Chapter 54: Hobgoblin

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Hobgoblin

The heavy thunder of hundreds of clawed feet reverberated through the earth as the goblin wave hit the outpost’s threshold like a tidal wave.

"HOLD THE GATE!" a grizzled veteran adventurer roared, his tower-shield clashing violently against a charging hobgoblin’s iron buckler.

At the very front of the breach, the seasoned adventurers formed an unyielding wall of steel, magic, and muscle. Veteran vanguards locked shields, their blades turning into a blur of crimson as fireballs and lightning strikes rained down over their heads from the outpost battlements. For the first ten frantic minutes, the upper-tier adventurers carried the absolute brunt of the horde, their experience keeping the tight bottleneck from collapsing.

"Rotate out! Mana low!" a veteran mage bellowed, clutching his glowing staff as his aura flickered and died.

"Vanguard line falling back! Students, cover the perimeter!" shouted an iron-ranked mercenary captain, his breathing heavy as he hauled two wounded frontline warriors back into the courtyard to recover.

With the veteran adventurers forced to fall back and replenish their drained mana pools, the terrifying momentum of the horde threatened to spill straight past the archway. Hobgoblins and wolf-riders surged into the gap, snarling and leaping over the mounds of fallen scouts.

"Squad 07, step up!" Rowan’s voice cut through the chaos, cold and precise.

Caelen and Barney immediately flanked Rowan, Barney’s heavy tower shield locking seamlessly into the stone gap left by the resting veterans. Mirei unleashed a rapid-fire salvo from her Wind-Blessed Quiver, her arrows whistling through the air and pinning three wolf-riders straight through their throats, while Seraphina hurled a pair of volatile acid flasks into the tightly packed ranks behind them, creating a sizzling perimeter of burning ground.

Then, Rowan stepped forward.

Adjusting his Enchanted Straw Hat, he slammed the iron tip of his Rank C Hoe directly into the solid cobblestone road.

[Skill Activated: Earthbreaker Plough - Celestial Furrow]

The ground didn’t just tremble—it revolved.

With a deafening crack that echoed across the entire outpost, the solid earth beneath the front rank of the goblin horde flipped completely upside down like freshly plowed soil. The heavy cobblestones rolled over, swallowing dozens of goblins whole and burying them beneath tons of compacted mud and rock.

Before the horde could even process the sudden collapse of their footing, Rowan swept his hoe in a second sweeping, circular arc, extending the devastating tillage deep into their backlines. High-speed dirt spikes shot upward from the tilled soil, trapping hundreds of smaller goblin scouts inside the newly formed earth fissures. The horde’s overwhelming numbers suddenly became their greatest liability—packed together so tightly that Rowan’s agricultural AoE laid waste to entire ranks in single, terrifying sweeps.

Up on the roof of the supply depot, the third-year monitor watched with wide eyes, her pen hovering frozen over her evaluation journal. Below, the resting veteran adventurers stared in absolute, stunned silence, their mana potions halfway to their mouths.

"Is that guy... tilling the monster horde?!" a veteran mercenary blurted out, gaping at the sight. "Since when does a support-class farmer do more battlefield crowd control than a Grade-B Earth Elementalist?!"

"He’s turning a horde assault into a localized harvest," another adventurer muttered, watching in disbelief as Rowan calmly reset his stance, holding the entire main gate single-handedly while Squad 07 locked down the flanks.

Rowan raised his hoe once more, his eyes cold and focused, ready to turn the rest of the goblin wave into raw mana experience.

As the remaining goblin scouts panicked and scattered into the surrounding marshlands, the heavy rumble of footfalls shook the gateway.

Out from the treeline stepped a towering monstrosity, its thick, leathery hide covered in battle scars. Its jaw hung open, jagged yellow teeth exposed as thick ropes of saliva dripped onto the stone path. Its bloodshot eyes swept over the bloodied bottleneck and the stunned lines of adventurers, locking onto the outpost like a glutton eyeing an all-you-can-eat buffet.

[Field Boss]

Name: Hobgoblin Berserker (Elite Boss)

Level: 6

Class: Pure Physical / Rampage Type

HP: 15,000 / 15,000

MP: 0 / 0

Passive Traits:

- [Iron Muscle]: Reduces all incoming physical

damage by 25%.

