The World of Tactics

Chapter Five II: Reaching Destination Under The Cover Of The Dark

"To experience is to gain experience. And to make, to do, and to battle is to be experienced. Each and everyone knows how to get stronger. It is to be experienced and to gain experience. However, no one realizes that the edge of life and death brings the most exhilarating experience.

Only through such a battle against the enemy would one experience more and get stronger. But, those on the edge of life and death never notice such details because they are not trying to get stronger. They are just trying to survive and have no such conscious thought of becoming stronger when they are already becoming stronger by partaking in a battle itself.

(To survive is to become stronger. What we need are experienced survivors.)" Wrote by a surviving general who has gone through many battles, skirmishes, and tragic battlefields.

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He moved three squares up and ended his turn on the adjacent side of Dewberry. He was tempted to go downward and avoid battles, but he needed the experience to level up too. So, he exposed himself to the potential of getting attacked twice. The pressure of the attacks may be lowered if most of the goblins targeted his phantom goblin. The plan was perfect.

It was now [Ally's Turn]. Lawrence moved forward one square and attacked the third goblin. Lawrence easily dealt nine damages to the goblin and suffered no damage at all. This attack by Lawrence left the third goblin with just six health points left. Zack got up one square and completely killed off the third goblin with six damage. Berry decided to move south to attack the second goblin that attacked Zack. Zack managed to deal five damage to the goblin and left the goblin hanging with just four health points. Finally, Tube landed the final hit and was completely able to kill off the second goblin.

He could say that the soldiers work with good teamwork and know when to attack and where to attack. The four had been taught by their instructor properly. Even with the death of two goblins, he still felt so disgusted by the death of two goblins. It was especially mind-numbing to see two fresh corpses added to the stone faces of the dead goblins. He was quite agitated and became even more afraid of death. He only got a grip on himself after he saw that it was the [Enemy's Turn].

He did not want to faint just like before and suddenly closed his eyes like that feeling of death. Even though he had already died once. He is too afraid of that disgusting taste of death, again. So, he prepared his training lance for the possible attack of the goblins.

The nearest goblin, the first goblin, moved and attacked Lawrence. From his perspective, it seems that the goblin was trying to get through Lawrence and attack his phantom goblin. As a result, Lawrence suffers no damage while dealing a solid nine damage in return. The fourth goblin seems to have ignored him and directly attacked his phantom goblin. Another solid hit and his phantom goblin suffers one more damage and deals one damage back.

Just like before, his goblin now only gains eighty experience points and manages to level up again with the remaining twenty experiences. He could not bear having his phantom goblin dead at this point, so he added another point to defense for his goblin. One way or another, he had never expected to turn his phantom goblin into a tank with high defense. Six points on defense are quite high and rival Lawrence's defense.

For now, he knows that his phantom goblin will no longer take any damage from the other goblin's attack. It was a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that his phantom goblin can attract enemies into attacking and divert some of the enemy's attacks. As for the bad thing, he had been pumping all of the allocated points for his phantom goblin into defense. This might not be the smartest idea for now, but it is quite useful at this point.

The fifth goblin attacked his phantom goblin just as expected and that was another thirty-five points of experience for his phantom goblin. After the end of the [Enemy's Turn], it was finally back to his turn. He had expected to be attacked at least once or twice. But, lucky that the enemy goblins seem to be attracted to his phantom goblin. This development gave him quite a boost in confidence. He is not that afraid of receiving attacks from the goblins anymore.

With his turn, he made his phantom goblin attack the fourth goblin, which netted his phantom goblin a solid seventy experience points (+70EXP, Level Up). This also causes another level up for his phantom goblin and this time he decides to add the unallocated points into the strength stat. Since the surrounding goblins are not able to deal any damage. It was better to get more strength to be able to deal with more significant damage. It will prove to be in use later in the future.

While the fifth goblin is facing his phantom goblin, he moves to the square that was right behind the goblin. Then, he initiated the [Attack] option. Like what he observed from the past few small bouts of Lawrence and the others against the goblin. The moment the two squares merge, he had the right to attack first before the goblin, since he was the one to initiate the [Attack]. Right after, the goblin would also have the next right to counterattack.

He readied his training lance and this is the moment of truth. The two squares had just finished merging and he stabbed forward with all of his might right through the back of the goblin. He could feel the tips of his training lance ripping open the disgusting flesh of the goblin. Right after the stab, he felt an instinctive pull of force and moved him back to his square. He could see that the goblin did not take the stab so well off and came at him with the club. He was clubbed in the knee by the goblin.

His hands that were holding on to his training lance were still trembling because he was not just training with the lance anymore. On the tip of the training lance's blade, he could see the fresh green blood. It was only now that he realized that he had inflicted only one damage to his target and in return, he suffered two damage. The exchange of damages was not worth it at all. Looking forward, the goblin still had this furious-scrunched-up-face-in-pain look staring back at him. To make it simple, he was quite spooked about the puckering face of the goblin. He recovered a bit after he got the notification message that read:

[Obtain EXP + 34.]

Even though his knee hurt while swelling and the action was scary. He had to try extremely hard to calm his throbbing nerves and ended his turn with a pale face. This feeling is much more intense than the feeling of the time when he first drove a flying pod in the sky. He had never tousled and killed a chicken before and now he had to start stabbing goblins to survive.

