Chapter 174 - Vol. 3 - Chapter 39

'Arcane Shield'

Activating his Arcane Shield, he took out his sword that was shifted into the one he gained from the bandit he killed. Doing an attack from his arsenal, he wounded all of the five Goblins whose attacks stopped midair.

[You have dealt an AoE attack of damage.]

Dropping on the ground the monsters woke themselves with Mathias shifting his Longsword, into Ragnius that he used to slaughter them with Waning Moon, who did constant hits of 1100-1500 damage, before ending the technique with the centered Whirling attack which caused an AoE attack of 2529 damage.

In the process he wounded them so badly that they tried to flee the conclusion of the fight, he did the Ghost Spear - Mars, killing them for good, in doing so defeating this first group of Goblins that looked more ugly than he actually expected.

Clearing out the notifications he gained from killing the 5 goblins, which announced the rewards and the fact he leveled up, he was surprised to see Elder Morlk's quest morphing into a new quest.

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[Explore the Goblin's War Base Cave]

Difficulty: A-S

Starting from a curiosity of the old kobold, and after adventuring deeper in Gravelmark Mountain, you reached the stage where you discovered the source of Morlk's curiosity.

Inside the cave, an army of Goblins chose to make it home.

Quest Clear Condition: Adventure deeper into the cave, and explore the truth about why they settled in Gravelmark Mountain.

Quest Rewards: ???

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The group of Goblins he killed was of level 90, and they granted him plenty exp to make him level up once, and continuing his path he saw that things looked way more different then he expected. The galleries were decently expanded, and from what he thought, filled with Goblins wanting in ambush to catch him.

'So many goblins, this is shocking. It will be a pain in the ass to deal with all of them.'

'Old Hay, I think I will take a break and we'll continue on slaughtering those goblins later on. Okay?'

{Sure, it is not as if I can do something to stop you from leaving. Take care while out, and be gentle with that girl Leonor. She seems quite the gentle girl to me, and fits with your personality. Hehe, just the words of a sage elder.}

'.... Hey, cut it out, there's nothing between me and Leonor.'

{You never know when the sparkling happens. Anyway, don't make her wait too long, and be on point. Chop-Chop.}

'Tsk, you also take care, old Hay.'

It was the point he got out of the game, being allowed to log out from the cave, but forbidden from exiting without clearing out the cave, only by dying he could get out or clearing it.

While he was fighting with the goblins, he made sure to talk with Leonor and ask her how her Satisfy experience went about, since she also grew into a strong player, being currently level 68.

She didn't mind talking with Mathias telling him about the quest she was doing, received from Cardinal Reinhard, who became her trainer in becoming a Paladin which made Mathias interested to hear more about Leonor's journey and the environment in the Judar's Church.

The young lady after telling him with a lot of pleasure her activities, went about to mention her latest quest, where she was required to settle down some villages from the vicinity of the Judar's Church attacked by monsters, mostly the Graesps she constantly faced in the forest of Velnior County.

@Leona: You will not believe how strong those impish creatures turned out to be. Last week they were at 60-70, now they reached 70-90 which was really a shock.

@Mathias: Remember what I've told you about the level scaling?

@Leona: Yeah, could it be? Is that theory of yours that you discussed on the break?

@Mathias: Other than that, I don't know what is it. But, it's a good effect since there are monsters with high level but also monsters with low level for each category of players. The strategies might differ because of newly improved skills of the monsters.

@Leona: Indeed, there's also the low-level Graesps, but they aren't the real problem, only the high level ones are the trouble.

Leonor and Mathias were talking while both were doing their quests and dungeons, without feeling much pressure, their conversation would get slower while one would face monsters, but for the most part, it was smooth talk.

When the time arrived that they would have to meet, Leonor was the first one to log out, as if to have more time to prepare which Mathias knew fully well how much women would take to make themselves look pretty.

On the other hand, Mathias continued his work, checking on Fayrene who told him she would contact him later since she entered the Swamp of the Green Hag.

