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Chapter 12 : To the West
🕑 Added 2022-03-22 07:01:07 +0000 UTCTL:SummerPeanut
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At a point located 1km away from the checkpoint west of Almeria.*1
The goblin encounter rate is still abnormally high.
What would have happened if we hadn't been hunting them?
By the time we reached this point, we had killed about 30 of them.
This time we're coming via horse-drawn carriage, so it's a lot easier without the burden of travel and luggage.
There was one problem: the horses were a bit scared of the goblins but while we were hunting more and more in front of them, they became less and less scared.
Normally we would hunt goblins around here but today we are going further to the west.
I asked Zeke who was mounted on his horse. Incidentally, I was riding a little bit in front of Zeke.
If I see a goblin, I cut it up with a Wind Cutter.
Ike was in the carriage looking outside and he would go out if the situation becomes dangerous.
Well, I don't think he’ll have a chance to go out for a while.
I asked Zeke this on the road.
“Father. What is there if we continue west?”
“There are mines to the west. This mine seems to have been dug up and abandoned by the time I was born. The village at the foot of the mine was also abandoned when the mine was closed.”
The further west you went, the higher the rate of encounters with goblins.
And settlements that appeared to be abandoned villages were visible in the distance.
I was told by Zeke that I could use up all my MP so in a few more minutes I would become MP deficient and go to sleep.
The reason why Zeke said that is because the plan was for Zeke and Ike to guard the carriage while I sleep and when I wake up, we will explore the abandoned village.
There’s also the fact that I’m the most suitable to hunt goblins (small fries) enroute.
When I used up my last MP, I leveled up. I didn’t even have any MP left to appraise, so I just went to sleep. When I told Zeke that I was going to sleep because I had run out of MP, he took me into the carriage and let me sleep.
Ike swapped places with me and he went outside.
I woke up a little after three hours.
Zeke and Ike were chatting while being vigilant outside.
I appraised myself because I've just leveled up.
I'm excited to finally get my level up.
Name: Mars Bryant
Title: -
Condition: Good
Age: Three years old
Level: 4
HP: 13/13
MP: 1604/1605
Strength: 10
Agility: 11
Magic: 15
Dexterity: 11
Endurance: 11
Luck: 30
Unique Ability: Innate talent (LvMax)
Unique Ability: Clairvoyance (Lv 6)
Unique Ability: Lightning magic (Lv0/S)
Special ability: Swordsmanship (Lv 1/B)
Special ability: Wind magic (Lv 6/A)
Special ability: Holy magic (Lv 1/B)
All statuses increased by 2.
I'm concerned about my low HP, but I'm a lot stronger in terms of my abilities.
Will I be able to compete decently against Ike now?
“Father, brother Ike. I'm awake now. I will recover both of you now.”
And I casted cure(heal) them both.
“Thank you. While Mars was sleeping, the goblins came quite a bit. They seem to be coming from the abandoned village so we'll have to be careful when we explore the abandoned village.”
Saying so, we drove forward the horse carriage.
As we got closer to the abandoned village, the goblin encounter rate became even higher.
There seemed to be something in this village.
We had reached the entrance to the abandoned village.
Looking inside the village from the entrance, there were about 50 goblins just on the outside.
There were probably also some inside the houses so it seemed safe to assume that there were 100 goblins.
We had already planned a strategy.
First, Ike used Fire at the center of the goblins.
Once all of them noticed us, I would dice them up with my Wind Cutter at the entrance to the village.
If they got close to us, I could take them out in one go and since the spell penetrates, MP efficiency-wise was even higher.
When I can't deal with them, Ike will help me and Zeke would be there if it got dangerous.
And we decided to go with that plan.
First, Ike hit the goblins with Fire.
“Gyah-gyah-gyah!!!!”
They screamed.
Ike shot at their faces to make them scream.
The goblins heard the screams and looked in the direction the Fire was shot and noticed us.
Dozens of them came out of the house.
The goblins came towards us all at once.
I lured them back enough and then released Wind Cutters.
