A faint glow shone in Arsye's eyes; that was her Innate Talent, the ability to see through magic tiers—more specifically, the ability to see the intensity of the magicules on an opponent. At this moment, in her eyes, the Goblin King's presence occupied the entire world, and that terrifying amount of magicules exceeded all monsters she had seen before! For a moment, the young girl lost her ability to act due to the intense shock. Fortunately, she had a group of teammates by her side who would not abandon their partners.
"Arsye!" Ropatik shouted.
Holding up his shield, he swung it to block the arrows shot from the high platform, firmly protecting the team's mage, Arsye, behind him.
Although he had also received a strong shock when he first saw the Goblin King in the camp, he quickly regained his senses. As the team's heavy-armored Guardian, he had to protect his teammates!
When he noticed Arsye behind him wasn't reacting, he shouted loudly to snap her out of it.
When Arsye snapped back to her senses, her body was still trembling, but she suppressed her fear and continued to use her Magic Eyes ability to support the group. However, this seemed to draw the attention of the Goblin King, who viewed her as a mere insect; the Goblin King raised his cleaver, a bloody red light emanating from his eyes, as terrifying magicules spread from his body, forming a black shroud.
Oh no! Herculean and Imena, who were originally planning to attack the Goblin Archers, couldn't help but widen their eyes at this scene. that one monster had been alerted so quickly, and its targets were Ropatik and Arsye! Realizing this, the two immediately turned back, because that one monster's attack couldn't be blocked by Ropatik's strength alone!
With a resolute expression, Ropatik held his shield steady without moving an inch. The aura around him changed—a boost from a Combat Skill. He decided to face it head-on.
"Physical Enhancement":
Increases physical strength.
"Magic Resistance Enhancement":
Enhances resistance to magic.
"Fortress":
Slightly mitigates the force of an enemy's attack.
Ropatik had originally wanted to use magic. He was a Priest, and his strongest skills were Faith-based magic, but the current situation didn't give him enough time. He had no choice but to use Combat Skills to layer on the thickest defense possible. Yet, even though he was prepared for the impact, his heart was far from calm.
The Goblin King gripped his cleaver. Even from such a distance, one could intuitively feel the terrifying power of that monster. He leaned back like a javelin thrower, then hurled it with one hand. Accompanied by the sound of an explosion, the cleaver shot toward Ropatik and Arsye's position.
It took less than two seconds from the moment the Goblin King stood up to the moment he launched his attack. This was why Ropatik hadn't used magic. If he hadn't trusted his instincts and had insisted on using magic, he likely would have been crushed into a pulp by the Goblin King's attack before the spell could even be cast.
Facing the Goblin King's attack, that brief moment seemed infinitely long to Ropatik. Before his eyes...
...scenes from his past even flashed by. He knew his body was telling him that he couldn't block this blow—he would die! But in his heart, he was screaming: "Block it! I must block it!"
At that moment.
As Herculean and Imena ran back and Ropatik bravely faced the terrifying cleaver wrapped in black light, time seemed to freeze.
Only Tsukasa, who possessed the Thought Acceleration skill, remained conscious in this nearly static world. She looked at Ropatik's figure, and a light seemed to Flash continuously within her dark eyes.
Within her vision.
Ropatik's body appeared as if seen through an X-ray. Blood vessels, bones, nerves, pressure points, and even the points of light representing Combat Skills were all laid out before her like an exam paper filled with answers. It told her that she only needed to copy the answers to get a perfect score.
"So this is what a Combat Skill is."
In that instant, she understood the principles of Combat Skills and mastered several of them as if by instinct. She had no idea what was happening to her in this state, but she felt amazing. It was like having a cheat, and a very intuitive one at that. This seemed to be the hidden power within the Astrea bloodline.
And so.
Her figure appeared between Ropatik and the cleaver. Her sword was drawn so fast it was like a Flash. With a Flash of white light, she split the Goblin King's great cleaver in two. The halves flew past them, crashing into the high platforms on either side like bombs, blowing the Goblin Archers to pieces. The heatwave from the explosion blew through her long hair.
Herculean and the others were stunned into silence as they saw the young girl standing in front of Ropatik, having effortlessly intercepted the Goblin King's attack.
They had originally thought that the strength of this descendant of the Sword Saint would be roughly at the level of a Goblin General. After all, Demon Kings and Heroes were figures of legend who hadn't appeared for over a hundred years. Furthermore, the strength of the Sword Saints had mostly declined with each generation. Since this generation's Astrea was female, they had also prejudicially assumed she couldn't possibly possess the strength of her predecessors.
They never imagined she would possess strength comparable to a legendary Hero.
In Arsye's eyes...
...her senior sister was glowing all over, a light that far surpassed the darkness of the Goblin King.
If expressed in levels...
The level of the Four Sages was around 20.
The Goblin King's level was 40.
Tsukasa's level... was probably 99, nearly maxed out.
Tsukasa only knew that she felt very good right now.
This was a sense of fulfillment that magic had never given her. She could clearly feel her strength increasing and her body becoming tougher. This unprecedented sense of security was something magic couldn't provide.
This was the Physical Enhancement Combat Skill.
Not bad.
Truly not bad.
Tsukasa looked toward the Goblin King with an expectant expression.
Even Ropatik's Combat Skills were this strong; she wondered what kind of skills this big guy, rumored to be Demon King-level, could use. "Come on, use them quickly, let me have a look!" At this moment, she was like someone who had discovered a treasure trove; her eyes were glowing. Those eyes seemed able to see through all the common sense and laws of the world, making even the Goblin King tremble.
The Goblin King finally understood why that one person had instructed him to complete the task regardless of whether the target lived or died. Feeling the aura of the powerhouse before him, he felt that he might be the one to die. Although he seemed to have found the target of his mission, he couldn't feel happy at all. If he had known the target was a powerhouse of this level, he never would have agreed to help.
However, he had only come because he heard he could enter the human world for a great slaughter and that the human Guardian wouldn't interfere. He had been tricked because of his own greed to harvest human souls.
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