Author's note:

Hello!

The hiatus will be slightly delayed till after chapter 16. Chapter 15 will be posted on Monday as normal. :D

This chapter is action filled! I tried my best to portray the fights. I hope it won't be too confusing. /O

To their east, a faint orange light appeared over the sky. It lasted for a few seconds before it faded away.

A group of four Adventurers who were crouching on sturdy branches noticed the the strange sight.

“What happened?” Fiore asked wonderingly as she stared at the sky.

“Hopefully that is something caused by our people,” a blonde haired Adventurer with closely cropped hair said wryly.

“With Guild Master and Mr Seymour around, there won't be any problem,” Fiore replied confidently.

“What Fiore said is true. There is nothing to worry about,” Rigel agreed.

Although that was not part of their plan, with the two rank A Adventurers around, he doubt they will have any problems even if a Goblin General suddenly appeared in battle.

“Haha, you guys are right. I was worrying too much, sorry,” the Adventurer said sheepishly.

They were now hiding on tree tops while waiting for their group of Goblins to go past their route. According to the reports from scouts, the group of slightly over 100 Goblins were expected to arrive in a few minutes and their job was to jump down and cause confusion to their lines when they arrive.

Andric listened to their conversation silently. The orange light just now looked like magic. Hopefully the girl had not done something outrageous.

“Everyone!” One of the trees beside them rustled and a low and urgent voice sounded out Andric turned towards the sound and recognised him as the chestnut haired man by the name of Keith.

“A group of 30 Goblins have split up from the main group and are heading towards the east at an amazing speed!”

“What! Isn’t that where the Guild Master is at?”

“Was it because of the orange light?” Rigel furrowed his brows

“That… Is difficult to say,” Keith replied. He too, had saw the orange light, but was unable to figure out what it was.

“In any way, even if they get reinforcements, it is still not enough to pose a threat to us. We should focus on the enemies coming our way instead.”

The other Adventurers nodded.

Keith immediately jumped off the tree and dashed back to where he was supposed to be stationed.

Sure enough, a few minutes later they heard the sound of footsteps running towards their direction.

From their vantage, Andric could see a group of around 10 Goblin Riders leading the small army. The Goblin Riders were all equipped with long spears with iron tips and they waved it around menacingly as they hurried along atop Forest Wolves. Behind them, Goblins with pale blotchy green skin ran with ungainly steps. Their weapons were not as well made as the Goblin Riders, and some were even just holding stone clubs.

Once the group of Goblins had passed by the vantage point of where Keith and four other Adventurers were at, they jumped down from their trees, surprising the Goblins.

The Goblins let out shrill cries of ‘kree’ and quickly attacked the humans that had suddenly appeared within their ranks.

With their weapons in hand, the five Adventurers worked together and unhurriedly started taking down the Goblins one by one. Although the strength of a Goblin cannot be compared to an adult human, a stab to the heart will still be deadly, so they were also careful to avoid getting hit by the untrained and messy attacks of the Goblins.

Noticing that there was a commotion going on and their men had started lagging behind, the Goblin Riders in front turned their mounts around. Upon realising that they were under attack, they let out a battle cry and rushed towards the humans. However, before they could reach them, another group of humans had appeared in front of them.

“I won't forgive you for trying to harm the town I love!”

Without waiting for the Goblins to react, Fiore dashed towards a Goblin Rider and landed a heavy kick on the jaws of the Forest Wolf.

The Forest Wolf let out a whine and staggered sideways from the impact. The place where the kick had landed was bleeding and a couple of its teeth were loosened. The High Goblin on top of the Forest Wolf tumbled off its ride as the wolf moved around unstably. Ignoring that its rider have dropped off its back, the hulking grey wolf quickly regained its footing and bared its fangs before leaping towards Fiore.

