Chapter 8: Tricks

For a low-tier adventurer team like Rotten Fish and Shrimp, often, a single glance at someone’s appearance was enough to gauge their strength.

A man who looked thin and frail was, in most cases, unlikely to have much combat prowess.

Likewise, if your opponent was a barbarian with rock-hard, massive muscles, they clearly had strength to match their physique.

An adult bear goblin stood about seven feet tall, roughly two meters and twenty centimeters.

Combined with its bear-like, muscular frame packed with thick fat, it looked like a small mountain of flesh from a distance.

In comparison, while Gagu had diluted beastman blood, his height and build were only slightly above that of an average adult human.

Even when he activated his bloodline and entered a combat state, he barely reached the bear goblin’s shoulders.

The two standing together were like an adult and a child.

And their actual combat abilities were even more mismatched.

Earlier, I had been entirely focused on fighting the goblins, with no attention to spare for my surroundings.

So, I had no idea what had happened on the other side of the battlefield in those twenty-odd seconds.

All I saw was the scene before me.

Compared to last night’s ambush, Gagu’s body was clean, with just some dirt and hardly any blood.

He was also quiet.

No incomprehensible beastman slang, no deafening roars of rage.

Of course, this wasn’t because the half-beastman had suddenly learned human manners.

It was because, at that moment, he had lost the ability to speak.

Jagged, pale bone fragments pierced through his flesh, protruding from his abdomen.

A deep, inward crater marked the center of his chest.

His eyes rolled back, his mouth hung open unconsciously, and frothy blood mixed with saliva dripped from his lips.

Like a broken toy, Gagu was held upside down by one ankle by the bear goblin.

The blackened mace, studded with iron spikes, loomed menacingly in the cold air nearby.

In that instant, for some reason, seeing this scene, I suddenly thought of an ancient night watchman striking a gong in the dead of night.

The next second, the mace vanished from its spot, and the “gong” sounded.

Crunch—

Amid the whistling sound of a heavy object slicing through the air came a strange noise, like an eggshell cracking, mingling with viscous liquid.

The half-beastman’s body swayed like a pendulum.

A smear of red and white goo coated the mace’s surface, and Gagu, in a physical sense, lost his ability to make sound.

“Thud.”

The headless corpse was casually tossed to the ground, blood gushing like a fountain, forming a pool beneath it.

“Die, damn it!!!”

The moment I witnessed Gagu being utterly crushed by the bear goblin, a hoarse roar tinged with desperate hope rang in my ears.

Though Gagu died brutally, he had, in the end, fulfilled his task of “buying time.”

The bowstring was taut, the bow’s curve nearly snapping.

An iron arrow, glinting with metallic sheen, was tightly pinched between Maji’s fingers, its faintly purple tip aimed straight at the bear goblin’s head.

[Precision Strike]

One of the prerequisites for becoming a “ranger.”

It was also the only offensive combat technique Maji had mastered in his years as an adventurer.

In higher-level battles, this technique’s primary effect was precise targeting.

But for a low-tier adventurer like Maji, the “slight” power boost it provided—insignificant to high-tier professionals—was enough to handle most situations.

Even against the “newbie killer” bear goblin, he held high hopes.

If this arrow could pierce through the eye socket into the brain, it could kill the bear goblin instantly;

if it hit the skull, the force carried by the arrow would be enough to leave the bear goblin critically wounded, giving him a chance to finish it off;

even in the worst case, if he missed, the nature of [Precision Strike] ensured it would at least leave a wound.

At that moment, as his trump card, the custom-made metal arrowhead, crafted at great expense, would come into play.

The arrowhead, coated with horned snake venom, could quickly paralyze the bear goblin’s body, drastically slowing its speed and reactions.

Then, whether to press the advantage or flee, the choice would be his.

Complex thoughts flashed through his mind.

Maji held his breath, aimed at the enemy’s vital point, and gently released his fingers.

Swish—

The sound of air splitting came from in front of him, the bowstring’s recoil sending a tremor from his fingertips to his forearm.

The moment the arrow flew, decades of jungle experience told him:

“This shot is perfect.”

Under extreme pressure, the hunter performed at his peak, every movement executed to perfection.

Strands of white hair at his temples swayed lightly in the breeze stirred by the arrow.

Maji was utterly confident, as if he could already hear the arrow piercing the eye socket into the brain, the bear goblin’s pained scream cut short.

But then, a reddish-brown flash shattered all his illusions like waking from a dream.

As if sensing the imminent lethal strike, a translucent shield glowing with red light appeared out of nowhere in front of the bear goblin.

Its material was neither light nor gas, seemingly a fleeting energy coalesced into an unstable reddish-brown force field.

The iron arrow, carrying the hunter’s full strength, merely grazed it before being deflected by the reddish-brown energy.

Its force undiminished, but its target shifted from the bear goblin’s head to the wall behind it.

“Swish-thud!”

The metal arrow easily pierced the cave’s mud-and-stone wall, leaving only the fletching trembling violently and the hunter’s pale, despairing face.

“How… how is this possible!?” Maji’s bloodless lips quivered, his body trembling with panic. “My arrow…”

Facing the hunter Maji, who had revealed his final trump card, the bear goblin spoke its first words since appearing in their sight.

“Your little tricks, magic.”

Its gravelly voice echoed in the cavern, its halting Common incomprehensible in intent.

But at this moment, what the bear goblin said no longer mattered.

Because the next second, its menacing shadow, reeking of death, loomed over Maji, enveloping him.

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