The Thirty-Seventh Chapter: This Is a Real Adventure (Please Leave Tips and Recommendations)

(A warning: the scenes ahead are bloody and horrifying. Read with caution. And please let me explain. If even that isn't acceptable, then I'm sorry.)

The giant-axe goblin had been pinned, and it made him hop around in pain, but that was all.

But as soon as one problem was dealt with, another arose. The Female Mage seemed to think the giant-axe goblin looked like a threat, so she began casting a spell—though, well, it was only a Cantrip.

"Light the arrow." Compared to yesterday, her voice was noticeably louder today, but, well... The Flame Arrow she fired from her hand hit the wall behind the giant-axe goblin, sending up a burst of sparks. It nearly hit the goblins behind him, but... didn't hurt anyone.

Could she be the legendary kind-hearted Flame Arrow? Was it really that kind? Was it absolutely incapable of hitting anyone?

Fortunately, the young warrior was keeping a close eye on the rear, afraid a goblin might sneak up on them. He didn't see what had happened; otherwise, he probably would have doubled over laughing.

Lin Yun wanted to comfort the Female Mage, but with so many goblins around, he figured it was better not to tempt fate. He needed to focus on fighting.

After changing position, the giant-axe goblin raised his axe again and swung it hard at Lin Yun. Then he stared, dumbfounded, as the axe cleaved through Lin Yun's Protection from Evil and... got stuck in Lin Yun's Shield spell. How tragic.

Taking advantage of the giant-axe goblin's stunned expression, Lin Yun smiled kindly. Well, his helmet hid his face, but he still swung his staff at the goblin with both hands.

But...

"D20+2+2=6, MISS." As Lin Yun's expression stiffened, the giant-axe goblin let go of his axe, dodged Lin Yun's attack, and smoothly pulled a dagger from his belt...

On the other side, the goblin carrying a battle-axe and a Pickaxe attacked the Female Fighter. This time, the Female Fighter seemed to be having... a bit of bad luck. The battle-axe cleaved straight between her headlights, leaving a wound deep enough to nearly expose the bone. Then the Pickaxe in the other goblin's hands struck her head, smashing it open.

"Mm." Blood and something white sprayed from the Female Fighter's head, some of it even landing on Lin Yun. In that moment, he remembered the Female Fighter with her hands clasped behind her back, gazing at him with a blush on her face.

The warmth of the liquid cooled Lin Yun's smugness a little—the feeling he'd had while a whole bunch of goblins attacked him without managing to land a single hit.

This was real. This was a battle. People... could die.

"Didn't I tell you to fall back after dealing damage?" Lin Yun said without thinking.

He'd been saying that since they first entered the mine. But the Female Fighter had been so focused on dealing damage that she'd even managed to snag an MVP. Nothing had happened to her, either, so Lin Yun had secretly figured she'd be fine—that she could protect herself. Yet the moment he let his guard down, she'd been disemboweled, and then her head had been smashed open with a Pickaxe in a gruesome fashion.

"Ahahahaha." The goblins let out shrill laughter, apparently delighted to see someone they hated finally die.

The Female Fighter's death left the Goddess Priestess so shocked—and even terrified—that she fell to her knees, staring blankly at the corpse.

"You... You dared... You dared to kill my companion! Burning Hands!" Unlike the Goddess Priestess, the Female Mage saw the Female Fighter's headless body lying on the ground, while the two goblins who had killed her drooled and seemed about to desecrate the corpse.

The Female Mage was furious. She rushed to Lin Yun's side and, careful not to hit him, cast her second and final Burning Hands of the day. This time, it seemed the fire in her heart kept her from modifying the spell's properties, and she unleashed it as a direct blast of flame.

The spell's range of 3.3 meters seemed enormous in this pit. In the blaze, even the four goblins at the back, preparing to shoot arrows, were caught in it. They clearly had no time to react.

