'Level 5?'
Han instantly got to his feet, still drowsy from exerting Queen's Gaze so frequently in a short span of time.
If the horde they'd been fighting consisted of only second-level creatures, then there was no way in hell they'd manage to defeat a level 5 on top of that.
And what's more, the 'warrior class' addition to its name gave him an eerie feeling.
He studied the warrior goblin carefully, moving further away from the main battlefield to give himself some leeway, in case he came up with a plan.
'Why is it just standing there?' he thought, noticing that the creature was merely observing the battle.
Its eyes swept over the battleground with a bored expression before finally landing on Nari.
'It's intelligent,' he realised. 'Fuck.'
It dawned upon him that the only reason they were even winning right now was because the goblins were stupid.
Even if the students had abilities, the goblins' enhanced strength and speed, coupled with their weaponry and clear experience in violence, should've made this an easy win for them.
'No. They were just unorganised. But now...'
The goblin warrior gave out a bear-like roar that shook the room. In an instant, the goblins reacted, retreating from the students to stand in front of their general.
"What- what's going on?" a boy in front of Han asked.
Before another word could be uttered, the warrior goblin swung its greatsword, slashing through 5 goblins as if they were paper.
'What the fuck.'
The goblin blood dissolved on the greatsword, and an instant later, the warrior grew a head taller.
"It has an ability...." Han whispered.
"Back! Everyone, get back!" Han shouted frantically.
"Don't let it get near yo..."
However, he was too late.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the entire front line of students was decapitated. Their blood further fueling the warrior goblin's power-up.
『Level 6 Goblin {Warrior-Class}』
The students began to flee. Of course, some stayed behind perhaps overconfident in their newfound abilities, and attempted to continue the fight.
'It's levelling up,' Han realised, as a boy wielding blood-daggers ran in.
In an instant, the warrior goblin dodged his inexperienced swings and slashed through him, splitting his skull in two.
'Fuck. If this goes on, it's just going to get harder for us.'
"Execution!"
A flash of hope rose in Han's heart.
If it was Nari's strange ability, then perhaps.
However, the warrior goblin instantly repositioned itself from where she was pointing, dodging her attack.
Her ability hit the wrong target, and another goblin was dragged to her guillotine.
The warrior took this moment as its queue to attack.
'It studied her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,' Han realised. He couldn't let an asset like Nari go to waste this easily.
"Queen's Gaze!"
Time slowed.
'It's definitely going to kill her,' he thought, watching as the warrior goblin snaked in between students, crouching over as if to hide its massive frame from another one of Nari's attacks.
What made this even more terrifying was the speed at which it was moving. Within Queen's Gaze, everyone else was moving at a few millimetres a second; However, it was moving almost double that.
'Even if I wanted to. There's no way I'll reach her in time.'
'Should I try my new skill, perhaps?' he thought.
However, he stopped himself.
He was barely handling the recoil from using Queen's Gaze as is. And if his new ability turned out to be useless, he'd waste energy and likely incapacitate himself for nothing.
No. There had to be another way.
His eyes scanned the battlefield.
'Someone here should have a good ability for this. Like a barrier, or a long-distance spell to guard Nari until she can get a clear shot off.'
His mind instantly shifted to the girl he had seen earlier. Then one with the fireballs.
She was just a few steps in front of him, eyes wide in terror, as she stared at the warrior goblin.
'She's from my class, isn't she? Or at least she was there when Jun was riling people up. But what's her name?'
He didn't have time to run to her and give her clear instructions. But just shouting 'shoot a fireball' at it would cause confusion.
'Pigtails. She has pigtails. So I'll just call her that.'
Time returned to its normal flow.
"Pigtails! Shoot a fireball at it. Keep it off, Nari!" he shouted.
A few students turned around to look at him. However, Pigtails herself was frozen still.
'Fuck.'
The goblin warrior reached Nari faster than he expected. Greatsword already slashing for her head.
Just as he was about to activate Queen's Gaze again...
"Fireball"
A ball of fire zipped right past him, leaving a trail of red smoke before slamming into the warrior goblin.
Han turned to see who it had come from.
It was the chubby-boy.
He gave a nervous thumbs up, sweating bullets, as he leaned against a corner of the room.
'This guy was hiding there all this time?'
"He's right. Everyone with a long distance ability, cover me!" Nari shouted. For the first time, fear could be heard in her voice. "Keep me alive. I'm our greatest chance at making it out of this!" she added, trying to run away.
However, the warrior goblin was on her, once again. Its skin still sizzling as it swung its greatsword.
"Fireball!"
Another fireball exploded on it.
This time, it roared in agony.
Its column of goblin servants instantly ran to provide cover for it. It slashed at a few of them, green blood evaporating on its greatsword once more. However, this time, instead of growing larger, its wounds were healed.
The warrior watched attentively as the students all crowded at the far end of the room. Now sending ice spears, fireballs, water canons, and long-distance attacks of all kinds at the goblin horde.
Han found a place right beside the chubby boy.
"I-I was wrong about you," the chubby boy said. "It seems you were one of the protagonists. The shadow protagonist," he said with an awkward grin.
"The name's Chul," he added, offering a sweaty hand.
Han didn't pay much mind to him. His attention was glued to the warrior goblin; he wondered how the creature would counter this.
"I wouldn't get excited if I were you," Han replied. "We still don't have a way to defeat it," he added, noting that most of the spells seemed to be missing their targets.
The students weren't trained snipers, and from this distance, it was a wonder how Chul had managed to hit his target twice in a row.
"Eh, if we just stand back and keep throwing out spells, we'll eventually kill them all," the Chul whispered.
And that was when it started.