As the soldier flipped over the body, the magical illusion surrounding it shattered into a flood of glowing magical orbs, and what had appeared to be a small girl was suddenly revealed to be a snarling goblin. The creature lunged at the soldier the moment it's disguise was destroyed, its jagged bone dagger raised high above it's head.

  Shocked, the soldier failed to react properly, flinching back as he tried to raise his shield. Just as the goblin's dagger was about to pierce the man's throat, a black spear streaked down from the sky like lightning, crashing into the goblin's head and pinning it to the hood of the car with a heavy THUNK.

  You have defeated Goblin Princeps, Level 14.

  Lucius had leaped into the sky the moment before the soldier touched the body—his instincts proving correct—giving him the perfect line of sight to send a Piercing Throw straight into the creature’s head. As he fell toward the ground, his spear reappearing in his hand, Lucius' eyes shot wide open as dozens of goblins and hobgoblins materialized out of thin air around the perimeter of their location.

  "AMBUSH!"

  Tiber’s shout rang in his ears as Lucius spotted the trail of glowing light slowly drifting toward the gnarled staff of a hobgoblin. A small amount of magic had been released from the bodies of the other creatures when the illusion was dispelled, and it allowed Lucius to determine exactly who was responsible for casting the potent spell. He locked eyes on the hobgoblin caster as he shouted toward Tiber.

  "I’ve got the magic user!"

  Before Lucius could dash forward, a rain of arrows arced toward them from the sky. The soldiers quickly huddled together, shields raised, while Lucius calmly stepped between the falling projectiles. His incredibly high Dexterity let him effortlessly adjust to the arrows' paths, avoiding them with ease.

  As soon as the first wave of arrows ended, Tiber screamed an order, and the soldiers pivoted toward the nearest goblins as one uniform group, charging forward with weapons high, no hesitation visible on their screaming faces. Tiber was using a combat tactic called Turn and Burn—a standard procedure trained in the military to be used in the event of an ambush.

  Normally, it involved immediately returning overwhelming fire as you rushed to escape the ambush zone, but without rifles, the best they could do was break out of the encirclement to avoid fighting on all sides at once.

  Roland’s body instantly turned a glistening bronze as he barreled forward like a tank through the arrow fire. Lucius decided to let Tiber and his men handle themselves, focusing instead on the magic-wielding hobgoblin—the highest-level threat.

  Now that the illusion was gone, he could sense that it was the only D-Class enemy in the group. The flicker of blue lightning sparking around the tip of its staff was all the proof he needed—the creature had to die immediately.

  The hobgoblin magic caster pointed its staff, crackling with glowing blue electric arcs, toward the approaching soldiers, preparing to unleash its attack. But just before it could, Lucius activated Flicker, stepping directly into the line of fire.

  In the next instant, a searing, crackling ball of glowing lightning shot through the air at blinding speed, slamming into a transparent dome of energy that appeared around Lucius just in time to protect him from the attack. The blue lightning crackled as it wrapped around the energy shield, before quickly flowing into the earth below as it dissipated harmlessly.

  Overload had done its job, and Lucius wasted no time, activating Flicker once more. As he rushed toward the hobgoblin, he noticed a group of goblin archers preparing to release another coordinated volley.

  Without breaking stride, he casually cast his armor’s Sinkhole ability beneath the densest cluster of archers, cutting the number of arrows heading toward the soldiers in half.

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  By now, the D-Class caster had taken notice of Lucius and wisely recognized him as the most dangerous foe. The hobgoblin hastily reached down to its waist, ripping off two shrunken skulls before hurling them forward.

  Lucius ignored the skulls sailing through the air, focusing instead on closing the distance enough to throw his spear. With Flicker active, it didn’t take long. Before the skulls even reached the ground, the [Legendary] spear was already streaking toward the hobgoblin at break neck speed.

  Just as the spear was about to strike, one of the skulls at the creature’s waist shot into the air on its own, covered in a green glowing energy. Lucius watched in disbelief as the skull collided with the tip of his spear, altering its trajectory just enough to miss its target.

