CHAPTER 150: ROUND 11

"I’ll take the next few monsters," Ning announced. "You all should rest up and recover your Navi. Especially you, Roman. We will need you to heal us a lot and support us."

"Good idea," Jax agreed. He removed his armor. "I could use a break from getting pelted with needles."

Roman’s healing spell had worked well, and the pain from the iron needles had completely disappeared. Jax stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders, feeling much better.

As they waited for the next round, Lucille glanced around the arena and then toward the skies where the many thousands of names still glowed in the sky like stars.

"Look," she said in a sharp tone, pointing to several names.

The others followed her gaze and saw what she meant. Then they saw what had surprised her.

Dozens of names, if not over a hundred, had dimmed in the sky, to a point where they were barely visible.

"What’s... what’s going on?" Melayne asked in confusion.

"Hmm? Maybe they are all done with their boss fights?" Ning asked, but that didn’t feel right. Given how everyone fought at their own pace, some of the parties would likely not even have reached bosses.

"They lost," Lucille said in a tone that made it sound like it was an obvious answer. "The dimmed names are the parties that are no longer in the trial. We need to continue until we are the only ones."

"Why would they give up so quickly?" Roman asked. "They could have at least stuck through to the next boss so they can leave."

The others looked at him with an awkward look.

"What?" Roman asked. "What did I say say–"

But then his face fell as he realized the truth. "No, wait. There’s no way to give up until you have a ticket. That means..."

"At least one member in those parties died," Jax finished grimly.

The sobering realization settled over Roman. Of all the names that had dimmed, at least one of their party members had died. "The trial isn’t over even after someone die, do they?" Roman asked slowly. "There is a chance that many more have died too."

The rest nodded.

"We need to be more careful," Lucille said. "Don’t take it easy even if it looks easy. But pace yourself as well. We’re going to fight until we’re the only one remaining. "

The countdown timer reached zero, and "Round 11" began.

"Here we go," Ning said, stepping forward with his spear ready.

The monster that emerged from the gate this time was unlike anything they had faced so far. It was a tiny goblin, no taller than a child, with pale green skin and wild, unkempt hair. In each hand, it gripped a curved dagger with a slight green hue to it.

"Be careful," Lucille said. "That dagger might have poison.

Ning nodded. "Don’t worry. It won’t get to use it."

The goblin’s eyes locked onto Ning, identifying him as the closest threat. Without warning, it burst into motion, its tiny legs sprinting at startling speed.

Ning spun his spear in the air, and it formed a protective dome around him. He rarely used the ’Spinning Spear Shield’ spell, but it was useful at times. The goblin’s dagger struck the shield in a loud clang but couldn’t get past it.

Ning grabbed the spear and sidestepped at the last moment, the goblin’s blades whistling past his ear. The creature landed gracefully and immediately spun around for another attack.

"Definitely fast," Ning muttered, backdashing to create distance.

The goblin pressed its assault, its daggers moving in a blur of green and steel. Ning found himself fully occupied with dodging and blocking the goblin’s relentless attacks.

"I was hoping for a less difficult fight right after the boss, but whatever."

As he defended himself, Ning’s eyes were working. He could see the goblin’s critical spots clearly—one on its neck, one on its chest, and one on its back. The creature’s small size and lack of armor made the weak points easily visible.

He had found them easily, so now it was just a matter of hitting them when he could.

The goblin lunged forward with both daggers, aiming for Ning’s stomach. Ning twisted to the side and brought his spear around in a sweeping arc, targeting it’s exposed neck.

His spear tip found its mark, striking the first critical spot with perfect accuracy. The goblin let out a high-pitched shriek of pain and staggered backward.

"It is quite difficult to kill these guys when they look humanoid," Ning said as he pulled back his spear. "Good thing I know Dinagonous makes you guys, or I would have to worry about another shutdown."

The goblin recovered quickly and charged again, this time more cautiously, using its daggers to probe Ning’s defenses.

Ning waited patiently, his spear moving in defensive patterns. When the goblin committed to a thrust with its right dagger, he stepped inside its guard and drove his spear point into the creature’s chest.

The second critical spot was hit, and the goblin’s movements became noticeably sluggish.

"One last to go," Ning announced.

The goblin was clearly weakened, but it wasn’t finished. It circled Ning warily, looking for an opportunity to strike.

Ning feinted high with his spear, then dropped low and swept the goblin’s legs. As the creature stumbled, he spun his spear around and drove it into the goblin’s back, hitting the final critical spot.

The goblin collapsed instantly, its body dissolving into motes of light that coalesced into a small pile of loot.

"Nice work!" the rest called out from the sidelines.

Ning collected the stones that had appeared and jogged back to the group. The timer reset to 1 minute, and "Round 12" appeared above them.

"How are you feeling?" Roman asked. "Did the poison get to you?"

"I’m good," Ning replied, barely even breaking unevenly. "That goblin was quick, but not quick enough to dodge me."

"Can you continue on?" Lucille asked.

Ning nodded. "You guys just rest. I can take care of most of them."