Chapter 162: Chapter 162 - Goblin’s Cunning
Lucien felt it.
Even though the ring hadn’t finished absorbing the energy, his mind and strength was already becoming sharper. Frighteningly so.
He glanced down at his hand as the buildup surged.
His thoughts raced.
’The Gargoyle Ring made me durable and let me conjure wings at will... but this one...’
He didn’t know what ability the Goblin Ring would grant. But the sheer buildup alone told him it was something formidable.
Just then—
The Goblin Ring pulsed violently. Veins of gold crawled across its surface.
From within, an ancient goblin silhouette of pure light broke free. Its staff glowed. Then—
It dove straight into Lucien. His slime form glowed.
And suddenly, Lucien’s vision shifted.
The world twisted.
Lines of fate bent and danced before him. He could sense weak points in the enemies’ attacks, fractures in their coordination, flaws in their overwhelming strength.
Lucien grinned.
He now understood what this ring had given him.
It was not brute power. It was something far more dangerous.
A Goblin’s Cunning.
The instinct to exploit, deceive, twist and strike at the perfect moment.
Lucien’s lips curled.
"...I see it now."
The three Monster Lords immediately moved as one.
They could feel the shift in Lucien and they feel uneasy.
His energy surged so violently it was as though the cocoon had finally torn apart... revealing not the fragile worm within but a predator with wings sharp enough to cut the sky.
"Who would have thought the ring our kinforged could be used against us..." The Winged Goblin said.
The Magus Goblin had a different realization, framing it as though to justify their failure to escape this place.
"I finally understand what this place was... I have read a passage about how the Primordial Slime can even create a world inside.. haha This place... It was the inheritance all along... no wonder we can’t get out... After all, this place was not originally from this lesser world."
"I know what to do. Kill him. And we get out." Said the Giant.
For the first time, the three no longer underestimated him.
Lucien stared at them. He could hear their words even across the distance. He laughed coldly.
"Inheritance? I have plenty. And it’s too late for you three. Your arrogance... will always be your greatest weakness."
As his voice echoed across the world—
The three Monster Lords struck together.
The Giant slammed its clawed fist into the earth, shattering the landmass itself. Lucien was forced into the air.
The Winged Goblin shrieked. Its wings scattered storms of razor feathers that filled the skies.
The Magus drew runes in the void, unleashing chains of forbidden energy to bind Lucien midair.
They weren’t holding back anymore.
Lucien blinked across the battlefield. He bent space... yet each blink was chased by lightning, fire, or shockwaves.
His slime body split apart, only to reconnect almost immediately.
"Guhhh...!" Lucien winced as one of the Magus’s chains grazed him. Agony was amplified by the runes etched into it.
"You meddle with scraps of cunning," the Magus growled, "but trickery cannot outlast inevitability."
Lucien’s grin only widened. "That’s the point. I don’t need to outlast you."
His eyes sharpened.
He could finally see their pattern. Their timing. Their intent.
The Goblin Ring pulsed again, feeding him flashes of insight.
’They’re stronger... but they’re not flawless.’
The Giant lunged again. Its hand moved with force big enough to crush a castle.
But then...
Lucien didn’t dodge.
Instead, he bent space a fraction late.... just enough to redirect the Winged Goblin’s oncoming onslough of black storm.
The Winged Goblin’s attack suddenly appeared beside the Giant. And immediately... It shredded into the Giant’s arm.
Black ichor sprayed.
"Guhh!" The Giant roared, staggering.
The Magus immediately acted. It snapped its staff and weaved another spell... but Lucien twisted the ground beneath it into a mirror of molten light. He timed it with absolute precision.
The runes cast bent backward... striking its own chest with a recoil. But... Its own attack only cracked its barrier.
"Human-slime," the Magus hissed, "you cannot win with borrowed cunning."
The Winged Goblin dove in fury. Its wings blazed with compressed miams.
But then...
Lucein activeted Eternal Convergence again.
Figures of his past selves appeared.
But unlike before, they moved unpredictably. Each echo baited different attacks, weaving confusion into chaos.
They too were fed by the Goblin Ring’s power. Each echo carried its own cunning.
The battlefield became a chessboard of deception.
The Goblin Ring hummed. The cunning of ten thousand goblins whispered in their veins.
"This battle cannot be dragged out," the Winged Goblin hissed.
The Magus’s face twisted in rage. "Harold Coalheart... I admit it. As a goblin, I must praise your cunning. But you know it as well as I do. A borrowed power has its limits."
The Giant just snarled. Its shredded arm was already healed by the Magus.
The three exchanged glances.
The Magus’ voice slithered into the minds of the other two.
’I’ve found a way out. Lend me thirty percent of your essence and together we’ll tear open this prison. It’s the only way to break through. Do not concern yourselves with the human... He will not be able to touch our spell.’
The Giant and the Winged Goblin exchanged with a grim look. Then, silently, they nodded.
The Magus raised its staff. Ancient runes spiraled into existence, weaving layer upon layer of forbidden sigils into the air. The void trembled as the Monster Lords poured their essence into the spell.