  As Lucius recalled his spear, three ghostly green figures rose around his opponent. His brows furrowed deeply as he realized that two of the summons had the forms of fallen human soldiers, while the third resembled a nightmarish hobgoblin, eerily similar to the ghostly summon he had seen long ago in the goblin village.

  The anger was visible on Lucius face, his jaw tightly clenched as he made a silent promise to painfully kill the hobgoblin, enslaving the souls of fallen human soldiers was an abomination that he would not allow.

  The spectral figures showed no difficulty seeing through Lucius’ aspect, and their tremendous speed rivaled his own. Their near-transparent forms shuttered and flashed in and out of sight, almost teleporting as they rapidly closed in.

  Lucius dashed backward, hurling a Piercing Throw at one of them, but the spear passed harmlessly through the enslaved soul.

  "Tsk…"

  It seemed that his strongest weapon would be useless against these enemies, so Lucius quickly returned the spear to his storage ring and retrieved Matriarch’s Fury along with the simple dagger Patrick had inscribed for use against creatures like these.

  He hurled both weapons through the air at his rapidly approaching foes. Matriarch’s Fury seemed at first to harmlessly pass through the ghostly figure it was aimed at, but the weapon’s additional magic damage caused it to shriek in agony as a red flash of energy coursed through the area of the body where the ghost was struck.

  The dagger, on the other hand, stabbed directly into the trapped soul’s head as if piercing flesh, remaining stuck. The ghostly figure froze, a look of confusion spreading across it's human face, before letting out a deafening screech as it clawed at the dagger while slowly fading away.

  You have defeated Servus Exspiravit, Level 19.

  Lucius raised an eyebrow as he glanced down at his hand after retrieving the dagger, gaining a renewed appreciation for Patrick's inscription abilities.

  The remaining two nightmare souls halted, staring at the spot where their fallen kin had vanished before their ghostly, glowing eyes locked onto the dagger in Lucius’ hand.

  After that, they no longer charged at him recklessly. Instead, they began moving in a staggered pattern, attempting to dodge his throws.

  Realizing his attacks were no longer landing, Lucius knew he had to change tactics. He began channeling Burst, flooding magical power into both weapons as he stopped retreating.

  Narrowly dodging another ball of lightning from the caster, he dashed toward the closest ghoulish enemy, tossing the dagger ahead of him. When the dead soldier’s soul lunged sideways to avoid the inscribed blade, Lucius predicted the movement perfectly and slashed Matriarch’s Fury straight through its entire body.

  Swinging down from overhead, he ensured the attack’s area was as wide as possible, allowing the magic damage from the blade and the additional power from Burst to flood into his opponent.

  The ghost’s body convulsed violently, its limbs seizing in a frenzied tremor before fading into nothing.

  You have defeated Servus Exspiravit, Level 20.

  Lucius had taken too long killing the second figure. As he dashed away, a sneaky ball of lightning from the hobgoblin caster clipped his side, latching onto him as the full surge of electric energy coursed through his body.

  "Ahhh!"

  The mistake proved costly. While paralyzed by the intense shock, the final and largest ghost reached him. With no ability to flee or protect himself, Lucius seized control his weapons with his mind, using telekinesis.

  The ghostly hobgoblin wasted no time, immediately slashing its razor-sharp claws across his chest—just as Matriarch’s Fury and the dagger materialized behind it and sank into its back.

  The sneak attack wasn’t enough to kill the creature, but it distracted it long enough for Lucius to regain his mobility and dodge the next vicious swipe of its spectral claws.

  A pained grimace spread across his face as he glanced down at his bleeding chest. The creature’s claws had shredded through his tough armor, leaving deep lacerations across his body.

  Fortunately, his high Vitality meant the wounds were already healing—faster than even his self-repairing armor could manage. Lucius' pained expression twisted into one of anger as he clenched his teeth. Enduring his exhaustion, he activated Flicker once more, dashing around the hobgoblin ghost as he unleashed a dozen rapid slashes with both weapons.

  With only one ghost remaining, plus the sudden speed advantage of Flicker, Lucius easily overwhelmed and destroyed the remaining specter.

  You have defeated Exspiravit Princeps, Level 27.