Ren slid carefully down the rocky slope. Gravel tumbled under his boots with a faint crunch, swallowed by the constant sounds of digging below.
Behind him, the four summons landed like silent shadows. Each carried a heavy aura and a terrifying presence.
When his feet hit the bottom of the pit, he paused for a second.
Hundreds of gray gnomes swarmed the area like worker ants. Digging, hauling metal ores, and fighting over rotting carcasses. Well over three hundred F-Rank gnomes.
But Ren's pupils locked onto the center. Five gnomes dwarfed the rest in sheer size and bulk. Their dark, rocky skin was cracked with scars glowing with a sick blue light. They gripped massive stone hammers the size of tree trunks.
'Five E-Rank gnomes.'
"You two." Ren raised his hand, pointing at the White Goblin and the Rock Gnome. He aimed his finger at the side groups where the vast majority of the F-Ranks were working. "Handle the F-Ranks. Don't let a single one get near the center. We'll join you when we're done here."
The two summons didn't hesitate for a second.
With a burst of speed, the White Goblin vanished, leaving behind a cloud of dust and a sharp gust of wind. The Rock Gnome, packing 25 Endurance, marched forward with earth-shaking steps. It planted itself in a narrow rocky path connecting the left flank to the center. A living wall no one was getting past.
Ren turned toward the five giants.
"We need to kill those five fast, before they kill us," Ren whispered to the Armored Goblin and Sewer Goblin beside him.
The five giants stopped digging. They caught the intruders' aura. Starving red eyes met Ren's.
A terrifying roar ripped through the pit's silence. The surrounding rocks vibrated. Dust kicked up into the air.
Three of the giants charged at them all at once, while two stayed back, watching with cautious anger. The ground trembled violently with every heavy step.
The first giant leaped into the air, closing the distance. It raised its hammer and brought it straight down at Ren's head with enough force to crush a tank.
"Block it!"
The E-Rank Armored Goblin stepped up. It triggered its [Rock Armor] skill. It crossed its massive, rocky arms to take the hit.
BOOM!
The hammer slammed into the stone arms. A violent shockwave blasted the area, ripping gravel from the dirt. The ground cracked under the Armored Goblin's feet, and its knees buckled slightly, but it didn't budge.
Ren capitalized on the clash. He shot forward. His new 15 Speed let him slide smoothly under the giant's raised arm.
He pulled the spiked metal pickaxe from his dimensional storage. With his current 20 Strength, he drove the solid blade straight into the back of the giant's knee.
Squellch!
The knee joint exploded. Sticky green blood sprayed out. The giant lost its balance and dropped to one knee with a deafening scream that shook the pit.
No time to waste. The max-level Sewer Goblin pounced. It vaulted onto the giant's back, wrapped its bald tail around its neck to choke it, and in a purely savage move, sank its long fangs straight into the gray giant's main artery.
Blood sprayed like a fountain. The giant thrashed, dropped its hammer, and desperately clawed at the Sewer Goblin to rip it off.
But Ren was already there. He vaulted onto the giant's leaning chest and delivered a devastating downward strike with the pickaxe, aiming right at the top of its skull.
Crack!
The metal punched through bone and sank deep into the brain. The first giant dropped dead.
[Exterminated: Gnome Warrior (Rank E)]
[Gained 150 Exp.]
Ren barely pulled his pickaxe out of the skull before the wind howled.
The second giant swung its hammer horizontally, aiming to cut Ren in half at the waist. The swing was too fast to completely dodge. Ren brought up the pickaxe's steel handle as a makeshift shield.
CLANG!
The solid steel bent. Ren was launched into the air from the sheer impact. He tumbled across the gravel for five meters.
He coughed hard, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. If not for the 20 Endurance he recently gained, his ribs would've been turned to powder.
Ren immediately forced himself up, ignoring the tearing pain in his arms.
The third giant joined the fight. Now, Ren and the Sewer Goblin were boxed in by two furious giants.
"Armored! Distract the one with the dual-sided hammer!" Ren shouted, spitting blood.
