The Goblin Warlord charged, swinging its massive chained guillotine in a deadly, sweeping arc. The sheer momentum of the heavy iron weapon tore chunks of concrete out of the pillars it grazed.
Kael didn't flinch. As the blade came within inches of his torso, he activated Shadow Step, sinking into the darkness and reappearing directly above the Warlord.
He drove the Monarch's Dagger downward, aiming for the gap between the monster's iron collar and shoulder. But the Warlord was surprisingly fast. It jerked its massive neck, taking the strike on its thick, armored pauldron. Sparks flew as Kael's dagger scraped against the crude iron.
Tch. Too much armor, Kael noted, backflipping off the Warlord's shoulder to avoid a crushing backhand.
"Elara!" Kael barked, not taking his eyes off the boss. "Get over here!"
Elara flinched. She was standing twenty feet away, her hands trembling around the hilt of the Azure Blade. "M-Me?! I can't fight that!"
"You will," Kael ordered coldly. In his past life, Elara became the Ice Empress because she was forced to survive impossible odds. Coddling her now would only make her weak. "Its armor is thick, but iron conducts cold. Freeze its joints!"
The Warlord roared and hurled its guillotine blade like a massive pendulum directly at Elara.
"Move!" Kael shouted.
Elara panicked, but her survival instincts kicked in. She dove to the side, the massive blade smashing into the tiles exactly where she had been standing. As the Warlord yanked the chain to retract its weapon, Elara gritted her teeth, a desperate scream tearing from her throat.
Hidden Attribute: Ice - Activated.
She thrust the Azure Blade forward. A violent blast of sub-zero wind erupted from the sword, colliding with the Warlord's right arm and the heavy iron chain. Frost rapidly spread across the metal, locking the links of the chain together and freezing the monster's elbow joint solid.
The Warlord pulled, but the chain snapped under the sudden brittle tension. The boss roared in confusion, its right arm effectively paralyzed by the supernatural ice.
"Good girl," Kael smirked.
With the monster's primary weapon destroyed and its defense compromised, Kael didn't waste a millisecond. He activated Lesser Bloodlust, his stats surging. He dashed forward, sliding beneath the Warlord's frantic, swinging left fist.
Kael looked up. The Death Lines glowed brightly against the monster's frosted iron armor. There was a critical intersection directly beneath the creature's chin.
Kael kicked off the ground with Goblin's Leap, launching himself like a missile. He drove the obsidian blade of the Monarch's Dagger straight upward, shattering the frozen armor and piercing the Warlord's brain through its lower jaw.
The ten-foot giant froze, its eyes rolling back, before collapsing backward like a felled redwood tree.
[Ding! You have slain the Goblin Warlord (Level 18)!][Level Up!][Level Up!]
Kael landed gracefully, shaking the black blood from his dagger. He walked over to the corpse and pressed his hand against it. "Devour."
[Devour successful! Strength +8, Vitality +5][Skill Acquired: 'Warlord's Roar' (C-Rank) - Emits a shockwave of fear that paralyzes enemies lower than your level for 3 seconds.]
He turned to look at Elara, who had collapsed onto her knees, panting heavily. The air around her was still freezing cold.
"You didn't hesitate," Kael said, his voice softer than usual. "You have the talent. Keep that up, and maybe you won't die tomorrow."
It was the closest thing to a compliment Kael had given anyone since his regression.