Skullius hid in a corner as he anticipated the arrival of the last two goblins who were coming for him after he had hacked away at their staff wielding buddy.
Admittedly, it was hard to manoeuvre with a sword and two staves when you had one hand, thus why he was resorting to more... cowardly, tactics.
As he heard the approaching footsteps from the goblins, he quickly checked the information on the new staff with his guidance field. He hoped it would be as useful as the one he already had.
~~~
[Short magic staff]
A staff for the basic manipulation of the element of fire.
-Damage-
20-40
-Durability-
28/40
-Special Effect-
[Skill: Flame Shot]
Release a burst of condensed fire at the target.
Mana Requirements: 70 Mana Points
Cooldown: 30 seconds
~~~
As he saw the information, Skullius instantly appreciated the difference between the two staves he had, starting with the mundane.
The short magic staff was indeed shorter than the crooked magic staff. It had a darker shade on its surface which fit well with what it represented. These physical details perhaps mirrored the difference in calibre between the staves.
A staff for wielding fire.
This was a great addition to his collection and he couldn't wait to test out how it fared when he used it against strong enemies. Who better to test this out on than the two goblins that were rushing towards him.
'Funny. These guys don't make me as anxious any more, even though they are stronger than most of the enemies I've faced so far,' Skullius thought.
The footsteps stopped by the entrance to the hut.
Skullius' pursuers were being vigilant in their malice, choosing not to enter immediately, in case they got slaughtered in one unexpected attack. They didn't know who they were fighting after all.
'Tktktktkt. Stall all you want bros. It gives me enough time for the cooldown,' Skullius thought as devilish thoughts of slaughter swirled in his mind.
While Red Rage was off killing the archers, Skullius was dealing with this and it had barely been twenty-five seconds since he and his Apostle had split up.
The goblins didn't stall much longer, rushing in with one facing left with its sword while the other faced right with an arrow nocked on its bow!
As the two scoured the interior of the hut, scanning the crude ceiling and uneven walls of mud in their view, they felt a burst of heat that made their skin crawl!
From the corner, in their sights, a skeleton with the light of blue flames flickering in its sockets pointed their companion's staff at them, a bright red flame condensing at the staff's tip!
Tktktktktktktk!
The two heard the unsettling sound of the skeleton's teeth clacking as in the next moment, the bright red ball of fire shot towards them!
The heat it exuded was already potent despite not even singing them yet. The speed of the fireball was great that the two only responded a moment later, when it was merely an inch away!
The goblin with the bow loosened its arrow which was dodged by Skullius as he leapt to the side. He had expected it.
But then...
BOOOM!
A scorching explosion rocked the hut with the screams of the two goblins ringing out at the same time!
The floor was charred and red, the temperature rising scaldingly in a matter of moments!
Skullius knew the two were not dead as one of them had dived to the side while the other jumped back as it loosened its arrow before the [Flame Shot] hit.
As such, he dropped the short staff and raced towards the two who were quite gruesomely injured!
With his sword, he aimed for the archer first, leaping above the still smoking floor and stabbing at it as it coughed hoarsely!
Skullius' steel sword plunged deep into the goblin's neck and he viciously slashed it through the side to rip out a large chunk of flesh!
Blood gushed out as the goblin screeched.
He immediately turned to the other goblin which had already stood up and struggled to hold its sword properly as its arm was charred.
Skullius jumped up and brought down his sword again, exerting the majority of his strength downwards to overpower the goblin which could only watch as the figure of a tall, robed skeleton descended upon it cruelly.
It barely cost Skullius a few seconds to kill the goblin, numbers of experience gains gushing into his guidance field!
Afterwards, the tall Boneman reached for his staff and began to extract the Null Life Essence within a large range, the two goblins he had just killed included.
Before long, 820 points of NLE in total were his to splurge.
Skullius nodded in excitement as he saw the numbers, but his joy died down after he saw the figure of experience points he required for the next level. He could only sigh as he wondered.
'I first thought that I would manage somehow to reach Tier 1 before 24 hours passed, but this "triple the amount of experience" thing is really... Argh! I need hundreds of thousands of experience points to reach Tier 1! How am I supposed to do that?! Is becoming Tier 1 for me that big of a deal? These goblins are just so weak even as Tier 1s! Will it be that different for me?' he thought in frustration. 'It better be worth it.'
Even with this thought, Skullius didn't let the seemingly impossible task encourage him to go jump of a cliff. He was patient.
He could probably scrape something up, right? Atrocious luck aside, of course.
Soon, Red Rage popped into the hut having finished his mission.
Skullius instructed him to grab the arrows from the goblin he had just killed which seemed to have some kind of poison.
The two walked out of the hut and felt a terrifying shock on the ground with muffled booms that originated a short distance away!
"Right! There's that fight!" Skullius thought as he rushed through the space between the huts hurriedly followed by his trusty companion.
Strewn on the ground were dead bodies and blood amidst the raging smoke and fires.
Soon, they hid within a burning hut once more as they watched the fight from closer up.
A goblin with a saber and one who fought bare-handed were facing off.
If Skullius could swallow lumps of saliva, he would, as when he checked the statuses of these goblins, plus the one of the goblin which had a looming hazy figure , he almost dropped his jaw...