Chapter 258: Act 25 – Expansion (6)
A brilliant flash of lightning burst forth from the darkness, dazzling like bright fireworks, the blinding sparks pierced through the three-headed troglodytes in the perimeter, and instantly penetrated their bodies. The lightning spread out like a fan, scattering backward.
A group of troglodytes fell.
Tagib was startled, not because of the terrifying power generated by Xi’s strike. It understood that once power reached the level of a slave owner, the lethality produced by every move would exhibit geometric growth.
But what truly surprised it was how the front lines seemed to collapse immediately after Xi’s strike. What was happening? Tagib looked around the battlefield and soon keenly felt that several voices, which had been issuing commands on the battlefield, had disappeared.
It had lost several warriors among its kin, and these two humans seemed quite familiar with their fighting style. A slight shock ran through Tagib’s mind, but it had no time to mourn, as the two humans began to press forward, killing their way in its direction.
Brendel and Xi advanced at an astonishing speed, and the disorganized troglodytes could not stop them; the distance between both sides was quickly halved.
Tagib was naturally not going to sit idly by, but it quickly realized that the troglodyte warriors it led to organize an attack were often singled out by the enemy and met with precise surgical strikes in just a moment. After several attempts, it promptly abandoned this effort—never mind the futility of such endeavors; it did not have enough elites on hand to waste in this way.
Having lost nearly half a squad of troglodyte warriors in the front and back, the troglodyte shaman began to feel a bit anxious.
Moreover, it did not have time for further contemplation.
Looking around, the tall bear goblins stood guard around it. Tagib could not help but think it was time for these large fellows to play their proper roles. Although these bear goblins represented the most capable fighting force of the entire troglodyte tribe, the two humans were getting closer, and it did not want to perish here without understanding the reasons.
It gestured, a series of elemental spells—the blessing of the cave, which temporarily increased a creature’s combat power at the cost of vision. For the black iron pinnacle bear goblins, it was enough to elevate their strength to the silver tier.
This was, in fact, a type of dark magic, which posed significant harm to the recipient. However, Tagib did not understand this; the shaman’s magic was inherited from blood, a blessing from the cave witches, and every troglodyte shaman first practiced this spell without considering its rationality.
It raised its three withered fingers, scattered some plant ash, and cast a blind blessing.
Thus, the bear goblins temporarily gained the sense of blindness, which would at least not impair their combat effectiveness when losing sight. In fact, every bear goblin had received special training in fighting while blind, so this would not trouble them.
Every resident underground remembered this saying—eyes are unnecessary.
Finally, Tagib pointed forward and let out a sharp cry from its throat. Its order was simple, to let these bear goblins block the two humans or at least hinder them, buying time for its own warriors to regroup those terrified kin.
It knew that human stamina was limited; its acute hearing had even picked up the sound of the female’s breathing becoming heavier. It understood that it was now a contest of who could hold out longer. But Tagib believed victory would surely belong to the troglodytes.
This was the result its countless battles had taught it.
It listened to the heavy steps of the bear goblins moving forward while commanding its remaining guards—though the quality of the remaining guards had become uneven since losing the bear goblins—to cover its retreat.
“Those damn humans,” Tagib could not help but curse inwardly.
…
However, at this moment, the scene was quite different in the eyes of Brendel and Xi; the red-haired girl felt she was reaching her limits. She had never participated in such a battle before—two people charging through a sea of enemies sounded nice. But in reality, the drain on her stamina was several times faster than usual.
She had lost count of how many enemies she had personally taken down, hundreds or more; initially, it was like breaking through bamboo, but as her stamina gradually depleted, the experience of charging forward soon mingled with a touch of bitterness.
The arcs of lightning extending from her ax-spike, once stretching for over ten feet, had now contracted to surround her body. Xi did not know how much longer she could last; she glanced around—enemies surrounded her on all sides, and she began to pant heavily, unable to suppress her admiration for Brendel.
Only Brendel still appeared calm and collected, his element—a powdery ice-like substance—continuously spread out for dozens of feet, forcing the nearby troglodytes to retreat from the cold.
Xi gritted her teeth and stubbornly followed suit.
But she did not understand that, at this moment, Brendel felt a bit weary as well. After all, in the Amber Sword, no matter how strong you were, as long as you lacked a perfect body, you could never escape fatigue—whether it be gold tier or awakened elements, there were no exceptions.
