A moment later.
Covered in blood and with his mana completely depleted, Haus leaned on his longsword as he looked up at Zem.
Zem, in turn, met his gaze.
Around them lay the corpses of goblins.
Their eyes locked, both filled with shock.
Haus stared at Zem, who stood holding a massive axe, astonished that Zem had managed to take down over ten goblins single-handedly and still had the strength to remain standing.
It seemed he hadn’t even suffered many injuries.
Truly a veteran adventurer.
Meanwhile, Zem stared at Haus, who was drenched in goblin blood (and some of his own), equally shocked by how this newcomer could possess such terrifying strength and endurance.
After all, while goblins were far more fragile in defense compared to humans, their strength and speed were on par with ordinary people.
Moreover, facing multiple goblins at once meant that the slightest misstep would rapidly drain one’s stamina, slowing movements and making it impossible to avoid subsequent attacks, leading to injuries.
An ordinary newcomer could handle at most two or three goblins at a time.
Yet Haus had managed to take on a full six simultaneously!
Could it be that Haus’s talent was actually higher than his own?!
No wonder the usually steady captain had been willing to let Haus, a newcomer with no adventuring experience, join the team.
…
The battle gradually drew to a close.
Captain Garp once again proved with his actions that Haus’s judgment had not been mistaken.
In terms of level, the goblin Warrior might have been higher than anyone present.
But when it came to skill, it was no match for Garp, a veteran adventurer with thirty years of experience and countless battles under his belt.
What’s more, their strength was actually quite similar.
Garp first sidestepped to avoid a cleave from the Goblin Warrior, then maneuvered it into stepping into a small pit, throwing it off balance.
Seizing the moment when the Goblin Warrior was too unbalanced to mount an effective defense, Garp raised his greatsword and unleashed the signature skill of the warrior class once more.
[Slash] With speed and power far beyond the ordinary, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind, he brought his sword down in a mighty slash.
“Clang” Surprisingly, the Goblin Warrior before him twisted into an awkward posture and swiftly turned, raising its blade to block Garp’s attack.
As the edges collided, both weapons instantly chipped, leaving a noticeable gap in each.
The sheer force of it was evident.
“He’s already mastered two skills!” Garp immediately made his judgment.
Unlike the earlier use of [Swift Step] to cleave through Zem’s shield, this time, the Goblin Warrior unleashed a skill akin to a spinning slash, swiftly turning and swinging its blade to block his attack.
But that was all.
Using the force of the collision, Garp took a step back, then once again channeled the magic power throughout his body.
He bent his knees slightly and exerted a sudden burst of strength.
A powerful force erupted from the soles of his feet, propelling him into a leap.
As he soared into the air, Garp tightened his core abruptly.
The power within his body retracted from his feet, climbing upward along his bones and muscles, ultimately converging entirely in his arms.
The greatsword rose high.
Garp activated the skill [Slash] once more.
Unlike apprentices like Jack and Russell, as a quasi-professional adventurer whose overall strength approached that of a true professional, Garp not only possessed formidable physical prowess and several times the magic reserves of an ordinary person but was also capable of releasing [Skills] multiple times in quick succession.
He wouldn’t need a brief rest after using a skill, as Jack did.
This was also the confidence Garp had in facing the Goblin Warrior head-on.
In a short time, he could possess strength infinitely close to that of a Professional.
“Slash!” With a roar, the power within him poured out through the blade.
Seeing this, the Goblin Warrior also wanted to activate its skill again to block.
However, due to the inherent weakness of the goblin race compared to humans, even if it successfully advanced to become a professional, its physical attributes and mana Reserve were only roughly equivalent to those of a human apprentice-level adventurer.
Because of this, after simultaneously activating the [Swift Step] and [Whirlwind Slash] skills, the remaining mana in its body was no longer sufficient to support the release of another skill.
To block or evade Garp’s cleave.
This Goblin Warrior could now only cross its arms to hold the machete, relying solely on its brute force to withstand the blow.
“Clang—Crack!” Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The immensely heavy greatsword collided with the sharp machete blade, sparks flying alongside silver steel shavings, as two “crack” sounds rang out simultaneously.
Then, the machete in the Goblin Warrior’s hands snapped in half at the notch.
Thirty years of adventuring life, millions of practice swings, Garp swung his greatsword as steadily and decisively as he would slash at a scarecrow in a rice field on an ordinary day, cleaving the Goblin Warrior before him from head to toe in one stroke.
…
The injured Jack and Russell were carried back to the temporary camp by Zem to have their wounds treated.
Garp, meanwhile, took the newcomer Haus to clean up the battlefield.
Of course, there wasn’t much of any decent loot to speak of.
Most of these evil green-skinned imps wore no clothing and didn’t even have pockets to search.
As for the weapons they wielded, they were merely crude clubs made from thorny branches or rough bone daggers fashioned from the teeth of wild boars and other low-level animals.
These items probably wouldn’t even fetch a single copper coin if sold.
Only the machete in the hands of that Goblin Warrior was worth a few coins.
But at best, it would only fetch scrap metal recycling prices.
After all, it had been split in two by Garp’s sword, and reusing it would require melting it down and reforging it.
After spending a few minutes checking around and finding nothing, Haus turned and approached Garp, asking him how to properly cut off the goblins’ ears to exchange for mission rewards.
Under Garp’s guidance, Haus quickly mastered the technique for swiftly cutting off Goblin ears.
With one slash, he easily severed the left ear without wasting time or effort.
Tossing the harvested trophies into the special loot pouch at his waist, Haus exchanged a glance with Garp, who then looked toward the nearby goblin nest.
“Let’s go.” Captain Garp led Haus toward the goblin nest.
With the goblins now completely cleared out, there were no more dangers inside the nest.
It was time to go in and search.
The two arrived at the cave entrance.
Garp took out two pieces of bleached linen cloth from his waist.
One he tied over his face like a mask, covering his nostrils.
The other he handed to Haus.
“Be careful of poisoning.” The goblin nest was filled with large amounts of filthy, foul-smelling, slightly toxic gases.
Ordinary people who accidentally inhaled them could easily fall ill or get infected.
Only inherently filthy monsters like goblins could withstand it.