CHAPTER 48: HORDE OF GOBLINS

"Newbie!" Cyrus shouted as the shards of the projectile came crashing down, glowing fragments scattering like fiery meteors across the plaza.

The ruined ground hissed wherever they struck, leaving molten streaks in cracked stone.

It was like the sky was erupting.

Cyrus dove to the side, cloak whipping behind him, while his brothers tumbled after in less-than-graceful rolls.

They looked like bumbling fools.

"Move! More incoming, hurry!" he barked, his voice sharp with panic.

The smoke was thick, stinging the eyes, curling in burning waves through the place.

For a moment, the Hudsons thought Lucius had been pulverized.

It would’ve been the fastest death of a newbie in their squad history.

Of course their newbies didn’t last that long but still fastest death.

But when the haze cleared, the figure floating above them was untouched.

Lucius hovered effortlessly in the air, his black shirt crisp, not even singed.

He looked down with faint irritation, as though the entire bombardment had been a mosquito bite.

’I’m annoyed they even tried to harm me.’ He thought, his Guild uniform was expensive after all.

[Unique Skill: Aura Farming has gone up by 3 levels]

Lucius’s eyebrow twitched as the notification blinked before him. "Really? Getting firebombed counts as farming? Sure. Why not."

Below, the Hudsons’ mouths hung open.

"He... tanked it?" Felix stammered, his voice cracking.

"No, look!" Grimm’s eyes bulged, spear trembling in his grip. "He didn’t even blink."

"Shut up," Cyrus muttered, but even he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

While Felix just shrunk to the side.

Lucius ignored them.

His gaze had already shifted to the far end of the plaza, where the goblins had set up their crude weapon.

A dozen of them pulled on thick ropes, resetting the giant slingshot mechanism, while another — a smaller figure with a crooked staff howled and ignited the next rock with blazing flames.

Lucius narrowed his eyes.

’So, a spellcaster.’

He wracked his memory.

’Goblin spellcasters... what were they called again? Goblin Hamans? Ritualists?’

The word itched at the edge of his mind, they had a specific annoying name.

The little monster screamed again, the fire licking higher, and Lucius finally remembered.

’Shamans. That’s it.’

Of course.

"Wonderful," he muttered. Then, with one lazy push off the air, he shot forward, leaving the Hudsons scrambling far behind.

He couldn’t rely on them, they were more like fools than Awakeners.

The shaman shrieked and immediately changed targets.

Flames flared, and a chain of fireballs burst into being — three, five, then a staggering eight, spiraling toward him like miniature comets.

Lucius lifted his hand, but the corrupted space fought him.

His will snagged against it, like pushing against a tide that dragged him sideways.

"Why is this so hard?" he hissed, jaw tight.

The fireballs closed in, their heat prickling his skin.

Then realization struck.

The spatial flow here was reversed — counter-clockwise, not natural clockwise.

He’d been fighting the current instead of riding it.

He stopped resisting.

The weight lifted instantly, and his control surged back as though the world had just remembered who was in charge.

[Unique Spell: Spatial Understanding has been leveled up]

Lucius smirked.

The fireballs unraveled midair, collapsing into harmless sparks before they even touched him.

"Much better," he whispered. "At least I learned this here instead of on a real raid. That would’ve been humiliating."

Imagine finding out about how your ability worked in the midst in a real raid.

He let himself drop to the cracked ground, dust curling around his boots.

Before him sprawled the true enemy: dozens of goblins, snarling with jagged blades.

Some rode on beastly, dog-like mounts with foam frothing at their mouths.

Two shamans shrieked at the rear, their staffs glowing.

And in the center loomed the Goblin King.

A bloated, grotesque thing, its belly sagged over iron plates, and a massive rusted sword hung heavy in its claws.

Its eyes glowed with crude malice. The king bellowed, shaking rubble loose from the ruins.

Lucius’s lips twisted. "A king? Please. You look more like a drunk uncle."

He lowered himself into the Hohenberg stance, his body balanced in perfect harmony, ready to strike.

It would’ve been a one sided battle with no interruptions...

However—

"COWABUNGA!"

The word tore through the plaza like thunder.

Lucius blinked upward.

Grimm was soaring through the air, spear raised overhead, face lit with manic glee.

He’d leapt from the rooftop of a half-collapsed building, flying through the smoke like a human cannonball.

"Oh no," Lucius muttered.

The shamans reacted instantly.

Both raised their staffs and screeched, unleashing a barrage of fireballs.

The air flared orange, heat shimmering.

"Wait, wai—!" Grimm’s heroic shout cut into a scream as the fireballs slammed into him mid-flight.

The explosions lit him up like a holiday firecracker.

His spear spun away as his body cartwheeled helplessly through the air, trailing black smoke.

He hit the cobblestones with a stomach-turning thud, rolling into a charred heap.

His armor was cracked, smoke rising from his hair.

"I... I meant to do that," he croaked, twitching.

"Brother!" Felix shrieked, sprinting toward him.

Cyrus groaned, hand dragging down his face. "Grimm, you absolute clown."

Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose.

’Airborne without armor, mobility, or a brain. Wonderful.’

A guttural roar snapped his focus back.

One of the mounted goblins charged, its beast clawing up broken stone.

The rider swung a jagged blade down at his head, shrieking in triumph.

Lucius didn’t even flinch. He flicked his wrist in a casual horizontal slash.

The air screamed.

Reality itself split before him, an invisible blade cutting through the goblin and it’s mount.

Their heads slid neatly from their shoulders, eyes still wide, before tumbling to the ground.

The bodies toppled after, spraying foul green blood across the stone.

Lucius stepped back, shaking the droplets from Infinity, it would have poured all over him if Infinity wasn’t active.

His face twisted in revulsion.

"Disgusting," he muttered, watching the blood pool at his feet.

The horde shrieked in fury, their cries shaking the ruins.

The Goblin King raised its massive blade and roared, and dozens of goblins surged forward.

’I hate this...’