In an instant, the heavy Nail Head Hammer whipped up a fierce gust of wind, already mere inches away from a dizzy Raine!
"Mr. Raine!"
Lian let out a terrified shriek, clapping both hands over her mouth. Her clear eyes reflected this desperate scene. Lady Basha was similarly drained of color. An intense sense of powerlessness left her nearly paralyzed, her fingernails digging involuntarily into her palms. After all, their opponent was a Bear Goblin—a monster capable of easily wiping out an entire squad of bottom-level Adventurers. Although the resilient black-haired young man had made rapid progress and repeatedly delivered unexpected performances, how could he possibly be a match for such a terrifying behemoth in a one-on-one frontal melee?
"Cough!"
Unable to suppress the turbulent blood churning in his chest any longer, Raine violently coughed up a mouthful of blood. A thick, rusty scent flooded his nasal passages. This pungent, body-temperature odor acted like a bucket of ice water, instantly snapping his consciousness awake and dragging him back to reality from his momentary dizziness.
In a daze, he felt a rapidly approaching Shadow shroud him from above. The howling Nail Head Hammer consumed his entire field of vision! However, the excruciating pain in his body clearly told him that in his current state, evasion was impossible. There was no time to even attempt another block.
Was he going to die here?
No, absolutely not.
Like a cornered beast pushed to the brink of desperation, he let out a guttural roar mixed with blood froth from the depths of his throat. At the precise moment his willpower burned to its absolute peak, a thought struck his mind like a bolt of lightning cutting through the darkness.
Eagle Vision!
The description of its Effect clearly surfaced in his mind: enhanced dynamic visual acuity, reaction speed, and muscle contraction speed. Up until now, drawing the Bowstring, taking aim, predicting the trajectory, and loosing a lethal arrow had been the entire extent of how he used Eagle Vision. But were these buffs really only effective for archery?
Faced with this seemingly unavoidable, fatal strike, if he could just capture the details of its motion more clearly... if his muscles could react just a fraction faster... This idea spread instantly like wildfire. Raine knew this was his only chance. His mind, like a taut Bowstring, violently triggered the skill deeply embedded in his spirit and flesh!
Eagle Vision activated.
HUM—
At this moment, the whistling descent of the Nail Head Hammer truly slowed down in his eyes. He could clearly see the turbulent air currents generated as the hammerhead split the air. He could pinpoint its downward trajectory with greater accuracy, and even observe the trembling of the Bear Goblin’s bulging muscles as it exerted its Power.
Empowered by Eagle Vision, his legs—which had been trembling from severe pain—suddenly erupted with Power. Coupled with the twisting of his waist and abdomen, he forced his body into a lateral dodge at an almost impossible angle.
BOOM!
The heavy Nail Head Hammer grazed the edge of his shoulder blade and smashed viciously into the adjacent wall. Rubble and dust exploded outward, and a spiderweb-like crater instantly fractured the solid stone wall. Just as his body cleared the hammer’s strike zone, the bizarre sensation of the "world slowing down" receded swiftly like the tide. All surrounding sounds and speeds returned to normal.
This lightning-fast sequence caused a brief moment of stagnation among everyone in the hall. The hammer-wielding Bear Goblin maintained its smashing posture, its ferocious eyes brimming with incredulous astonishment. It had completely failed to anticipate that this Human Race bug, already backed into a dead end, would successfully evade its attack.
"He dodged it?!"
Lian still covered her mouth with her hands, but her eyes were perfectly round, filled with unbelievable surprise. Lady Basha also shuddered, her gaze glued to the figure of the black-haired young man.
Forcing down the pain wracking his body, Raine sprang forward the instant the Bear Goblin revealed its shock. He thrust his Short Sword directly at the gap beneath its ribs, left exposed by its missed swing.
The Bear Goblin’s reaction was incredibly fast; it pulled its arm back, attempting to block with the handle of the Nail Head Hammer. However, a split second before the monster could complete its parry, Raine’s pupils shrank.
Eagle Vision, activated again.
The details of the world slowed down once more. He clearly saw the trajectory of its block. With a last-second micro-adjustment of his wrist, the Short Sword traced a curved arc, successfully bypassing the hard hammer handle. Accompanied by a sharp SHLICK, another bloody gash was added beneath the Bear Goblin’s ribs.
"ROAR!"
