Engagement

"Are we starting the commission tonight?" Bell pondered.

They had roughly discussed the arrangements in the carriage. According to the original plan, they would stay in the village for the night, rest up, and take action tomorrow.

But this sudden turn of events had clearly disrupted their plans.

"Two villagers have been taken. If we don't rescue them tonight, it'll be too late." Hailiel sighed. "But it's too dark at night. The danger of fighting goblins increases greatly."

She was deeply conflicted as well, her fingers constantly twisting through her hair.

"And we haven't conducted any scouting yet," Gauss added from the side.

"So it really is dangerous," Mia agreed.

None of the four were experienced adventurers.

Gauss instinctively felt that acting at night was not a good idea. Monsters always had better night vision than humans.

Reason told him that they should wait until sunrise, head to the goblin stronghold, gather intelligence, and only then make their move.

But if they did that...

The two victims would suffer harm that could never be healed.

Besides, they had come here in the first place because of the commission to exterminate the goblins.

He sighed inwardly. It seemed that many choices had no right answer.

"Then let's each decide according to our own wishes. This is an unexpected situation, so no matter what decision we make, everyone must respect one another. I'll count down from three. When I finish, we'll all say it at the same time: go or don't go."

"Is that okay?" Hailiel took a deep breath. Before she knew it, her forehead was covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

"I have no objections."

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

"Go!" "Go." "Go." "Go."

Gauss was half a beat slower, but he gave the same answer as everyone else.

Having received a good education in his previous life, he still could not bring himself to be coldhearted.

Hailiel let out a breath of relief when she saw that everyone had made the same decision.

"However, we need villagers familiar with the surrounding woods to act with us, and we'll need light," Gauss said. "During the mission, our priority must be ensuring our own safety. Only then can we rescue the victims."

Though his map ensured that he would almost never get lost, he still knew nothing about unexplored areas. They needed locals who knew the terrain.

That was the only way to reduce the risks as much as possible.

"I agree as well."

After the group reached a unanimous decision, they informed the villagers.

"Thank you so much, everyone!"

"Please, brave warriors! You have to bring Jenny and Aisha back!"

As if they had found their backbone, the villagers all expressed their gratitude to the four-person party.

When they learned that someone was needed to lead the way, four men volunteered to go with them. They were all immediate family members of the missing women and had been among those calling most urgently for a rescue.

They were frantic with worry. In fact, even if Gauss and the others had not arrived, they had planned to head for the goblin nest to save their families.

To save time, they quickly gathered their equipment and headed into the woods with torches in hand.

The villagers actually knew the rough location of the goblins' nest.

The two men walking at the front held torches in one hand and pitchforks in the other, their steps hurried.

They were the fathers of the captured Jenny and Aisha. Their faces were grim as they kept quickening their pace.

As the four-person party hurried along, they discussed their battle plan.

"Just like we practiced yesterday: Bell and Mia will take the front and engage them head-on. I'll attack the goblins from the flank with my bow. Gauss will also use magic to restrain the goblins and create chances for Bell and Mia to kill them. He can also support Bell and Mia with the Wooden Spear or a dagger."

Bell and Mia had no objections to Hailiel's arrangement, even though they would be the front line facing the goblins directly and taking the greatest risk.

"Alright." Gauss agreed as well.

They had practiced all afternoon yesterday. Although he did not know how much of their training would show in actual combat, Gauss had discovered that all three of them were quite capable.

All three had mastered a prerequisite skill for their professions and could use them proficiently.

Mia's skill was [Thrust]. It allowed her to lunge forward a certain distance and use the twin blades in her hands to deliver a series of strikes to enemies in front of her.

Bell's skill was [Direct Chop]. It sounded plain enough, but when activated, it greatly increased the force of his slash, making his longsword strikes far more powerful.

As for Hailiel's skill, it was [Precise Aim]. Once activated, it enhanced both her eyesight and arm strength, allowing her to hit every shot at short to medium range.