Fiore dodged the attack by rolling sideways and smoothly got back onto her feet a short distance away. Gathering inner energy onto her palms, she clenched her fists into tight balls and lept towards the wolf again, leaving sand flying up behind her.

As the girl and wolf battled, the others engaged enemies of their own as well.

Andric slashed open the chest of a Goblin holding a sword and quickly moved to block the attacks of two High Goblins.

“Be careful!”

Before he could react, a wooden arrow was flying towards the back of his head.

As he was caught in a deadlock with the spears of two High Goblins, Andric was unable to dodge, and could only shift his position slightly so that it will not hit a fatal spot.

However, before the arrow found its mark, another arrow flew to intercept its path, knocking it off the air. The High Goblin Archer that shot the arrow stomped its tiny green feet in frustration. In the next moment, it stopped in its movement as two steel arrows embedded itself into its forehead, one below the other.

Andric turned his head towards the tree that Rigel was standing on and nodded his thanks.

“Be careful of the archers! They are very crafty,” Rigel shouted as he raised his bow again.

Aiming for a High Goblin Archer that was preparing to snipe, he released two arrows at a go.

The archer bent forward, trying to dodge the arrows. While the first arrow flew over its head, the second hit its shoulders and red blood started flowing from the wound.

Seeing that it was distracted, an Adventurer rushed forward and cut down on its neck with his axe, severing the head from its body with a sharp cracking sound. Blood splurted out from the wound, dyeing his metal armor red, and soaking some of his underclothes.

The man looked down at his armor in disgust. Although he was not foreign to blood staining his clothes, he particularly hated Goblin blood as it had a stench that was difficult to wash away.

“Don't get distracted, Blake” a woman with short spiky black hair said wryly as she parried away the club of a Goblin and went to stand behind her brother. Not giving up, the Goblin rushed towards her again with its club raised.

Dodging the blunt weapon, she lowered her body and slashed at the throat of Goblin with the dagger she was holding with her left hand and stabbed her right dagger into its chest to finish it off.

“I know, I know,” the man with black hair pulled back to a half ponytail said irritatedly to his sister, Bianca.

Even if they are B+ Adventurers, he understood the dangers of letting his guard down during a fight. However, they had been fighting Goblins for many days, and he had gotten tired of hosing down and deodorizing his armor everyday.

Sometimes he really feel that he should have chosen a long range job class instead.

“Ahhhh!!! Damn it! Since it's like this, then another stain will not matter right? Take this, you vermin!” Shouting loudly, he held the heavy double edged axe with both hands and cut down mercilessly on the Goblins surrounding him.

Rigel, who was watching the battle from the top of a tree, saw the black haired man going berserk in a corner of the battlefield and could only shake his head.

“Only eighteen Goblins left! Don’t let any get away or they will call for reinforcements!” He commanded.

The eight Adventurers fighting on the ground immediately doubled their efforts. Within the next few minutes, they managed to kill off the last of the Goblins.

“Good job everyone! Those injured, stay back and I will treat you. The rest, search the area nearby for stragglers. Report back here once you are done.”

“Yes!”

Andric wiped the blood off his sword on a clean patch of grass.

He looked towards the east, where the light had originated from. The battle there should have have ended with two rank A Adventurers around.

Hopefully Elise had not gotten herself injured.

*****

Elise cursed her luck. She had been meeting nothing but bad situations since she woke up in this body.

She eyed the group of twenty odd Goblins and Forest Wolves in front of her. Several bloodied arrows were thrown on the ground by injured Goblins and dead bodies with arrows on them were strewn across the ground.

Titan stood in front of her protectively with his shield and sword raised. His dark blue hair were plastered on his forehead from the sweat and his shoulders heaved up as down as he breathed heavily. His metal armor were also covered with blunt marks and dents. Battling the huge group of Goblins and Forest Wolves at a go had taken its toil and even then, he only managed to kill a handful of them.

They were travelling through the forest, back to town when they suddenly found themselves face to face with this group of Goblins.

