"Don't worry too much, but still be careful. You have the skill to defeat both goblins," said Luis to Zea while he moves to stab one of the goblins. That goblin dodges the spear so Luis sweeps his spear to the right, hitting both goblins with the pole.
The goblins that are being hit can't move. Luis thought that this is the chance to bring one goblin down. He retract the spear and readied it again to stab. He aims at the heart as it is the less protected vital area.
Succeeding at bringing a goblin down, he can now focus on the remaining goblin. Time has passed since this goblin receive the pole swing. The goblin now can move again. It tried to slash its knife at Luis.
Luis has fought goblin for a long time. He is confident he can defeat a goblin on a one versus one battle without receiving any damage. This time too, he dodged the attack from the goblin. He then swing his spear down and hit the goblin's head using the pole. Not wasting any chance, Luis stabbed the goblin with a spear, finishing the battle.
At the same time as Luis started to move, Zea also moves to the other goblins. She swings her machete to one of the goblins while observing the other one. Not like Luis's first attack that get dodged by the goblin, Zea's attack successfully hit the side of the goblin.
The first goblin is hurting and shocked by the injury, it can't move. The second goblin on the other hand able to come close to Zea. Too bad Zea is already marking its movement so she has prepared a counterattack. She kicked the goblin on the torso, making the goblin fall to its ass.
Using the chance where her enemies can not move, she swings her machete to the first goblin. This time she aims at the neck, finishing the goblin life. She then moves toward the other goblin without even confirming if the first goblin really died. Slashing the goblin that falls over backward on its neck, she finishes her battle.
A loud footstep from behind has now stopped, the goblin chieftain has caught up with Luis and Zea. Luis and Zea look at each other and nod.
"I try to get its attention. You try to attack it from the back," said Luis.
A goblin chieftain is bigger than a normal goblin. Other than that, there is a huge difference in its intelligence and a little increase in its overall strength.
A normal goblin can only know a simple attacking method. Meanwhile, a goblin chieftain can order an army, using the advanced tactic.
Of course, sometimes they don't follow their best strategy, leading to their demise. This time is also one of the examples. A goblin chieftain's strongest time is when it orders its army from the backline. It uses the number advantage to win a battle. There is no reason for a goblin chieftain to come to the battlefront.
Luis stands in front of the goblin chieftain. He readied his spear to stab the goblin chieftain. The goblin chieftain brings a dark red sword.
Luis makes the first move, he tried to stab at the torso. Too bad, the goblin chieftain can dodge the spear. Luis then sweeps the spear horizontally.
The spear poles hit the body of the goblin chieftain. At the same time, Zea has successfully moved to the goblin back and slashes her machete.
"The skin is thick. I can't wound it," shouted Zea.
"The don't slash… Swing your machete as hard as you can. Or stab if it is possible." Luis shouted back to Zea.
The goblin chieftain didn't get any injury but it felt that someone attacked its back. It growled and look at Zea, thinking whether it should attack this human or the other. In the end, it decided to keep attacking Luis, as the attack from Zea doesn't even injure it.
Luis once again tried to stab the goblin chieftain. It is once again dodged. The goblin chieftain also tried to swing its red sword. Mid-air the sword suddenly burns. Luckily it can't reach Luis.
"Oh no, it is an enchanted sword," exclaimed Luis. "Even when it didn't hit me, it is still hot."
Luis tried to take more distance between him and the goblin chieftain. He wants to fight this more carefully and make sure the sword can't reach him. Getting hit by a burning sword is not a joke, one can get serious burn damage if the sword hits you.
Lucky for Luis, he uses a spear, so he has the advantage in fighting the goblin chieftain. The advantage of using a spear is that the spear can reach farther than a sword. In a battle between a spear user and a sword user, the spear user can attack the sword user from a distance. Meanwhile, the sword user needs to shorten the distance first.
Luis uses this to its fullest. He always stands at a distance just enough for his spear to stab the goblin chieftain. So when the goblin chieftain wants to attack, it will move toward Luis. Luis's attacking pattern is stab, then moves backward, then stab again before moving back again.
Zea also uses a similar hit and run tactic. She closed in the goblin chieftain, hit her machete neck, arm or legs, then run away. Zea closed on the goblin chieftain when it try to charge at Luis. When hit, the goblin chieftain stopped for a moment and look the other way only to find that Zea already run.
Both Luis and Zea do this, again and again, wounding the goblin chieftain little by little. Time passed and the goblin chieftain can't move anymore. Luis is the one that deals the finishing blow.
"Huff… Finally finished." Luis sighed and sit on the ground. He is a little tired of doing the battle this way.
"That comes out a little anti-climatic," Zea said while also sitting near Luis. "When the goblin chieftain started burning the sword I thought we will run with our life. I never expected to use a hit and run tactic and tire it out."
"Anti-climatic? Life is the most precious thing for a living being. Who cares if it is anti-climatic. If fighting this way ensures our safety, then we should do this more. Too bad this tactic only works when the enemy is alone, and its range of attack is limited."
✦✦✦✦✦✦
Both of them sit without saying anything for a minute. They tried to restore a little bit of their stamina.
Feeling rested a little, Luis stands up to pick the drop.
"Eh— the sword is still here."
"Really?" Zea stands when she hears this. "Oh~ You are right? Can I touch this?"
Luis nodded and gives the dark red sword to Zea.
"Can this sword still burn?" Zea tried to pour mana into the sword. A small fire engulfs the sword. "Ah— It is not hot here."
"Really!? I feel hot just standing near the sword." Luis moves a little farther from the sword and picks the mana stones that are scattered on the ground. This time they defeated 4 goblins and a goblin chieftain. Each goblin dropped 2 mana stones, meanwhile, a goblin chieftain dropped 11 mana stones. So in total, there are 19 mana stones.
Zea keeps playing with the sword, slashing, thrusting, sweeping, anything that can be done with a sword, she does it.
"Hey Luis, you try it. It is not hot." Zea gives the sword back to Luis. Luis following her words tried to use the burning sword.
"You are right… It is not hot. What kind of magic is this." Luis can't help but marvel about the sword. He wonders what kind of enchantment is installed on the sword. He wants to be able to make this kind of weapon someday. He only use the flame on the sword for a bit before turning it off. "What should we do after this? Keep going?"
"I don't think the army of goblin will disperse in a small amount of time. Even when their leader is missing, I think they will keep grouping together for a bit more." Zea expressed her analysis. "With that in mind, it is better to go back for today. We get a good sword after all. Can't afford to lose this good boy."
"Sure then, let's go back." Luis then comments on Zea's battle style. "Zea, when we fight the goblin chieftain you are fighting with moving a lot. That style suits you more."
"Really?"
"Yes, I am serious here. You move so fast from left to right, then right to left. I think you should go this style. But to use this style, you need to stop using the heavy machete and change to a smaller dagger."
"I will think about this later…" Zea looked serious when she said this. Looks like she is really considering this.
"Oh right, after exploring the dungeon last week, I feel my body is becoming stronger, and I get tired less. Is there a connection between both of those?" Zea asked this question, changing the conversation topic.
"Ah that, there is a theory that killing a monster on the dungeon can make someone get stronger. I don't follow the continuation of the study, but it looks like a correct theory. As I also feel like that sometimes."
They keep chatting while following the route back to the surface. On the way back they fought some more monsters but there are no drops that are worth to get mentioned.
✦✦✦✦✦✦
Today's haul
- 133 mana stones
- Cockatrice beak
- Unknown potion
- Goblin Chieftain's Enchanted Sword