The torches on the walls of the boss room ignited in a grand display, starting with the ones nearest to Kyoma and spreading out in a wave-like pattern. As each torch lit up, it set off a chain reaction, with the torches on either side of the room blazing up in unison. The flames continued to spread until they reached the biggest torch hanging above the boss' pedestal, which erupted with a resounding boom.
As Kyoma laid eyes on the dungeon boss, the mutated hobgoblin let out a bone-chilling roar. This brute was twice the size of a regular goblin and had biceps that could make even the buffest bodybuilder from earth jealous. To make matters worse, the hobgoblin was surrounded by an army of regular goblins, goblin archers, and goblin mages. Kyoma barely had time to react before the hobgoblin barked orders at the archers, who unleashed a barrage of arrows in Kyoma's direction. With no time to catch his breath, Kyoma had to deftly dodge each incoming arrow. In the midst of the chaos, Kyoma's loyal undead melee dark goblin charged forward, using his mace to deflect some of the arrows aimed at his master. Meanwhile, the undead dark goblin archer activated stealth mode and returned fire, each of his dark energy-infused arrows damaging and debuffing the goblin army.
The windcutter rabbit hopped into the enemy's backline, causing chaos among the archers and mages. Kyoma, now free from dodging arrows, took a moment to evaluate the situation. On the enemy side, there were 20 regular goblins, 10 goblin archers, 2 goblin mages, and the hobgoblin boss. On Kyoma's side, there were only an undead rabbit, an undead dark goblin, and an undead dark goblin archer. It was a lopsided 33 versus 4 battle, and Kyoma was seriously outnumbered.
Goblins on their own were a pushover - any fully grown human could beat one with ease, just like beating a child with a stick. However, when they banded together to form an army, things got serious. It was estimated that a single goblin posed a threat level of G, while a group of 10 could easily jump to threat level F. With a total of 32 goblins and a giant mutated hobgoblin leading them, the threat level was easily bumped up to E.
Kyoma, a fresh G rank adventurer, found himself in a serious numerical pickle. To survive this precarious situation, he needed to be strategic. If he had the option, he would have hightailed it out of that boss room as fast as he could. Unfortunately, the door had other plans and was locked tighter than a pickle jar.
After careful calculation, Kyoma determined that his plan might work, but it was risky. With his strategy in place, he sprang into action. First, he instructed his melee dark goblin to employ guerilla warfare tactics and lure the regular goblins into a frontal attack, only to retreat and divert their attention from Kyoma and the others. The dark goblin archer would remain in stealth and shoot dark arrows from the corner of the room to chip away at the enemy's forces while the windcutter rabbit continued to harass the backline archers and mages. Kyoma would mimic the melee dark goblin's tactics, leading the enemy troops in the opposite direction and dividing the army in two. Meanwhile, the dark archer would provide support from a distance. Kyoma's plan was to create a three-front war and see if the hobgoblin would charge into battle.
Despite Kyoma's carefully planned strategy, things didn't go as planned. His melee dark goblin, instead of using guerrilla warfare tactics to attack the enemy and retreat, charged straight into battle, consumed by a lust for combat. Soon it was overwhelmed by the regular goblins, failing to divert their attention away from Kyoma and the others. The windcutter rabbit, supposed to showcase top-notch assassin moves and draw attention from the backline, got into a head-on battle with a regular goblin archer, unable to jump between squishy targets. The goblin archer swung its bow in a random fashion to fend off the relentless rabbit. As a result, the other goblin archers and mages were free to fire at Kyoma and his undead dark goblin blockhead companion. Only the undead dark goblin archer managed to do a good job of firing dark arrows from afar, damaging and slowing down the enemies. Kyoma was left dumbfounded, his mouth wide open, as he witnessed how unreliable his undead pets were in battle.
"Retreat, damn it!" Kyoma barked in frustration as he broke away from the swarm of goblins he had inadvertently drawn in. Once he had regrouped with his undead dark goblin, Kyoma quickly cast Summon Undead to heal the wounds his goblin companion had sustained. Although primarily used to resurrect the dead, the secondary skill of Summon Undead allowed necromancers to restore their undead summons to full health in exchange for MP. In this single botched encounter, Kyoma had lost nearly one-tenth of his HP and almost one-fifth of his MP just to keep his reckless, battle-hungry goblin alive.
