"Are you sure you're fine, Miyu?" Nate asked the woman beside him in worry as they marched down the not-so-foggy valley.

"Mm." Miyu nodded while fixing the Mist-dispersing Lantern affixed to her hip. "I've recovered all my mana, took a nice bath, had a good night's sleep, and had a big meal. I'm totally fine."

"Well, if you say so..."

Miyu had overexerted herself in healing Hugo and Brent, as well as the other people in the Expedition Group who got injured the other day. Despite Nate's impatience, he still had the presence of mind to suggest that she take a day or two to rest, however, Miyu had insisted that she was fine, so there was nothing else he could do.

"Hey, Boss," Hugo spoke out from in front of the two. "Is it really okay that we haven't met any uglies even though we've been walking for more than an hour?"

"Dunno. We may have exterminated all the ones in this area." Nate shrugged. He then pointed at Hugo's brigandine. "Nevermind that. How's the armor?"

"It's okay, I guess?" Hugo tapped it with his palm, making clinking sounds. "I don't really feel like it's there, so that's nice. I'm not sure whether it can protect me though..."

'It's cuz you're just that strong, dude. The armor's durability isn't measured by weight anyway.'

In addition to the brigandine that covered his entire torso and shoulders, Hugo also bought a hard-leather cap and some bracers that looked exactly like what Nate had bought. As for his weapons, he had the shield he'd picked up from the start, as well as the late Samson's mace.

The big man had insisted on carrying the old man's weapon with him.

'Now, as for the other one...'

Diagonally behind him to the right, Nate could see a short young man taking deep breaths with his eyes closed, seemingly trying to calm himself.

Brent had given up his spear in exchange for Nate's slingshot, which he'd spent all his free time practicing how to use it. Aside from that, he had the same leather cap as Hugo's as well as a chest plate with thick cloth padding underneath. Anything metallic would most likely hinder his movements, so Nate had suggested that he focus on light armor. Especially since he wasn't going to fight on the front lines anyway.

"Hey, if you don't ask me how I'm doing, I'm gonna feel left out y'know?" Ming airily said as he twirled his spear around. "The newbies seem to get all the Boss's attention, huh?"

Nate shrugged. "I know you can take care of yourself even if I don't do anything."

"Oh?" Ming, seemingly satisfied by Nate's answer, nodded his head in understanding. "I see. That makes sense."

Aside from the spear and the knife on his hip, Ming was equipped with a brigandine and a metal helmet that looked like it belonged to Achilles, the greek hero of myths. The Chinese man also had metal bracers and grieves to protect his limbs.

"Miss Ari, are you okay?" Miyu asked the quiet young woman that seemed to want to become Nate's tail, following behind him all the time.

"I'm fine..." Ari muttered an answer as she further lowered her green hood to cover more of her face.

'She feels really awkward, huh.'

Nate couldn't help but smirk. Being together with the two people she felt she'd betrayed was making her feel extremely uneasy. But he hoped she'd get used to it soon, since they were likely to travel around together a lot.

Just as Nate was about to voice out an excuse for Ari's odd behavior, he was interrupted by Hugo's loud voice.

"Boss! I can see the end of the valley!"

Without his notice, Hugo had run up to the edge of what Miyu's lantern revealed, leaving the group behind. The big man excitedly pointed at something beyond the fog.

"Shut up. You wanna let all the monsters know we're here?" Nate spat out.

"Ah." Hugo's eyes widened as his hands reached up to cover his own mouth.

Nate signaled the group to stop before walking up with Pig in front of him. "Stay here while I scout. I can turn invisible so I'm made for this."

""Be careful!"" Miyu and Ari called out at the same time, surprising both of them. The two women sent each other strange looks.

Not even turning back to answer them, Nate waved his hand in gratitude as he dived into the mist after telling Hugo to go back to the group.

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'Is that...' Nate squinted his eyes. 'another village...?'

He was out of the valley now. Turning invisible as he peeked out, he found himself face-to-face with a sea of trees, so he'd hidden behind one before he turned visible again. Pig was left at the mouth of the valley, ready to come charging out.

After walking forward for about a minute, Nate came upon a strange sight. There was a village identical to the one they came from.

Except this one had goblins as inhabitants. Specifically, goblins and hobgoblins.

