Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 293 Holding His Head
"Ready to fight!!!"

Adeline's roar suddenly burst forth from the woods.

The legs, which were originally moving backward rapidly, left deep footprints on the wet muddy ground due to the momentum of the body.

He held two single-handed iron hammers, which gleamed coldly under the sunlight overhead, tightly in his palms.

Their faces, splattered with mud, were stiff and tense, their dark brown and yellowish eyes reflecting the enormous creature charging straight towards them.

Despite its seemingly bulky and lazy appearance, the petrified lizard is known among adventurers for its deadly and troublesome "petrifying gaze." However, it is, after all, a monster with a challenge level of up to lv3, possessing an exaggerated explosive power far beyond its size.

That's not something they, who have just advanced to level 1, can easily get rid of simply by relying on their past experience.

In the face of pure "numbers", all so-called techniques become mere fancy tricks.

Currently, for this hastily assembled adventurer team, if they have time to think carefully, there should be roughly two solutions to survive the petrified lizard's attack.

First, scatter and flee in three directions, and pray for your own good fortune.

I pray that the petrified lizard didn't choose me for that third.

Hoping that the teammate targeted by the monster can hold out a little longer, giving themselves enough time to retreat and get away.

Second, abandon illusions and fight head-on.

It is true that petrified lizards are dangerous monsters. For most low-level adventurers, and even low-level professionals, encountering one in the wild without any preparation is an extremely dangerous situation.

But at this moment, having already known that there was a high probability of encountering such a monster during the mission, and having made ample preparations in advance, and even having drunk the [Petrification Resistance Potion].

It can effectively resist the negative effects of the "petrifying gaze".

If the three professionals unite and fight together with one heart, they can overcome this challenge.

While ultimate victory may not be guaranteed, survival is not entirely impossible.

This was exactly what Adeline was thinking.

All three are "warrior" type, possessing strong and resilient physical attributes and a certain margin for error.

Moreover, they are all seasoned adventurers who have worked their way up from the bottom and have rich combat experience.

If they can fight as a team and work together, they can maximize their chances of survival against petrified lizards whose petrification ability is no longer effective.

Of course, this was just her opinion.

In such a tense and urgent situation, not everyone can make the right decision in the shortest amount of time.

The burly, bald teammate, upon hearing Adeline's call, showed a clear thoughtful expression in his eyes.

Quickly realizing the importance of teamwork in the current situation, he stopped and drew his two-handed giant axe from behind him.

He moved closer and maintained formation with Adeline.

Meanwhile, the dark-skinned, slender adventurer in the team, who possessed special sensory combat skills, made a completely different choice.

It failed to pass the "petrification gaze" test completely. Even though it had been given a resistance potion, the effect of the potion was not fully exerted due to the short time. As a result, grayish-white stone-like color appeared on various parts of its body surface.

Actually, this degree of petrification does not affect mobility. Once you return to town, you can buy two bottles of the relevant potion or ask the spellcasters in the association for some treatment and you will recover.

It's not even a minor injury, let alone a serious one.

But the petrifying lizard's infamous reputation, and the horrific consequences of being petrified, undoubtedly drove the adventurer to madness.

Ignoring Adeline's shouts from behind, he ran headlong into the depths of the forest.

As a result, the situation on the field became interesting.

On one side were two fully armed adventurers with determined eyes, standing still and waiting to fight;
On the other side are the despicable attackers, who, feeling guilty, panic and try to escape when attacked.

When it comes to petrified lizards, the choice is obvious.

boom--

Its bloated, obese belly carved a deep, massive furrow into the ground, and the bluish-gray figure, with an unstoppable, overwhelming momentum, ignored the countless towering, thick oak trees in front of it and charged straight toward the direction in which the lean adventurer had fled.

They left Adeline and the bald, burly man beside her behind.

Without the slightest hesitation, as the petrified lizard disappeared into the cover of grass and tree canopy, the burly man instantly sheathed his giant axe and ran off in the opposite direction without looking back.

Adeline followed closely behind, pulling the two single-handed hammers back to her waist while choosing another direction and taking a step forward.

