"Buy me some time."
Kasimir's icy voice pricked through the shock of watching his teammate go down in an instant and the excruciating pain in Xia Lin's shoulder, pulling him back to his senses.
Buy time? Leaning against the cold stone pillar, Xia Lin felt like a bellows full of holes. Every breath tasted of blood and brought a searing pain from his shoulder.
He stared ahead at the "Kobold God-Chosen," bathed in the golden glow of the candlelight and radiating a suffocating pressure.
Buy time... against a monster that could knock a heavily armored warrior like Barrett flying with one punch?
You've got to be kidding!
Before crossing into this world, Xia Lin had been a seasoned veteran of "suffering" games.
Elden Ring, Dark Souls—he'd loved challenging seemingly unbeatable bosses stark naked.
That feeling of seizing a fleeting opening amid countless deaths and rolls, then finally "slaying a god," was utterly addictive.
Taking on enemies above your level? Just another day at the office!
But now...
When the cold screen became cold reality, when dazzling CG animations became splashes of warm blood and chunks of viscera, when death could no longer be undone by pressing "restart"...
It felt completely different.
This wasn't thrilling. It was a bone-chilling terror that pierced straight to the soul!
His calves trembled, his teeth chattered, and the hand gripping his sword shook slightly from blood loss and fear.
The Duelist from Brevor made no unnecessary movements. He simply lowered the tip of the slender rapier in his hand toward the ground.
It was a textbook dueling stance, elegant yet brimming with Killing Intent, like a drawn bow ready to loose.
Kasimir said nothing more, and didn't even look at Xia Lin again.
All his attention was fixed, almost palpably, on the golden monster slowly advancing toward them.
But Xia Lin understood what he meant.
Xia Lin · Tolemo, the rookie who had just been congratulating himself on taking down a few ordinary Kobolds, needed to...
Draw its attacks, distract it, and survive by any means necessary, giving Kasimir an opening.
Put simply, he had to do his job as a proper meat shield.
"Damn it..." Xia Lin muttered, biting down hard on his tongue.
The pain brought him back to his senses a little.
To hell with it!
He fixed his gaze on the golden Kobold.
He'd give it a shot! Use [Item Appraisal]!
Even if his head exploded, he had to find out what the hell this thing was!
He focused all his attention, ignoring the waves of pain from his shoulder and the needle-sharp warnings in his head.
A pale-blue screen appeared before his eyes again. This time, though, it didn't bring the agonizing pain that had nearly drained his mind when he scanned Barrett.
The cost was surprisingly low?
[Creature: ??? (Divine ??? Corruption/Blessing ???)] [Status: ??? (Berserk?/Holy?)] [???] [Skills: ???, ???, ???] [Assessment: Who knows why a Kobold was chosen? Maybe some bored deity dozed off and hit the wrong button. But when all's said and done, it's still just a Kobold, isn't it? Don't let that shiny shell scare you witless!]
"Huh?" Xia Lin froze.
That assessment... was it actually trying to encourage him?
The information was still a sea of question marks, but that line was like a shot of adrenaline, plunging into the heart nearly overwhelmed by fear.
Right! Even if it looked like a Super Saiyan now, wasn't it still just a Kobold that dug holes, stole chickens, and was cowardly as a mouse?!
Maybe... maybe it wasn't as invincible as it looked?
For once, his Golden Finger had offered some encouragement, giving Xia Lin a confidence that was insubstantial yet priceless.
In the instant his thoughts raced, the Kobold God-Chosen moved.
It moved faster than Xia Lin's eyes could follow.
In the next moment, its fist, covered in metallic scales, was already hurtling toward Xia Lin's face with a shrill whistle!
I'm dead!
But this time, Xia Lin was ready.
A faint green-blue flash vanished in an instant.
Whoosh!
The golden fist skimmed past the tip of his nose. The gust of wind even stung his cheek!
He stumbled backward, barely dodging the fatal blow!
"So fast!" Xia Lin thought, still shaken. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
But he had no time to be afraid! Kasimir needed him to buy time.
