Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

On the other side of the goblin tide, two of the three shamans had died. The first had launched a spell empowering the other goblins but its death wasn't felt by Adam's group because another Shaman immediately launched another spell.

However, the death of the second shaman released the spell weakening Adam's group. The two couldn't kill the last shaman though because the last Hobgoblin had retreated to protect the last shaman, and a tank was the worst opponent for an assassin.

Of course, with Jude's recent breakthrough she would be able to kill the hobgoblin, but not with the Shaman next to it and the countless goblins right next to them.

So the two assassins decided to kill all the archers instead, and then help with the goblin warriors. A single shaman wasn't much of a threat to the group, not with Louisa healing them, and the hobgoblin protecting it was even worst. And they knew it wouldn't move because the moment it did, the last shaman would get killed.

Back to Adam's group, even though the goblin warriors they faced was slightly enhanced, it wasn't enough to make a difference in the end, they had already swept through the first floor and they now knew how to fight the goblins the most effectively.

That's why it only took them 15 minutes to kill all the goblin warriors, leaving only one shaman and a hobgoblin. This fight was even easier. Adam simply used [Charge] on the hobgoblin, which it dodged, and Adam rammed into the Shaman instead.

The next instant, the two assassins appeared behind the Shaman, and killed it in one assault. Then, the last hobgoblin was beaten to death in a few seconds.

Once they were done, Adam looked at the rest of the adventurers with a hidden smile. Right now, even if they didn't finish the fortress and didn't get the item that makes a rank up trial easier, they would still have benefited a lot from the encounter.

The members of the group were all young, and yet they were already quite good fighters. But thanks to this constant fighting in the fortress, they were visibly getting better. They didn't see it themselves, but back when they fought the goblins for the first time they could barely be called experts, but through the fights they improved to become stronger and stronger. Although they were some distance away from reaching June's level, they were really close to her level before her breakthrough.

Speaking of her, now that the threat of an assassin disrupting their fights against the goblins, Adam was much more relaxed and advanced with less hesitation. He kept his guards on but wasn't as worried as before, he had June be the sentry instead.

After all, her senses had become better than his, and although he used his better, the wonders brought by the Gates couldn't be matched with mastery alone.

The second layer of the Goblin Fortress turned out to be even easier than the first layer, and that was thanks to the addition of June. Breyn was a good assassin, but Judith was just better, the goblins would fall in only a strike or two under her blade, almost all of her strikes were Critical hits because of her precision.

Despite being easier, there were more monsters, and so it took them 4 hours to clear this layer. By the time they reached the stairs leading to the last floor and the boss, the group decided to make a stop and recover their stamina as well as repair their equipment.

In term of stamina consumption, although Adam hadn't opened any Gate, he still knew how to better move his body as to preserve stamina and so he wasn't as tired as the others. And he didn't really have to worry about mental fatigue, so he was the one in the best condition in the group. The same couldn't be said for his blade though…

Even though it had a great durability thanks to its Rare rank, Adam was the one who used his blade the most, and the blood of the goblins kept splashing on it over and over. Compared to his sword, his armor was much cleaner though, goblins didn't have a lot of blood in their bodies.

The durability wasn't used for nothing though, as even though he didn't level up, his skills did. [Wind Blade] and [Charge] had both leveled up once.

Not as many skills leveled up as the run before, but it was to be expected, after all the higher the level of the skill, the harder it was to level up. Adam had used his level 9 [Mighty Strike] literally hundreds of times on this layer, but it still hadn't leveled up.

As Adam was repairing his sword back to full durability, June moved next to him and asked "Master, do you have any advice for me to open the next Gates?"

Adam nodded and asked "Were you taught what the next Gates are?" June shook her head so Adam began explaining the Gate of Healing and the Gate of Limit to her, their effects and the best way to open them.

Once he did, she couldn't but ask "What about the fourth Gate?" Adam chuckled "Open the Gate of Limit first and we will talk about the next ones. Some people have spent their whole lives without being able to open the Gate of Limit, so don't be greedy and focus on what you know."

June nodded and Eddy said "Alright people, I think we are all well rested. On top of those stairs should be the boss of this fortress, as well as the treasure we are searching for. However we don't know yet whether the boss is alone or not, so we will climb the stairs while being in formation. If there is an army of goblins upstairs, we first dwindle their number using the formation. If there is only the boss, Vodmir and Vastrik take the front and tank the boss' attacks, while Adam and Baugh take its sides. June and Breyn sneak up behind it, and I attack behind Vodmir and Vastrik. Louisa, you know what to do. Let's move out now."

With that said Adam's group moved up the stairs carefully but once again there was no ambush or any kind of attack while in the stairs, and they were able to reach the top of the stairs without fighting.

There, they stood in front of an opened gate, beyond which a big room could be seen. They were on the top floor of the fortress, the room was circular and in the center the remains of a table could be seen. Next to it, two ugly creatures were laying down.

When the team entered through the opened gates though, the two seemed to wake up as they scrambled to their feet and looked at the team with surprise.

[Troll] (Chieftain, Level 20)

HP: 30000/30000

[High Shaman] (Chieftain, Level 20)

HP: 20000/20000

The one on the left was a three meters tall humanoid with grey skin. It was dressed in a metal armor and had a weapon in each hand, a big hammer its right hand and a bulky cleaver in the other. This was the legendary beast known as a Troll.

Next to it was a smaller creature with green skin, it was slightly taller than a Hobgoblin and was dressed in furs. The furs had some dark runes drawn on them that looked like they were drawn using blood. It held a staff as big as itself which was mainly made of a dark wood with a crow's skull on top of it.

The Troll said "I will have to teach these guys a lesson! Since when do you serve a meal still wearing their armor!"

The High Shaman on the side hit the Troll on the head with his staff and said "Fool! They obviously killed the rest!"

The Troll scratched his head and said "They killed the rest? They killed the rest. They killed the rest… THEY KILLED THE REST!"

The High Shaman shook his head while the Troll started raging and roared "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

The High Shaman pointed his staff at the group and said "They killed our tribe, so go kill them. And use your head more."

The Troll grinned showing his rotten teeth as he took a helmet behind him and put it on. The helmet was one of metal, like the rest of his equipment, but also had spikes on top, somewhat resembling those of a bull.

The Troll hit the ground with its weapons and roared "SURE THING BROTHER!"