The Mountain Goblin's crushing attack could instantly obliterate any second-tier soldiers.
What made it even more dangerous was that after it dropped a certain amount of health, the attack was triggered instantly, without any warning or build-up.
A bloodthirsty glint appeared in the Goblin's eyes, as if it relished the sight of its enemies, broken and dying in agony.
But that seemingly unstoppable move...
Missed entirely!
No damage at all!
Under Foster's command, his soldiers had already retreated in advance.
As a result, the Mountain Goblin, after its attack missed, fell to the ground due to the recoil from its own momentum.
Without hesitation, Foster ordered another wave of attack!
The Mountain Goblin roared in fury as it got back up.
Foster simply shouted, "Spread out to both sides, continue attacking!"
The Knight Retainers immediately followed his orders. However, the Goblin ignored their attacks and charged forward with incredible speed!
The Goblin's target was the Arrow Towers, the highest damage dealers.
Although the Goblin was slow, the Arrow Towers didn't have much range either.
In just a few steps, the Mountain Goblin reached the Arrow Tower. It then quickly raised its massive stone hammer, preparing to swing down!
A red glow flashed in the Goblin's eyes—it was about to unleash its skill.
As an immobile structure, the Arrow Tower had no way of dodging. One swing from the Goblin would reduce it to rubble.
But just as the Goblin was about to strike, Foster charged forward and quickly swung his sword!
Boom!!
It wasn't the Mountain Goblin unleashing its skill. Instead, it staggered and half-kneeled in pain.
Foster's attack had triggered stagger—he interrupted the Goblin's move in the middle of its swing.
The shockwave from the Goblin's giant hammer sent the Arrow Tower shaking, but the Goblin's attack never landed.
Earlier, Foster had chosen to let the soldiers dodge instead of controlling the Goblin's stagger himself. This way, the Arrow Towers could continue attacking for longer.
While the Mountain Goblin was staggered, the Arrow Towers and the soldiers dealt a decent amount of damage. Foster himself only managed six strikes before stepping back.
In Heroic Epic, there was a stamina system in place. Players couldn't attack indefinitely. Every action, whether it was attacking, dodging, or using skills, drained stamina.
Once a player's stamina ran out, they were forced to stop and couldn't take any further actions until their stamina bar refilled.
During a Goblin's staggered state, any damage inflicted on it didn't count towards the next stagger's damage accumulation.
After dealing a bit of damage, Foster waited patiently for his stamina to recover.
At this point, there was nothing anyone could do to prevent the Mountain Goblin from unleashing another Crushing Attack, targeting the Arrow Tower.
Normally, when facing a player's army, the Goblin wouldn't continuously use its skills. But when targeting buildings, it was considered a sort of "semi-cheat." The game's balance system would lift the restrictions on the Goblin's skills in such cases.
Thus…
Boom!!
With a thunderous crash, one of the Arrow Towers was smashed into countless fragments.
But Foster's expression didn't change. Arrow Towers, as cheap defensive structures, couldn't be moved back to his territory once constructed. After the Boss was slain, they would serve no further purpose.
So, if it was destroyed, so be it.
Foster's earlier actions had simply been about dealing a little extra damage.
After all, even though he was familiar with the Mountain Goblin, the Boss's level advantage and its terrifying damage output were enough to wipe out both Foster and his soldiers. The longer the battle dragged on, the higher the chance of a mistake.
That was why he had previously built the Arrow Towers in a specific order, intending to waste as much time as possible for the Goblin.
When the Goblin moved toward the second Arrow Tower, Foster repeated his earlier tactic—just before the Crushing Attack hit, he struck the Goblin with a key blow, triggering its stagger.
The same thing happened with the third Arrow Tower.
But for the fourth Arrow Tower, Foster allowed the Boss to destroy it.
At this point, the Mountain Goblin's health was nearing 25%, signaling its phase transition.
Foster was playing his hand carefully.
As the Goblin neared the fifth Arrow Tower, just two steps away, its movements suddenly stopped. Its eyes turned crimson as it drove its stone hammer into the ground and began pounding its chest with both arms.
"Roar~"
"Roar~~!!"
The Mountain Goblin's second roar got stuck in its throat, and Foster took the opportunity to strike it down to its knees with a swift blow.
Next…
When the Boss's health dropped to 21%, the last Arrow Tower was destroyed.
Foster took a deep breath. It was time for him to take full control.
Luckily…
His command wasn't the absolute best, but in his previous life, he had led thousands of soldiers, executing precise attacks and strategies.
