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Goblin Chapter 48: Close to Kill Milestone
🕑 Added 2025-07-20 19:43:10 +0000 UTCUnder the watchful eyes of the entire team, the main group of water ghouls finally reached the trap. A few of them eagerly pounced on the rotting bait.
With long, clawed fingers, they scraped up the soft, slimy, bloodied meat and shoved it into their mouths, growling softly as they ate—clearly enjoying it.
Watching the scene, Gauss felt a wave of nausea. Just the memory of the stench while setting the trap earlier had nearly made him gag.
Sure, water ghouls looked vaguely humanoid, but in terms of behavior and nature, they were nothing like humans.
Seeing them devour something that reeked worse than feces like it was a delicacy, Gauss completely rejected the old folk tales that claimed water ghouls were the spirits of drowned humans.
They were something entirely, irredeemably different.
Once the ghouls were fully distracted and relaxed, Meva signaled to Gauss.
Catching the cue, Gauss returned a hand sign of his own—one they had agreed on in advance. It meant: time to close the net.
He activated Mage Hand.
With a thought, a translucent phantom hand materialized in front of him and drifted a few meters ahead—right into position to trigger the trap.
Snap!
A massive net shot up from the ground, cutting off the ghouls' retreat back to the river.
At the same moment, Meva triggered her own trap.
Because the open shoreline didn’t allow for more complex traps, she had instead prepared a fire-based trap, taking advantage of the ghouls’ fear of fire.
Whoosh!
A flaming arrow shot into a patch of dried reeds soaked in flammable oil and pitch.
BOOM!!!
Flames exploded upward in an instant. The nearest ghouls were immediately engulfed, rolling on the ground and shrieking in raspy agony.
“RAAAAHHH!!!”
The others panicked. Disoriented and afraid, they instinctively tried to flee to the water—only to find their exit blocked.
The net wasn’t indestructible, but it was strong enough to hold them off for a moment.
And that was all the team needed.
The rest of the party emerged from their hiding spots, surrounding the ghouls from both flanks. The trap had worked: they were boxed in.
“Don’t let them escape!”
On land, water ghouls weren’t too dangerous—but if they made it back to the water, it’d be a whole different story.
Gauss and Laevin moved in.
Take out the leader first.
Gauss locked onto what looked like the ghoul captain—barking orders and clearly in charge.
He raised his wand and began channeling his magic.
A bright blue orb of energy gathered at the tip of his bone wand.
He focused on the target. The orb launched like a bullet.
“Magic Missile!”
The ghoul captain spotted the glowing projectile and tried to dodge.
But there was no avoiding a Level 1 spell like this—not for a basic monster.
Boom!
The missile slammed into its neck, obliterating it in a burst of raw magic. The head flew clean off.
Thud.
The severed head bounced once, then rolled away into the dark.
[Water Ghoul Slain ×1]
[Total Monster Killa: 41]
[New Title Earned: ‘Water Ghoul Hunter.’ This title will upgrade as kills increase..]
[Current Title Effect: Dancer – In battles against Water Ghouls, you are better able to predict their movements and react ahead of time. Current bonus: +10% reaction speed.]
With that kill, Gauss unlocked his 4th Monster Index entry and gained a new specialized title.
Judging by the title’s effect, it seemed to enhance his combat prediction specifically against this type of enemy.
Combined with his accelerated mental processing, normal ghouls didn’t stand a chance of landing a hit.
Stowing his wand, Gauss drew his rapier and raised his shield, charging forward alongside Laevin.
He had only used one Magic Missile—and that was intentional.
Back during dinner, Laevin had privately agreed to help him rack up more kills this time around. Gauss had asked for it, and Laevin had obliged—sharing a vague sense of unease he'd been feeling too.
Though Laevin couldn’t explain why, Gauss had taken it seriously and was saving mana just in case something went wrong.
In truth, if not for the tactical advantage of killing the leader first to confuse the rest, Gauss wouldn't have used even that one spell.
“Wipe them out!” Doyle shouted, charging in with a gleam in his eye.
Gauss followed close behind, bullet-time kicking in.
Time slowed.
This time, things felt different. Facing the water ghouls, he felt a strange ease—like he instinctively knew them.
It was the effect of his Dancer title at work.
One ghoul lunged forward—he raised his shield and intercepted its claws before they even landed.
Thud!
His round shield caught the blow with a satisfying thunk.
In one fluid motion, Gauss struck.
His rapier shot out like a snake, piercing through the ghoul’s slimy, gray-green flesh and sliding into its heart.
No resistance. Just a clean kill.
He twisted the blade and yanked it free, then bashed the collapsing ghoul aside with his shield.
[Water Ghoul Slain ×1]
[Total Monster Kills: 42]
Only 8 more to go!
“Gauss—over here!” Laevin called from a short distance away.
Gauss glanced over and saw that, just as planned, Laevin had scattered several ghouls with his shield charge to give Gauss easy finishing blows.
Grateful, Gauss didn’t hesitate.
With blade in hand and feet like the wind, he sprinted over and began dispatching the wounded ghouls one by one.
His rapier was like the reaper’s scythe.
[Water Ghoul Slain ×1]
[Water Ghoul Slain ×1]
…
Thrusts. Slashes. Shield bashes. Arrows cutting through the night.
First ambushed, then leaderless, the water ghouls were overwhelmed and routed.
[Total Monster Kills: 49]
Just one more to go.
Gauss scanned the field, noting the bodies strewn everywhere.
Only one ghoul remained—locked in combat with Doyle.
“Doyle! Let me finish the last one!” Gauss called out urgently.
He didn’t want to leave this milestone hanging until the next mission.
Doyle paused mid-swing, sighed, and stepped back.
He didn’t turn around but kept his eyes on the ghoul, raising a hand to signal that he was handing it off.
He had no choice—Gauss was the team’s MVP now.
Even Doyle had to acknowledge it.
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