He tells her to be careful, and with the time for him to log out, he stopped close to an open chamber, not far from the slave chamber, there from what his Arcane Spell which was a Zone Scan, could tell that this place was where most of the work inside the Goblins cave was staged.

Logging out from there, he left the high-rankers who stepped inside the cave to wonder what happened to Mathias, jokingly saying that after he died he quit attempting the instance.

But, what they saw was far more scarier, the path they were stopped by the goblins was cleared fully, and they got ambushed by level 100-105 Goblins who looked to be enraged to the limits, especially the 105 Elite who shouted something intelligible, before killing two of the guys who mocked Mathias.

Sera, the leader of this party, ordered the retreat from the cave, only to remember that they were stuck in the cave without being able to exit. While on the run, they notice how the goblins stop their case, looking wary around themselves, as if looking out for some dangerous monsters lurking in the tunnels.

She asks herself if it wasn't Mathias who actually did this much damage to the Goblins.

Then as the players were rushing to a safer location of the tunnel, a large green-skinned monster they never encountered before appeared, giving them a scare.

「Lv.105 Goblin Champion - Elite]

Humanoid Type, Dark Type /

Health: 35.000/35.000 (100%) 」

"AN ELITE! What now, SERA!" shouted Jose who felt cornered like a prey to this monster.

As the first one to scream, the Goblin Champion chose to focus on Jose, who woke up to see the monster charging at him, and making the situation chaotic, he got blasted into a wall by a blunt weapon strike.

The situation looked deadly, and while under full stress Sera began to recollect herself and ponder a plan for the fight, and the monster who was alone didn't give her a moment of contemplation as it went berserk, shouting and cursing in his native language, clearly angry for something.

"What the fuck got into this monster? He seems to be annoyed and flustered about something. Who messed with him? WHO!" screamed Loop, who went to help his friend fend off against the monster.

'Could it be? It was that Mage who cleared this deep in the Cave?'

In the end, being forced to fight the Goblin Champion, the fight exhausted everyone mentally, especially Sera who had to coordinate everyone, and yet, there was still someone who got killed in the fight, both Jose and Loop, who couldn't be saved in time by Eric.

"Huh, huh. Shit happens, Even if I could help those idiots, it would just be a waste of my mana."

"Said that again, Eric. I want to hear it clearer. Who is the useless one in the fight?"

"It was clearly those two idiots." mentioned the priest to his friend, who almost carried the entire fight, being able to stun, crowd control and block the high-damage attacks that could kill a DPSer like an ant.

"You two, I think we are doomed. We can't clear out the dungeon, and both Jose and Loop, those idiots got timelined." said the young woman, breathing haggard, exhausted by the fight against the Goblin Champion.

"Let's take a break. I'll log out. Maybe by the time we reconnect, we encounter that mage guy. It is clear to me that he was the one who cleared deeper in the Cave, and why that Goblin Champion acted strange to evasive tactics, as if watching his back." commented the warrior, Bernard, who was also exhausted.

"Mhm, indeed. I also want to watch the recording of the fight and analyze my mistakes." said Sera, as she was first to log out, leaving out the guys who couldn't only laugh.

"She is a hard working girl. Now, let's not make it hard for her and log out, before we get dragged into a fight by those goblins." remarked Eric, who logged out second, being followed by Bernard.

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On the other hand Mathias who exited from the game moved without rushing himself to the kitchen to snack on some fruits, and also hydrate himself, before getting to his shower and beginning his preparations for the News Years Celebration.

Time always moved swiftly when one was doing something they cared about, except for studying, no one enjoyed that, and the same could be said for a young woman that was moving around left and right, throwing around some clothes.

"Where is that pair of jeans that I bought recently in case the girls would want to go to a party?"

She wasn't quite able to find her pair of jeans, until her eyes were on a chair that had stashed clothes, one after another, making it rather messy, but in this chaos of hers, this woman with silky black hair, and a tranquil, beautiful appearance, that had small amounts of make-up on.