Finally, the Magus gave the cue.
"Now."
Then they roared in unison.
Their combined might shook the divine core itself.
They no longer cared about Lucien.
They were pouring everything into one purpose.
To fracture this world and escape the prison.
And then... the blast struck.
It reached the very surface of the divine energy core.
Suddenly, Lucien’s chest seared.
Agony tore through him as though molten blades were carving into his essence from within. His body convulsed and his slime form rippled and shuddered.
Lucien’s breath hitched, a guttural cry escaping his lips.
"Ghhhaahhh—!"
For a moment, he staggered. He clutched at his chest feeling as though the very foundation of his existence was about to collapse.
"Crap... I have to stop them..."
Lucien bent space again to stop the blast.
But... Lucien missed.
"What!? How?! Why can’t I reach their combined attack!?"
The fragments pulsed at the heart of the world, endlessly repairing his core.
But their continuous assault was overwhelming even that. The repairs couldn’t keep up.
Lucien dove forward to the three Monster Lords. He strike them directly.
But he slammed into a barrier. An impossibly strong one.
The Magus smirked. "This spell ignores even the laws of your world. You cannot touch us."
Just then...
Lucien’s pupils shrank.
He realized—
The Goblin Ring’s effect... it was weakening.
’This won’t last. The ring can’t take this energy much longer.’
His form flickered. Cracks spread across the Goblin Ring.
’If I don’t finish this now... both it and my core will shatter. And if that happens... I don’t know what will happen.’
He blinked high above and space folded like paper.
The cunning power surged...
His mind shifted with possibilities.
For a brief instant... he glimpsed the future seconds ahead.
"...Found it."
He found a single, perfect opening. It hasn’t appeared yet... But soon it will.
He funneled all the divine energy he could muster into the Goblin Ring. It flared like a sun, spilling golden light that carved through the void.
Below, the three Monster Lords roared within their barrier.
He dived and the entire world bent with him. The space collapsed into a single, merciless strike.
Thousands of Golden chains erupted from the ground, sky and void itself...
They froze in the air... waiting.
Lucien clenched his fists. Waiting for that exact second.
Then... his chest convulsed.
He spat blood.
His divine core cracked.
And the world outside was revealed.
But Lucien did not panic.
He had seen this possibility already. And he was ready.
Lucien’s eyes lit up. The moment he was waiting arrived. The perfect opening.
The moment the Magus tried deactivated the barrier to escape... Lucien struck with perfect timing.
The golden chains snapped like serpents, slithering through fractured space.
"What!?"
They bound the three Lords at once. Lucien didn’t give them the time to fly off towards the cracked core.
The Giant’s roar was muffled. The Winged Goblin’s wings clamped. And... the Magus’s staff shattered as it was dragged into the seal.
"No..."
"Human... stop this at once..."
"I told you... humans... dangerous..."
Lucien’s clones converged from all sides.
"This... ends here!"
The space collapsed into a merciless weapon and it lanced through all three.
The battlefield erupted in golden fire through the clone’s attacks.
"""Guhhhh!!!"""
...
A few heartbeats later.
The light faded...
The three Monster Lords lay broken.
But they weren’t dead yet...
Lucien and the clones pressed on, striking again and again.
"STOP!!!" the Winged Goblin shrieked as the collapsed space finally cut through it.
"Humans... dangerous..." the Giant muttered like a broken record. For a moment, Lucien almost pitied it. Perhaps it had been tormented by humans long ago.
Lucien felt that this Giant Goblin mustve benn tortured by humans in its past life.
But the Magus still held its pride.
It didn’t fall into despair.
"Human..." its voice was low and mocking. "This world has already been located. I’ve sent my will to my kin. Harold Coalheart. Your name will echo on the other side. And this lesser world... it cannot survive. Ha! How does it feel to get rejected by the world?"
Lucien went silent...
Then he sneered.
"Ha. Even if the world rejects me, I’ll rewrite its fate in my own blood."
At his words, the Magus froze, stunned. Then... it laughed weakly.
"Hahahaha... Good. To fall to one so ambitious... fitting indeed. That line... was fitting."
Lucien smirked. "Of course it is. That line came from a children’s storybook. With your small brain, of course you’ll like it."
The Magus choked then finally fell silent... Its life was extinguished. His face was devoid of dignity, mocked even on his deathbed.
And then... Lucien finally heard the kill notification and golden drops shimmered into existence.
"Phew."
Lucien exhaled in relief. His core had already begun to repair itself.
But then, his hand trembled.
He raised his hand... only to see the Goblin Ring splintering. Cracks run across it like glass under strain.
"Sigh... What a waste."
With a final pulse of cunning, the ring shattered into dust. The energy within scattered back into the void.
And the glow wrapped around Lucien flickered... then faded.
Lucien’s body trembled, barely holding together. But his grin widened.
"They’re gone... I actually did it."
And yet... somewhere deep in the fading echoes of the ring, Lucien could feel it.
The goblin’s cunning had not vanished completely.
And then...
[Achievement Unlocked...]