Goblin

Nora forced back the enemy in front of her with a single sword stroke, then turned to look at the panicked civilians and drivers hiding nearby, a trace of pity flashing in her eyes.

She didn't have the power to save everyone.

“Understood!” She spat out those words through gritted teeth, enduring the sharp pain from the wound in her side as she turned to close the distance with her father.

Every movement caused blood to seep from her wound.

Colin raised his staff high above his head and began to chant a long, ancient incantation.

As he chanted, the gem at the tip of his staff erupted with an increasingly blinding red light. The surrounding air warped from the high temperature, and the leaves on the nearby trees began to curl and wither.

The two attacking mages sensed the danger and tried to interrupt him, but they were distracted by several afterimages of the 【Phantom Light Flame】 that Colin had deployed in advance.

The incantation was complete.

【Dragon's Breath Fang】!

Three crimson bodies of concentrated energy erupted from the tip of the staff, drawing three interlocking arcs that covered a wide area, locking onto the two mages and the five attackers closest to Nora.

“Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!”

Violent explosions rang out one after another as a scorching wave of fire rolled and expanded, swallowing a large section of the road.

The shield of one gray-robed mage shattered completely. He coughed up blood and was sent flying, crashing into a small tree before falling still.

The other mage barely managed to block the attack but was still knocked to the ground by the shockwave, his face covered in soot and dirt.

As for the five pursuers, they were instantly engulfed by the flames, having no time to even scream.

The light from the explosion had not yet fully dissipated, and the heat was still searing.

“Go!” Colin’s face was deathly pale. This spell had nearly drained the rest of his mana, and the staff trembled slightly in his hand.

Nora had already shouldered her travel bag and rushed to her father’s side, grabbing his arm as he nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

The two did not look back, using the last of their strength to charge into the dense Valra Forest beside the road.

Behind them, the sounds of slaughter from the caravan were gradually blocked out and distanced by the trees.

Father and daughter fled desperately through the dense forest.

As Nora supported her father, she could feel his body getting heavier and his breathing becoming increasingly ragged.

The wound on her own side continued to bleed, and her stamina was fading fast.

They ran for an unknown amount of time until the sounds of battle were completely gone. Only then did they collapse onto the ground behind a rock crevice partially hidden by vines.

“Cough... cough cough...” Colin suddenly began to cough violently, his body curling up as he knelt on the ground.

Only then did Nora realize with horror that the right side of her father’s deep brown robe was already soaked through with a large patch of dark red blood.

While he was casting the spell earlier, a stray arrow from an unknown source had pierced through the weakest part of the edge of his 【Flame Shield】 and lodged itself deep into his side.

He had been forcing himself to endure, using his mana to temporarily seal the wound until his strength finally failed him.

“Father!” Nora’s voice was trembling.

Colin’s face was gray, his lips bloodless, and his breathing weak and shallow. “It’s... it’s fine. Medicine... there are healing potions in the bag...”

Nora hurriedly searched through the travel bag, but her fingers froze when they touched a hard object.

She remembered now. Just the day before they left Blackcreek Town.

A mysterious buyer had purchased almost their entire stock of potions at a price thirty percent higher than the market rate, including all of their highly effective mid-grade healing potions.

They had only kept a few low-grade potions for emergencies, and most of those supplies... were in the larger luggage bundle on the carriage behind them.

In this travel bag, only one bottle remained.

Nora tremblingly took out the potion and slowly fed it to her father.

The potion took effect, and the bleeding from the wound slowed and stopped at a visible rate, but Colin’s complexion did not improve much.

He had lost too much blood, his mana was overextended, and his injuries were too severe. The potion could only temporarily keep him alive.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier until they finally closed completely. He fell into a coma, his breathing so faint it was almost imperceptible.

Nora was also covered in wounds, especially the one on her side, which had soaked her clothes in blood.

Her stamina was pushed to the absolute limit, and every breath brought a searing pain to her lungs.

Gritting her teeth, she used torn strips of cloth to roughly bandage her wound and settled her father in the deepest part of the rock crevice.

She then gripped her sword and leaned against the rock, alertly scanning the surrounding forest.

The sound of the wind, birds chirping, and the rustling of leaves filled the air.

Time passed slowly in the agonizing wait.

Just as Nora’s tense nerves began to relax slightly...

“Kree! Kree!”

“Gah! Gah!”

Strange, shrill cries rang out from all directions without warning, accompanied by the rustling of bushes being roughly pushed aside and the sound of disorganized footsteps.

Nora’s heart instantly sank into an abyss.

She tightened her grip on her longsword and struggled to stand up, shielding her unconscious father while leaning her back against the cold rock wall.

Green-skinned, pointed-eared, short but hideous monsters crawled out of the woods.

One, two, five, ten... in the blink of an eye, more than thirty Goblins surrounded the small exit of the rock crevice.

Their small, crimson eyes flashed with greedy and cruel light.

They had clearly been attracted by the explosions and the smell of blood from the earlier battle, as well as the sweet scent now radiating from these two heavily injured prey.

How could they pass up “meat” that had delivered itself to their doorstep with no ability to resist?

“Damn it...” Nora squeezed the words through her teeth. They were Goblins, creatures she usually wouldn't care about!

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't even spare a glance for such low-level monsters; she could kill them with a casual swing of her sword.

But in her current state, she also had to focus on protecting her unconscious father...

At that moment, two Goblins let out a strange cry and charged forward.

Nora gritted her teeth and swung her longsword, piercing the throats of the first two Goblins that lunged at her.

However, even more Goblins swarmed forward. They were cunning and avoided a direct frontal assault, instead constantly throwing stones and trying to circle around to attack the unconscious Colin from the sides and back.

“Get away!” Nora roared, struggling to defend from all sides.

A 【Block and Counter】 deflected a stone axe aimed at Colin’s head, and she followed up with a backhand strike that sliced off half of that Goblin’s head.

But her left side was immediately exposed. A crude short spear was thrown her way, and though she barely managed to twist her body, the spearhead still sliced deep into her thigh.

The sharp pain caused her to stumble. Another Goblin seized the opportunity to swing a wooden club at Colin. She turned and pierced it through with her sword, but her own back took a solid hit from another stone hammer.

“Pfft!” A mouthful of blood sprayed from Nora’s mouth, and her vision began to darken in waves.

She used her sword to barely prop herself up, feeling her strength rapidly draining away along with her blood and body heat.

Despair.

She was actually going to be worn down to death by this trash!

If... if she had encountered them under normal circumstances, if her father wasn't heavily injured and unconscious...

“Skree—!”

An exceptionally sharp cry, carrying some sort of command, rang out.

The Goblin pack stirred slightly as a Goblin clearly a size larger than the rest, its eyes flashing with cunning light, leaped out from behind the pile of corpses while brandishing an iron spear.

It had clearly been hiding in the back the whole time, and now, seeing an opening in Nora’s defense, it launched a sudden ambush!

The iron spear, carrying a foul wind, lunged straight for Nora’s unprotected heart! It was as fast as a bolt of lightning!

The attack appeared before her eyes. She saw it, but her body couldn't keep up with her consciousness.

Fatigue, pain, blood loss... everything was slowing down her reactions.

Her sword was still at her side; it was too late to block, and she couldn't dodge.

The spear tip was almost touching her leather armor.