Gauss, who was hiding, had already silently activated Mage Hand.
Worried that their scent might give them away, the remaining team members had hidden relatively far away.
Only Gauss had stayed within about ten meters, due to Mage Hand's casting-range limitation.
However, Meva had already taken care of both his hiding place and scent concealment.
Thus, the six goblins drawing closer failed to notice anything unusual.
When they reached the gray rabbit, one of the goblins cautiously threw a stone toward it.
"Thud!"
The stone landed beside the gray rabbit, yet nothing happened.
Seeing this, the goblins visibly relaxed.
They observed their surroundings one after another. After confirming that no other creatures were present in the several meters of open space nearby, they hurried beneath the tree.
The largest goblin, their leader, reached out and grabbed the gray rabbit with both hands.
An excited yet cruel smile spread across its face. Murky drool dripped from the edges of its thick lips, and as its yellow fingernails dug in, the barely breathing gray rabbit was strangled to death.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
The other goblins crowded around, jumping up and down around the gray rabbit in their leader's hands.
The free food seemed to make them very happy.
After all, goblins were omnivores, and they did not always have meat to eat.
Before they could celebrate—
"Click!"
A faint sound of a mechanism being triggered rang out.
The goblins that had seemingly heard the noise raised their heads and looked toward it.
What they saw was a large net opening and rapidly falling.
After Mage Hand triggered the capture net, the mechanism released it.
The weighted magnets along the net's edges sent it dropping at tremendous speed.
In the blink of an eye, it had reached the goblins' heads.
Realizing what was happening, the goblins hurriedly tried to run, but it was clearly too late.
Packed closely together and unable to get away in time, the goblins were directly covered by the large net.
The special closing mechanism, driven by magnets, pulled the net tight, trapping the goblins like a tightening sack.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
"Waaah!"
The iron thorns woven around the net's edges pierced into the goblins' bodies, making them shriek in pain.
As they instinctively struggled, the disturbed net trap tangled around them. Iron thorns stabbed into their flesh from all directions; the more they struggled, the tighter it became, trapping them even more securely.
At the same time, the poison applied to the iron thorns began to take effect.
"That simple?"
Gauss, being the closest, saw everything most clearly.
The trap made by Meva, an apprentice Rogue, had worked even better than he had expected.
A group of goblins capable of causing everyone some trouble had been trapped just like that.
He simply did not know how long it would hold them.
Gauss had already noticed that several goblins were enduring the pain and beginning to cut through the net with their weapons.
The other members of the Night Owl Squad emerged from their hiding places one after another.
However, none of them moved as quickly as Gauss, who was closest because he had been responsible for triggering the mechanism.
By the time they were on their way over, Gauss had already charged toward the goblins, Rapier in hand.
It was a perfect chance to claim the kills, and he would not miss it.
Upon reaching the trapped goblins, he ruthlessly jabbed his Rapier into the vital points of each one.
Every strike pierced flesh!
Each thrust left a bloody hole in their bodies, and thick, foul-smelling blood gushed out like a spring.
Gauss felt no affection for goblins, not even sympathy.
The sword in his hand was as cold as a knife used to slaughter fish.
"Goblin killed *1" "Monster Kill Count: 13" "Monster Kill Count: 14" "Monster Kill Count: 15" "Monster Kill Count: 18"
The six goblins had all become accumulated kill numbers in the bestiary under Gauss's merciless Rapier.
He had taken another step toward the next milestone of fifty.
And whether it was merely his imagination or not, after killing six goblins, the Rapier in his hand felt noticeably smoother and more coordinated when he wielded it.
The added sense of rapport felt as though he had practiced with the Rapier for several extra days out of thin air.
By the time Gauss finished his swift "slaughter" of the goblins, the others had only just arrived near the trap.
Since there was no urgent situation, everyone had not hurried on their way over.
And after seeing that Gauss had already brought down the blade, they became even less anxious.
A kill was a kill, and Gauss's Rapier was unlikely to damage Meva's capture net.
