In the relatively cool early morning of this hot summer, Kevin was putting on a half-body light armor over his underwear inside the "Tang Weapon Shop," then putting on his outer clothes. Yesterday, he had explained to his father Tang that he would go out to hunt monsters with two other companions today, and his father took out this armor to further ensure their safety.
"Hey, Kevin, are you still in bed? I'm going to come in and kick your butt," Eric's voice came from outside the door.
"You brat, don't shout outside my house so early in the morning!" Tang's slightly angry voice accompanied by a few "bang bang" sounds of hitting iron scared Eric, who quickly covered his mouth.
"I'm coming, Eric. Don't be so impatient," Kevin heard the commotion and inserted his roughly half-meter long iron sword into the sheath behind his waist, trying to see if it could be pulled out smoothly.
He put his hands on the door, ready to push it open when Tang said, "Wait, Kevin, take this with you too." Tang threw the steel pipe that Kevin had practiced with before to him.
"I've brought a sword, why...?" Kevin looked a bit puzzled.
"If you're just fighting some goblins, believe me, this thing will be more useful than a sword, and you'll be more familiar with using it, won't you?" After hearing this, Kevin nodded and inserted the steel pipe into his waistband.
"Okay, ready to go." Kevin pushed open the door and saw two people standing on the road in front of the door, one in front of the other.
"Are you both ready? Eric and Robert," Kevin asked.
The one standing in front with an excited smile on his face was the freckled, blond boy Eric, while the one standing behind him with a pale complexion and looking a bit thin was Robert. They were both wearing leather armor with some protective ability and carrying iron swords taken from their families on their backs.
"Of course, let's go!" Eric turned around and walked ahead.
"Today is our first time teaming up to hunt monsters outside. We went to a few abandoned buildings nearby where some tougher monsters had already been killed by Frank and his team," Eric exclaimed excitedly to the other two. He turned around and glanced at Kevin. "Kevin, why do you have two weapons with you, one of which is a steel pipe?"
"Yeah, Kevin, are you planning to fight monsters with that fire poker-like thing instead of a sword?" Robert mocked.
"Dad said a steel pipe is enough to fight goblins, and it does feel more comfortable to use," Kevin replied. He then pulled out the steel pipe, waved it a few times, and put it back in. The sound of the pipe cutting through the air made Robert shrink his head. He felt a little scared and immediately wanted to shift their attention, so he spoke loudly, "Eric, are we only fighting goblins today?"
"Yes, we are only beginners in monster battles, so we'll start with weaker ones," Eric replied.
"But didn't you go out with Wood and others yesterday? Didn't you already fight together?" Robert looked puzzled.
"Yes, I did, but Wood and his team are already experienced, while the three of us are still newbies. I think if we come out a few more times, we can fight tougher monsters," Eric responded.
"I think we can kill some damn goblins today and try tougher ones later," Robert sounded confident.
Suddenly, Kevin remembered something and asked, "By the way, Eric, you awakened as a warrior. What about Robert? Did you also awaken as a warrior?"
"Well, of course," Robert quickly replied. Upon hearing the question, Kevin turned back to the front, but he did not see Robert's eyes avoiding his gaze.
They walked to a relatively intact and continuous building, which was used as a "wall" at the boundary of the residential area by utilizing the ruins of the buildings. Extraordinary individuals with combat abilities from the residential area take turns stationed here to deal with any monsters that approach. If there are many monsters or they are particularly strong, they will notify the people in the residential area. Typically, there are fewer and weaker monsters near this area, but as one goes further out, the number and strength of the monsters increase.
The people stationed here took one look at the three of them and knew they were newly qualified hunters. They shouted out to Kevin and his companions, "Good luck, young ones."
Kevin and his companions nodded and left. Eric led them to a ruined building about a kilometer away, which he claimed was the site of his battle with goblins yesterday.
"Uh-oh," a sound came from inside the building. Kevin put his index finger to his mouth and then pressed his palm down, signaling to lower their voices.
Eric and Robert nodded and drew their swords from behind their backs. Kevin peeked inside and saw two goblins. One was leaning against the wall with its eyes closed, as if sleeping, while the other was playing with a rusty dagger in its hand. Kevin was about to turn around and tell them to quietly take down the sleeping one first, but Robert's sword got stuck, probably due to his posture or the way it was inserted, and he impatiently yanked it out, making a loud noise.
The sleeping goblin was startled by the noise and immediately ran to the other one to wake it up. The latter shook its head and took out something from behind its back, which turned out to be a rusty sword.
There was no more time to waste. Eric charged forward and struck the longsword-wielding goblin from above. The longsword-wielding goblin seemed to have just woken up and wasn't fully in battle mode yet, but facing the threat, it kept using its short legs to dodge to both sides, and Eric's attacks hit the wall several times.