It is [Ally's Turn] now. He ends up seeing Larry puncture a hole through the first goblin and directly turn the goblin into a cold corpse. His face regained some colors because they had reduced the enemy's unit by one and it was a bit safer, though, just a bit safer since there were still two goblins left. Zack was quite loyal and directly moved to where he previously was and dealt a lot of damage to the goblin he had just fought during his turn (5 damage).

He felt a tad bit safer now that the goblin turned away from staring at him. That wrinkled face of the goblin was the last thing that he wanted to see staring back at him. Dewberry moved to the first goblin that had just died and targeted the fourth goblin. Dewberry was able to deal six damages to the goblin and left the goblin hanging with just seven health points. Tube moved up four squares and continued the follow-up attack on the fourth goblin and was able to deal damage (5 damage). Now, the fourth goblin is left with just two health points.

He became alert as it was the [Enemy's Turn] again. He became much more cautious and held his training lance tightly. He knew that he had provoked the fifth goblin and there might be some retaliation. Because of this, he could not one hundred percent guarantee that the two remaining goblins would target his phantom goblin. This needs more trust first and it may be just the enemy's few turns were coincidences that chained up together. Until he knows for certain through more battles, he will never leave his second life to end up dead like his last one.

The fourth goblin attacked his phantom-like normal, but this time. The additional strength of his phantom goblin was able to completely crush the fourth goblin's head. As a spectator that was just a few squares away, he felt his gut-wrenching, but he swallowed back what he was about to throw up. He needs to be prepared just in case something like the previous battle happens and he is knocked unconscious. He prefers that to not happen again in the future and not in such a desperate situation.

His goblin was able to gain one hundred experience and level up again. Unbelievable, under such a short course of a single battle and his phantom, went under such a huge change. He allocated one more point to his phantom strength stat. Counting up till now, his phantom goblin has already leveled up four times. If he plans correctly, he might be able to level up one more and increase his goblin's current level by one as well. It might just take a few more turns than usual. However, it should be fine after he has safety secured by cornering the last goblin.

Like before, it was the fifth or the so-called last goblin who directed its attack on his phantom goblin. His phantom goblin suffers zero damage while dealing solid damage to the goblin (EXP +50). It was their turn again now that the last goblin ended his turn. He made his phantom goblin attack the goblin for experience and continued the two-pronged attack. In total, they both dealt three damages altogether and he gained another thirty-four experience points. Two more experience points and he would be able to level up now.

Their turns ended quickly and it was already [Ally's Turn], Lawrence covering up the last remaining adjacent side of the goblin. Now, they had perfectly cut off any movement of the goblins. This means that the goblin no longer had any way of escaping from the battle. As if knowing what this enclosure is about. The rest ended their turn one after the other. The enemy's turn came and it was easy to guess who the last goblin was going to attack. Turns out, the last goblin attacked his phantom (EXP +50, levels up). The result was the same as the previous turn, but his phantom goblin had another strength point now.

Now, it was their turn. After a brief look at the last goblin's status screen and he realized the last goblin only had four health points left and he decided not to attack this turn. He directed his phantom to attack the goblin for the extra experience points (EXP +40) and he also ended his turn. He had almost been tempted to attack right afterward, but the last hit to his waist still burns in pain. He took a deep breath before anything else.

The pain was still there, however, he gritted his teeth and went in for the [Attack] option. His lance went straight through the last goblin. He could only hear the goblin's final dying cries and he received a notification message. The message reads:

[Obtain EXP + 50.]

[Levels up to 12! ]

[Gains 2 unallocated points!]

[Please assign the unallocated points!]

Even without seeing the message, he knew what it was about. He just leveled up and his knees went soft. He had just ended a complete living being's life. He had done it before to the very first goblin he killed. It ended prematurely when he fainted, so he had little memory to recall it. This time, however, he was fully conscious of the fact he had just ended somebody else's life. The feeling of ending something else’s life was such a disgusting feeling and his hand finally let loose of his training lance due to his trembling hands.

It was only after he got another notification message that asked him to assign his unallocated points before he was able to get a grip on himself. He did not stray and asked himself this: 'If he did not end the goblin's life today, then tomorrow or the next day after, he too would become a cold corpse as well.' Even so, this does not justify the murder of any kind.

After he came to, he noticed that the world was no longer grid-like and the hovering goblin's soul core was in front of him. He took a grab of it and finally noticed the looks that Lawrence and the others were giving him. He felt a bit more relieved when they did not ask him anything regarding the phantom goblin that appeared in battle. It might be due to his father's order and they were not allowed to talk to him as of yet, so they kept their question to themselves. This might be some kind of benefit in having soldiers that never question the commander's order.

Thinking back, they had never questioned their line of duty at all. He received two goblin soul cores from Zack, who dug them out from the body of the dead goblin. Specifically, it was the goblin that his phantom goblin killed and the one that he killed. Just the morning and it was already this b****y. He wonders if he will last till tonight. Before following on, he decided that he needed to increase his defense and increase his strength by one point. He also picked up three of the clubs on the ground and sneakily put them into his inventory as well.