LVIII

  The Elite Stonerock Goblin reached Kaz, and in one breath, drove its blade in a downwards slash towards Kaz. He didn’t hesitate to listen to his [ Evasive Step ] as it guided him to duck slightly to the left, causing the blade to slice past his right side. He knew that he needed to use his [ Mana Shield ] if he wanted to Rank it, but he was wary of the damage of the Elite’s opening attack.

  Just because his [ Mana Shield ] provided protection against physical impairing damage, it didn’t mean he would take damage to his Health Points. Nearing Rank 30 of his Ability, that meant he would only absorb thirty percent of the damage. The other seventy percent would be deducted from his pool of Health Points. Sure, maybe he didn’t take any damage to his Health Points when he used it against Wylana, but that was probably because she was restraining herself and wouldn’t actually cause serious damage to him.

  Kaz immediately capitalized on the Elite’s exposed midsection, lunging forward with his feet planted, jabbing the monster with the tip of his glaive. The Elite roared out in annoyance and pain, swinging his broadsword back in a wide arc. Kaz braced himself, and used the middle of his shaft to block the attack. He winced as the shaft vibrated violently, causing his hands to go momentarily numb.

  Smirking, he concluded that Gruss indeed did a spectacular job on his glaive, with his shaft not even sporting a nick in the wood where the blade made contact with it. Kaz tried pushing the blade off, driving his upper body into it, but the Elite had the advantage in strength over him. The Elite pushed him back, but Kaz managed to keep his balance, shuffling his feet until he was further back where the broadsword couldn’t reach him.

  Kaz circled the Elite, trying to see what he could do. This was a tricky battle for him, as the Elite was only a head taller than him, but it was the weapon that made him cautious. With the extra reach and length of the blade, Kaz maybe only had half an arm’s length over the Elite. Kaz decided to just begin poking, as he needed to see how much of an advantage he had in terms of speed.

  Lunging forward, he planted his left foot forward and poked towards the chest area of the enemy. He only put half of his strength into the poke and quickly retreated as soon as he completed his poke. Unfortunately for him, the blade of his glaive glanced off the forearm of the enemy, which had a metal plate for protection. It was more of an instinctual reaction from the monster, but by the time it shifted its blade into a defensive position, Kaz had already retreated.

  He nodded to himself, confirming that he indeed had some speed over the goblin, who was still glowing red. He remembered that Broff had a similar buff, and after some time, it wore off, leaving him in a tired state. Before he could go in for a poke, he was surprised when the Elite lunged forward himself. It was similar to his own poke, but the Elite went in a sideways stance, and hopped forward, jabbing its blade parallel to the ground, straight into Kaz’s chest.

  Running on pure instincts, he activated [ Mana Shield ], using his left forearm as the shield. With a metallic ring, the blade bounced off his shield, but the reflected blade continued its movement, now heading towards his head. His [ Evasive Step ] pulsed, and before he realized what was happening, his head tilted to the left.

  Sharp stinging pain radiated off his cheek, and he felt the warm blood start running down his cheek. That was a solid contact from his [ Mana Shield ], and he dreaded thinking about the damage he just took. He mentally summoned his [ Status ], immediately looking at his Health Points. The number displayed was 138, meaning he took eleven points of damage. Not bad, and his worries subsided slightly, as this meant he would be able to use his [ Mana Shield ] more often.

  Kaz regained his stance, and kept circling his opponent. He had to continue moving, not allowing the monster to get comfortable. If he wasted time, the monster would lash out at him, like it did just now. With a deep breath, he went in for another poke, but this time, he aimed for the monster’s legs. There was no protective plates there, and it would also help him reduce the enemy’s speed even further.

  With a sharp hiss from the Elite, he managed to pierce into the thigh of the Elite. He knew it wasn’t a heavy hitting attack, but he needed to keep this up. It was as Wylana said, wear down the opponent until the damage added up. Before the Elite could lash out at him, Kaz went in for another poke, this time targeting the midsection.

  Again, his glaive found its target, digging into the very edge of the monster’s midsection, leaving a nasty cut along the side of the monster. The sharpness of his (Refined) glaive cut through the leather and skin of the enemy like it was paper. He backed up again, retreating before the enemy could retaliate with a counterattack. With an annoyed growl, the Elite glowed even brighter, and with newfound speed, it lunged at Kaz.

  It performed a combination of attacks on him, beginning with two wide sweeping arcs, cutting across his midsection from left to right, and then returning back to the left. Kaz let his [ Mana Shield ] take the hit, but he tried something new with this attack. He ordered his [ Mana Shield ] to simply cover his midsection instead of him controlling it with one of his forearms.

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  He had done this a couple times, but it gave him a slight flare of anxiety each time as he wasn’t sure it would appear in the right spot, so that was why he tended to resort to having it appear on his arms where he could control the area that would be hit. Putting full confidence in his Mana Core and his Ability, he absorbed the hits, setting himself up for a counterattack of his own.

  Once the Elite was exposed after its attack, Kaz decided to use his upwards slash, and he went for the double combination attack, repeating the upwards slash after spinning his glaive to the other side to keep the momentum. He grinned widely when his glaive cut deeply into the arms and chest area of the Elite, both attacks doing damage. He retreated slightly to collect himself and observe his enemy.

