Chapter 98

The soldiers were hanging on, but just barely. The trolls had slammed against their shieldwall with tremendous force, and although they were experienced, they could only endure so much raw strength. Their combat skills allowed for some redirection of force, but even that had its limits.The field was a chaotic mess of flashing steel, roaring fire, and clashing bodies as trolls and goblins battered against the lines. Nick could sense several soldiers being dragged away from the front line by their companions, their armor dented, and their bodies bleeding from deep bruises and gashes. Ogden’s potions kept them alive and even allowed them to rejoin the fight in short order, but it was only a matter of time before the trolls’ sheer stamina wore them down.

One of the massive monsters was already down, its body split in two from Eugene’s blazing sword, its flesh cauterized, preventing its infamous regeneration. But the remaining five were still pressing hard, using their massive clubs to hammer at the defenders.

Nick inhaled deeply, tuning out the noise, and centering himself.

He felt the wind, his wind, carving through the battlefield, feeding him a thousand details at once. The movements of his allies, the heavy, crushing footfalls of the trolls, and the desperate gasps of soldiers holding their ground.

He had to act. If things continued as they were, they would lose even before the Moss Oni arrived.

Flicking his wand, Nick channeled mana into his new spell. The air whipped and twisted, forming an almost invisible spiral. Then, with a push, he unleashed it.

A focused lashed forward, striking the nearest troll right in the leg, piercing through the calf muscle and emerging from the opposite end.

The troll roared, staggering backward as its knee buckled from the force. Thick, leathery skin peeled back in jagged strips, exposing muscle and sinew. But before it could collapse, its regeneration kicked in, and the wound began to seal before his eyes.

Nick grimaced. So that’s how it is. His spell could disrupt their balance, but it wouldn’t keep them down permanently.

That was fine. He didn’t need to kill them—just give his father the opening he needed. Luckily, Eugene took full advantage.

The moment the wounded troll stumbled, his father sprang into action. Flames ignited along his blade as he lunged forward, slicing through the troll’s belly. The monster shrieked, but Eugene didn’t relent, following the strike with a second cleave that nearly bisected the creature from hip to hip.

The wound cauterized from the heat, sealing the troll’s fate.

Nick’s body wanted to breathe quickly in response to the adrenaline, but he didn’t allow himself to break his pattern. Four trolls remained, and their sheer bulk was pressing dangerously close to breaking the formation.

He turned his attention back to the shield wall, where the soldiers were gritting their teeth and pushing back against the onslaught. Their formation was strong, but having to deal with the smaller, nimbler goblins at the same time was chipping away at their resilience.

The remaining trolls smashed their massive clubs down, forcing the warriors back. The force of each blow cracked shields and dented armor, sending men stumbling from the impact.

Nick saw a soldier lose his footing just as a troll’s club came swinging down—

No.

He reacted instinctively, sending another forward with pinpoint accuracy. The blast of wind caught the troll in the knee, twisting its leg out from under it just before its club could land.

The massive creature toppled sideways, the sheer weight of its own attack crushing several goblins beneath it. The soldiers took advantage, hacking at the exposed flesh with relentless strikes.

Nick didn’t waste time watching if it would be enough.

He targeted the next troll, aiming low and hitting pressure points—knees, ankles, anywhere that would force them off balance. It didn’t matter if they healed soon after, because each of his strikes sent another wave of opportunities cascading through the battlefield.

A troll stumbled. A warrior drove his sword through its throat. A goblin lunged at a soldier’s back. A gust of wind yanked it off course. A hobgoblin dodged an arrow. Nick sent a burst of air, knocking it back into the archer’s line of sight just as he fired.

He seemed to be everywhere at once, his magic weaving through the battle like a conductor leading an orchestra. Gradually, the tide of battle began to shift. As the goblin numbers dwindled, the adventurers were able to regroup, which made them significantly more lethal.

And yet, his senses flared with warning. Something was wrong.

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Nick’s skin prickled, and he heeded his instincts. He widened his focus—stretching his spell outward, scouring the battlefield for anomalies.

And then, he found them. Two figures, slinking through the chaos, untouched, moving without being hindered by either man or goblins.

After a cursory observation, he recognized them as hobgoblins, but not just any hobgoblins. These two were unique.

While their kin fought like rabid beasts, they glided like assassins. Silent. Carefully avoiding zones of conflict. And most importantly, invisible to the naked eye.

They could have done terrible damage to the ranks of soldiers, given that no one seemed to notice them. Yet, they ignored the men completely. They were coming his way.

That realization made Nick split his focus. On one hand, he kept a weary eye on the duo as they wound around the battlefield, while on the other, he scoured the area, looking for more. He wasn’t surprised when he found that they weren’t alone. Two more were moving towards Eugene.

They had timed it perfectly—waiting for the moment when he was at his most distracted, when the battle had forced all eyes onto the trolls. They thought they could take him by surprise. They were wrong.

His first act was to warn his father. He flicked a gust of air toward Eugene’s ear, shaping the wind into a soft whisper only he could hear.

