Sharing Your Worries

Not all the books Pei Renli had borrowed from the library were spell-related materials; quite a few were miscellaneous books on other subjects.

For example, a monster compendium.

Whenever spell practice left him dizzy and muddleheaded, he would pull it out and read it. That was why he knew goblins so well. There was no way to play games at night anyway, so he treated it as entertainment.

Goblins usually formed settlements of six to twenty individuals. Too few or too many was detrimental to survival. Their combat strength was roughly such that a sturdy farmer could take on two at once. Occasionally, goblins could be seen using crude weapons, but that was the extent of it.

The goblin that poked its head out from the bushes saw Pei Renli's group of four and froze for a moment. But instead of running away, it raised a small stone dagger crudely ground into shape and charged at them with a harsh cackling shriek.

But the monster compendium wasn't kidding when it said goblins were dumb as a post. That goblin hadn't watched where it was going when it charged, tripped over a vine on the ground, did a forward roll with its body barely reaching a human's calves, then slammed its face into the leaf-covered earth...

"That sounded awful."

The cat ears atop Litia's head flattened together. Muttering under her breath, she casually split the goblin's skull with an axe. It twitched once, then stopped moving on the spot.

That was why goblins were among the weakest monsters. Compared to their ability to fight, their cries were practically their greatest weapon.

"Let's keep moving. This forest is so damp that my fur's getting tangled."

Everyone voiced their agreement, but Pei Renli immediately stopped them.

"Goblins don't act alone. There might be more nearby."

What was more, goblins were extremely timid. Since they were dumb as a post, they judged strength by numbers.

If so, when a single goblin saw the four of them, its first instinct should have been to run—not charge at them.

"It's fine. Even an entire goblin settlement isn't much of a threat."

Litia remained unconcerned. Goblins were simply too weak.

"No, Pei Renli is right."

The half-elf Anna's ears twitched. Her elven bloodline had given her exceptionally keen hearing.

"Something's approaching us. There are a lot of them."

"Could they be wild animals?"

But even as they spoke, the others heard a widespread rustling rise all around them. That didn't sound like wild animals.

Though they didn't think much of goblins' fighting ability, the dense rustling still created a sense of urgency. The sound was coming from every direction—front, back, left, and right.

In other words, they were surrounded.

The four immediately formed a back-to-back formation, each watching one side as they warily scanned every tree and every patch of bushes around them.

The rustling continued for two or three seconds. Then they saw goblins emerging from their hiding places one after another, until their field of vision was soon crammed full of those little green monsters.

"This isn't right. The teacher specifically said there were very few monsters around here—at most, some wild animals."

Pei Renli picked up where Moen had left off.

"Going by the size of goblin settlements, this is abnormal too."

A goblin settlement could be neither too large nor too small. It was a balance dictated by the amount of available food.

But the number of goblins before them was nowhere near the maximum of around twenty described in the monster compendium.

"Watch out! They're coming!"

As mentioned before, goblins measured strength by numbers. With so many of them, they naturally swarmed forward all at once.

Facing the little monsters rushing at him while brandishing crude weapons, Pei Renli calmly extended a finger and rapidly traced a series of runes through the air.

The runes immediately activated, transforming into an almost translucent spherical shield that enveloped him.

This was Mage Armor, an extremely practical defensive spell. Since this was his first real battle, even against the weakest of opponents like goblins, it was safer to make sure he would not get hurt first.

Almost the instant the spell was completed, several stones struck Mage Armor with dull thuds. The goblins were already upon them a moment later.

It couldn't be helped. The forest terrain was complex, and by the time they spotted the goblins, there was very little distance left between them.

The goblin at the very front viciously thrust a spear made from a sharpened tree branch at him.

Pei Renli tilted his head aside to evade it. Even with Mage Armor protecting him, there were simply too many goblins. It was best not to take their attacks head-on if he could avoid it.

Recalling his experience from sparring practice, Pei Renli smoothly drew the short sword at his waist and flicked it upward.

His short sword was nothing special, but it was still far better than a goblin's weapon. The slash sheared off the spearhead, and the impact knocked the goblin off balance.

Seizing the chance, he lowered his body. His left hand rapidly wove runes, which he pressed directly against another goblin's chest.

"Magic Missile!"

Arcane power exploded against the goblin's breastbone, blasting the scrawny green little monster four or five meters away and knocking down several other goblins along with it.

The spear-wielding goblin from before, however, seemed unwilling to give up. It charged straight at Pei Renli's feet.

The downside of rune magic was that it could not be cast quickly enough. Pei Renli had no choice but to turn his blade and thrust downward with its tip.

With a wet squelch, the not-so-sharp short sword pierced the goblin's shoulder. The blade severed bone and ran through its organs, and a great spray of blood gushed out like a tiny fountain.

The foul-smelling fluid and the pale pink flesh spilling from the wound caught Pei Renli's gaze as though possessed of some strange magic, and his stomach churned violently.

