Terrifying

The Female Fighter saw Lin Yun get injured, and her eyes turned bloodshot. She threw two punches in a row at the Goblin wielding the battleaxe, beating the poor thing black and blue before it fell to the ground.

Seeing the Goblin go down, she stepped forward and launched another straight punch at the Goblin with the dagger. But she'd thrown it too hastily, and the dagger-wielding Goblin was clearly very agile. Though it panicked when it saw how fierce the Female Fighter was, it still managed to dodge her punch in time.

After staring blankly for a while, the Goddess Priestess finally understood what was happening. Seeing Lin Yun injured, she realized how important he was: he'd only used "Healing Divine Art" once, and he was much stronger in combat than she was. So she went behind him and used her last healing spell on him. "Merciful Earth Mother!"

As the Goddess Priestess prayed, a gentle light shone from her hands, warming Lin Yun and especially his wounds. Almost instantly, Lin Yun felt his body had recovered somewhat—not as much as before the fight, but at least a little.

His HP shot from 2 to 11, almost full again.

Now that's a real Lucky Healer. What a waste before—such a huge waste. She actually rolled the highest possible healing.

Feeling the warmth at his back, Lin Yun relaxed a little. No one could see his face beneath his helmet, which was already slick with sweat. Partly, he'd started sweating after all the exertion and fighting. But more than that, things really had been far too dangerous just now.

He'd had only two HP left. Almost any hit could have finished him off. Even if he'd taken the minimum 1 point of damage, there was still the poison. The poison these creatures used wasn't very potent, but there was always a chance of bad luck. Just like Lin Yun had nearly gone down a moment ago—he'd actually failed his saving throw. How embarrassing.

So the Goddess Priestess's healing spell had truly been a shot in the arm for Lin Yun.

When the last Goblin with the dagger saw a flash of light behind Lin Yun, he didn't know what had happened, but the woman looked like an easy target. Drooling, he lunged at the Goddess Priestess.

"Ah!" The Goddess Priestess shrieked as the Goblin slashed at her chainmail with its dagger... Was it really that tough? Lin Yun had thought the chainmail would be useless, but it had just come through in spectacular fashion.

Lin Yun's expression turned a little complicated. He charged at the Goblin again, ramming it with his sturdy shield. But the dagger-wielding Goblin was simply too agile. Taking advantage of its small size and Lin Yun's larger frame, it flopped to the ground and dodged his crushing blow, nearly getting stepped on by his boot.

Meanwhile, as Lin Yun attacked the Goblin with the dagger, the effect of Command had worn off. The Goblin Shaman's staff crackled with lightning once more. Lin Yun's Command had already wasted one of the Shaman's spells, and it only had three 1st-Circle spells per day.

Now the Shaman was surrounded by a group of enemies. As for the last Goblin with the dagger, it was useless. There were plenty of young Goblins deeper in the cave, enough for the Shaman to rebuild its strength.

Lightning gathered in the Goblin Shaman's hands again. It watched Lin Yun and the young warrior warily, ready to dodge any attacks they might launch while it cast. Seeing the Shaman try to cast yet again, Lin Yun—who had already hit the ground once and nearly gone down a second time—joined the young warrior in seizing the opportunity to attack it.

Lin Yun had run out of 1st-Circle spells, and his Lantern Staff wouldn't hold out much longer, so he simply attacked with his shield. The young warrior thrust his sword forward like a dragon.

To their surprise, the Goblin Shaman seemed ready for them. It nimbly dodged both Lin Yun and the young warrior, even finding time to let out a sharp, mocking laugh. But Lin Yun was puzzled. Why hadn't an attack roll appeared this time? As he wondered, the answer appeared before him.

Perhaps because its attention was fixed on Lin Yun and the young warrior, the Goblin Shaman had lost its focus. Just as the lightning on its staff was about to reach its peak, it suddenly went out, as if the power had been cut.

"Huh?" The young warrior wasn't the only one stunned. Lin Yun was baffled too.

Was that... Defensive Casting failing?

The young warrior didn't really understand what had happened either, but seeing that the Goblin Shaman seemed to have failed its spell, he relaxed a little. Then a vicious smile crept across his face... Anyone watching might have wondered if he'd gone evil.

He raised his sword over his head and brought it crashing down on the Goblin Shaman, who was still stunned by its failed spell. The blade didn't bounce off the rock overhead; it struck the Shaman squarely on the head, nearly splitting its skull in two.