  The thing that stood out to him was how much the goblin was bleeding. He knew his glaive had increased bleeding damage, but it took him this long to realize that it meant that the enemy would bleed more than normal. He watched in fascinating horror as the blood just poured out of the wounds of the Elite. Deciding to take advantage of the state of the enemy, with the battle heavily in his favor, he went in for a heavy jab.

  To his shock, the goblin parried his glaive, momentarily sending Kaz off balance. Before he could even face the Elite, he noticed it swinging the broadsword with both arms, going for a heavy chop to his back area. He screamed mentally at his Mana Core, and he felt his [ Mana Shield ] activate, covering his whole back. Similar to his battle with the bear, he was sent flying from the force of the attack.

  He groaned as he hit one of the nearby huts, falling straight through the fragile wood. He pulled up his [ Status ], and he saw that he was down to 82 Health Points. Still over half, but the few attacks took quite a bit away from his total pool. While staggering over back to the Elite, he noticed the Elite was heading back towards the main hut that it came out from. To prevent it from retreating, Kaz reluctantly sent out a [ Lightning Burst ].

  The Elite fell over, panting hard. Kaz steadied his breathing, and cautiously approached the enemy, crouching slightly while keeping his steps to the balls of his feet. He saw movement from the hut, and he whipped his head to the movement.

  He saw a Stonerock Goblin in a brown robe, similar to his own. It made eye contact with him, and he heard some kind of whispering. To his horror, the Elite started glowing again, but instead of red, it was pitch black. It drove the blade into the ground, and used it to get back on its feet. With speed even greater than before, it appeared before Kaz.

  Kaz could only retreat backwards, making sure to not trip over his feet. As if the blade weighed nothing, the Elite made a flurry of attacks, pure rage and no coordination. Kaz used a mixture of his shaft and [ Mana Shield ] to cover himself. To his dismay, he was quickly covered in small cuts and on his back foot, unsure how to turn the battle back in his favor.

  As he was starting to accept defeat, he felt as if time slowed, and he felt his [ Evasive Step ] take control of his body. He watched as his body dodged when the Elite overextended on an overhead slash, not dodging to the side, but forward, right under the shoulder of the enemy. That was when his [ Glaive Novice ] decided to pitch in, and he felt his body spin away from the goblin once he was behind it slightly.

  Using the momentum of his spin, he brought his glaive from his right leg to his left shoulder. He jumped slightly, and once he was facing the Elite, he brought his glaive downwards in a devasting power strike. A long, deep cut appeared across the length of the Elite’s back, immediately bursting with blue blood.

  With a sickening howl, the goblin fell onto its knees, swinging its sword wildly to drive him away from it. Kaz retreated a few steps back, keeping his glaive pointed at the struggling monster. He released the breath he didn’t know he was holding. What was that just now?

  It felt as if his body did its own thing. He wasn’t sure if it could’ve been his Mana Core, as those Abilities weren’t related to mana. As expected, his Mana Core remained silent, which confirmed his theory that it wasn’t his Mana Core. Maybe it was truly a moment where his experience and timing of his Passive’s lined up, causing him to go into a state where he was acting on pure instinct and ability.

  Kaz watched as the Elite got onto its feet, and he struck the goblin in the process, jabbing it straight into the chest. The goblin only grunted, continuing his rise to his feet. He looked up at Kaz, and all Kaz saw was two black beads staring back at him. He felt a shiver go throughout him, and with almost unnatural movement, it charged at him.

  The attack was sloppy, allowing Kaz to easily parry away the attacks with his glaive. They traded blows, with Kaz mostly being the one to land small nicks here and there. As he parried an attack successfully, he felt his Mana Core spark up, as if wanting to guide him. Recalling the Elder’s advice, he decided to give in. With a thought popping into his head, he summoned his [ Mana Shield ] on his left forearm. When the Elite attacked, he parried again, but this time, he used his shield to parry, instead of glaive.

  Keeping an eye on his [ Status ], he saw his Health Points display 43 before his attempt to parry with his [ Mana Shield ], and after he successfully parried the sword away, causing the Elite to collapse onto its side, his Health Points remained at 43. Kaz could parry with his [ Mana Shield ]. While it was easier to do so with his glaive, it was nice to know that he could rely on his Ability to parry if he ever needed it.

  The Elite tried getting to its feet, but its legs gave out, unable to support the badly damaged Elite. With a slight stagger to his step, Kaz flipped his glaive downwards, and with a powerful thrust, he drove his glaive into the head of the Elite. With a sickening squelch, his glaive went cleanly through, only stopping when it collided with the ground.

  He pulled out his glaive and took a deep breath. That was one of his toughest battles, truly a challenge that he was looking for as the unpredictable changes caused him to use all of his Abilities. He could only hope that he Ranked his Abilities, wondering how much he had improved as he took out his Health Potion and drank it all in one go. Speaking of changes, he barely noticed a bright light in front of him.

  He briefly registered the other robed Stonerock Goblin that he saw earlier. Only now, for some reason, there was a ball of fire heading straight for him.