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After the first failed encounter, Kyoma realised that he needed to use manual mode in his necromancy arts to effectively control his undead summons. Manual mode involved micromanaging his undead creatures, allowing for more precise and refined control over their actions. While vague commands such as attack, defend, and retreat could be given to his undeads, Kyoma had discovered through trial and error that giving short but frequent orders was even more effective. However, he had not had much opportunity to practice this method during his dungeon exploration since his pets overwhelmed any goblins they encountered. Now, with his life hanging in the balance, Kyoma had no choice but to learn and train "manual mode" on the spot during the boss fight.
Kyoma stuck to his previous strategy and commanded his dark goblin to attack the right wing of the enemy army through telepathy. "Melee goblin, rush right, attack the closest goblin." Meanwhile, he rushed to the left wing to attempt to split the enemy in half yet again. "Rabbit, hop over, attack the backlines, ambush one archer from behind." He also sent a message to his undead rabbit while keeping an eye on his goblin friend who was about to reach the right wing of the enemy. "Archer, shoot at the right wing." As the goblin finally reached the right wing and attacked the closest enemy regular goblin with a heavy swing of its mace, Kyoma sent another instruction, "Melee goblin, retreat to the right." The dark goblin immediately abandoned the battle and dashed towards the right. Just as the aggroed right wing goblins were about to consume Kyoma's dark goblin with their numerical advantage, timely dark arrows flew over, inflicting damage and slow, preventing them from catching up to the escaped dark goblin.
Kyoma was busy handling the left wing of the goblin army by swinging his Serpent Fang's dagger at the nearest goblin. He then proceeded to dodge its attack by ducking and moving, bobbing and weaving, and attacking as many goblins as possible while inflicting poison damage over time. After he felt he had attracted as many goblins as possible, he commanded his archer to launch cover fire to facilitate his escape. While doing so, he took a quick glance at his rabbit and melee goblin and issued a string of commands
"Melee goblin, attack"
"Rabbit, attack the next target"
"Rabbit, change target"
"Rabbit, change target again"
"Melee goblin, retreat"
"Archer, fire at the right wing"
"Melee goblin, attack"
"Rabbit, change target"
"Melee goblin, attack"
"Archer, left wing cover fire"
"Rabbit, change target"
"Melee goblin, retreat"
Kyoma retreated towards the left corner of the room but immediately returned to engage the few goblins who had managed to catch up to him, as they had not been hit by the dark arrows. After dispatching the pursuing goblins, Kyoma re-engaged the left flank of the goblin army, before once again slipping away and issuing a similar set of commands to his undead allies. By continually repeating this tactic, Kyoma was able to gradually wear down the goblin forces.
<+25 experience points gained>
<+20 experience points gained>
<+23 experience points gained>
<+27 experience points gained>
This strategy was working well in Kyoma's favour due to his and his undead companions' superior stats over the regular goblins. Kyoma's superior strength and agility allowed him to outmanoeuvre the goblin army, while his undead companions' high defence and offensive capabilities made them a formidable force on the battlefield.
However, if one were to analyze this situation, the key to this strategy relies on one crucial factor - the hobgoblin's uninvolvement. Without the hobgoblin's involvement, Kyoma was able to rely on his creature's and his superior stats to isolate the goblin army into three fronts and chip away at them slowly but surely. As time went on, 12 regular goblins, 6 goblin archers, and 1 goblin mage were taken care of. The originally 33 number strong goblin army was cut down by half to 14.
It was at this point when suddenly the familiar roar resounded through the boss room once again. "GARGHHHHHHH!!", the hobgoblin was finally enraged and decided to enter the fray of battle himself. It gripped its large stone hammer and charged towards the direction of Kyoma and his undead companions, who stood ready to face the powerful foe.
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End of chapter stats
Name: Kyoma
Class: Necromancer
Level: 4
Experience points: 732/800
Hp: 425/655
Mp: 50/100
Strength: 35
Agility: 42
Intelligence: 55
Physical resistance: 10
Passive skills: Reincarnation's Blessing (Level 1), Necromancy Mastery (Level 3)
Active skills: Summon Undead (Level 1), Appraisal (Level 1), Assimilate (Level 1)
Titles: Necromancer, Killer of Lesser Field Rabbit, Killer of Goblins
Items: Serpent Fangs Dagger, Leather Armor, Lesser Goblin Horn, 100 Bronze Coins, 3 Silver Coins
Pets: Undead Windcutter Field Rabbit (Level 5), Undead Dark Goblin (Level 5), Undead Dark Goblin Archer (Level 5)