"Hah!" He roared, forcing down his fear and pain as he dug in his heels and steadied himself.
Using the momentum of his evasive spin, he swept his longsword upward in a sharp silver arc, like a viper's Fang, slashing hard at the Kobold God-Chosen's exposed flank.
[Furious Slash].
Clang!!!
A piercing clash rang out.
Sparks flew!
Xia Lin felt a tremendous force rebound through the blade, numbing his palm and making his arm ache.
His sword felt as if it had struck a red-hot iron ingot.
The Kobold God-Chosen didn't even sway. It merely lowered its head and glanced indifferently at its own flank with eyes burning with Golden Flame.
The smooth golden scales there bore only a faint white scratch, so shallow it was almost impossible to notice.
"Damn it! I can't cut through!" Xia Lin's heart sank.
Those scales were even tougher than Barrett's shield.
The Kobold God-Chosen seemed surprised by the "bug's" counterattack—or perhaps it felt insulted.
It let out a low growl and swept its fanlike hand at him, trailing golden light. It moved so fast that all he could see was a blur.
Once again, he relied on the ring's speed boost to slide backward. The golden gust skimmed past his breastplate, gouging a deep mark into the tough leather armor.
He couldn't fight it head-on. He had to find a weak point!
Xia Lin gritted his teeth and danced on the edge of a blade, circling the monster quickly as he tried to find an opening.
He tried [Pierce], precisely aiming the tip of his sword at the comparatively fragile joints.
"Ping!" Another despairing clang. The sword tip struck what felt like the hardest diamond, flashed with sparks, and slid right off.
After dodging another blow, he risked a backward strike with [Pommel Strike], slamming the heavy metal pommel into the comparatively weakly scaled shinbone.
"Clang!" Once again, it ended in a dull metallic crash! The Kobold's leg didn't budge, while a stabbing pain shot through Xia Lin's wrist. It felt as if his bones were about to crack.
After several exchanges, Xia Lin was like a tiny boat tossed in a storm. He could only rely on the speed the ring gave him to dodge and circle the monster. He couldn't deal any meaningful damage at all.
Worse still, after colliding head-on several times with that absurdly tough armor, his "Mercenary Standard Longsword" had developed several obvious chips along its edge. The blade itself had even begun to bend slightly.
[Weapon: Mercenary Standard Longsword (Durability: 12/80)]
The durability warning that appeared in his field of vision rang like a death knell.
At this rate, he wouldn't just fail to buy time. His sword would be ruined after a few more swings, and he'd be reduced to a bloody pulp himself.
What now?!
Xia Lin's mind raced as sweat trickled down his temples.
Strength, skill, speed... In the face of overwhelming defense and power, none of them seemed to matter.
Unless...
A thought flashed through his mind like lightning—[Arcane Pool]!
A Magic Warrior could channel his Arcane Energy into a weapon, temporarily granting it magical properties.
His Arcane Pool held a pitiful 1 point of energy. When he'd practiced earlier, it had felt like little more than a placebo, and the faint glow on his sword had been almost invisible.
But now...
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained!"
As he desperately dodged the Kobold God-Chosen's increasingly rapid attacks, he tried to draw on the elusive "Arcane Pool" within him.
Maybe it was a surge of potential in the face of death. Maybe the meditation he'd practiced without interruption during his seclusion had finally had some effect.
This time, channeling his Arcane Pool felt completely different from before.
It was no longer a vague, fleeting sensation.
He clearly felt a faint, slightly warm energy welling up from deep within him, flowing down his arm and into the longsword in his hand like a trickling stream.
Humm...
The longsword gave a barely audible, humming tremor.
The dull sheen of steel along its blade was now covered in a flowing blue radiance.
It worked?!
Xia Lin's heart stirred. He immediately focused on his status panel.
In his field of vision, a brand-new line had appeared beneath the sword's attributes:
[Status: Arcane Weapon Enhancement +1. Temporary magic weapon, duration: 3 minutes]
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