With 40 soldiers on the field, and 20 of them being untouchable air units, Foster didn't have too much pressure on his calculations.
"Left team one, move six steps to the right! Then attack immediately."
"Right team two, fall back! Keep retreating until you're by my side!"
"Right team two…"
At this point, Foster was floating above the battlefield, drawing most of the Boss's firepower toward himself while quickly commanding his soldiers to move and attack.
The Mountain Goblin's massive and forceful attacks barely even grazed anyone.
Soon, when its health hit 15%, the Goblin transitioned to its next phase, but once again, Foster interrupted it.
Ten minutes later, the soldiers were exhausted. Under normal circumstances, they would have suffered from a debuff, making it hard for them to dodge the Goblin's attacks. However, thanks to the effect of Transcendent Evolution, the soldiers, with full morale, kept their focus.
Foster advanced and struck the frenzied Mountain Goblin, bringing it back to reality with a single blow!
The Goblin's 5% phase transition was also interrupted!
Foster's eyes lit up. Keeping his concentration under such intense pressure was taxing, but at this moment, the game still hadn't completely blended into reality—he was still just an ordinary person.
The dawn of victory was finally at hand!
The Mountain Goblin screamed in fury, even performing two special moves in a row to unleash Crushing Attacks.
Although Foster's vision was starting to blur from exhaustion, his muscles had already memorized the movements of this Boss, one he had fought countless times in his previous life. Even before his brain could fully process the situation, he had already effortlessly dodged the Goblin's enraged attacks.
All he could see was the health bar, emblazoned with a pure black skull icon:
4%
3%
2%
1%
0.6%
0.5%
0.1%
And then…
The Mountain Goblin's eyes glowed red!
With a roar of brutal rage, it raised its massive hammer and swung it directly toward Foster.
But Foster didn't dodge. He charged straight in and stabbed with his sword!
"What the hell am I doing? I've lost my mind!"
He was stunned!
The Boss was about to die, yet in his moment of delirium, he had charged in to face it head-on.
And then…
Thwip!
It was like a balloon popping. That terrifying hammer didn't even come close to hitting him.
Foster's sword had struck like a toothpick against a lead ball, shattering it into dust.
"This is a bad habit from my past life!!"
He stared at the explosion of radiant light and the Loot Orbs that surrounded the Boss, finally realizing what had just happened.
In his final moments of mental exhaustion, his focus shattered. He had instinctively performed the usual move he used when fighting the Mountain Goblin in his previous life—attempting to make a last-ditch attack to kill it while the Boss's health was in the red.
In his past life, Foster had a success rate of around 60%. He often failed due to slight fluctuations in the Heroic Epic damage system, which sometimes led to his downfall.
Back then, he didn't mind.
If he succeeded, he'd snap a screenshot and show off to his friends.
If he failed? No big deal—just go again. After all, the Mountain Goblin respawned quickly.
But this time, it was the early stages of the game!
Foster had even sacrificed everything, building five Arrow Towers just to accumulate enough damage output. If he had failed, it would have taken him until the next day to try again. And since he had drained his Wood, his Stone and Gold Coins were also running low.
Such a failure would set back his development by a huge margin.
Thankfully...
He succeeded!
Foster staggered and collapsed to the ground, lying on the grass, greedily gulping down the air. His heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.
But he didn't have time to check what the Boss had dropped.
Foster's vision flashed with several notifications as he reached level 10:
[You have successfully reached level 10.]
[Detected that the player Foster's profession is 'a person with nothing.' You cannot obtain a skill as a substitute; instead, you will receive one piece of white wax paper.]
[White wax paper: You can use this item on any target to copy one of their white-quality skills.]
Foster's mouth twitched slightly. "A person with nothing"—the start is quite tough, but there are advantages too. Other professions that reach level 10 are rewarded with a white primary skill, and its effects can vary, both good and bad.
The assassin's Landing skill was the most useful, staying relevant even at level 100.
The warrior's Armor Boost was the worst, as it only increased fixed armor and would be obsolete by the time the player reached their thirties.
But the One who owns nothing's level 10 reward? The difference between the top and bottom could be huge!
White wax paper could copy any white-quality skill!
Foster knew that there were a few white-quality skills that were incredibly overpowered! And using the White wax paper was simple—just find a unit with one of those overpowered white-quality skills.
Of course, more important right now was...
[Congratulations on reaching level 10. Talent: All Things United activated.]
[Would you like to open the Talent store? Yes/No]