Chapter 25 - The Second Assault
After Lucien used sense magic, he paused for a moment.
Then he quickly took out his sword.
He heard terrifying screams from the forest.
Then he saw red eyes inside the darkness.
Lucien stayed still and inwardly counted the numbers.
"Five… Four… Three… Two…" Lucien counted inwardly as he took a long breath.
"One."
"Here they come," said Lucien.
He saw many human experiment goblins.
Lucien wondered why these goblins had appeared this early.
"Because these goblins appear much later in the novel story," Lucien inwardly thought.
Lucien took a long breath and prepared himself to fight. Thinking about other things was meaningless now.
The wind between the trees suddenly stopped.
For one heartbeat, the forest was silent.
Then—
The bushes exploded.
Five twisted goblins rushed out at once. Their bodies were covered in crude surgical stitches, metal plates nailed into green skin, and one even had a second arm stitched to its shoulder. Their red eyes burned like embers in the dark.
Lucien didn't move.
"One."
The first goblin leapt toward his throat.
Clang!
Lucien's sword flashed upward, blocking the jagged blade. Sparks flew. He twisted his wrist and slid the enemy's weapon aside.
Slash!
The goblin's chest split open, black blood spraying across the leaves.
"Four."
Two goblins charged from the sides. Faster than normal ones. Smarter too.
Lucien stepped back, then suddenly forward instead.
A feint.
He ducked under a claw swipe and drove his elbow into one goblin's ribs—crack! Bones shattered. Before it could scream, he spun and cut its legs clean off.
The third one came from behind.
Too predictable.
Lucien had already sensed it.
He lowered his body at the last second. The blade meant for his neck sliced only air. Lucien thrust his sword backward without even looking.
Thud.
The tip pierced straight through the goblin's eye.
"Two."
The remaining creatures didn't rush blindly. They circled him.
Intelligent.
One of them opened its mouth—
A shrill, distorted scream echoed through the forest.
Calling reinforcements.
Lucien frowned.
"So that's different from the novel…"
The ground trembled slightly.
More red eyes began lighting up in the darkness.
Ten.
Maybe more.
Lucien tightened his grip on his sword. His breathing slowed instead of quickening.
Fear was useless.
He adjusted his stance.
"Fine," he muttered softly.
Mana flowed through his veins. The blade began to hum faintly.
"If the story is changing…"
The goblins lunged together.
"…then I'll rewrite it."
Boom!
Lucien stepped forward instead of retreating.
His sword moved like lightning—one clean arc.
A crescent of mana burst outward, cutting through three goblins at once. The trees behind them split as well.
But something large moved behind the others.
He felt it.
Heavy.
Slow.
Powerful.
The smaller goblins suddenly backed away.
A massive figure stepped out from the shadows.
Its body was stitched together from multiple corpses. One glowing red eye. A metal jaw. Thick chains wrapped around its arms.
Not a normal experiment.
Lucien's expression hardened.
"…Now this wasn't in the novel."
The giant creature roared, shaking the forest.
Lucien rolled his shoulders and lifted his sword again.
Then he smiled.
After that, Lucien stepped forward.
On Aren's side
Goblins attacked from the front side as well.
"ARE YOU READY?" Aren shouted to the village hunters.
They shouted back with energy.
Then the battle between the goblins and humans began.
On Seris's side
"There are too many," Seris thought inwardly.
She looked around.
The village hunters were hesitating to fight.
"I have to take the first step," she thought.
She took a long breath.
"FIRE BALL!" shouted Seris.
A direct hit struck a goblin.
She quickly cast another spell.
"WIND CUTTER!"
She aimed for the goblin's neck.
The goblin's head fell to the ground.
The village hunters and villagers saw this and felt energized.
They began attacking the goblins as well.
The fight on Seris's side had begun.
On Lira's side
Lira saw many goblins.
The village hunters and villagers were fighting them.
Lira saw villagers dying.
Her breathing became heavy.
"Move… Move… Move…" she said inwardly.
Her body wasn't moving.
Then she slapped her face with both hands.
"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" she shouted inwardly.
After taking a deep breath, she cast the Wind Cutter spell.
But she missed.
One goblin noticed her.
The goblin swung its heavy sword toward Lira.
Tears began falling from her eyes.
Just in time, a hunter blocked the sword, and they killed the goblin together.
Lira watched this.
"Are you okay?" one hunter asked.
Lira nodded, but she was still scared.
She calmed her mind by breathing slowly in and out.
She closed her eyes and aimed again with Wind Cutter.
The attack hit the goblin, but it didn't die.
Tears kept falling.
Still, she attacked again.
Again.
Again.
Finally, she killed it.
Then she forced herself to keep fighting.
Now her spells began hitting the goblins, and she started killing them.
"Hey! That girl is amazing! At this age!" the villagers and hunters said.
They were filled with energy again.
The fight on Lira's side had begun.
Back to Lucien
After Lucien saw the massive goblin, he stepped forward to fight.
Then—
"KILL THAT HUMAN!" shouted the goblin.
"What?" Lucien thought inwardly.
"How can that goblin speak?"
Lucien stopped his attack.
"Who sent you here?" he asked.
The goblin laughed first lightly, then loudly.
"Why do you think someone sent us here?" the goblin said.
"You damn humans are always the same."
The goblin touched the scars on his body.
Then he swung his sword toward Lucien.
"You damn humans," the goblin shouted.
"I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!"
Lucien dodged the attack and cut off the goblin's sword hand.
"That human… is strong," said the goblin.
Lucien disappeared and appeared in front of the goblin's head.
"Sorry… but I have to kill you," said Lucien.
"What—?"
The goblin's head fell to the ground.
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END OF CHAPTER - 25
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