I'm Out of Iron Strikes

Although I don't know if the bard's slippery feet were successful, at least when Lin Yun and the others approached the forest, they saw an all-female adventurer team standing in the forest. From above, it was a relatively hidden spot where they had concealed themselves. When they spotted Lin Yun and his group, a human female wearing a flexible chest armor with black patterns, and orange shoulder-length hair, who looked more like a noble lady than an adventurer, walked out. If Lin Yun's guess was correct, this lady-like figure should be the Paladin.

The Paladin walked out, clearly recognizing Lin Yun. She extended a hand, smiled, and said to Lin Yun, "It's you, Silent. Long time no see."

"Mm." Lin Yun was a bit taken aback by the female Paladin's attitude, but he still extended his hand to shake hers. Then, he said in a low voice, "Mm."

"Honestly, you're still like this. When I saw you at the banquet in the Water City before, you only said 'Mm' too," the female Paladin said with a helpless expression. She then turned to her teammates and said, "Well, since reinforcements have arrived, prepare to attack."

"What's wrong? Is it an acquaintance of Mr. Silent?" Goddess Priestess asked curiously.

"Her, I recall their team is one of the top teams among our Iron-ranked teams. It's said their combined strength is comparable to a Silver-ranked adventurer. Apparently, before becoming an adventurer, she was a noble lady who believed in the supreme god of law and justice and was a free knight who had traveled across various countries. Mr. Silent also seems to have been a noble, so they might have met before," Female Mage said subconsciously, adjusting her glasses and analyzing.

"Sigh, Mr. Silent is actually a noble." Goddess Priestess looked dumbfounded, clearly unable to imagine that the helpful Mr. Silent, despite his silence, could be of noble status.

"Don't rush. The opposite side is an Elf fortress. Although the Elves have retreated, so the Elven Magicians and the protective barriers should be gone, and the main tree has withered, there must be many traps inside. Rushing in will only be walking into a trap. I believe you've heard from the villagers that there seem to be many Goblins here. It's better to be cautious," Lin Yun said in a deep voice.

"Honestly, here you go again. For monsters like Goblins, we should just charge in," the female Paladin said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, after all, we are Iron-ranked adventurers. We can just charge in for Goblins," the Halfling Ranger, who looked half a head shorter than others, agreed wholeheartedly.

"Um, I think Mr. Silent makes more sense," said the somewhat delicate-looking Priestess standing behind, who, while not as stunningly beautiful as Goddess Priestess, had her own charm. She spoke with some difficulty.

"You're really popular with the Priests, even though you worship different gods," the female Paladin said, glancing at Lin Yun with some annoyance.

Beside them, the Elven Female Mage, dressed somewhat revealingly in a style full of Elven artistic flair, with a golden ponytail and holding a wooden staff, merely watched and said nothing. However, it was clear that upon seeing the bard's ears, which were longer than a human's but shorter than an Elf's, the Elf seemed rather unhappy.

"In short, listen to me," Lin Yun said in a muffled voice.

"D20+2=14, Success." Clearly, the other party wasn't overly resistant to Lin Yun's request, so Lin Yun's words ultimately succeeded.

Hearing Lin Yun's words, which were as stubborn and hard as a stone in a toilet, the female Paladin looked at Lin Yun helplessly. Then, she raised her gloved hands and said, "Alright, alright, we'll do as you say."

As for the others, they naturally had no opportunity to voice their opinions.

After all, the Iron-ranked team's captain was clearly the female Paladin, and she was likely the strongest member. Being a Paladin, she would naturally obey her captain's commands. As for Lin Yun's group, after days of fighting, the young warrior, Goddess Priestess, and Female Mage were all very convinced by Lin Yun. The bard might be a bit less so. As for the Centaur... this guy was too straightforward. According to their customs of respecting the strong, it was basically whoever was stronger, their word counted. And Lin Yun had already defeated him, so Lin Yun was the strong one to him, simple and crude.

Thus, Lin Yun and his group began to sneak into the forest.

It was noon, but for the Goblins, it was almost like midnight. So, Lin Yun and his group were relatively fortunate. Although they weren't very good at fine operations like stealth, they could at least advance stealthily.

And most importantly, under these circumstances, even though it was through the helmet...

"D20+4+2=14, Failure." Well, Lin Yun saw nothing.

However, fortunately, in the current team, there was someone who was truly skilled at scouting. This was a very good thing.