The Bear Goblin bellowed in fury, viciously swiping its other claw toward him with a foul gust of wind. Relying on the extraordinary reflexes provided by Eagle Vision, Raine ducked and rolled away. While successfully evading the claw swipe, he used his momentum to slice another gash into the creature’s arm with his Short Sword.
However, by activating Eagle Vision twice in rapid succession during close-quarters combat, Raine immediately felt a starkly different burden. The unimaginable drain on his Physical stamina forced him to gasp uncontrollably for breath. Even more terrifying was the mental wear and tear; it felt as though countless fine needles were Piercing his brain, bringing about a splitting headache.
He instantly understood the reason. When shooting an arrow, Eagle Vision primarily acted upon his eyes, the core muscle groups of his arms, and the fingers gripping the Bowstring. It was a relatively static, localized form of control. But in a life-or-death melee, activating Eagle Vision meant processing massive amounts of dynamic information while moving, dodging, and attacking at high speeds—simultaneously forcing the majority of his body’s muscle groups to react in an instant. The ensuing consumption, both Physical and mental, would increase exponentially. It could not be activated as leisurely as it was during long-range sniping.
"Cough! Ugh..."
Raine leaned heavily on his sword. Cold sweat and blood mixed on his forehead, dripping continuously to the floor. His opponent’s thick, rough hide and robust frame presented almost no weak points. Even though the few injuries inflicted by the Short Sword had pierced its Armor and sliced open its tough skin, the remaining force was not enough to penetrate deep into its rock-hard muscle tissue. If he could find his opponent’s weak spot and launch a targeted attack, he might be able to reverse the tide of battle.
Before Raine could continue his line of thought, the stabbing pain of mental exhaustion struck again. The splitting headache and the overexertion of his Physical stamina inevitably made his movements sluggish once more.
"A bug is just a bug! You can’t hop around for long!"
Keenly detecting his weakness, the Bear Goblin let out a condescending, maniacal laugh. Its attacks became increasingly relentless, forcing Raine to frantically parry and dodge. Soon, several new scratches were added to his body.
On the other side, Kaelin and the Dwarf’s battle was equally perilous. Kaelin’s Sword Techniques had become disorganized. Under the frenzied onslaught of the Giant Axe, she was like a tiny skiff caught in a raging storm. The sound of the Dwarf’s Shield blocking grew duller with each strike, and his rock-like body began to sway slightly.
A suffocating despair permeated the entire inn’s hall, and the scent of death grew ever thicker. Lady Basha and Lian’s faces tensed up once again; the joy that had just emerged quickly faded away. If even one battlefield collapsed, the entire inn would soon transform into a bloody Purgatory!
BANG!
Holding the Short Sword horizontally across his chest, Raine was once again sent flying by the Bear Goblin’s heavy sweep. He rolled several times across the floor before barely coming to a halt. He felt as though every bone in his body was falling apart, his internal organs churning violently. He haphazardly wiped away the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and the sweat from his forehead. His vision was already a piercing, bloody red.
The Bear Goblin before him was no longer just a powerful Demon; it was more like a fated nemesis he had to overcome, a trial to prove the meaning of his survival.
"HUFF... HUFF..."
Panting like a wounded beast, he used the Short Sword to prop himself up from the ground, staggering to his feet. He glanced down quickly to check his weapon. No damage. Everything was normal.
Fortunately, this Dwarven Short Sword was of excellent quality, and its spine was exceptionally thick. If he had used his previous Short Sword, just those two blocks would probably have been enough to snap or bend it. Confirming his weapon could still fight, he fixed his eyes squarely on that massive, bloodthirsty frame, still trying to find an opportunity to attack and search for any potential weak points.
The Sloppy Ranger had once mentioned that Demons living in a dog-eat-dog environment often carried old wounds. Those were exactly their hidden weaknesses and the best breakthrough points to deal with them. And a naturally gifted Ranger or Ranger Apprentice usually possessed the ability to see through such weaknesses.
"Bug, it’s time to end this!"
A flash of impatience and contempt flickered in the Bear Goblin’s eyes. It suddenly charged forward, leisurely swinging its Nail Head Hammer, prepared to swat away this unusually stubborn "little bug" once again. It was tired of this game; it wanted to put an end to it all.
Raine did not just sit and wait for death. With a low growl, he charged head-on toward his powerful opponent. However, at the very moment his blood-tinted vision crossed paths with his opponent’s fatal trajectory once more, all his spirit and willpower condensed into this single fraction of a second.
Deep within his mind, the quietly hovering Adventurer’s Chronicles jerked abruptly, without any warning.