Chapter 52. Captives (1)
Two Goblins were standing guard at the entrance of the cave which led to the Goblins nest. Their duty was given to them by a Goblin leader.
There was a strict hierarchy among the monsters. They have to listen to higher level monsters or they would die.
It was because every monster follows the rule- The strong eat the weak.
It means that the lower level monsters were basically the subordinates of the higher level monsters. In a more clear sense, they were slaves.
But it don't matter to the Goblins.
With their intelligence of a 3 year old, they don't even know the meaning of slaves. They don't even know that they were on the level of slaves.
The only thing in their mind was food.
If they get food, then they will do anything. They can even die for food. Goblins were scared of dying but they were more scared of being hungry.
That was the innate setting of all the Goblins.
Growl!
"Cheww!!"
One of the Goblins who was standing guard at the entrance let out a painful cry. He rubbed his stomach.
The Goblin was guarding the entrance for over four hours. His food was snatched by a Goblin leader last night.
So, he was really hungry.
If he had the strength, then he would have killed the Goblin leader, but he knows that he would die if he went against a Goblin leader.
If he died, then he won't be able to eat food. The Goblin can only rub his stomach and wait until he can eat food again.
Swish!
"Cheww!!"
Suddenly, he heard a swishing sound next to him. That Goblin immediately became alert and turned his head to the side.
What he saw surprised him!!
The Goblin guarding the entrance of the cave with him was on the ground and blood was coming from his neck.
He was already dead.
"Cheww."
The Goblin immediately forgot his hunger and raised up his spear, but there was no one in sight. His 3 year old kid brain was not able to contemplate the situation.
"You have to die too."
The Goblin hurriedly tried to turn back when he heard that, but a sharp thing has already striked his neck.
Unbearable pain and blood burst out of his neck!
"Che…ww…"
The Goblin was not even able to let out a full voice as his vision darkened and in the end, he succumbed to his inevitable death.
'The Blaze dagger is still effective.'
Ian thought as he looked at the Blaze dagger in his hands. The dagger was working as a vegetable cutter now, but its sharpness was still there.
Although, it was still sharp, Ian knew well that he can't use it against other monsters.
It was helpful in slicing the neck of the Goblins because they have a relatively soft skin and it was easy to penetrate them.
"It seems like you have done the job with precision."
Tacan and Alice walked up to him after he killed both the Goblins. They were both impressed by Ian's skill in sneaking and killing the Goblins.
Compared to Tacan, Alice was much more impressed by Ian.
Tacan didn't give the item much thought as he knew that Ian was connected to a Count. It was just normal for Ian to possess these sorts of items.
But Alice was a player!
'I wondered where he got that item from.'
As a player, Alice very well know the value of an item that can provide the players with a stealth skill. This type of item would at least sell for 10k USD in the item transaction site.
Ian was still not a high level player. So, Alice really wanted to know where Ian had got that item from.
But she didn't gave much thoughts to it. She has already guessed that Ian was not a normal player at all.
He has amazing skill which normal players can never show. It was too early to guess but Alice was sure that Ian would become a ranker in the future.
If she can become friends with him, then she would surely receive benefits.
Alice couldn't help but smile thinking about that.
'She's smiling like an idiot again!!'
Ian thought as he saw the idiotic smile of Alice. As an elf, Alice's beauty was enhanced by Origin. It was a sort of racial characteristic of elves.
They were born good looking.
Due to this several players will choose the elf class, but no matter how much one can enhance his or her face, they can't change the basic structure of one's face.
Because of that, there would still be a hint of ugliness on the players that have greatly enhanced their faces.
But if a player is already good looking, then the enhancement will just increase the beauty of one's face.
Alice was the same. She was a natural beauty and the elf race suits her well. It was just her idiot like smile that threw Ian off.
During the time he had known her, Ian has seen that kind of smile several times.
'Let's not think about it.'
Ian shook his head of all these thoughts and gestured the two of them to move inside the cave. If they didn't hurry, then someone can see her.
That's why, the three of them quickly went inside the cave.
The cave was pretty big and there were torches on both the sides. Considering that it accommodated 2000 Goblins, it being big was understandable.
'I don't have a good feeling.'
Ian suddenly got a bad feeling inside his heart. Maybe, it was because of the ghostly and eerie feeling inside the cave.
Ian was still taking every step slowly and steadily. He was trying to look out for traps...
Swish! Whoosh!
Suddenly, Ian heard a whistle like voice and he quickly shouted.
"Get down!!!"
Both Alice and Tacan were surprised, but their instincts took over their confusion and both of them crouched down.
Pat! Puk!
Something passed by their necks but they barely dodged it, thanks to Ian's shout.
