Path to Transcendence

Chapter 485: Who Was the Real Monster?

Lyra POV

She was doing everything in her power not to die. These stupid goblin-like monsters were stupidly fast and surprisingly sturdy. They also had this annoying ability that disrupted her mana, primarily her mana-based enforcement skill. Some of their weapons were covered with this skill as well.

She was beset by three of these goblins. She backed up as two goblins almost shoved their swords in her face; the other one she barely managed to smack aside with her dagger. However, she saw an opening for a fraction of a second, and her training ensured that she took it.

She used her movement skill to dash over to the separated goblin. The monster had overextended slightly, and its arm was in range of her dagger. She whipped out her arm and swiped at the beast.

The goblin was fast and was able to pull back its arm, but she still managed to nick it. That was enough.

The poison should be working through the monster’s body shortly; all she needed to do was wait until its movements started to slow down. That was precisely what she did; she made sure that she stayed safe until she began to see signs of the poison working.

These daggers were a gift from her father; he had always insisted that she learn how to fight close combat, despite her desires not to. He had trained for years until he felt like she could defend herself. Afterwards, he had gifted her this beautiful set of daggers.

They had three main effects. One was a general durability enchantment that protected the blade from damage, while also enhancing its sharpness. They would be able to cut through almost anything in Tier 3. The other enchantment was a self-repairing function, in case she cracked the blade or it got damaged. As long as she had some material and mana on hand, the blade would fix itself.

The final and most potent addition was a powerful poison enchantment that would inflict her opponent with severe nausea and paralysis. It didn’t take much; as long as she cut them, they would be in big trouble.

She was very glad that she had these daggers at the moment. The goblin she had nicked was already showing signs of slowing down. She continued to dance in between the goblins, letting her superior perception help her do so.

It was still quite dangerous. She almost got stabbed in the shoulder a couple of times when she was a split second too slow to turn. However, she had only gotten a small scratch so far. She didn’t sense any poison on their blades, but she was keeping an eye on her small wound.

Eventually, she was given another opening. This time around, she created an arrow in front of her face and shot it quickly at the approaching goblin. She didn’t need a bow to shoot her arrows; the weapon simply enhanced her attacks. She was still able to shoot them without it, albeit at a slower speed. However, that wasn’t her purpose for her attack.

It was just a distraction to give her time to focus on one of the healthy remaining goblins. Her plan worked. The goblin she shot her arrow at took a step back and avoided the projectile. Then, while it was distracted, she ducked underneath the goblin’s swift swing and scored a long slice across its abdomen.

She used her movement skill to jump back, the wind mana increasing her speed by a significant margin.

At this point, the first goblin she had nicked was already sluggish, and the second one was close behind. That last slice had been much deeper, and the poison should work much quicker because of that.

Sure enough, that was precisely what happened, and when she noticed that, she finally began to be more aggressive. She gathered a bunch of wind mana and hurled it at the healthy goblin, sending it flying backwards. Then, before the poisoned goblins could grasp the situation, she tore into them. Their disruptive skill was less effective now that her poison afflicted them.

She pushed her body hard. She wanted to finish them before their comrade could return and help. Her daggers smashed aside their weapons, and one of them found the face of the goblin. The monster reeled back as half of its face was cut open, more poison seeping into it.

This allowed her to face the last goblin alone. She stepped in close, allowing its blade to pass by her shoulder, and shoved her dagger right into the goblin’s eye. She was forced to leave it in there because the healthy goblin had finally collected itself and was attacking her. Its frenzied attack was hard to deal with, but since she had already taken care of one and another clawing at its sliced face, she was able to dance backwards as she waited for her moment.

She led the monster around until she finally returned to the dead goblin, retrieved her dagger from its eye socket, and then punished the now tired monster. She forced it on the defensive, and since it was exhausted, she was able to push it back easily. Eventually, it slipped, and she stepped in, stabbing her dagger into the monster’s throat.

She flinched when its nasty blood sprayed her. Her arm wiped her face and spat out anything that made it into her mouth. Then she walked over to the goblin, whose face was split open, and quickly shot an arrow into its skull. Only then did she glance over at her new ally and see how he was doing.

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Her face went white as she saw the carnage around him. There were over a dozen dead goblins all around the area. A number of them had their heads ripped clean off their shoulders. One of them was nothing more than a smear on the ravine walls—gruesome deaths.

