Kevin leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, thinking about the recent battle and whether he had made any mistakes or if there were better ways to handle it.
Eric stood up from a nearby boulder and walked over to Kevin. He spoke softly, "Kevin, I'd like to talk to you."
"What's up, Eric?" Kevin asked.
"In the last battle, you were the calmest and performed the best out of all of us. With your guidance, I was able to defeat that goblin. So, I was thinking, in the next battle, you should lead us," Eric said with solemnity.
"I think I can do that. But what about Robert? Will he listen to me?" Kevin replied.
"I'll talk to him right now, don't worry," Eric assured him. He went back to the boulder where Robert was and whispered a few words to him. Robert was initially surprised and resistant, but after Eric spoke some more, he nodded in agreement.
"Alright, guys. I think we've rested enough. Let's go find the next unlucky goblin," Eric clapped his hands together.
Upon hearing this, Kevin walked over to Eric's side from the wall, and Robert stood up from the boulder, dusting off his pants. They searched the surrounding abandoned buildings for a while and soon saw a lone goblin on the road. The goblin had only a short sword in its hand.
Kevin stopped Eric and Robert with his hand and pointed to a nearby building. He made a quiet gesture and a signal to attack together in a moment.
Eric and Robert nodded and quietly moved to the side of the other building. When they were in position, Kevin waved to signal them, and Eric shouted as he charged towards the goblin with his sword drawn. Robert hesitated for a moment, but seeing Kevin charging towards the goblin with a steel pipe in his hand, he also drew his sword and charged forward with a shout.
Eric was the first to approach the goblin, swinging his sword downwards to attack the small creature. The goblin dodged the attack by jumping to the side, but at that moment, Kevin's steel pipe grazed its waist. Feeling the pain, the goblin bared its teeth and let out a low growl before swinging its short sword at Kevin. Kevin took a step back to avoid the sword and made way for Robert, who had rushed over from the side. Robert quickly slashed at the goblin several times, although most of the attacks were dodged, leaving two wounds on the goblin's chest and stomach.
"Now, Eric!" Kevin shouted.
"Power attack!" Eric's sword hit the goblin hard from behind, not piercing through, but sending it flying.
The nearest Robert saw the goblin struggling to get up from the ground and took two steps forward, chopping at its head a few times until it stopped moving completely.
"Great, I killed a goblin!" Robert panted and shouted excitedly.
"That's right, you killed it, but I think you don't have to be so excited about it. You're consuming a lot of energy like that," Kevin suggested.
"Well, Kevin, maybe you're right, but I did kill a goblin," Robert seemed indifferent to the suggestion. Kevin heard him and gave up on suggesting further.
They took a break where they were, and Eric looked to the side, pointing at a building and said in surprise, "This is where I followed Wood and the others yesterday. It's where I awakened my profession by fighting goblins inside."
"Then let's go inside and find the goblins!" Robert said excitedly upon hearing Eric's words.
"That should be doable. The only question is whether there are any goblins left inside after Wood and the others came yesterday," Kevin replied.
"I'm not sure about that," Eric shrugged.
They approached the abandoned building and upon entering, they found two goblins on either side of the staircase on the first floor, each wielding short swords similar to the ones the group had just encountered. Kevin led them to circle around to the other side of the building, but they found no other entrances and were forced to hide outside the starting entrance. After some consideration, they decided to attack directly from there. Robert volunteered to charge in first, eager to take on one of the goblins in a one-on-one fight, while Eric engaged the other. Kevin watched from a safe distance to assess the situation.
"Accelerate!" Robert used his skill boost to engage the goblin, and they were evenly matched for a time. Meanwhile, Eric used a defensive skill called "Block" to successfully defend against the goblin's attacks without taking any damage. Kevin decided it would be better to assist Eric and joined in the attack from the side. The goblin became flustered facing the attacks of two people, and Kevin seized the opportunity to knock the goblin's sword out of its hand with a steel pipe. "Eric!" he called out.
Eric understood Kevin's intention and shouted, "Heavy Strike!" His iron sword slashed down from the upper right, leaving a deep diagonal wound on the goblin's body. Kevin then kicked the goblin with his right foot, sending it flying into the wall. The goblin convulsed for a moment and then lay still.
On the other side of the room, Robert was shouting anxiously, "Kevin, Eric, come help me!" He had already sustained several bloody wounds from the intense fight with his goblin opponent, and blood was quickly flowing from the more serious injuries. Eric quickly moved in to intercept the goblin's attacks, while Robert saw Kevin approaching and shouted to him, "Kevin, quickly heal me! Cure Blood won't work on these wounds, use Healing Magic!"
Kevin was hesitant to use Healing Magic when he saw the multiple bleeding wounds on Robert's body, but seeing the fierce expression on Robert's face, he held his right palm out to him and said, "Healing Magic."
Robert lit up with a green glow, and the previously bleeding wounds on his body became as good as new under the cover of the light. Even the scars couldn't be seen, only the torn clothes indicating that he had been injured before.
When Robert saw the wounds disappear and no longer felt any pain, he became excited again. "That damn green-skinned beast!" He joined the attack against the goblin that had hurt him. Soon, Robert and Eric defeated the goblin, and Robert delivered the final blow.
Fully healed by the healing spell, Robert was now excited. "I basically defeated that goblin by myself. These green-skinned guys don't stand a chance." "I'm not afraid of goblins either," Kevin thought but didn't say. After Robert finished speaking, he walked towards the staircase between the two goblins. "What are you going to do?" Kevin asked.
"Of course, I'm going to keep going up and see if there are any more of these green-skinned guys. If there are, I'll kill them directly." Before Kevin and Eric could say anything, Robert had already gone up. Kevin and Eric had no choice but to follow.