- [Unstoppable Frenzy]: Gains +30% Attack Speed

and Movement Speed when HP drops below 50%.

- [Pain Suppression]: Immune to minor stun and

stagger effects.

Active Skills:

- [Slamming Cleave]: Strikes the ground with immense

brute force, causing a localized shockwave.

- [Gluttonous Roar]: Intimidates surrounding

targets, temporarily reducing their defense.

The giant beast let out a gut-wrenching roar that rattled the outpost’s wooden palisades, hefting a massive, blood-stained iron club onto its shoulder.

"Fifteen thousand health points..." a resting veteran whispered, his face turning pale as he checked his tactical scan stone. "No mana pool, pure physical armor, and total pain suppression. We need to fall back and form a raid squad!"

Rowan didn’t fall back. He simply adjusted his Enchanted Straw Hat, resting the haft of his Rank C Hoe lightly against his shoulder as he met the creature’s hungry glare.

"Fifteen thousand," Rowan murmured softly, a calm, measured smile touching his lips. "That’s a lot of soil to break."

With a roar that shook the outpost gates, the Hobgoblin Berserker charged. Every stride of its tree-trunk legs cracked the stone pavers, its 15,000-point health bar glinting ominously above its massive frame.

"Barney, Caelen! Secure the perimeter, don’t let him push inside!" Rowan commanded, slamming his Rank C Hoe into the earth.

[Skill Activated: Earthbreaker Plough - Celestial Furrow]

The ground directly beneath the Berserker erupted into a web of deep, jagged trenches, the earth churning upward to bind its ankles. But the beast’s raw, monstrous strength proved terrifying. Driven by pure physical force and its [Iron Muscle] passive, the Berserker simply tore through the upturned soil, barely slowed by the crowd control as it barreled forward like a runaway siege engine.

"It’s too heavy to lock down completely!" Caelen shouted, drawing his blade as he vaulted off a stone pillar to flank the beast.

The Berserker swung its massive iron club in a wild, horizontal arc.

[Skill Activated: Slamming Cleave]

CRASH!

Barney threw himself into the path, raising his tower shield to brace for impact. The collision sounded like a cannon shot. Barney was blasted backward through the air, crashing hard into the outpost guard post. His shield held, but he coughed up a spit of blood, his arm badly bruised—a minor casualty, but a sharp reminder of the monster’s sheer brute power.

The momentum of the swing didn’t stop there. The massive club tore straight through the outer timber gate and smashed into the main reinforced stone wall. A deafening crack echoed across the courtyard as a thirty-foot section of the outpost wall crumbled into rubble, dust, and splintered wood, exposing the town’s perimeter.

"Mirei, eyes and tendons! Seraphina, slow his joints!" Rowan ordered, pivoting his stance.

Mirei loosed a volley of wind-infused arrows straight into the monster’s knee joints, while Seraphina shattered two corrosive flasks across its ankles. The combined assault finally forced the giant onto one knee, its [Gluttonous Roar] shaking the dust from the ruined ramparts as its health ticked down past 50%.

Red aura flared around the Berserker as [Unstoppable Frenzy] activated, its speed surging as it lunged blindly for Rowan.

Rowan stood his ground, his Enchanted Straw Hat casting a steady shadow over his eyes. As the Berserker raised its club for a final crushing blow, Rowan didn’t dodge. He hooked the blade of his hoe around the creature’s anchored front foot and levered his full strength upward.

The tilled earth beneath the monster collapsed in a controlled sinkhole, throwing the Berserker completely off balance. Caelen seized the opening, driving his sword deep through the creature’s exposed neck, while Mirei’s final arrow pierced its open eye.

With a final, earth-shaking thud, the 15,000-HP monstrosity collapsed into a heap of dissolving mana dust, leaving behind a massive boss-tier core.

Silence fell over the outpost, save for the crackle of falling debris. Barney picked himself up from the rubble with a groan, clutching his ribs, while a few student vanguards nursed minor cuts and sprains from the stray shockwaves.

The battle was won, but the outpost looked like a warzone. Nearly half of the front defensive wall lay in ruins, leaving the trade hub wide open to the northern wilderness.