Lord, how Klein hated goblins. These little disgusting green-skinned creatures were the scourge of villages and small towns. As an acolyte in the Temple of the Blind Lord, the youth had seen many victims of these seemingly weak and helpless creatures. Yes, goblins were weak, lowly, they were stupid, but not idiots. And there were many of them. Oh gods, there were so many. And they multiplied at an alarming rate, and by the most revolting methods. They abducted women of any other race and forced them to bear many new green abominations. And all because goblins hardly ever birth females, and if they do, they always prefer a woman of any other race. No one likes goblins. Not even goblins themselves. Disgustingly, goblins are capable of mating with absolutely anyone, which elevates their danger to a new level.
For these reasons, the young paladin hated goblins with wild hatred. And now he, of all times, found himself facing a horde of goblins. Wherever he looked, there were nasty screaming green faces, full of warts. Klein raised his shield, defending himself from another blow with a dirty rusty sword, and retaliated, piercing the chest of the disgusting creature. With a wet splatter, the goblin grabbed its wound, fell, and was instantly trampled by its own comrades, rushing to take its place, while Klein raised his shield again.
This had been going on for about ten minutes now, and from such a tense confrontation, Klein was getting tired. He never thought he would be glad to find himself in a goblin cave, but that's what pleased the paladin now: because encountering such a crowd in an open field would mean instant death, but here, in a narrow passage where only two or three goblins or one person could pass at a time, they had a chance of survival, which is what Klein was occupied with.
He heard his comrades fighting behind him. Judging from the strength of the cries and curses from his dwarf comrade Glen, Klein concluded that things weren't all that bad. Although when did the dwarf ever lack strength for swearing?
Klein blocked the attack of one goblin with his shield, parried the second with his sword, but the blade of the third reached its target and struck the youth in the stomach. However, it harmlessly slid off, sparking against the layer of stone protection covering the human's body. It was the effect of a spell cast by the earth mage at the beginning of the confrontation. At that moment, another spell flew over the paladin's shoulder – Stone Projectile – hitting the rear goblin. It pierced its chest cavity through, scattering the bones and flesh of the monster around, while the stone flew towards the next target, carrying death. An arrow struck another goblin in the neck, delivered by the archer, and a fragile little girl finished off the third one, slipping under the paladin's arm and stabbing the creature in the heart with a dagger.
Klein exhaled, but before a few seconds passed, a new wave of goblins approached him. However, they couldn't reach him, because finally the sorceress standing in the center of their formation noticed this side and sent a multitude of spells towards the enemies. The guy saw acid blobs, an electric sphere, some kind of energy projectile, and a frighteningly large icicle flying out from behind him. The spells pushed the enemies back, giving Klein time to catch his breath and assess the situation as a whole.
And the situation didn't look rainbow-colored. Stuck in a narrow tunnel, surrounded on both sides, the party of adventurers fought fiercely for their lives. In front, with a living stone shield, stood Klein himself, behind him was Anya, the assassin, periodically killing goblins who got too close with deadly stabs from behind the paladin. Behind her was a simple village boy, Vasiliy, formerly their archer. Essentially, these two dealt the main damage on this side. In the center stood the graceful elven Lia, who had just saved them. From her hands, an endless stream of spells poured out one after another, perhaps she was the main reason why the adventurers were still standing at all. Only the overwhelming firepower of her spells could rival the numbers of goblins. Behind her stood Robert, no longer a young earth mage. Mostly, he just observed and gave orders – he was the commander of this squad. Occasionally, he sent Stone Projectiles. Klein didn't scold him for this, as he knew very well that Robert had a very, very limited supply of spells per day. Unlike Lia. Gods, how many magic cells did she have in the first place, if since the beginning of the battle she had been releasing spells almost every second? Second to last stood Isabella, the most frightened of the squad. Being a druid, she was absolutely useless in this situation, occasionally hitting goblins with her staff. And finally, the last one – Glen. A berserk gnome, just like Klein, covered in stone armor, now he, spreading his arms, simply grabbed a bunch of goblins like a wall, not letting them move forward even by an inch. Their blows bounced off the stone armor, chipping away at it, and Glen only poured out words so dirty that Isabella started blushing.
- Klein, watch out! Hold the monsters back! - shouted Robert.
The youth turned only to see that a living, screaming wave was rushing at him with incredible force. Bracing himself, Klein collided with them with his shield, but he saw that the goblins were trying to squeeze past him on the sides. So, he had to spread his arms to somehow hold back the creatures who had decided at any cost to break through him and cut down all those who were not covered with a layer of stone. Klein roared, trying to push the crowd back, but he felt his legs slipping on the ground – the goblins were stronger and were moving him. In this way, they would simply crush him! Moreover, several goblins, clinging to the irregularities of the tunnel, climbed onto the ceiling and decided to crawl directly over the paladin.