As for Julius, he was cackling like a maniac. His hands were lit with brilliant azure flames, waving them around like a kid with a new sword. Despite being surrounded by a dozen more goblins, he didn’t look the least bit stressed. From what she could see, he was having the time of his life.

He was covered with their sickly green blood, slamming his fists into the goblins with devastating force.

“Mage my ass,”she muttered quietly as she observed the boy move with breathtaking speed and finesse. She wasn’t a slouch when it came to close combat. Her father made sure of that. However, seeing him tear across the area made her feel like a toddler in comparison.

He was just as fast, if not faster, than she was, and he was definitely stronger. One strike was enough to remove the head of a goblin, and these monsters were desperately trying to fend him off. Not only that, but he looked like he could predict the future. He was always in the correct position and was never caught off guard.

She could feel the fear in the goblins’ auras as he continued to slaughter them one by one. But they didn’t stop. They continued to throw themselves at him, as if hoping that would be enough.

It wasn’t.

If his fists didnʼt kill them, then the flames he surrounded them with were enough to finish the job. These flames were searing hot; she could feel the heat all the way from where she was standing.

She didn’t even bother to jump in and help. He clearly didn’t need it. If anything, she believed that these poor creatures were the ones who needed saving from the laughing black haired lunatic.

She had been confident that he was strong. His aura and skill with mana convinced her of that. However, she still might have underestimated him.

Despite him facing down dozens of goblins, she didn’t know who the real monster was. She didn’t know if she needed to be scared as well, but she was sure of one thing. She was glad that she had decided to ask him to team up with her.

***

Julius POV

He let out a satisfied sigh and couldn’t help but grin as he examined the notifications, as the smell of burnt flesh and blood surrounded him.

[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 16 > lvl 17]

[Spirit Fortification lvl 6 -> lvl 7]

[Kinetic Energy Refinement lvl 16 -> lvl 17]

Despite facing only Tier 3 opponents, he had gained two levels in his epic skills. Not something that was normal, but then again, these goblins were definitely above average for Tier 3s. They were dangerous little creatures, yet that only made it more exciting.

Those weren’t the only notifications he received, either.

Would you like to learn the skill [Hands of Inferno]?

Receiving this notification demonstrated that he had done something right. While he wasn’t that interested in getting the skill, he was happy that the Words of the World thought that what he had done was worth offering him another skill.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t think the skill was powerful. He was certain that with some time and effort, the skill would become a powerful one if he chose it. However, he thought the skill might be a little too specific for his liking. He wanted something that he could use in multiple scenarios, especially when it came to fire.

At least for the time being, he would hold off and see if he would be offered any other flame-related skills. The only real fire-specific skill was his construct skill, but it focused more on physical constructs rather than the properties of heat and true fire.

He looked over and spotted a goblin trying to crawl away, but he quickly shot a small needle of mana at its head. Then he saw that Lyra had finished with her goblins and was staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

“What?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

She looked away. “You got a lot of blood on your face,” she muttered.

He reached up to touch his face and realized that she was right. He was drenched in blood. With a little bit of aura and some flames, he quickly got rid of it.

“Better?” He asked her, moving his head so she could see his entire face to make sure he didn’t miss any spots.

Her eyes widened for some reason. “Yeah,” she said with a sigh, looking defeated.

He wondered why she seemed so despondent. Perhaps she was mad that he ran directly into the goblins without consulting her. He wasn’t accustomed to working in teams very often. Additionally, he was eager to try new things with his flames and improve his kinetic energy.

He still hadn’t gotten [Kinetic Energy Refinement] to level 15, but he could feel that it was close. He just needed a little nudge to push him over the line.

“You want to go see what these goblins might have been hiding?” He asked her after a brief moment.

She nodded at him while she was removing the cores from the goblins. She tried to give them to her, but he didn’t really have any interest in them. He honestly had enough wealth already. Furthermore, he rarely had to pay for things. Most of the time, he was with people who took care of most things.

That wasn’t to say that he was a sugar baby or anything like that. But he also had a Tier 5’s entire wealth as well as his ring. He wasn’t hurting for a few Tier 3 cores. Plus, while the cores might be more concentrated than most, he didn’t sense anything that he might find interesting in them.

If she was going to let him have the tokens and the majority of the special treasure they found, he could at least give her the cores.

Once she had gathered all of the cores, they finally made their way deeper into the ravine. While there weren’t any more goblins coming at them, he suspected that another surprise would greet them if they continued.

However, he was more than okay with that. If the goblins were a small taste of what was to come, he was very excited to see what lay deeper ahead.