Bell kept his gaze on those three goblins—they were shaking like someone had electrocuted their tiny brains.
He took a single step towards them, yet all three goblins simultaneously took a single step back.
Pure terror made even their bones tremble, facing a incomprehensible being—who a moment ago was about to be killed by them, but the next moment slaughtered all their brethren, was like a terrible nightmare.
They had never seen something so broken, they even had the urge to curse their past selves for provoking this monster.
One goblin among them even questioned itself, who was the monster here?
Them or him?
Bell took another step, appearing in front of the goblin in the middle—his sword swung with pure force, bisecting that goblin from the middle, armour and all.
The other two gobos watched their boss become two from one and started running away from that monster in terror.
They swore, they would never antagonize a red eyed human again, if they somehow survived today.
Alas, their musings were cut short when a single swing of Bell's sword beheaded them both from behind while they were focused on running away.
Bell ignored the corpses of the goblins surrounding him, clearing the blood smeared over his sword with a flick, and focused on his sword.
The sword Bell had borrowed had merely been a normal sword, and after being used with overwhelming strength Bell gained while [Ittou Shura] was active—his newly borrowed sword already was chipped at it's edges.
*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*
Voices of sword meeting sword resounded in Bell's ears once the sounds on his side subsided after his massacre.
When Bell shifted his focus towards the battlefield between the hobgoblin and Miss Popy, their surrounds had already been decimated, with trees torn apart, earth uneven, and grass scorched off the ground.
Bell's face turned grave, the situation was not looking good for them, he had merely 15 seconds if he really stretched his body to it's limits.
Miss Popy and the hobgoblin both had injuries over their bodies, but the vitality of monsters was obviously more than humans.
At the rate their fight was going, Miss Popy would collapse soon due to her injuries, while the hobgoblin was still fighting like the wounds on it's body meant nothing.
He turned his gaze towards Koenji and gave a secret signal.
Koenji understood immediately and limped away—towards their carriage with frantic speed.
Bell bought his gaze back to their battle, both exchanging sword moves and injuries in rapid bursts of motion.
He walked to the very edge of their battlefield and bought out his trusty transmigration stone out from his sachet.
There were only two things he could always rely on.
One was this trusty rock which had made him transmigrate, following his journey to this moment, always being with him.
Second was his reliable bro Koenji—he had never let him down when it mattered.
So, now he was gambling with everything he had, for that one chance of success among countless failures where only death awaited him.
Bell's hold over that rock tightened even further, and then he threw that rock, straight at the hobgoblin's face while inwardly muttering.
'This one is for earlier, for ruining my breakfast.'
The hobgoblin was having an exhilarating fight with this human women, who was a bit stronger than other humans it had hunted, but it knew that this was a hunt.
It was the hunter and the human women the one being hunted, It was enjoying the thrill of the hunt, feeling intoxicated by watching this human women fight while strength slowly slipped away from her.
Then abruptly, a rock came flying when it was feeling intensely intoxicated, directly smashing against it's face.
All the intoxication and thrill were wiped off it's face, it even felt some of it's teeth had loosened a bit from their cavity.
The hobgoblin was enraged—since when did it get force fed the same medicine it had fed others?
It saw red while looking at the direction the rock had flown from, It's eyes locking onto the mockingly indifferent smile at the corner of Bell's face.
The hobgoblin lost it at Bell's mocking smile, and started running towards him, even ignoring Miss Popy.
Bell watched as the hobgoblin ran towards him like a bull which had been shown a red cloth.
He did not waste time and ran towards the area where the food table used to be, the hobgoblin hot on his heels.
"Why are you ugly muck running after me? Are you into guys perhaps?" Bell even had the time to joke as he jumped over a certain area, coming to a stop after the jump, just to mock it after turning around.
White steam was exhaled through the nose of the hobgoblin, Bell could practically hear it scream the iconic line of 'You've already found your way to death.'
Bell looked behind the hobgoblin where Miss Popy was running to catch up to the hobgoblin while bleeding all over.
