Quin pulled his sword out of the head of the last goblin, but he knew the battle was not over. He could sense the hobgoblins not too far away.
He turned around and looked at the party. "You were able to reserve your strength in this fight, and that's a good thing. But now, there are several hobgoblins headed our way, so you have to fight," Quin said.
"Seven, there are seven hobgoblins, and their base strength is fifty to seventy. But there is one with stats in the eighties. I'll handle that one personally," Silva informed them.
"Silva is taking out the strongest; that leaves us with six. I'll be handling two at a time. You four have to find a way to win or at least hold off the other five.
Each of you has to take one on and hold it off until we are done or until you can kill it," Quin laid out the plan.
With the plan in motion, they headed towards the hobgoblins, and the goblins headed to them as well.
Finally, they met with the over ten-feet-tall goblins, holding massive weapons. Their muscles tightened, their veins popped, and they stood like mountains, like giants about to crush puny insects.
"Silva, now!" Quin ordered. Silva charged like a bullet. He was so fast that the goblins swung down to hit him but couldn't get him. He easily dodged them and got to the goblin at the back, the strongest one.
The hobgoblins saw that he was going after their leader. They tried to give chase, but Quin and the rest started their assault, forcing the goblins to concentrate on their own issues.
Silva stood before the leader with a smile on his face. It had been a while since he faced something with reasonably high stats, and he was eager to play with this goblin.
"Alright, I won't use too many skills, just the bare minimum. I want to be able to savor this fight," Silva said to himself.
The leader got pissed at Silva's nonchalant attitude. He swung his sword down, wanting to crush Silva.
The sword cut through Silva cleanly and hit the ground, digging a deep hole and raising dust. But the goblin didn't feel like he had hit something; it was as though the sword passed through air.
When he looked again, he saw the afterimage that he had cut fade away. In panic, he looked around for Silva but could not find him.
Then suddenly, from above, he felt a chill. He looked up and saw Silva coming down. The goblin instinctively used his sword to block. Silva slashed down, and both swords collided with a loud bang.
The leader was forced several steps back before he found his footing. He looked up and saw Silva standing there with a smile.
The look on Silva's face pissed him off to no end. He could tell Silva was mocking him, a great goblin warrior. He wanted to rip that look off Silva's face; he wanted to stomp all over his corpse.
"ROARRRRRRRRR!!!!" He roared in anger, charging forward like a bullet, his every step leaving prints in the solid ground.
"Now you're talking," Silva said. He charged at the goblin to meet it halfway. He swung his sword, but the goblin parried it, sending Silva's arm up with his sword.
The goblin looked up at Silva's face. He wanted to see the despair that would form as he landed the final attack, but when he looked up, he saw Silva smiling.
A chill ran through his body. Why was Silva smiling? It was clear that he had the upper hand and would end things now, but he wasn't sure anymore.
He felt like if he made the next move and slashed down at Silva, he would be the one to die. This feeling overpowered all other thoughts in his mind.
His body moved on its own, and he leaped back a couple of meters. When he stopped, he looked at Silva again and saw Silva frowning.
At that point, he knew that Silva was baiting him in. That frown meant that he had just escaped a deadly trap, one that could have claimed his life.
"Why did you retreat? Is that how a goblin warrior acts? You have seriously pissed me off now," Silva said in anger. He kicked off like a bullet.
The goblin took a stance to block Silva, but Silva disappeared.
"You think you can block me? I told you I'm pissed off right now," Silva said behind the goblin. The goblin jumped in pure fright. He tried to get away, but Silva didn't let him.
Silva was not holding a sword. His hands were covered in black glistening scales, with inch-long claws that looked like they were made of metal.
The goblin trembled as he saw this. He looked at Silva's eyes—they glowed red and gave off a threatening aura that suffocated him.
Silva dug his hand into the stomach of the goblin, deep inside until his forearm was buried in the goblin.
"I'll show you what pissing me off causes," Silva said and activated the spell, Consume. The soul of the leader started getting pulled into Silva.
The process was not simple at all. It caused the goblin so much pain that he yelled out his guts.
[You have gained 30 EXP] x10
[You have gained 30 EXP] x10
[You have gained 30 EXP] x10
Silva kept getting notifications as he absorbed the soul of the goblin. He had only ever used this once. It gave him a lot of EXP, but he didn't want to use it much because it caused unimaginable pain and destroyed your soul, so no reincarnation for that being.
The body of the goblin fell to the ground lifeless, empty, and hollow.
[You have killed a hobgoblin, 100 EXP, 50 SP] x10.
"Just a little more before I level up, that's good," Silva said. He undid his scales and claws and went to meet the others.