Thud!
The Champion Goblin fell face-first to the ground. The impact seemed to enrage the other goblins even more, and they immediately started charging toward Nova.
All the seeker goblins rushed at him from every angle while the hunter goblins unleashed a continuous hail of arrows. Nova easily dodged every arrow, and any seeker goblin that tried to surround him was cut clean in half instantly. Even while he was busy killing the seekers trying to box him in and deflecting the hunters' arrows, he still managed to spot a clear pattern. They were deliberately trying to push him toward the Champion Goblin that now lay flat on the ground. It looked like they wanted the giant to squash him flat with its remaining hand.
But they had clearly underestimated him.
Nova narrowed his eyes as another desperate wave of seeker goblins tried to close in. Their movements were reckless, almost frantic, they were obviously forcing him back toward the massive Champion looming behind them.
"So that's the plan," Nova muttered under his breath.
An arrow whistled past his cheek. With a casual flick of his blade, he knocked it aside while deliberately stepping exactly where the goblins wanted him to go.
Another seeker lunged. Nova sidestepped, and his blade flashed once. The goblin split cleanly in two before it even realized what had happened.
Another storm of arrows rained down from the hunter goblins, their screeches echoing through the forest. Nova moved like flowing water stepping, turning and deflecting. Every motion looked effortless, almost lazy.
Yet with every step he took, the goblins were herding him precisely where they wanted.
Toward the Champion.
Nova glanced up. The Champion Goblin's remaining hand was raised high, its enormous shadow swallowing him completely. The surrounding goblins shrieked in savage excitement. Then the seekers surged forward in one final, frenzied rush, shoving him right into the killing zone.
The giant hand came crashing down.
BOOOM!
The ground shook violently. Dirt, crushed goblin corpses, and shattered stone exploded into the air. Even the goblins that had pushed Nova into position were flattened under the blow.
For a second, everything went deathly silent.
Lydia's breath caught in her throat. If this had happened right after Nova killed her rabbit, she would have been thrilled. But now… she really wished he hadn't died.
The goblins began to cackle in triumph.
But the Champion Goblin suddenly froze. Something felt wrong. It slowly lifted its mutilated stump of a hand… and Nova wasn't there.
"Looking for me?"
A calm voice drifted down from above.
Lydia, the Champion Goblin, the seekers, and the hunters all stared upward in shock. Nova had been completely surrounded. There was nowhere to go. Even the goblins that had forced him into that spot had been crushed. So how…?
Nova landed lightly in front of the Champion Goblin. A dangerous smile slowly spread across his lips as his eyes gradually shifted to a deep crimson red.
For the first time in its life, the Champion Goblin felt true fear.
It had never feared anything. All the other goblins — except the General and the King — were no match for it. Every human it had ever faced had been weak, pathetic. But this one… this one standing before it now was different. In its primitive mind, it was certain that not even their King carried this kind of terror.
Out of pure instinct, it slammed its remaining hand into the earth and began digging furiously, trying to burrow away from the monster in front of it.
Nova watched, amused. "So it knows fear…?"
The Champion Goblin kept crawling forward with its one good hand, dragging its ruined body toward the forest, desperate for escape. Blood from its severed right hand and legs had long since stopped flowing and crusted over. The pain must have been excruciating, because it refused to put any weight on them.
As the big ugly bastard continued its pathetic crawl, it caught a glimpse from the corner of its eye: Nova walking casually alongside it, grinning like the devil himself and it seemed that was what Nova was to the Creature. It panicked, desperately turning and crawling in another direction.
And there again was Nova, still strolling beside it with that same terrifying grin.
Fear completely consumed the Champion Goblin. It spun once more, crawling frantically in yet another direction.
All the other goblins froze and stared in stunned silence. Their Champion, the third most powerful in the tribe, the one everyone feared and respected, was now reduced to a helpless, whimpering thing fleeing from a predator.
Even Lydia watched in absolute shock. In all her time in the God's Ruins, she had never seen or even heard of a Champion Goblin being afraid of a human. Goblins were prideful creatures here. They would fight to the death no matter the odds. That's why the seeker and hunter goblins always charged headlong, even when they knew it meant certain doom.
AHHHH!
The creature shrieked as Nova suddenly appeared right on top of its remaining hand. Before it could even try to shake him off, the hand was sliced into pieces, just like the other one.
AHHHHHHHHHH!!
It let out a piercing, agonized cry and raised its head skyward.
Nova vanished from where he stood and reappeared on the creature's thick neck. Before it could react, he swung both swords with full force, a wide, feral grin spreading across his face as his eyes burned solid crimson.
SPURT!
Blood sprayed and splattered across his face and hood. He didn't even blink.
BOOM!
The Champion Goblin's head crashed to the ground with a sickening thud.
"He… he killed the Champion Goblin by himself," Lydia muttered under her breath, staring at Nova in pure awe.
She knew it usually took a full team of ten Channelers working together to bring down a Champion Goblin. Nova had done it alone.
Now she was more than grateful she hadn't underestimated him from the very beginning.
All the remaining goblins stared in horror. For the first time, they turned and started running away.
But Nova wasn't about to let them escape.
He vanished from atop the Champion's severed neck.
Shriek!
Loud, terrified screams echoed throughout the forest as Nova tore through them.
Lydia didn't want him to have all the fun. She chased after the fleeing goblins too, dagger flashing. But in the dense forest the goblins were fast and clever. They threw themselves at each other, using their own kind as distractions to throw her off.
Then she saw a blur.
Before she could even process it, every goblin still perched in the trees dropped like ripe fruit, headless.
She stared, dumbfounded.
Nova kept astonishing her. But right now… she was a little scared. She didn't know exactly why, but the way he moved so fast, so ruthless, even without relying heavily on his movement skill, reminded her of a wild berserk beast.
"It would be best if I left this place first," she thought.
She didn't want to end up cut down like one of the goblins. She was already covered head to toe in their blood anyway.