Zayn knew that he was weak but he was disappointed in his strength nonetheless.
He had never been strong to begin with, so there shouldn't be a reason for him to feel like this. There was no time for him to waste either.
Zayn had to use his momentum and every ounce of strength in his body to lift the iron pole as quickly as possible.
The tip of the stone spear held by the Goblin Skeleton was already cutting through his school uniform when he twisted his body. While his upper body was moving slowly, the iron pole collided with the side of the blade of the stone spear, forcefully changing the trajectory of the attack.
Droplets of blood trickled down his torn student uniform but Zayn didn't even notice that anymore. He turned further and spun around fast, kicking the Goblin Skeleton with all his might.
The Goblin Skeleton was flung across the wide cavern tunnel but it never let go of its spear. Despite the monster's desperate effort to hold onto the stone spear, it would never be able to use it again. Zayn shot forward, tightly holding onto the iron pole which he smashed down on the head of the Goblin Skeleton.
He didn't care that the Goblin Skeleton was lying on the ground, or that it had not even gotten a chance to defend against his attack. There was simply no reason for him to show any remorse. The Goblin was already dead, to begin with, and even if it were still alive, he would attack it again! Undeads were not to be taken lightly, after all!
Right now it was a do-or-die situation and he didn't dare to hesitate!
After he smashed the head of the Goblin Skeleton thrice, it finally stopped moving. The skeletal body of the Goblin was not magically held together anymore and the bones scattered on the ground.
'Undead Awakening, as expected…well, somehow expected, I guess?' Zayn thought when a purple marble the size of a ping pong ball was unveiled in the midst of the scattered bones.
The marble was cracked at the area the iron pole had impacted with tremendous force. It was damaged and the Undead was thus incapable of being animated or moving around properly.
Fog emerged from within the cracks of the marble where it gathered. Something that looked like a small formless flame formed and it began to ascend into the air.
Zayn smiled at the sight of the formless flame that hovered in the air as it ascended slowly. His hand reached out and he quickly closed his fingers around the formless flame.
All of a sudden, his hand began to hurt tremendously. Several tiny golden particles seeped into his hand through the palm. The pain Zayn felt because of that was tremendous but he would never dare to retract his hand.
Only when a large chunk of the formless flame passed through his hand did Zayn move once again. The formless flame was only a tenth of the size it had been before and soul particles had entered Zayn's body, yet, he didn't seem surprised.
After all, the formless was a Soul Wisp, an ascending soul that was empowered by the coalescence of the soul particle remnants of the deceased. Touching the Soul Wisp was enough to deprive it of the soul particles that were attached to it and transfer them to himself, making them his.
It hurt a little but no Adventurer would complain if enduring a little bit of pain helped them to become stronger.
To their misery, it was not possible to see the Soul Wisps under normal circumstances. Zayn was just a unique case because…he was special. Zayn didn't remember why he could see Soul Wisps but he knew what they were and that his strength would increase the moment they emerged in front of him.
Others could only hope that they would coincidentally be in the path of the Soul Wisp to absorb its soul particles. In the rare event of someone walking through Soul Wisps, one would be considered to have been granted a Soulwish, the wish of a Monster to make the Adventurer stronger.
This was utter bullshit but Zayn simply accepted it because mankind was naive enough to believe that something like the Soulwish truly existed.
However, Zayn was just looking at the last remnants of the Soul Wisp, the Soul's Essence, with a grim expression.
'Looks like you will escape me. But that's your misfortune, poor soul!'
There was no time to waste looking at something only he could see. He had to avoid the attack of the remaining Goblin Skeletons.
Three of them were still unscathed and the skull of the fourth was about to break apart. It could still move, but that was what drew his attention to the fourth Goblin Skeleton.
'Just below the neck?' Zayn thought when he noticed the Goblin Skeleton's purple marble.
The corners of his lip tilted upward as he shot forward. He ignored the attacks of the three unscathed Goblin Skeletons and smashed the Iron pole down on the fourth Goblin Skeleton after evading its attack.
His physical strength had increased slightly thanks to the soul particles he had absorbed a moment ago. It was not much, but still enough to cause a tiny change. It was enough to crush the purple marble of the fourth Goblin Skeleton with the second strike.
Zayn jumped to the right the moment he ended the fourth Goblin Skeleton. No sooner had he jumped, three stone spears pierced into the spot he had been just a moment earlier.
He rolled over the rough ground of the steep cavern tunnel and hit both his head and back at some sharp edges.
His sight was blurred for a second or two and he felt unable to get up from the ground. Zayn realized that he lost his balance for a few seconds and he could only jump up from the ground when he saw the yellowish bones of the remaining three Goblin Skeletons approaching him rapidly.
Blood poured down his forehead and he felt a stinging pain in his back.
'...These fucking bastards!'
Gritting his teeth at the hazy sight of the three Undead Soul Monsters he could only curse inwardly.
However, he was far from giving up. He didn't even think about it.
On the contrary, he was just getting started!
It was about time that the hunt began…
There was no need to waste any time on these small fries!