The Fourteenth Chapter: Fall (An extra chapter for my dear friend Mo Wen Wo)

The female fighter, moving quickly, unleashed a flurry of kicks at the Goblin standing before Lin Yun. Unfortunately, only the first kick connected, hitting its arm and staggering it. The Goblin, using its small size and its wobbly advantage, practically rolled and scrambled away, dodging the second kick. It was a shame, as the female fighter had charged forward, and two kicks were her limit in that unstable state.

Seeing the female fighter's fierce assault, the priestess quickly asked, "Um, Mr. Silent, do you need healing now?"

Lin Yun checked his own health, then looked at the female fighter's blood-stained shoulder, still pierced by an arrow. "You take this one to get treated first. Don't use divine magic; I'll fall back shortly." With that, Lin Yun stepped in front of the female fighter again.

Hearing Lin Yun's words, the priestess nodded quickly and stepped forward, pulling the female fighter back. It seemed she had experience with treating wounds. Gritting her teeth, she said to the female fighter, "Please bear with me." Then, she yanked the arrow from the female fighter's shoulder and produced the Ningshen Flower Lin Yun had given her. However, since it required time to take effect, neither of them could join the fight for the moment.

Just then, the young warrior, finally finding an opening, charged forward. He rushed right up to the Goblin and brought his short sword down. However, perhaps the charge was a bit too long, leaving him winded. His hand trembled, and before the sword could even hit the Goblin, it slipped from his grasp.

What's going on, little bro? Are you here just to be funny? Lin Yun's face stiffened as he watched the young warrior. Fortunately, his helmet hid his expression.

Seriously, you're something else. You had the perfect opportunity for a cool finishing blow, and you... you actually messed it up. How bizarre.

The dropped sword made the young warrior blush. The female fighter, who had nearly been knocked over by his reckless charge, shook her head, deciding not to comment.

Lin Yun, meanwhile, swung his arm and struck the Goblin with his staff again.

"D20+2+2=12, Hit."

The Goblin had intended to dodge Lin Yun's staff strike, but the young warrior's obstruction caused it to pause for a moment. This allowed Lin Yun to finally land a hit on the Goblin.

"D6+2+1=5"

The hit Goblin finally fell. As it did, the light from the Burning Lamp Staff flickered.

Four Goblins emerged from the depths of the cave, running towards Lin Yun. Behind them, a massive dark silhouette was becoming visible. Clearly, this was the Giant Goblin Lin Yun had been wary of.

The female Magician was in her own world, so she was out of the question. The priestess, after a little time, had finally bandaged the female fighter's shoulder wound. At least she wouldn't suffer severe damage, and the bleeding had stopped, allowing the female fighter to rejoin the battle at any time.

"Let's retreat for now." Seeing the Giant Goblin appear, Lin Yun didn't hesitate. He grabbed the young warrior beside him and turned to run.

"Sigh." The young warrior was bewildered, but his feet instinctively followed. However... his short sword was still lying there...

"Sigh, okay." The priestess and the female fighter, who had been ready to re-enter the fray, watched in confusion as Lin Yun and the young warrior bolted. They were a bit surprised, but the smooth progress of the battle had filled them with confidence in Lin Yun's command, so they followed him. As for the withdrawn female Magician, well, at least she could run.

Though the Goblins had short legs, they weren't slow runners. But the Giant Goblin, being a large creature much larger than a human, looked clumsy but ran just as fast, even faster than the regular Goblins.

The Giant Goblin, who had been slowly following the smaller Goblins, saw Lin Yun and the others dare to run and immediately wanted to charge. However, as always, the Giant Goblin used the regular Goblins as bait and cannon fodder. This time, habitually following behind them, he was blocked by the very Goblins he usually led.

Not possessing high intelligence, he furiously threw the two unfortunate Goblins in front of him, smashing them against the wall. They were injured but not dead.

One of the Giant Goblin's hands seemed to have been too strong, crushing the shoulder of the Goblin it held, causing it to fall to the ground, awaiting death.

