ATAPOW Chapter 108
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Chapter 108: Encirclement
“Yiiiguya!?” The goblins halted their footsteps as their small, yellow eyes widened.
The subject of their gaze was the wall-like Huo Lei currently swinging his stone hammer. The goblins looked at each other in confusion, yet none of them was willing to take the lead and step forward.
“Uyayuwuaa!” The leading goblin fell into a rage and roared out something in anger.
“Yiiiyaaa!” With wide eyes, the goblins glowered at Huo Lei who was blocking their way ahead and released sharp sounds out of their throats. They then braced themselves and charged towards him.
Rage was merely a false bravado in the face of absolute strength. With their strength being on the same level as that of a human child, it was impossible for goblins to be on equal terms with a troll in a head-on fight.
However, even if that was the case, these timid and cunning goblins had no choice but to brace themselves and rush forward like moths rushing into a flame.
As expected, their fragile bodies were churned into a pile of meat pulp under a whistling big hammer.
“Uuahhh!” An iron arrow pierced through the glabella of a goblin that was planning to mount a sneak attack from the side. It was sent flying backward with the projectile nailing it to the wall, where its small and yellow eyes gradually lost their luster.
Xiaomu lightly pressed her fingers against her neck and faintly heaved a sigh. Even though she had already been a part of the order for two years, this was the first time she had accepted an assignment and also the first time she had shot a living creature dead. It was needless to mention how tense she had been earlier.
A few crafty goblins made use of the opportunity their comrades gave them by attracting the enemies’ attention and successively broke through Huo Lei’s defense line.
They bared their fangs and claws and rushed behind him. Their aim was the area wherein the pair with zero close combat abilities— Lil’ Sha and Xiaomu —was located. As the goblins approached, their small, glistening yellow eyes shone in the color of excitement.
However, before they could do so, a fang-shaped, two-handed sword blocked their path.
“Swish! Crack!” Like tofu, a goblin that had pounced its way over was cut into two. The filthy crimson blood that ensued stained an iron helmet that was adorned with a pair of wings.
“Gigiwauuguu!?” The goblins furiously stared at the silhouette, which was wrapped tight in brigandine armor, and exchanged signals with each other.
‘Foolish human! Let’s knock him down first, then shred his body to pieces!’
This was clearly not the first time these goblins were up against a human knight. After communicating in a series of “gigigaga” noises, they hastily set up a battle formation and, in groups of pairs, stationed themselves in different directions. With brandished swords and raised knives, they then rushed towards Ji Bai.
With his hands supporting his two-handed sword, Ji Bai intercepted the weapons of a pair of goblins. He then lowered his posture and knocked them down with his leg in a sweeping motion.
“Uuuyaa!” The tiny eyes of two goblins behind him sparkled as they saw Ji Bai revealing an obvious opening. They speedily rushed forwards and ruthlessly struck with their knives towards his lower back.
“Ding!” They struck the metal chainmail of his brigandine armor, causing their knives to come flying out of their hands.
Ji Bai turned his body. With his hands holding the blade, the sword hilt accurately struck the cervical vertebrae of a goblin.
“Crack.” Following the sound of bones shattering, the goblin’s neck was smashed and now twisted into a ninety-degree angle.
With a light toss of his sword, Ji Bai gripped onto its hilt and skewered its blade into the chest of the other goblin.
He then picked up their weapons and threw them like throwing knives, killing two goblins that were planning to move closer to him.
As for the two goblins that were laying on the ground, they had already been shot dead by Xiaomu.
“Gigiwarghaaaa!” The goblins’ leader was incessantly moving backward and hiding. From time to time, it would use one of its comrades to intercept arrows that were flying towards it and shout continuously in a chaotic manner, with the meaning unknown to its enemies.
“Uwaa!” Waves and waves of goblins rushed out of the shadows, seemingly turning the situation into a disaster.
Some of these goblins had rudimentary sticks, knives, and forks in their hands, but some of them had even come without a weapon. There was nothing more morale-boosting when countless comrades were shielding them; Not to mention the women that would be their spoils after this battle.
