A Sudden Flash of Light

"You killed both of them?" Thor asked, surprised.

"Yes. One of those little green bastards ambushed me and stabbed me in the side. I shouted and fought back, and before long, Rain came charging over. He skewered one with a pitchfork. The other tried to run, but Rain threw the pitchfork and killed it too!"

As if to prove his story, Gates turned to show the freshly bandaged wound on his side, where blood was still seeping through. He added:

"I saw it all myself. Rain's over there. Ask him if you don't believe me."

Thor, the Adventurer team's captain, followed Gates's gesture and spotted the sturdy young Rain sitting nearby. He nodded.

A farmer who could kill two Goblins was rare, but not unheard of.

Most Goblins were poor fighters. One on one, they could not even beat a woman armed with a laundry paddle. But their fighting strength rose sharply with their numbers.

Against two, an ordinary grown man would have to give the fight his full attention.

Against three or more, he would stand little chance unless he was fully armed.

"I ran into two Goblins that were about to ambush me, too. I happened to spot them first, so I killed them," Rain said after a moment's thought.

He could not give the Adventurer team bad information.

Besides, they were heading out at night to rescue two girls the Goblins had abducted from the village.

"Then you killed four Goblins?" Thor asked, plainly surprised.

The other three looked startled too, and turned their full attention to Rain.

Four was beyond what most people could manage. Even in a fight to wipe out a small group of Goblins, each of them would kill only five or six on average.

Yet this young farmer had killed four with a pitchfork. That was...

"Well, not all at once. I killed the two that ambushed me first. Then I heard Uncle Gates shout and ran over. I caught the two attacking him by surprise."

Uneasy under their stares, Rain quickly explained what had happened.

That explained it.

Understanding dawned on their faces.

It made much more sense.

Fighting four at once was nothing like fighting two on separate occasions.

Even so, it was impressive.

Rain had made quite an impression on the Adventurers.

Thor picked up a twig and sketched a few rough marks in the dirt, apparently working something out. Soon, he looked up and said:

"Good. Judging by where the attacks happened, there should be fewer than twenty altogether. Four are dead, so no more than fifteen should remain. Most likely, it's a small band of wandering Goblins."

The other three members of the Oak Shield Team visibly relaxed.

Thor turned to his teammates again.

"All right. If Nia agrees and there are so few Goblins, I have no objection," said the man with the greatsword, shrugging.

"Fine. If you've all agreed, I suppose we're going," the man with the daggers said, arms folded. He still sounded reluctant.

"Then we're agreed. Evans, sorry for the trouble, but we'll need you to scout ahead," Thor told him.

"One last thing. We don't know the fields around here well, so we'd like a few people to guide us."

"Just as guides. You won't need to fight," Thor added, apparently worried the villagers might misunderstand.

"I'll go!"

"I will too!"

Rain saw that the volunteers were the two fathers whose daughters had been taken. Jefferson, the militia captain, stepped forward as well.

"I'll go too!" Rain said. After a moment's thought, he rose with his pitchfork in hand.

The two girls had been his childhood playmates before he came to inhabit this body. Besides, Rain did not think fifteen or so Goblins would pose much trouble for the team before him.

After all, he could handle two or three himself. Surely each of these four well-equipped Adventurers could take on three?

And they would also have Jefferson and several other villagers.

Rain had an important suspicion he wanted to test, too. To do that, he would need to kill several more Goblins.

Thor looked at him with approval.

The other villagers, especially the two fathers, gripped Rain's hands tightly, their faces full of gratitude.

Before long, the group set out.

Rain and the other three villagers walked in front, with the four Adventurers following behind.

A little over ten minutes later.

As they crossed the rice fields and approached the dense woods, Nia, the archer at the rear, crouched to examine what looked like tiny footprints in the dirt.

"Wait. This is close enough. Put out the torches."

The villagers leading the way were puzzled, but they quickly obeyed.

Rain, however, knew why Nia wanted the torches extinguished.

The Goblins that had attacked Oak Village were probably not far ahead.

Several minutes earlier, his Dim-Light Vision had let him see tiny footprints converging from every direction, then continuing deeper into the woods.

There were drag marks beside the dense tracks, too.

The Goblins had gathered here after raiding and hunting across the area.

"You four stay here. Leave the rest to us." Thor nodded to Rain and the other villagers, then drew the longsword at his waist and entered the woods first.

"But... could we follow behind you?"

"We haven't had any proper training, but we can handle one or two of those green-skinned monsters."

The two girls' fathers spoke up, hope written on their faces.

Rain understood. They were almost at their destination, and the fathers of the missing girls were frantic to rescue their loved ones as soon as they could.

"All right. Stay behind us."

Perhaps Thor decided that having four reasonably sturdy villagers guarding the team's rear was not a bad idea. In any case, he did not refuse.

Rain had no objection.

Staying behind would be safer, but it would also leave him little chance to pick off a Goblin.

Going with the others gave him a much better chance to kill a few.

The Adventurers took the lead, with the villagers behind them. Divided into two groups, they crept forward.

The ground rose and fell beneath the dense trees. Before long, they could make out a cave entrance ahead by the starlight.

"Walala!"

Just as Thor was about to signal for everyone to spread out, a burst of harsh cries came from the waist-high grass ahead. A short, dark figure bolted toward the cave entrance.

"Damn, a scout!" Thor's expression changed.

Thwip! An arrow struck the little figure square in the back. Nia had fired it.

"There are only a dozen or so Goblins. They've spotted us, so let's go straight in!"

"Thor, let's block the cave entrance together!" The man with the two-handed sword did not seem concerned. He drew the greatsword from his back.

"Right!" Thor agreed. With so few Goblins, there was no need for an elaborate plan.

Blocking the entrance would work just fine.

Thor and the other two close-range fighters charged forward. Two or three short figures had just rushed out of the cave, and the two sides met head-on.

Rain tightened his grip on his pitchfork. The fight before him left him nervous, excited, and a little disappointed.

The Adventurers worked smoothly together and clearly had the upper hand. In moments, they killed all three Goblins.

When a second wave rushed out, only one slipped past them, and Nia promptly shot it dead.

Looks like I won't get a chance to pick one off...

Rain thought the fight would end without any surprises.

Then he saw a blue-white glow flare inside the cave.

The next instant, a beam slightly thicker than a thumb shot out like lightning toward the three fighters cutting down Goblins outside the cave.