Because these Goblins had blocked its path, wasting some of the Giant Goblin's time, it finally reached Lin Yun's heels moments after Lin Yun and the others had gained some distance. Wielding a massive stone axe, it prepared to swing at Lin Yun.

But just then, Lin Yun suddenly turned and shouted at the Giant Goblin, "Fall."

The Giant Goblin, which should have been raising its massive stone axe to strike Lin Yun, was stunned. Following its forward momentum, it fell to the ground, its head conveniently landing right in front of Lin Yun.

Lin Yun had known the Giant Goblin's speed would be much faster than that of a regular Goblin. While the Goblins were decent runners, according to Dungeons & Dragons calculations, small creatures of similar size to Goblins typically moved 20 feet per round. Medium-sized humanoids moved 30 feet. Goblins were at this speed. Large creatures like the Giant Goblin, however, had a range of 40 feet.

Therefore, the Giant Goblin was truly fast. Combined with the distance Lin Yun and the others had put between them, and the interference from the regular Goblins, which caused two to be thrown aside, the remaining two Goblins cowered to the side, allowing the Giant Goblin to charge forward unimpeded.

While Lin Yun hadn't expected this development – he had only wanted to create a slight separation between the Giant Goblin and the main group – he hadn't anticipated the Giant Goblin becoming such a helpful ally by killing its own teammate.

Facing this Giant Goblin, the original story had already given Lin Yun a hint. Although Lin Yun didn't have time to fashion a rope, he unfortunately had a spell prepared today called Command. Command was a first-level spell. If the target failed its Wisdom saving throw against Lin Yun's spell DC, they would be immune to its effects.

The spell DC was calculated as the base 10 + the spell's level (which was its rank) + the caster's spellcasting ability modifier. Since Lin Yun was a Priest, this was his Wisdom modifier. This meant the saving throw DC for Command was 14. Of course, that was under normal circumstances. Although Lin Yun had chosen the human option that granted +1 to all attributes instead of the one that granted an extra feat, as a level 1 Priest, he still had a feat point to use.

After sifting through nearly 300 feat options, he chose this one. It was a victory for his perfectionism.

This was a special feat option only available during character creation, a semi-background feat called Spellcasting Genius. It granted Lin Yun +2 to his spell attack rolls and to his target's saving throw DCs, on top of his normal spellcasting ability modifier. This meant Lin Yun's Command spell DC should have been 16.

Clearly... this Giant Goblin brother did not make the save.

The Command spell allowed you to issue a single-word command to a creature, which it would then attempt to fulfill to the best of its ability as soon as possible. You could choose from the following options:

* Approach: During the spell's duration, the target moves towards you as quickly as possible. It does nothing but move towards you and provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. * Drop: The target drops everything it is holding and will not pick up anything it drops for the duration of the spell. * Fall: The target falls prone. It can act normally while prone but suffers the usual penalties for being prone. * Flee: During the spell's duration, the target moves away from you as quickly as possible. It does nothing but move and provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. * Halt: During the spell's duration, the target remains motionless. It cannot take any actions, but it is not helpless.

Since Command only required a verbal component, Lin Yun didn't even need to make any somatic gestures or use spell components. He simply uttered the word "Fall" and completed the spell, which was very convenient.

Even after falling, the Giant Goblin still attempted to attack Lin Yun. It swung its massive stone axe towards Lin Yun's feet, aiming for a leg-breaking strike. Unfortunately, this attack, which Lin Yun had anticipated, was dodged by him as he leaped. It felt like skipping rope.

And not only that, while running, Lin Yun had already informed the others about the situation. So when they heard the Giant Goblin fall, everyone turned their heads and began attacking it. The young warrior, inspired by the Giant Goblin's swing of the massive stone axe and his own jump, had actually leaped onto the Giant Goblin's body. Was he truly a dexterity-focused warrior?

He held the short sword he had retrieved from his waist after Lin Yun's explanation and plunged it into the Giant Goblin's nape. This time, it wasn't so embarrassing. The short sword deeply embedded itself into the Giant Goblin's nape, dealing significant damage.