Chapter 111 - 93: Friends Have Arrived
After the explosion, Matel staggered back, struggling to keep his Great Sword raised in front of him.
"It’s goblins," someone cried out in alarm.
Matel didn’t turn to look. He stared at the team members on the ground. Four more were dead.
’It’s a good thing I’m a Bronze Level Adventurer and spent a fortune on a Secret Medicine to enhance my physical Abilities,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, I probably would have been blown to bits just now.’
He haphazardly wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and quickly tried to think of a counter-plan, completely unaware that he had smeared the blood across a thin scar on his cheek.
He had gotten that scar on his first job as an Adventurer, a cut from a Bone Spike wielded by a goblin. Even though he had cleaved that goblin in two, its mark remained on his face.
"Healers, Shield the Warriors! Armored Warriors, advance! Prepare to destroy the barricade and charge through!" he roared.
The remaining men quickly followed his orders. Four Warriors charged the barricade, slamming into it with enough force to make it jump. If not for the chains binding it, that single blow might have pushed it aside.
"Get ready to hit it again—" Before Matel could finish, more explosions erupted around him. This time, however, thanks to the protection of the Shields, the nearby Warriors only suffered bleeding from the corners of their mouths and were in no mortal danger.
THUD, THUD, THUD. The sound of heavy footsteps approached. Matel looked up and was stunned to see a three-meter-tall, blue-skinned, red-haired giant running toward them.
"Watch out!" he shouted.
BOOM! The barricade was shoved back into place, wedged between two thick stone pillars.
The creature was stopping the Storm Brotherhood from destroying the barricade.
"Cut the chains!" Matel yelled, simultaneously ordering the Mages and Rangers behind him to attack the giant.
A continuous barrage of attacks struck the enemy, but it didn’t retreat an inch. It held firm against the massive barricade, and Matel was shocked to see the wounds on its body healing at a rapid pace.
"It’s a Giant!" he cried out in terror.
...
"Caocao is strong!" Giant Demon Caocao roared, bracing himself against the thick logs in front of him.
The enemy’s attacks rained down on him—Magic, Arrows, throwing darts. Every hit hurt, but Green Egg said they wanted to kill the goblins living here and steal all their things.
Caocao didn’t like these Adventurers. They shouldn’t be killing his companions so casually.
It was thanks to these goblins that he had enough to eat, that he could grow taller, and that he had others to play with.
These goblins weren’t bad guys.
Caocao wasn’t smart. He didn’t know about survival, or prospects, or power. He only knew that being hungry was awful. It was the kind of awful that made you want to claw your heart out, that made you not want to do anything but find something, anything, to stuff in your mouth—even if it was just a handful of bitter grass.
Green Egg once said that life was a funny thing. Even when you were too hungry to stand, you’d still crawl on the ground, grabbing anything you could stuff in your mouth.
Caocao thought he was right. That was exactly what he used to be like. And even though a Giant’s memory wasn’t very good, he would never forget the days he spent tied to a tree trunk.
Now, he had enough to eat. People even gave him snacks sometimes. The little gingerbread cookies were gone in a bite, but they were sweet—completely different from dried meat.
"Caocao ate his fill today!" he bellowed. Even if his body was covered in wounds, he wouldn’t let these Adventurers get through.
...
"Why is there such a tall Giant here?" Emlyn stared in shock at the scene before him.
He had already used up all his Arrows and was now using a teammate’s Quiver.
He had been terrified when they encountered the Brain-Eating Monster earlier, but he had managed to survive thanks to his agility.
Afterward, the veteran members had told the Apprentice Members that this was what a Relic was like—a single misstep could cost you your life, but there were also great riches to be found.
Emlyn already knew all this. Before joining the Storm Brotherhood, he had heard that many Adventurer organizations attempted to enter dangerous Relics and tombs.
This level of danger wasn’t something a mere nest of goblins could compare to.
But it didn’t matter. He wanted to get promoted, he wanted to acquire wealth, and he wanted to return to the Great Dome, the home every Elf longed for.
He viciously drew his Bow and Arrow and fired at the Giant.
The Giant in front of him had almost become a porcupine of arrows, but it still hadn’t fled.
"Watch out!" someone beside him yelled. Emlyn immediately jumped back to dodge. After another explosion, two more teammates fell.
’I thought we’d find a Heart Stealer deep in the Relic, but instead, we ran into a mob of goblins,’ he thought, quickly moving forward and drawing another Arrow.
’But this group of goblins is completely different from the ones I’ve killed before. They’re just like Lira and the others described.’ Emlyn stared intently at the goblins in the distance.
This time, he didn’t attack the Giant again. Instead, he chose those annoying shorties as his target.
’Just how tough can they be?’ he thought, gritting his teeth as he let an Arrow fly with a WHOOSH.
Immediately after, a voice rang out from behind him. "Wanderers, climb over the spikes from the sides! Mages, advance and attack the goblins!"
Instantly, the three remaining Wanderers rushed into the narrow space and began to quickly climb the walls on either side.
The walls were studded with numerous sharpened wooden stakes and Bone Spikes, which greatly increased the difficulty for the Wanderers.
But this wasn’t enough to stop them. The three Wanderers scrambled up with great speed, intending to get past the defensive structures and jump down to reap the goblins’ lives.
However, just as they made it over, a goblin wielding a Longsword with both hands came to meet them.
