On the Brink

Elsewhere, the battle had already reached a critical point.

Although four Goblin corpses lay on the ground, Bell, their main fighting force, had fallen to the ground, crying out in pain.

The flesh around his right Achilles tendon was a bloody mess, as though a huge chunk had been gouged out alive.

Panting heavily, Mia anxiously looked toward Bell.

When she saw two Goblins sneaking up beside him, her face turned pale. She tried to move closer to Bell and stop the Goblins from attacking him.

But standing in her way was a Goblin far more heavily built than its kin. Unlike the others, who were the size of human children, it stood two meters tall, with bulging muscles and thick bones. Its vicious face, lined with sharp fangs, radiated an oppressive presence.

It wielded a black iron Chopper. The craftsmanship was crude, but the blade was broad. On top of that, it even wore a poorly fitting set of leather armor.

If the other Goblins were cannon fodder, then it was undoubtedly the elite that led the cannon fodder.

Its larger body, stronger muscles, and superior equipment gave it an obvious advantage when facing low-level adventurers head-on.

The Goblin blocking Mia's path swung its Chopper down. The blade tore through the air with a shrill whistle.

Caught off guard, Mia only had time to raise her twin blades in front of herself to block the sudden attack.

"Bang!"

At the instant the weapons collided, sparks seemed to flash through the night.

Then Mia was sent flying by a tremendous force.

Gauss watched it all unfold, and a flicker of anxiety crossed his face.

Mia, who used two daggers, was clearly planning to develop toward agile, stealth-focused classes such as Ranger and Rogue.

Combined with her petite build, daggers were inherently at a disadvantage against long blades in a frontal clash. It was no surprise that she struggled against such a large Goblin.

Besides, she was desperate to save someone, and her mind was in disarray.

Damn it! Didn't the mission description say they were all ordinary Goblins? Gauss cursed inwardly.

According to the memories in his mind, among the vast number of Goblins in this world, rare elite individuals with classes could also emerge, such as Big Goblins, Goblin Shamans, Two-headed Goblins, and so on.

That Goblin that seemed to be the leader might have deliberately hidden itself in the deep night earlier, or perhaps it had only emerged from the cave after the battle began. In any case, Gauss had not noticed its existence before.

But now, it was clearly a special individual that had begun evolving toward becoming a Big Goblin.

It might still be far weaker than a true Big Goblin, but it was vastly stronger than its smaller kin!

Perhaps to genuine professionals, it was still nothing more than an unremarkable ordinary monster, no harder to kill than a normal Goblin.

But to low-level adventurers who had yet to enter the realm of professionals, it was a terrifying existence capable of wiping out the entire party.

Under the leadership of a powerful individual, the Goblins possessed greater fighting spirit. No wonder that even after losing four Goblins, the rest still worked together to deal with their respective enemies.

Three Goblins kept the three villagers occupied.

The other two circled Bell like sinister venomous snakes, waiting for the chance to deliver a fatal kiss.

The large Goblin at the center suppressed Mia, the only one who still retained some combat capability.

Yet the gap in strength between them was obvious to the naked eye.

Mia had managed to hold on until now, perhaps not because of her strength at all, but merely because she was a human woman, and it happened to want to capture her alive and intact.

Gauss took in the entire situation, and his mind began racing again.

Mia and the villagers were each tied down by their opponents, while Bell had already been injured and lost his combat effectiveness.

The two Goblins were clearly extremely cunning. Bell swung his longsword in pain, but tortured by agony, he had already lost his composure and was only futilely wasting what little strength he had left.

Once he was exhausted, the two Goblins would pounce and end his life.

The battle would then completely tip in the Goblins' favor.

Gauss struggled to his feet from the ground.

If the battle over there collapsed, Hailiel and he would not survive either.

But the moment he stood up, dizziness washed over him, as though he were suffering from low blood sugar. The whole world began to spin.

Many people had probably experienced something similar: once you made a plan to train through long-distance running, you could not stop halfway. Because once you stopped and started again, your body had to bear several times the heaviness and fatigue from before.

As for Gauss, the battle he had just gone through had consumed far more stamina than long-distance running, so his condition was only worse.

Moreover, he had discovered the downside of entering that state resembling an extremely low-grade version of Bullet Time. Although his reactions and combat ability had risen drastically, his body could not keep up with his overclocked mind. That state placed enormous strain on and damage upon his body, yet he had not noticed it during the fight.

At this moment, his thighs felt as heavy as lead. Every movement brought aching, stabbing pain throughout his body, while tiny wounds rubbed against his Cloth Armor and made him wince again and again.

His condition was far worse than he had expected.

"Hiss—huff—"

He felt as if every muscle in his body no longer belonged to him. Standing where he was, his calf muscles trembled continuously, as if trying to persuade him not to push himself and to lie down and rest.

Mia, who had been knocked flying, climbed back up and saw that Gauss could barely remain standing.

The last trace of hope in her heart shattered.

In truth, she too was nearly at her limit. Repeatedly using the skill Thrust had strained the muscles in her calves and arms.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The Sturdy Goblin gave her no time to catch her breath. It rapidly closed in and hacked down with its Chopper again and again.

With every blow, the hands Mia used to grip her daggers and block trembled more violently.

Gauss took a deep breath.

Everyone seemed to have been forced to the edge of a cliff, with death fast approaching.

But this was not an utterly irreversible dead end!

There was still hope.

Enduring the intense pain in his body, he looked toward Hailiel, who was also exhausted atop the tree trunk.

They were all tied together now. They had to give it everything they had.

He pointed toward the two Goblins warily circling Bell and feinting attacks, then gathered his strength and shouted at her.

"Hailiel, just like before, create another opening for me to attack!"

"Please!"

Even though his hands had begun trembling, the depths of his emerald eyes remained exceptionally resolute.

That determination seemed to cross the air and reach Hailiel.

Though she could not understand what use there was in creating another chance to kill an ordinary Goblin, she chose to trust Gauss without reservation.

Because Gauss's valiant, blood-soaked fighting earlier had already earned her trust.

Even though they had been teammates for less than two days, even though she did not understand what Gauss was thinking.

Taking a long breath, Hailiel waited until the air filled her chest and barely steadied her breathing before nodding at Gauss. Her chestnut hair was soaked with sweat and clung tightly to her forehead.

She brushed aside the disheveled strands before her brow, and her trembling arm drew a long arrow from the quiver on her back.

The fletching lightly rested against the bowstring. She did not draw the bow, instead looking at Gauss to signal that she was ready.

She had little strength left. After drawing the bow one more time, she would likely lose all strength for a while.

Gauss unsteadily picked up his dagger.

Forcing his sore, swollen, stone-stiff thighs to move, he began making his way toward Bell.

One step, two steps.

What was he doing?

The Large Goblin fighting Mia noticed Gauss's labored advance.

Confusion flickered in its eyes.

It had already gained the rudimentary thinking ability of a child, yet it still could not understand what threat that human, who could barely stand, could pose by approaching its two subordinates.

It withdrew its gaze and stopped paying attention to the harmless Gauss.

"Roar!"

It opened its mouth and roared at Mia. Her continued resistance had begun to irritate it.

Like a child about to lose interest in a toy, it narrowed its eyes, and the gaze fixed on Mia turned vicious.