CHAPTER 62: ADAPTIVE ASSAULT

Tatehan immediately sidestepped and ducked, leaping backward.

The Shadow Goblin that attacked him was lanky but powerful and precise with its strikes. If Tatehan hadn’t responded fast enough, he would have hit the ground with a bone-rattling thud.

He was now wary of fighting these monsters. It wasn’t that he didn’t have a good chance, it was simply because of the Energy Siphon ability they had.

He wouldn’t even call that a single ability. That was more of a multi-ability than anything normal.

Energy Siphon was like their way of feeding, a biological-mechanical ability that let them drain power or energy from external sources.

The Shadow Goblins could absorb energy from powered armor, weapons, or machinery they touched or bit into.

When they latched onto Tatehan’s armor, for example, they could draw small bursts of kinetic or electrical charge, weakening his systems. And by systems, that meant his armor, movements, and speed.

When they latched on, visually their claws would spark faintly, or his armor’s internal lights would dim while the creature’s eyes glowed brighter.

It wasn’t instant, more like a slow, parasitic drain. The longer they stayed attached, the weaker the armor became.

It also fueled their Metallic Regrowth, letting them repair cracks or dents in the middle of battle if they’d siphoned enough charge.

Think of it as their version of feeding, they didn’t drink blood; instead they drained energy.

"Damn," Tatehan muttered out loud as he stared at the monsters.

He didn’t know their fighting method yet, so he decided to fight defensively in order to study them.

While the monsters appeared brutal, like how one of them had lunged at him earlier, that seemed to be part of a plan of some sort.

His reason for thinking so was because the intention of the Shadow Goblin that came at him was to bring him down, one way or another. Not exactly to injure him, but to latch onto him so the others could attack. Just as his system had said, they worked in coordinated packs.

But he’d seemed unfazed. He’d just dodged and was back up, staring at them.

The monsters didn’t even know if he was human or a creature like them, since they couldn’t see his face, which was covered by the armor.

There were five of them total. Five pairs of glowing eyes staring at him from different positions in the valley.

Tatehan summoned his chakrams and aimed for their necks. The first one struck, zipping off a section of metal plating that covered part of a goblin’s neck, revealing wires entangled in raw, red flesh beneath.

Tatehan tried hard not to gag. This would be a problem while fighting these things.

How could wires be this perfectly fused into flesh? Mars surely had a lot of crazy and weird monsters, and this was a testament to that.

Tatehan caught the chakram as it returned to his hand. There seemed to be a magnetic pull to it, like a tiny magnet had been embedded in his palm. It didn’t matter how far he threw the chakram, he would always catch it back.

The Shadow Goblin he’d struck shrieked loudly, thrashing wildly as Tatehan advanced forward.

He’d only been fighting defensively because he wanted to study their fighting method, how they responded to attacks, their patterns.

Generally, that was the approach he took while fighting unfamiliar creatures. He hadn’t done much with the Brutenecks because their weakness had been fatally obvious. With the Hexapod mauler, he’d been too confused at first to actually strategize. But when he’d attacked it the second time with Kael, he’d quickly understood its patterns, thanks to Kael teaching him a thing or two.

Now with these Shadow Goblins, although they looked powerful with their bio-mechanical features and their system profile listing multiple abilities, what still kept them at ’Moderate’ threat level was their fighting method.

They fought similarly to the Dwarf Brutenecks, pausing in the middle of a fight to study their opponent, coordinating silently through those chittering sounds. Tatehan found that behavior exploitable. Those pauses would lead to their deaths.

Two goblins lunged simultaneously from opposite sides.

Tatehan dropped low, letting them collide above him with a metallic CLANG. Before they could recover, he slashed upward with his sword, catching one across the chest. Sparks flew, but the blade didn’t penetrate deep enough, the metal plating was too thick.

He switched tactics.

Unsummoning his sword in the middle of the fight, he threw both chakrams in rapid succession. They spun through the air like buzz saws, forcing the goblins to scatter. While they were distracted, he summoned his sword again and closed the distance on the injured one.

He kept switching, chakrams to create distance and openings, sword for close-quarters strikes. His intent was to cut their heads off, but the steel plating made it nearly impossible without a clean opening.

Then he remembered: their weakness was limited endurance.

He’d been fighting well, but not smart.

If their weakness was limited endurance, that meant he needed to push them relentlessly. Keep them moving, keep them burning energy, wear them down until they slowed. Then he’d strike where it mattered.

Where could he aim that would actually kill these things?

He remembered, their chests!

Their chests contained the cores that powered them. If he could thrust his sword into those cores, they would surely fall.

And the way they fought confirmed it, they didn’t fight like they wanted to harm him. They fought like they wanted to latch onto him, drain his energy, weaken him for the kill.

He wouldn’t give them that chance.

Tatehan switched to full offense.

He charged the nearest goblin, feinting left with his sword. It lunged to intercept, exactly as he’d expected. He used his gravity manipulation to pull himself sideways in the middle of a step, dodging its claws, and brought his sword down in a brutal swipe aimed at its chest.

The blade bit deep.

The goblin shrieked, a horrible metallic screech mixed with organic wailing. Its core flickered, visible through the torn plating, glowing with dying light.

Tatehan ripped the sword free and kicked the creature away. It collapsed, twitching, then went still.

[Enemy Defeated: Shadow Goblin]

Four left.

They chittered frantically now, circling him with more caution. They’d seen one of their pack fall. They were adapting.

Good. So was he.