Next morning as soon as everyone had awoken, the group set off deeper into the dungeon. At the beginning it was quite a peaceful journey, only after some time of walking did they finally began encountering monsters. Luckily, something like meeting an extremely powerful monster right from the start didn’t happen and at the beginning they only found a small group of goblins.
Due to that however, Henry’s party was able to gouge Ariel’s party’s strength and usefulness. Same goes for the other side as well, although the adventurers weren’t very strong, but their calmness and efficiency in dealing with monsters amazed them Ariel and the others.
For several hours they continued encountering such small monster groups and kept improving their teamwork more and more. Henry and his friends were really amazed at both the strength and the speed at which the young nobles adapted. Of course this only made them happier, since it meant they got even more than they bargained for from their deal.
Like this, time continued to pass and only until some time later did they finally meet a real threat. Currently the team was in another dungeon corridor no different from the others, however a bit further in front of them was a large pack of well equipped goblins and wolves, not only that, but in the very middle was a creature a bit different from normal goblins, it seemed taller and more intelligent with an appearance similar to humans, only his green skin and pointy ears betrayed who he really was.
Even Ariel’s party, which had little experience, could recognize that it was not a goblin, but a hob goblin. Henry, who was at the front of the group silently motioned the others to stop walking as he whispered. Thankfully the monsters were a bit occupied and still haven’t noticed the intruders. “This will be a bit different from the previous fights it will not only be a lot harder, but also more dangerous. We need a good plan for this.”
Obviously everyone was a bit cautious, in all, besides the hob goblin there were also 26 goblins and 7 wolves. After Henry finished speaking, he looked everyone for suggestions. The group stayed quite for several minutes until finally someone spoke from the back, which was Ariel. “I have something in mind, do you see those goblins?” Everyone immediately began listening as soon as they heard someone speaking and when they saw that Ariel was pointing at something they followed his finger with their eyes.
What Ariel was pointing at was about 12 slightly different looking goblins. They were either archers or shamans which usually were a real pain in the ass to deal with during the fight. However none of the party actually understood right away for what reason did he point at them. Ariel didn’t draw it out and started explaining in a cold voice. “Sarah has quite a deadly AOE spell, if we managed to start the fight and hit that back line with that spell as soon as they get into formation we would not only eliminate a whole bunch of goblins, but also get rid of the most annoying ones.”
Everyone’s faces lit up at Ariel’s words. If all went as planned, then the most troublesome part of the battle would be dealt with. Tera looked towards Sarah with an astonished expression and spoke. “If miss, Sarah really is capable of that, then it would be wonderful. Usually it would be a gamble if they would organize properly, but since there is a hob goblin leader it is almost certain.”
Henry was also quite happy with hearing such a plan and once again thought that the idea to invite these four was a great one. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to revel in it, as he had to continue commanding the party. “Okay, we will do as Ariel suggested, first we will have to engage in battle against them to make them group up, then Sarah will cast her spell.”
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After he finished speaking, the first one to speak up was once again Tera. “Understood, then like usual, I will be the one to pull and Camila will be the one in charge of taking out the leader.” Henry nodded at that and the preparations were soon on their way.
When everyone was finally ready, the battle began. The first one to make a move was, like previously discussed, Tera. She shot an arrow directly into the head of an unsuspecting goblin. Naturally, it died without being able to make a sound, but since they were all quite close, the other goblins immediately noticed that they were being attacked.
However Ariel and the rest were quicker. Erna casted some wind spell on the whole party for speed, while Brendon did the same with water magic for protection. The three front line fighters Henry, Erna and Vor dashed out just as the arrow hit and were the first ones to be seen by the goblins, while the archer and the mages stayed in the back.
The hob goblin reacted surprisingly fast and in a moments time began giving instructions to get into formations. Those 12 ranged goblins and 4 wolf riders stayed at the back to support while the other 3 wolf riders and 6 grunts charged at Ariel’s group. Unfortunately the goblin archers and mages started bombard before Sarah could finish her spell, and they immediately launched a volley of spells and arrows.
Thankfully, both Ariel’s and Brendon’s familiars were already out. Brendon and his turtle together had set up a water shield protecting their group from projectiles. Ariel’s shade on the other hand was, also bombarding the upcoming attack in case they had enough firepower to break through.
At the same time, a heated melee battle has begun between the three humans and goblins. Erna and the other two were obviously more skilled, but unfortunately the numbers were against them and they had hard time keeping up, especially Vor, who was more of a damage dealer than a defender. Right now he already had several cuts on his body.
Finally when he made a slight slip a goblin with a spear managed to pierce him in the shoulder. Vor felt a scorching pain and he could barely continued defending. Then, when his weapon was just about to be knocked out of his hands, suddenly three spears made of ice flew by and pierced three goblins. He then soon felt a warm feeling flow through his wounds as they began closing up.
He understood that it was Ariel and Brendon who helped him out this time and he was extremely grateful, but right now he didn’t have time to thank them as he had to continue to fight. In the mean time, the on who helped Vor in killing goblins was coldly observing the battle. He noticed that the front line was getting to much pressure so he decided to do something about it.
Ariel concentrated his Mana into his hands and then sent it up to the front, towards the ground beneath the goblins. Soon ice began appearing on the surface stone making it horrible terrain for those who stood on it. For the goblins it was quite unexpected and they began falling down on the ground due to slipping. The melee group quickly capitalized on it and they managed to slay the three wolf riders, now only 3 grunts were left.
But it was not all good, because the barrier protecting them from the projectiles was actually about to break from all the projectiles hitting it. Looking up at it Ariel let out a frustrated sight, he didn’t want to use too much mana in a single fight, since mages tired much more easily than warriors and took much longer to recuperate. Unfortunately he had to do something about it and didn’t have much time, so he stretched out his hand readying it to cast a spell.
However just then, Sarah, who was beside him, finished chanting and began letting out strong waves of mana from her body. Acidic clouds started to gather above the goblin back line. Soon drops of acid began to fall on top of them and started burning their bodies. The goblins screamed and tried getting away, but they were much too slow and were completely dissolved.
With the goblin archers and shamans as well as other grunts dead, the volleys of projectiles stopped coming and the pressure on the party lessened. When the hob goblin saw what happened, he immediately tried to run, unfortunately for him Camila was already behind him and just when he turned, his neck was immediately sliced open.
Goblins at the front didn’t see their leader get killed, but they also wouldn’t have the chance to run anyways since against the smaller group of enemies, Erna and the others could easily push up and slaughter the remaining ones. Only after all the goblins were checked to be dead, did the team finally relax.