The Goblin Shaman didn't even have time to scream before it collapsed to the ground...

Lin Yun stared, dumbfounded. What the hell was that? With a shortsword, this guy's useless, but with a longsword, he turns into a god of war? No wonder he'd killed more Goblins than anyone else in that chaotic battle in the original story. His sword had bounced off the ceiling at the end, which had been a bit of a pain, but this guy really could fight.

It looked like the real MVP wasn't the Female Fighter after all. It was this guy.

Seeing that the young warrior had taken care of the Goblin Shaman, the Female Fighter sprang into action too. The last Goblin had made it all the way to the Goddess Priestess, giving her a chance to demonstrate just how useful chainmail could be. She kicked the Goblin three times in a row, sending it flying. How dare you ogle the Goddess Priestess? Die!

The Goblin slammed into the wall with a splat and went limp.

"That should be it... right?" The young warrior seemed completely spent. He collapsed to the ground as if all his strength had left him.

"No, not yet. These Goblins still need finishing off. But leave that to me." Lin Yun was tired too, but the experience bar in his character panel was still nearly empty. Clearly, he had to personally kill those Goblins to fill it.

So kills by party members don't count? The Goblin the Female Fighter had kicked to death was unquestionably dead.

Lin Yun picked a battleaxe up off the ground. He actually preferred using a battleaxe, but unfortunately, he had no War Domain abilities. Priests were only proficient with simple weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields.

Come to think of it, could I use that background to fudge weapon proficiency? I was able to fudge skill and tool proficiencies, after all.

Lin Yun suddenly realized he'd found a key point. A key point.

Because he wasn't proficient with the weapon, his attack roll should not only lack a bonus, but also take a penalty of 4. But it didn't matter. The remaining enemies were all near death anyway; he was just collecting experience.

Still, just in case there were more Goblins deeper in the cave, Lin Yun first added some oil to his Lantern Staff. Then he headed deeper into the cave with the others. As they'd agreed earlier, he would handle the executions.

As for the Female Mage, who had shut herself off from everything... well, there was no need to sweat the details. For now, Lin Yun said they were moving, and she followed. She temporarily couldn't cast spells and was in no condition to fight, so she had no choice but to rely on Lin Yun and the others. It wasn't as if she could charge in and start swinging her staff around.

First, there were 300 XP for the Giant Goblin and 400 for the Goblin Shaman. The two Goblins who'd come with the Giant Goblin had been killed by the Goblin Shaman's Thunderclap Wave, so Lin Yun couldn't do anything about those. Then there were four Goblins who might have been elites, worth 150 XP each, for a total of 1,300.

Then there was the original battlefield. Apart from the Goblin the Female Fighter had beaten to death, nine Goblins remained. Two of them had been thrown by the Giant Goblin as it charged out: one was barely alive, while the other was still breathing despite having its shoulder crushed.

That made eleven Goblins in total, each worth 100 XP. The two Goblins thrown by the Giant Goblin were worth 125 each, bringing the total to 1,150 XP.

Then there was one troublesome fellow: the one who'd attacked Lin Yun while fleeing, only to get blasted by Lin Yun's Lantern Staff and set rolling on the ground. Lin Yun had spotted him trying to attack the Female Fighter, then stepped on him. With the Goblins coming, Lin Yun had simply kicked the player unconscious.

Lin Yun had originally figured a scumbag like that deserved to be killed on the spot. But to his surprise, before he could do anything, the guy was already dead.

It seemed the Giant Goblin had stepped on him as it passed. The player's body was almost entirely reduced to a bloody pulp. His eyes were nearly popping out, his mouth was full of blood, and his insides were coming out. All Lin Yun could say was, The wicked always meet their match.

Well... that hadn't been part of Lin Yun's plan. Believe it or not, I believe it. He—no, I mean Silent—is a Lawful Neutral, benevolent priest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

Then Lin Yun went farther back. It looked like the place where the Adventurers had originally clashed with the Goblins. Sure enough, when they realized how tough the Goblins were, they'd all run away. Only three Goblins on the ground were still barely alive. There was also one unfortunate player who had probably been mobbed by the others, and that one was definitely dead.

He picked up another 300 XP, then... Lin Yun stared blankly at the experience bar. Even after all those points had been added, it was still about one-fifth empty. Was this the game on Hard Mode? It really was... impressively realistic, wasn't it?