Even though the ogre was already full, the two remaining human corpses were clearly not for the goblins to eat.
"Waa?"
One goblin sitting on the outskirts, gnawing on some unknown animal bone, twitched its pointed green ears and warily turned its head.
The next instant,
terror flashed across its face as a black figure burst out of the bushes.
Before it could scream a warning,
an iron sword came cleaving down, splitting the goblin cleanly in two.
As green blood splashed through the air, Aaron's figure emerged.
"Fourfold Slash of Light."
His wrist twisted around the sword hilt.
In the blink of an eye,
four streaks of cold light flashed through the air.
The four goblins closest to the outer edge never even had a chance to react before the iron blade skewered them one after another, dropping them where they stood.
"EXP +27."
"EXP +31."
"EXP +22."
"EXP +25."
...
Notifications flickered rapidly across his status panel.
Fourfold Slash of Light released four strikes in an instant. Accuracy dropped, and its power was spread across multiple blows.
Even so, as the Warrior-Captain's signature move—the same skill that had once beaten Razor Claw—it was undeniably strong.
This world was real, not a game where damage only reduced an HP bar.
Injuries naturally weakened a fighter's abilities, and a well-placed wound could kill outright.
Even with its power divided, Aaron's attack was far beyond what any goblin could withstand.
In the space of a heartbeat, five goblins lay dead. The rest, who had been eating, finally snapped out of their stupor.
"Waa!"
"Waa, aaah!!"
"Waa waa—"
Panicked, terrified shrieks erupted.
Goblins dropped their food and scrambled to their feet, scattering in all directions.
Cowardly by nature, they did not think to band together and counterattack. Their first instinct was to flee.
Unfortunately for them,
Aaron's Agility score far outstripped theirs. If they had swarmed him all at once, they might have made things somewhat troublesome.
Scattering, though, was nothing more than serving themselves up to be butchered.
His figure darted through the clearing, every swing of his sword taking another goblin's life.
"EXP +25."
...
"EXP +29."
One notification after another flashed by.
"Human?!"
The ogre finally reacted, roaring in fury as it snatched up the massive wooden club resting by the grass hut's entrance.
Thud! Thud!
Its over-two-meter-tall body shook the ground with every step.
Aaron had kept his attention on the ogre the whole time. Seeing it charge, he stayed perfectly calm. He did not break off from killing goblins; instead, his motions only grew faster.
He had no intention of letting any of them stick around to interfere while he fought the ogre.
Boom!
The huge club smashed into the ground with a heavy thud.
Aaron had already slipped aside the moment the ogre swung, easily dodging the blow—and, in the same motion, cutting down yet another goblin.
"EXP +27."
"Food! Human!"
The ogre bellowed over and over, swinging the massive club with both hands. Each sweep of the weapon churned the air into gusts of wind.
Yet
every single blow missed as Aaron slipped away with ease.
After a few probing exchanges,
he realized his movement speed outclassed the ogre's.
Once that was clear,
he dropped any lingering hesitation and sped up even more.
"Waa—"
"Waa, waa!"
Goblin screams and wails echoed across the clearing.
In only a few moments, all eighteen goblins in the small tribe had been slaughtered.
Off to the side,
whether because its goblin flock had been wiped out, or because of the huge festering wound in its chest, or simply from overeating, the ogre's movements had grown clumsier and slower.
"Huff… huff…"
Panting heavily, it finally stopped its charge, glaring at the human who had exterminated its goblins. Its eyes burned a vicious red.
Feeling that murderous intent locked onto him,
Aaron stood seven or eight meters away, baring his teeth in a grin.
"Now it's just the two of us."
He flicked his sword, throwing the green blood from the blade into the grass at his feet, and spoke in a cold voice.
From his earlier testing, this ogre clearly outclassed the two that had attacked the Rock party.
Even so,
Aaron still held a definite edge in speed. Given the monster's injury and sluggishness, he could wear it down to death if he wanted.
But—
the memory of it devouring human corpses flashed through his mind. He raised the iron sword, gripping it with both hands.
Thump.
He kicked off the ground and charged straight at the ogre.
The seven or eight meters between them vanished in three strides.
"Food!"
Shock and rage crossed the ogre's features. Clearly, it had not expected this human, who had been darting around, to rush it head-on.
Boom!
Muscles bulged along its thick, dark-yellow arms, easily twice the girth of a normal man's thigh, as it swung the massive club down toward Aaron.
"Roar!"
It meant to pulp the small human into meat paste.
The power behind the swing whipped the air into a violent howl.
"Food? Then die for me!" Aaron's eyes went ice-cold as he brought his sword up with all his strength.
"Quick Slash!"
Thud!
The iron blade met the heavy club in a bone-shaking impact.
Two tremendous forces collided, sending out an invisible shockwave that flattened the grass around them.
What power…
The force transmitted through the sword into Aaron's arms left them tingling, and the webbing between his thumb and forefinger burned with pain.
Quick Slash was a Sword Saint skill that dealt 110% damage.
With Slashing Boost (8%) on top, the total reached 118%. With Aaron's physical attack at 93, his raw damage output was around 110—
roughly equivalent to what a max-level Sword Saint class would provide.
Which meant
that single blow had already reached, if not exceeded, the strike power of a "Gold-ranked" human warrior in this world.
And yet the ogre's attack strength had still been slightly higher than his.
______
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