The semblance of calm and skilled use of elements by the young man relied entirely on an unexpected surprise.
As his level increased, the indomitable talent hidden within his body gradually grew, revealing more new attributes. At this moment, he was surprised to discover this talent—
“As long as stamina has not entered the stage of exhaustion, the character can exert all their abilities as if in optimal condition.”
This attribute did not seem to enhance a character’s absolute strength on the surface, but Brendel understood that its effect in actual combat was far beyond imagination. After all, whether a player or an NPC—as long as they had not reached the perfect body stage, they would inevitably face issues with dwindling stamina.
That is, apart from the truly golden race, everyone else’s absolute combat power would gradually decline during battle.
However, after obtaining the indomitable talent, the situation changed fundamentally.
This was unexpectedly good news, meaning he could maintain optimal strength at all times in battles from now on, especially in prolonged fights or duels, this provided a distinct advantage.
Yet Brendel thought that while this looked appealing, it would turn into a burden once he reached the perfect body stage. Just thinking of this made him slightly helpless.
He casually unleashed a wave of sword wind, and alternating the White Crow Sword Technique with power bursts had gradually brought his stamina close to a dangerous line. But at this moment, Brendel lifted his head and finally noticed that the large group of bear goblins near Tagib had finally moved.
Then he saw the layer of black-red light flickering on the massive body of the opponent, recognizing it as the troglodyte shaman’s most commonly used “Cave Blessing”—the shaman’s mana pool was not large, which meant the opponent had started to tap into their reserves.
That was enough.
Brendel could not help but exhale softly; he tilted his head slightly. “Xi, can you hold on a bit longer?” he asked.
The red-haired girl swatted away a mindless troglodyte charging at her and panted heavily; she even lost the energy to respond. She simply asked, “How much further do we need to push forward, my lord?”
Her response had already indicated her exhaustion.
But she turned her head and saw that the line of bear goblins forming like a high wall in front of her, which startled her, turning her face pale. She took a deep breath, looked back at her ax-spike, and gritted her teeth, saying, “My lord, I remember you have that acceleration skill, right?”
“Charge?” Brendel was taken aback.
“Yes…”
“What for?”
“I’m… I’m completely exhausted and afraid I have no strength to move forward anymore…” Xi panted, but when she lifted her head, the fighting spirit in her eyes shone with indomitable resolve as she bit her teeth and replied, “I’ll open a gap with the Seventh String, and my lord, you find a way to accelerate through those bear goblins… Are they called bear goblins?”
Brendel did not expect that she was thinking of this and shook his head: “What are you talking about? I’m asking if you can buy me a bit of time.”
“Time?” Xi was stunned.
“Thirty seconds.”
Doubt flickered in the red-haired girl’s eyes, but she nodded firmly: “Of course.”
“Then it’s up to you!” Brendel stared at the increasingly close “bear goblin wall”; in his eyes, Tagib’s goat-headed scepter was growing more distant.
But success seemed already close at hand—
…
Tagib thought it had secured victory when Brendel and Xi stopped. It believed that even with two “slave owners,” facing a frontline composed of over twenty bear goblins bolstered by the Cave Blessing, they would have to tread carefully.
However, should their speed slow down, it would have ample time to reorganize the already frightened kin.
Thus, the efforts of the two humans to advance would be in vain.
Tagib could not help but feel a bit pleased with its own wisdom, but it had not yet issued commands to send forth the troglodyte warriors who had previously hidden back to supervise those fleeing kin, when an unexpected situation entered its realm of hearing.
It was a sharp premonition of danger, honed through years of warfare.
It felt a slight stir in its heart, instinctively looking up. Despite lacking sight, it could feel from the feedback of sound waves that an uninvited guest had appeared midair.
It did not know what it was—this peculiar echo was something it had never heard before. Soft yet slightly chaotic, it seemed to stir the air and leave swirling currents in the wind. It was the sound of wings but far larger than that of a bird. In that moment, Tagib suddenly recalled a certain legend about the surface world.
It thought it must be a giant eagle—giant eagles from the surface world’s elven tribe!
But at this moment, only Brendel, Xi, and a few bear goblins among the troglodyte army could see that what appeared in the sky was not a giant eagle, but two radiant beings with glowing bodies and two pairs of light wings behind them.
The holy archangels descended from the heavens!
Their target was the very Tagib below!
…
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