“Boo-hoo…” As she witnessed the appearance of new goblins far outpacing the rate they were slain at and then rushing towards their group like a tide, Lil’ Sha’s complexion turned deathly pale from fright.
Like seawater surging through a leak into the belly of a broken ship, she was plunged into a stream of memories. This made her realize how this scene was uncannily similar to the memories of her past when her hometown was set on fire.
“Mr. Ji Bai, be careful!” Stuttered Xiaomu, whose nervousness had long caused her to forget about the fact that she was the one with seniority here.
“Take good care of yourself.”Ji Bai was like an iron tower, blocking off the path towards Lil’ Sha and Xiaomu.
“Haaaa! Bring it on! Only then, will it be exciting! Eat this! Mule Kick1— Rotating Joyride of Death!” Shouted Huo Lei loudly, filled with fighting intent. He swung his massive hammer and spun incessantly, smashing the goblins that dared to approach him into pieces.
[Common Class: Tornado Blade]
Ji Bai grasped onto his two-handed sword with his backhand. With the blade’s edge cutting its way like a tornado, the goblins that had pounced towards him were disposed of.
“The physical way of dealing with them is too ineffective. Huo Lei, use your magic.” Said Ji Bai as he pulled his sword out of a goblin’s body.
“Huh? Magic? I only use that to repair my weapons.” Answered Huo Lei while turning towards him.
“The other form; The green magic flame exclusively possessed by trolls.”
“I don’t know that.”
“…Are you really a troll?”
Even though he knew that it wasn’t an appropriate time for a rebuttal, Ji Bai couldn’t help but shout in a puzzled manner.
“You can’t blame me for that…”
‘I reckon that the number of goblins inhabiting this nest is already in their hundreds.’
Ji Bai silently thought as he saw the unending stream of goblins rushing towards him.
As the saying goes, too many ants could even kill an elephant. However, when it came to dealing with Huo Lei alone, Ji Bai fully believed that it would be a fruitless endeavor for the goblins, no matter how many they were. As a first-tier bottom-rung species, it was impossible for goblins to harm a troll, who belonged to the second tier.
However, for him, the unending stream of goblins was a humongous threat.
Ji Bai shook the goblins that were incessantly hitting him off his back and stabbed them to death with his sword. Following that, he turned around in a sweeping chop, cleaving them – along with their weapons – into halves and successively pushing back the goblins that were closing onto him.
The goblins lifted up their torches, illuminating both his fang-shaped sword, stained in blood and his cold, indifferent helmet.
“Eeeee…”
“Iyaaa! G-Go away! You bastards, uuhuu- Don’t touch me.” Lil’ Sha’s sobbing tone echoed behind his back.
Ji Bai turned his head.
Far in the rear, Lil’ Sha was pinned down to the ground by two goblins. Revealing a pair of sinister smiles, they had restrained her with a death-like grip and were incessantly tearing apart her clothes.
“Hiii…” Lil’ Sha laid immobile on the ground. Her beautiful violet pupils were devoid of life, yet filled with despair.
Xiaomu’s situation wasn’t good either; She had been pressured to the point of using her bow to smash goblins. However, she was practically incapable of obstructing the goblin’s advance. If it wasn’t for the fact that they wanted to capture them alive, it was likely that at this point she would have already been stabbed a dozen times by the goblins.
‘We’ve been encircled. At the end of the day, did my optimism cause this situation to happen?’
Ji Bai felt the urge to hurry to her side, but a few goblins took this opportunity to completely surround him; They then rushed forward and stabbed their forks and knives onto his thighs.
“Fuck off and die in the corner, you filthy pests!” Huo Lei was in a killing frenzy. While the goblins were incapable of hurting him, they also prevented him from supporting the rear lines. This enraged him endlessly.
“Gigigi…” The goblins responded with laughters of ridicule.
“Foolish creatures.” A chilly gaze brimming with killing intent shot out from within the iron helmet.
“Take out your masks.” Ji Bai yelled at the crowd as he pulled out a blade that was lodged into his leg and stabbed a goblin to death with it.
He then grabbed a handful of black greyish powder from his waist pouch and scattered it into the air.
[Common Class: Tornado Blade]
The wind that was generated by the blade began to stir the black greyish granules around.