Against Hobgoblin

"Aaaah!"

The humans have finished their hunt against the goblin group, but they couldn't feel relaxed or excited after winning the fight.

Instead, they were now more frustrated. Especially the one who dealt the finishing blow, the glasses guy.

"Ugh! And here I thought we found an exploitable hole."

He was just having fun a while ago slaughtering the opposing party with his newly acquired sword.

Back then, he left the only weaponless goblin as a 'dessert'.

"Hehe, forgive me to steal and kill you with your own weapon. Or rather, you should blame my friend there."

With a sinister grin, he stabbed the already helpless goblin.

Khiiii!

The goblin left out its final cry. It was perished into particles and just left a white diamond-shaped stone.

Kyaaa!

The human also followed the trend by letting out a high-pitched scream.

The weapon within his grip also followed its original owner to the oblivion.

"It is really annoying! And what are you pondering so hard about? Can you sympathize a bit with what happened?"

The companion beside him was standing still while putting his hand on his chin.

"The assassin."

"Ah! Of course. He might just run away."

His companion was just shaking his head as an answer.

"Let just move on."

He initiated to move while picking up the loots.

They found another room after walking in quite a bit. It was a room with pillars around.

"Is this the boss area?"

"It shouldn't be. There is still some path here and there."

"It might be a passage to the reward room, no?"

"Stay alert!"

One silhouette appeared beneath the shadow.

It was the goblin assassin!

Both of them run away to dodge the ambush.

Arceede was quickly counterattacking with his crossbow.

The goblin flinched because of the attack.

Avia followed it by grabbing the flinched goblin.

With the free attack opportunity given to him, Arceede finished it.

"Shit! What was that!"

"Careful, it's irrational for the assassin to ambush alone."

Just right after that, figures appeared in front of them.

"There are 6 of them!" Avia shouted.

The differences between them and the previous goblin party were that they were yellow in color and visibly larger. Other than that and their big jaw, they were considered similar to the goblins.

/ Khakaka! Congratulation on reaching this point.

A high pitch voice welcomed them.

/ Just two? Hahaha, I hope you can still satisfy us!

The assumed leader of the figure really had a vibe of a thug.

"They are hobgoblins. All of them are on the path of the Fervor. Even that one archer."

Avia told his companion the current status he saw through the appraisal skill he had.

Compared to the basic information shown to Arceede, his appraisal seemed to increase some levels.

The basic information Arceede got was their name, 'Hobglobin', and the rarity: uncommon.

Three of them were weaponless. One of them wielded a club.

The assumed leader had a sword and the only one who wore armor.

"He shouldn't be dealt that much damage to us then."

"But, he will be more annoying than the others."

"Sure, just try to aggro the other 3."

/ Khakaka! Charge!

As the command erupted, 4 of the melee hobgoblin rushed to the 2 humans.

Arceede who was the only one wielding a weapon didn't even try shooting with his crossbow.

"They aren't cute!!"

Amidst the chaos, Avia was throwing a stone from his inventory.

"Shit! You threw the appraisal stone!?"

"How else do you think I can surely aggro them."

"I think, you are not a good merchant."

"Who are you to judge!? This is called investment! Just kill the other 3 already."

Arceede then took a detour. He was rushing through the other side of the pillars.

The archer had its eyes on him and continuously shooting arrows.

Several of its attacks missed, blocked by the pillars.

He was running through the pillars gaps while still attacking the other hobgoblin.

In the current time, he has maintained the aggro of the 2 hobgoblins wielding a weapon.

The only one left was the assumed leader of the party.

The thing outside of his expectation was that the current 'leader' was just standing still with an annoying grin.

It had his arm crossed while watching the battle.

'Is that supposed to be fortunate or unfortunate news for me?'

And with that 1v2 situation, he pondered a little before making up his mind.

He rushed to the club-wielded hobgoblin and confronted it to a melee battle.

With that decision, he was now quite far from the pillars and couldn't dodge the archer's attack as easily as before.

He got some attack and lose a portion of his HP.

"His damage is lower than the goblin. Don't mind getting some other hit."

Arceede was amazed by the current events. He didn't expect Avia to still be able to observe him amidst the chaos.

"How's your condition?"

Without stop moving, he was still focused on his rushed while asking the question.

"I have enough potions to survive, don't worry!"

Glad to hear that, he started to counterattacking the melee goblin in front of him.

He used the combination of his crossbow and sidesteps to fully utilized his damage output.

At this current condition, the archer hadn't become that much a threat anymore.

"His poise is about to break!"

That was the best sign he needed from his current party. That meant Avia has increased another level now.

Compared to the previous series, the game gave all the player appraisal skills as the default skill.

And with that knowledge, he hoped to get this information from Avia.

Based on his deduction, appraisal skills would be unlocked one by one as the level goes up.

And this has confirmed true by now. Avia's first level of the appraisal skill was to give information on whether the enemy has aggroed to him or not.

The second was to know their path.

And this third level up was really on the perfect timing. It meant that his next attack will give his opponent a few seconds stun.

And the stronger the attack, the longer the stun.

'Got ya, baby.'

Spread shots!