Even though he had witnessed death firsthand in the Demon King Arena before—and had nearly had an eye literally punched out—this was still the first time Pei Renli had truly faced it at such close range.

For a moment, he was dazed, until he heard Moen shouting behind him:

"Pei Renli, pull yourself together!"

Those words brought him back to his senses. He hurriedly drew his shortsword and swept it sideways again, forcing back the other goblins trying to close in. Seeing the miserable state of the first two goblins, they truly did not dare come forward for the moment.

As things stood, Pei Renli was doing fairly well. Under the pressure of his life being threatened, he had put his utmost effort into every lesson over the past week. Now was the time to show the results. If this had been when he had first crossed over, seeing so many little green monsters would probably have sent him fleeing in panic on the spot.

They were the weakest kind of monster, after all. They were not difficult to deal with.

But there were simply far too many of them.

After reminding Pei Renli, Moen hurriedly turned back to deal with the goblins before him. He set down the lute he had been holding all along, drew his shortsword, and blocked left and right. With so many goblins surging forward, blocking was all he could manage now.

Compared to him, Anna and Litia were doing much better.

The former wielded the two scimitars at her waist into a dense web of blades. Any reckless goblin that dared approach met its death on the spot. The latter wore the heaviest armor in the party and was also the strongest.

Litia used her hand axe more like a hammer. Any goblin that ran into her either lost an arm or a leg, or was beaten so hard it went looking for its teeth all over the ground. Of the four, she had slain the most goblins so far.

Logically speaking, goblins were not creatures of any great integrity. The moment they saw such a tough nut to crack, they should have tucked tail and run. Yet they showed no intention of retreating at all.

The question flashed through Pei Renli's mind, though he also wanted something to distract himself with. Otherwise, he might throw up.

Of course, thinking was one thing; his hands could not stop moving.

With one slash, Pei Renli temporarily drove back the goblins. Taking the opportunity, his left hand rapidly wrote runes once more. This spell was quite a bit longer than Magic Missile and Magic Armor, but fortunately, he had practiced diligently during this time. At his fastest speed, he completed the spell before the goblins could surround him again.

The flashing runes turned into a mass of bright red light and gathered in Pei Renli's hand. He simply spread all five fingers.

"Burning Hands!"

A broad sheet of oily flame erupted the next instant, stretching nearly ten meters away. The fire fanned out from his palm in a cone, looking like a handheld flamethrower.

As the weakest kind of monster, goblins clearly could not withstand the scorching magical flames. The faster ones could still shriek as they fled into the woods, while those struck directly only struggled a few times before falling still forever.

The flames ignited the thick layer of fallen leaves underfoot and quickly spread outward, threatening to set the entire forest ablaze.

However, whenever they reached certain trees—trees with spindle-shaped leaves—they immediately secreted large amounts of foam and water mist. The flames were extinguished before they could spread too far, but the already high humidity around them instantly surged, leaving everyone feeling sticky and clammy.

Trying not to look at the charred goblins on the ground, Pei Renli found the space before him completely cleared.

Burning Hands was not an especially powerful spell, but it was the strongest one he had learned so far. It was perfectly suited for quickly clearing out the overwhelming number of goblins.

"Nicely done!"

The others had noticed the results of Burning Hands as well, and the pressure on everyone eased considerably.

However, just as Pei Renli let out a breath of relief, he spotted a familiar face beneath the shadow of a tree not far away.

—Lavna.

She stood beneath the shadows. Because of the angle, only Pei Renli could see her; the others were all busy dealing with the goblins around them.

Pei Renli felt his blood run cold. There was no way he could explain it if the others saw her. He quickly took two steps forward and whispered in a voice squeezed from his throat:

"Why did you come out?"

For this school-assigned commission, no matter how much Pei Renli stressed that there was no danger, Lavna had insisted on coming along.

She had been hiding in Pei Renli's shadow the entire time. He had no idea when she had slipped out.

"Your Majesty, the Demon King, wished to gain experience, so I called some goblins over."

Although Pei Renli had always simply thought Demon King = big villain boss, when Lavna had introduced the Demon King, she had specifically used the description "King of Demonic Beasts."

The Demon King of Tyranny possessed the ability to control monsters. Lavna had been created by him, so naturally she possessed the same ability. Though she could only control creatures weaker than herself, controlling goblins was certainly effortless.

In other words, Pei Renli and the others had encountered so many goblins purely because Pei Renli wanted to train himself, and Lavna, as his subordinate, naturally had to share her lord's burdens...

"Pei Renli, what are you doing?! Get over here!"

The other three had chosen to fight as they retreated, unwilling to clash head-on with the overwhelming number of goblins. In other words, they were planning to run.

Pei Renli turned back and casually answered. When he looked around again, Lavna had already vanished without a trace. She had probably slipped back into his shadow.

Hopefully, no one else had seen her...