Chapter 37: Exitra’s Crimson Strike

The battle with the Goblin Shaman had begun.

Anyone would think the same thing, Since it’s a Goblin Shaman, it must use some sort of sorcery.

And they would be right.

Normally, a Goblin Shaman would stay behind, using spells to debuff enemies and buff allies.

Such a role had nothing to do with close combat.

Usually, those types had weak physical abilities.

But this time was different.

“Kieeeek!!”

“Seriously…?”

The Goblin Shaman, apparently unaware of its own talents, raised its staff high and charged in with an attack.

A creature that should have been casting spells from the rear was now requesting a head-on fight.

‘This crazy…’

— [That thing! Is it a strength shaman?!]

— [Whoa! Dude, you need to signal before cutting in! This is reckless driving!!]

Startled, Exitra unconsciously pushed the back of Alfredo, who was standing beside him.

“Block it.”

“Wha–what?! Urgh!!”

Before Alfredo could even protest, he had no choice but to block the Goblin Shaman’s incoming strike.

He crossed his two daggers, catching the blow from the Shaman’s staff.

After blocking the attack, Alfredo grimaced and shouted.

“What are you doing?!”

“Ah~ I didn’t mean to.”

— [Classic bad personality move~]

— [Brother Shield!!!]

— [Go, little bro! Block it with your body!]

— [But seriously, why is a Goblin Shaman whacking people with a staff instead of using spells? What’s going on?]

— [Shameless~ We all heard you say ‘Block it.’ That was on purpose, right~?]

‘So it really is that, huh?’

Exitra knew exactly what state the Goblin Shaman was in.

The others clearly didn’t.

The Goblin Shaman had used something called the Blood Ritual.

It was a forbidden ceremony, performed by devouring one’s own kind, said to grant explosive strength.

‘So that’s how it could make it rain like that…’

By performing the Blood Ritual, it had increased its mana capacity, which allowed such feats.

But great power always came with a price.

The Law of Equivalent Exchange an unchanging truth, no matter where you went.

‘It’s almost completely lost its sanity.’

It wasn’t that the Goblin Shaman wasn’t using magic, it simply couldn’t.

It had no room for anything else.

“Kieeeeh!!”

“Haaah! I won’t lose to the likes of you!!”

Clang!

Clang clang clang!!

Caught in a direct clash, Alfredo gave it his all, striking back at the Goblin Shaman.

The staff swung wildly.

But it wasn’t precise just instinct-driven, reckless flailing.

Matching the rhythm, Alfredo swung his daggers, knocking the staff away again and again.

“Urgh…!”

He had underestimated it because it was a shaman, but the Goblin Shaman’s attacks were anything but weak.

One hit could easily mean a fracture and the wrong hit could mean death.

He had to be careful.

‘Isn’t a shaman supposed to be a magic-user?! Then why is this thing…’

“Kieeeek!!”

It was displaying strength far greater than that of a Goblin Warrior.

‘Well, that’s to be expected.’

Thanks to the Blood Ritual, the explosive power it had gained wasn’t just applied to mana, but to its body as well.

There would be side effects, of course, but the Shaman didn’t have the sanity left to care.

“Brother!!”

“Hm?”

“How long are you planning to just stand there watching?!”

— [Exitra! Just standing there again!!]

— [Wow! The spectator!]

— [Remember the mission~ Woooo!!!]

“No, no, I was just about to start fighting.”

It looked like Alfredo wouldn’t be able to handle this alone.

Exitra summoned a spirit.

There was one that would be useful in a situation like this.

“Blood.”

A red spirit appeared at his side—the special Blood Spirit, one of the five unique spirits he could summon.

‘Not that many people know this…’

Spirit Mages were considered a discarded class, a trash-tier talent, looked down upon.

Because of that, even small bits of information about them were largely unknown.

— [It’s Blood!]

— [But what abilities does Blood even have??]

— [Why is there so little info on Spirit Mages…? Come on, veterans, spill the details!]

— [Man, even the old pros avoid Spirit Mage…]

“Here we go.”

Exitra joined the fight.

Alfredo seemed to be struggling, slowly being pushed back.

‘Blood is a conditional spirit—it can’t be used unless there’s blood nearby.’

For Blood to show its true power, a medium was required.

If the condition was met, though, it could unleash tremendous strength.

‘Oh right, there was also the mission.’

The edgy teenager in the chat had given him a mission when killing the Goblin Shaman, he had to shout a cool-sounding technique name.

“Hmm… well then…”

Exitra commanded Blood to attack the Goblin Shaman.

“Blood Needle.”

Woooong…

Shu shu shu shuk!!

The blood from the goblins lying on the ground responded to Blood’s command, surging up to strike the Shaman.

Sharp, needle-like spikes made of blood!

“Kiek!!”

But the effect was minimal.

The Blood Needles barely pierced the Goblin Shaman’s skin, only leaving small wounds.

Still, Exitra had no time to dwell on that.

“Ugh, this is even more embarrassing than I imagined…”

An indescribable wave of secondhand embarrassment washed over him, far worse than he had expected.

This was beyond embarrassing.

— [Blood Needle – Khahaha]

— [Ha, I don’t have enough cringe resistance!!]

— [Aigoo! Who set this mission? You did great, I commend you!]

***

“Tsk.”

