Chapter 35 - Hobgoblins And Dokkaebi (1/2)
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[The countdown had ended, you can turn back no more]
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*Whoosh*
There came sounds of an invisible barrier being projected at the entrance behind him, signifying that Jeremy would not be able to leave this place anymore.
That was... before he successfully slew the five hobgoblins in front of him.
As if they had just realized Jeremy's presence, one by one, the hobgoblins started to turn their heads in Jeremy's direction.
'They wore leather armor? Hmm... Hobgoblin, a low-rank organism as same as us humans. They are a race that is one rank above the goblin that I have faced so far. A hobgoblin's base strength is more than two times stronger than a goblin... These guys indeed can be considered as hidden bosses for this place.'
Having thought of that basic information, Jeremy carefully scrutinized the 5 'outlanders' in front of him. After all, if we didn't count Jeremy's mana into the equation, this fight would be very tough for him.
The word 'Outlander' was widely used by most humans on Ortus when they referred to other extraterrestrial races.
As for how a hobgoblin looked like, its height was around an average human's height but with its smooth green skin with no body or head hair whatsoever. They also had two long pointed ears but without a long nose like a goblin.
All in all, they looked just like an evolutionary version of a standard green goblin, however, with a stronger-looking body, greater height, heavier weight, and composing demeanor while standing upright.
A hobgoblin was usually born with no element affinity but mostly blessed with a far stronger body and several times higher reproduction rates than humans despite their same organism rank. Furthermore, together with their unique cultivation method, all in all, they were not deemed any weaker than the human race back on Ortus.
However, in rare cases, when one of them was born with an element affinity, that hobgoblin would be hailed as a colored Dokkaebi of which its skin color would be aligned with the respective element that they were born with.
Also, when a Dokkaebi was born, it would be born with a lineage power called 'Ancestor's Guidance' in the universal language, which was said to be an inherited power passed down from its ancestral generations.
In other words, the more powerful its subsequent, direct ancestors were, the stronger the next successor would be...
That was precisely also the case for the old hobgoblin that was currently holding a wooden staff, standing behind the four hobgoblin warriors because its skin color was pitch-black.
That old one was actually a Dokkaebi, of which its black skin color clearly represented its affinity with the darkness element.
That meant the black-skinned Dokkaebi in front of Jeremy could certainly cast some inherited spells inherently derived from its late ancestors...
Upon seeing that the black hooded human in front of them wasn't showing any fearful expression, the Dokkaebi frowned before speaking lightly in an obscure language to the four other hobgoblins in its front.
”Daetaks-seu, kareh at cras.”
Then those four hobgoblins nodded their heads in understanding before starting to move into a formation with two on the left and another two on the right side of the old Dokkaebi altogether with their fighting stance readied.
While walking slowly in the hobgoblin's direction, Jeremy pondered inwardly, 'I have to take down the old one first; otherwise, my mana amount would have been reduced from defending the spells cast by it.'
With a determined face, Jeremy stopped his footsteps. Afterward, there was a light glow coming out of his right glove inscription. Meanwhile, the five outlanders also stood with a composed look waiting intently for the start of the forthcoming bloodbath.
At the moment, the distance between the two sides was around 40 meters. Even if they sprinted at full speed to engage in a fight with one another, it would still require approximately 2.5 seconds of full-speed running.
And if Jeremy really wanted to take down the old guy first and foremost, he would have to waste even more time to dodge the four hobgoblin warriors' attacks, then sprinted for around 2 seconds to reach the Dokkaebi.
'That amount of time was enough for that guy to cast more than two spells on me...' Jeremy thought frowningly.
”...”
”...”
”...”
The two sides were having a standoff while staring at one another's eyes attentively; they were currently assessing the possibility of various scenarios that might be able to decide the outcome.