"Gauss, let me make one thing clear first. We aren't dividing the mission reward according to the number of monsters killed."
"Although you did play a part by triggering the mechanism, you can't take the entire mission reward for these six goblins, can you?" Leven said half-jokingly.
"Understood." Gauss nodded, beaming inwardly. He had already obtained the reward he wanted most. Everything else was just a bonus, and he would get his share of the mission reward anyway.
"I just wanted to hone my Sword Skill on some goblins." He offered the explanation casually.
He was still quite happy. Compared to the goblins he had painstakingly killed at Birch Village last time, accumulating six kills this time had been like being handed them for free, without any effort at all.
It was all thanks to the traps prepared in advance.
Gauss silently etched that lesson into his mind.
If he made good use of tools and traps, could he perhaps wipe out a small group of goblins effortlessly and without injury, even by himself?
The traps he was good at making were all small animal traps. For a large capture trap like this, he might have to secretly learn from Meva.
As a half-baked hunter, his trap-making skills were clearly inferior to those of Meva, an apprentice Rogue.
Thinking of this, he suddenly understood why Meva did not fit in with the team, disliked talking to others, yet held an unshakable position within the group.
No matter what kind of team it was, they all needed someone who could investigate and gather intelligence, make traps and poison, and provide offensive support from the flank with a dagger and Hand Crossbow during battle.
For all he knew, this gloomy figure wrapped in a cloak might actually be the true core of the Night Owl Squad.
Gauss glanced at Meva, who had silently and quietly returned to the group.
I'll recruit a powerful Rogue for my own team in the future, too. Gauss thought silently.
Thinking of how he might effortlessly claim kills just like he had today, the corners of his mouth rose into an uncontrollable smile.
That sudden smile made Doyle, who happened to be silently observing him from the side, shudder.
He only killed a few defenseless goblins. Was he really that happy about it?
Could Gauss really be some kind of psychopath? Or did he have some unknown past, such as a deep-seated grudge against goblins?
Doyle could not help imagining all sorts of things.
"All right, everyone. Prepare for a frontal engagement." Leven suddenly spoke up to remind them. "The enemy should be arriving soon."
"Understood."
"Understood."
"Got it." Gauss's heart tightened as well, and he pulled his wandering thoughts back.
The commotion they had just caused—the sound of the capture net falling, the team's footsteps, and the goblins' prolonged agonized screams—would undoubtedly alert the goblins in the ruins.
Meva had scouted fifteen to twenty-two goblins.
After subtracting the six he had killed, that left roughly nine to sixteen.
As they silently considered the situation, everyone settled into position and stood ready.
Before long, a noisy chorus of footsteps came from the distance.
A group of goblins arrived at the scene.
Five goblins holding small wooden shields and clubs stood at the front. Behind them were three goblins carrying Stone Spears and two goblins wielding steel blades.
The final four Archer goblins trailed at the back of the group, clearly preparing to find advantageous positions from which to fire.
There were fourteen goblins in total.
Although there were no abnormal individuals like the one they had encountered at Birch Village last time, this group of goblins was much better disciplined. They even had a simple yet complete division of roles.
The threat posed by the four Archer goblins in particular could not be ignored entirely.
This was the level of threat a goblin group numbering close to twenty should possess. The goblins at Birch Village had merely been the result of two small groups merging. Aside from one unusually large goblin, they had not had enough time to develop sufficient combat strength.
After observing the goblins' numbers and formation from afar, Leven briefly arranged their tactics.
"Meva, Oliver. Leave the Archer goblins to the two of you. We'll handle the front."
"If necessary, I can also provide ranged support with Magic Missile," Gauss added. He happened to need some practical training with the skill.
To become stronger, he would also seize opportunities to claim kills during battle. After all, his original role in the team, aside from using Magic Missile to kill key enemies, was that of a free agent for the rest of the time.
Who said claiming kills could not count as support?
"Good. We'll leave it to you."
"Then everyone, prepare for battle!"
"Kill them all!!"
Leven slammed the Oak Greatshield down in front of him, and everyone instantly entered battle mode.
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