‘What is he doing?’ The Goblin Elder watched as the black-haired young man moved his arm around in the air as if he were doing something.
The elder’s limited knowledge made it hard to comprehend it.
‘He must be tricking me. He only boasts big words!’ The Goblin Elder thought with scorn. ‘I have already won this battle. I just have to beat him into submission.’
“Huff…” Ambrose spun his swords around and cracked a small smile. “Much better.”
‘After reaching a hundred in Dexterity, I truly am starting to feel like these swords are another limb of mine. I feel very connected to them on a spiritual level.’
The Goblin Elder pointed its wooden cane filled with strange magic at Ambrose and shouted. “Time to end this. Goblin Bombardment!”
Swoosh, swoosh—dozens of spherical magic spells shot out from the wooden cane, raining down on Ambrose.
Ambrose extended both his sword-wielding arms and began spinning the swords in a blur of motion.
“Slash of the Three Worlds!”
Crack—he tightly grabbed the swords and swung them horizontally across the air.
The force of his swings sent the spherical spells flying in all directions.
“M-my spells!” The Goblin Elder grimaced and felt its power weakening.
Ambrose looked at the ugly goblin and sprang forward.
Again, he started spinning the swords in front of him, creating a dizzying motion that made the blades look like afterimages.
As he closed in on the Goblin Elder, he could see fear flickering in its eyes.
“Slash of the…”
“Enough!” The Goblin Elder shouted and raised his cane to cast another spell.
This time, the spell appeared near the crumbling ceiling.
It was spherical in shape, but inside the spell, there was some kind of luminous energy.
“Ancient Goblin Magic, Luminescent!”
Swoosh—a vertical line cut straight through the sphere, releasing a figure trapped inside the energy.
Thud—the large, muscular figure crashed into the ground, covered in a wet substance.
It looked like the creature had just been born.
“Attack!” The Goblin Elder took control of the new-born creature, forcing it to attack the black-haired player.
The creature raised its head, revealing dark eyes, prominent tusks, and a familiar, ugly face.
‘An orc?’ Ambrose lunged forward and looked straight at the Goblin Elder, not planning to stop his attack.
“Slash of the Three Worlds!”
The swords slashed through the air, sending a powerful wave of energy towards the Goblin Elder.
“Eek!” The Goblin Elder’s eyes closed in horror. “Protect me, fool!”
Swoosh—a large, muscular-ridden figure appeared in front of the wave of energy.
The attack landed on its chest with a deafening boom.
However, the large creature seemed completely unharmed!
“Ugh, the hell.” Ambrose clicked his tongue.
After opening its shaky eyes, the Goblin Elder started laughing nervously. “Zahahaha, see? This is the magic our ancestor created. It allows us to create a superior version of ourselves!”
‘The superior version of goblins is just an orc? How fitting.’ Ambrose scoffed and remembered Yughragh and his disgusting, overpowered attacks.
Luckily, the muscular figure didn’t seem to possess such strength.
“Attack, zahahaha!” The Goblin Elder commanded.
The muscular Orc charged forward and threw a powerful punch that caused the air to explode.
Ambrose crossed the swords in front of his body and blocked the punch, but the sheer impact sent him tumbling backward.
After ending his tumbling, he struggled to stand up, but after a few groans of pain, he managed to push himself to stand upright.
Thump, thump!
The Orc rushed forward, shaking the earth with each long stride.
Ambrose sighed heavily and dodged another air-exploding punch from the Orc, but the shockwave sent him sliding down the ground.
Screech—he stabbed his swords into the ground, stabbing through the thick layer of dirt and rock, anchoring himself in place.
“Zahahaha!” The Goblin Elder spread its arms wide as if it were accepting a hug. “Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant—I should have summoned this thing before. I would’ve been unstoppable!”
Thump, thump!
The ground shook as the Orc chased after the black-haired player, closing in on him with each thunderous step.
Ambrose silently watched as the Orc closed in on him, and when the creature was close enough, he suddenly sprung into the air, flipping over its massive frame.
The Orc followed Ambrose with its eyes, its massive muscles tensing as it prepared for another ground-shaking attack.
“High Pain!” Ambrose flicked his wrist and delivered a quick slash at the Orc’s shoulder.
The blade made a thin, almost non-existent cut on the Orc’s thick, armored skin.
However, that was enough.
“Guraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” The Orc roared in pain, its scream shaking the foundations of the underground chamber.
“W-what?” The Goblin Elder looked in shock as its proudest creation was whimpering in pain.
