A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 146: Progress - Part 2

So Dominus had said, and Beam had taken the words very much to heart, especially given the context in which they were delivered in. There could be no weightier topic for him than the loss of that which was important.

Beam's training began anew under such foundations. He swam in that cold mountain river in the mornings, meditating in search of new ideas. Then, before the day began, he would carry out his responsibility that Dominus had saddled him with – the responsibility of protecting the village.

He raced through the mountains on this day to carry out that responsibility. It had been two days since the army made their camp, their tents a short distance away from the forest, so that they could keep an eye on it, but also so they wouldn't be too vulnerable to ambushes.

The monsters were growing ever more frequent, just as Dominus had said. Beam had only been running for a short while, and yet he already found signs of yet more goblins. There were claw marks in the trees and desecrated animal corpses, the pieces of which were smeared all over the trail that Beam walked.

Beam could hear the sounds of their feasting from a distance, and he did not slow his pace as he drew his sword to approach. He burst through the trees before they could sense him, and the pack turned around to confront him in surprise, blood around their mouths as they tore into the corpse of a bear.

They hissed in irritation, their surprise quickly giving way to anger, just as it normally did, and the first of them lunged at Beam in a way that he had grown quite familiar with – its teeth going for his throat.

Here, Beam tried something new. As he pondered how to develop his swordsmanship, and how to make best use of what he had learned in the battle with the hobgoblin and the skill that he had acquired, he once again returned to the idea of misdirection.

Whilst it hadn't been a particularly useful style in the battle with the hobgoblin itself, for Beam lacked the speed to properly take advantage of it, Beam still couldn't set the idea from his mind and he sought to polish it more, as he pursued something greater.

With this idea in mind, as the goblin lunged, Beam tried one of his new ideas. It was more footwork than anything else – a feint merely born out of the movement of his feet. He'd feinted stepping backwards, but in truth, it was his only back foot that moved and his torso along with it – he'd kept his front foot anchored in place.

Seeing that he'd taken a step back, the goblin scrambled to adjust accordingly, reaching out with its primitive spear to try and take him in the neck. But such an overextension weakened itself.

Beam's feint of a step backward had caught it entirely off guard, and it was with the greatest ease that he pulled forward with his front foot, closing the distance between himself and his enemy, cutting it in half from shoulder to hip.

The goblins went silent at the display. Many times before Beam had encountered them, and he was beginning to understand them, if only somewhat. They were intelligent creatures – at least compared to the other monsters and animals. But they were easily tricked.

Something like footwork, that merely made movements more efficient, but yet gave the illusion of greater power – they had a profound effect on the goblins. It was like a magnifying glass held over Beam, making him appear far more menacing than his strength was.

But even though they were wary, they did not give way to fear quite yet. They needed to be pushed over the edge a little more for that.

Beam made use of their hesitation and closed the distance between himself and the enemy, keeping his sword close to him in an attempt to hide the full extent of his range, so that he might keep the goblins off guard.

It was little tricks like that which made him truly appreciate the value of experience. They were not necessarily increases in skill – though Beam liked to think they were – yet they had a profound effect.

The goblin Beam had targeted misjudged the reach of his sword because of the way Beam kept it close, and now, as Beam allowed his arms to extend, it closed what seemed to be an impossible gap, as though Beam had made the sword longer and it cleaved another goblin in two, ending its life.

Tricks like this, that would also be effective against humans – at least for gaining a small advantage – absolutely shattered the confidence of the goblins.

These creatures, that to Beam, had once seemed like the incarnation of evil, like immutable killing machines that no one could stop, like creatures that felt no fear whatsoever, creatures that merely existed to kill humans. Yet, when confronted with what they believed was overwhelming strength, a battle that they surely could not win, they crumbled to fear all the same.

The remaining goblins began to scatter in fear, having borne witness to what they thought was an invincible magic. It was then that Beam's command rang out.

"Kneel," he demanded, and the goblins that were racing away at full speed felt their knees buckle, unable to resist that attack on their soul when they were at their weakest. They collapsed to the floor. Beam was on them before they could even think.

He killed two just like that, before the others were able to scramble shakily to their feet, having recovered control of their bodies, but whilst still being unable to function well enough to sprint away.

Beam dealt with them just as easily cutting them down in clean cuts. He wore a grim smile as he cut the last of them down.

He'd realised as he went about executing him, that he was unconsciously cutting them in a way so that the corpse would be more presentable. After all, Greeves had pointed out which sections were more valuable than others – such as the head – so it would be a waste to ruin them. Instead of splitting the skulls in two, he would make sure to merely behead them instead.