"Found you."

Seeing herself staring at her own target, the black pair of jeans, the young woman, jumped on it as if it was her prey. Snacking on them, she quickly completed her own attire.

Giving a closer look at the clock it showed to be [22:14]. Seeing that only one minute broke from the meeting she was supposed to participate in, she breathed in relief, not being required to excuse herself for delaying things.

Then came the minute she was expecting, where her phone started ringing, with a name she had registered in her contacts [D. Matei]

"Leonor, I got to your apartment building. You can come out, I'll wait in the parking lot."

"Ahh, yes, yes. I'll be at the entrance of the building right away." replied the young woman, clearly surprised by how on point Mathias was with regard to meetings.

Walking back to the large window, she gave herself a final check, and with everything looking nicely for her, she rushed out from her small apartment room, appearing at the entrance at the building looking around for a young man in the parking lot.

Yet he didn't appear in her sight whatsoever.

What she could see new in the parking lot was an dark-blue car that gave her the vibe it was super expensive, and not long a loud Exhaust Sound came from the car, as if to signal her to approach, but she thought it was the wrong person, still waiting for Mathias to appear.

'Hmph, it must be some rich guy who thinks I am easy. Go away, I'll not bother with you.' thought Leonor, who mistook the appearance of that car and the exhaust as of some rich guy hitting on her.

Then when from the car, a young man with a casual attire, seemingly not bothering himself to look great, appeared from the car, walking toward the young woman who was confused by how Mathias, who she knew was fired from the Hotel Job, could afford such an expensive car.

"Hold your jaw so it doesn't drop on the snow. Heh, making me come out from the warmth of the car, just to get you."

"Playing hard to get, Leo?" teased Mathias, as he walked toward the beautiful woman with long black hair being held in two loose ponytails, while she wore a stylish winter hat.

"Wait, what? Matei, did you steal that car? That's bad, you'll be caught by the police." said Leonor, not believing what she was seeing, later on looking up and down at Mathias who was taller with a head than her, with herself standing at 1,68 meters tall.

"You think that if I stole such a car I would still be moving casually to greet a lady? ... The answer is no. Come, let's get going, since we have to pack the other two sardines inside the car."

Giving her a small smile, she looked a bit embarrassed because of the misunderstanding she had, but it quickly melted when stepping inside the warm interior of the Mustang.

"But … How? Is this the money from Satisfy? You made so much so quickly?"

*Chuckle* "Huhuhu, if it was so easy as you imagine. The story is long. Besides, how was your day now that you also have some free days for yourself."

"My day? Besides playing Satisfy and watching some YT videos, nothing much ... A bit awkward right now seeing you like this. Is this really your car, not that I care that much, but I am worried that you might have done something illegal."

Mathias could help but continue laughing, seeing a new side to Leonor, who was always professional at work, rarely lowering her guard, but now she acted all cute in a genuine manner, which made him pat her shoulder gently.

"If it makes you feel better saying, this is my car. Then … this is my car."

"No, but I am seriously worrying that you might have stolen this car."

Mathias laughed, and in his amusement, he couldn't help but pat playfully Leonor's slender white hands, where the young lady kept her nails shorter, but the red polish made them rather stand out for Mathias who was classy, enjoying his ladies' look simple yet also beautiful.

"Now, now. Where is my Boss Lady that I met one year ago? The one scolding me all day long for doing my job too well? Giving the impression he was slacking at work?"

Leonor couldn't help but stare at Mathias with surprise, feeling her hands touched by the opposite gender in this close set-up made her feel as if she was into some TV Drama interacting with the protagonist of the show, but she didn't react scared to freak out.

There was no reason, especially after hearing his teasing remark.

"Hey, don't forget that I was still your Boss."

"Hehe, not for now. I am free to spread around my wings and try flying as high as I can."