Chapter 148 - 149: Berserk

Chapter 148: Chapter 149: Berserk

The Hobgoblin screamed with a voice that seemed to tear itself out of its chest and echo across the clearing like a war cry from some ancient and angry thing, and its body began to glow with a red energy that swirled around it in thick, pulsing waves, and its muscles bulged and its veins popped and its eyes turned crimson as it surrendered itself completely to the rage that had been building inside it since the first goblin fell.

It was entering berserk mode.

Daniel watched with a calm expression and cold eyes, his body still aching from the beating he had already taken, and he noted the way the creature’s posture changed and the way its breathing quickened and the way its club seemed to tremble in its hands with barely contained violence.

"Berserk mode," he said, and his voice was flat and almost bored. "Classic."

The Hobgoblin charged with a speed that was far greater than before, its club raised high and its face twisted into something that barely resembled a face anymore, and it moved across the clearing like a storm given form and purpose.

Daniel dodged, but only barely, twisting his body aside at the last possible instant so that the club passed inches from his head and the wind from the swing knocked him off balance and sent him stumbling backward.

The Hobgoblin did not stop or slow or give him even a moment to find his footing, because it spun with terrifying momentum and swung again, and Daniel ducked under the blow as the club passed over his head with a heavy whoosh, then countered with a burst of gunfire that tore through the creature’s skin and put holes in its chest that would have killed anything that still had the sense to die.

But the Hobgoblin did not stop.

It just kept coming.

It swung again and Daniel dodged, and it swung again and he dodged, and it swung again and he dodged, but each swing was faster than the last and each dodge was slower than the one before, and the creature was stronger now and more relentless and its attacks were coming faster and harder and more deadly with every passing second.

Daniel was struggling to keep up as he dodged and blocked and countered, but he was losing ground with every exchange and being pushed back toward the treeline where the shadows were waiting to swallow him.

"Lyra!" he shouted, and his voice was strained with effort.

Lyra fired with desperate speed, her bullets hitting the Hobgoblin in a rapid volley, but they bounced off its glowing hide with bright sparks and flattened pieces of metal, and they did not penetrate.

"What?" she whispered, and her voice was small and afraid.

"Your bullets can’t hurt it!" Daniel shouted as he ducked under another swing. "Not in berserk mode! Its skin is too thick!"

Lyra stared with her mouth open and her hands trembling around her gun. "Then what do we do?"

"I don’t know!"

The Hobgoblin swung and Daniel dodged, but only barely, and the club hit a tree instead and the tree exploded into splinters and flying wood that rained down around them like shrapnel.

Daniel stumbled back, exhausted and broken and outmatched by a creature that seemed to grow stronger with every passing moment.

The Hobgoblin laughed with a cold and cruel laugh that echoed across the clearing. "You’re weak," it said. "You’re pathetic. You’re nothing."

Daniel did not answer.

"I’m going to kill you. Slowly. Painfully. I’m going to make you suffer."

Daniel still did not answer.

"I’m going to kill your friends. I’m going to make you watch. I’m going to make you listen as they scream."

Daniel’s expression did not change, but his eyes grew colder than they had been before. "You won’t touch them," he said.

The Hobgoblin laughed again. "Oh? And who’s going to stop me? You?"

"Yes."

"You can barely stand. You can barely breathe. You can barely fight."

"I can still fight."

"Then fight."

Daniel charged with everything he had left and fired, and the bullets hit the Hobgoblin and tore through its skin and put holes in its chest and its arms and its legs, but the creature did not stop.

It just kept coming.

It swung and Daniel dodged, and it swung again and he dodged, and it swung again and he dodged, but he was slowing down now because his body was broken and his mana was low and he was exhausted in a way that went deeper than his bones.

The Hobgoblin swung and Daniel tried to dodge, but he was too slow, and the club hit his side with a force that lifted him off his feet and sent him flying backward, and he crashed into a rock that shattered under the impact before he slumped to the ground in a heap of pain and dust.

"Daniel!" Lyra shouted as she ran toward him and knelt beside him and grabbed his arm with hands that were shaking. "Are you okay?"

Daniel groaned. "I’m fine."

"You’re not fine. You’re bleeding."

"I know."

"You need to rest."

"I know."

"Then rest."

Daniel shook his head. "Not yet. It’s still alive."

Lyra looked at the Hobgoblin, at its glowing body and its red eyes and its cruel smile, and her face went pale with fear. "We can’t beat it," she whispered. "Not like this."

Daniel smiled a cold and dangerous smile. "We can," he said. "We just need to be smarter."

He pushed himself up with a grunt of pain and looked at the others, at Cheeky and Paul and Fluffy and Mittens and Brick Head, and his eyes were sharp with the kind of focus that only comes when the alternative is death.

