The small speck of orange started to drip unto the floor, then started to crawl.
S***! The unexpectedness of the events caught me off-guard. I sprung to my feet, while grabbing whatever my hands could hold. A tugged at the soft, fluffy cloth then fanned it at the crawling tongues of fire. However, the fire caught the hem instead.
My eyes shot wide open at the realization, but I didn’t have time to process. A few other sharp sounds sounded behind me. My instincts kicked in, and I swept the blanket towards my back like an experienced matador luring a raging buffalo.
I could feel the blanket being hit a few times, then it started to get hot. Sure enough, the blanket already caught fire. I balled it up as quick as I could, then threw it to the now broken window. The literal ball of fire furthered the damage on the window, and a few more blazing arrows flew right in and landed with heavy thunks.
I gathered mana into my hands, trying to blow the flames with Gale. I hadn’t had the opportunity to use it since regressing to level 1, but my body still knew how to cast it at will. But taking a closer look, the fire seemed to drip into the floor. Oil! The arrows were imbued with oil!
I immediately dispersed my mana. I almost accidentally spread the fire instead of extinguishing it. Just then, Meru crawled towards the slowly expanding fire. The moment Meru’s jelly-like body hit the blazing liquid, its body bubbled and sizzled.
A fog of steam started to form around Meru, and I wondered if it somehow had fire resistance. However, my doubts were cleared when I saw Meru slowly getting smaller. It probably wouldn’t perish from these few fires, but a few more, and things would become more furious.
Without another moment to lose, I grabbed my new sword, channeled mana on the soles of my feet, then blasted out of the broken window.
A window popped up.
[Congratulations! You’ve learned a new skill (Wind Walk). Mastery: 100 %]
I glanced at it, then sighed out of relief. I’d used Wind Walk hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times before. Even though I was certain I had already mastered it, it was a relief to see the system acknowledge it. This also proved that my previous skills didn’t just vanish. They simply weren’t registered in this new system.
Relieved, I casted my thoughts aside. I had more serious matters to solve.
When my feet landed on the ground, I could already feel that I was being surrounded without the need to look up. I grabbed my sword tighter, then unsheathed it. I glanced up, finally seeing my opponents for the first time.
Sure enough, I was already surrounded by around two dozen figures. But what caught my eye wasn’t their numbers. Instead, it was the familiar rough, green skin.
Goblins! My heart raced. Are they unto me?! Did Lureschka finally change her mind?
My thoughts were broken by a goblin’s shout, just then, Crit’s voice called from behind, “What’s going on here?”
Despite our situation, there was no hint of tension from his voice. I glanced around, checking the Goblins’ positions before looking towards Crit. To my surprise and relief, they were just standing still, albeit holding different rugged-looking weapons.
Crit had already equipped himself with a leather vest and two swords. Both swords casually dangled on his hands, and his face was as calm as it could be.
I looked up above the Goblins head. Even though Lureschka’s blessing had already been lifted, it seemed like my appraising skill wasn’t affected. The Goblins were generally around level 10, though who I assumed was the leader was already at level 15.
Usually, this should be a walk along the park. But with my recent regression, this became a very dangerous situation for me. Worse was that I had to constantly remind myself that I no longer had my previous stats and skills. I had to actively stop myself from trying Wind Walk and attack the Goblins head-on.
It seems that I didn’t have to. The highest-level Goblin, which I believe was the leader, shouted and pointed his thick wooden club towards me. The others started shouting, chanting even.
Is that a warcry? I’ve never heard my Goblins– A pang of guilt pierced my chest as I recalled my fallen subordinates. Still, I didn’t have time to mourn.
The Goblins splitted into two. A dozen was rushing towards me, while the other half rushed towards Crit. Unlike the Goblin Kings I fought before, the Goblins’ leader didn’t seem to like being at the front of the assault.
I didn’t have time to think about them. But I also couldn’t just worry about myself. I took a swift glance towards Crit to check how he was faring. Even if he was experienced in hunting and, perhaps, combat, I was expecting him to show vulnerability in the face of a dozen Goblins. But to my surprise, he was still calmly holding his swords. His face was as cold as ever, and not a speck of emotion was evident on it.
The corners of my mouth subconsciously rose. I was shocked, but it was a pleasant surprise.
My celebration didn’t last for long. The moment I looked back, a Goblin was already in mid-swing. Fortunately, I still had my reflexes even if I lost some stats. I met the Goblin’s sword’s blade with that on my own, then swept it to the side.