Together with Gauss's Mage Hand.

Though they severely lacked mission experience, this rookie party was actually not weak. At least on paper, they surpassed many low-level adventurer parties.

That was also why Gauss had agreed to act.

Seven or eight goblins, even at night, were no match for a party where every member had mastered a skill.

The moment they engaged the enemy head-on, they only needed to use their skills to quickly take down one enemy each. After that, it would simply become a series of one-on-one fights.

"Uncles, we'll need you to hold the goblins back for a while. Once we each finish off our opponents, we'll come help you."

"Don't worry. We can handle one goblin."

After a brief discussion, they continued onward in silence.

After some time, the villagers leading the way stopped.

An open clearing appeared before them.

A bonfire burned in the center of the clearing, and they could vaguely make out a cave behind it.

It appeared to be a natural cave, roughly two meters across, stretching deep into darkness beyond sight.

"Looks like that's the place."

Everyone looked toward the distant cave.

The cave was pitch-black. With no source of light, they could not see anything inside.

After observing it, Gauss waved at the others to draw their attention. He was about to say that he would move closer and activate Mage Hand.

He wanted to see if he could use Mage Hand's casting range of around ten meters to investigate the interior.

Then a sharp cry suddenly rang out beside him, especially piercing in the silent night.

"Wah wah wah!"

The sound came from Gauss's left, not far away. He had been concentrating, and the sudden cry startled him badly.

Following the sound, he turned his head. When he saw the enemy's appearance, he inwardly cursed.

A sharp-eared Green-skin burst from the bushes, repeatedly letting out loud howls to warn its companions in the distant cave.

Damn it! The goblins had posted scouts far from their cave!

The sudden change made Gauss's heart race.

At that moment, the world before his eyes suddenly seemed to slow down, everything becoming sluggish as his thoughts turned exceptionally clear. It was as though he had entered Bullet Time.

He drew his dagger, swiftly sidestepped, and slashed the blade precisely toward the little Green-skin's neck.

The scouting goblin instinctively tried to dodge, but in the next instant, an invisible force moved.

Mage Hand!

An invisible spectral arm shoved hard against its back.

That not particularly powerful force made the goblin's backward evasive movement freeze for an instant.

Then the point of the metal blade swept forward in a beautiful arc, cutting through green skin. Blood poured from its throat and crushed larynx like water from mashed tofu.

Die!

In a single instant, as if by reflex, his seamless slash and perfectly timed spellwork directly sliced open the goblin's throat.

Its loud cries instantly turned into weak, rasping hisses.

"Goblin killed *1."

"Monster Kill Count: 2."

"Bang!"

The goblin collapsed to the ground, its head nearly severed. Its murky yellow eyes stared fixedly at Gauss, as if it wanted to remember the human who had taken its life in its final moments.

"Prepare to engage!"

The others had not expected Gauss to move so quickly, but this was no time for surprise.

Bell and Mia took the lead and rushed forward, intending to block the main goblin force inside the cave.

But they were clearly a step too late.

The goblin's earlier cries had undoubtedly alerted the goblin group inside the cave.

A string of shouts and hurried footsteps now echoed continuously from within, like enraged apes unleashing aggressive threats.

The goblins poured out of their nest before the two could reach it.

More and more footsteps sounded from the shadows, while pairs of red eyes emerged in the flickering firelight.

One pair, two pairs, eight pairs, twelve pairs, thirteen pairs.

Gauss, trying to quickly catch up with the two, realized something was wrong.

He hurriedly shouted at the two who had become separated from the group.

"This isn't right! There are too many enemies!"

"The intelligence was wrong!"

"Watch out!"

Facing more than a dozen pairs of red eyes, everyone felt as though the entire cave was crawling toward them!

With his heartbeat hammering wildly, Gauss learned another valuable lesson.

That was—

Never blindly trust mission intelligence.