On the second floor, they only saw one goblin with a stone axe hanging something around its neck. Robert rushed towards it immediately, but the goblin didn't fight back. Instead, it took the thing around its neck and blew it, revealing that it was a whistle. Kevin and the others were confused when they heard the sound. Suddenly, heavy footsteps were heard on the stairs leading from the second to the third floor, and a large, muscular figure appeared before them. It was a huge goblin holding a broadsword. "Goblin warrior," Kevin pronounced the name he had heard from other monster-hunting teams while helping at the church.
"I think we're tough enough to take down this big guy," Robert said.
"I think we can give it a try," Eric looked eager to fight.
Seeing their appearance, Kevin had to adopt a fighting stance and prepare for battle. "You guys go and hold back the goblin warriors. I'll take care of that goblin and meet up with you later," Kevin gave instructions. Afterward, Eric and Robert fought against the goblin warriors, while Kevin fought against the stone axe goblin. As a priest, Kevin didn't have the acceleration and blocking skills of a warrior. He carefully moved his position to avoid being hit and used his peripheral vision to observe the battle on the other side.
On the other side, Eric confronted the goblin warrior's attacks head-on. Although there was a gap in strength, he could barely take them on with his blocking ability. Meanwhile, Robert attacked the goblin warrior's body from the side, but only managed to cause shallow wounds that didn't even draw blood.
"Robert, use heavy strikes!" Kevin issued instructions from the other side.
Robert heard the instructions and shook his body. He repeatedly shouted "heavy strikes" while hitting the goblin warrior's waist from behind with his sword. Strangely enough, these attacks didn't cause any deeper wounds, and the sword didn't even emit a faint red light.
The goblin warrior seemed to be infuriated by the attack from behind. It roared loudly, stretched out its arms, and the broadsword in its hand emitted a dazzling light, obviously, it was a warrior's "heavy strike"!
"Get out of the way!" Before Eric and Robert could hear Kevin's reminder, the broadsword had already swung around, and they were both knocked away. A large amount of blood flew out of their chests. Seeing this scene, Kevin quickly used a steel pipe to knock the stone axe goblin aside, and then used healing spells on Eric and Robert in turn.
However, the knocked down stone axe goblin immediately got up and swung its axe fiercely towards Kevin, who was somewhat panicked, and using healing spells on Robert. With a loud bang, the axe collided with the light armor on Kevin's upper body. Because Kevin hadn't noticed this attack, he was completely impacted, and the steel pipe in his right hand was thrown away. A cut was opened on the back of his light armor. The stone axe goblin picked up the steel pipe and threw it aside, and this time, Kevin had lost his weapon.
Kevin's upper body was also hit hard and he spat out a mouthful of blood. He placed his palm on himself and whispered, "Blood-Activating Technique." He felt a little better and drew out his iron sword from behind. Although the iron sword was not as handy as the steel pipe, it had higher damage. After a while, Kevin killed the stone axe goblin and turned to look at the other side where Eric and Robert were in a disadvantageous situation.
The deeper wounds on the goblin warrior's body were on the front, obviously caused by Eric. "Why don't you use a heavy strike?"
Robert hesitated and said, "Because... because I don't know how. Actually, I am a thief."
"What!?" Eric was shocked to hear Robert's words, while Kevin, although having some suspicions, was still surprised to hear it. He had already joined the fight against the goblin warrior.
"Why didn't you tell us the truth?" Kevin couldn't help but say.
"I thought, like Eric, I could awaken the warrior profession by fighting goblins a few times," Robert said. "But now we can only awaken one profession. If you awaken as a thief, you cannot awaken as a warrior," Kevin replied. "I didn't know," Robert said, his eyes a little evasive when he spoke, but Kevin didn't have time to look at Robert's eyes in this urgent situation.
The goblin warrior suddenly stretched out his arm. Seeing this, Kevin said, "Get out of the way quickly!" and swung a powerful attack. Kevin and Eric dodged the attack, but Robert was not able to fully dodge due to fear and was thrown out again.
This attack did not shine on the sword, but was a powerful blow rather than a heavy strike. However, Robert, who was hit by the attack, felt the pain and saw the clothes and leather armor on his chest break open, as if he saw the blood spewing out again.
"No, no, I can't die here." Robert stood up and staggered back, running down the stairs.
"No, Robert, don't go!" Kevin shouted in astonishment, trying to keep Robert from leaving, but Robert didn't turn back and left. Just then, "Kevin!" Eric exclaimed, as the goblin warrior seemed to have figured out that Kevin was the one providing the responses. He raised his broadsword towards Kevin, and a faint red light appeared on the sword, signaling a heavy strike. Kevin heard the sound and turned back, but he couldn't dodge the already falling sword in time.
The attack tore open his front armor, causing a horrific wound on Kevin's body, with blood spraying out. Because the armor provided some protection, Kevin's body was not completely cut open but was knocked into the wall, hitting it heavily.
Kevin collapsed by the wall, and his eyes gradually dimmed. The healing spell no longer had enough magic to be released. Am I going to die? Kevin thought. He could still use the Vitality Spell, but it wouldn't help him now.
Kevin struggled to raise his hand towards Eric and muttered,
"Vitality Spell." His voice was barely audible, and even Kevin himself could hardly hear it. Seeing a faint green light shining on Eric's body, Kevin closed his eyes, his body unable to support itself and fell to the ground.
Kevin felt like he had detached from his body, feeling very light and no longer in pain.
However, he felt like he was falling down. Soon, he seemed to have arrived at a dark place. Just as Kevin felt like he was completely dead, a mechanical female voice rang in his head,
"Special individual detected carrying the Law of Death. The individual's Law of Death power has reached the standard, meeting the conditions for awakening the profession of 'Underworld Person'."