"Everyone," he said. "Listen to me."

They looked at him with wide eyes and waiting faces.

"The Hobgoblin is in berserk mode. It’s stronger. Faster. More dangerous. But it’s also dumber."

He paused to let the words sink in.

"It’s not thinking. It’s just reacting. It’s just attacking. It’s not planning."

He looked at each of them in turn.

"So we need to outsmart it. We need to work together. We need to be a team."

They nodded, and they were ready, or at least they were as ready as they were ever going to be.

"Cheeky. You’re the tank. Draw its attention. Keep it busy."

Cheeky nodded with her iron skin gleaming and her eyes determined.

"Paul. You’re the support. Use your wind. Keep it off balance. Help wherever you can."

Paul nodded with his wind swirling and his eyes tired but determined.

"Lyra. You’re the ranged attacker. Aim for its eyes. Its throat. Its joints. Its weak points."

Lyra nodded with her guns drawn and her eyes sharp.

"Fluffy. You’re the shadow. Use your stealth. Attack from behind. Keep it confused."

Fluffy nodded with her daggers drawn and her eyes fierce.

"Mittens. You stay back. You’re not trained. You’re not ready. Stay safe."

Mittens nodded with her face pale and her body trembling, but she was there.

"Brick Head."

Brick Head puffed out his chest. "Yes?"

"Try not to die."

Brick Head blinked. "That’s it?"

"That’s it."

"Okay!"

Daniel looked at them, at his team and his family and his friends, and he felt something warm move through his chest despite the pain. "Ready?" he asked.

They nodded, and they were ready.

"Then let’s go."

They attacked with a coordination that they had never managed before, and for a moment it seemed like it might actually work.

Cheeky charged and punched the Hobgoblin and it stumbled, and she punched again and it stumbled again, and she kept punching and kept attacking and kept drawing its attention with every blow.

Paul raised his hand and wind gathered and a blade formed and he threw it, and it hit the Hobgoblin’s legs and it stumbled, and he threw another and it hit its arms and it stumbled again.

Lyra fired and her bullets hit the Hobgoblin’s eyes and it screamed and clutched its face, and she fired again and her bullets hit its throat and it gasped, and she fired again and her bullets hit its joints and it stumbled.

Fluffy appeared behind the Hobgoblin and her daggers flashed and slashed its back and it roared, and she disappeared and reappeared and slashed again and it roared again.

Brick Head charged and punched the Hobgoblin and it stumbled, and he kicked it and it stumbled again, and he headbutted it and it stumbled again.

The Hobgoblin was overwhelmed and surrounded and outnumbered, but it was not outmatched.

Its body glowed brighter and its eyes burned redder and its muscles bulged larger as it gathered all of its rage into a single, terrible moment.

It screamed and its aura exploded outward in a wave of force that hit everyone and sent everyone flying.

Daniel crashed into a tree and Lyra crashed into a rock and Cheeky crashed into a wall and Paul crashed into a bush and Fluffy crashed into a stump and Brick Head crashed into a cart, and Mittens crashed into nothing because she was already hiding.

They were all down and all broken and all defeated.

The Hobgoblin stood in the center of the destruction with its body glowing and its eyes burning and its aura blazing, and it looked at Daniel, at his broken body and his bleeding face and his exhausted eyes.

"You," it said. "You’re the leader. You’re the one who started this."

Daniel did not answer.

"You’re the one who killed my goblins. You’re the one who defied me. You’re the one who made me use berserk mode."

Daniel still did not answer.

"Now you’ll die. Slowly. Painfully. I’m going to make you suffer."

Daniel looked at it, at its glowing body and its red eyes and its cruel smile, and then he smiled a cold and dangerous smile.

"You talk too much," he said.

The Hobgoblin screamed and raised its club and charged, and Daniel closed his eyes and waited for the end.

Then something happened.

A shadow appeared, a dark and swirling shadow that formed in front of Daniel and absorbed the club and swallowed the impact before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

The Hobgoblin stared with its mouth open and its eyes wide. "What?" it whispered. "What was that?"

Daniel opened his eyes and looked at the empty space where the shadow had been, and he smiled.

"You’re not the only one with tricks," he said.

He stood up with his body broken and his face bleeding and his eyes exhausted, but he was standing.

He looked at the Hobgoblin, at its glowing body and its red eyes and its cruel smile. "Let’s finish this," he said.

The Hobgoblin screamed and charged.

Daniel charged.

They clashed.

[Magic Castle = 5 bonus Chapter’s the same day]

[Space craft= 15 bonus Chapter’s the same day]

[Golden gachapon= 25 bonus Chapter’s]