The Grounded God of War

Lin Yun felt a tingling sensation throughout his body after that blast of energy, which wasn't pleasant. He even felt a bit weak-kneed. He looked at the Goblin Shaman with a sinister grin on its face, and then at the four Goblins that had charged forward. Their equipment looked crudely made, but it fit their bodies perfectly, and they were wielding iron weapons.

Damn it, these were the real elites! It seemed the difficulty had changed. He thought he had killed so many Goblins already, assuming they were all dead, but there were still so many left.

Forcing himself to stand, Lin Yun's expression turned serious. He ran towards the Female Fighter and the Goddess Priestess. It wasn't that he was abandoning his duty for beauty, but rather, he planted his Lantern Staff into the ground and raised his shield. As mentioned before, his shield was his Holy Symbol. And now, he was finally unleashing the power of "Your Daddy Cleric is always your Daddy Cleric."

"Resurrect, my warriors." Okay, wrong show.

It should be, "Praise be to you, the all-knowing Eye of Omniscience!" Then, a ball of light erupted from Lin Yun's shield-wielding arm and spread outwards, enveloping the Female Fighter, the Goddess Priestess, the young warrior... and two Goblins, including the Goblin Giant. The skill had a wide area of effect, a radius of 30 feet, about 10 meters.

Lin Yun was afraid this skill would cover the first battlefield he had just opened up, where a pile of Goblins were not entirely dead, merely on the brink of death. Healing them all would be problematic.

"D6=5"

Then, "Sigh." "Huh?" "Whoa!" The three people bathed in the light opened their eyes, looking around in confusion, feeling as if they had been jolted awake from a deathbed. It was a peculiar sensation. The two Goblins caught in the blast, however, did not open their eyes. Instead, they... slept even more soundly.

This wasn't because Lin Yun had learned Selective Channeling. Lin Yun was also despairing. He was only a Level 1 Priest. Since he could only choose one feat, he naturally chose the classic, limited-edition "Spellcasting Prodigy" feat, which was more useful. Choosing Selective Channeling was impossible. So, theoretically, these two Goblins and the Goblin Giant should have been summoned by Lin Yun's Channel Divinity.

Fortunately, because they were also within the range of the Goblin Shaman's Thunderclap Wave attack, and regardless of whether they had enough Constitution to resist the Thunderclap Wave, their hit points were not enough to recover from 0 hit points. They were only half-dead, but at least able to stand.

In fact, due to the Goblin Shaman's fierce attack, they were already on the verge of death and were now completely dead. The Channel Divinity light had merely passed over them literally.

As for the Goblin Giant, it was entirely due to the immense damage the Female Fighter had inflicted.

Channel Divinity was basically the signature ability of every Priest, allowing them to unleash divine power according to the deity they worshipped. If they worshipped a good deity, they would channel positive energy, with the ability to heal life and damage undead creatures. If they worshipped an evil deity, they would channel negative energy, healing undead creatures and damaging living beings.

Since the Eye of Omniscience was a Scales sign, meaning absolutely neutral, its Priests could freely choose which side's abilities to use. Lin Yun was not an antisocial person, so he naturally chose the more orthodox ability of channeling positive energy.

And because Lin Yun was only Level 1, his positive energy channeling ability wasn't too strong yet. He could only restore D6 hit points. Although Goblins were enemies, and bad guys at that, channeling positive energy healed living creatures, and Goblins were living creatures, so theoretically, they could also receive Lin Yun's healing. It was just a pity that they were killed by their own Goblin Shaman.

If he had chosen Selective Channeling, Lin Yun could choose who to damage and who to heal, but only with positive energy. So, the choice of who to damage would only apply when there were undead teammates, and he chose not to damage them.

Channel Divinity could be used a number of times per day equal to Charisma modifier + 3. This meant Lin Yun could use Channel Divinity 6 times a day. This was why Lin Yun was so confident. As I said, your Daddy Cleric is always your Daddy Cleric. Unfortunately, Spellcasting Prodigy didn't increase the effect of Channel Divinity.

This was also why Lin Yun wanted to get closer to the Female Fighter and the others. While part of it was that Lin Yun wanted to create more combat space and prevent the Goblins from reaching them too quickly.

On the other hand, if he had used Channel Divinity on the battlefield where the Goblins had been on the verge of death, it wouldn't have been "Resurrect, my warriors," but rather "Resurrect, undead army," and they would be on the human side. This was why Lin Yun had fled without hesitation earlier. It was all a strategy Lin Yun had planned.

"Mr. Silent!" The young warrior, having gotten up from the ground, shouted at Lin Yun, who was about to be surrounded by four Goblins. He crawled over and swung his iron longsword at a Goblin that was just within reach, its sword barely grazing Lin Yun.

He had only intended to slightly lessen the pressure on Lin Yun, even if only a little, as his previous performance had been rather poor.

