Lily stuck out her tongue, realizing she was a bit confused about the situation.
"Goblins are typically around level 7, and like in anime, they're social monsters. If you kill one, you might provoke a whole bunch. Let's take a detour."
John said this as he tread lightly, intending to find a way around using another path.
Suddenly, John's foot landed on a small animal bone, and the crisp crack of the bone echoed through the cave.
John felt a chill in his heart.
"Yiya Woka!"
"Yiya wuwuwuw!"
Instantly, the cave filled with shrill cries. A horde of goblins, with dark green skin, barely standing at 1.3 meters, sharp ears and teeth, and bizarre features, swarmed toward them!
At this point, John steeled his nerves, reversed his grip on the bone dagger, and guarded himself, striking down hard on the leaping goblins. The sharp bone pierced through their tough skin in an instant, blood splattering everywhere!
"Lily, don't freeze up! There are too many goblins. Protect yourself!" John shouted, turning towards Lily.
"I..."
Lily hid behind John, her mind filled with strange thoughts. Her hands and feet were stiff, frozen in place, unable to move.
After all, she was still a young girl, supposed to be linking arms with her girlfriends, talking about which boy in their class was the cutest.
But the world had cruelly thrown her into this deadly game, and the fact she had made it this far was commendable. Growth takes time.
"There are too many of them!"
Even with the LUCK of Kiss and [Hermes Dice] bonuses, John could only kill the goblins one by one.
Against such overwhelming numbers, no amount of single-target damage could be enough!
As the goblins swarmed closer, tightening the encirclement, their foul breath and heavy breathing filled the air around them.
John turned his head and shouted, "Lily, listen carefully! I'm going to hold them off for five seconds. Use the flashstone to stun them and get out of here, find the village!"
"Remember, don't look back!"
Lily wanted to say something but froze on the spot. She couldn't even speak at that moment.
"I'm so useless, I'm so useless," Lily muttered, trembling, as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Suddenly, she felt a gentle hand on her forehead, and the softest voice she'd ever heard said, "It's okay, my child. Now, raise your hand."
Without thinking, Lily raised the hand holding the flashstone.
"Splendidus!"
The ancient chant left Lily's lips, and the flashstone burst into dazzling light, illuminating the dark dungeon as if it were daylight.
This light, is even brighter than the SUN!
John couldn't help but cover his eyes and fell to the ground.
When he opened his eyes, hundreds of goblins lay on the ground like dolls, without a single wound on their bodies. A bewildered Lily stood next to John, shivering.
"They're... gone?"
John took a deep breath and looked at Lily in shock.
"You just..." But seeing the blank look in Lily's eyes, John felt he wouldn't get any answers and calmed his tone. "Now, let's gather the spoils."
"Spoils?"
John pointed to the pile of goblin bodies.
"Ah! When did that happen??"
Lily looked where John was pointing, and the sight of the lifeless, twisted goblin bodies piled together made her feel sick to her core.
"Cave goblins are quite good at collecting treasures. They gather shiny things to use as ornaments, showcasing their strength and status to attract female goblins," John explained as he moved forward, searching one of the bodies. After a moment, he found a stone that emitted a faint blue glow.
"Cobalt blue gemstone—pretty valuable. It can be used for enchanting later on. Come on, give it a try. You'll have to face this kind of thing often in the future; you can't avoid it forever, right?"
John beckoned Lily over, and seeing her still hesitate, he stepped forward, gently held her shoulders, and guided her to the goblin's corpse.
"I... I just can't handle this..."
Lily bit her lip and shook her head like a drum, still unable to accept these green-skinned humanoid monsters.
Seeing this, John couldn't force it and continued collecting the spoils himself.
"What's this?"
John found an earring that looked finely crafted on one of the bodies. But the item didn't have a quality label; instead, it had a short description:
[A precious and exquisite earring, its value must be significant. But why is it here, and who lost it?]
Judging by John's experience, this was definitely a quest item. Oddly enough, though, John hadn't heard any information about it.
"Well, I'll just keep it for now."
The rest of the class change request proceeded relatively smoothly. John and Lily collected the necessary materials, and John clapped his hands together. "Alright, time to head back to the village chief."
...
However, half an hour later...
John got lost.
The truth is, John wasn't very familiar with Monster Cave. In his previous life, he had only been here for the class change request. The Monster Cave's winding paths made it easy to lose direction.
"Let me think... it should be this way, right?"
"But we just came from this path."
"We did? Then this must be the right path."
"Johnny, we've already walked this path before, which is why we're back here again."
Lily didn't have the heart to call John out directly.
She sighed softly and tugged on John's sleeve before continuing, "I think we should head this way."
"...Alright."
"Johnny, are you actually bad with directions?"
John's face flushed with embarrassment.
He stammered, "It's not entirely my fault. Every path here looks the same. I just have a poor sense of direction."
John stubbornly defended himself for a moment but eventually sighed under Lily's gaze. "Alright, I'm bad with directions."
"I thought it was strange. Every time you took me into the forest for quests, you never took the same route. So this is why..."
"Well, some people are just naturally bad with directions. It's not their fault."
"That's alright. I think it makes you more approachable, Johnny, especially since you're usually so tough."
"Lily..."
Looking at the girl's sweet smile, John couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart.
"In any case, we'll rely on you to get us out of here."
"No problem. Oops! What did I trip on..."
Lily stumbled and looked down, only to find a bone protruding from the ground.
The scene, right out of a horror movie, left Lily's mind blank, and she could only scream.
"Ah! There's a hand!"
"It must have been buried here for some time. Don't worry, it's long dead."
John quickly moved forward, shielding Lily behind him, crouching down to examine the skeletal arm.
A player's body doesn't leave behind a corpse upon death—something John had personally verified many times.
Without using special items, players vanish the moment they die, while their real-world bodies enter a state of brain death.
This arm undoubtedly belonged to a creature native to this world.
But the villagers of Adra Village were diligent NPCs, who only acted within set areas and rarely left their zones, let alone risked their lives entering dangerous places like the Monster Cave.
"Hmm... Could this be another quest item?"
John furrowed his brow as he dug through the compacted soil. Within half an hour, he uncovered an intact skeleton encased in silver-white metal armor.
Seeing the emblem engraved on the chest plate, John recognized it immediately—it was the emblem of the Calia lord's guard, possibly even their elite troops!
After all, this armor alone was exquisite-tier, and regular guards wouldn't be able to afford the high cost of maintaining it.
"Maybe, like the earring earlier, this is also a quest item?"
After pondering for a while, John decided to take the armor. It might have some use later.
Breaking the bones into pieces, John packed the armor into his bag, and the item's description confirmed his hunch.
[The standard armor of Calia's elite guard. Finely crafted, with remarkable defense. Its only drawback is the considerable speed restriction it imposes. However, this isn't an issue for defensive combat, is it?]
"It's definitely related to Calia. It seems we'll have to wait until we reach the city to find out what these two items are for."
"Johnny, what are you muttering to yourself?"
"Nothing much. Lily, isn't the exit up ahead?"
"It should be in this direction."
"Then let's get out quickly. Many people have already gone to Calia to make their mark, and we can't fall too far behind."
Hearing this, Lily nodded eagerly, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"Calia... what kind of place will it be?"