Goblin King: My Innate Skill Is OP

Chapter 388: Soulburn

Ariel had already killed numerous wolves by the time I properly focused on her side of the fight, their corpses littering the forest floor around her, some still burning even after death.

But what caught my attention wasn’t just the number of dead wolves. It was the state of the environment itself.

I let out a light gasp while staring at the destruction surrounding her.

The trees nearby had been blackened and twisted apart violently, many of their trunks still smoking beneath the moonlight while ash drifted through the air like gray snow. The forest floor had been carved apart by spiraling scorch marks where flames had swept through the area, leaving behind shattered rock, burning roots, and patches of earth that still glowed faintly from the lingering heat.

The damage spread far wider than a normal fire attack should have caused.

My eyes narrowed slightly. She must’ve used [Azure Tornado].

I clicked my tongue regretfully.

I genuinely wanted to see it in action. Judging from the aftermath alone, the ability was probably far more destructive than I originally imagined.

Still, it was impressive watching her hold her own this comfortably.

Earlier, I assumed she’d struggle more against a coordinated pack like this, especially under a full moon where the wolves were clearly empowered.

Instead, Ariel moved through them with calm confidence, flames swirling around her tails while the wolves that survived her attacks continued burning long afterward.

That was the most dangerous part. Her flames didn’t just damage them once. They lingered.

Several injured wolves staggered through the forest with blue fire still clinging to their bodies, their movements growing weaker as the flames continued consuming them over time, no matter how much they tried to shake it off.

I couldn’t help but notice that the color of her flames was different now.

They weren’t the normal blue flames I’d seen before. These ones carried a strange greenish-blue tint to them, almost ghostly beneath the moonlight, and it didn’t take me long to realize what I was looking at.

This was [Soulburn]. One of the new abilities she’d awakened after gaining her fourth tail. And the effect was brutal.

The wolves struck by those flames writhed violently across the ground, desperately trying to extinguish them by rolling through dirt and ash, but the fire refused to go out. It clung to them unnaturally, continuing to burn no matter what they did.

And within seconds, they died. Painfully.

My eyes narrowed slightly while observing it. Those flames definitely weren’t functioning like ordinary fire anymore. There was something deeper happening there.

At the same time, Ariel’s movement throughout the battlefield had become far more dangerous as well. She constantly swapped positions with her mirages mid-combat, disappearing and reappearing between flashes of distorted blue light while her illusions attacked alongside her.

And unlike before, those mirages could actually inflict damage now. Which meant cornering her had become almost impossible unless someone could distinguish the real Ariel instantly.

A wolf lunged toward one of the mirages only for Ariel herself to suddenly appear behind it instead, her tails flaring outward as numerous Soulflare Quills shot through the air.

Some detonated violently on impact, the explosions scattering blue-green embers across the battlefield. Others pierced directly through flesh and remained lodged inside their targets, causing the wolves to shriek while the green-blue flames spread further beneath their fur.

Watching it made me curious. The abilities felt strangely familiar the more I observed them.

I wondered if the effect functioned similarly to [Deathroot]. An ability that continued consuming its target until there was nothing left.

If that was truly the case...

Then theoretically, there should also be methods to counter it. After all, Caius had previously survived [Deathroot] by shedding mana from his body like a second skin and allowing the corruption to consume that instead of his actual flesh.

Meaning abilities like these weren’t completely unavoidable.

Just incredibly difficult to deal with if you didn’t understand how they worked beforehand.

I’d have to ask Caius to teach me how to do that later. Who knows when I’d meet an enemy with a similar ability?

Ariel finally finished off the last remaining wolf on her side shortly afterward.

The fox relaxed slightly, breathing heavier now as the lingering flames around her tails gradually dimmed. But then, one of the wolves she apparently assumed was already dead suddenly sprang upward from the ground. Its body was half-burned and mangled, yet it still lunged toward her desperately with its jaws open.

But before it could even reach her, I dropped from the tree, my blood blade piercing straight through its back, pinning it into the ground beneath me.

The wolf twitched once. Then stopped moving completely.

Ariel immediately turned toward me with a snarl.

"Why did you intervene?" she snapped. "I had that."

"You’re welcome."

I ignored the glare she gave me afterward and casually pulled the blade free before wiping the blood from it. Then I looked around the battlefield.

Burning trees. Dead wolves. Scattered ash and molten scorch marks across the forest floor.

That had barely even qualified as a challenge.

The wolves were strong compared to ordinary monsters, sure, but nowhere near threatening enough for me at this point. If anything, I probably could’ve sent one of the stronger goblins here instead, or brought Zarah along and used this entire place as a leveling session for her.

A little too late to think about that now, though.

The wolves were already dead.

"The alpha is going to show up soon," Ariel said while staring in the direction of the cave. "There is no way this many of his pack die without attracting his attention."

That statement didn’t excite me nearly as much as it should have.

If the rest of his pack was this weak, then the alpha probably wasn’t going to be some absurdly overwhelming opponent either.

Either way...Finding a powerful enemy wasn’t even the main reason we came here in the first place. The crystals were.

I crouched beside one of...