“Dad, around a hundred feet behind you. Two hobgoblins assassins. They are invisible.”

Eugene didn’t react outwardly; by now, he was more than used to Nick’s habit of bringing him important information in such a manner. But Nick saw the subtle shift in his stance, the way his sword angled slightly differently.

He had heard. Good.

Nick turned his attention to his own hunters. They were right there—just beyond the edge of vision, using some trick to obscure themselves.

Through the wind, he could trace their every step. That would be more than enough.

Nick stayed relaxed, keeping his wand ready and his breathing steady. To secure a clear shot at them, he had to behave as if he were unaware of their stalking, and the longer it took for them to reach him, the more he could observe them.

They were smaller than the typical hobgoblin, yet still taller than any goblin. They moved like predators hunting their prey, which made him think this wasn’t their first time. He could sense the leather armor they wore, though the details were distorted—as if something was scrambling his perception.

That was a problem.

Nick had never encountered creatures that could obscure themselves from his . Even the first hobgoblin with the enchanted sword hadn’t interfered with his sensory abilities like this.

That meant only one thing: a kind of magic—most likely fae magic—was being used to scramble sensory spells. While he had previously been angry with himself for missing the dryad hidden in the ground, he was now beginning to suspect that she, too, might have been equipped with an artifact like this.

If the fae had sent assassins specifically for him, it meant they had been watching their progress closely. The group’s reliance on his sensory spell must have made him a priority target as valuable as his father.

Powerful beasts like the Moss Oni were known to amass retinues. Given the fecundity of goblins, they were often the vanguard of almost any monster army.

What was tripping him up was that Fae didn’t like to share power. Now, Nick knew little about the dungeon’s internal politics, but something wasn’t quite right here. This certainly didn’t fit with the behavior he’d expect from hobgoblins under a Moss Oni’s control. The frenzied attacks were much more in line with that, as was the bloodthirst. Sneakiness and stealth artifacts were not.

Either the fae had dominated the Moss Oni, which was a terrifying thought, or they had some other way to keep control over these creatures.

While keeping a weary eye on their path, Nick still intervened all over the battlefield. Wind gusts tripped goblins, preventing them from overwhelming the soldiers. Hushed whispers guided adventurers toward incoming threats.

But his primary attention remained on the two killers creeping toward him, who had drawn daggers.

He still couldn’t get a solid read on them, which meant their weapons were also enchanted, likely disrupting the wind around them. Another layer of protection.

Nick held back his attack, resisting the urge to strike first. Instead, he waited, watching their approach and studying their formation.

They were smarter than he’d have expected.

They split apart, approaching from two different angles to create a blind spot in his awareness. It was an impressive strategy for goblinoids that would have worked against anyone who didn’t always have a 360-degree sensory spell active.

They closed in. Nick’s fingers twitched.

Now.

With a flick of his wand, he unleashed a . The spiraling wind drilled through its skull like a high-caliber projectile, screeching as it carved straight through flesh and bone.

The hobgoblin barely had time to react before its body stiffened, its dagger slipping from its lifeless fingers. It collapsed, dead before it even hit the ground.

Nick immediately turned his focus to the second, who had somehow survived. It had reacted at the last second, twisting just in time to avoid a direct hit.

The slammed into its armor instead, failing to pierce through completely, but the force of the impact was still enough to send it staggering backward, breaking its invisibility in the process.

The stealth field was not as strong as it seemed. A single solid hit had disrupted it, and that was all Nick needed to know. He had an intact specimen to examine, after all. Now he would see what their enchanted plate could resist.

The hobgoblin regained its footing just in time to see a second blast incoming. It tried to dodge, but Nick had already accounted for that.

A second Jet Stream smashed into its ribs, sending it reeling even as its armor again protected its life. Then a third. Then a fourth.

Finally, with a desperate snarl, the hobgoblin tried to lunge forward, though it came more as a hobble, which was when Nick ended it with a final in the same exact place of his last two.

The force crushed its chest inward, sending it sprawling lifelessly onto the ground.

You have killed x2

+ 12.222 exp

Nick knew that if they had gotten close enough, he might not have had the reflexes to counter them in time. However, by keeping them at a distance and studying them before acting, he had completely dismantled their approach.

He exhaled, wiping sweat from his forehead. Then, he grinned, pleased that at least one of the hobgoblins’ armor sets was intact.

Nick walked over to the first one he had killed, crouched beside it, and carefully inspected its gear, casually registering that his father had dealt with his own attackers. Soon after, he had taken care of the last of the trolls, giving his men time to recover as they systematically went about eliminating the remaining goblins.

There was something different about it, something that had helped blunt the first . It would be invaluable if it was enchanted or had some kind of magical resistance.

He smiled, pleased. Despite the situation, Nick couldn’t resist tinkering with a new mystery. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to get to it, as the battle was far from over. He rose abruptly, his senses flaring in alarm.

Something huge had entered his range. Nick’s grin faded as he turned to face the trees, which shook from the force of something massive approaching them.

A roar shook the air. The Moss Oni had arrived.