Shining faintly with a whitish outline, almost imperceptible if you weren't paying attention, Cali overtook me and threw a direct punch with her left arm towards the goblin chief's head. He defended with his "sword," but was still slightly pushed back by the force of the blow.
'It was really good that I bought her time to use her strength-enhancing technique.'
Well, it wasn't exactly something that increased her strength per se, and I was sure it had a better name, but essentially it increased her strength and defensive capabilities for a certain amount of time. But then it weakened her in the same proportion.
Considering the situation, using it now was definitely the right choice.
Before Cali could follow up with a sequence of quick attacks, the goblin chief pulled his sword up faster than before, almost cutting her. Cali managed to block the advance and retreat in defense, receiving another cut on her arms.
Fortunately, the cut didn't do much damage, although it was easy to see that this blow had been stronger than the others so far.
'A layer of Aether as protection is really better than many armors, but maintaining it is very difficult and exhausting.'
I thought, pausing momentarily to watch the sequence of blows the two would unleash ahead. I know it's not the best thing to do considering the situation, but it was involuntary.
The boss wasted no time and advanced, attacking with "short" and faster sword cuts. Much faster than before.
I could barely follow them with my eyes, but Cali wasn't far behind. She managed to defend all the attacks and try to land some as well. However, just as the goblin boss couldn't get past Cali's enhanced Aether defense, she also couldn't break through the instinctive and ferocious defense of the larger goblin.
The distance between me and them couldn't have been more than 5 meters, yet even as I got closer, the exchange of blows didn't stop. If I had to guess, I'd say they must have attacked and defended each other almost 30 times in a mere 4 or 5 seconds.
Taking advantage of the fact that the goblin chieftain was almost entirely focused on Cali, I dove down. Sliding across the ground and making a cut with my short sword on the inside of the goblin's knee.
Moving back, I stood up while simultaneously trying to cut the tendon of his right leg, but obviously he wouldn't let me do that.
With a spinning back kick and swinging my sword in the same direction to keep Cali away, he struck me right in the temple. I managed to partially defend, using the hilt of my short sword, but I still felt my brain sway in my head.
The blow also sent me to the ground and disoriented me for a few moments, but even with my vision somewhat blurred I could still see what was happening between the goblin and Cali.
As soon as he finished spinning, Cali returned with her blows with even more intensity. He used his sword to defend himself, the colcnaconem raised with the "point" down, and with a twist of his wrist he tried to thrust into Cali's torso.
Because she was attacking with so much anger, she couldn't defend herself in time. The blow hit her right between the breasts and the pit of her stomach, pushing her almost 6 meters from where she was.
She managed to recover her posture with a backflip, but it was easy for anyone to see that the blow had taken her breath away and possibly fractured something in her torso. Even with the "armor" of Aether, she still needed a few moments crouched down to recover.
The goblin obviously didn't wait, and the instant she was pushed, he jumped towards me.
Holding the sword with both hands, he raised it diagonally as he approached. From my half-sitting, half-lying (thrown) position on the ground, it was easy to see the trajectory of the blow.
A downward diagonal cut, aided by both the gravity of the jump and the goblin's strength, the result would be obvious.
Three seconds before the blow arrived, I hadn't gotten my position right to dodge, jump, much less parry the blow.
'So that's how it is then.'
It was an instinctive realization; there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop the blow from taking my life.
That was very frustrating, honestly, but just because I recognized I couldn't prevent the outcome didn't mean I couldn't do at least one thing.
Putting my Raptor machete to the ground and infusing it with all the Aether I still had, I was determined to at least take the goblin chief with me.
I've been to the Trial enough times to know that the creatures there don't really die once they're gone, but that over time they return as if nothing had happened.
I don't doubt that this would happen to the goblin chief, but I felt deep in my soul that this was the same goblin from that day, the same one who wounded my master. And if I could eliminate him, even if he returned later, I knew he wouldn't be the same, he would be a different one.
And so it would be as if I had avenged my master and the captain, as well as all the innocent people who died that day.
If that were the case, I think it would be a fair exchange for my life.
'I'm sorry, master, I won't be able to bring the wine with the red berries that you, for some reason, have come to like. I'm sorry I can't help you all more; I wish I could have had more fun with you.'
I can't say I didn't feel bitter thinking about it, but in that situation there was nothing I could do. The "tip" with the spike was already descending and was centimeters from my body; the Raptor's blade was still a little far from the goblin, but I wasn't sure it would impale him when his blade was tearing my body apart.
*Whoosh!!* *Sploshhh*
–GGGGGGRRRRRIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYAAAÁÁHHHHHH.
My body obeyed an unexpected and sudden survival instinct, with an explosion of speed that I don't know where it came from. The upper part of my torso tilted to the right, almost bending my spine just in time for the goblin's blade to tear off a piece of my ear, almost all the hair on the left side of my head, and the sword's action to ream into the bone of my skull.
I don't know if it was a hallucination, but I could swear that hearing the scraping sound of the blade passing over my skull, a hot, sticky liquid gushed onto my face.
At first I thought it was my blood, but then I realized the liquid was in my mouth and nose, not running down my neck on the left side.
Even though I'd kept my eyes open from the moment the boss jumped until what just happened, I still can't quite accept what my eyes were telling my brain.
When the goblin's sword was about to cut me in two and my raptor machete was about to impale him, a bright silver flash appeared out of nowhere and destroyed the goblin's right arm. The impact on the arm made the sword lift slightly, almost not at all, but my gut bet everything it could on that tiny opening and almost, permanently, fractured my spine to keep me alive.
The gamble paid off, it seems.
Unfortunately, the impact also slightly deflected the goblin's body, preventing the raptor from impaling him, but still causing a deep cut on his left side.
Even falling and basically without an arm, the goblin still managed to knee me in the face, knocking me to the ground again. Exhausted from the fight so far and stressed from witnessing my own death seconds ago, I ended up loosening my grip and let the Raptor slip from my hand when I fell (I've even lost count of how many I've ended up on the ground today).
The goblin "fell" a little behind, or in front of me, and did another somersault to soften the fall, much less graceful than any so far since he was missing an arm. Before he could get up and turn completely, Cali appeared in front of me as if she had teleported.
Already in position to launch another flying fist at the goblin. Even with one arm, he still used his sword to defend, supporting the "tip" of the sword on the ground, holding it with his remaining hand and supporting it with the stump of his other forearm.
Unlike the other times, Cali didn't stop with one flying fist; she continued throwing several punches, even though I was (again) a bit groggy from the blow that made my head shake. I counted at least 7 flying fists in rapid succession, but each blow lessened the Aether surrounding her.
In comparison, the goblin still had his red "aura" even now, despite his wounds bleeding considerably. But that didn't matter, coming from behind Cali and above me, the silver flash arm appeared again and struck the sword right in the center.
The blow didn't push the goblin away this time, but it did cause cracks to appear in the sword; with a little more force, I'm sure I could have broken it.
The goblin noticed this too, and by kicking the tip of the sword, he forced it to rise and strike the shaft of the spear, which continued to press against the sword.
The spear flew off, spinning upwards, and as if of its own accord, returned to a point to our right, where Anna, Max, and Mav were.
Once again standing.