However, despite lying on the ground and fighting awkwardly, the young warrior seemed to have gained some mystical Eastern power. It was a skill called "rolling kill." He was lying on the floor, but his sword cut through the air like a rainbow, diagonally slicing the Goblin. He carved a deep bloody gash in its unprotected back, almost cutting the Goblin in half.

(Yes, this little brother finally got a critical hit of 20, even with a -4 penalty from lying on the floor. Since a natural 20 is always a hit, and the confirmation roll was an 18, it was a critical hit. This is quite peculiar. The damage roll was 15, so it was almost a kill, no problem.)

Lin Yun hadn't expected this young brother, who had been embarrassing himself all along, to explode with power the moment he fell to the ground. It was terrifying. Or perhaps, he was only human when wielding a longsword, and useless with a short sword? Was it that mystical?

Meanwhile, because Lin Yun was right next to the Female Fighter, the young warrior had to crawl a bit further to reach the Goblin. The Female Fighter, understanding the situation, pushed herself up with her hands, took a step forward, and without any weapons, struck at a Goblin next to Lin Yun wielding a broad short sword.

A chop to the ear made the Goblin cry out in pain. The Female Fighter then threw a punch with her other hand, hitting the Goblin's head and making it slump over, eyes closed.

Suddenly, Lin Yun's pressure eased considerably. The Goddess Priestess, however, looked dazed, as if she didn't quite understand what had happened. It was understandable, given the chaotic situation, it was inevitable that this little rookie would be confused.

Seeing that Lin Yun had suddenly revived all his teammates, the Goblin Shaman jumped up in anger, shouting in a language Lin Yun didn't understand. It waved its wooden staff, seemingly about to cast a spell.

But unexpectedly, this time, Lin Yun was faster than the Shaman. Before, it was because the Goblin Shaman had ambushed Lin Yun from the shadows, so Lin Yun hadn't had time to react. But now, it was different. Lin Yun's reaction was faster.

Or perhaps, it would be better to say his casting was faster.

"Come." Before the two Goblins standing beside Lin Yun could react, Lin Yun directly cast Command at the distant Goblin Shaman, ordering it to charge directly towards Lin Yun without doing anything else.

Because Lin Yun cast a spell, the two Goblins in front of him, one wielding a Battle Axe and the other a Dagger, both seemingly sturdier Goblins, attacked Lin Yun.

Due to casting the spell, Lin Yun couldn't fully defend against the Goblins' attacks. The Goblin with the Battle Axe took the opportunity and struck Lin Yun's thigh. The hit points he had just recovered from Channel Divinity were instantly gone. The Goblin with the Dagger was blocked by Lin Yun's shield, unable to get close.

However...

"D20+1+3=20. Concentration successful." Speaking of which, if they took damage, spells require concentration, otherwise, they would fail. The DC for concentration is usually 10 + damage + spell level. Lin Yun took 5 damage, and adding the 1st level of Command, the DC was 16.

Lin Yun gritted his teeth. The situation was too urgent, and he had forgotten that he could also use Defensive Casting.

Well, speaking of casting, there's a special way to play. Because when casting a spell, you focus your attention on the casting, making you vulnerable to surprise attacks from surrounding enemies, thus taking damage.

So, theoretically, a sufficiently skilled caster can cast a spell while vigilantly watching the surrounding enemies, thus avoiding opportunity attacks. But this undoubtedly requires dividing attention. The caster must then pass a concentration check called Defensive Casting. The concentration check is D20 + caster level + caster's key proficiency bonus.

For Lin Yun, this would be his 1st level as a Priest plus the 3 bonus from his 17 Wisdom. The difficulty of Defensive Casting is higher than normal concentration checks. The DC for Defensive Casting is 15 + twice the spell's level. This means Lin Yun would need at least a DC of 17 to perform Defensive Casting.

And if the concentration fails, the spell is naturally canceled.

It can only be said that there are pros and cons.

And although these were iron weapons, unlike the ones the others had clearly picked up temporarily, these had been in their possession for some time and were coated with poison.

"D20+4+2+1=17, Save successful."

Alright, safe for now, and it was all worth it. The young warrior watched as the Goblin Shaman ran towards Lin Yun. As it passed him, he raised his longsword and swung it at the Goblin Shaman. However, although the Goblin Shaman had no defense, the young warrior's swing was awkward, and he only managed to hit the ground behind the Goblin Shaman... Well, that wasn't worth it. Or rather, it didn't let the Goblin Shaman cast a spell attack on them.

"Damn it, I won't give up like this!" Seemingly enraged, the young warrior finally stood up. This time, he threw away his shield and gripped his longsword with both hands, then brought it down with a furious slash. Well, at least he didn't hit the wall and get his sword stuck.

Because of Command, and being caught between Lin Yun and the young warrior, the Goblin Shaman didn't notice the warrior's attack from behind. A sword strike landed on the Goblin Shaman's back, causing it to cry out in pain.