Crises Arriving One After Another

A massive boulder came whistling toward them. The frail mages tried to raise an ice wall before it arrived, but before the wall could even take shape, the rolling boulder smashed through it, sending shards of ice flying.

Facing a boulder more than ten times his own height, Andeno did not retreat in the slightest. His outstretched hands did not tremble. With everyone's lives hanging by a thread, the moment the boulder met Andeno's arms, every heart rose into their throats.

"Aaaaaaah—!" Andeno roared. He actually caught the rolling boulder with brute force, bringing its rotation to a halt. Yet it had not stopped completely; its immense momentum pushed the triangular formation of adventurers steadily backward down the slope.

The slightest mistake from anyone would send the round boulder rolling again, crushing them all completely.

Yang Yu and Bai Jin stood in the last row. Yang Yu pushed forward with the hand without a shield while using the hand holding his shield to cast Intercept backward. The Phantom Shield created by [Intercept] eased the obstacles behind them, and he did not forget to direct Bai Jin, who was completely unable to exert any strength, to use magic to clear away as many obstacles as possible.

Working together layer by layer, the boulder finally came to a stop through everyone's combined efforts.

No one relaxed, least of all Andeno. He stared at the boulder before him, his vision somewhat blurred, and spoke with what little consciousness he had left.

"I'll hold it here for now. You all retreat to the side first, then I'll let go."

No one objected. One after another, they released their grip and moved into the woods far from the boulder. Once he saw that no one remained behind him, Andeno collapsed backward, lying before the boulder without strength.

Before leaving, several mages had left traces of magic on Andeno. The moment he fell, they hurriedly used magic to move him out of the danger zone. Several priests rushed over at once, drawing on the power of holy light to heal him.

No one had expected such a scene to occur so soon after the rescue began.

No one spoke, but every one of them knew that this rescue mission was likely doomed. Many faces turned pale, and quite a few began to think of retreating.

"That's enough. We ran into something this dangerous right at the start. Who knows what other dangers are waiting for us later?"

The first discordant voice rose, and the other voices somehow found the courage to follow. One after another, they voiced their dissatisfaction like bamboo shoots after the rain.

"There's definitely something in this forest. It's not something we can handle."

"Right. The best course of action now is to go back, regroup, and gather our strongest fighters."

A gloomy mood spread through the group. Where there were people complaining and wanting to retreat, there were naturally also those who disagreed.

"I object! Without our rescue, the captured adventurers will definitely come to harm."

"I object too. The fact that they used a boulder like that proves they lack the strength to face us directly and intended to wipe us out with this trick. We should press forward while their plan has failed, destroy them in one stroke, and rescue the captured adventurers."

"Who knows whether they have another trick up their sleeves? Goblins could never have made a boulder like that. If we act on personal assumptions alone, we'll only send the whole team to their deaths. Besides, they're so strong that the captured adventurers might already—"

"Are you planning to stand by and watch them die?"

"I never said we should abandon them! I'm saying we need to act within our limits!"

A conflict erupted within the adventurer group. Yang Yu rubbed his shoulder, having no intention of joining the argument, and calmly voiced his speculation without holding anything back.

"I think you should stop arguing. From the looks of it, even if we truly wanted to retreat now, we wouldn't be able to."

"What did you say?"

The two arguing sides turned toward Yang Yu in unison. Yang Yu casually called over an idle priest to treat him, then continued.

"Rather than saying they were prepared for us to come rescue them, it would be more accurate to say that they captured those people precisely to lure us here."

"Why are you so sure?"

Yang Yu did not answer their question. He merely looked toward the treetops. "Perhaps every move we've made so far has been under their watch. As the saying goes, surviving a catastrophe always comes with a finishing blow. Maybe groups of Goblins have already ambushed the road back, while other groups are closing in on us. Fleeing in panic will only lead us into their trap. The best thing we can do now is stand our ground, face the enemy, and wait for reinforcements."

Reinforcements? Did such a thing really exist?

Many people showed doubtful expressions.

"Did none of you listen carefully to Andeno's speech this morning? We came here because the proposal to authorize high-ranking adventurer action had been delayed."

"But how long will we have to wait?"

"It shouldn't take much longer." Andeno's voice from afar was exceedingly weak. The brief treatment had restored his consciousness. "I had Mentor Tella keep watch over our movements. With something like this happening, the guild will definitely speed up the approval and recall the high-level adventurers."

"With something this serious happening, even if the surveillance has been blocked, those high-level adventurers will come to inspect the area around this boulder." Yang Yu continued in Andeno's stead. "Perhaps they've decided to turn this place into a second trap, aimed at those high-level adventurers—"

Before Yang Yu could finish, several scouts who had climbed back into the trees interrupted him.

"There's movement throughout the canopy. Something seems to be surrounding us."

At the sound of a horn, everyone grew uncertain, an uneasy feeling quietly rising within them. The scouts continued watching, and several sharp-eyed scouts keenly spotted green skin that nearly blended into the canopy.

"It's Goblins! A huge number of Goblins are surrounding us! There are at least five hundred of them, and they're coming from all directions!"

Hearing the news, everyone panicked and did not know what to do. That was five times the size of their entire adventurer group. Their strongest fighters, along with several adventurers at the front, were in a state of extreme exhaustion and receiving treatment from the priests. They had no strength to resist so many Goblins.

"Was I right?" Yang Yu smiled faintly. "This is only a force meant to drive us away. They probably aren't very strong. They believe we're exhausted and incapable of fighting, so they're certain we'll turn and flee. But what I want to say is this: if we run, we will certainly die. If we fight together and wait for Andeno to recover, perhaps we still have a sliver of hope. So, everyone, will you fight or flee?"

After you've put it that way, how could we possibly flee?

The two sides that had just been arguing immediately made peace and picked up their weapons.

"Excellent looks in your eyes!"

After sweeping his gaze over everyone's attributes, Yang Yu stepped to the front of the group. The other warriors, swordsmen, and martial artists followed his example, forming a sturdy front line around the exhausted wounded. The mages and priests gathered in the rear, adjusting their positions according to the formation to make healing and focused fire easier. The thieves waited in the trees for an opportunity, ready to strike at any moment.

People who had known one another for less than a day stood tightly united in the face of mortal danger, becoming a single whole.