It was just that Lin Yun found it strange that as they crept all the way to the front of the Elf castle, the Halfling Ranger scouting ahead had no response at all. It couldn't be that the Goblins had really made no arrangements and were just sleeping soundly, could it?

Just as Lin Yun was pondering if the Goblins were truly that careless, the pretty Female Mage quickly came up behind Lin Yun, tugged his sleeve, and pointed towards a corner above.

It was then that Lin Yun saw a Goblin on a tree trunk... However, due to the Goblin's camouflage, Lin Yun couldn't see it clearly.

Lin Yun also quickly moved forward, came beside the female Paladin, nudged her, and pointed upwards.

Then, the female Paladin's face instantly turned bright red, looking extremely embarrassed.

Indeed, among the two teams, the only one with scouting abilities was the Halfling Ranger. Yet, as the scout, she hadn't discovered the sentry above, but rather someone from another team who wasn't a scout saw it, so it was naturally embarrassing.

One had to know that compared to ordinary classes, Rangers gained an additional +2 bonus to Perception checks in familiar terrain, on top of their base Perception and proficiency bonus. But now... well, well, well.

And now, as the saying goes... So weak, what use are you?

The blushing Paladin stepped forward, tugged at the Halfling Ranger, and pointed upwards. The Halfling Ranger also subconsciously looked up. After a good while, she revealed an embarrassed smile.

Meanwhile, the female Paladin nodded at Lin Yun, and Lin Yun nodded at the people behind him.

Under the bewildered expressions of everyone else, the young warrior held a heavy crossbow, while Female Mage and Goddess Priestess each held a Light Crossbow, looking like they were fully armed.

Someone's inherited fear of insufficient firepower took center stage.

Lin Yun raised his right hand, held up three fingers, and slowly counted down.

The three people pulled the triggers almost simultaneously.

With a soft sound of bowstrings, three crossbow bolts flew towards the unfortunate Goblin. However, because the young warrior's gloved fingers were a bit clumsy, his heavy crossbow fired a moment later. Just as the Light Crossbows in Goddess Priestess's and Female Mage's hands pinned the Goblin to the tree trunk behind it, his bolt narrowly missed the Goblin, hitting a tree trunk next to it.

The poor Goblin didn't even have a chance to cry out before being pinned to the tree, leaving the female members of the Iron-ranked team with strange expressions.

At this point, Lin Yun nodded and continued to look for other sentries.

Because of Lin Yun's previous actions, the Iron-ranked team, feeling intimidated, subconsciously obeyed Lin Yun's orders. They began to search the surroundings of the Elf castle, and also to investigate the structure of the Elf castle. At the very least, they needed to figure out the exits, in case of a surprise attack from behind. And most importantly, they needed to dismantle traps.

In fact, they did find several outposts and a lot of traps. However, they were only scattered Goblins, at most three at a time. As for the traps, under Lin Yun's suggestion, they avoided most of them unless they were particularly troublesome, as they weren't completely inside the fortress yet. Basically, the Goblins were all quietly dealt with by the three people on Lin Yun's side plus the Halfling Ranger, barely managing to do so.

And next, it was time for the main event.

After dealing with these guys, Lin Yun, who had arrived near the Elf castle, began to cast his spells for the day, including the usual Shield, and the second-level spell, Communal Protection from Evil, and the second-level spell, Barkskin.

Communal Protection from Evil was the area-of-effect version of Protection from Evil. Within a certain range, all allies could gain the effect of Protection from Evil. However, compared to Alignment Protection, it was more troublesome because Alignment Protection could be more versatile, while Protection from Evil could only protect against evil.

As for Barkskin, it could make one's skin dry and hard, like tree bark, increasing natural armor by 2 to AC. According to the description, attacks that would normally leave a bloody gash or even directly wound Lin Yun would now be blocked by this bark-like skin.

In other words... after this round, Lin Yun's AC would be a monstrous 24. It was a shame his Dexterity was too low, otherwise, it could have been even higher, especially with the flexible chest armor.

It could be said that with an AC as high as 24, it would be impossible for ordinary Goblins, unless it was a critical hit, to hit him, or rather, to damage him.

Lin Yun was about to cross his arms, laugh heartily in the enemy camp, and declare that he was invincible.

However, unfortunately, before this thought could even form in Lin Yun's mind, he kicked it away. He needed to be more stable; people would die if he wasn't careful. So, he needed to take it slow. Yes, that's right, stability was key.