To survive the attacks of the petrified lizards, all three members of the team are indispensable in a head-on battle.

Now that the person has ignored their warning and wants to run away alone, the remaining two are unlikely to go to their rescue or kindly buy time for the other to escape.

It automatically switches to Option 1.

They scattered and fled, hoping for the best.

Adeline gritted her teeth, her thick, long legs almost leaving a blur on the ground.

Unfortunately, she was currently in a dense forest, rather than a wide-open, flat grassland, which prevented her from reaching her maximum speed.

It only takes a few seconds.

The sound of trees breaking abruptly ceased, followed by a piercing, shrill scream filled with pain and despair.

A sudden sense of solemnity washed over me.

He knew that his cheap teammate had probably already been caught by the petrified lizard and torn to pieces.

Adeline's heart pounded; she could only hope that the lizard would calm its rage after killing its opponent.

Alternatively, they could target another teammate for revenge, thus buying themselves some time to escape.

However... a 50% probability is not so easy to avoid.

Due to her profession, Adeline is not very good at perception.

In the past, she was able to find traces of goblins in complex environments mainly due to the experience she had accumulated over the years.

But at this moment, perhaps the threat of death awakened her potential, as if she had grown a pair of eyes in the back of her head.

Adeline could clearly feel the violent tremors coming from a distance behind her, rapidly approaching in front of her.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The dense and rapid footsteps echoed amidst the furious roars of beasts, each step seeming to pound on her heart, which pounded like a drum.

Getting closer, getting closer.

In the end, Adeline could even hear the eight-legged lizard's panting and smell the increasingly strong stench of decaying stone dust in the air.

A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.

Knowing she was about to be caught, she made a quick decision: as she reached into her waist bag with her right hand, she suddenly exerted force with her legs, throwing her body forward violently.

Both feet then left the ground.

In mid-air, using the powerful core strength of the waist and abdomen, twist the body to face the enemy.

as predicted!

In just a few dozen seconds, the petrified lizard was only a dozen meters away from her.

There were no wounds on her body, only traces of blood on the edge of her mouth... clearly from Adeline's unfortunate teammate who could no longer make a sound.

With a determined expression, she took advantage of the turn to pull her right hand out of her waist bag and flicked it in front of her!
The next second, all the oil bombs she had on her body flew straight toward the lizard's face.

Boom——

The grease mixed with dust was ignited by a spark, turning into a large, explosive, scorching orange-red flame that almost swallowed half of the petrified lizard's face.

"hold head high!"

A painful roar came from behind.

Sweating profusely, Adeline didn't even check if the incendiary bomb had worked; the moment she threw it, her body had already spun back in mid-air.

His feet touched the ground, and a flash of orange-red light flickered in the corner of his eye. Without looking back, he continued running forward.

Her actions were very effective.

Five fireballs bought him three seconds to escape.

Her strong physique allowed her to take advantage of the opportunity to increase the distance between herself and the petrified lizard by nearly forty meters.

But for the ferocious demon that had recovered from the scorching flames and was now even more enraged, it only took two seconds to catch up.

What can you do in two seconds?
Take a deep breath, yawn halfway, blink twice in exhaustion, or watch a leaf flutter down to the ground.

Adeline didn't know what the point of her actions was; she was simply instinctively trying to prolong her life, even if it was just for a single breath.

Ok……

From the results.

She succeeded.

It was precisely those extra two seconds that allowed Adeline to survive.

Covered in rough, bluish-gray scales, its strong, powerful forepaws are raised high at an angle, and you can vaguely see the solid muscles writhing and swelling beneath its scales.

It plummeted down with such terrifying force that it almost crushed the air.

"Whoops."

This is the noise of air being torn apart, or it can be interpreted as the sound of death wielding its scythe.

"hold head high……"

Almost simultaneously with the sound of claws striking, a long, loud, and strange wolf howl rang out.

The bluish-gray forelimb still landed.

However, the claw strikes that originally contained terrifying power and were so fast that even professionals couldn't react suddenly slowed down as if they had been submerged in water.

