Chapter 12: Battle Against The Goblin Shaman

The air was charged with tension as Zoey and the Goblin Shaman locked eyes, a maniacal grin plastered on the Boss's face.

After a few seconds of staring at each other, seeing who'll make the first move, the goblin shaman suddenly leaped backward, pointing it's staff toward Zoey while mid-air.

'Here it comes, time to prepare myself!' Zoey instructed, bending her knees slightly as she crouched a little, preparing herself to dodge the attack it was about to unleash.

The skull''s eyes ontop of the goblin shaman's staff began to glow in a fiery light, a mouthful of fire seeping out of it's crooked, and disfigured mouth. The air cracked and sizzled ominously as flames surged to life, twisting and turning as it formed a singular fireball. 

The goblin shaman let out a battle cry as it released the fireball, before landing on it's two feet.

The fireball shot through the air and hurled towards Zoey with deadly precision and speed, but Zoey effortlessly dodged it as she jumped to the side, watching as the fireball hit a nearby tree and caused an explosion, similar to that of a grenade.

'Guess it's my turn to attack now.' Zoey thought, landing on her feet and dashing toward the goblin shaman, her feet pounding on the floor with rhythmic brilliance, her eyes shining with sheer focus and determination.

The goblin shaman let out a suprised shriek, before pointing it's staff towards her again and concentrating another fireball, hurling another one towards her.

Zoey sidestepped the fireball, readjusted her footwork and continued to close the distance between them.

The goblin shaman, seeing it's attacks missing, started to grow frustrated. It slammed the end of it's staff hard into the ground, gritting it's teeth as it began to conjure more fireballs.

This time, a lot of fireballs had formed around it's body, spinning around the goblin shaman with a strong intensity, the heat alone enough to make the goblin shaman sweat.

The goblin shaman then pointed the staff towards her once more, hurling a plethora of fireballs at her, hums and cracks of fire piercing the air as they rapidly approached Zoey.

Zoey's face broke a light sweat as she saw the many fireballs approaching her, knowing that this one would be a bit of a challenge to dodge.

Zoey leaned and bended her body to dodge the fireballs, ducking, side stepping, and leaping away from each one, while also continuously running towards it.

Zoey bended her knees as she slid beneath a few fireballs, her back close to the ground as her hair flapped majestically underneath their heat.

'I have to get close, it's trying to keep me away.' Zoey realized, doubling her efforts as she ran much faster.

The goblin shaman panicked as it saw that Zoey was started to near it, even while hurling fireballs constantly at her, she didn't get hit once, nor does she look tired from all the constant dodging.

The goblin shaman grit it's teeth as it began to conjure another set of fireballs, but before it could release them, the sound of a sharp weapon chopping through the air caught it's attention.

"Keh!?" The goblin shaman shrieked in fright as it saw a dagger was hurled toward it by Zoey, before it could react, the dagger made contact with one of it's fireballs, igniting an explosion that caused the other fireballs to explode as well around it, causing a large explosion that engulfed the goblin shaman.

'That looked like it worked.' Zoey thought, listening to the cries of the goblin shaman as it was engulfed in a massive, smoking hot, dust cloud.

Once the dust settled and dispersed, the bloody figure of the goblin shaman was revealed. It's skin was badly burned, it's staff was in worse condition, and it's strength looked like it had been heavily reduced, barely able to keep standing.

"Grrr!" The goblin shaman growled under it's breath in sheer fury, it's eyes shining red with unrestrained malice.

Zoey's eyes narrowed, a small smirk forming on her face "What's wrong? Weren't you so confident once the battle had started?" Zoey asked, dashing toward it while chuckling under her breath.

Zoey leaped hard into the air like a bullet, reaching the goblin shaman as she raised her dagger to finish the fight with a decisive blow. Just as the blade was about to split the Boss's skull into two, Zoey's ears twitched as she heard the ground rumble and tremble.

'Crap!' Zoey thought, her eyes moving to the ground with quick movements, her teeth grit, and her breath hitched.

Out of the ground, a large green vine shot through and struck Zoey hard as she used her arms to block the attack, feeling it ache with the force of the attack as she was pushed back, falling to the ground.

'What was that?' Zoey questioned herself, her mind reeling as she pushed herself off the ground 'I thought it could only use-'

Zoey's thoughts were interrupted as she saw a fireball aproaching her with quick speeds, before impacting her and causing an explosion to ring out.

BOOM!

Large dust clouds rose in the air, the grass burned and smoke filled the air by the might of the explosion.

"Kekekeke~" The goblin shaman laughed under it's breath excitedly, large vine-like tendrils shot out of the ground behind it, like secondary arms, looming with a deadly presence.

