"A-a Hobgoblin…?"
Someone among the players muttered in despair upon seeing the masculine goblin in front of Vince. Aside from that, when looking around them, they noticed some other Hobgoblins.
Although ordinary goblins were mostly at levels 5-10, Hobgoblins range from levels 15-20. Moreover, there were an estimated 30 of them among the enemies.
On the other hand, the players with Vince only range to levels 5-10. So, no matter how one looked at their situation, they were checkmated.
After the yell of the Hobgoblin in front of Vince, the other goblins repeatedly raise their weapons in midair, then when that Hobgoblin brought out its arm forward, all of the other goblins rushed forward like a rushing wave of hungry predators.
Looking at the charging goblins, the players trembled in fear and didn't know what to do. Even though this world was just inside the game, they could not help but feel scared.
"Everyone! Please calm down!" Vince shouted, trying to calm them.
But it was futile.
'Tsk! This is bad. They are no longer listening to me. All of them are already swallowed by fear.'
The menacing red eyes on the goblin's faces brought the players under a debuff known as Intimidation. They felt scared to the bottom of their cores. It lowered their fighting spirit and willpower as if they were under invisible pressure.
Low-level players such as them were weak to debuffs. And goblins' Intimidation grew higher when they were in a group, therefore the intimidation effect was so strong to them.
"Noooooo!!!"
"Don't come!"
The players wailed. However, only eerie laughter they'd got as a response from the enemies.
Hihihihihihihi!
They instinctively aimed their bows, but it was as though their quivering hands froze and could not come to release those arrows. On top of that, the mages could not fire basic magic attacks and the assassins could not come forward to defend the range units.
Vince's eyes dilated looking at them. He could do nothing more. He could no longer save this situation. They were done for. The only ones who could fight along with him were the remaining village guards who were armed with stone spears.
They were just normal-tier weapons.
Clenching his teeth, Vince readied his sword and shield.
He shot a look at the Hobgoblin in front of him. 'No matter what happens, I won't die without a fight! I have to kill some of these monsters so that even if I lose XP as part of the death penalty, my XP won't be reduced that much,' he thought.
When he saw the Hobgoblin coming toward him, Vince yelled. "Come!" He immediately lowered his stance and raised the shield and pulled the sword at shoulder level, pointing its tip at the enemy.
The ground trembled caused by the charging wave of goblins. Everyone's eyes widened in despair.
At that moment, out of the blue, everyone heard a thunderous noise.
Boom!
The sound was thunderous, yet it wasn't from thunder. It seemed it was caused by a strong attack.
A second after the noise, they heard cries.
"Gwar!"
"Gobor!"
"Gwek!"
The goblins stopped on their feet and looked around, slightly confused. Those cries were familiar to them. Then, after those cries, they were followed by other cries and another.
"Gorr!"
This time, even the Hobgoblins stopped charging.
"Hobo?" The Hobgoblin in front of Vince looked around with a puzzled expression.
The players were also wondering what was happening. While wondering what happened, one of the players noticed something.
"Look!"
He pointed at the back of the goblins' line. When the other players looked to where he was pointing. They saw some silhouettes flying in midair.
"Eh?"
"The goblins are flying?!"
Someone asked in astonishment when they realized the flying silhouettes were actually the goblins.
But there was something odd with it. However they looked at it, their way of flying was not ordinary.
They were…
"They have blasted away?!"
Looking at those goblins, they noticed that most of them were shredded and light particles could be seen from them. Some of them even turned to pixels even before they landed on the ground.
"Just what is happening over there?" Vince asked when he noticed it.
Noticing that their comrades on the back were being slaughtered, the goblins turned around to face the fool.
But, like the others, those who confronted the newcomer suffered the same fate as those who came to face him first.
It didn't take long for all of them, players or goblins, to see the slaughterer.
At the flash of lightning, a silhouette standing in the middle of the tide of mad goblins.
Donning a set of glossy jet-black armor, and wielding a large sword in hand, he walked casually as though he was just taking a walk in the park.
As he was slaying the goblins, the eyes on his black helm lit in magenta color in the middle of darkness.
Ten goblins came charging at him, but with a slight wave of his weapon, they were shredded to pieces like papers. Some were thrown away like pebbles on the roadside.
Everyone, players or not, was looking at him with astounded faces.
"B-Black Knight…" They heard one of the village guards mutter the words.
On top of that person, they saw a glowing title in black and magenta color the words
The novice players looked delighted when they saw the title.
"A-a player!"
"S-Someone came to save us!"
"Wha—?! Really?!"
"Look!"
Finding hope from their hopeless situation, the novice players started cheering.
"Yes! Kill them!"
"Please!"
The goblins became more furious. In a blink of an eye, a group of goblins encircled him before they attacked at the same time. They saw the Black Knight thrust his weapon downward.
A powerful force generated around him, shaking the ground in a second. The goblins around him were all stunned when hit by it.
"Hard Strike…"
Vince muttered. In his mind, it was rare to see such skill. It was the first skill of the Warrior class player. The power of it depends on the strength of the user.
After using the Hard Strike skill, it was followed by basic attacks. But it was enough to get rid of those stunned goblins.
Nonetheless, the battle had just started.