The world seemed to contract until it was nothing but the whistle of the air and the looming shadow of the tree-trunk club. The Goblin King's strike was not just a swing; it was a force of nature, an avalanche of wood and muscle designed to pulverize everything in its path.
I didn't try to block it. To meet that mass head-on with my current physical weight would have driven me into the mud like a tent peg. Instead, I waited. I watched the King's shoulder—the way the muscles bunched and the green skin stretched—and the moment the club reached its zenith, I moved.
I dived forward, not away. The club slammed into the cobblestones exactly where I had been standing a millisecond prior, the impact sending a shockwave through the ground that rattled my teeth. Stone shattered, and a cloud of dust and ancient mortar exploded into the air.
Using the dust as cover, I rolled through the King's massive, trunk-like legs. As I came up behind him, I didn't hesitate. I drove my charcoal blade upward with a two-handed grip, aiming for the back of his knee where the skin was thinner. The matte-grey metal bit deep, slicing through tendon and muscle.
The King let out a roar that was more of a physical vibration than a sound. He buckled, his massive weight shifting as he dropped to one knee. Purple blood, thick and smelling of iron and rot, sprayed across the mud.
"Rio!" Tess's voice cut through the chaos from the church steps. She was holding her staff high, her mana flaring as she blasted back a pair of goblins trying to circle around my flank.
"Stay back, Tess!" I yelled, my voice raw. "Keep the others safe!"
The King spun with a speed that defied his size. Even on one knee, his reach was terrifying. He backhanded me with his free hand—a limb as thick as a bolster—and I barely got my sword up in time to catch the blow. The impact sent me flying backward. I hit the side of a collapsed vegetable cart, the wood splintering behind me. My shoulder screamed in protest, and for a moment, the world went blurry.
I shook my head, spitting out a mouthful of copper-tasting blood. My new sword hadn't snapped. The obsidian-iron composite was pulsing with a faint, dark rhythm, absorbing the kinetic energy that would have shattered normal steel. It felt like an extension of my own arm, steady and unyielding.
The King dragged himself to his feet, his wounded leg dragging slightly. He was breathing in heavy, wet rattles, his yellow eyes burning with a murderous intelligence. He didn't just see a kid anymore; he saw a predator.
He barked a command, and the remaining goblins in the square—maybe thirty of them—abandoned their fights with the other adventurers. They began to swarm, a green tide of jagged blades and gnashing teeth, all focused on me.
"Regroup!" the veteran adventurer yelled, trying to push through to me. "Don't let them isolate the boy!"
But they were too far. The other five adventurers were pinned against the church wall, struggling to keep the swarm from the stone cellar. I was alone in the center of the square, the King looming over me like a dark god of the forest.
["Master! I am very angry now!"] Sui's voice was a frantic hum in my mind. ["I can make them melt! I can turn into a big spike!"]
'No, Sui! Not yet!' I thought, my heart hammering. 'If you show yourself, we lose everything. Trust me.'
I stood up, my legs feeling like lead. The warm-cold sensation in my chest was no longer a coiling snake; it was a storm. It wasn't my mana—I was keeping that locked tight—it was my awareness. Every movement of every goblin, every drop of rain falling from the eaves, every flicker of a torch was crystal clear.
The King lunged, swinging the club in a wide, horizontal arc. I ducked, the rough bark of the tree trunk grazing the top of my hair. I stepped inside his reach, my blade a flash of charcoal light as I carved a long, shallow furrow across his chest. He didn't even flinch. He dropped the club and grabbed for me with his massive hands.
I twisted, my body moving with a fluid grace that came from years of hidden training. I was a shadow, a ghost in the mud. I sliced his forearm, then his ribs, then his shoulder. I was moving faster than a thirteen-year-old should be able to move, relying on the 100-0 ratio's passive physical enhancement without letting a single spark of mana escape.
But the King was a monster of endurance. Every wound I dealt him seemed to close up with a sickening squelch of regenerating flesh. He was a King because he couldn't be killed by attrition.
"You... little... gnat!" the King wheezed, his voice a guttural rasp.
He lunged one more time, but this time, he didn't aim for me. He aimed for the church.
He picked up a massive boulder that had been part of a garden wall and hurled it with terrifying strength toward the stone cellar. If that hit, it would shatter Tess's barrier and crush everyone inside.
"NO!" I screamed.
I didn't think about the secrets. I didn't think about Aror or the Guild. I only thought about Tess.
I didn't flare my mana, but I pushed my physical limits to the absolute breaking point. I sprinted, my feet barely touching the mud, and intercepted the King before he could reach for another stone.
I leaped.
I was six feet in the air, soaring toward the King's face. He looked up, his jaw dropping in surprise as he raised his arms to swat me out of the sky. But I wasn't aiming for his head.
I tucked my knees, spun in mid-air, and used his own forearm as a springboard. I launched myself higher, flipping over his head. As I descended, I gripped the charcoal hilt with every ounce of strength I had left.
The King looked up, exposing the soft, purple tissue of his throat where the bone crown didn't reach.
The blade went in clean.
It buried itself up to the hilt in the King's neck, the obsidian-iron slicing through the thick hide and the massive windpipe like it was nothing more than paper. We hit the ground together, the King's massive weight crashing into the mud with a sound that shook the square.
I didn't let go. I twisted the blade, ensuring the heart of the beast would stop.
A long, rattling gasp escaped the King's throat. The yellow light in his eyes flickered, dimmed, and finally went out. The massive body went limp, the oppressive aura that had hung over the village for days vanishing in an instant.
The silence that followed was deafening. The remaining goblins froze. Without their King's will to drive them, they were nothing but cowards. They looked at the dead giant, then at the blood-soaked kid standing over him, and they broke. They turned and fled into the dark forest, screaming in terror.
I stood there, my chest heaving, the rain washing the purple blood from my face. My hands were shaking so violently I had to lean on my sword to stay upright. My vision was beginning to blur at the edges, the world tilting dangerously to the left.
"Rio!"
I heard Tess's voice, and then I felt her arms around me. She smelled like rain and ozone and safety.
"You did it... you actually did it..." she sobbed, her head resting against my shoulder.
I tried to say something, to tell her that we were a team or that I was glad she was okay, but my throat felt like it was filled with sand. The adrenaline was draining out of me, leaving behind a void of pure, bone-deep exhaustion.
The "warm-cold" feeling in my chest gave one final, gentle pulse—a quiet well done—and then faded away.
The last thing I saw was the golden hair of my partner and the flickering light of the rising sun hitting the church steeple before my knees gave out and everything went black.