Noah didn't expect the bludgeon's spikes to penetrate that deeply and felt slightly sick as he saw the goblin scream and drop his halberd in pain, as it made a sluggish attempt to pull out the bloodied bludgeon while clearly disoriented. The Spear-wielding goblin let loose an enraged roar and switched to an underarm grip after seeing his companion's state, pointing the tip of the spear in Noah's direction and charging with clear fury visible in its eyes.

Noah however, continued to remain standing where he was as if nothing had changed. If he tried to dodge too early, the goblin might be able to switch its trajectory in time and adjust according to his movement- spelling disaster for him. While Goblin skirmishers might be dumb, they had shown that their instincts and reaction speeds were no different from humans if not superior. He watched as the tip of the spear moved in his direction, only a distance of seven meters left before it made contact with his lower abdomen.

'Not yet' he thought to himself, knowing that he would only get one shot at this. His rather unconventional way of utilizing a bludgeon had managed to take the halberd-wielding goblin out of combat for a little while, but it did nowhere near enough damage to fatally wound it. The goblin moved closer to Noah, quickly covering another meter in the blink of an eye.

Noah couldn't help but wonder at how preposterous of a situation he found himself in. He was staring death in the eye and was brazenly expected to deny it. However, Liam's loud and raucous laughter echoing in the background just didn't let him take the situation seriously, even if he wanted to. His previous self would have labeled that as cockiness and over-confidence, but now he couldn't stop his mouth from breaking out in a grin.

The past few hours of his life had been more action-packed and adventurous than the previous eighteen, and the adrenaline rush that came along with fighting and killing monsters, slowly accumulating loot, and strengthening himself while surviving by the prowess of his blade... was simply unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. Back on Earth, Noah followed a life that was fashioned around the norms of society, was encouraged to chase goals validated by society, and then later on, when he grew older, raise his children to follow the same path as him if they wanted to be successful.

Back when there was no other alternative, Noah went down that road mainly because it would land him a high paying job, and even though he didn't have much affection for academics- money would buy him plenty of 'toys' that would keep him entertained. But now, when he had an option to fight his way to becoming an actual God..... the alternatives just seemed like a joke in comparison. To reach a height no human could even dream of attaining before the Tower's invasion seemed like a far more worthwhile goal than striving to become a cog in the corporate machinery.

Liam had hinted that the tower contained far more fascinating sights and vistas than Noah would think possible, and being the curious soul he was, Noah couldn't help but yearn to witness those things personally. Even if everything else was put aside, he thirsted for the Elixir of Life as much as any normal person would. Not only for himself but for his parents and Kylie... and he would not deny himself his own desires. Though the reality was as Liam had stated, even though it was a bitter pill to swallow.... in the previous timeline he was probably just a nobody who watched from the sidelines as others dared to do what he could only dream of.

Since his destiny had been completely flipped on its head, for better or for worse, the only thing left to do now was to seize the opportunity that had been dangled in front of him.

5 meters......Come closer..... 4 meters... Hold.....

The moment the tip of the spear came within three meters of himself, Noah dived to the left side with everything he had in him. The movement itself took a few milliseconds, with his arms outstretched, feeling the ground by the tip of his fingers moments later and combat rolling to stall his momentum.

The sound of splintering wood emanated from behind him, and he couldn't help but slightly relax after hearing that. Quickly willing his inventory to open, he took out a weapon he hadn't previously used in actual combat.

Assassin's Dagger,

Common

A very sharp blade for extremely close range encounters. Wounds inflicted with this blade take longer to heal and have an increased additional penetration effect.

20% chance to trigger a minor bleeding effect if the dagger is used to attack while stealthed.

Noah hoped that the Goblin had lodged his spear in the tree bark, as he quickly turned around with his shiny new dagger in hand. He was welcomed to a pleasant sight, the skirmisher had put all its bodyweight behind the strike and dug fairly deep into the tree, a few chips of broken bark lying scattered on the floor, serving as verifiable evidence for his postulate. Instead of running for its life though, it was still dumbly trying to extract its weapon, tugging at the spear repeatedly to no avail.

If Noah didn't capitalize on this opportunity, he had no business climbing the tower. Only two meters separated them, and Noah charged with a fervor that he had previously been lacking. He was relying too much on Liam, and he needed to start taking initiative from now on if he wanted to survive the so-called 'night shift'. Noah wrapped both his hands around the dagger, keeping it at his front around waist height as he charged.

Within moments, Noah found himself in arm's reach of the now surprised goblin. The Goblin started to desperately tug at its spear, but it wasn't that easy to dislodge it with its limited strength... the first attack had used the momentum of its forward charge and body weight, and its small frame needed a while longer to generate the necessary strength to fish the spear out.

Considering the height differential, Noah didn't even need to raise the dagger to deal a lethal blow to the goblin-simply running into it instead, only slightly aligning the dagger to strike at the optimal spot. The dagger dug deeply into the goblin's throat, far more deeply than it needed to, ending up lodged within its neck bone and drenching Noah's new hauberk in blue blood. But that didn't matter to Noah, as he had no more use for the dagger. He removed his hold over the dagger and simply kicked the goblin aside, planning on retrieving it later. Instead, his eyes moved towards the real prize.

He tightly gripped the spear that was lodged in the tree with both his hands, and slightly raised his right leg, leveraging it against the tree bark to help him exert the maximum possible strength he could, and gave it a mighty tug. Noah felt thankful to the dead goblin for already having done half the job for him, as the spear popped out a few seconds later. The force he had exerted sent him stumbling back half a meter before his dexterity stat helped him stabilize his footing.

Noah turned around to see the second goblin, separated by almost the same distance of seven meters they had started the fight with. Its chest was peppered with small, bullet size holes and a bloodied bludgeon lay on the ground near it, but it seemed to ignore its grievous looking wounds as it bent down to retrieve its halberd.

"Oh no you don't," said Noah, as he gripped the spear with both his hands and positioned it in front of himself, running in a maddened frenzy towards the surviving skirmisher. By the time the skirmisher picked up its halberd, Noah had already covered a distance of five meters. The Skirmisher's eyes widened in shock and it reflexively swung its halberd in a last-ditch effort to preserve its life.

It only managed to swing halfway before Noah's spear found purchase in its lower abdomen, blue blood gushing out from its innards in a torrent. Perhaps if Noah had used a sword instead, the Goblin would have been able to land his attack...but the weakness of the otherwise overpowered long-range melee weapons was that once you let an opponent within close range - the fight was over.