And as if he wasn't cornered enough, more Koboldts appeared.
One wielding a massive wooden club covered in stone spikes approached with visible aggression.
The flow in his weapon had an even more aggressive pattern; the lines of mana seemed capable of causing damage even while filling the weapon's interior.
Soon all the energy contained in the club was distributed to its spikes, which gained a blinding green glow.
The reptilian advanced with a lethal flying charge; Dragomir literally knew he had to avoid this blow.
And without wasting time, his feet moved perfectly, each touch on the ground generating momentum at a carefully planned angle.
The dodge was simple, just a few well-executed steps away from the humanoid reptile's obvious trajectory.
The enemy missed his attack, creating a small crater in the ground.
The dust kicked up clearly showed the force of the blow; it was an explosion generated by the impact of the club, a technique devoid of any elegance, just pure brutality.
And this made Dragomir's face tense with discomfort, his gaze firm and concrete before the reptilian exuding confidence. "Was that supposed to scare me?" His voice was laden with offensive fearlessness, his words had the edge of murderous knives, his gaze seemed to attack the Koboldt from a distance.
"It's a pretty mediocre little show," every feature of his face came together to form the most mocking expression he could muster. His voice cleared mockingly, "but if you want to waste energy on this nonsense, then feel free."
Dragomir had understood the intention of the blow, a demonstration of brute force simply to intimidate his target.
This kind of thing didn't impress the swordsman; he was used to fighting those who were stronger. If it were a demonstration of skill instead, he might be affected.
Another reptilian came to complete the quartet. This one, in turn, used a wooden staff; he was concentrating energy in a flow very similar to the sphere destroyed by Raiziquer's arrow.
The energy moved through the weapon in a similar way, but it was more contained, controlled, and focused.
A sphere similar to the first one was generated at the tip of the staff, but it wasn't meant to be thrown; the sphere floated following the tip of the tool.
It was used as a weapon, replacing a blade or steel point.
The three reptilians began a coordinated attack against Dragomir, leaving him no room for a counterattack.
The spearman attacked with numerous bursts of his spear, each one faster than the last. The blows weren't accurate, they seemed hastily made, but they were still dangerous, filling the space and leaving Dragomir increasingly without an escape route.
The swordsman had to be careful. The attacks weren't planned, so he couldn't adapt to the flow of the blows; therefore, the only remaining option was to pay close attention to each thrust.
The random movement couldn't be predicted, but that wasn't such a big advantage after all; in fact, considering the disadvantage this fighting style carries, the supposed advantage seems nonexistent.
Dragomir wasn't just dodging; he was waiting for the right moment. The randomness of the blows always created an opening.
The lack of hesitation in his movements left his guard down and even completely exposed.
A small opening was created in the sequence of blows; the area slightly above the navel was exposed and within Dragomir's reach.
A gap too good to pass up, but one he couldn't exploit.
Instead of advancing to strike the reptilian, the swordsman carefully slid his feet back, bringing his entire body along as if the ground were made of ice.
And this movement avoided the sphere at the end of the fourth Koboldt's staff. He was providing cover for his companion, preventing Dragomir from hitting him.
The gray-haired man's mouth snapped shut in discontent; that would-be warrior-mage was covering up the lancer's shortcomings.
This irritated the swordsman, but he had no time to succumb to the annoyance; the idiot with the club was right above his head, having previously floated before crashing down where Dragomir had been seconds before.
The Koboldts were pressuring the gray-haired man as much as possible. Individually, they weren't strong, but they outnumbered them and knew how to work as a team.
Their random and unsynchronized movements made prediction very difficult.
Each blow was a surprise that Dragomir had little time to react to. If he wasn't quick enough, he would be caught by the blows.
Superintendent, the Koboldts didn't get along with this barrage of random blows. They were apparently used to navigating between each other's attacks.
A stressful session took hold of Dragomir's mind. He sensed two more presences approaching, two small Koboldts, both wielding shaft axes.
Now there were six enemies surrounding him, all with random attacks that strangely meshed perfectly with each other, almost as if they were pre-arranged.
His analytical eyes thoroughly studied the flow in these new enemies, and it was a recognizable flow. One of them used the same reinforcement that the Koboldt slain by Dragomir had used. A metallic smoke covered the steel of the weapon, dancing and shimmering in a mesmerizing rhythm.
The other new attacker used something different. The flow of mana in his weapon created constant and detailed lines, a flow overflowing with excess energy. A few seconds later, the entire weapon was covered by a layer of magical flames, with even more prominent bright spots.
Both ran side by side, both advancing with their weapons pointed at the gray-haired man. An attack so simple that it wouldn't work even if the target had its back turned.
For Dragomir, dodging this would be effortless; a simple step back and the attack from his new guests would be easily avoided.
But as his foot began to slide backward, he realized something he should have noticed sooner, but the situation, and the enemy's specialty, had prevented him from noticing earlier.
There were no longer two enemies…
…There were three more.