Chapter 22 Slayer Of Goblins

Even though [Shadow Wall] was useless now, [Shadow Glide] still allowed me to move faster using my own shadow so I kept that spell up.

Using that, I managed to move out of the way before the arrows fired by the archers could hit me.

I did a quick check of the numbers and weapons of my enemies.

Five archers, six spears, eight swords and shields, six clubs and five daggers.

This might be a little troublesome…

Right when I was considering how I should proceed, the hair at the back of my neck suddenly raised and I leapt to the side.

Just in time too as a laser passed through where I had just been standing, fired from the goblin light mage himself.

Well, two can play at that game you stupid light bulb.

The first thing I tried was casting a quick [Madness Infusion] on him.

It definitely worked but that resulted in him firing lasers indiscriminately all around the cave, a few of which barely missed me when he did so.

Ok, perhaps inflicting madness on him isn't an entirely good idea.

At least that resulted in him killing three of his own archers and two of his shield bearers, plus it seemed like he used up most of his mana as well which means it's a prime chance for me.

Casting [Shadow Wrap] on the light ball he had created over head, I had once again plunged this cavern into darkness, the torches alone inadequate from preventing me from slipping into the shadows again.

My first target was, of course, the boss himself.

Slipping past the guards who were panicking over my disappearance, I rushed straight towards the goblin light mage with the tip of my knife ready to plunge into his throat.

Unexpectedly, a light barrier flared up to light the moment I neared it, bouncing me back from my attempted assault.

Drat, this lightbulb has a light barrier too, I'll need to come up with a way to either break this or drain his mana to cancel this.

The goblin mage summoned another ball of light again, lighting up the once dark cavern once more.

The other goblins had yet to realise I had moved behind them and were thus still busy searching for me.

That gave me enough time to slip in and kill the last two archers from behind, without anyone else even knowing I was there.

I wouldn't be able to close in the distance on the other melee goblins before they found me but an idea sprung into my mind.

With quick movements, my dagger was sheathed and the fallen archer's bow was in my hands. It was crude and obviously low in quality but it will serve my current purpose.

Drawing back on the bowstring with an arrow nocked, I took aim at the closest goblin wielding a spear and let the projectile loose.

Unfortunately, my inadeptness with the bow showed here as the arrow flew wide, passing to the right of my intended target.

Fortunately, there was another goblin holding a club there and the arrow buried itself into the back of its head.

I was quick to nock another arrow as the goblins started to turn around, finally realising I was behind them all this while.

This time, I managed to hit my target but only wounded it in the shoulder.

Meh, good enough.

The other goblins were quick to react as they charged me, not giving me the time to fire a third time.

I threw the bow at the closest goblin and smacked him in the face, giving me time to unsheathe my dagger before leaping away, avoiding the laser that came from behind me.

Just as planned, the laser missed me and pierced through two spear goblins, bringing down the number of enemies even further.

Four spears, six swords, five clubs and five dagger wielding goblins left.

Once again, I casted [Shadow Wrap], plunging the cavern into darkness once more.

The goblin mage seemed to have anticipated that as he immediately summoned another light ball a second later.

That one second was enough for me to slip to the other side of the goblin shield wall though, giving me the perfect opportunity to stab one of them in the neck.

Shifting my dagger to my left hand, I quickly picked up the fallen goblin's shortsword with my right, its size just right for me given that the goblins were also rather small in size, making this a rather long dagger in my hands instead.

Alright, never really dual wielded before but first time for everything… Could have gone for the shield instead but I don't have time to unbuckle it from the goblin's arm and having two weapons would be better since I'm outnumbered.

I repositioned myself to keep the normal goblins between myself and the light mage. This way, he'll have to kill his own people if he wanted to fire his stupid laser beams at me.

Three shield goblins moved to surround me with three spear goblins backing them up.

A solid plan of attack, except I possessed the spell [Madness Infusion] that I could cast on the spear goblins behind the shield goblins.

Taking a risk, I split my concentration and casted it on two spear goblins simultaneously which was taking all my mental capacity to do.

With only one target in front of them, it was obvious the crazed spear goblins would stab their own shield brothers in the back before the others jumped on them to stop their berserk state.

The third shield goblin quickly turned around, expecting to be stabbed by the spear goblin behind it after seeing it happen to two of his brothers.

Conversely, that made the spear goblin panic as he thought the shield goblin had betrayed him, prompting him to start attacking him in turn, both of them killing each other.

Damn, just like that, six goblins are dispatched with just two applications of this spell.

Taking advantage of the opening, I dashed in and swung the shortsword in an arc, decapitating one of the reserve shield goblins while my knife buried itself into the guts of the last spear goblin I had wounded earlier.

One of the goblins wielding a club rushed at me with his weapon waised, a truly stupid move as it left his torso wide open for me to stab with my shortsword.

I pulled back my sword to let his corpse drop onto the ground, just as two more goblins rushed at me with daggers in their hands.

The one on my left leapt at me, giving me the perfect opportunity to move the sword in his flight path and letting him skewer himself on the sword.

I then moved the sword to my right, using the corpse as an impromptu shield against the second goblin.

The goblin hesitated and that was enough for me to slip into his guard and stab my dagger under his chin.

I was about to face the other goblins when a flash of light came towards me. It was only due to my superior dexterity and [Shadow Glide] that I even managed to react to it and leap out of the way in time.

I cursed under my breath as I felt the skin on my left arm burn, having just narrowly avoided the giant laser beam of death shot from that stupid goblin mage. It seems like he had decided he didn't need his subordinates anymore since that beam had also wiped the rest of the goblins out.

I hefted the sword that still has the goblin impaled on it before throwing it like a javelin towards the goblin mage.

The shield flared to life again and my sword bounced off of it without even leaving a mark.

Light began gathering in his palm again and I knew the goblin mage was going to try blasting another giant laser at me.

Hmm? Light? I wonder…

I casted [Shadow Wrap] on the light he was trying to gather and, just like what I was hoping, the light was snuffed out before the spell was formed.

No more lasers for you!

I dashed forward even as the goblin frantically tried to call upon the lights again to form another laser. Unfortunately for him, my [Shadow Wrap] has a much faster casting time than his laser spell so that was quickly stopped too.

My dagger stabbed forward as I tried to gut him, but unfortunately his light barrier stopped me again.

It seems like we are stuck in a stalemate now, with him being unable to attack and myself unable to get past his shield.

Which means the one who runs out of mana first would be the loser.

While his mana pool is definitely higher than mine because of his higher magic stats, I had a way of making sure he runs out of it quickly by continuously attacking the barrier and he must have used quite a bit because of the earlier [Madness Infusion].

If only I had a skill that bypasses this barrier to hit this stupid goblin from inside.

Oh wait, I do!

[Darkness Paranoia]

[Madness Infusion]

The goblin let out a panicked scream as his senses were robbed from him while his mind became clouded with both madness and fear.

His concentration broke for a split second but that was enough for me to dive through his broken barrier to stab him in the chest.

And with that… The last of the goblins fell.

Goblin Slayer title earned!

…

Or I hoped it would happen but it didn't. I guess titles don't work that way?

Oh whatever, this better be enough to bring me to the next tier for my magic skills!