My sword almost drew an arc when it hit something with a clang. I looked down only to see that I’ve parried a spear out of sheer luck.
I sucked in air. That wasn’t something I expected, but it made something in me snap. Search!
Mana surged out from my feet. I waited with bated breath since my mastery for Search had only reached 50 percent. There’s a fifty-fifty change that it wouldn’t activate. But that doubt was casted away when the mana spread out like the roots of the tree.
Suddenly, I could detect everything within a five meter radius. However, it wasn’t something permanent. It felt like I had gained a bird’s eye view for a couple of seconds. But that was more than enough. I perfectly knew the Goblin’s position, as well as that another sword was already being swung behind me. My hand was still a bit numb, making it impossible to parry the attack using my sword.
I let my reflexes kick in. I gathered mana on my hand, then twisted around. The Goblin’s smug face quickly contorted into that of shock. Obviously, he didn’t expect me detecting his attack. However, that didn’t change the fact that his rugged looking sword was about to cut me. Like I’ve done countless times before, I visualized a form, then sent all of the mana I gathered flying.
My mana rushed towards my palm like raging winds, then they condensed enough to form what looked like a slash. The moment it had the slightest semblance of a form, it propelled forward. It was like it was fueled by nitrous oxide, hitting the Goblin with an audible thud.
The Goblin was sent flying, making him lose grip of his sword. However, it didn’t seem like my attack finished the Goblin off. It was merely knocked back. But that gave me some time to recompose myself. When I looked down, I noticed that a window had already popped up.
[Congratulations! You’ve learned a new skill (Wind Cutter) Mastery: 100%]
I quickly closed the window, assumed a fighting stance, then backed away. My Wind Cutter cleared a wide enough path for me to back away. The only threat left behind me was the Goblin I’ve sent flying, but it should still be out of commission for a good minute or two.
This move didn’t seem to sit well with the other Goblins. Another shout came from behind the group of Goblins, making me look towards the leader’s direction. Just then, something caught my eye. I swore I saw a sparkle in the moonlit sky.
I trusted my gut and ducked. A loud thud followed by a monstrous wail boomed behind me. I didn’t even have to look. That was the Goblin behind me.
Instinctively, I looked at the Goblin leader. He was already stretching the thin string to its limits, and four arrowheads were pointed in my direction.
Archer! Suddenly, everything fit into place. That was the reason why the leader stayed behind as the others rushed towards us.
Just before the string reached its limits, the Goblin leader arched the bow upwards, then released all four arrows at once. He didn’t even wait for it to land before he took four more arrows. I kept my eye on the arrows, as well as the Goblins. The Goblins paid their leader no heed and charged towards me. The three frontmost Goblins were wielding spears. The spearheads were pointed towards my vitals, and when I was within their range, they started to stab indiscriminately.
Knowing that there was no more threat behind me, I backpedaled as quickly as I could, trying to buy some distance. However, the Goblins were hot in my pursuit.
Suddenly, the arrows came down one after the other. One of which hit a Goblin square at the top of its head.
It doesn’t care about its henchmen, I thought, finding the act quite shocking. Because of this, I unconsciously stopped backpedalling, and the Goblins had caught up. I was well within their range.
They started stabbing. Using my sword, I swept the first spear sideways. But just then, the other spearhead appeared beside me. I sidestepped to dodge it, but the Goblin was quick. It managed to retract the spear and initiated another stab.
At this moment, I had also already started to retract my swing. I dodged the spear by jumping sideways, then using both the momentum of the jump and my swing, the blade of my sword met the green skin on the Goblin’s neck. Green blood cascaded down the Goblin’s body, and the Goblin went limp.
Just as I was about to regain my stance, I saw four lit arrows arching down towards me. Not only that, the Goblins had already caught up with me.
Damn it! I grit my teeth. I need to run. Wind Walk!
I could feel torrent-like mana surging towards my feet, then I was propelled backwards. However, I wasn’t done yet. As I was sent backwards, I thought, Wind Cutter!
Just like that, a blade-shaped attack materialized and shot towards the Goblins. This time, the blade hit the other spear-wielding Goblin by the neck. Its neck barely had resistance against my Wind Cutter, and the Goblin’s head separated from its body.
My back hit the cold, hard ground, and my face laid sideways on the dirt. Through the ground, I could hear rampaging footsteps. The footsteps got louder and louder, and I knew I didn’t have time to lie around.
However, a quick glance and I confirmed that my last attack completely exhausted my mana. I quickly got up, but the feeling of dread had already spread throughout my body.
Just then, someone spoke behind me, “Need some help?”
