Another Round of Suffering

"Buy me some time."

Kasimir's icy voice, like needle pricks, pulled Xia Lin slightly back from the searing pain in his shoulder and the shock of his teammates falling instantly.

Buy him time? Leaning against the cold stone pillar, Xia Lin felt like a broken bellows, each breath carrying the taste of blood and the burning agony from his shoulder.

He looked ahead at the "Kobold God-Chosen," bathed in the golden candlelight, exuding a suffocating pressure.

Buy him time... against a monster that could punch a heavily armored warrior like Barrett flying with a single blow?

What a joke!

Before his transmigration, Xia Lin had been a veteran "suffering" player.

Games like Elden Ring, Dark Souls – his favorite thing was to go in naked and challenge seemingly impossible bosses.

That sense of accomplishment from countless deaths and dodges, seizing fleeting opportunities, and finally "slaying gods" was utterly addictive.

Facing opponents far above his level? That was his bread and butter!

But now...

When the cold screen turned into cold reality, when gorgeous CG cutscenes became splashing warm blood and shredded organs, when death was no longer something that could be undone by pressing "Restart"...

The feeling was completely different.

It wasn't excitement; it was bone-chilling, soul-piercing terror!

His legs trembled, his teeth chattered, and the hand holding his sword shook from blood loss and fear.

Meanwhile, the Duelist from Brevor made no superfluous movements, merely holding his slender stiletto with the tip pointed slightly downward, towards the ground.

A standard duelist's starting stance, elegant yet filled with coiled killing intent.

Kasimir fell silent, not even glancing at Xia Lin again.

All his attention, condensed like a physical entity, focused on the slowly approaching golden monster.

But Xia Lin understood his meaning.

Xia Lin Torremo, the rookie who had just been gloating about taking down a few regular kobolds, needed to...

Draw aggro, distract it, survive by any means necessary, and create an opportunity for Kasimir.

In simple terms, be a qualified meat shield.

"Damn it..." Xia Lin cursed under his breath and bit down hard on his tongue.

The sharp pain brought him back to his senses slightly.

Gamble!

His gaze locked onto the golden kobold.

Take a chance! Use Item Appraisal!

Even if his head exploded, he at least needed to know what this thing was!

He concentrated all his mental energy, ignoring the throbbing pain from his shoulder and the needle-like warnings in his head.

In his field of vision, a pale blue light screen reappeared. This time, however, it didn't bring the intense pain that had almost drained his spirit when scanning Barrett.

The consumption was unexpectedly small?

[Creature: ??? (Divinity ??? Corruption/Blessing ???)]

[Status: ??? (Rage?/Holy?)]

[???]

[Skills: ???, ???, ???]

[Evaluation: Who knows why a kobold was chosen? Perhaps a bored deity pressed the wrong button while dozing off? But in the end, it's still just a kobold, isn't it? Don't let that shiny golden shell scare you to death!]

"Huh?" Xia Lin blinked.

This evaluation... was encouraging?

Although the information was still a mess of "???", this line of evaluation was like a shot of adrenaline, piercing deep into his heart, which was almost filled with fear.

Right! Even if it looked like a Super Saiyan now, its true form was still that chicken-hearted, hole-digging, chicken-stealing kobold!

Maybe... maybe it wasn't as invincible as it looked?

The golden finger, unusually, offered Xia Lin a vague yet incredibly precious confidence.

In the instant his mind raced, the Kobold God-Chosen moved.

Its movements were too fast for Xia Lin's dynamic visual acuity.

The next moment, its fist, covered in metallic-scaled skin, wrapped in a piercing sonic boom, slammed towards Xia Lin's face!

Die!

But this time, Xia Lin was prepared.

A faint cyan glow flashed and disappeared.

Whoosh!

A gust of golden wind grazed his nose, the force of it so strong it made his cheek ache!

He stumbled backward in a clumsy retreat, narrowly dodging the potentially fatal punch!

"So fast!" Xia Lin's heart pounded with lingering fear, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.