CLING! CLANG! After a few exchanges, they were surprised to find this goblin was tough to handle. Its strength and agility were both considerable, and it completely disregarded its own injuries, its wounds visibly healing at a rapid pace.
"This is cursed," one Wanderer said hatefully.
He fiercely threw several darts, then prepared to charge the goblin.
Using darts to pin an enemy in place followed by a swift close-range stab was a standard Wanderer tactic. But the goblin on the other side paid it no mind and charged right at him instead. Even being hit by the darts didn’t slow it down in the slightest.
The Wanderer was stunned. This suicidal fighting style made him flinch in fear for a split second, but that moment was all the enemy needed to close the distance.
SQUELCH. He looked down at the wound in his stomach. ’Such a clean cut.’
BOOM! A Flaming Arrow struck the goblin, but it only staggered a few steps before continuing its charge toward the other two Wanderers.
...
"Everyone, take cover!" Shire shouted.
The enemy Mages were powerful and were even floating in mid-air to cast their Magic. If they weren’t wary of the goblins’ many Hand Crossbows, they probably would have flown right over.
’I have to find a way to suppress their Mages,’ Shire thought, his mind racing.
But he couldn’t think of a good solution right away. Suddenly, he seemed to hear the chirping of birds.
’Why would there be birds chirping inside a Fortress?’ Shire immediately looked up and saw three birds made of fire, flying in an arc toward the enemy Mages.
"What is that?" Shire quickly turned his head to look.
He saw Nine-finger standing by a stone pillar with his only arm outstretched. From his fingertips, a stream of three Flaming Flying Birds shot toward the enemy Mages.
These Flaming Flying Birds were completely different from the ordinary Rocket Technique. They could turn and circle as if they were alive.
Soon, the enemy Mages were thrown into disarray. If the Healing Personnel hadn’t cast Shields on them, they would have definitely been injured.
BOOM! An Arcane Missile exploded next to Nine-finger, but he didn’t flinch. He continued to cast his Firebirds, but on his own, it was difficult to suppress the enemy Mages.
’I have to think of something, fast,’ Shire thought, gritting his teeth.
"Salman Tulu," a woman’s voice called out from behind him.
Shire turned in shock to see a hunchbacked Ghost Witch in a black robe walking over.
"If I hadn’t come back to check, were you just not going to tell me?" Agatha said angrily.
"Er, well, you can see it now, can’t you?" Shire managed a smile.
"If something happened to you, who would I find to help me excavate those ancient Relics and study ancient Runes?" Agatha said.
"I just didn’t want you to..." Shire started to say.
"I told you, you’re the only friend I have left," Agatha said. Then she turned to Rubus and said, "Go, bite those flying Mages."
Then, she walked into the middle of the passage, pointed at the enemy, and declared, "Star Realm Arrow."
Several white Arrows, glowing with blue starlight, shot toward the other side. One after another, Mages were hit and fell to the ground screaming.
...
"They have a Mage, and she’s not weak!" Qige yelled. At that moment, Matel was leading his men in a harassing attack on the Giant, but the barricade made of thick logs was still intact.
"Ugh." He grunted in pain and descended. He had just been hit by the enemy Mage, and his Shield had been significantly weakened.
’I have to figure something out...’ He scanned his surroundings, trying to find a breakthrough.
"AHH—" A scream made him look to the side. He saw a skeletal hand gripping a Short Blade, which was plunged into the back of a nearby Mage. No one had noticed the skeletal hand sneaking over.
"Everyone, watch out! It’s a sneak attack from a Wriggling Claw!" Qige shouted to his team.
But before he could finish his sentence, he cried out in pain and pitched forward. A goblin had appeared from nowhere and stabbed him viciously in the lower back.
’This place is much harder than what came before,’ Qige thought as he struggled to pull out a Healing Potion and drink it. Then he shouted, "Matel, fall back! Use the Blazing Fire Glue!"
Hearing Qige’s shout, Matel quickly rushed to his side.
"Use the Blazing Fire Glue. It can burn down the barricade and burn the Giant to death," Qige said, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"But that stuff could blow up in our faces," Matel said. Once ignited, Blazing Fire Glue would burn continuously and also cause explosions. In this narrow space, it was very likely to splash onto members of the Storm Brotherhood, which would cause friendly casualties.
"We have no other choice," Qige said. "All we can do is fall back as far as possible."
"Prepare the Blazing Fire Glue! Everyone, retreat into the passage!" Matel yelled, ordering everyone to get as far away as possible.
BOOM! A series of explosions rang out, and a raging fire began to burn.
...
"Blazing Fire Glue! Caocao, get back here!" Shire stared in shock at the scene ahead, shouting for the Giant to get away from there immediately.
But the splashing flames still ignited the Giant. Caocao ran back, screaming in agony.
At the same time, many goblins were also set on fire.
"Put out the fire, quickly!" Shire yelled. The other goblins scrambled to throw dirt on their burning companions.
Screams rose and fell one after another. Shire frowned deeply as he looked at his injured subordinates. He continuously tried to mentally grant Red Eyes’s Regeneration to his underlings one by one, but the instantaneous effect of the Regeneration was very limited.
Just as he was reaching his breaking point, Buck Teeth ran to his side and pointed deeper into the Fortress. "Chief, look!"
By the faint light of the Blue Fluorescent Mushrooms, Shire saw a swarm of little goblins flying toward them.