Chapter 78: This Is As Far As You Go

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: This Is As Far As You Go

Xavier studied the creature for only a moment and knew at once, even though it stood shorter than a dreadhorn, it was far more dangerous.

The moment the goblin chief entered the fray, the entire dynamic of the battle shifted. The air grew heavier. The remaining goblins turned more ferocious.

The chief charged and swung its heavy club straight at Xavier.

GRAAAAKHH—!!

He dodged, but the movement opened a gap. Several goblins slipped past him. The burden on the swordsmen increased at once, and the spellcasters felt the pressure as well.

The chief did not stop. After its club smashed into the ground where Xavier had stood, it dragged the weapon sideways in a sweeping arc toward Fiona.

SKREEEAAARGH!!

She stepped back to avoid it, then immediately counterattacked—running up the length of the club and leaping for the chief’s ugly face. The chief reacted just as quickly, throwing a punch with its free hand. Fiona took the blow head-on and was driven backward, yet she landed cleanly on her feet.

Grrraaak!

"We have to do this together!" Xavier shouted to her.

Their only focus now was the goblin chief. The swordsmen were already overwhelmed by the sheer number of lesser goblins still pouring toward them.

Skreee! Graak! Hssskree!

Xavier’s body crackled with lightning once more. He and Fiona moved in perfect sync—one distracting the chief while the other struck from the opposite side. Fiona slashed across its forearm. Xavier drove a punch into its shoulder, crushing bone and wrenching the joint out of place. Working together, they found the chief merely durable rather than truly overwhelming. It would still take time to bring it down. Xavier could only hope the rest of the team would finish the remaining goblins while he and Fiona handled the leader.

GRAAAAKHH... SKREEE!

A sharp kick from Xavier behind the chief’s knee finally dropped the creature onto its knees.

Aaaaaahhhh

That was when he heard the scream.

He recognized it instantly—Benny.

He spun toward the place she should have been. Allen was there, sword flashing, cutting through goblins as he tried to chase after her. Several of the creatures were dragging Benny toward the cave.

The horde had overwhelmed the line more thoroughly than Xavier had expected. Everyone else was still fighting and holding their ground, but none of them were free to reach her.

Beasts in this world were not bound by the same restraints that took humans and the other intelligent races. The usual conditions for arousal did not apply to them. If the goblins dragged Benny into the cave, a fate far worse than livestock awaited her.

Allen hacked down one goblin after another, yet he could not break free of the press.

"Fiona, can you hold the chief by yourself? I need to—"

"Go!" Fiona cut him off. She had already seen everything happening on the battlefield.

Xavier did not waste even half a second. He vanished in a blur of lightning and tore after the goblins carrying Benny. He overtook them in a flash. Half the group simply dissolved into bloody mist. The rest dropped Benny at once the moment they sensed him.

Skreeeaaah!

Xavier crushed them with a single stone-bullet spell.

Benny lay on the ground, the arrow still buried through her calf. The wound made movement difficult. Xavier knelt beside her and pulled a small glass bottle from his belt pouch.

"This is going to hurt a little," He snapped the arrow shaft and yanked the rest free while Benny screamed in pain. He uncorked the bottle and poured the healing potion over the wound.

Meanwhile Fiona was still holding the goblin chief alone. There was only so much she could do by herself. Her slashes were not deep enough to cripple it, but by focusing every attack on one arm she had damaged it enough that the chief could no longer lift its heavy club. She kept it distracted, yet she could not maintain the pressure forever. The chief swung a fist the moment she landed from an attack.

GRAAAAKHH!!

She had no time to dodge and took the blow full-force, slamming back against a tree.

The chief did not pursue her. It turned and charged straight at Xavier.

SKREEEEEAAARGH—!!

Benny’s leg finished healing, the potion even restoring a portion of her mana. Xavier had already moved her clear of the fighting. With her talisman she could rejoin the battle.

"Xavier!" Fiona shouted as soon as she regained her feet.

"Don’t worry—I can deal with it alone. Help the others!" he yelled back.

The goblin chief barreled toward him, lowered its shoulder, and slammed into Xavier with its full weight.

GRAAAAKHHH!!

Xavier reinforced his body with lightning and met the charge head-on. The impact drove both of them deeper into the cave.

The chief shrieked. The sound carried a note of savage joy, as though it were crowing, I’ve got you now.

SKREEEEE—AAARGH!! GRAAAAKHHH—!!

A smile curved across Xavier’s lips.

"This is as far as you go, you ugly creature."

He held out his hand. Mana sparked and coalesced into a sword—red rubies set into the hilt, the blade pitch-black, darker even than the deepest nights of the Red Forests.

"That is the ugliest creature I have ever seen," Miss Incinerator’s voice rang in his ears the moment she materialized in his grip.

Xavier had already grown bored of the prolonged fight. With Miss Incinerator in hand, he could end it whenever he chose.

"Well then," he murmured, "how about we finish it off?"

Advanced imperial swordsmanship felt too restrained for something this foul. Miss Incinerator’s full Supernova sword art would be far too explosive inside a cave—it risked injuring his teammates outside and starting a forest fire. He needed a middle ground.

His grip tightened on the hilt. He set one foot forward into a solid stance.

He used the same Supernova form, but poured only one-hundredth of the mana he had used the last time.

The goblin chief sensed the insanely hot, dangerous aura radiating from the black blade. Judging that hesitation would only make the threat worse, and with no weapon left in its hands, it charged again, throwing its entire bulk at Xavier in an attempt to crush him.

SKREEEEEAAARGH—!!!!

For Xavier, time had already slowed. In his vision the chief hung mid-stride. He swung the sword once.

Flames erupted from the black blade and filled the entire cave in an instant.

Outside, Fiona had just torn through the throat of the last goblin when a thunderous explosion roared from the cave mouth. Brilliant yellow light flooded the clearing. The blast was followed by a deep, grinding collapse. The entrance caved in on itself, sealing the passage completely.

Fiona abandoned the other students at once and leapt toward the rubble.

"Xavier! Xavier!" she shouted in desperation.