The Scent of the Weak

The Goblins held an absolute advantage in numbers. All they could smell on Yang Yu was the scent of a weakling. Against someone so recklessly overconfident, they needed no technique at all. They only had to charge in; one hammer, one club, and he would fall into a pool of blood, unable to rise again.

"Now! [Ice Spike]!"

Once the Goblins had drawn close enough, Yang Yu gave the command. Bai Jin, hiding in the shadows, unleashed [Ice Spike]. White snowflakes danced through the air, dealing damage while greatly slowing the Goblins' advance.

Rather than retreat, Yang Yu advanced. He raised his short sword to meet them and unleashed a Cleave toward the densest cluster of Goblins.

Seizing the opportunity, the Goblins swarmed him. Their attacks did not slow Yang Yu in the slightest; everything he did flowed more smoothly than it appeared. With a swing of his arm, he sent one Goblin flying with his shield, carving a path through the encirclement and making the Goblins surrounding him come face-to-face for an intimate encounter.

More Goblins came at him with spears, but Yang Yu remained calm. The battle had completely entered his rhythm. He took in every tiny movement of the Goblins within his field of vision, not dodging at the absolute limit, but leaving himself as much room as possible and increasing his margin for error.

Seka Mens did not know what to say when he saw this. If he had still clung to the faint hope that Yang Yu had beaten him through some cheap trick before, he was now utterly convinced by Yang Yu's skill.

Just like when the two of them had first fought, it was as though everything had already been calculated by this seemingly ordinary young man.

"If it's him, he might really be able to defeat this group of Goblins alone." Seka Mens reluctantly voiced what he truly thought. His companions all agreed, watching Yang Yu dance amid the Goblins with rapt attention.

"You guys are dreaming!" Yang Yu wore a cheerful smile, but inwardly he was cursing. Stop spectating from the edge and get over here to finish them off once you've recovered enough! I can hold them back alone, but I can't beat them!

That was all the honest truth.

To stay firmly on the tank path, Yang Yu had put almost all his free attribute points into endurance. He had only added the tiniest bit to speed for easier positioning. As for offense, he had mostly let it grow naturally. He had invested some points into it, but not many, which left his damage output consistently low.

After one Cleave, some particularly sturdy Goblins would get back up as though nothing had happened. It was not that Yang Yu did not want to finish them off; his attack power was simply too low to do so.

If this continued, even if he could hold the Goblins back, Yang Yu would eventually be worn down and collapse from exhaustion because he could not deal enough damage to them, leaving himself at their mercy.

Fortunately, after Yang Yu's reminder, Seka Mens's party, who had been watching from the side, suddenly realized the problem as well. Ignoring their exhaustion, they joined the battle and tirelessly finished off Goblins to avenge themselves.

Then, Yang Yu had his monsters stolen again and again.

Whenever Yang Yu spotted a Goblin that he could kill with his own attack, someone would always silently finish it off first.

At first, Yang Yu could still gain some shared experience from Bai Jin finishing them off. But later, after Bai Jin gave a light cough, her aim became unsteady. Several times, she nearly hit Yang Yu. Turning around, Yang Yu saw Bai Jin's somewhat pale face and simply told her to rest to the side.

The uncontrollable factors of the Frailty attribute were truly troublesome. Yang Yu secretly decided that once this major mission was over, he would immediately investigate how to remove Bai Jin's Frailty attribute, let her grow quickly, and make her a pillar of the team. Then he could slack off properly like He Meng, who was paddling from the sidelines and shouting "666," rewarding himself for a while.

The battle gradually drew to a close. After killing the last Goblin, the sweat-drenched Seka Mens ran a hand through his golden hair and became handsome and dashing once more. His companions, Iron Wall and Qi, sat on the ground weakly, panting heavily, while Luo Keke supported herself with her priest's staff. Unless absolutely necessary, she would not abandon her ladylike image.

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart!" Though they had clashed somewhat before, Yang Yu's willingness to risk himself to save them from danger was enough for Seka Mens to let go of their past grievances and make peace with him.

Unexpectedly, Yang Yu ignored Seka Mens's outstretched hand and walked up to Luo Keke instead. In an extremely gentle tone, he said, "Are you all right, lovely miss? You're safe now. Why, you ask? Because we are here."

Luo Keke blinked, completely confused.

But Yang Yu quickly shifted his aim toward Seka Mens.

"What kind of captain are you? Don't you know that the best thing to do when you encounter Goblins moving in groups is run? As long as you got out of this forest, plenty of adventurers would help you. Why insist on fighting? It was because you insisted on leading her into battle that your party was nearly wiped out."

The moment everyone heard Yang Yu say those somewhat familiar words in such an affected tone, they did not know whether to laugh or cry.

This brat was still holding a grudge over Seka Mens forcibly pinning a label on him.

"Now you understand what it feels like to be misunderstood, ignored, and forcibly labeled, right?" Yang Yu smiled at Seka Mens.

Scratching his cheek, Seka Mens said somewhat awkwardly, "I do understand it a little now."

"Good. My goal has been achieved, so please remember this lesson well." After laughing with everyone for a while, Yang Yu's smile faded, and he suddenly became serious. "Enough nonsense. I'll get straight to the point. You escaped from the Goblins' main camp, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Before Seka Mens could answer, the exhausted Qi beat him to it. "Luckily, I was cautious enough to steal their key before they locked us up. That was how we managed to escape from there in the middle of the night."

"That's right. We just did not discuss things beforehand and make a plan, so the Goblins discovered us and chased us from last night until now," Seka Mens added.

"They were watching us closely. If we talked carelessly, they would hit us on the head with clubs. And if we made too much noise, the Goblins would take us somewhere we didn't know." Perhaps because she had finally relaxed, Qi let out a huge yawn.

"Take you where?" Yang Yu pressed.

Qi shook his head. "I don't know. All I know is that once someone was taken away, they never came back. Who knows what those Goblins did to them?"

Unlike the relaxed Qi, Seka Mens wore a grave expression. "It probably wasn't anything good. The cage Iron Wall and I were held in was somewhat different from the cage Luo Keke and Qi were held in. A small red flag hung from the upper-left edge of our cage. Also, yesterday at noon, I smelled blood in the air. It wasn't the smell of any animal's blood."

At that point, perhaps mindful of Luo Keke's increasingly pale face, Seka Mens said no more.

But what had happened was something everyone more or less understood.