Chapter 167
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Devoured Thunder
Joah, who had smashed the Grand Sorcerer to pieces, lifted her head.
There, she saw Mob and the Great Warrior still clashing their swords against each other.
If she intervened, the tide of the battle between the Great Warrior and Mob would flip in an instant.
But she halted the hand she had been raising.
It was because Mob was focused solely on the Great Warrior.
Mob would surely win on his own.
'This isn't just about victory.'
The goblins had to keep getting stronger from here on out.
Today's battle was a stepping stone for that goblin's growth.
What Havel, who had raised them all, truly wanted was for the goblins to claim the top spot among all races.
At first, even Joah had her doubts about that dream.
But now, she understood.
Havel was dead serious about making the goblins number one.
The goblins' lives had been ones of endless abuse as the weakest race their entire existence.
Havel was the one who had completely overturned that fate.
Joah, despite her high magical affinity, hadn't known how to use magic.
Meeting Havel had led her to learn magic from Elasia and open the door to a new world.
That fact filled her with simple, profound happiness and joy.
And it was Havel who had given her this chance.
Even with her cold personality, Joah knew how to repay a debt.
To repay that debt, she had to make his dream come true.
'We have to get stronger.'
For that, today's battle had to serve as nourishment for everyone.
Joah had no intention of stealing Mob's opportunity.
So she lowered the staff she had raised.
Just then, the berserk state began to fade from the Great Warrior's body.
"The Grand Sorcerer is dead."
The Great Warrior muttered to himself.
He had been too focused on his fight with Mob to notice.
Who would have thought the Grand Sorcerer would fall to a goblin mage?
Once again, he realized just how unusual these goblins were.
As the berserk state waned, Mob found it slightly easier to parry the greatsword.
The gap in their power had narrowed in an instant.
The Great Warrior's eyes flicked toward Joah.
"Don't worry. Joah won't interfere."
Mob addressed the concern the Great Warrior had in mind.
If Mob and Joah teamed up, even the Great Warrior would be overwhelmed without a chance to fight back.
But contrary to that worry, Joah was indeed lowering her staff.
It was proof that she was leaving everything to Mob.
"This fight between us is over."
"Haha."
The Great Warrior let out a laugh as he gazed into Mob's blazing eyes.
"What true warrior spirit."
Mob had been the one to pursue a one-on-one duel first.
In that case, it was only right to oblige.
Boom!
Another thunderous roar erupted from the Great Warrior's greatsword.
"Let's see it through to the end, until there's a clear winner."
With a flash in his eyes, the Great Warrior's greatsword surged forward.
A horizontal slash from the upper left down to the lower right.
The massive blade demanded grand movements,
but every motion flowing into the strike was swift and precise.
Proof that the Great Warrior's body had been honed solely for battle.
Fortunately, with the berserk state gone, its power had diminished somewhat from before.
But Mob knew he couldn't block the greatsword head-on.
Stepping back a pace, Mob deflected the downward strike with a flowing parry.
He had blocked it countless times already, so the motion was flawless.
But the real problem came right after—the ensuing surge of electricity.
The burst of current leaped past Mob's sword and struck his body.
"Ngh."
Mob swallowed a groan, enduring the electricity with grim determination.
Witnessing this, the Great Warrior increased the speed of his swings even more.
"You won't be able to keep blocking forever."
Just as he said—if Mob kept defending like this indefinitely,
he would be the first to break.
The Great Warrior's greatsword grew even stronger.
His obsession with victory was boosting his morale.
Under the Great Warrior's storm-like onslaught, Mob's sword began to waver.
The smell of searing flesh from the electricity wafted from Mob's body.
'Victory is in sight.'
The Great Warrior sensed Mob's defeat.
The moment his sword unleashed even greater thunder—
pitch-black storm clouds gathered overhead.
The heavens themselves were beginning to respond to the Great Warrior's power.
Rain started to pour down from the sky, drop by drop.
The downpour soaked Mob to the bone.
His body, already heavy from the fight,
felt even more weighed down by the rain.
Rumble!
At that moment, thunder boomed from above the storm clouds.
Perhaps from hearing the Great Warrior's thunder so close—
Mob's ears could no longer distinguish between the warrior's and the sky's.
Rumble!
As another peal of thunder echoed,
Mob's foot slipped on the rain-slicked, muddy reed field amid the Great Warrior's whirlwind assault.
Mob's body staggered back greatly.
In that fleeting gap,
the Great Warrior's body positioned itself as if it had been waiting for exactly this,
instantly completing the stance for his final strike.
The Great Warrior's greatsword rose high into the sky.
Rumble!
The moment his blade lifted, a bolt of lightning from above struck it.
As the lightning gathered on the greatsword erupted in massive sparks—
Orc Great Warrior Style Thunder Greatsword Art
Thunderbolt Fall
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
A ferocious explosion rocked the area, flashes of light bursting everywhere.
The residual electricity from the descending bolt ignited the surrounding reed fields.
Amid the blazing flames and scorched earth,
Mob—who had taken the Thunderbolt Fall head-on—rolled across the ground.
His body was charred black.
The Orc Great Warrior stared at the scene impassively.
He was certain the previous attack had decided the victor.
"Strong."
The Great Warrior gave Mob his honest assessment.
