Layla was in the middle of imbuing Pierce’s weapon with Wind Power when, halfway through her spellcasting, a heavy force suddenly pressed down on her head.
A large hand abruptly pressed down, roughly pushing her head and forcing her body to bend over sharply.
Caught off guard by the interrupted spellcasting, Layla was about to question Haus beside her when his urgent and sharp shout suddenly exploded in her ears: “Sylvia!” It was that bird-like monster from yesterday!
After dodging the sneak attack from the monster in the sky, Haus, having experienced yesterday’s ambush, immediately recognized that the bird-like monster that had just attacked him was the same one from yesterday.
Haus immediately shouted to Sylvia.
Fortunately, this time Sylvia didn’t freeze in place like she had yesterday.
Upon receiving Haus’s command, she immediately straightened up, swiftly drew her bow, and looked back at the sky.
An arrow shot through the air, accurately piercing the wing of the bird-like monster.
Haus closely watched the flight path of the strange bird as it lost balance and began to fall.
Seeing that the attack had succeeded, he quickly followed up: “Sylvia, take out the goblin Archer and cover Pierce!” The young woman reacted swiftly upon hearing his voice, once again drawing her bow and turning the arrow’s tip to aim at the goblin Archer at the edge of the nest.
The enemy was staring intently at Pierce, who was crouched on the ground with his head in his hands, the bowstring fully drawn and ready to fire.
A cold glint flashed as a sharp arrow pierced through a vital point, killing the goblin Archer on the spot.
The arrow the Goblin Archer released in its dying moments struck Pierce’s armor with a “ding,” failing to penetrate it.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
It wasn’t until the goblin sentry outside the nest let out a sharp, strange alarm that Pierce, lying on the ground with one hand covering his head, suddenly snapped back to reality.
He quickly scrambled to his feet and immediately activated the [Piercing Thrust] skill, his body bursting forth with a sprinting speed far exceeding his usual pace.
In an instant, he reached the entrance of the nest, thrusting his longsword fiercely and piercing straight through the body of the goblin sentry.
“What should we do?!” A panicked Layla looked at Haus, completely unsure of what to do next.
Instinctively, Layla began chanting a spell, about to perform an Enchantment on Haus’s longsword.
But Haus interrupted her, signaling her to go help Pierce first.
Pierce was currently blocking the entrance, thrusting his sword again and again into the goblins that kept leaping out from inside the nest.
But Pierce’s strength was limited.
After piercing several goblins in succession, Pierce’s arms began to ache and tremble, and the heavy longsword gradually became harder to hold steady.
Fortunately, the bodies of the goblins he had pierced piled up at the entrance, making it difficult for the others to crawl out in the short term.
Just then, he felt the longsword in his hand become light again.
Looking down, he saw a faint green glow swirling around the blade; Layla was imbuing his sword with the Wind Element.
Glancing back gratefully at Layla, Pierce resumed thrusting his sword into the goblins.
In the distance, after successfully completing the wind Enchantment for Pierce, Layla’s tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and her legs instantly grew weak and shaky.
Her free hand instinctively clutched Haus’s sleeve as she leaned slightly against him, using his frame to steady her wobbling body.
On Haus’s other side, Sylvia stood with her longbow taut, an arrow nocked and ready, her expression full of vigilance.
Her gaze briefly swept over Layla, who was nestled against Haus, before she quickly turned her attention back to the sky, remaining alert for the return of the injured fierce bird and any potential sneak attacks.
At that moment, Haus felt somewhat exasperated by the actions of the two.
Seriously, why are you two standing so close?
I’m supposed to be protecting you, not the other way around!
Layla was pressed against his arm, and Sylvia was standing extremely close by his side.
The two of them crowding him severely restricted Haus’s movement and sword-swinging space.
Haus helplessly took half a step back, gently pried Layla’s hand from his sleeve, and guided her to a nearby tree trunk, letting her steady herself by holding onto it.
He then continued to watch their surroundings, remaining vigilant and ready to step forward to support Pierce at any moment.
After a while, Pierce, exhausted and with aching, numb arms, turned back and cast a pleading glance toward Haus.
The moment he received the signal, Haus immediately stepped forward to take over, swiftly and cleanly dispatching the few remaining struggling goblins.
As long as the goblins couldn’t escape the cave, they were quite easy to deal with.
In a one-on-one fight, dealing with them was like fighting seven or eight-year-old children; just a little caution with protective measures was enough.
After dealing with all the goblins, Haus glanced at the full-body scale armor Pierce wore, worth five gold coins, and a flicker of envy passed through his eyes.
Only Pierce would dare to do something like that.
The attacks from those goblins couldn’t harm Pierce at all.
Pierce was decked out in full armor.
Unlike himself, who only had a shoddy hardened leather chest piece that barely covered his upper body.
Though he had better mobility than Pierce, he couldn’t compare when it came to defense.
He was a little envious.
After finishing off the goblins, Haus didn’t rush to collect the spoils.
Instead, he led the three newcomers deeper into the dimly lit cave.
The interior was a mess, bleak and eerie, with filthy traces left behind by monsters everywhere.
Though not as terrifying as what Haus had seen during his last adventure, it was still more than ordinary people could handle.
The three newcomers couldn’t bear it, and all vomited.
After briefly surveying the horrifying surroundings, Haus guided Pierce to use his longsword to eliminate the goblin offspring.
But when Pierce saw the babbling, tender young creatures on the ground, he couldn’t bring himself to do it, hesitating to lower his sword.
These were still children.
“When dealing with monsters like these, you must root them out completely.
Otherwise, the next victims might be you, me, or even them!” Haus stared into Pierce’s eyes and spoke earnestly.
The latter’s fingers gripping the longsword tightened and loosened, loosened and tightened, before finally giving Haus a firm nod.
Emerging from the damp, gloomy goblin nest, a refreshing cool breeze from the forest greeted them.
Haus looked down at the goblin corpses laid out before the cave entrance.
Twelve in total.
It had to be said that in goblin extermination missions, the most valuable loot was usually the goblins themselves.
As for their nest?
There was nothing of value inside.
Not even anyone to rescue.
Only a scattering of listless, collapsed ewes, hens, and female birds…
Haus raised his gaze, looking deep into the forest, then turned to the three beside him, speaking in a steady tone: “Alright, shall we go seek revenge together?” The bird-like monster that had dive-bombed and ambushed them earlier, after being severely wounded by Sylvia’s arrow and falling from the sky, had its direction and trajectory of its fall firmly etched in Haus’s mind.
“That monster is badly injured and won’t get far.
We might as well follow its trail, search it out, and eliminate the threat.” This monster that had been following them all this way had to be dealt with and killed.
If they let it go now, there was no guarantee that on their return journey, it wouldn’t survive and circle back to its nest, or make noise to gather its kind for help, lying in ambush and waiting for a chance to strike.
Haus didn’t want to leave such a deadly hidden danger behind.
Only by completely killing it could they leave this Misty Forest with peace of mind.