it would surely unleash it in the area where most of them congregated.
"It's too strong!"
"We're gonna die!"
"What are we supposed to do?"
They all looked at each other in despair.
Teacher Fey was about to cast another spell when she saw a goblin with a bow and arrow aiming at her. She quickly turned around to face it, but it had already fired its first shot. The arrow flew right past her head and hit one of the Hunters in the chest.
"Gah!"
The Hunter fell back onto the ground, blood gushing from his wound.
"Shit! We're too exposed here!" The other cursed as they looked around for an escape route.
But there was none.
Teacher Fey knew that if the Grendelkin got close enough, it would be able to attack them without any hindrance.
"Everyone! Get ready to run!"
"What?!"
"We have no choice! We have to fall back and regroup!"
"But its magic item is no more! Let's attack it again!"
The Hunters started arguing amongst themselves.
"Run!"
"Run? To where?"
That's when they realized that they were cut off from the rest. Their numbers were too weak, and their horses were no more while their spells and skills were in cooldown to attempt to cut straight through the Goblins' towards the safety of the fortress.
Teacher Fey grabbed the nearest Hunter by the arm and dragged him along.
"Let's go into the woods!"
They ran through the forest, dodging trees and branches, boulders, but with just one leap the Grendelkin cut their escape.
The monster's HP was more than half and its rage was at maximum so its damage should be double by now.
With spells and skills in cooldown, isolated from the rest and flunked by goblins in all sides with the Grendelkin loomed over of what's left of the teachers and hunters, there was no escape from them but death.