Throughout his relentless assault,
Mob had repeatedly sought openings, forcing trick exchanges.
In those clashes, even the Great Warrior had felt moments of peril.
Proof was the sword wound on his side.
The deepest injury inflicted by Mob's desperate maneuvers.
But that was it.
Thanks to his innate orc physiology, the wound was already healing.
The Orc Great Warrior turned to look at Havel.
Amid the falling rain,
Havel watched their battle without averting his eyes, silently.
"It's over."
The Orc Great Warrior called out to Havel.
Though the Grand Sorcerer had fallen, he had won.
"If you want, I'll fight the mage too."
If Havel desired total victory, he would gladly take on the goblin mage Joah as well.
Havel stared at him silently before speaking.
"Save that talk for after it's properly done."
The moment he heard Havel's words, the Great Warrior froze.
He slowly turned his head back.
There stood Mob, barely on his two feet.
Mob's body was burned pitch-black, no different from a corpse.
Yet he stood on his own legs,
gripping his sword tightly with both hands.
"...Looks like you'll only end when you're dead."
Sensing Mob's resolve, the Great Warrior gripped his greatsword anew.
"My apologies. As you said, we have to see it through."
If it must end decisively, then it would.
The Great Warrior leaped forward, stepping through the rain-muddied reed field.
Thunder gathered on his greatsword once more.
Mob's body was already a wreck.
Without giving him time to recover, the Great Warrior swung down to finish it—
But Mob swung his sword at the greatsword just like at the start.
Boom!
The clashing greatswords erupted in thunder once again.
The current spread along the rainwater, enveloping Mob's entire body.
However, the Great Warrior soon faced the unexpected.
The electricity flowing through Mob's body should have pierced and cooked him.
Yet it merely coursed over his surface.
It couldn't penetrate his body.
The Great Warrior's eyes widened in disbelief.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Ha."
At that moment, black smoke billowed from Mob's mouth.
With a gesture from Mob, the current extended outward from his body.
This clearly showed Mob had taken no damage from it.
"...How."
The instant the Great Warrior asked, a smile finally crept onto Mob's lips.
"I just ate it."
The goblin racial trait: Gluttony.
The ability to digest any material and incorporate its properties into one's body.
Mob was one of the goblins with the most developed Gluttony.
Until now, he had absorbed the Great Warrior's thunder through his skin.
The activated Gluttony had rendered him immune to the Great Warrior's thunder.
Thunder no longer held any terror for Mob.
The moment Mob flexed his muscles,
his charred skin peeled away all at once, revealing fresh new skin beneath.
"Now it's my turn."
With those words, Mob's sword lunged at the Great Warrior.
Clang!
The Great Warrior hastily blocked Mob's sword and steadied his stance.
Even if thunder no longer worked,
it didn't diminish the Great Warrior's swordsmanship.
Besides, Mob was pushing his limits too.
The accumulated damage hadn't vanished.
"You think that'll be enough to win?!"
The Great Warrior bellowed, thrusting his greatsword at Mob.
But soon, he began to sense something off.
Mob's sword had become far sharper than before.
Not just in feints—even in raw clashes of strength, the Great Warrior was gradually being pushed back.
And then he realized why.
Mob had memorized every aspect of how he fought.
How he distributed his power, when he went for tricks.
He had pierced through it all during their prolonged battle.
The Great Warrior felt utterly exposed before Mob.
To that extent, Mob had endured and endured his assaults with dogged tenacity,
ultimately perfecting the way to defeat him.
Gaining immunity to thunder was the key to his final victory.
The result of Mob's tenacity and observation.
Clang!
The Great Warrior's greatsword flew from his grip under Mob's incoming blade.
No matter how well Mob had read his patterns,
even a Great Warrior couldn't instantly correct ingrained habits.
Exploiting the weakness in that habitual power distribution,
Mob had disarmed him.
The Great Warrior's chest lay exposed as his greatsword spun away.
Mob's sword struck there.
The sharp aura on the blade was so clean it drew admiration even from the Great Warrior.
Mob had no special talents like others.
But the stubborn persistence in his grip.
That alone had brought him victory.
'I've lost.'
The Great Warrior bowed his head, acknowledging his clean defeat.
And just before Mob's sword pierced his neck and chest—
Stop—.
Mob's sword halted.
The Great Warrior slowly raised his head.
Mob, who had his sword aimed at him, slowly withdrew it.
"When I fell to your thunder earlier, if you'd attacked, I would've died."
The Orc Great Warrior hadn't landed that final blow back then
because he didn't want this warrior named Mob to die here.
Realizing that, Mob sheathed his sword and stepped back two paces.
"So it's only fair I return the favor once."
Even in a situation where victory was assured, Mob yielded once.
It was respect for an opponent who hadn't ended his life.
Watching this, the Great Warrior let out a hearty laugh and dropped his greatsword.
"No, I lost."
At this point, he would lose no matter how many rematches they had.
Even if he wielded his sword for the orcs,
there were times when one had to admit defeat.
"You're strong. And you'll only get stronger."
At the Great Warrior's words, Mob chuckled briefly and glanced back at Havel.
"Thanks to who, right?"
Truly, Mob thought, it was all thanks to him that he'd grown this strong.