Chapter 98: Out of Options

With the help of Twin Moon Shadow, Jackson narrowly evaded the first two lethal attacks. When the third strike came crashing down, he gritted his teeth and met it head-on, crossing his twin daggers to intercept the enormous staff.

CLANG!

The impact sent a violent shockwave through the clearing. Jackson’s arms trembled as the force threatened to drive him into the ground, but he twisted his wrists at the last moment, redirecting most of the impact into the surrounding environment. The earth beneath his feet split apart, and loose stones shot in every direction as he was forced several steps backward.

He barely managed to stabilize himself.

If he had been fighting an ordinary goblin of comparable strength, Jackson could have killed it a thousand times over with his combat experience and techniques. Yet against the goblin shaman, he could barely hold his ground.

The difference was staggering.

Every time the creature attacked, Jackson had to concentrate completely on survival. He watched its shoulders, tracked the movement of its staff, and adjusted his footing at the slightest change in its posture. Even a moment’s hesitation could cost him his life.

And the goblin shaman’s physical strength was only part of the problem.

Its mastery over mana made the battle even more dangerous. Strange fluctuations of magical energy rippled through the fog whenever it moved, disrupting Jackson’s perception and making it increasingly difficult to distinguish an ordinary physical attack from one enhanced by magic.

As the fight dragged on, the creature’s movements became harder to predict. Sometimes it attacked with brutal simplicity, swinging its staff with enough force to shatter the ground. At other times, subtle changes in the surrounding mana betrayed the arrival of an entirely different kind of attack.

Jackson had to adapt constantly, abandoning one defensive approach after another as the monster changed its rhythm.

Gradually, he realized something disturbing.

The goblin shaman had barely begun to reveal its true strength.

He had already altered its Explosive Strength talent, turning its greatest advantage into a potential weakness. Without that modification, Jackson doubted he would have survived even a handful of exchanges.

Yet despite that advantage, he was still being pushed backward.

The creature’s overwhelming attributes, physical resilience, and control over mana were enough to make up for the loss of its talent. Jackson had found a way to weaken one of its abilities, but that was a far cry from defeating it.

For now, he could only keep fighting.

Although it appeared that Jackson was desperately fleeing from the goblin shaman, his eyes never stopped surveying the battlefield. Every time he dodged an attack, he studied the surrounding trees, the uneven ground, and the shifting patterns of the fog. He was searching for something, anything, that might give him an advantage.

But while his attention remained fixed on the creature, the environment around him was quietly changing.

The white mist had grown thicker.

At first, Jackson had barely noticed the difference. The fog had already obscured much of his vision when the battle began, and the constant movement of the goblin shaman made it difficult to pay attention to anything else. However, as the fight continued, the mist gradually swallowed the remaining traces of the forest.

The trees disappeared into pale silhouettes. The ground became harder to distinguish from the shadows beneath his feet, and the distance between objects seemed to change whenever he tried to judge it.

Jackson frowned.

Something was wrong.

The fog wasn’t merely blocking his vision.

It was interfering with his other senses as well.

Sounds came from every direction. The heavy footsteps of the goblin shaman seemed to echo from distant corners of the forest, while the rustling of leaves sometimes sounded as though it were happening directly behind him. He could no longer reliably determine the source or distance of individual noises.

Even worse, his perception of space had become distorted.

When the goblin shaman’s staff swept toward him from a few meters away, it sometimes felt as though the weapon were still dozens of meters distant. At other moments, attacks that seemed far away suddenly appeared directly in front of his face.

The distortions extended beyond sight and sound.

Jackson had been relying on his spiritual force to sense subtle changes in his surroundings, allowing him to detect the movements of his opponent even when his eyes couldn’t keep up. But now, the mana fluctuations surrounding the goblin shaman had become entangled with the chaotic disturbances spreading through the fog.

He could no longer distinguish the creature’s magical movements from the interference surrounding him with any real certainty.

Every attempt to gather information only left him with more conflicting signals.

His mind began to ache under the strain.

Jackson’s expression grew increasingly ugly as he struggled to process the overwhelming flood of information. He had to constantly question what he saw, what he heard, and even what his spiritual force appeared to be telling him.

A single mistake would be enough to end the battle.

Damn it. So this is your real trump card.

The realization struck him just as another wave of mana swept through the fog.

Before Jackson could reorient himself, a dark shadow appeared directly above his head.

The goblin shaman’s staff came crashing down.

The enormous weapon tore through the dense mist, generating such tremendous force that the surrounding fog split apart. For a fleeting instant, the distorted landscape became visible. Jackson caught glimpses of shattered trees, broken branches, and deep fractures running through the earth.

Then the staff descended toward him.

There was no time to escape.

Jackson immediately summoned his twin daggers, crossing them above his head to block the attack.

KACHA!

A faint shattering sound rang through the clearing.

Jackson’s heart sank.

Fine cracks had appeared along the blades of his twin daggers, spreading outward from the points where they had met the goblin shaman’s staff. The weapons had endured countless clashes during the battle, but this strike had pushed them dangerously close to their limit.

He stared at the damaged blades in disbelief.

These twin daggers were his only weapons.