“Humanoid Imperfecta!” Ambrose leaped forward and stabbed both his Black Swords into the Orc’s chest.
The blade’s edges barely managed to stab into the armored skin, but it was enough for the curse to take effect.
“Heh!” Ambrose laughed and then tried to remove the swords from the skin, but soon realized that he couldn’t!
The Orc’s skin regenerated at an alarming pace, trapping the swords with the thick skin!
“Oh, sh—”
The Orc raised its angry, blood-red eyes and looked straight at the human, who caused it an unspeakable amount of pain.
Squeeze—the Orc grabbed Ambrose by his throat and slammed him into the ground with a bone-crushing force.
“Ugh!” Ambrose’s chest caved in, and out of reflex, he coughed up blood.
His vision turned blurry, and breathing became even harder.
He struggled to stay awake, but the darkness quickly engulfed his vision.
As his consciousness slipped away, the Orc lifted him from the ground and smashed him into the wall, leaving a trail of blood splattered across the surface.
“Ugh!” Ambrose gasped, forced awake by the searing numbness in his ribs.
“Zahahahaha!” The Goblin Elder erupted into laughter, getting tired of the human surprising him with sudden attacks, but now it truly looked like the victory was theirs.
However, then the Orc turned slightly sluggish as it began feeling strange.
Its movements became unsteady and uncoordinated, causing it to stumble and struggle to maintain its balance.
“H-huh?” The Goblin Elder looked at its creation in confusion. “What is happening? What is wrong with you?”
“Suu… kruu…”
The Orc stammered unintelligent words as it was still new-born, unable to speak proper words in the languages of humans or goblins.
“W-what have you done, human?!” The Goblin Elder looked at the black-haired young man in anger.
“Hah… it sure took time for it to work…” Ambrose opened his hazy eyes and stood up from the ground, his legs shaking. 𝒪𝐕xt.𝐜𝑶𝚖
The Orc shook its head, but soon it got used to the feeling of weakness and began to focus in the task in hand—killing Ambrose.
“Kill him!” The Goblin Elder stomped the ground angrily. “That’s why you were born for. Kill him!”
The Orc turned its blood-red eyes back at Ambrose and began stomping towards him with renewed bloodlust.
‘It sure got used to Humanoid Imperfecta quickly… What a monster. Maybe because it is mind-controlled.’
Ambrose struggled to lift his swords, but he knew if he let the Orc deliver another attack, he would die and fail the secret quest.
He also did not want to let the Goblin Elder live; it was unacceptable!
At that moment, flashes of memories from his training with the wise grandmaster flooded Ambrose’s mind.
Sometimes during the day, the Wisdom King showed a glimpse of his swordsmanship, showing different kinds of techniques and footwork.
The memories began bending together; his figure replaced the Wisdom King’s and he repeated the techniques and footwork with precision and grace.
Until finally, his swordsmanship reached a new level of mastery.
Ambrose closed his heavy eyes and crossed the swords in front of his body.
The loud footsteps of Orc’s and the Goblin Elder’s laughter faded into obscurity.
He only heard his steady breathing and the vibration of his muscles.
Ding, ding…
[A skill “Slash of the Three Worlds” has evolved!]
[1x Skill Scroll Used!]
[Do you want to name your skill?]
[Y/N]
“Yes…” Ambrose whispered, and then, in his dark mind palace, the movements of the particular skill appeared.
It looked fluid, precise, and powerful!
Thump!
The ground shook as the Orc stomped its feet down; it then lifted its fist and rained it down upon Ambrose!
It looked like a boulder was descending from the sky.
Ambrose slammed his eyes open.
“Slash of the Six Worlds!”
Swoosh!
Spurt!
“Uh… uh…” The Goblin Elder stumbled forward, its hand touching its waist.
The elder was having a hard time breathing as, in front of it, the muscular Orc fell to the ground, its body sliced in half.
“H-how…” The Goblin Elder turned around and saw the black-haired human standing coolly with two blood-soaked swords in his hands.
The human somehow traversed across the chamber within a millisecond, cutting both the Orc and the Goblin Elder without even letting out a sound.
“Ugh…” The Goblin Elder fell to its knees and looked down at its torso, its organs spilling out from the abdomen.
“Curse… you… human…”
With the last words of regret, the elder fell to the ground, dead.
Ambrose slowly sheathed his sword, and as soon as the blade had fully slipped into the scabbard, he turned back to look at the Goblin Elder’s lifeless body.
“It won’t be too long anymore…” He turned away and walked away from the chamber. “Until I am powerful enough to defeat you—Cerberus!”
The winner—Ambrose!