Chapter 34 — Just a Scratch

Chapter 34 — Just a Scratch

Rage was overflowing inside me. I was ready to just charge forward, teleport straight into the corridor with that overpowered Goblin King, and throw myself at him. But… no.

I did teleport into the corridor, but I didn’t attack right away. He was standing at the far end, on the opposite side. And he roared again — a deep, powerful sound that made the ground vibrate even from that distance. Yes, his roar was impressive… but I didn’t feel a drop of fear.

I understood clearly — this was the effect of Berserk, which I was barely holding back. If I let the rage loose and blindly rushed forward, even one of his hits could kill me. I couldn’t repeat the same mistake. I couldn’t act like I did against Soldier No. 1’s team. This monster was something else entirely.

I forced myself to stay still. Just stand and restrain the fury clawing inside me, pushing at my back: “Attack! Kill! Now!”

I stood like that for three or four minutes.

Meanwhile, the Goblin King began moving toward me… but he was so slow.

I had crossed this same distance in less than fifteen seconds. Only now did I fully realize how slow he really was. If he had been walking, I would understand. But I could clearly see — he was running. And still he looked slow… at least compared to the current me.

He finally reached the middle of the corridor, about halfway to me. Alright. This was going to be difficult, but I would attack him as carefully as possible. I needed to be extremely focused. One mistake would be enough for him to flatten me.

Alright. There’s no point waiting any longer.

I dashed forward — at the maximum speed I could muster.

When the distance shrank to around fifty meters, I could clearly see how he moved. His run looked like slow motion — each step, each vibration through the ground seemed slowed down several times.

When I got close, I saw his gaze snap toward me, saw him beginning to raise his sword to strike. But… he was too slow. Helplessly slow compared to me now.

For the first time, I was genuinely glad I had dumped all my attribute points into Speed.

With all the momentum I could gather, moving at my absolute limit, I struck.

CLANG!

It felt like I had hit solid stone with a wooden stick, not flesh with a sword. A sharp numbness shot through my palm, my fingers almost let go — I barely held onto the weapon.

I sprinted another few dozen meters and stopped, breathing hard from the rage boiling in my chest. It was hard to keep myself from charging in recklessly again. The overpowered Goblin King turned toward me, and I finally saw the result of my attack.

On his lower side — a scratch.

Just a damn scratch.

My strongest attack, delivered at maximum speed with maximum force, had left him with only a scratch. As if I had struck him with a toy weapon. Or something even more useless.

I felt rage surge up again, and this time I couldn’t hold myself back.

I lunged at him.

My sword slashed again and again through the air and across his skin.

I dodged his strikes with ease — every wide swing of his blade seemed endlessly slow to me.

While he tried to land one attack, I managed to hit him ten times.

It went on for more than ten seconds.

In that time, I struck him over a hundred times.

But every single hit I landed left only thin, barely noticeable scratches across his skin.

Seeing all my attacks deal almost no damage made my rage skyrocket. I struck faster, harder, more desperately — as if pure fury was controlling my arms. I understood, logically, that it was useless, that my strikes couldn’t pierce his defense… but I couldn’t stop.

The fury kept rising, crushing me in waves, and every time the blade merely slid across his skin, another spark of anger exploded inside. It felt like something deep within me was forcing all this rage outward, and I was powerless to contain it.

I continued attacking. Faster. Harder. Without stopping.

Then I suddenly felt danger. I looked up — less than a meter above my head, a massive axe was hurtling down toward me.

Where?! What— where did that come from?! That bastard didn’t have an axe!

I barely managed to pull back — the blade screamed past me and crashed into the floor with a sound like a falling meteor. The stones shook, shards scattering everywhere.

And the next moment — I saw his leg shift, then shoot toward me with terrifying speed. Yes, he was about to kick me — and I knew I wouldn’t dodge in time. I raised my sword to at least block it.

The impact hit me like a massive truck slamming into my chest.

I felt a brutal jolt — and in the next moment I was already flying through the air. Thirty meters, maybe more. I crashed into the corridor wall, stone cracked beneath me, and I slumped to the floor, gasping for breath.

Breathing heavily, feeling a sharp pain in my chest, I looked up at the monster. He was charging toward me. I tried to stand — barely managed to get up.

Damn… the sword!

