“Unique Variants and I really are fated to cross paths.”
“Is this that so-called monster gathering theory?”
Li Xiuman made up a theory on the spot.
“Roar!!”
The Goblin King let out a massive roar, swinging its bone spiked club as it pointed right at Li Xiuman.
Every goblin gathered around it swarmed toward Li Xiuman in a massive wave.
“My loyal servants, block them!”
Li Xiuman raised his wand, locking his gaze on the distant Goblin King.
The zombie goblins crashed into the Goblin King's army.
Flesh and blood flew in all directions as foul liquid and scalding blood splattered across the ground.
The state of the battle quickly became clear.
Li Xiuman's zombie goblins were no match for the genuine, healthy living goblins.
On top of that, the Goblin King's side had vastly superior numbers.
“Golems!”
Li Xiuman quickly retrieved his pre-prepared golems from his storage space.
These were the same golems he had prepared to fight the red dragon Orfen, and they hadn't seen much use yet.
Conveniently, they were of the water element, making them the perfect counter to the Flame Goblins before him.
One by one, the golems entered the fray. The Mage Golems raised their wands, standing in the rear to unleash magic.
The Warrior Golems, meanwhile, charged to the front.
Li Xiuman had to concentrate on controlling his zombie army, leaving him unable to direct the golems.
So, he simply summoned Number Zero to coordinate the golems in battle.
Acting as a vanguard, Number Zero quickly charged forward, directing the other golems with ease.
As expected of his special, precious Number Zero.
However, watching Number Zero charge ahead all alone still left Li Xiuman a little anxious.
Number Zero was incredibly expensive to build. Any scratches or dents would break his broke heart for the rest of the year.
With the golems joining the fight, the front lines finally stabilized.
This gave the zombies room to leverage their natural advantages.
Unafraid of death and immune to pain, the zombie goblins, lacking vital spots, bit and clawed with rabid intensity, giving them a distinct edge over their living counterparts.
[Ding! Flame Goblin (Lv. 22) killed. EXP +1,200.]
[Killed...]
[Ding! EXP pool full. Level up now?]
“No!”
[EXP will continue to accumulate. Excess EXP will be scaled according to the corresponding level upon leveling up.]
Leveling up in the middle of a critical moment like this was a recipe for disaster.
Dismissing the level-up notification, Li Xiuman estimated that enough corpses had piled up on the ground.
He held his wand high in the air.
“Tier 2 Magic...”
A massive, pitch-black magic circle snapped open above the tip of his wand, radiating an ominous, decaying aura.
Li Xiuman's mana began to drain rapidly.
Sensing the massive consumption, Li Xiuman knew for a fact that this was the most mana-taxing spell in his entire repertoire.
“Mass Undead Reanimation!”
Hum, hum, hum!
The ominous aura reached its peak. Even the Goblin King raised its head, staring with wariness and confusion at the giant magic circle spreading above Li Xiuman.
Under the shroud of the dark magic, the countless goblin corpses littering the ground began to stagger to their feet.
Their red skin rotted rapidly as rancid, foul fluid seeped from their wounds.
At a glance, dozens of goblins were twitching and popping their joints in a bizarre, horrifying spectacle.
“My loyal servants, tear them to shreds!”
Li Xiuman waved his wand. The newly reanimated goblins spun around and launched themselves at the surviving living goblins.
Although the living goblins possessed low intelligence, seeing their fallen comrades rise again as horrifying, rotting undead filled them with terror.
Screaming in panic, they began attacking their reanimated peers.
Naturally, Li Xiuman couldn't control any zombie goblins that exceeded his summon limit.
However, those that exceeded his limit were simply revived in a neutral state.
Once the panicked living goblins attacked them, that neutral state shattered, causing them to fight back against the living goblins.
This quickly created a completely one-sided massacre.
By now, the Goblin King, possessing the highest intellect among them, realized something was terribly wrong.
Its gaze instantly locked onto Li Xiuman, who was huddled at the very back.
It concluded that this entire bizarre phenomenon was the work of this wretched pile of bones.
“Roar!!”
It roared and leapt down from its high vantage point, wildly swinging its spiked club.