"What was that?"
Alice asked as she slightly raised her head up.
"Poison darts!! The favorite traps of Goblins."
Ian said as he looked at the three niddle like poison darts on the ground.
"The poison of the Goblin can paralyse someone. It won't lower your health, but you would be paralyzed for ten minutes. Be careful of it."
Ian said and Alice became more scared hearing about the effects.
The poison will paralyse your body and that was worse than anything.
In those ten minutes, any Goblin can come and kill you and you can just whimper on the ground. It was a really terrible way to die.
Of course, people with poison resistance and players above level 100 would not have worry about the poison darts.
But it was not the same for Ian, Tacan and Alice.
"Where did those poison darts came from? Did someone activate any trap?"
Ian asked and looked around the cave.
"I think this is the reason behind the sudden firing of those poison darts."
Tacan said as he pointed at a fine thread of silk on the ground. It was really thin that one would not even be able to notice it.
"It's probably the silk from the White silk spiders. They are not much thick or durable, but they are easy to blend in the surroundings."
Tacan explained the characteristic of the thread and Ian and Alice became more careful.
'The cave us full of traps!!'
Ian warned himself.
There were not even in the underground part of the cave yet and traps has already started appearing. Ian can't even think what will come next.
"Check every step before walking. Any wrong step can activate a trap."
"Yeah."
The three of them became more cautious as they moved ahead in the cave. The cave was getting narrower, the more they were advancing.
But up till now, they still hasn't encounterd any Goblins yet or not…
"Cheww!!"
As Ian turned around the corner, he found himself in front of more than 10 Goblins. All of them attacked seeing Ian.
Swish! Clang!
Ian quickly blocked the attack of one of the Goblins who was using a short sword. Then, he sliced his neck off easily.
"Damn Goblins!!!"
Tacan also took his posture as he unsheathed his sword. He took a charging stance as he slashed and immediately killed three of the Goblins.
"Come forth the blazing flames and burn these wicked monsters into ashes."
Alice also chanted her spell and used the most basic spell of fire magic, fireball.
Swish!
"Chew!!"
Two Goblins were instantly burned and only their ashes remained on the ground. It was an instant death that shows the deadliness of a magician.
That's why, magicians were a class to fathom with, especially fire magicians like Alice.
Fire magicians were the most offensive types of magicians and they can use spells like flame burst and wall of fire.
'If it's only this much, then we can easily handle it.'
Ian thought as his spear shined with a red light. He was using one of his skills vital thrust.
Thrust!
"Cheww…"
A red light followed the trajectory of his Crevice spear as Ian stabbed the Goblin.
Then, he quickly took out his spear from the Goblin's chest and hit the chin of another Goblin from the stick part of the spear.
Swish! Swish!
"Spiral spear!!"
Ian then used his most powerful skill spiral spear and moved in a circular motion. In an instant, four Goblins were killed.
Those messages appeared before Ian but he just ignored them. It was not the time to check his messages.
Ian focused on killing the rest of the Goblins and soon, all the Goblins were killed.
With Ian and Tacan on the front and Alice using offensive magic from the back, hunting Goblins was as easy as walking on the street.
"Let's go ahead!!"
Ian said as they moved forward.
The cave was more big than what Ian had thought. Sometimes, it was narrow and sometimes, it was wide.
They cautiously moved through the cave and avoided the traps.
On every corner, they would meet some Goblins and a battle with ensued. As defeating a group of Goblins was not that hard, they quickly killed them.
But a worry was slowly forming in Ian's heart.
'The Goblins are increasing.'
As they were advancing, the number of Goblins was increasing. It was not a matter of surprise as Ian knows that there are 2000 Goblins in the cave.
Still, If the Goblins kept increasing, then, they will surely be in a bind sooner or later. They have to cautious of the traps at the same time.
"Ah…"
Alice suddenly turned around the corner and let out a shocked voice.
"What happened?"
Ian thought that it was the Goblins again, but when he turned around from the corner, he noticed some stairs.
The stairs were leading to the underground part of the cave.
"The stairs will probably lead us to the underground cave and the true nest of the Goblins. We will find the captives there."
"Yeah, the Goblin king would also be there."
Ian muttered and the three of them quickly started climbing down the stairs.
The stairs were much more longer than they had thought and it took them seven minutes before the stairs ended.
'There are no Goblins here!'
Ian thought as he searched around. The pathway of the underground cave was the same. It was neither narrow nor too wide.
They quickly moved on the path and just after walking for five minutes, they found the thing they were searching for.
The captured young girls and the vigilant guards members!!
'It was earlier than I thought.'
Ian looked at the locked prison on one side of the cave and thought.