But he had no time for terror! Kasimir needed him to buy time.

"Hah!" he roared, forcefully suppressing his fear and pain, planting his feet and steadying himself.

Using the momentum from his dodge and spin, the longsword in his hand swept upward in a sharp, silver arc, like a viper's fangs, striking viciously at the Kobold God-Chosen's exposed flank from the punch.

[Furious Slash].

Clang!!!

A harsh, grating clash.

Sparks flew!

Xia Lin felt a massive recoil force surge through the blade, numbing his sword hand and aching his arm.

His sword felt like it had struck a red-hot iron ingot.

The Kobold God-Chosen didn't even flinch. It merely lowered its head, its eyes burning with Golden Flame, and indifferently glanced at its own flank.

There, on its smooth golden scales, was only a shallow, almost negligible white scratch.

"Damn it! It won't penetrate!" Xia Lin's heart sank.

The defense of these scales was harder than Barrett's shield.

The Kobold God-Chosen seemed surprised by this "bug's" counterattack, or perhaps felt offended.

It let out a low growl, its massive, fan-like hand sweeping forward with a golden light, moving so fast it left only a blurry afterimage.

He relied on the ring's acceleration again, sliding backward as the golden palm wind grazed his chest plate, leaving a deep gash in the tough Leather Armor.

Can't fight head-on, must find a weakness!

Xia Lin gritted his teeth, his footwork like dancing on knife-edges as he circled the monster rapidly, searching for an opening.

He tried [Pierce], his sword tip precisely aiming for the relatively vulnerable joint connections.

"Ting!" Another despair-inducing crisp sound. The sword tip struck as if hitting the hardest diamond, a spark flashed, and it slid right off.

After dodging another blow, he risked a counterattack with [Pommel Strike], the heavy metal hilt smashing down hard on the relatively weaker shinbone covered by scales.

"Clang!" The result was still a dull thud of metal on metal! The kobold's leg didn't budge, but his wrist throbbed with piercing pain, feeling like his bones might crack.

After several exchanges, Xia Lin felt like a tiny boat in a stormy sea, only able to dodge and weave thanks to the ring's speed, completely unable to inflict any effective damage on the enemy.

Worse still, the "Mercenary Standard Longsword" in his hand now had several noticeable chips on its blade and was even slightly bent after repeatedly clashing against that monstrous scaled armor.

[Weapon: Mercenary Standard Longsword (Durability: 12/80)]

The durability notification popping up in his vision sounded like a death knell.

If this continued, let alone buying time, his sword would likely be completely ruined after just a few more swings, and he himself would be reduced to a bloody pulp.

What to do?!

Xia Lin's mind raced, sweat trickling down his temples.

Strength, skill, speed... all seemed meaningless against absolute defense and power.

Unless...

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning – [Arcane Pool]!

Spellblades could infuse their arcane energy into their weapons, temporarily granting them magic properties.

His Arcane Pool currently held a meager 1 point of energy. During practice, it had only felt like a placebo effect, the faint glow from his sword almost imperceptible.

But now...

"Desperate times call for desperate measures!"

He dodged the Kobold God-Chosen's increasingly rapid attacks while desperately trying to channel the ethereal "Arcane Pool" within him.

Perhaps it was an explosive surge of potential at the brink of death, or perhaps the meditation he'd maintained without interruption during his seclusion had finally yielded a tiny effect.

This time, the feeling of channeling the Arcane Pool was completely different from before.

It was no longer a vague sensation.

He clearly felt a weak, slightly warm energy, like a trickle of water, surge from the depths of his body, flowing down his arm and into the longsword in his hand.

Hummm...

The longsword emitted an extremely faint, buzzing vibration.

On the blade, the dull steel luster was now covered by a layer of flowing blue light.

It worked?!

Xia Lin's heart leaped, and he immediately focused, checking his status screen.

In his vision, next to the longsword's attributes, a brand new line of text had appeared:

[Status: Arcane Weapon Enhancement +1. Temporary magic weapon, duration 3 minutes.]