Game Of Eternals: Sinner

Chapter 13: Fourth Phase

Neo calculated the time again and found that he was left with less than 20 minutes before the potion effect ran out, and he didn't know if this dungeon was done with him or not. Well, he didn't need to think more, as a notification blared before him.

『 Fourth Phase of the Goblin King's Keep will start when ready.』

Neo looked at the notification intently like he wanted to tear it apart as the frustration along with nervousness was building in his heart because if this was not the last phase of the dungeon or that if it took longer than the potion stats boost time, he was dead meat.

He took a deep breath and removed the sphere from the goblin before saying, "I'm ready."

『 Fourth Phase starting.』

Neo was teleported from this hall to another one, which was identical to the one he was in before. This puzzled him, but his hair stood up on their end, and he hurriedly jumped back.

Bang*

A huge mace struck the place where he stood, and the earth trembled a little because of the power behind that strike. Neo looked at the culprit behind that. Standing well over seven feet tall. Its muscular body was covered in coarse, dark fur, and its face was an abomination of human and animal features. Its eyes glowed with an eerie red light, and its broad mouth was filled with sharp, yellow teeth. This green monstrosity was a hobgoblin, an evolved, or some might say, that it was a devolved version of a goblin. The hobgoblin wore a suit of spiked armor, and in one massive hand, it held a heavy mace, the spikes on its head glinting in the dim light of the chamber. Its beady, red eyes glared down at Neo.

Neo gulped as he looked at the monster and used [Inspect]

[Name: Grimor, the Hobgoblin

Type: Hobgoblin

Level: 22

Health: 9,600/9,600

Mana: Nil

Attack 640~690

Defense: 550~600

Magic Defense: 300~390.

Skills: Crushing Blow, Ground Pound, Iron Will, Tough Hide.]

Neo sweated when he saw the health and its other stats. He wanted to shout that it was totally an unfair fight but couldn't as he hurriedly dodged the mace that was swung at him. He tried attacking as well, but when his sword landed on the skin of the monster, it only gave it a superficial wound and a number appeared.

-30

Neo looked at the number in a daze but hurriedly got out of it as he saw the mace arriving toward him from his peripheral vision. He even checked whether the effect of the potion faded without him knowing, but that wasn't the case. The damn skin of the monster was too tough.

Neo jumped around as he came up with a plan and kept on striking only one place, but that was difficult, as he had to dodge the mace.

Suddenly, Hobgoblin moved the mace above its head and brought it down on the ground. Neo was surprised by his action but then remembered one of its skills, [Ground Pound].

Neo jumped up the moment the mace came in contact with the ground as he found that this might be the only way to not be affected by the skill. And his luck was great as what he guessed was right and the shockwave that was generated by the Ground Pound only influenced the targets whose feet touch the ground. But he couldn't keep himself forever in the sky and was descending.

Neo gritted his teeth and hoped for the best. The moment he landed on the ground, he was hit by the shockwave and got swept away by it as damage appeared.

Hp -190

The good thing was that he wasn't hit by the first wave and was only impacted by the secondary waves, so the effect was smaller, larger but still small.

He hurriedly stabilized himself and moved toward the panting monster, who was also affected by its skill, as pounding the ground with that hulking mace was difficult.

Neo moved closer to it and the monster swept toward him with its mace, horizontally. Neo took advantage of his agility and used the mace as a foothold as he zoomed toward the monster with his sword, targeting its left eye.

'𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴.'

Puchi*

The monster wasn't able to dodge the strike, and the sword lodged itself into its eye.

Roar*

The monster roared in pain as it swung its hand toward Neo, who hurriedly jumped back, leaving the sword still stuck in its eye. After getting rid of the pest, the monster grabbed the sword and got it out of its eye. It threw it toward Neo in anger.

"Thanks for returning it to me."

Neo stepped to the side and grabbed the sword by its hilt before moving toward the monster from its blind spot. The hobgoblin felt Neo vanish, and it looked around in confusion, but then roared in pain as Neo targeted the left side of its neck.

It turned toward its left, but Neo was again missing as he kept himself in the monster's blind spot and attacked the same part of the neck again.

The monster roared in pain and swung the mace to the left, circling in an arc, but it wasn't able to beat Neo's agility and its low or no intelligence wasn't helping it at all.

Neo kept attacking the same spot again and again while dodging the mace that the monster was now flailing around helplessly.

Just as Neo felt that the victory was in sight, the monster's skin turned a little bronze and the moment his sword came in contact with it.

Clang*

A clang sounded, and Neo hurriedly moved back. He looked at his hand, which was shaking and in pain.

"What was that?" He said as he looked at the monster again and used his inspection skill to see what he had missed.

"Iron will or tough hide. Must be one of them."

Neo clenched the sword tightly to shake the trembling off and started another round with the monster.

[00:07:00]