I had dropped it during that hit. And the monster was almost on me, raising his weapon for another strike.

At that moment, I activated the skill and teleported into the Training Room.

Finally, I could catch my breath and actually think.

I opened my status window. The pain in my chest wasn’t fading — every breath burned sharply.

Damn… that kick… even though I blocked it with my sword, it took more than 8,000 HP from me in a single blow.

And also… my Defense stat had increased by over a thousand points.

Yeah, I knew — if I didn’t manually assign attribute points, the system would dump them somewhere automatically in a life-or-death moment.

Well… at least my defense improved. Still…

I had just over three thousand free attribute points left.

No. Enough hesitation. I needed to put them into Strength.

Yes — Strength.

Because my strongest attack, delivered at full speed, had barely scratched him. A scratch, damn it!

I needed to break through his defense.

[Status]
[Name: Alisar
Level: 85
Experience: 12,893,339 / 42,000,000
Rank: 4]

HP: 179,531 / 187,490 (+40,960)
MP: 14,848 / 26,840
Strength: 3,805 (+3,064)
Defense: 1,849 (+1,032)
Speed: 13,095
Intelligence: 630
Magic Power: 625
Magic Defense: 1,069
Free Attribute Points: 0

Skills: Swordsman (Rank 1), Berserk (Rank 2)
Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 3)
• Alchemy (Rank 2)

Yeah… now my Strength stat looked much better. Almost quadruple.

With that much strength, I should be able to inflict real wounds — not just scratches.

But still… what was that axe? Where did it come from?

I was absolutely certain — he hadn’t been holding an axe.

Not the first time, either. If I hadn’t run earlier, that axe would’ve crushed me.

And during the fight — again, appearing out of nowhere, right above my head.

Maybe it’s some kind of skill?

Yeah, it seems like a skill… but how does it work?

Does an axe just appear somewhere near me and attack?

What’s the range? The cooldown?

No… I have no idea. Even assuming it’s a skill is just a guess.

But… it’s probably the case.

And also… I’m an idiot.

I dropped my real sword. I needed to pick it up.

But I had no idea where it landed. After flying that far…

Luckily, I still had a spare sword — the very first one I bought back in the village.

It should be here… yes, here.

I took it and pulled it from its sheath. Good thing it hadn’t rusted yet.

Oh wait… it had. A thin line of rust near the hilt.

Damn, I shouldn’t have left it here so long… but I couldn’t exactly carry it everywhere. Whatever. It would do.

I tossed the sheath to the floor — I definitely wouldn’t need it now.

My chest still tingled. That monster’s kick had cost me dearly.

I took out a second-rank health potion and drank it in one gulp.

…Hah… much better. The pain faded almost completely, breathing became easier.

Now… I had to return to the fight.

If I stalled too long — I would die in here.

Yeah, my throat was already dry. That had started back during the fight with all those fat frog-like Goblin Kings. Now, I probably had very little time before dehydration took over.

Hmm… I hadn’t deactivated Berserk manually. It seemed it had shut off on its own. What, was that kick enough to knock the skill out of me? Whatever — not the time.

I teleported back as far as I could from the spot where I had disappeared into the Training Room — about twenty meters at most. And the moment I appeared in the corridor, an explosive boom echoed nearby, like something detonated beside me. Dust burst upward from the shockwave.

Yeah… that overpowered Goblin King had struck exactly the spot where I had vanished when I lost my sword.

A very important lesson.

Never teleport back to the exact point where I entered the Training Room. Always at least a few meters away — minimum.

Oh! I saw my sword. It had landed far away, on the opposite side from the overpowered Goblin King. Good — I just needed to grab it. For now, I’d use the spare sword — smaller, lighter… and obviously worse. But it would do temporarily.

I dashed forward. I just needed to attack the monster, break past him, grab my real sword — and also test how much stronger my attack had become now that my Strength had quadrupled.

I charged him, gripping the spare sword tightly, ready to strike.

He saw me, he turned toward me, but… he simply couldn’t land a hit in time. No, he was far too slow for that.

I slammed the sword into his side with everything I had.

CRRRACK!

I heard a sharp, snapping sound — like something breaking.

A moment later, I saw that only the hilt remained in my hand.

The blade had almost completely shattered — only a tiny jagged piece of metal still clung to the base.