Even though he was far away from the village, he could still see the figures of the green monsters milling about, doing this or that. There were a few hobgoblin sentries holding their spears aloft while menacingly glaring at the surroundings, watching out for anything strange.

'Should I investigate a bit more...?' he thought, but then the decision was made for him when he saw a large band of thirty hobgoblins, all armed with leather armor and weapons of decent quality, began marching out of the village, heading toward him. Or rather, in the direction of the valley.

Springing into action, Nate sprinted back to the others, capitalizing on his constantly restoring pool of stamina to run at full speed the entire time.

The wind brushed past his face as he zigzagged through the sea of trees while thinking of how what to do.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

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"Is this really necessary?" Miyu asked as she crouched behind a bush.

"We need to take them out as quick as possible. We don't want them letting the others in their village know." Nate answered as he ducked down behind the same bush, mentally preparing himself to cast a spell.

After he'd made it back to the others, he'd rushed the Expedition Group — which was made up of twenty-five people — to come out of the valley and hide in the bushes, waiting to ambush the hobgoblins.

Staying in the valley was disadvantageous, since those green-skinned midgets and their larger counterparts seemed to be able to see through the mist. Which meant the goblins would see them all before they could see the goblins, even though they had the lantern.

Doing what he'd done to the wolves when he saved Hugo and Brent wouldn't work this time either. The goblins were smarter than the wolves, and more cowardly too. If they all ran away immediately, Nate would be unable to pick them all off in time.

The only other option was to seek the help of others to take the monsters out as fast as possible. And what better way to do that than a surprise attack?

Pig was a bit too big to hide behind anything, but Nate managed to solve that by getting the orc to lay prone on the ground behind a long clump of bushes.

Nate sent a look to Ari, who was hunkered down behind him. "Ari, in case I have to move up, you stay here and let Miyu protect you. Worst case scenario, just sacrifice Wolf to escape."

"Okay." Ari nodded, gripping her bow in anticipation. Even though she'd fought and shot wolves to death before, this was her first battle against armed opponents. They were all humanoid too.

Sensing her anxiety about killing something that looked so close to humans, Nate tried to console her. "Don't worry. They aren't humans, even though they have similarities. Plus, they get hostile on sight. We're just trying to protect ourselves. It's either us or them."

"Mm..." the young woman nodded, mulling over his words.

'I guess that'll do for now. She'll get over it eventually, when she sees just how vicious those monsters look at us.'

Nate took a deep breath.

'Now, we wait.'

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"Sh-shouldn't we give the signal, now...?" Miyu anxiously whispered as goblins passed by, uncaringly rustling up the grass and bushes as they made their way to the valley.

Nate wordlessly shook his head. They had to wait for the bastards to get in the middle of their formation to lessen the chances for any of them to escape.

'Well, I just hope nobody gets spooked, attacking before I give the signal...'

Realizing what he'd just done, Nate slapped his own head.

'What're you doing!? Setting flags like that!'

Just as he'd feared, a commotion erupted somewhere to the front. It seemed he wouldn't be allowed to wait for the hobgoblins to walk into the perfect position to take them all out quickly.

"Now!" Nate's roar echoed throughout the forest, startling the nearby hobgoblins. He didn't care about their reactions though, he riled up his mana and used the spell he'd used against the wolves yesterday.

As thick, black clouds of mist billowed out from Nate's hands, Miyu dashed forward and beheaded a nearby hobgoblin before kicking another one in the balls. The unfortunate monster's knees gave out, putting his head at the perfect height for Miyu to behead it, which she did.

Their eyes made useless, the green-skinned fools were akin to headless chickens, only being able to stand there in shock, not knowing what to do as arrows were buried into their heads.

"RAAAAAH!" Pig bellowed a war cry as he stood up, his lifeless black eyes searching for the nearest enemy. He found a large clump of hobgoblins and began running for them, turning them into meat paste with every swing.

Sounds of battle could be heard all over the place. It seemed that the hobgoblins, despite their lack of sight, were able to put up a bit of a fight. This did not last for too long though, as a few handfuls of them began running away.

"Haaah... haaah..." Nate used his spear as a crutch to remain upright, feeling absolutely drained. This also did not last too long, as he felt his mana pool steadily restoring itself. A dagger of black light shot out from his finger, piercing a fleeing hobgoblin's head.

