Blood and Fire in the Forest

"Eighteen!"

"Everyone, be careful!"

Gauss quickly counted their numbers.

Though he had no idea what had gone wrong with the mission intel, there was no time to dwell on it.

They had to deal with the enemies in front of them first.

Eighteen goblins—even if each of the four farmers who had come along could help hold one off.

That still left fourteen. Each person would have to face at least three at once.

It did not sound like much, but when a pack of hideous little monsters surrounded them, their brownish-yellow teeth and lips opening in a unified roar, the savage aura washing over them was enough to make anyone shudder.

The sense of threat brought by one goblin and a whole group of goblins was completely incomparable.

"Wahoo!!!!"

The pitch-black jungle echoed with beastly roars, raising goosebumps all over Gauss's body.

Within moments, the battle began!

The goblins surged toward them, splitting the battlefield into several sections.

A goblin wielding a spear charged straight at Gauss. Its cloudy eyes brimmed with greed, sticky drool sliding from its thick lips and yellow-brown teeth.

It rushed forward, flexed its arm, and thrust a stone spear bound with vines upward at Gauss's jaw.

At the critical moment, his 7 Intelligence kicked in again!

At that instant, the world in his vision seemed to slow down once more. More accurately, his thoughts had accelerated!

Not only did he see the enemy in front of him, but he also caught sight of a goblin with a dagger sneaking up behind him.

Another goblin at his side had targeted him as well.

For a moment, Green-skins had nearly surrounded him completely.

With his thoughts accelerated, Gauss had time to assess the situation.

Faced with the encirclement.

He stomped hard, using the rebound from his boot striking the soil to dodge toward an open side.

The spear and dagger sliced through the air.

Having barely evaded the vicious attacks, sweat began to form on Gauss's back.

His Intelligence was exceptional, but all his other physical attributes were only at the level of a normal, healthy adult man.

Even though his mind could react in time, his body seemed sluggish compared to his accelerated thoughts. He needed to adapt to this disconnect between mind and body.

And the goblins were pressing too close.

After briefly losing their target, the three goblins lunged at him again with bared fangs and claws.

He wanted to seize the chance to focus all his strength on killing one first, just as he had swiftly killed that goblin scout earlier.

But the reality was that he first had to keep maneuvering around them.

The goblins before him might not have been large, but they were covered in muscle, nimble, and quite strong.

Though he did not want to admit it, he was genuinely a little intimidated.

The threat posed by three goblins in front of him was nothing like that lone goblin he had ambushed the first time.

"Ah!!"

A painful scream rang out nearby.

As Gauss kept dodging and blocking attacks with his Small Round Shield, he glanced toward the sound.

The first casualty of the battle had appeared.

One of the villagers who had led the way was now kneeling on the ground, a spear piercing through his abdomen.

Blood continuously gushed from the wound, and a pool of blood had already formed beneath him in an instant.

A goblin pounced on him, repeatedly stabbing its dagger into the wound like a hyena.

Like an executioner carrying out death by a thousand cuts, or a demon at a slaughter ritual, the goblin pinning the farmer down wore an indescribably excited smile.

"Ah!!!"

The villager struggled and wailed. The searing pain of his internal organs being attacked drove his mind into utter despair.

The torch in his hand fell into the blood, yet it continued to burn stubbornly.

Flesh flew and flames rose, the firelight casting the shadow of a long-eared body like an evil ghost, making the scene utterly terrifying.

The bloody sight left Gauss's mouth dry and his eyelids twitching. Never before had he felt the shadow of death looming over him from so close. The demonic goblins made his scalp tingle.

Gauss's heart pounded wildly, his entire body burning hot as a mix of unease, excitement, tension, and countless other emotions flowed through his blood.

No. I can't be afraid. I'll really die!

He gritted his teeth. The bloody sight that struck straight at his soul somehow calmed his previously panicked heart.

More accurately, the immense threat of death forced him to cast aside his fear and fight with everything he had.

"Scum! Die!"

In the darkness, a crisp bowstring twanged.

A black arrow spun through the air, ripping through the atmosphere with a sharp explosive crack.

"Rip!"

After the brief shriek came the dull sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh.

Hailiel, not far away, had drawn her bow and loosed an arrow. A Precise Aim pinned the goblin that was still finishing off the villager firmly in place.

Her chest rose and fell sharply, clearly showing that she was far from calm.

It was not that the goblins were especially powerful, but that the primal and bloody scene had hit her too directly.

"Watch out!"

Gauss, who had kept an eye on his companions from the corner of his vision, spotted another goblin quietly approaching Hailiel after she fired her arrow. Hailiel was still recovering her strength, her attention drawn by the bloody scene moments before.

He immediately activated Mage Hand.

An invisible spectral hand swiftly condensed in the air beside Hailiel.

Then it slammed hard into the goblin's right wrist, the one holding the knife.

The Short Blade it had raised high, ready to slash down along Hailiel's fair neck from behind, was knocked off course by the invisible force of roughly ten pounds.

"Bang!!"

The Short Blade struck the metal light armor on Hailiel's back with a piercing metallic clang.

Hailiel staggered from the blow. Though the metal armor had directly stopped the blade, she still had to absorb the force of the impact herself.

"Cough, cough—"

She staggered forward two steps, a muffled groan escaping her throat.

Fortunately, after a brief daze, she quickly came back to her senses.

She grabbed the dagger by her boot and, before the goblin—also staggering from the recoil—could regain its footing, slashed viciously.

The dagger sliced straight down from the goblin's chest to its lower abdomen.

"Splurt, splurt, splurt."

With its intestines spilling out, the goblin fell backward unwillingly.

"Thanks!"

Still shaken, Hailiel looked gratefully at Gauss in the distance.

If Gauss had not helped her at that critical moment, she would have been the one lying on the ground.

However, as though Gauss's identity as a Mage had triggered some instinct engraved in the blood of these Green-skins, more and more of them rushed toward him.

At least six or seven goblins lunged at him viciously at once.

Seeing the growing number of goblins surrounding Gauss, Hailiel hurriedly drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it on her bowstring.

"I'll help you!"

As Precise Aim activated, a surge of strength gathered in her arms.

The fully drawn bowstring released its stored power and sent the arrow flying.

"Whoosh!"

A goblin beside Gauss immediately had a bloody hole blasted through its chest. It swayed where it stood, taking more air in than it let out.

Seeing this, Gauss dodged while simultaneously thrusting his spear with Precision.

"Thrust!"

The spearhead pierced through the goblin's wound, and blood sprayed out!

Gauss struck and withdrew, successfully finishing it off.

"Goblin killed *1"

"Monster Kill Count: 3"

He looked toward Hailiel, and Hailiel looked at him as well.

They both understood what the other meant.

The battlefield had been split into several sections.

Mia, Bell, and the three villagers were each fighting on their own.

They had to work together to deal with these goblins first. Only then would they have a chance to break away and help the others.

"Don't use your skills too often!"

Gauss shouted a reminder.

He knew that every time Hailiel used a skill, it consumed a great deal of stamina.

After calming down, Gauss also realized his own advantage.

As a human, even with only an average physical score of 5, his stamina, strength, and explosive power still surpassed those of goblins.

The reason ordinary humans found it difficult to handle more than two goblins at once was entirely because they could not defend against attacks from multiple directions. Under a barrage of attacks, they naturally could not react in time and would quickly be swarmed and carved to death by goblins.

But his 7 Intelligence seemed to grant him faster thinking during battle.

Combined with the Mage Hand he could use proficiently.

He was more than capable of facing multiple goblins and continually maneuvering around them.