- Rob, they're getting through!
- Understood. [Stone Hand]! - Their leader cast the spell, and a stone hand growing from the ceiling blocked the passage for the monsters.
Klein felt all his strength being drained away as he struggled to hold them back, and he was losing. All his senses were focused solely on the horde screaming in his face, incessantly jabbing him with their knives and trying to break through the layer of stone. The paladin felt every millimeter he was pushed back, every drop of sweat trickling down his tense body, every trembling muscle strained with effort.
His concentration was broken by Glen's shout:
- Hey, let's bet on who can hold back more micromorons, huh!?
- W... What? Hey, it's not really the time for... - the paladin attempted to argue, but the gnome activated his Rage rune with a powerful shout, his tattooed arms glowing red, and with a powerful jerk, the berserker pushed back all the goblins. Dozens of bodies flew several meters, crashing into the writhing mass of entangled and stuck screaming bodies.
At that moment, Klein heard a pounding sound in his head. He heard something fall onto the floorboard, and with a clear clatter, it rolled further until it stopped. In the consciousness of the servant of the god of luck arose an image of a twenty-sided die with the number "18" on it. Klein felt the attention of the deity filling his muscles with power, and, following Glen's example, he forcefully repelled the entire horde of goblins.
The warriors, discarding all caution, rushed at the monsters until they regained their senses, starting to hack and slash at the small bodies. Those who could stand up, screaming, ran away, and soon only the adventurers remained in the tunnel, along with a huge number of bodies hindering their progress.
- Oh, Blind Lord, thank you for our lucky survival! - Klein offered a prayer with a sigh of exhaustion.
- Take a moment to rest, catch your breath, and let's go back, - Robert began to give orders. - We still need to figure out how they managed to surround us when we were walking along a perfectly straight tunnel."
- Yes, but first... - Glen turned to the commander, who seemed to be not tired at all. - I won! I held back the biggest bunch of those creatures, and I killed more than anyone else! It's time for my reward! Dimmage, you know what I want. Get ready to pay.
- No, I won't.
- What?!
- You didn't win. You only managed to hold back such a crowd thanks to my Stone Hand and Stone Armor spells, so roughly a third of all this is my merit.
- Okay, but it's just a third! I did the other two-thirds myself!
- Yes, but I did the same thing with Klein's side, so that's another third for me. Klein, confirm.
- Confirmed, - said Klein. In general, he was ready to say anything just to get them off his back and let him rest. If you think about it, he was probably the most exhausted of the entire group!
"Being the shield of the group sucks," thought the paladin, while Glen continued to argue.
- Yes, yes, great, but I still have two-thirds, and you only have one!
- I contributed one-third to helping you and one-third to helping Klein, so that makes two. And you have two. It's a tie. Plus, Lia killed more than anyone else. So calm down, you didn't win. Maybe someday, but not today.
The gnome frowned and muttered under his breath:
- Stupid mathematics was invented by stupid people to feel superior to gnomes!
- But humans are superior to gnomes in many ways - Vasily wisely remarked, causing Glen's eyes to fill with bloodshot rage.
- Oh, so you want to die?
- What? No, I still have daughters to raise, I don't want to die, why?
- THEN WATCH WHAT YOU SAY, BRAINLESS GOBLIN-LIKE BEING! - the gnome yelled.
- But humans are indeed superior to gnomes... - the archer tried to argue, further fueling the berserker's rage. But then the noble elf intervened, calming the men:
- Hey, calm down, calm down. There's no need to argue. Vasily, could you please not say such cruel things to respected Glen? It does sound quite hurtful.
- Right-right! - the gnome grumbled. - Surprised that something intelligent came out of your mouth, woman.
- But you, respected Glen, shouldn't take offense at Vasily, - Lia continued softly, - because it's too LOW of you. Pfft. Rise ABOVE this, don't get upset, don't stoop to such LOWNESS. Hahaha. Well, never mind if you're not ready to listen to me now. You'll understand when you GROW UP.
The gnome's nostrils widened incredibly, he grabbed his axe, and Lia ran off with undisguised laughter, hiding behind Robert's back, sticking her tongue out at Glen.
- Enough already, acting like little children?! - the mage stopped them. - Looks like everyone's rested, then quickly organize yourselves and let's head back!
Thus, the party of adventurers set off in the opposite direction, pursued by the incessant dissatisfied cries of the berserker, which made the poor druid cower in fear, only nodding her head in agreement to anything the gnome said. They had almost reached the entrance when Klein felt the die rolling in his mind again. This time it landed with a "5" facing up, and nothing happened.