Just as he was about to aim for another one, its head exploded as a shard of ice lodged itself into another hobgoblin behind it. Nate looked toward Miyu.

Sensing his gaze, Miyu sent him a smile before sending another shard of ice flying into the forest, causing a splattering sound immediately after.

'Guess, I'll just leave those guys to her.'

Nate turned his attention somewhere else. Ming was straddling a hobgoblin, repeatedly stabbing it in the face with his knife while trying to squirm free. His handsome face was stained by splashes of blood, but he didn't seem to care at all as he raised his knife and brought it down again and again. Soon, the hobgoblin stopped struggling. It had breathed its last.

'Did he lose his spear...?'

Swish!

After a shadow dagger killed the monster sneaking up behind Ming, Nate threw his spear toward Ming.

"Ming! Catch!"

Breathing roughly, Ming heard his name being called and looked up, just in time to see a spear lodge itself on the ground in front of him. His lips formed a smile as he got to his feet.

"Thanks!" Ming called back as he sheathed his bloody knife and grabbed the spear in front of him. Spear acquired, he put it to use by immediately charging at a nearby hobgoblin that was swinging its sword around violently, hoping to his something. Ming's spear obviously had it beat in range, easily piercing the monster's chest.

After kicking it to free his spear, Ming looked around for his next opponent.

"Horah! Come at me, you motherfuckers!" Hugo yelled out as he bashed a hobgoblin with his mace, shattering its skull and causing brain matter to splatter everywhere. The giant of a man flinched. "Fuck! It got in my eye!"

The big man doubled over as he tried his best to get the blood out of his eye, inevitably opening himself up for enemy attacks.

Luckily, any hobgoblin moving in to capitalize on Hugo's mistake was shot in the face with a lead pellet, courtesy of a short young man.

After wiping away most of the blood that got in his eye, Hugo grit his teeth in anger before he charged into a hobgoblin that had tried to get behind Brent. His shield collided with the green monster's torso, forcefully extracting all the air in its lungs. The big man didn't stop charging even after though, continuing to drag the hobgoblin with him as he dashed, eventually pinning it to a tree.

He backed up a step, leaving a stunned goblin slumped against the tree as he winded his right arm.

"Hugo smash!" Hugo roared out some sort of special move, but was actually just him doing a downward bash with his mace. Seemingly not satisfied with the fatal damage he'd just dealt, the hulk of a man pulled his left hand back before striking the carcass with the edge of his shield. "Hugo smash number two!"

Unbeknownst to the big man, another hobgoblin tried to attack him from behind but had lead injected into his cranium from the back.

"Pfft." Nate almost let a chuckle escape despite the situation.

'They work well together.' he inwardly remarked before he looked away to watch the other Expedition Group members cut down the enemies instead.

Despite the initial hiccup, the battle ended uneventfully. Their numbers weren't that inferior when compared to the hobgoblins, and there were even some very capable people who'd taken out multiple hobgoblins, like Ayumi, who'd somehow climbed up a tree and was now shooting down the little freaks while straddling a tree branch. Ari was also burying arrowheads inside goblin-heads. Miyu was systematically blasting goblins into meat paste with her lethal ice shards.

It made Nate feel a bit strange how well the women were doing though, while most of the men were either making mistakes that could've gotten them killed or needed Nate to bail them out of trouble.

Nevertheless, heaved a sigh of relief.

None of the uglies had escaped, none of the expedition members got hurt too badly, and they'd gotten loads of points from that fight. Good news all around.

'Now, the only problem is that goblin village...'

There were obviously a lot more goblins in that village than here, which would naturally make it that much harder to fight against. Was it part of the trial to take over the goblin village? Or was it meant to be ignored? Should they just try to go around it, then?

Were goblins the only things there?

'Maybe we can lure them out in small groups to gradually whittle down their numbers. I mean, how hard could taking out a bunch of goblins be?'

Just as he had that thought, multiple loud bellows erupted from the direction of the village, becoming louder and louder as time passed.

'What the... they kinda sound like—'

Orcs.

They sounded like a lot of orcs.

Soon, five green-skinned orcs that were just as tall as Pig reached them, their eyes glowing an ominous yellow. Despite the black mist that Nate created, their eyes still locked onto him before they began charging, axes raised.