"Phew, thank god for this shield." Zoey's voice rung through the dust, unbothered and more relaxed than expected, shocking the goblin shaman as it expected her to be very injured, but she was fine.

Once the dustclouds dispersed, Zoey was standing with a [Goblin Shield] in her arms, in a shielding stance of a knight. The shield took most of the damage, as it was burned and heavily cracked by the fireball.

'That was close, if I hadn't reacted fast enough, I could've been hurt. Or worse, my clothes could've been burned!' Zoey thought, sighing in relief for having her quick reflexes.

'Those vines are gonna be a problem.' Zoey observed, staring at the vines surrounding the goblin shaman, moving like snakes waiting to catch their prey.

Zoey dashed once again, charging with her shield infront of her to block the incoming vine attacks. The vines coiled and struck Zoey hard, but she used her shield and dagger to block and cut them off.

The goblin shaman launched another fireball out of desperation, hurling it towards her as she continued to slash and fend off the vines while closing the distance.

'I have an idea...hehe.' Zoey's mind quickly formulated a plan, it was risky, and heck, she didn't even know if she could pull it off, but she wanted to try it none the less.

Zoey slashed a vine in two as it was about to struck her, then, she spun around on her heel, building momentum as she twirled like a ballerina, before releasing her dagger and throwing it toward the fireball.

The dagger made contact with the fireball, igniting a fierce explosion. The explosion caused a dust cloud that stood between the goblin shaman and Zoey, distorting vision from both sides as they couldn't see each other, which was what Zoey wanted.

'Here we go.' Zoey thought as she grabbed her shield and threw it like frisbee, cutting through the air fiercely as it pierced the dust cloud and caught the goblin shaman by suprise.

The [Goblin Shield] struck the goblin shaman hard on the head, flinging it's head back as it stumbled back in pain. But before it could react, more [Stone Daggers] came hurling from the dust cloud, each one piercing it's body and delivering brutal slashes to it's body.

'Almost there!' Zoeh thought as she continued to hurl alot of daggers at the goblin shaman, throwing them with powerful throws that each found it's mark on the goblin shaman's body.

After a few seconds, the battle field went silent. The goblin shaman's body was filled with blood and daggers, deep cuts and slashes on it's body as i bled to death, it's body still standing for a moment, before falling to the ground like a stiff statue.

The battle was over.

Zoey began to approach the goblin shaman's dead body, watching it dissapear in shimmering particles of gold. Zoey then clasped her hands together, closed her eyes as she began to recite a prayer.

'please grant me a Skill Book, please grant me a Skill Book....' Zoey's hopes were high in that moment, her arms slightly trembling from her expectations.

[You Have Received A Drop!]

[+Fireball(E)x1]

[Activating Talent: A Hundredfold Ascension]

[+Fireball(E)x100]

[You Have Received A Drop!]

[+Goblin Shaman Core(F+)x1]

[Activating Talent: A Hundredfold Ascension]

[+Goblin Shaman Core(F+)x100]

'....' Zoey's eyes snapped open, her jaw hung open in shock and suprise. She couldn't believe it, she had secured a Skill Book from the goblin shaman, as well as the Boss's core.

"Hell yeah!!" Zoey shouted in triumph, clutching her fist as she threw it high into the air, an excited laugh escaping her lips.

'Hehehe, let's check it out.' Zoey thought with excitement sparkling in her eyes, her fingers twitching in anticipation as she opened her [Inventory] and took out one of the [Fireball] Skill Books.

The book had a crimson cover, adorned with mystical flame-like patterns. Glowing, soft spherical particles eminated from the book, adding an otherworldy presence that made Zoey's body tremble slightly.

[Fireball(E)]

[Description: Dropped by the goblin shaman, this skill book allows the user to conjure circular, concentrated balls of fire to be hurled at your enemies.]

[Effect-1:Burn: Flames flicker to life once the flames have made contact with the enemy, slowly causing burn damage that deals additional damage for a few seconds. This effect has a small percent chance of triggering.]

'This is amazing!' Zoey rejoiced, bringing the Skill Book to her chest as she hugged it tightly. Her first Skill, this book was going to be her first skill!

Just as Zoey's fingers brushed against the cover of the book, closing her eyes to begin the absorption process. The sounds of footsteps approaching made her body tense up as her eyes widened immediately.

'Who's there? I thought I killed all the enemies in the dungeon.' Zoey clenched her fist, anxiously looking at the ground below her.

"Zoey?" A familiar voice called out behind her, causing her eyes to widen as she immediately recognized the owner of the voice.