Chapter 56: Reinforcement

Moments before this fight...

To be safe, I had already sold everything in my inventory for Points.

[Castle Points Remaining: 1,095]

And then I purchased that skill.

[Ding! You have successfully upgraded [Lord’s Blessing] to Level 2!]

[Castle Points - 1,000]

[Castle Points Remaining: 95]

...

[Lord’s Blessing Lv. 2]

Additional Effect: The Ruler can now spend Points to grant citizens powerful temporary blessings.

[Blessings Available at Level 2]

- Blessing of Haste

- Blessing of Strength

- Blessing of Life

- Blessing of Protection

- Blessing of Sharp Senses

Limit: At the current level, only one blessing can be active on any individual citizen at a time, though multiple citizens can be blessed simultaneously. Once a blessing is turned off, you must wait at least 1 minute before applying another blessing. Further upgrades to this skill will unlock additional blessings and the ability to stack multiple blessings.

With this, I had gained another layer of insurance.

If something went wrong, a blessing activated at the right moment could mean the difference between life and death for my super goblins.

*****

Now...

"WATCH OUT, PURAN!"

The giant beast’s arm came swinging in a brutal arc, smashing directly into Gopuran with crushing force!

Thankfully, she had her shield raised just in time.

The wooden shield took the blow head-on.

CRACK!

It shattered instantly.

Splinters exploded into the air as the sheer force of the impact sent Gopuran flying across the battlefield like a rag doll.

She slammed into a tree trunk.

BOOM!

The entire tree shook from the impact, sending a shower of leaves raining down around her.

Through our link, her vision spun violently. For several seconds, all I could see was a dizzy blur of branches, leaves, and sky.

"PURAN! PURAN!"

There was no response.

Our shared vision even flickered on and off.

For one terrifying moment, I thought she was dead.

Then, finally, a weak voice came through.

"Big... Boss... I... can’t move..."

My nonexistent heart dropped.

No.

No, no, no, no...

I had been too careless.

I had thought victory was practically guaranteed once the poison paralyzed the bear.

But I was wrong.

Very wrong.

Thankfully, I had managed to activate Blessing of Strength at the last possible moment, granting Puran an additional 30% Attack and Defense.

Without it... things could have ended much worse.

Meanwhile, the bear slowly pushed itself back onto its feet.

It shook its massive head, sending blood and saliva spraying from its jaws. Blood continued pouring from its destroyed eye socket, running down the side of its face.

Then...

Its body began to change.

The muscles beneath its thick fur bulged and swelled.

Its fur bristled outward like a field of black needles.

The beast grew larger.

Then larger still.

Its massive frame continued expanding until it was nearly the size of a minibus!

And then, right before my eyes, its dark fur began turning red.

The remaining eye fixed itself on Gopuran, glowing with feral madness as thick veins bulged along its neck and shoulders.

It looked as though the beast had entered an entirely new, far more powerful form.

Then came another thunderous roar.

"ROOOAAARRR!!!"

The sound shook the entire forest!

Branches trembled, leaves rained down. Even the ground vibrated beneath its rage.

And worst of all. It no longer looked affected by the poison.

If anything, it looked even stronger than before.

I stared in disbelief.

"How?! This makes no freaking sense!"

I was absolutely certain the poison had worked.

The bear had collapsed. It had been completely paralyzed.

So why the hell had it suddenly...

...

Wait.

Don’t tell me...

It’s that skill!

[Enraged Lv. 1]

Effect: Enter an enraged state. While active, the user’s Attack, Defense, and Speed stats are temporarily increased by 50%, stamina consumption is reduced by 90%, and all pain is completely nullified. All crowd-control negative status effects, such as stun, paralysis, and illusions, are immediately cured, and the user becomes immune to them for the entire duration of the skill.

However, once the state ends, the user becomes completely unable to move for 1 hour. Afterward, the user suffers a severe penalty of -50% to all stats for 3 days.

Special Effect: Can automatically activate when Stamina or HP falls below 20%.

Duration: 2 minutes

...

That was it.

It had to be!

It was the same skill that both Gopuro and Gopuran had awakened after failing the Strength Demonstration Quest and being pushed beyond their limits by the System’s punishment!

The description matched exactly what I was seeing.

The moment Gopuran had nearly brought the bear down, its HP must have fallen below the activation threshold. The Enraged skill had then triggered automatically, cleansing the poison’s paralysis and temporarily boosting the beast’s physical abilities.

That was the most likely explanation.

Well, whatever the case still, one thing was certain...

We were fucked.

Gopuran was already badly injured. She could barely move. At this rate, she was going to die.

The enraged bear lunged at her again, its massive body shooting forward like a living meteor.

She had to move.

Now!

"PURAN! ENRAGE YOURSELF!" I screamed desperately.

In fact, I had been screaming this ever since she was hit earlier! But for some reason, probably dizziness, she hadn’t been able to hear me!

"ARRRHHH!"

Gopuran finally activated the skill.

Her body began to transform as veins bulged beneath her skin and her muscles swelled with newfound power.

But... it was too late.

The bear was already upon her.

Fuck!

Is this... the end?!

*****

"DON’T YOU DARE HURT PURAN!!!"

A green blur suddenly came crashing in like lightning.

BOOOOM!

It slammed into the bear’s side with tremendous force, knocking the enraged beast just far enough off course for its attack to miss Gopuran!

The enraged bear smashed through several trees, leaving a devastating trail of broken trunks and splintered wood in its wake.

But Gopuran...

She was safe!

And the green blur?

It was him! Gopuro!

"Puran! You good?"

The goblin rushed to her side and helped pull her back onto her feet.

His body was drenched in sweat, and his chest heaved from the effort. Even so, the moment he saw that Gopuran was still alive, a relieved smile spread across his face.

Holy shit...

That scared the hell out of me!

For a moment, I had genuinely thought she would be dead for sure, and I would be losing my dear citizen just like that.

Thankfully, Gopuro was here just in time to save the day.