- Stop, - the paladin said, - I just failed a perception check.
- Understood, - Robert replied, giving the order, - Anya, inspect everything here.
Everyone stepped back, giving the girl more space, and she carefully began to examine the floor and walls, occasionally poking them with her dagger. Soon she felt a strange movement of air and, pulling off the camouflaged fabric from the wall, uncovered another passage.
- I see, another secret side tunnel, - the mage concluded. - Apparently, the goblins let us pass and then went through it, ending up behind us. And to prevent us from noticing it, they disguised it and placed it next to another trap, which we did notice. Clever enemy. Lia, can you collapse this passage without affecting the main one?
- Yes, no problem, Mister Sir Captain! - the elf replied, parodying the military greeting of humans. After that, she became a bit more serious, and, casting the spell, summoned a blast of fire inside the side tunnel, causing the walls to crack and the ceiling to collapse, blocking any possibility of passage. Then she started to boast. - Did you see? Did you see? That's power, that's might! That's not like waving some sharpened piece of iron, right? Bow down to me, mortals, you're nothing without me, muahaha!
Kleine rolled his eyes. They had formed the party not long ago, but he was already tired of the chaotic nature of the elf wizard. She could pretend to be serious and wise, but only to behave like a child the next moment! Sometimes sixteen-year-old Klein felt older than this girl. I wonder how old she actually is? The paladin was already considering using a miracle of insight, but restrained himself, remembering that it was personal information, and doing such things without asking was not allowed. That's what he was taught in the temple.
However, upon closer inspection, Lia was clearly not a low-level wizard, and that explosion was most likely a spell no less than third circle, so she was definitely not weaker than him, plus one should consider that she was an elf, which also came with many bonuses. Lia was a mystery to Klein. From what he saw, she simply had an indecent number of spell slots. He didn't count, but it was definitely no less than fifty! Next to that, Klein's sixteen mana units seemed pitiful. But at the same time, the wizardess didn't use spells above the second circle in battle, not even now – just the third. Perhaps she hadn't mastered fourth-circle spells enough to use them confidently? Or maybe her level wasn't as high as it seemed, and the large number of spell slots was due to artifacts or titles? Klein really wanted to access all of her information, but once again he held back, remembering that it was personal information, and probing without permission was not permissible. That's what he was taught in the temple.
In any case, she was a very powerful mage, and the paladin was glad to have such a strong spellcaster in their party, but he just couldn't understand: why? Why was she not with someone stronger? Yes, their party was quite strong. Their average level was around thirty, which was more than decent, but even if the wizardess herself was at level thirty, she was much stronger in reality. So why was Lia with them, and not with someone else? After the apotheosis of the Blind Lord and the creation of a system that conveniently displayed the capabilities of your body in numerical values, it became quite easy to find a party of your level, yet this elf was still with them, clearly a rank or two higher. Klein couldn't explain it, which greatly disturbed him.
After dealing with the collapsed tunnel, the party, despite the grumbling of the gnome and the boasting of the elf, once again moved forward, now for the third time bypassing the trap with the stakes. Klein was getting irritated: he knew this trap like the back of his hand, and yet they still had to bypass it on their way home... It had become mundane. Lord, who could possibly fall into a trap after passing it so many times!?
At that moment, he heard Lia's boastful speech abruptly cut off, replaced by a scream. Klein turned around and saw the smug elf hurtling face-first toward the stakes, threatening to impale her. "Wall!" shouted Robert, clapping his hands and pressing them to the ground. And at that moment, a stone wall suddenly began to protrude from the wall of the pit with the stakes, appearing right in front of Lia's face, saving her from certain death. But not saving her from herself, so the sorceress landed on the flat stone wall with a thud, crying out in pain.
- I'M DYING! I'M DYING! SAVE ME! QUICK! HEALING! POTION! SOMETHING! - screamed Lia. She sat there, tearfully looking at her comrades, blood streaming from her broken nose. - HURRY, SAVE ME ALREADY, I'M BLEEDING TO DEATH!
Robert wearily nodded to Klein, and he approached the crying girl. As he applied first aid to the elf, the paladin saw Anja rolling her eyes, just like he used to. And despite the spoiled sorceress's sobs, despite her cries that they were trying to kill her, despite having to spend one of Robert's Wall spell slots and one of Klein's mana points for first aid, the paladin's soul was absolutely calm, for he had found the answer to his nagging question and realized why Lia, despite all her strength, was with them, and not with someone stronger and more professional. Klein was at peace, and the sight of the elf's broken nose only filled his soul with warmth.