“Hyung! What are you doing? If you’re going to attack, then keep attacking!!”

The Goblin Shaman snapped the Blood Needle in half and lunged at Alfredo.

Alfredo stepped back, creating some distance between them.

His eyes sharpened.

“You bastard…! How arrogant!!”

‘Backstab!’

Alfredo used Backstab, instantly appearing behind the Goblin Shaman.

He drove his dagger into the Shaman’s back.

But it had no effect.

“What kind of hide is this?!”

The leather was so tough that even his sharp dagger couldn’t pierce it.

It was likely that no ordinary attack could penetrate the Goblin Shaman’s hide.

‘Because of the Blood Ritual, his health and defense have increased… This is…’

“This is going to be a headache… Looks like he’s harder to take down than I thought.”

— [Ox]

— [Yeah, how do you even beat that thing?]

— [Isn’t it too much for just one spirit to handle?]

— [Why is the Shaman so strong? Is he a legit buff sorcerer?]

“Kieeeek…”

Then it happened.

The Goblin Shaman’s blood-red gaze suddenly locked on Exitra.

His target had changed.

Apparently, he considered Exitra to be more dangerous than Alfredo.

“KIEEEEEK!!”

The hatred and rage in his eyes clearly said he intended to kill the human.

“Alfredo, just how many goblins did you kill to make him this mad…?”

“I only killed ten.”

‘Ten?’

There were more than ten corpses lying around here.

— [He only killed ten, but there are more bodies here?]

— [Now that you mention it… isn’t it weird? Normally with this much noise, other goblins would come running. Why haven’t they?]

— [Whoa, what’s going on?]

It seemed the viewers had also noticed something strange.

And they were right.

With a fight this intense, it would be natural for other goblins to show up.

But no one came.

There were only two possible explanations.

“Either the goblins collectively shunned him and moved away… or…”

— [No way…]

“He killed them all himself.”

— [He’s insane…]

— [Seriously, something’s wrong with that guy.]

“Yeah, he’s crazy.”

The Blood Ritual granted explosive power but stripped away reason.

At first, he must have used the corpse of a goblin killed by Alfredo’s revenge to perform the ritual.

But as a side effect, he ended up slaughtering all his own kind with his own hands.

“What an absurd bastard…”

It was hardly a fitting end for a revenge story, but somehow, that’s how it turned out.

In an absurd twist, he had tried to avenge ten goblins by killing every goblin himself.

“KIEEEEEK!!”

The Goblin Shaman charged forward, swinging his staff wide.

Exitra raised his guard to meet the blow.

“Blood Shield.”

Whoooom!

A shield made of blood formed, blocking the Shaman’s attack.

But with just one block, cracks ran through the shield.

It wouldn’t withstand multiple hits.

‘Now! Backstab!’

Alfredo went for another strike from behind.

“Haaap!”

With a sharp battle cry, he drove his dagger in with full force this time.

And still, he couldn’t pierce the hide.

“KIEEEEK!!”

“Tch!”

The Goblin Shaman spun his staff, aiming for Alfredo.

Failing to land a hit, Alfredo jumped to dodge, stepped on the Shaman’s body for leverage, and landed next to Exitra.

“What kind of goblin is this strong? This is ridiculous…”

Alfredo was shocked.

That pitifully weak goblin had become this strong?

Even for a rare variant, this level of power was beyond reason.

‘Blood… and that strange state… Wait, I think I’ve seen this before…’

Alfredo dug into his memory, pulling up information.

“No way! Blood Ritual?!”

— [Blood Ritual?]

— [What’s that?]

— [What is it? Little bro~ explain it to us.]

“Blood Ritual?”

Exitra knew about it from his pre-regression memories, but he deliberately asked again.

In the current timeline, knowledge about the Blood Ritual wasn’t common.

If he explained it now, some viewers might get suspicious.

He had been wondering how to reveal it naturally to the viewers—when Alfredo spoke up on his own.

‘Perfect.’

“That’s…”

Alfredo gave a brief explanation of the Blood Ritual.

The viewers finally understood the situation completely.

— [Whoa, insane!]

— [There’s such a thing as a Blood Ritual? First I’ve heard of it today…]

— [Oh, so that’s why he ate all his own kind?]

— [Trying to take revenge, but ended up killing them all instead…]

“If he really performed the Blood Ritual, then killing him won’t be easy. Normal attacks won’t work, hyung.”

“I know.”

They had tried attacking several times, but nothing worked.

It was clear that ordinary attacks were useless.

In that case…

“Then I just need to use an attack that’s not ordinary…”

Exitra focused his mind.

***

“KIEEEK!”

The Goblin Shaman came charging again.

Seeing this, Exitra manipulated the blood on the ground to coil around the Shaman’s body.

“Blood Bind.”

“KIEEEEEK!!”

The Blood Bind was strong enough to restrain the Shaman’s movement for a brief moment.

Exitra immediately began calculating.

‘Set attack method.’

‘Set direction.’

‘Set target location.’

‘Set range.’

His Multitasking skill was working overtime today.

‘Multi-multi!!!’

Woooooom!!

It wasn’t just the blood inside the hut.

All the blood from other spots began gathering together.

— [Whoa! What’s going on? The blood’s floating!!]

— [Uhhh?]

— [?????]

“Hyung…?”