The club whipped through the air, tearing through the wind as it smashed zombie goblins into paste.
The surviving living goblins naturally converged toward their king, carving out a path for its charge.
Running a goblin through with its sword, Number Zero turned its glowing red eyes—crafted from Nine-Angled Fire Crystals—toward the Goblin King, flashing a crimson light.
In that exact moment, every golem simultaneously locked its gaze onto the Goblin King.
Shuu, shuu, shuu!
Aqua-blue magic circles unfolded before the Mage Golems.
Water gathered to form countless Water Arrows, which rained down upon the Goblin King.
The Goblin King quickly swung its club, conjuring a curtain of fire that successfully blocked the incoming Water Arrows.
The Heavy Armor Golems charged ahead, shielding the Swordsman Golems as they pressed the attack.
Shields bashed through the flames, and the Swordsman Golems thrust their blades from all directions.
“Roar!”
The Goblin King lowered its stance and gripped its club as flames erupted from beneath its feet.
With a ferocious swing, the spiked club tore forward.
It was impossible to tell whether the sound was the roar of the flames or the club ripping through the air.
The leading Swordsman Golems were instantly shattered to pieces, forcing the remaining ones to quickly retreat.
The Heavy Armor Golems stepped up, raising their shields.
Tier 1 Magic, Water Shield!
A layer of water film enveloped each of the Heavy Armor Golems' shields.
Sizzle!
The flames collided with the shields, prompting a massive explosion of steam and shattered shield fragments that obscured the Goblin King's vision.
The Goblin King quickly enveloped its body in fire and swung its club to blow the steam away.
At the same time, relying on memory, it bolted in the direction of Li Xiuman.
Right at that moment, Number Zero burst through the mist, its foot tapping lightly against the ground.
A dual-colored magic circle of blue and yellow expanded.
It was Li Xiuman's basic combination spell: Quagmire.
Since this floor of Iron River City's dungeon had far less lava than White Bear City's, the Quagmire expanded to cover a localized area.
The Goblin King's foot sank into the mud.
Seizing the opening, Number Zero shattered the magic circle with its step, sending up a shower of mana sparks as it swung its greatsword upward in a rising slash.
The Goblin King quickly brought its club across to block the blow, its body reeling backward from the force.
Refusing to give it a moment to recover, Number Zero leaned its left shoulder into its large shield and slammed it hard into the Goblin King's chest.
With a dull, metallic clack, the Goblin King was thrown backward. Desperately yanking its right foot from the Quagmire, it swung its right arm violently forward.
Several massive fireballs hurtled toward Number Zero.
Number Zero braced its shield and took the direct hits from the fireballs.
However, the Goblin King seized the opening to bring its spiked club down in a devastating overhead smash.
The stone cracked beneath Number Zero's feet, and its body slid backward.
“Roar!” A humanlike look of rage crossed the Goblin King's face. It quickly raised its spiked club, which was instantly engulfed in roaring flames, and unleashed a rapid succession of heavy strikes.
Number Zero continually intercepted the blows with its shield, which began to splinter and crack under the onslaught. With the final blow shattering the shield completely, Number Zero used the force of the impact to rapidly slide back and create distance, its glowing crimson eyes locking onto the Goblin King.
The Goblin King was about to leap forward in pursuit when it suddenly detected a profound sense of danger.
It instantly turned toward the source of the threat.
There in the distance stood Li Xiuman, holding his wand high in the air as three massive, brilliant magic circles—blue, yellow, and green—unfolded around him.
Hovering in midair was a giant rock spear wrapped in a torrent of water. It spun rapidly, whipping up a tempest of water and roaring as if straining to break free from the magic circles' shackles, aimed directly at the Goblin King.
“You had fun bullying my golems, didn't you? Now it's my turn!”
“Tier 2 Hybrid Magic, Storm Torrential Spear!”
The triple-layered magic circles shattered. The giant, water-wrapped rock spear rotated and roared, hurtling straight toward the Goblin King.
The fierce winds whipped Li Xiuman's clothes about, blowing his hood back to reveal his stark white, fearsome skull, and the flickering blue flames dancing within his hollow eye sockets.
Rate on N.U.
