The remaining two Hobgoblins watched wide-eyed as Tsukuru had decapitated three of their brethren in one, clean sweep.
As Tsukuru fell back down to the ground, he wrenched the Frostnet Arrow out of the ground, and flung it at one of the remaining two Hobglins.
Acting on reflex, the Hobgoblin brought her arm out in front of her, using her forearm as a shield.
The arrow stuck into her arm.
On impact, ice began to spread out at a rapid rate.
Seeing this, the Hobgoblin's eyes widened in surprise.
'Shit!' She thought.
The ice continued to spread and spread.
Though, due to the Frostnet Arrow's "three-feet radius" limit, it only encased the Hobgoblin's upper torso.
But even still, it was a significant hindrance.
Both of her arms were stuck in place, and she was trapped up to her neck and down to her abdomen in thick ice.
On top of that, the thickness of the ice made her feel top-heavy, making it hard for her to move.
It was as if she had heavy boulders strapped to her arms, chest, and back.
Tsukuru then flung the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword at the Hobgoblin's head like a spear.
It soared through the air at high speeds, due to Tsukuru's massive"25" Strength at the point of throwing.
This caused it to fly through the air like a bullet launched out of a high-powered firearm.
The sword pierced the Hobgoblin through the eyes, going straight through her head like a knife through butter, killing her instantly.
She shattered into pixels like a glass structure being hit by a powerful object, and a System screen appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed a Hobgoblin. 6 XP received. XP: 97/1600]
As the thrown sword was about to fall to the ground, the Hobgoblin now gone and gravity taking over, Tsukuru used his Video Stasis and Stasis Shift Skills on it.
The sword became surrounded in an aura of glitching pixels, causing it to levitate in mid-air, and then, it began to break apart into glitching pixels.
The sword glitched out of existence, and a moment later, it reappeared in Tsukuru's now-open hand.
As soon as the sword appeared, Tsukuru clenched his hand around its handle, feeling the Beast Energy once again surge through him.
He smirked, and looked down at the sword now in his hand.
"This 'Stasis Shift' Skill is more useful than I thought!' He thought to himself.
Tsukuru and the Hobgoblin then locked eyes with each other.
A second later, an amused smirk crept across the Hobgoblins face.
"Well, well, look at you, my liege." She replied, tilting her head. "Got a few new tricks in your bag, do you?"
Tsukuru responded with a smirk.
"A few." He replied.
The Hobgoblin twirled her fingers around the shaft of her spear, reorienting it so she was holding it in a reverse-grip.
She then pulled her arm back, holding the spear like a hunter with the spear's tip pointed at Tsukuru.
She then thrust her arm forward, sending the spear flying through the air like a missile, aimed at Tsukuru's head.
Tsukuru then brought both his arms in front of his face, his two wrists crossing each other in an "X".
He then activated his Hologram Projection Skill, for good measure, although he didn't expect much.
The same formation of seven hexagons as before appeared, three at the top, three at the bottom, and one in the middle, forming a translucent "shield" in front of him.
The speeding spear easily broke through the hard-light shield, shattering it on impact like a baseball flying through a glass window.
As the spear's tip impacted with his wrists covered by the Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets, Tsukuru felt the sheer kinetic force of the spear push him back and back.
In the end, Tsukuru had been pushed back a good five feet away from his original location.
The spear, now drained of its kinetic energy, dropped to the ground in front of Tsukuru with a clatter.
Tsukuru took in a few deep breaths, as he slowly began to lower his arms.
'It's a damn good thing that these Hobgoblins are only Pawn Grade!' Tsukuru thought, his heart racing. 'If they were anything higher, that spear would have probably run me through!'
Tsukuru was nearly 100%sure that the only reason his gauntlets had held out was because they were Intermediate-Tier, while the Hobgoblin's spear was only Basic-Tier.
It was similar to how Tsukuru's Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Daggers had chipped from them clashing with Erin's Intermediate-Tier sword.
If both the spear and the gauntlets had been Intermediate-Tier, Tsukuru was concerned that due to the Hobgoblin's strength, it would have been a similar situation to when Quinn had broken Brandon's spear in the Beast Weapon Hall.
As Tsukuru looked up, his eyes widened.
While he had been distracted trying to calm his racing nerves, the Hobgoblin had rushed towards him, now looming over him.
"We told you before, my liege!" She said, pulling her arm back. "You can't let yourself get distracted on the battlefield!"
She thrust her fist downwards, aiming for his head.
However, just as her fist was about to connect, Tsukuru had activated his Video Glitch Skill again, glitching out of existence.
Tsukuru now gone, the Hobgoblin's fist hit nothing but air.
The Hobgoblin grit her teeth in annoyance.
It was then that she heard the sound of electronic interference from behind her, indicating that was where Tsukuru had teleported to.
However, before she could counter-attack, she felt her legs being swept out from under her.
Tsukuru had performed another sweeping kick, like he had done with the first Hobgoblin who had attacked him during his previous challenge run.
The Hobgoblin let out a grunt of pain, as she fell on her face.
A moment later, she felt a sharp, piercing pain in her chest.
Her eyes widened, and she fell limp to the ground, dead.
Behind her, Tsukuru was leaning over her prone back, the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword held in both hands, and piercing through her chest from behind.
Tsukuru let out another deep breath.
A moment later, the Hobgoblin exploded into pixels, and another System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed a Hobgoblin. 6 XP received. XP: 102/1600]
Tsukuru panted as he slowly stood up.
"Well, the troublesome group is gone." He said, stabbing the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword into the ground like a pole, and looking back towards the far side of the arena.
He looked up at the ticking clock in the upper-right side of his vision.
It currently displayed "00:49:59", meaning that he had been in the VR Pod for roughly ten minutes.
Seeing this, a smile crept across his face.
Last time, it had taken him twenty minutes to get to this point.
"If I remember correctly, the only thing left in this wave is just a large cluster of Swarmers." Tsukuru replied.
As if in response to his words, Tsukuru heard the sound of electronic interference.
Instantly, his eyes snapped towards the far side of the platform.
There, he saw eight groups of pixels beginning to appear.
The pixels clustered together into the shapes of the Swarmers.
There was a flash of light.
When it faded, Tsukuru saw the eight Swarmers.
They all let out cries, and lifted their front legs aggressively.
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow as if saying "Oh REALLY?".
In response to their aggression, Tsukuru put his left arm out to his side, and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and three groups of pixels appeared under his arms.
Each group of pixels clustered into the shape of arrows.
There was a flash of light.
When it faded, there was a set of three Firebomb Arrows floating under his arm.
Tsukuru grabbed them with his Video Stasis Skill, and flung them at the spiders.
On impact, they exploded like three incendiary grenades going off in quick succession.
The bright light illuminated Tsukuru's whole body, as the far side of the platform erupted into flames.
To Tsukuru, it reminded him of old video footage he had seen of a thing called "a bonfire".
Tsukuru heard the Swarmers all scream in pain, before they all exploded into pixels in quick succession, looking like a series of fireworks going off.
As soon as the final Swarmer exploded, the raging fires died down.
It was as if all of the oxygen from that part of the arena had suddenly been cut off.
A set of two System messages appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed eight Swarmers. 8 XP received. XP: 110/1600]
[Wave 1 is now complete.
You have received 2 Battle Points.]