You're Strong, So I Choose to Split Apart

"Tut, tut. Hard to believe, isn't it?" Yang Yu's voice rang beside the Goblin King's ear. "Your Goblin army looks vicious enough, but it's actually useless. In the end, their attack methods and thinking are far too simple, making them easy to counter. So far, not a single member of the Rescue Corps has died."

"What did you say? Your—"

Your elite unit should have already been completely wiped out by my assassination force.

The Goblin King's words caught in its throat.

Scenes of the first failed Goblin hunt and the fleeing survivors being rescued flashed through the Goblin King's mind one after another. It had clearly dispatched an assassination force, so why was Yang Yu so certain that not a single member of the Rescue Corps had died?

The Goblin King swept its gaze across the Rescue Corps and saw that Seka Mens had replaced Yang Yu as the commander. Its brain nearly shut down.

Could it be that they never had any elite unit from the beginning? Was it all just an illusion they had created? From the very start, they had only sent this young man to scout.

And this young man used my pride in my own intellect to make me believe there was an elite unit, deliberately spreading my forces thin.

The Goblin King found it increasingly unbelievable.

Could it be that after entering the Dense Observation Zone, he had not chosen to pass through directly, but had instead spent time destroying it just to keep this misunderstanding going?

"Your next line is, 'Was all of this part of your plan?'"

"Was all of this part of your plan?"

The moment it spoke those words, the Goblin King trembled inwardly. Every suspicion in its heart was confirmed. It had been seen through completely—not only its attacks, but even its thoughts.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The Goblin King's sudden laughter made the entire battlefield shudder.

Everyone turned to look at the Goblin King. Its eyes first lost their light, then erupted with raging flames.

"There are always greater people beyond people, greater skies beyond skies. Let me ask you this: do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"Nothing more than abandoning everything, revealing your hidden trump card, powering up, transforming, and doing whatever it takes to win."

"I didn't expect you to see through even that."

There were only a few ways a boss could become stronger. There was no need to guess.

Yang Yu had long since prepared himself. If the Goblin King transformed, he would fight if he could; if not, he would run immediately. He was extremely decisive.

"Since thinking is useless, I'll simply abandon thought. I'll defeat you with nothing but the purest, most primitive power. Perhaps you saw this coming long ago, but so what? Can you defeat me?"

The Goblin King laughed wildly as it drove its longstaff into the ground. A dazzling red light bloomed from its chest and shot into the sky.

The Rescue Corps arriving from afar had just finished clearing out the ambushing Goblins. They had even caught a Goblin with leaf patterns on its body when they saw the red light piercing the heavens. Their instincts told them something was terribly wrong.

Scarlet light coiled around the Goblin King's body as it swelled several sizes. Its bulging muscles squeezed against its face, distorting it.

Yang Yu rapidly retreated several steps, opened his panel to check the Goblin King's status, and smiled. His sense of crisis vanished completely.

The Goblin King's transformation was not an all-around increase in attributes, but an adjustment of its stats. It wanted to transfer all its Intelligence into Speed and Strength.

If the Goblin King truly completed its transformation, it might really become impossible to fight.

But this kind of adjustment seemed to have real-time effects on the subject's appearance as well, and it required some time.

As a player, unless there was a cutscene, how could he possibly let a boss transform freely?

Transforming in full view of everyone? Wasn't that practically handing them a free shot?

Oh, you think I'm the only enemy you need to deal with? Then that's fine.

"Mages in the rear, heed my command! Throw out your strongest magic and bombard the Goblin King! Frontline warriors, please hold them back a little longer!"

"Got it!"

The Rescue Corps, which had just been intimidated, began moving again under Yang Yu's command. The frontline warriors cut down the Goblins that had yet to react, while the mages gathered together and began chanting spells.

"You! You! Isn't this too underhanded?!"

The transforming Goblin King immediately panicked. The adjustment was gradually reaching its optimal state. If it forcibly stopped now, it would definitely suffer backlash. But if it did not stop, it would have to endure a ton of magic. It had no idea whether it could withstand it.

Magic gathered in the air, forming a pillar of light that poured down upon the Goblin King. Left with no choice, the Goblin King forcibly stopped adjusting its attributes.

It reached for the longstaff embedded in the ground to defend itself, but grabbed nothing.

"Flame-Forged Longstaff, Purple Quality. It would be a shame if magic broke it."

At some point, Yang Yu had used [Sudden Killing Intent], escaping the center of the magic barrage while swiping the Goblin King's weapon.

"You bastard!"

The Goblin King roared, but it was useless. It could only raise both hands to withstand the overwhelming magic.

Dust and sand billowed from the ground, exposing every hidden trap. Everyone held their breath and waited for the outcome.

After carefully examining the longstaff, Yang Yu directly stored it in the system, treating it completely as his own.

Just then, a pair of huge hands lunged out from the dust cloud. They were covered in magic and brimmed with destructive power.

"You really won't give up." Yang Yu flipped his shield and used [Shield Counter]. Red light covered the shield, which became studded with crimson spikes.

[Shield Counter], as its name implied, used the shield to block one attack. Yang Yu would take 10% of the damage, while the opponent took 100%. It was a powerful finishing move against high-attack, low-defense enemies. Its only drawbacks were its rather long cooldown and high mana cost.

Yang Yu dropped into a crouch and hurled out his shield, catching the Goblin King's attack. The red spikes on the shield released an electric current that struck directly at the Goblin King's heart.

[Shield Counter] was Yang Yu's only skill with a high execution threshold. After taking so much magic damage, the Goblin King was already in the red. It had also gone mad from its failed transformation. If he did not use it now, when would he?

However, Yang Yu did not finish it off. Perhaps it had taken too much magic damage, or perhaps forcibly stopping the adjustment had caused backlash, but the Goblin King had not used its full strength.

"Damn, just a little short."

No problem. If disaster doesn't kill you, there'll surely be a finishing blow!

Yang Yu raised his sword, ready to strike the finishing blow, when a vile smile appeared on the Goblin King's twisted face. Its body split apart, and a strange orange-yellow light burst out from within.

"I admit that you're strong. This time, let's perish together!"

This guy could actually self-destruct?

A self-destructing Goblin was truly unheard of. Yang Yu immediately put distance between himself and the Goblin King, activated [Intercept] and [Shield Block], and shouted at the Rescue Corps, "Everyone, get down! This guy is going to self-destruct!"

Before his words had even finished, berserk energy exploded from the Goblin King's body, like a heavy bomb detonating in place.

A storm raged through the forest. The wooden houses swayed violently before turning into planks that flew into the distance. The massive explosion could be heard clearly dozens of kilometers away, while the dust kicked up by the blast covered the sky and blanketed the entire forest.