Why did such a big group suddenly appear in front of them? Didn't the scouts say that there were only two groups in the area? Where did this bunch come from?

“Miss Elise, when I give the instructions, you need to run as fast as you can,” Titan said in a lowered voice. His eyes darted around as he desperately tried to think of a way to let the girl live. He was instructed to bring the girl out of the forest safely, and he intend to complete his mission.

However, it seems like this might be the last mission he will take. Although he had confidence in his skills, it was impossible for him to win against a group of around 30 Goblins with 10 Forest Wolves. He did not think he could outrun Forest Wolves either.

Thinking of that, he gripped his sword and shield tighter.

Elise saw his action and frowned. “Even if I run away, the wolves will catch up with me. So instead of running, we should work together and take them down instead.”

“No, it's too late. Just staying here will lead to our deaths,” Titan disagreed vehemently.

It wasn't the first time Elise had battled with her life at stake. While she could see the danger of the situation, there is no reason for her to run away alone when she is sure she will be caught up to.

“But-”

“Look out!” Titan shouted when a Forest Wolf without its rider that was circling them jumped towards Elise with its jaws wide open.

Elise flashed out the dagger under her cloak, just in time to sink the blade into the soft flesh under the wolf’s neck as it close its mouth around her arm.

Both the girl and the wolf stopped in their movement as blood flowed down their wounds.

Elise gritted her teeth as she endured the pain and twisted the dagger, sealing the wolf’s fate.

“Miss Elise!” Titan rushed over and tore the corpse of the wolf away.

“I-I'm okay…” She replied with a thin smile.

She clenched her right arm that was dripping with blood.

This was bad. The bite of the wolf seemed to be quite deep. Even if she doesn't get killed by the Goblins here, she is probably going to die from blood loss if she don't stop the bleeding soon.

Ah, why did she use up all her mana in that attack? She deeply regretted her decision now.

Not letting the chance go away, the other Goblins started to move towards the two humans again.

Titan battled bravely against the horde, but it was soon clear to the both of them that the numbers were too overwhelming.

Was she going to die here? Elise thought desperately. She had finished her arrows, and her dagger was still embedded in the wolf, so apart from the wooden shortbow in her hand, she was weaponless.

When Andric had fought groups of High Goblins by himself, he had seem so effortless. Wasn't the Adventurer in front of her also the same rank as him? Why was he having so much trouble as compared to Andric?

Elise 'tsked' under her breathe. If only she had more mana, then they wouldn't be in such a situation.

As a Goblin got closer, she swung the wooden bow towards its head. A red abrasion mark appeared on the forehead of the Goblin, and blood started flowing. Despite its injury, it only jittered and jumped towards her together with another Goblin.

Elise swung the bow again. However the combined weight of two Goblins were too great and the wooden shortbow cracked and broke into half. Just as she was about to be crushed by the two Goblins, Titan rushed over and pushed the Goblins away with his shield.

However, this would become a fatal mistake as the High Goblin that he was fighting with took the chance and threw its spear towards his defenseless back.

The iron tipped spear went through the armor and pierced through the front of his chest.

“Urgh-!” Titan let out a pained groan.

Elise came forward to hold the man by his shoulders as he collapsed on his knees.

“D-Don't move or you will lose more blood!”

The man let out a sad smile. “It seems like I have failed my mission. I am sorry that it had come to this stage…”

His voice got weaker and weaker as blood continued to ooze out from the wound.

“You should… before they… you.”

Elise held the dying man closer to her. “What are you saying?” She asked urgently.

“If they capture you… They will do horrendous things to you… So it might be better for you to kill yourself first.”

Elise’s heart grew cold when she heard his words.

However before she could take her next action, in a corner of her eyes, she saw the brief figure of a green creature swinging down a stone club.

Although she was never religious, she could not help but pray.

Dear Goddess, when on earth am I going to wake up from this dream?