If they broke, what would he use to defend himself against the creature’s next attack?

For the first time since the battle began, Jackson felt genuine despair settle over him.

Until now, he had been searching for ways to turn the situation around. He had altered the goblin shaman’s talent, exploited openings in its attacks, and relied on his combat techniques to compensate for the overwhelming difference in strength.

But none of those advantages had brought him any closer to victory.

His opponent’s physical strength remained terrifying. Its control over mana was becoming increasingly difficult to counter, and the fog had turned the entire battlefield into a death trap. Even his weapons were beginning to fail.

Jackson finally understood the truth.

He couldn’t win this battle through ordinary means.

If things continued like this, defeat was inevitable.

And the next time his daggers failed to stop the goblin shaman’s staff, he might not get another chance to escape.

Outside the portal, the professors watched the unfolding battle with increasingly complicated expressions.

At first, most of them had paid little attention to Jackson. They had wondered why Professor Niom had placed such an outrageous bet on a student who appeared thoroughly ordinary, but curiosity alone could only hold their interest for so long.

As the battle progressed, however, even those who had initially been intrigued began to lose hope.

Jackson had displayed impressive combat instincts. His movements were precise, his reactions were quick, and he had repeatedly escaped attacks that would have killed an ordinary student.

Unfortunately, none of that changed the fundamental problem.

His opponent was a Peak Third Sequence goblin shaman.

And Jackson was simply too weak to defeat it through conventional combat.

One of the professors watched Jackson barely escape another sweeping strike before shaking his head.

"Truly unfortunate. If this young man possessed Six Resonance Talent, he might have had a chance."

Another professor folded his arms, his expression cold.

"That’s enough. There’s no way he can defeat that creature."

"Indeed. His combat instincts are commendable, but instincts alone cannot bridge such an enormous gap in strength. Even if he manages to survive a few more exchanges, the outcome won’t change."

The others nodded in agreement.

Professor Niom remained silent, his eyes fixed on the screen.

He had believed Jackson possessed considerable potential. The young man’s extraordinary physical performance during the entrance examination had left a deep impression on him, and his subsequent wager had been based on the conviction that Jackson was hiding something.

But as he watched Jackson struggle against the goblin shaman, doubt began to creep into his mind.

Have I overestimated him?

The thought was deeply uncomfortable.

Niom had never expected Jackson to defeat every opponent effortlessly. He understood better than most that talent alone did not determine a hunter’s strength. Experience, judgment, technique, and the ability to remain calm under pressure could all make the difference between victory and death.

Jackson had demonstrated those qualities.

Yet there was a limit to what they could accomplish.

No matter how exceptional his combat instincts were, he was still facing a monster whose attributes dwarfed his own. Even if he could somehow overcome the goblin shaman’s talent, the creature possessed other advantages that Jackson had no easy way to counter.

Niom’s expression grew troubled.

Eventually, he turned toward Dean Maxwell, a faint trace of hope lingering in his eyes.

Surely the dean wouldn’t allow a student to die when intervention was still possible.

However, Dean Maxwell appeared completely absorbed in the ongoing assessment. He didn’t even glance in Niom’s direction, seemingly oblivious to the silent appeal.

But how could he possibly fail to understand what Niom was thinking?

In truth, Dean Maxwell was facing the same dilemma.

He had already noticed Jackson’s extraordinary physical capabilities during the entrance examination. The boy might not possess a particularly impressive talent on paper, but his physical performance had been remarkable even by the standards of Golden Radiance Academy.

There was something unusual about him.

And Dean Maxwell wasn’t ready to dismiss that possibility simply because the boy was currently struggling.

He believed Jackson might still find a way to turn the situation around.

But he couldn’t intervene merely because the battle had become difficult. The purpose of the assessment was to test the students under genuine pressure, and he had already promised the professors that the academy would step in when a student’s life was truly at risk.

For now, all he could do was watch.

Unfortunately, several professors noticed Niom’s troubled expression and saw an opportunity to ridicule him.

"Professor Niom, weren’t you incredibly confident in your judgment? You even wagered a Rank Five Breakthrough Pill on that boy." One of them chuckled mockingly. "Perhaps old age is finally catching up with you. I wonder whether you’re still fit to teach at Golden Radiance Academy."

Another professor immediately joined in.

"He’s right. You’ve become too muddle-headed and shortsighted, mistaking a few impressive physical feats for the potential of a true genius. Did you really think that boy could overcome a Peak Third Sequence goblin shaman?"

Their words were deliberately sharp.

The Rank Five Breakthrough Pill was an extraordinarily valuable resource, and Niom had wagered it on a student whom most of the faculty barely considered noteworthy. As long as Jackson continued to struggle, the other professors had no reason to miss the opportunity to remind Niom of his supposed mistake.

Niom’s face flushed red.

Ever since he had become a Gold-Rank hunter, he had rarely been subjected to such open humiliation. He had earned his position through years of hard work and countless battles, yet these people were now treating him as though he had lost his judgment entirely.

The insults struck a nerve.

His hands clenched, and the mana around his body began to stir.

The next moment, unable to restrain himself any longer, Professor Niom exploded in fury, his fists tightening as he turned toward the mocking professors.