Of the thirteen goblins, only the one holding a spear and the one who had dropped the giant axe and taken up a dagger escaped the center of the Burning Hands. The fierce flames engulfed the goblins trapped in the sea of fire. They screamed one after another, then collapsed and lay still.

The dagger-wielding goblin nearby threw off the goblin he'd used as a shield. Yes, just moments ago, he'd grabbed a nearby goblin and used him as a meat shield, barely managing to avoid the center of the blast.

Even so, he'd suffered severe burns. With a hateful glare, the goblin charged at the Female Mage, but Lin Yun blocked him and swung the Lantern Staff in his hands. Still, perhaps because the Female Fighter had just died, Lin Yun couldn't quite focus.

"D20+2+2=14, MISS." The blow missed, but at least it drew the giant-axe goblin's attention back. The goblin who'd been charging at the Female Mage turned toward Lin Yun. But his injuries were so severe that he couldn't muster any strength as he swung his dagger. It stopped at the first layer of Protection from Evil and went completely silent.

The Female Mage seemed to be getting carried away. With a goblin so close, she cast a Cantrip again. "Light the arrow."

Her anger hadn't made her lose focus; instead, it made her more focused than ever. This time, the flame was fierce, but her aim was steady. A Flame Arrow struck the goblin in the head, and he fell to the ground, rolling around. By the time the fire went out, he was unconscious on the ground, his face pitch-black.

Meanwhile, as the battle ended—oh, the goblin who'd been the only one besides the giant-axe goblin to escape the center of the Burning Hands, despite suffering severe burns, had stubbornly survived and run off while Lin Yun and the others weren't paying attention. At this point, they couldn't catch him...

Or so it seemed. The young warrior had been watching their rear, but there was no way he could have missed all that noise. He froze for a moment when he saw the Female Fighter die, but soon noticed the goblin about to escape and realized they couldn't let him get away.

The young warrior knew the goblin had to pay. He sprinted over to the Goddess Priestess, took the loaded Light Crossbow from her hands, and fired at the fleeing goblin.

Perhaps he'd been in such a hurry to escape that he'd forgotten to watch his back. The bolt struck the goblin in the back and knocked him to the ground.

Now the battle was truly over.

"How could this happen?" Kneeling in front of the Female Fighter, the Goddess Priestess placed a hand on her body and looked at the face that had always been smiling. Now it was unrecognizable, and there was nothing she could do.

The Female Mage and the young warrior stood beside the Female Fighter with their heads bowed, staring at her and clenching their fists.

"This is the everyday life of an adventurer," the young warrior said with a grim smile. "You either kill something, or something kills you."

"But this shouldn't have happened!" The Goddess Priestess was distraught. "Why did this happen?" She was already struggling to speak through her sobs.

Lin Yun watched in silence. Perhaps he could think of them as NPCs, but in truth, he couldn't. Not when he felt this way. He even felt like throwing up, but he couldn't. He still had to bring them back—to the Adventurer's Guild.

Looking at the goblin corpses strewn across the ground, Lin Yun's eyes gleamed beneath his helmet. He had to bring them back.

Lin Yun picked up the Heavy Mace and began finishing them off one by one. As for the one with the battle-axe and the one with the Pickaxe, who were nearly beaten into a pulp by Lin Yun's Heavy Mace... there was no need to dwell on the details.

They might have been NPCs, but at the very least, he thought of them as people—as his companions. So he had to kill them. It was that simple.

Goblin Slayer had put it well: a goblin that wasn't alive was a good goblin. So die, all of you. Become my strength.

These were fairly elite goblins, so each one was worth 150 experience. The one with the giant axe could probably be called a Goblin Leader, and it was worth 400 experience. Then there were the two wolves, which brought Lin Yun's experience up to 8,400—1,400 more than the 7,000 needed to reach level 3.

Now, then. It was time for judgment.

Lin Yun pressed the level-up button in his mind.