On the other side, Robert finally pulled out his sword and swung it at the dagger-wielding goblin. However, the goblin remained alert and unscathed. It did not dodge but charged straight at Robert, who swung his sword and hit the goblin's shoulder, but the blade couldn't reach it. The goblin then thrust its dagger towards Robert's chest with force. Although the dagger was not particularly sharp, Robert's leather armor could not defend against an attack with only one point of impact, and he was injured.
The pain from the attack and the wound made Robert's face even paler, and he fell backwards onto the ground, waving his sword in front of him with force, "Stay away, you damn creature!"
However, because Robert's arm swung too wide, his attack was slow, and the dagger-wielding goblin easily dodged his attack. His sword could only hit the ground and spark a little.
Seeing the goblin about to grab Robert's lifted hand and attack him, Kevin rushed up from Robert's left hand side without a sword, and quickly hit the goblin's right forearm holding the dagger with a steel pipe. The sudden pain and impact made the goblin's hand let go of the dagger and involuntarily jump back a short distance. But just as it tried to pick up the dagger, Kevin quickly stretched out his right leg and kicked the dagger away.
However, because the time was too short, Kevin didn't use much force when he kicked the dagger away. The dagger was not far away on the left, and the goblin stared at Kevin with its eyes fixed. Just as Kevin's body slightly turned, as if to look back at Robert, the goblin quickly moved its two short legs and ran towards the dagger. At this moment, Kevin's body immediately returned to its original state, with a slight smile on his face, and he quickly stepped to the left and heavily hit the goblin's unprotected back with the steel pipe.
After being hit hard, the goblin collapsed to the ground with its right hand only about ten centimeters away from the dagger. However, it could no longer reach for its weapon because Kevin had already come above it, gripping a steel pipe with both hands and stabbing downward with force. The specially treated pipe easily pierced the goblin's waist, leaving a curved wound from which blood flowed continuously. Afraid that it still had some strength left, Kevin mercilessly struck the goblin's legs several times with the pipe.
After finishing this, Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and looked over to the other side. Whether it was because he had fully regained his consciousness or because the death of his comrade had stimulated him, the long sword goblin at this time did not dodge Eric's attack, but instead swung its sword actively in offense.
Although Eric was stronger than this goblin, the goblin's small stature made it difficult for Eric to attack it, and instead the long sword goblin's attacks had already opened up several areas on Eric's uncovered armor.
Seeing this situation, Kevin shouted, "Eric, use your skills!" Hearing Kevin's words, Eric licked his dry lips and yelled, "Acceleration!" Suddenly, Eric's movements unreasonably became much faster, leaving several wounds on the long sword goblin before it could react.
But the long sword goblin was not scared, but instead became more excited. Eric's sword clashed against it, but Eric's sword did not overpower it. After a stalemate for a while, when Eric grabbed the long sword goblin's sword and held it horizontally in front of him, he yelled, "Acceleration! Heavy strike!"
Eric not only quickly recovered to the position of attacking from above, but also used a strike that emitted a faint red light. This attack was much stronger than before, easily pressing the long sword goblin's sword down and causing a long wound on its neck.
On the other side, Robert was also shouting, "Kevin, aren't you a priest? Use your healing magic on me!"
"Robert, your wound doesn't need healing magic. It consumes a lot of mana and shouldn't be used casually," Kevin turned around and saw the wound on Eric's hand from the sword and the cut on his forehead that he accidentally caused when swinging his sword earlier. He said to him,
"Wait, Eric, don't move." Kevin held his left hand towards Eric and said, "Blood Circulation Spell."
A pale green light shone from Eric's body. After a while, the small cut on Eric's forehead had scabbed over, and no blood flowed out. The cut on his left hand was a little more severe, but the bleeding also slowed down.
"Kevin, if you don't want to use healing magic, then use the Blood Circulation Spell on me too," Robert anxiously shouted.
Seeing Robert's anxious expression and the wound on his chest where the armor had just been cut open, and a little blood was seeping out, Kevin knew that he didn't need to use the Blood Circulation Spell on him. However, he still used it on him.
Robert, who felt a little better after receiving the Blood Circulation Spell, calmed down and said with a slight tremble, "Hmm, I just didn't react in time. These goblins are so weak, they can't beat me." "So why didn't you use your skills from the beginning?" Kevin asked.
"Skills also have a cost. We're only going to kill these two goblins and go back. So, I wanted to see if we could defeat them without using skills," Eric replied.
"I, I just forgot to use it," Robert quickly answered.
"You can't save it when you need to use it. Like this, you get injured, and you end up losing more stamina. Isn't that right?" Kevin advised.
"You're right. I'll start using skills from the beginning next time," Eric nodded in agreement.
"Me too. Those goblins aren't worth mentioning," Robert agreed.
"Then let's sit here and rest for a while before we go find the other goblins," Kevin suggested. Hearing Kevin's words, Eric and Robert found a flat rock to sit on, while Kevin leaned against the wall where the sleeping Goblin with the long sword had been.