Investing in My Crippled Wife: Every Return Makes Me Stronger

”They’re dead...”

Ryan muttered in disappointment, lowering his sword as the last goblin collapsed to the stone floor.

The entire engagement had lasted barely a few seconds, leaving them absolutely no room to actually practice the finer details of the blueprint.

Soren looked down at the fallen monsters and nodded slowly, leaning his spear against his shoulder. ”I guess we are just much stronger than First Circle monsters now.”

He didn’t seem to mind the anticlimactic result, though. Turning his gaze deeper into the dark tunnel, he gave the boy a reassuring slap on the shoulder. ”Let’s keep moving. It’s much safer to work out the kinks here than to risk making a mistake in a Second Circle gate. We’ll find a bigger horde or just practice on the Boss.”

Ryan nodded in agreement, his disappointment quickly fading as he took a breath and centered his focus.

As they stepped over the fallen goblins and ventured deeper into the winding cavern, Soren paused internally, a sudden, fleeting thought causing him to look down at his hands.

He couldn’t help but realize how incredibly arrogant he must have sounded just now.

A few short weeks ago, he was a nobody struggling just to survive against basic slimes.

Now, he was casually dismissing an entire pack of Gate monsters as mere practice material, talking about clearing a boss room just to run a diagnostic on a new technique.

A faint, wry smile touched his lips, and he shook his head to clear the thought.

Yet, looking at the blood on his spear, the irony faded into a simple statement of fact.

This wasn’t arrogance.

It was the grounded, undeniable confidence that came straight from his rapid growth and the sheer power flowing through his veins.

He had earned every bit of this strength, and it was only logical to acknowledge the reality of where he stood now.

Accepting that progress meant putting it to use. With a renewed focus, Soren picked up his pace, Ryan stepping smoothly into rhythm right beside him.

And so, over the next half hour, the Greenfang Cave became nothing more than a proving ground.

Every subsequent pack of goblins that rushed them from the shadows met a swift end, turning the clearing process into a brisk, uninterrupted walk.

By the time they reached the heavy wooden barricade guarding the deepest chamber, the repetition had allowed them to iron out the basic positioning of their new style.

Stepping past the shattered remains of the barricade, they finally met their true target: the Goblin Chief.

Unlike its smaller kin, this creature stood about seven feet tall, its muscular grey hide covered in scarred leather armor. It wielded a massive, jagged cleaver with practiced ease, its yellow eyes tracking their entrance with a cold, predatory intelligence. Sensing the threat, it threw back its head and let out a guttural roar, its chest swelling as a deep, crimson aura flared around its body.

Instantly, a heavy pressure flooded the chamber, activating its inherent ability: Chieftain’s Domination.

The aura acted as a localized gravity field, forcing a heavy, crushing weight on anyone who stepped within its radius, restricting their movements.

Soren felt his own innate resistance flare, ready to naturally nullify the negative effect. Instead, he consciously suppressed it, choosing to experience the full weight of the pressure.

”Maintain your center,” Soren directed, his voice steady as he stepped directly into the crimson zone. ”This is exactly what we need. Lock the synchronization.”

Ryan’s boots ground into the dirt, his jaw clenched as he adjusted to the sudden, oppressive force, but his eyes remained locked on the target.

The Goblin Chief didn’t just charge blindly. It closed the distance with deliberate, heavy strides, using the crushing gravity to test their reactions before launching a brutal, feinted overhead strike. Mid-swing, the monster altered its trajectory, snapping the massive cleaver into a devastating horizontal arc meant to cleave both of them at once.

Soren planted his feet firmly against the crushing pull, and his spear snapped forward to intercept the giant blade.

Clang!

The ring of metal on metal echoed violently through the cave. Soren absorbed the entire kinetic impact, his stance unyielding as he channeled the force straight into the ground, completely stalling the Chief’s momentum.

The monster’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as its weapon was halted, and it immediately tried to rip the cleaver back to reset its guard.

But the opening was already there. Ryan slipped around Soren’s flank like a shadow, using his partner’s rigid position to shield himself from the worst of the gravity field. Matching Soren’s breathing perfectly, Ryan accelerated through the dense air. His sword flashed upwards in a clean, vertical arc, slicing deep through the thick hide of the monster’s exposed torso.

The Goblin Chief snarled, stumbling back a step as dark blood welled from the chest wound. It immediately raised its cleaver, expecting the intruders to rush forward to finish the kill. Instead, it saw the smaller enemy smoothly step back behind the big one.

The Chief blinked, its yellow eyes darting between the two. It became confused since they weren’t attacking or running away. They were just standing there.

”Again. Watch the transition when it resets.” The big one spoke.

”Right.” The smaller one replied.

”Gr...”

Irritated by their stillness, the Chief roared and lunged again.

It swung from the left, only for the spear to perfectly intercept the blow with a jarring ring of steel. It immediately followed up with a brutal downward hack, but the spear met it effortlessly, absorbing the entire impact. Every single time the massive cleaver clashed against that unyielding wall, the smaller enemy would glide past, his sword flashing out to leave a precise, stinging cut on the Chief’s arms or flanks before retreating.

Two more clashes passed, then three.

Slowly, the monster’s predatory mind sensed something deeply wrong.

The intruders...

They were toying with it!

To a ruler of the cave, being treated as nothing more than an object to test themselves against was an intolerable insult.

The Chief’s composure completely shattered.

”KHRAAAAGH!”

It let out a deafening, furious screech, its crimson aura flaring violently as it abandoned all caution.

”GURRRK!”

It threw its entire weight forward, swinging the massive cleaver in a frenzied, chaotic storm of strikes. The heavy blade tore through the air, leaving red afterimages as it smashed against the stone floor, spraying debris everywhere.

Yet, no matter how wild or powerful the onslaught became, it couldn’t breach their defense.

Whenever the heavy cleaver threatened to overwhelm them, Soren met the attack head-on. His spear deflected the brutal downward hacks, acting as an unbreakable shield that absorbed the raw kinetic energy of the furious monster.

And every time the Chief overextended or left its flanks exposed during its blind rage, Ryan’s sword flashed through the gaps, leaving precise, shallow cuts that further drained the beast’s stamina.

They moved in a continuous, rhythmic loop: block, slip, counter, reset. With every passing minute, the heavy friction of the Chieftain’s Domination felt less like a restriction and more like a natural backdrop to their movements.

Their synchronization grew tighter, the lag between Soren’s deflections and Ryan’s strikes narrowing down to a fraction of a second.

Eventually, the violent storm began to slow.

The crimson gravity field flickered and waned as the Goblin Chief’s breaths turned into ragged, desperate gasps. Its massive shoulders heaved, its muscular arms trembling under the weight of its own weapon.

Finally, with one last, pathetic swing that completely missed Soren, the giant monster lost its footing. The cleaver clattered uselessly to the ground, and the Chief collapsed heavily onto its knees, utterly exhausted, staring up at them with a mixture of rage, fear, and pure defeat.

Soren lowered his spear, his breathing entirely controlled. Beside him, Ryan stood steady, his blade resting at his side without a hint of the initial rush. They had taken everything the boss had to offer and used it to cement the foundation of their art.

”Good job,” Soren said quietly, looking down at the defeated creature. ”Let’s put it out of its misery.”

Ryan nodded, stepping forward with a calm, disciplined stride to deliver the final, merciful strike.