The object that should have been flattened and crushed by its claws was replaced by a long, diamond-shaped arm shield that was as black and clear as glass.

The material appears to be too transparent, offering no defensive capabilities whatsoever.

The massive claw that fell couldn't even leave a trace on its dark surface.

The deadly attack was blocked without flinching.

Even the petrified lizard, whose reason had been consumed by rage, was momentarily stunned.

His eerie green vertical pupils stared at the tall, black-haired figure that had suddenly appeared amidst the wolf howls.

It felt strangely familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before.

Just as his brain was about to start working, it was interrupted again by the intense pain coming from his forelimbs.

"Poof!"

Blood spurts.

The thick forearm, which had just completed its swing, fell down in an unusually smooth, almost disintegrating manner.

It gave the impression that the petrified lizard had accidentally broken off its arm because it used too much force.

The break is smooth.

Scales, muscles, and bones were neatly separated.

hold head high--

The roars of beasts, a mixture of anger and pain, echoed through the forest, the sound waves creating a ripple effect that made the treetops sway overhead.

The pain of severed limbs seemed to have aroused the wildness of this eight-legged lizard. With six legs braced on the ground, it lashed out at its enemy with its other forelimb, ignoring everything else.

This time, it did not experience the strange, sluggish dragging sensation it had before, and all the strength in its body was exerted to the fullest extent.

The thick claws slammed into the ground, creating a huge crater.

But the man who had appeared out of nowhere vanished from the spot with a wolf's howl, just as he had come.

Immediately, the petrified lizard felt pain once again.

A dazzling ball of ochre-red energy exploded on its seventh leg like fireworks.

The armor, capable of easily parrying metal strikes and with rough scales that even the most ferocious predators in the jungle could hardly bite through, was utterly powerless against this ochre-red light.

It's like it's working on another level.

When the petrified lizard truly felt the pain, the orb of light emanating from its joint had already vanished.

Instead, there was an irregularly radiating, oval-shaped cavity that separated its limbs.

The petrified lizard wanted to figure out what had happened.

Is its enemy the man with black hair, or something else hidden deeper within?

Is it a black wolf from a powerful ranger, or a high-level mage hiding in the shadows casting offensive spells?
The next second, the petrified lizard stopped thinking.

Or rather, it has lost the ability to think at the physical level.

A sharp object severed the nerves connecting its head and body.

"Clap!"

Adeline stumbled.

For some reason, she felt much lighter and faster in that instant.

The whooshing sound coming from behind her only grazed the back of her head and didn't reach her.

The feeling of lightness vanished suddenly, like getting out of the water after swimming for a long time, your legs suddenly sink, your center of gravity shifts forward, and you fall to the ground.

Gasping for breath, the pain coursing through his body brought his numb and blank mind back to its senses in an instant, a momentary jolt of clarity amidst the life-or-death crisis.

It was only then that she realized who had saved her.

"No, I have to go help him!"

Although she didn't know which adventurer had made the move, she could never simply abandon such a dangerous monster and leave it to face the challenge alone.

At least...

Struggling to her feet, Adeline turned around, then froze in place.

Ahead, the petrified lizard roared furiously, its two thick, short arms landing on the ground beside it. She could even see the muscles writhing deep in its throat.

At the same time, a huge, twisted black wolf, seemingly composed of the darkest and purest shadows, pounced down from the sky as its mane swayed.

The silvery-white teeth pierced the lizard's short, thick neck, which was integrated with its body, with precision and speed.

The shadowy figure twisted slightly.

The black wolf disappeared, leaving only a black-haired youth with sharp features, wearing metal armor.

Holding the longsword upside down with both hands, the blade piercing into his flesh became the best tool for deflecting the force, so that his falling speed was not very fast.

From Adeline's perspective, the enormous lizard's head looked as if a man had "taken" it off its neck.

"despair."

The boots and the head hit the ground together.

Behind me came the noise of gushing blood and the crashing of falling corpses.

Dark eyes gazed into the void, while semi-transparent characters silently passed by.

(End of this chapter)