The Armored Goblin charged and slammed into the third giant in a pure clash of arms. Stone against stone. Sparks flew from their rough skin scraping together amidst savage roars.
Ren and the Sewer Goblin were left facing the second giant.
This monster was more cautious. It swung its hammer with calculated steps, keeping a safe distance that stopped Ren from closing in.
'Its speed is low, but its attack range is lethal.' Ren analyzed the situation, his eyes tracking the enemy's every twitch. 'I need to disarm it.'
"Sewer! Cut the tendons in its right foot!"
The Sewer Goblin darted forward. The giant swung its hammer down to crush it, but the hybrid dropped flat on its stomach, sliding right under the lethal swing.
The Sewer Goblin's claws slashed the giant's leg. A shallow cut, but enough to piss the monster off. The giant raised its hammer high with both hands, aiming to flatten the hybrid into the dirt.
That was the exact mistake Ren was waiting for.
Ren sprinted at full speed. He stepped onto the giant's bent thigh, using it as a springboard to launch himself into the air. The exact moment the hammer smashed into the ground and got stuck in the rock, Ren was face-to-face with the giant.
Ren drove the pickaxe with all his might into one of the glowing blue scars on the beast's neck.
Sizzle!
The volatile mana inside the scar reacted. The giant screamed in pure agony, letting go of its hammer to try and grab Ren.
Ren left the pickaxe buried in its neck and backflipped through the air, dodging the beast's massive hands. The Sewer Goblin took advantage of the giant's flailing and leaped straight at its face, dragging its claws right across its eyes.
The blinded giant stumbled and fell on its back. Ren approached quietly. He pulled the pickaxe from its neck and brought it down again, severing the head from the body in one clean, decisive chop.
[Exterminated: Gnome Warrior (Rank E)]
[Gained 150 Exp.]
Ren spun around just in time to see the Armored Goblin getting pushed back.
The third giant possessed unbelievable brute strength. It delivered a hammer strike that shattered a chunk of the Armored Goblin's shoulder plating, leaving deep cracks.
The Armored Goblin took a step back, but its red eyes flared with lethal ferocity.
[Skill Activated: Critical Strike]
The Armored Goblin's fist glowed with a thick crimson light. It didn't retreat this time. When the third giant raised its hammer for a killing blow, the Armored Goblin lunged forward and took the hit straight to its broad chest.
Its rocks cracked violently, but it held its ground. In the exact same split-second, it buried its glowing fist directly into the giant's stomach.
Crunch!
The stone fist punched straight through the gray body, bursting out of its back carrying blood and guts.
The third giant completely stopped moving. The hammer slipped from its limp hand. The Armored Goblin ripped its arm out, and the massive body collapsed like a falling mountain.
[Exterminated: Gnome Warrior (Rank E)]
[Gained 150 Exp.]
[Leveled up!]
[Level: 9 | Current Exp: 340/800]
Ren panted heavily. He wiped the mix of sweat and blood off his forehead. His muscles were twitching from the immediate exhaustion, but the warm rush of leveling up knitted the micro-tears in his tissue back together.
He looked around.
On the left flank, the corpses of F-Rank gnomes were piling up like hills. The Rock Gnome stood like a wall painted in green blood, taking weak pickaxe strikes without even flinching, crushing anyone who got close. The White Goblin darted around like an invisible blade, slitting throats and leaving fountains of blood in its wake. They had total control over there.
But in the center, the battle wasn't over.
The remaining two E-Rank giants stepped forward slowly from the back. They weren't blinded by rage like the first three. They stared at the corpses of their comrades with a caution and intelligence that didn't fit normal monsters.
One of them let out a sharp, barking scream from its chest—sounding like a hoarse war horn.
Suddenly, all the F-Rank gnomes stopped attacking the White Goblin and Rock Gnome. They all turned around and started sprinting toward the center, grouping up as a living meat shield around the remaining giants.
Ren's expression hardened. His grip tightened on the blood-stained pickaxe handle.
The battle wasn't over yet. It just took a deadly turn.