Tatehan gripped his newly enhanced Shadow-Forged Blade tightly, feeling its reassuring weight in his hand.

He needed those cores. Desperately.

The shadow goblins stared at him from the darkness of the cave entrances, their eyes glowing like dozens of small red warning lights. The effect was deeply unsettling, a constellation of malevolent stars watching him from the shadows.

Since he couldn't see their full forms yet, still hidden in the darkness of the caves, he didn't know exactly what he was facing. Were they lanky and quick? Fat and powerful? Enormous and overwhelming? Their exact shapes and sizes remained a mystery.

There was only one way to find out, and that would be to watch them emerge fully into the light.

If only he could accurately guess their physical characteristics before they revealed themselves, he could better prepare and choose the most effective weapon for the encounter. His sword for close combat? His chakrams for mid-range rapid strikes? His pistol for devastating single-target elimination?

But the decision was made for him.

The chittering suddenly intensified, a sound like a hundred rusted gears grinding against each other, mixed with organic clicks and hisses. The noise was so loud and discordant that it actually hurt to hear, even through his helmet.

Then they came.

Shadow goblins poured from the cave entrances like a grotesque flood of metal and flesh. They moved with horrifying speed, their metallic claws scraping against rock and creating showers of sparks as they charged.

And there were so many of them.

Tatehan's enhanced vision counted them automatically as they emerged: ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five...

They kept coming.

Thirty, thirty-five, forty...

"You've got to be kidding me," Tatehan muttered, his grip tightening on his sword.

How large was this cave to accommodate them. How was this possible?!

The creatures were exactly as horrifying as when last he saw them.

Malformed fusions of corrupted machinery and twisted organic tissue. Rusted armor plates jutting from their backs and limbs. Wires hanging from their spines like exposed tendons. Faces dominated by serrated teeth made from broken gears and metal shards.

Some were small and wiry, built for speed. Others were bulkier, with heavier armor plating. A few were absolutely massive (easily the size of large dogs) with disproportionately huge jaws that ground and clicked as they moved.

And they all had those glowing eyes, flickering, dying circuitry trapped in skulls, giving them an appearance of malevolent intelligence.

Fifty, fifty-five, sixty...

Sixty-one.

Sixty-one shadow goblins now stood between Tatehan and the cave entrances, forming a semi-circle of metal and teeth and glowing red eyes.

For a moment, there was complete silence except for the ambient sound of wind across the wasteland.

Both sides stared at each other, predator and prey, though it wasn't entirely clear which was which.

Now Tatehan was starting to panic. This wasn't what he expected at all. He had expected the highest that'll come out of the cave to be at least ten or twelve.

What was he now seeing…, sixty one?!

This has to been one of the most shocking things he had seen in his life.

Tatehan quickly ran through his tactical options:

The sword would be effective for close combat, especially with its enhanced capabilities. The 400% increase in edge sharpness meant it could cut through their metallic components easily. The weight manipulation would allow him to adjust the blade for either quick strikes or devastating heavy blows.

His chakrams could take out multiple targets simultaneously—up to three per throw with the enhancement, meaning six total if he threw both. That would be useful for thinning their numbers quickly.

The pistol was powerful but limited—each shot could destroy a small structure now, but using it in rapid succession against sixty-one targets wasn't practical. It was a finisher weapon, not a crowd control tool.

His gravity manipulation would be crucial. He could make groups of them heavier, slowing their attacks. Or make himself lighter for enhanced mobility.

His armor's kinetic absorption would protect him, but he had to be cautious, the shadow goblins' Energy Siphon ability meant prolonged contact would drain his armor's stored power. He needed to hit hard and disengage quickly.

All of this tactical analysis happened in less than two seconds.

Then the shadow goblins attacked.

They didn't charge as a disorganized mob, instead they moved with frightening coordination, spreading out to surround him, attacking from multiple angles simultaneously.

The first wave came from three directions at once.

Tatehan activated his gravity manipulation, increasing the gravitational pull on the five goblins charging from his left. They suddenly became three times heavier, their momentum carrying them forward but their legs unable to support the increased weight. They crashed to the ground in a tangle of metal and flesh.

He spun to his right and swung his Shadow-Forged Blade in a wide horizontal arc.

The enhanced sword cut through the first goblin like it was made of paper. The blade passed through its chest core, through the metal plating, through everything, and the creature literally fell apart in two pieces.

The second goblin tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough. Tatehan's blade caught it across the neck region, and the enhanced sharpness did its work—the head separated from the body in a shower of sparks and dark fluid.

The third goblin managed to close the distance and leaped at his chest, jaws open wide, those serrated teeth gleaming.

Tatehan used his sword's weight manipulation ability, suddenly making the blade incredibly heavy. He brought it down like a hammer, and the massive force crushed the goblin into the ground with a sickening crunch of metal and bone.

Three down.

Fifty-eight to go.

The goblins he'd made heavier were recovering now, struggling back to their feet. He reduced their gravitational pull back to normal but immediately increased it on a different group rushing from behind him.

He summoned his chakrams.

The Tri-Edge Shadow Discs materialized in his hands, their dark metal gleaming, the multiple cutting edges practically vibrating with lethal potential.

Without hesitation, he threw both chakrams in different directions.

The weapons moved so fast they were barely visible, just dark blurs that cut through the air with a sound like tearing silk.

The left chakram struck its first target in the chest core, punched through completely, adjusted its trajectory mid-flight with the new auto-tracking enhancement, and struck a second goblin in the neck. Still moving, it found a third target and buried itself in that creature's skull before returning to Tatehan's hand.

The right chakram performed an identical feat, three kills in one throw, each strike perfectly placed.

Six shadow goblins collapsed simultaneously, their cores destroyed or their vital systems severed.

Nine down.

Fifty-two remaining.

But the goblins were learning. They'd seen what the chakrams could do, and the remaining creatures started moving more erratically, no longer charging in predictable straight lines. They darted side to side, used rocks for cover, coordinated their movements to attack from blind spots.

A group of seven rushed him simultaneously from different angles, too many to block or dodge conventionally.

Tatehan made himself significantly lighter with gravity manipulation and jumped.

The sudden reduction in his effective weight meant the jump carried him nearly four meters into the air, far higher than should be possible. The seven goblins collided with each other in the space where he'd just been standing, a tangle of metal and confusion.

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