Then bought his gaze back to the enraged hobgoblin running towards him.
He only had a single chance—If he burned his lifeforce without any regards for consequences, then he could temporarily reach the same level as the hobgoblin and Miss Popy, but it would probably last three second at most, any more and his body would break down from excessive energy infusion.
Imagine his body as a container, then by burning his very life, he could fill this 'container' even if only for a moment—through the use of [Ittou Shura].
With which theoretically he could bridge the enormous gap between him and them, though his body would be heavily injured afterwards.
Bell bought himself out of his thoughts as the hobgoblin was closing in on him, fast.
He increased the revolution of [Ittou Shura] working inside him, his vitality burning at a speed so absurd that his skin shone with a red lustre.
Bell felt a tremendous increase in his power, his strength climbing upwards like a rocket.
Mid Level 1— High Level 1— Peak Level 1
Unfortunately, he did not have the time to appreciate his newfound strength as cracks started to appear across his skin, with blood dripping from them.
His body, which had just gained Falna some days ago could not handle the excessive energy of a Peak Level 1 adventurer.
But Bell knew what this meant yet still dared to do it, of course he had confidence.
Not in himself, but his wheel.
Just as body was on the verge of the breaking down, the wheel tattoo in the space between his brows started to turn.
*Click*
The cracks over his body started to heal after that sound, but once again reappeared, since the energy inside him was constantly rampaging.
*Click*
*Click*
*Click*
Bell now understood what body refining truly meant.
His body was being constantly broken down by the rampaging energy inside, while the wheel continued to adapt to the rampaging energy, healing him in the process.
Bell knew his body was getting fundamentally stronger through this refining, but had no time to appreciate it.
His gaze stayed on the hobgoblin as it had nearly closed the distance between them.
Then out of the blue, the hobgoblin slipped while running towards him, It's legs getting stuck in the muddy ground.
Yes, the space in front of Bell, which he had jumped over earlier, was the same one he had used earlier to trip that bespectacled uncle.
"Now, Big bro Koenji!" Bell roared as the hobgoblin tried to pull it's legs out of the muddy ground frantically.
Koenji was already aiming a long bow from nearby, aiming arrows dipped in poison straight at the stuck hobgoblin's knee pits.
He loosened the arrows from his bow in succession, the arrows hitting home.
Koenji thanked the Gods that his target was stationary, or his arrows might have veered off course.
A loud howl of pain tore itself out from the hobgoblin, it's knee caps shattered by the arrows, poison starting to merge into it's bloodstream.
The hobgoblin swung it's sword and the other free arm frantically around it as it's legs no longer responded to it.
That was when Miss Popy willingly stepped into the muddy ground, her boots sinking into them and forcefully held the frantically moving arms of the hobgoblin from behind.
The hobgoblin struggled like a caged beast, trying the fling the human women trying to hold onto it.
"Bell, finish it quickly, I can't hold on for much!" Miss Popy screamed in his direction.
Bell did not need to be told twice, he took a single step towards the hobgoblin, and was already besides it.
Both his boots sank into the muddy ground while the frantic movements of the hobgoblin intensified.
*Click*
*Click*
The *Click* of his wheel resounded across his ears as he bought his sword down.
His sword sung, and a head separated from the body.
The hobgoblins head.
Bell took a forceful step, pulling himself out of the muddy ground while his breathing turned erratic—his body seemed to long have reached it's limit.
[Ittou Shura] was forcefully deactivated, every part of his body hurt, as if he had put it through a literal grinder.
The wheel tattoo between his brows dissolved into golden particles, merging back into him.
His face went pale as blood started dripping from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth, his consciousness flickering in and out.
Bell felt the world tilt as his legs gave away.
The backlash of over drafting his vitality was brutal.
He saw Goddess Astraea running towards him with a terrified expression on her face from the corner of his eye.
Only one thought resounded in his mind before fainting.
He had done it.
He had saved those close to him.
He had won.
Even if the price for winning, was to become a....Shura.