"Damn it." The archer drew another arrow from his quiver. The worst-case scenario had happened: the path had collapsed, leaving the priestess and thief on the other side while the archer and the other thief remained where they were.
Most importantly, the party's knight had fallen alone to the next level. They could choose to abandon him; there was definitely enough time. They only needed to connect the broken ends with a rope and pull the priestess and thief back.
That would mean sacrificing the knight and relying on him to hold them off long enough.
But if they wanted to face thirty goblins head-on, they would all have to slide down the wall to the next level and fight together.
If... if they made a mistake, they would all die here.
The archer kept his fully drawn bow aimed without firing. His thoughts were a tangled mess. He was waiting for Mel. If Mel gave the order to abandon the knight, he would not have to bear that pressure himself.
But what right did Mel have to order them to abandon someone? Before Lavi had introduced them, Mel had never even met them.
Lavi, on the other side of the collapsed path, also realized that things were going badly. But what else could he do? Go down and see if a miracle happened?
Their original plan had been to slowly clear out the goblins, not wage war against them like this. If anyone was to blame, it was the unstable path.
"Luke, are you all right?" the priestess asked the knight below.
"I'm fine for now, but the goblins may have spotted me! They're coming this way!"
At that critical moment, a voice shattered their hesitation. The one who spoke was Mel. "Everyone follows my commands from now on!