[You have killed a goblin]
[Due to the level difference, you have not gained any experience]
"Oh…" Stone was somewhat disappointed.
"What?"
"I didn't see it… And I killed a goblin, but not gained any experience."
"Well, we are leaving. From the sound, I would guess a few cracks should have appeared on the ground."
"It was way too loud. I won't use it again…"
"You will use it when I tell you! Same as with the ants' souls."
"Okay..." Stone reluctantly agreed.
As they left, a slowly growing crack appeared on the ground on the place where the heated [Mana Missile] landed...
They arrived in the same large cavern where the last battle between druegars and goblins had taken place. The place was already empty, except for two half-eaten druegar corpses.
"Goblins were here. I will teach you how to track them. Thanks to the perception sphere, it will be extremely easy for you," he inwardly smiled. Sometimes, easy was good. "Look for traces where the target went. A random footprint should suffice for now."
Stone immediately found many footprints. Lucifer taught him how to count how many targets there were and how to differentiate between them. Basic stuff that anyone could do. Still, it was enough for the soft 'thud' in Stone's and Lucifer's minds.
[You have learned a skill Tracking]
The moment Stone heard the message, a few most significant footprints were highlighted with red colour.
"Oh! Cool!" Lucifer exclaimed in astonishment. He honestly did not expect this.
A trail emerged itself, leading them in two directions. One track was filled with footprints made by greaves. The second trail was made by footprints created by bare feet.
They followed the goblin trail. Stone's small trepidation soon grew into full-blown expectation.
"This is fun," Stone cheerily proclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah. Be prepared, they are not that far away!"
Tracking them took three long hours.
They met the goblins' warband in a cave large around 30 metres in diameter, but otherwise dark and empty.
The goblins pitched a small camp and were resting and healing themselves from a battle.
Stone tagged every single goblin before Lucifer could react. The incredible and elusive perception sphere showed its prowess as he was able to 'see' everyone in a 29-metre radius of him. (A/N: Sphere 58 metres = Lucifer's intelligence, Stone is the centre.)
[You have tagged 21 beings. Challenge accepted!]
Stone readied for the ambush but was stopped by Lucifer, "wait!"
"Loud!" Ignored. "Why?"
"Did you tag all the goblins?" Lucifer inquired with worry.
"Yes. Twenty-one of them."
"Even those two 3rd-tier ones?"
"Yes…"
"Aaaaah. Fuck! Wait a minute… Move forward a little bit," Lucifer detected a strange footprint in his perception sphere. "Oh… Those are druegars! And two dwarfs! What in the hell are they doing here?"
"I recognize that female dwarf! She was in the place with that beautiful marble gate alongside Dafur and the other dwarf."
"What?!"
"You were asleep! And I told you about that…"
"Unholy shit! Do coincidences never end around you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nevermind…" Lucifer answered. He was beginning to get used to being endlessly frustrated by this growing pain in the ass. "Did you tag them?" Lucifer wanted them to live as a plan formed in his head.
"No. Didn't see them."
"Phew," Lucifer relaxed. "Scout ahead and see if you missed any goblins."
He did not.
"What worries me most are those two 3rd-tiers. I doubt we can take them in one shot and one of them looks proficient in mana manipulation."
"What to do?" Stone had a strange feeling that he messed up again.
"Hmm, let me think…" Lucifer pondered on possibilities of how to deal with the 'prey'. A few ideas came to him, but he threw them away as they had a 100% chance for death. In the end, he was able to find the answer, "the best idea would be to save the captives, equip them with weapons and let them fight. The problem is we won't be able to get rewards thanks to your impudence! If you didn't tag them so fast…"
"Sorry?"
"Does not matter anymore," Lucifer groaned. "I don't see any alarm spells. That's good; it means the 3rd-tier are either exhausted or inexperienced. Or both," Lucifer sighed in relief and continues, "I want you to sneak towards the prisoners and release their bounds. Slowly and carefully!"
Stone summoned three ants' souls to move around the wall. Lucifer wanted him to go above their heads, but he refused. Flying was no-no! They arrived near the still-unconscious druegars. Stone slowly cut them free. It took a refined mana dagger to get through the tendons of 3rd-tier monsters.
"They do not move," Stone observantly declared.
"No! Really? Oh, dear god! What are we going to do?!" Lucifer rolled his non-existent eyes.
"I don't know," Stone answers, ignoring Lucifer's irony.
Lucifer growled and created a purplish wall and slapped the nearest druegar.
"What?! What?!" The poor sod woke up, utterly confused. He swiftly remembered what happened and realized he was free as he shifted.
"Silence!" Stone's high-pitched voice silently but sharply commanded. He blinked a few times, even more confused than before.
"What in Darkul…"
"I said silence! Are you the leader?" Stone slapped a mana wall at his mouth.
"Hmpf!" The druegar struggled.
"So?"
"Idiot! Remove the wall before he suffocates!" Lucifer inwardly facepalmed.
"Oh…" Stone would feel embarrassed, but he refused to.
"I am here to help you. Now, answer!"
"Nae. Lead'r's ther'," druegar cautiously pointed at Jarka.
"Good, I will slowly wake you all. Do not make a mess!"
First, he woke up Jarka. She was confused at first but understood the situation quickly. They came up with a plan and Stone slowly woke up the rest.
Even though Jarka and the rest of her party could not see their saviour, the matter of him sneaking past the two 3rd-tier goblins surrounded by a warband meant he had to be quite a mighty hunter with a mana-based class. They accepted it and even listened to him. Just as Lucifer planned.
They had to patiently wait for the mysterious saviour to find them their weapons. The weapons were nearby, guarded by two drunk 2nd-rank goblins. Luckily, the goblins were not the smartest and threw the prisoners near a wall guarded by four dozing off 1st-tier guards.
As Stone slowly distributed the weapons, Jarka silenced the slowly awakening druegars with a hiss and carefully observed the goblin camp. Most of the goblins were sleeping or eating, not expecting the preparing rescue.
The 3rd-tier goblins meditated in the middle, sitting back to back with closed eyes and showing complete self-confidence in their power. Even though Jarka was no runemaster or shaman by far, her experience acquired through long, harsh life in the Abyss and the evolved tracking skill [Hunt] was enough for her to discern their matching waves created by their mana. She hoped that their mysterious rescuer would be enough to get them out of here.
She saw Dori as he silently conjured a little bit of purple flame and sent it somewhere.
[Your heat is at 50% of maximum capacity]
"Damn! That's a fucking low-tier fire elemental! You said he was blighted, right? He must have a gene-locked contract!"
"Loud! So what?"
"Do you realize that it is incredibly difficult for a dwarf to acquire an elemental? It's unprecedented in these times!"
"Again, so what?"
"Tche! Nothing… Aaaah, no point arguing with a piece of idiotic pebble…"
Meanwhile, Stone quickly positioned himself on the other side of the camp, near the middle of the cavern. The weak purplish fire was eating away at some dry moss Stone had found nearby and he was absorbing the heat.