We fought for about an hour and defeated them all.
Ike burned away the pile of goblin corpses with Fire.
Then only the magic stones were left behind, so we picked them up and put it in the carriage.
It was when we were about to return to the village on the carriage.
The door of the largest house on the mountainside opened.
There were about 20 goblins and one very large goblin.
The largest goblin must have been about 2 meters high.
I tried to appraise the large goblin.
Name: -
Title: -
Race: Hobgoblin
Threat: E
Condition: Good
Age: 10 years old
Level: 7
HP: 30/30
MP: 1/1
Strength: 12
Agility: 5
Magic: 1
Dexterity: 1
Endurance: 15
Luck: 1
The first strong foe.
It had high HP and high durability value.
I told Zeke and Ike the results of my appraisal.
Ike asked Zeke.
“Father, what should we do?”
“Let's do things as usual first. If Mars cannot defeat the hobgoblin, we will fight them while retreating. Ike, keep your sword at the ready.”
“”Yes.””
The goblins charged.
I used Wind Cutter to kill all but the hobgoblin.
And I succeeded in hitting the hobgoblin with Wind Cutter but it only managed to inflict some cuts, not fatal wounds.
“We'll fight them as we retreat! Mars, fire your Wind Cutter at both eyes of the hobgoblin.”
When told to do so, I fired the Wind Cutter to both its eyes, successfully slicing through both eyes of the hobgoblin.
The hobgoblin, deprived of its vision, was rampaging about as it saw fit.
In the meantime, Ike beheaded the hobgoblin with a flash of his sword.
When the magic stone was removed from the motionless hobgoblin, it was slightly larger than the goblin's magic stone. Would it be worth a little more?
Having defeated the hobgoblins, we explored the village.
There was nothing special in the village. And all that was left was the big house on the mountainside where the hobgoblin had just appeared.
We opened the door of that big house with caution.
The moment I opened it, I realized that this space was foreign to me.
I was speechless at the first sensation. Ike must have felt something too.
Then Zeke said.
“It's a labyrinth (dungeon). Oh my God. It became a labyrinth. If goblins had overflowed from here, it would be a big problem. Magic beasts’ march(stampede) due to labyrinth saturation(labyrinths) would have been the worst possible scenario.”
“What do we do now? Father, shall we go return for now? Although I think it's only around 14:00.”
When Ike said that.
“Let's explore a bit. Because if there are goblins here, we can report that goblins could be originating from here.”
“I understand. Mars, we'll have to be careful alright.”
“Understood. Brother Ike.”
“Okay, we'll go with me in the lead, Mars in the middle, and Ike from behind. We’re not doing any attack so we’ll leave as long as we found a few goblins later.”
With that said, they proceeded through the labyrinth.
The labyrinth’s road was about 10 metres wide.
Straight ahead from the door, we soon came to the end of the path and came to a crossroads.
We went to the right. A little further on, there was a room. Looking inside with caution, I saw the hobgoblin from earlier and three goblins with wands.
I appraised the hobgoblin but it was not much different from the hobgoblin I saw earlier.
I then appraised the goblin with the wand as well.
Name: -
Title: -
Race: Goblin mage
Threat: F
Condition: Good
Age: 8 years old
Level: 5
HP: 12/12
MP: 10/10
Strength: 5
Agility: 2
Magic: 7
Dexterity: 3
Endurance: 3
Luck: 1
Special ability: Earth magic (Lvl 1/G)
Goblins that use magic.
I told the other two the results of the appraisal.
We decided to defeat them without letting them activate their magic. The hobgoblin was to be taken down after blinding it, just as before.
First, we attacked the three goblin mages with my Wind Cutter, Zeke's Stone Bullet, and Ike's Fire in a surprise attack. Only Ike's goblin mage survived but quickly I fired another Wind Cutter to finish him off. And the remaining hobgoblin was beheaded by Ike after I blinded it.
Then there was a treasure chest in the corner of the room.
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TL’s note:
- Yes, it’s Almeria. The author suddenly changed from Alteria to Almeria.
