A Sudden Turn for the Worse

He wanted to use Stealth again, but found that trying to activate it right under the monsters' noses was not very effective.

The goblins quickly surrounded Lynn. To avoid being attacked from both front and back, he had no choice but to back against the stone wall of the cave.

Fortunately, Lynn's attributes were a cut above these green-skinned runts. Even though he was surrounded, the goblins couldn't do anything to him for the moment.

But he couldn't let this go on.

Within ten-odd seconds, Lynn was completely cornered in a nook of the cave by the weapons of these green-skinned runts.

“Awooooh—”

The goblins shrieked, charging at him all at once.

A rusty spear thrust forward first, but Lynn swayed his body and easily dodged it.

But the goblins were clearly no pushovers.

As soon as one goblin's attack missed, others immediately stepped up to fill the gap, blocking Lynn's path of retreat.

Facing spears and stone daggers thrusting at him from different directions simultaneously, Lynn panted, raising his spear to block a thrusting spear.

Immediately after, he shifted his stance, using the thickest part of his leather armor to block the attack of a stone dagger.

Riiip—

The secondhand leather armor he had scrounged up was an ancient relic of unknown age; merely blocking a single attack from a Goblin Minion tore a gash right through it.

Fortunately, the armor had served its purpose. After slicing through the leather, the goblin's stone dagger had lost its momentum and couldn't cut any deeper.

Narrowly escaping injury from the stone dagger, Lynn didn't give the goblin a chance to press the attack, kicking the creature away.

Sensing the metallic taste of blood rising in his throat, Lynn's mind grew even calmer.

His martial skills had not reached the level where he could take on five goblins at once with a single spear. If this war of attrition continued, he would exhaust his strength in another half-minute, and that would be his end.

Lynn glanced to the side. There was someone there who could help him.

Betty.

Solon the knight and Hal the ranger were both pinned down by the goblins in front of them; only Betty could help him.

And Betty did not disappoint.

“Lynn, watch out!”

Betty detached a potion bottle from her waist and threw it toward the goblins around Lynn.

Covering his mouth and nose, Lynn quickly retreated until his back pressed against the wall.

Accompanied by the crisp sound of shattering glass, a damp green gas billowed from the potion bottle.

The goblins realized what was happening, but they were already exposed to the potion's range, and their movements instantly became sluggish.

A perfect opportunity.

Without hesitation, Lynn covered his mouth and nose as he dashed out of the goblins' encirclement.

Even though the first wave of the gas had been inhaled by the goblins and Lynn was holding his breath with his mouth and nose covered, he still felt a wave of dizziness as he ran through the mist.

However, this negative reaction was very mild and not enough to hinder his movements.

As he broke out of the encirclement, Lynn didn't forget to look back.

Activating 【Backstab】, a red highlighted area appeared on a goblin's back.

It was the goblin's rear weak point.

White light surged along his spear as he thrust it straight into the red mark.

Taking the life of another Strong Goblin.

Another two Talent Points acquired.

After using his Skills several times, Lynn suddenly felt a sense of emptiness wash over his body.

While it didn't prevent him from continuing to fight, he wouldn't be able to use any Skills again for a short period.

However, the other adventurers didn't give Lynn the chance to monopolize the remaining four goblins.

An arrow flew out of nowhere, piercing straight into a goblin's eye socket. The goblin collapsed instantly.

Without the leadership of the Goblin Warrior, these ordinary goblins stood little chance against the adventurers, even with their numerical advantage.

At the end of the day, an individual goblin's combat power was too weak; without a sneak attack, it was very difficult for them to defeat fully armed humans in a head-on clash.

But just as Lynn thought these goblins would be turned one by one into Talent Points in his monster manual, one of the goblins ran like mad toward the campfire.

Thud—

It crashed straight into the campfire, collapsing it.

The flames died out, and the cave was instantly plunged into pitch darkness.

Hal the ranger was clearly panicking. “Solon! I can't aim!”

As a ranger, Hal's perception attribute was actually not low, but it wasn't high enough to grant him night vision.

In the dark cave, he felt danger lurking everywhere, as if he were completely surrounded by goblins.

A seasoned adventurer would know that the more dire the situation, the more important it was to stay calm.

But Hal clearly didn't understand this.

“Aaagh!”

Suddenly, a human scream rang out, piercing through the screeches of the goblins.

The others didn't know who had been injured yet, but Lynn, from a distance, could see it clearly.

Hal's hand had been slashed, and his longbow had fallen to the ground.

Solon the knight roared angrily, “Don't worry, Hal, I'm right beside you! Everyone, fall back out of the cave first!”

What had been an excellent situation had taken a sudden turn for the worse. If things continued like this, they were heading straight for a total party wipe.

Seeing that the two adventurers had already lost their composure due to the sudden turn of events, Lynn did not let the chaos continue.

Lynn roared at the group, “There's no time! Gather in a circle quickly! Don't expose your backs to the monsters!”

The ranger snapped out of his panic upon hearing this. “Right... Right! Do as Lynn says!”

Hearing the command, Betty, Solon, and Hal quickly formed a circle. Guided by the moonlight filtering in from the cave entrance, they warily watched for any sudden attacks from the darkness.

On the other side, the monk fighting the Goblin Warrior had naturally noticed the commotion inside the cave, but all of the monk's energy was occupied by the Goblin Warrior, leaving them completely unable to spare any attention to help the team.

Fortunately, Lynn was there. Seeing that the others had regained their composure, the monk was finally able to focus entirely on the battle with the Goblin Warrior.

The monk's eyes glowed, the darkness not affecting their movements in the slightest.

The monk was growing a bit anxious.

Nearby, Lynn was thinking the exact same thing—

Kill the ordinary goblins as quickly as possible, and then steal the kill on that Goblin Warrior!