Chapter 11 - Goblin Charger
Of course, no matter what kind of monster the dungeon's Boss was, Zwei would still advance.
The goblins he encountered on the new beast path were much smarter than before. Once, a strong goblin and two fodder goblins had even ambushed Zwei.
Fortunately, Zwei had been maintaining his vigilance and did not panic too much at the surprise attack. As a result, he had managed to dodge the ambush, barely avoiding death by the strong goblin's blade. Immediately afterward, he put some distance between himself and the goblins and retaliated.
After Zwei fired the last Lesser Fireball, which ended the life of an escaping fodder goblin, his legs went limp, and he powerlessly sank to the ground. Fortunately, the ground was blanketed in fallen leaves and branches, so he didn't hurt himself from the fall.
If I hadn't reacted just now, I would've most likely died to that strong goblin! Zwei's heart pounded with fear after the battle.
The temperature of this forest was quite high. Due to his nervous state before, he finally realized that both warm and cold sweat had long since drenched his back after his rapid heartbeat eased.
Having the burlap shirt stick to his body felt extremely uncomfortable, but now wasn't the time for complaints.
After reluctantly eating one of the dry hardtacks, Zwei rested for a short period before resuming his raid.
However, after encountering that ambush, he advanced with much more caution. So long as he heard even the slightest movement, he would immediately send a Fireball flying in that direction.
And surprisingly, in terms of effectiveness, this plan was actually good.
Goblins were merely monsters with slightly higher intelligence than wild beasts. They naturally couldn't remain fearless in the face of death like Qiu Shaoyun[1].
In fact, as soon as these goblins saw flames going up around them, they would run out of their covert.
Meanwhile, after losing the forest's protection, their slow bodies were basically live targets for Zwei to vent his anger and frustration on.
Like so, Zwei took care of another three strong goblins and one goblin spellcaster, as well as the fodder goblins they led.
Unfortunately, he still didn't manage to collect anything valuable.
However, I did gather the necessary number of broken blades, at least. While consoling himself like so, Zwei continued advancing.
Another thing worth mentioning was that the beast path had disappeared at some point. Now, Zwei was only advancing through places sparsely populated with trees.
The forest was rife with natural barriers, which greatly hampered Zwei's ability to attack with his magic.
If a goblin was over 10 meters away from him, it was almost impossible for him to land an attack.
However, even after anxiously walking through the forest for some time, he hadn't encountered a single goblin. And eventually, he arrived before a large clearing.
If an abnormality occurs, there must be a problem causing it. Zwei did not hurry to enter the clearing. Instead, he frowned as he scanned it.
The large clearing was similar to the one he encountered at the end of the Night Forest's Outskirts. There was also a small bonfire burning in the middle, and behind the bonfire was a bamboo chest.
Just as Zwei was considering whether he should circle around to try and directly secure the treasure chest, the sudden sound of wood breaking came from his right.
If he could see beyond the woods at this time, he would definitely discover that many birds had been startled by the sound. And as the birds flew into the air, their fluttering wings cast a huge shadow over the green canopy.
A few seconds later, a silhouette about one and a half meters long burst out of the jungle to the right of Zwei. Afterward, using its short hooves, the silhouette ran two circles around the bonfire with startling speed before slowly coming to a halt.
Only after the silhouette stopped was Zwei able to see what he was dealing with.
His opponent was a goblin riding a wild boar.
Normally, even strong goblins would, at best, be geared in leather armor. However, this boar-riding goblin actually wore plate armor that covered its torso. Although the armor looked too big for the goblin and was rusty due to poor maintenance, the armored goblin undoubtedly looked much more vigorous than strong goblins. Fortunately, even though the goblin's upper-body defense was significant, Zwei was someone accustomed to hitting his enemies in the face.
The goblin had also disassociated itself from the category of wooden sticks and broken blades, as its weapon of choice was a metal spear with a sharp tip.
Also worth mentioning was that its lower body was different from its strong upper body. Maybe from disuse, its leg muscles had actually atrophied and looked incredibly fragile.
If one carefully inspected the goblin's mount, one would also discover that the boar was different from ordinary wild boars. Instead, it strangely had long, needle-like fur. If not for the boar's fur being straightened in one direction, even the goblin would most likely suffer.
Zwei instantly recognized the wild boar as an arrow porcupine, the monster responsible for sending his predecessor to the afterlife.
As for the goblin riding atop the arrow porcupine, in terms of defense and size, it was superior to all the strong goblins he had encountered before.
A Level 3 Elite Goblin and a Level 3 Arrow Porcupine.
If Zwei had encountered either of these monsters alone, he would have been confident of killing them easily. Although the arrow porcupine would pose a little trouble, it still wasn't difficult to deal with it.
However, when these two Level 3 bastards took a fancy to each other, things became troublesome.
The cooperation of these two monsters would not result in a simple increase in combat power, such as "three plus three equals six." Instead, the two would become a special and rare entity in the goblin community.
"A Level 7 Goblin Charger, huh…"
Although Zwei felt upset at this situation, unless the elite goblin took the initiative to dismount, his current self was indeed helpless against the two bastards. The arrow porcupine had long-range attacking capabilities. Coupled with its superior mobility, it was a scary opponent for Zwei to face.
Normally, he could've still defeated the arrow porcupine by taking advantage of its greatest weakness, which was its inability to halt its charge abruptly and change directions. So long as he successfully evaded its charge, there would be a huge opportunity to attack the porcupine.
However, with the elite goblin working with the arrow porcupine, the goblin could make up for the porcupine's weakness by using its spear.
Now, if this duo initiated a charge, he would have to either evade and attack them at a similarly astonishing speed or simply have the strength to overwhelm their charge. Otherwise, he would be better off running away.
In terms of speed and strength, Zwei, who currently did not possess any buffing magic, was clearly at a disadvantage. He couldn't take the goblin charger's attack head-on. However, he also couldn't retreat without a fight. After all, that would mean wasting his daily entry into the Trial Gate, which would, in turn, affect his other plans.
After reaching into his Temporary Pocket and verifying its contents, Zwei drafted a plan in his mind.