Chapter 8: How to Save a Life

(Goblin, Lv. 5)

Monster Type: Normal

Health: 330/330

Mana: 100/100

Armor: 15

Physical Damage: 12-17

Although they were mere goblins with only the strength of a pubescent child, there numbers and shrewd tactics were more than enough to make up for that disparity. If there was ever a time when an adventurer looked down on and misjudged these tiny creatures, then it won't be long until they would start to regret their carelessness. A lot of F-Rank and even E-Rank adventurers had already fallen prey to these goblins and witnessed their own party's slow demise.

And that is why a moment of carelessness could prove to be rather fatal… and would most definitely come back to bite you in the ass.

"Hack!" Ars spurted out a mouthful of blood, as her stomach was pierced through by a long sharp object.

While she was busy casting out the skill Firebolt, the other goblins didn't just sit around either and prepared to charge at her—and one goblin in particular, successfully reached behind her back and mercilessly plunged the long knife in its hands right where her abdomen was located.

"Miss Ars...!"

Renan was shocked by the quick turn of events. Even though they managed to take out four goblins in the group that only amounted to about 1/4 of the total number; and there were still nine of them who were well and alive.

Ars quickly switched out her staff for a dagger and repaid the smugly cackling goblin in kind. Without it needing to be said, Ars stabbed this little ugly midget in the face with all her might and killing it in an instant. Pushing away its convulsing corpse, she hastily chanted out another spell but this time, its sole purpose was to serve as defense rather than dealing damage.

"O kind mother of Earth, who constantly supports us with her firm and solid foundation; please bless thee with thine graciousness and strength—Stone Stalagmite!"

Deep beneath the earth, a clear rumbling sound could be heard as a two-meter tall rock abruptly jutted out and blocked the path where the majority of the goblins were gathered.

"Kueeek!"

Rapidly approaching from her left and right flank separately were four goblins who were just about ready to launch their counterattack. The goblins from her right raised their spears like they were javelins and threw them at her with killing intent. Because she was caught unprepared the two spears squarely pierced her shoulder and side, adding unto the gross damage she already incurred.

"Damn you ugly bastards!" Renan roared out angrily.

Without anyone realizing it, Renan was already fast approaching the other two goblins coming for Ars' undefended left side. Because the goblins were much slower compared to him due to their short legs, Renan easily surpassed these midgets and did a quick stop in front of them to deliver a lower roundhouse kick.

"...Get a taste of this kick of mine maggots!"

Putting his back into it, Renan unleashed one hell of a kick that swept along the goblins for a major joyride. The result: they were both blown away like a couple of leaves in the wind and roughly scraped through the ground. Not bothering to finish them off, Renan hurriedly ran to Ars' side who was on the verge of collapsing. Holding her frail and soft body in his arms, Renan couldn't believe the messy state that she was in—she was practically holding onto her last breath at this point.

(Ars, Lv. 5)

Condition:

Health: 30/420

Mana: 380/500

Armor: 30

Magic Resistance: 10

"Crap, this is bad! Miss Ars, if you can hear me please hang on!"

Renan anxiously spoke to her, and she manged to eke out a feeble whimper as a response. Retrieving a health potion out of his inventory, he uncorked it in one hand with his teeth while the other was busily taking out the weapons skewering her body one by one. But with each weapon taken out of her, Ars' health subsequently depleted until only a sliver of 5 points was what remained in her character display.

"Here, quickly drink this health potion Miss Ars!" Renan urgently shook her, but he received no reaction whatsoever.

In fact, Ars looked quite peaceful actually with her eyes closed, while the pained expression she showed a minute ago was replaced by an eerily calm. Yet this was no time to be dallying, he had to think of a method to feed her this health potion and fast.

'Umm... Would mouth-to-mouth be okay...? Guess I have no other choice but to try it out since it's looking like she can't consciously swallow this red liquid.' He already devised a plan in his head.

Technically speaking, the health potion would only show its true effect if the person ingested its contents completely. And so, even if he drank the health potion as long as he didn't swallow it there was a possibility of directly transferring its contents to another person. Thus, he immediately put this idea into practice.

'Here goes nothing...'

Putting the health potion in his mouth, he gulped in a huge mouthful of it and stopping only when the bottle was fully emptied out. Next, he slightly tilted Ars' chin up to open her mouth's airway in order to grant easier access for the fluid to go down her throat. Feeling like the whole world was quietly fading into the background—while also dramatically playing in super slow motion—Renan carefully planted his lips on Ars' as he tasted a certain, almost magical sweetness pervade his mouth.

'Oh my. I really wasn't expecting this added bonus here.'

Renan faintly closed his eyes and stopped with his lame jokes, as he earnestly devoted his entire attention on feeding her this red vial. After the first round was over, he swiftly took out another bottle and dumped its contents into his mouth again before repeating the whole process. By the end of it, Ars' sickly complexion clearly changed for the better as did her health stat which went up to 306/420.

Eventually, Ars shot her eyes wide open while distinctly feeling the unknown sensation of her lips being stolen by a boy. Her eyes violently trembled but she didn't know what to do in this sort of situation, so she just obediently stayed still like a statue and let Renan do whatever he pleased with her.

"...Mmmmh~"

In the end, she couldn't stop herself from letting out a moan. And upon hearing that, Renan suddenly paused in his actions. Ever so slowly, he parted away from her succulent lips and then stared straight into her watery eyes. Seeing her cute and pretty face madly blushing in shame, he audibly gulped down the rest of the liquid in his mouth and yet, he felt strangely parched all of a sudden.

"How is your condition now, Miss Ars?" Renan charmingly smiled while asking her, "Feeling better I hope?"

"Umm... Y-Yes, I'm fine now th-thank you..." She stuttered in her replay.

Following that, Renan handed over his third health potion to her without batting an eyelid as if their current situation wasn't weird and awkward at all.

He even said to her in a cool voice: "Since it seems like you're free to move now, you can just help yourself with that health potion."

"Ha-Hai! Arigatou gozaimasu!"

Her brain must have short-fused or something, because instead of thanking him in their own language she blurted out some weird Japanese instead. Fortunately, before things could get anymore awkward between them an explosion rang out and caused a disturbance.

"Hmm? What was that just now?"