"So, you're the rat that destroyed my entire kingdom!"
The Goblin King stared at the motionless Ethan, his eyes filled with hatred.
Back then, the entire palace hall had been crushed by the spores.
But he had still insisted on taking the Imperial Advisor with him.
It wasn't because he cared that much about the Imperial Advisor. The only thing he cared about was the enemy.
'Who is it?'
'Who destroyed my palace and caused so many of my people to die!'
Only the Imperial Advisor could divine such things. It was with the Imperial Advisor's prediction that the Goblin King had hidden in the cave, planning to kill the leader of these rats the moment he entered the cave.
The Imperial Advisor had said, this man was the lord of this group.
He was also the strongest among them.
But... No matter how strong they were, could they be stronger than his Time Freeze?
No one.
No one could escape his Time Freeze.
Not just people, even Archmages, even those spores, even skills that were only halfway through being cast, none of them could escape his Time Freeze.
This was what he relied on, and also his strongest move.
Swish!
The Goblin King drew a thin sword from his belt, as thin as a cicada's wing.
As long as it was infused with mental power, the sword would become incomparably hard. Combined with its thin, razor-sharp blade, it was perfect for cutting off an enemy's head while time was stopped.
"Die!"
The Goblin King shouted, and the thin blade swept across Ethan's neck.
But the scene of blood spraying everywhere that he had imagined did not appear.
Instead... he felt something extremely tough, as though a blunt sword were cutting into an exceptionally tough piece of cowhide.
'This...'
The Goblin King froze for a moment.
Only then did he realize that Ethan was actually wearing a full set of Black Dragon Scale armor.
'When?'
The Imperial Advisor hadn't mentioned this at all.
Crack!
A crack appeared in Time Freeze.
Although this skill was overwhelmingly powerful, it also had a serious flaw. The moment it attacked the target, cracks would appear in Time Freeze.
At that moment, the crack spread from the tip of the Goblin King's sword all the way toward Ethan's chest.
At that instant.
The Goblin King even heard a faint heartbeat coming from the silent world.
'This means...'
'This man is about to wake up.'
"Damn it!"
The Goblin King gritted his teeth and once again forced out the mental power that was nearly exhausted within him. He cast the skill again.
"Time Freeze!"
Pfft!
Using Time Freeze twice in a row also dealt tremendous damage to the Goblin King.
The moment he finished casting the skill, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
But as long as he could kill the enemy, it was worth it.
The Goblin King sneered.
Then he simply stood in front of Ethan, used the thin sword to lift aside the Black Dragon Scale armor covering Ethan's neck, and slashed hard, preparing to cut off Ethan's head in one stroke.
But what the Goblin King expected did not happen. Instead, a yellow halo instantly shot out from a strange stone statue Ethan was holding.
It instantly enveloped Ethan, looking both like protection and like a barrier.
"What is this?"
The Goblin King was shocked.
'Time Freeze is supposed to freeze protective treasures as well. How could the protective item on this man's body still work?'
'Is it because of the crack in Time Freeze just now?'
'But that shouldn't be possible either!'
'What kind of protective treasure is powerful enough to break Time Freeze?'
'Impossible!'
'Forget it.'
'Since the first strike failed, I'll retreat first.'
Whoosh!
However, before the Goblin King could react... the strange statue in Ethan's hand, with a yellow talisman attached to it, also activated at that moment.
A black shadow, like a sharp blade, swiftly sliced straight through the center of the Goblin King's body, neatly splitting the goblin into two. Even the few strands of hair on the Goblin King's head were divided equally down the middle without the slightest error.
Smack!
Thud!
The Goblin King's body split into two halves and fell to the ground separately. His internal organs and blood spilled all over the floor.
And with the Goblin King's death, Time Freeze ended instantly.
Ethan suddenly came to his senses.
[System Notification: Time...]
But the notification flashed by just like that.
Before Ethan could even read it clearly, it disappeared. It was the first time he had ever seen a system notification behave so strangely.
'What just happened?'
Ethan turned around and suddenly found the corpse of a goblin, split in half, lying before him.
His entire face was filled with confusion.
'This...'
'When did all of this happen?'
A moment ago, Ethan had clearly felt killing intent. But the instant he turned around, he saw the goblin's corpse. He didn't even know how the goblin had died.
'Could it be...'
Ethan lowered his head and glanced at the Shadow Guard in his hand.