Companions Found

The battle continued.

After Alex got closer, he proceeded to deliver multiple strikes at once. Each sword stroke was a blur, moving too fast for the goblin to see, and always managed to find its mark on the shield. But despite some cracks appearing on its surface, the shield was still able to hold on.

Alex soon had to stop his combo, lest he wasted too much energy, and retreated backwards. This was a smart move as the goblin didn't hesitate to prepare another spell.

The instant the shield wore off, Leo pointed the sword in his right hand at the goblin. But he wasn't planning on attacking with it; the movement was intended as a distraction.

Leo wanted the goblin to keep an eye on the weapon as he prepared to launch a surprise attack with the other hand behind his back. Considering that the creature could learn magic, it's unlikely that it would be foolish enough to ignore such an obvious threat nearby.

If it really did, then Leo would not hesitate to abandon his plan and just send another [Immolation] spell.

Sure enough, the goblin soon noticed the movement from its side. Just as Leo expected, this goblin who had mastered a difficult spell would definitely be smart enough to keep a close watch on him. But fortunately it still lacked experience in real life battles.

Leo learned from Gerald that it was important to not limit your focus on only the opponent's weapon. It can divert your attention from the rest of their body.

The goblin kept a close eye on the tip of the human's blade using its peripheral vision. As soon as it sensed any mana being gathered onto it, the goblin was prepared to abandon its next [Fireball] to immediately raise the [Mage Shield] again.

But nothing seemed to have happened. The tip remained still and no magic was released.

Confused, the goblin was just about to release the [Fireball] from its staff before a cracking noise came from beneath its feet. Extreme pain suddenly surged from its lower abdomen.

The spell was cancelled. The goblin glanced downwards and saw a spike made of condensed earth appear from underneath the ground. It appeared to have seeped through from the gaps between the stones below. The goblin's own blood was oozing onto the spike's length and began travelling down towards the stone floor.

'What happened?!' the goblin thought in pain before it began to lose consciousness. The [Mage Shield] was brought up again but it wasn't as strong as before. Without too much focus, the spell could no longer prevent the armored human from smashing it.

Seeing that the goblin was pierced and its spell was dispersed, Alex charged forward with his own shield raised. He gathered momentum and slammed the shield right through the wall of blue mana.

Cracking sounds were sent through the air. Pieces of blue mana broke apart and disappeared.

With nothing obstructing him, Alex quickly raised the sword in his other hand and used a warrior's skill to slice off the goblin's head.

[Instant Slash]!

This Intermediate skill combined with the sword moved fast enough to ripple the air around it. With a 'whooosh', the goblin's head fell and its body went limp. The staff was released from its grip and made a clattering noise on the ground. But the corpse was still raised upright thanks to the spike which impaled it from below.

"Nice work!" Alex complimented after looking at the headless stump.

"It was nothing, really. Just a simple earth manipulation magic." Leo waved the compliment aside before cautiously moving towards the corpse.

To be honest, he had half-expected the creature to possess some kind of magic item to save itself, but it seemed to have been a needless worry.

Placing a hand on the dropped staff, Leo soon found that the markings on it were engraved by a human mage.

"This was crafted by human beings," Leo murmured, his expression turning grave.

"What?" Alex looked down at the staff in surprise. Doubts surfaced in his mind, "You don't think that it was a mage who taught this goblin, do you?"

Leo shrugged. "Perhaps one did. Or maybe something else happened. We have no idea what the true nature of this ruin is.

"This staff seemed to have been shortened from one end to fit this goblin's size. It could be possible that it originally belonged to another owner before it was stolen."

"Yeah, probably." Alex muttered as he sheathed his sword to take a rest. Having already fought a bunch of goblins beforehand, he was really starting to wish that he could quickly find his friends so he wouldn't have to worry about this damn ruin anymore. He had already decided that he would take his team away from this place as soon as possible, and Leo as well if the new guy would accept the proposal.

The existence of that goblin mage had frightened him.

While Alex was contemplating, Leo was also considering the new discovery he had just encountered.

'If there are more goblins who can learn magic here, then this mission will be a whole lot more dangerous than previously anticipated.

'I have to consider the worst case scenario. Right now, I am severely lacking in knowledge. In the past 500 years, no one has ever seen a goblin who could cast spells before.

'God knows how many more surprises I'll have to face here. There may well be some goblins who possess intellect on par with humans.'

Leo suddenly recalled something.

'Oh right... where did I drop that string?'

Just as that random thought occurred, the sound of footsteps appeared from one of the cave entrances next to them. It came from an entrance that was only a few meters apart from the same one that housed the goblin mage.

Alex reluctantly drew his sword again, all the while cursing his luck.

Leo faced the direction of those footsteps and started quietly chanting. He was preparing to use [Lightning Chain], one of his strongest available spells in terms of power. If another goblin mage specializing in defense showed up again, so long as it was not on the level of a master, this spell should be able to deal enough damage to destroy whatever protections they have. Additionally, it can spread itself across a wide area, allowing it to hit several targets at once.

"Sounds like more than one creature is approaching." Leo held his breath.

Alex tightened his grip on his sword with a serious expression. But as the footsteps grew closer, his hand began to loosen.

"Judy? Sarah? Is that you?!" he suddenly called out. As a warrior, his senses would be more acute than the average human being. The footsteps he heard sounded like they belonged to two human beings.

And as if to answer his call, two female figures suddenly came out of the cave entrance. Both of them glanced at him while sharing a relieved expression.

"Alex? We finally found you!"

"Thank heavens. We thought you had been trapped inside one of the caves."

The two young women both looked exhausted and happy at the sight of their companion.

The first person who called out was wearing a black cloak around her shoulders. Beneath the cloak, she was clad in regular-looking clothing of average quality. Her right hand was holding onto a wooden wand almost the length of two hands. She had shoulder-length, chestnut-colored hair, and was of a slightly short stature. Her appearance was quite youthful and also contained hints of an outgoing character.

The second woman was clad in a white robe with blue lines that streaked across its surface to form religious decorations and symbols. She held onto a scepter the length of a cane which contained a large blue gem on its tip. Like the first women, she appeared to be quite young, with shoulder-length blonde hair that glimmered in the light. However, there was a bit of an elegant bearing in both her physical appearance and presence. She gave off the vibe of a woman who was much more mature than her age suggested, and her own height was also quite close to Alex's.

'A mage and a priestess?' was Leo's first impression after observing the two. He realized that he had never asked Alex what his companions looked like.

"Who is that?" asked the first woman curiously. She just noticed that there was a man right behind her companion.

"He's a friend," answered Alex joyfully. His disposition became much better now that he had found his friends again, "He helped me fight off a really strange goblin just a moment ago.

"His name is Leo."

"I see," replied the first woman, who did not hide her scrutinized gaze. Her eyes were sharp and appeared to peer deeply into Leo's face.

Leo felt a little uncomfortable as she was taking closer steps towards him. Thankfully, her female friend put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Don't be rude now. I sense no hidden malice from him," the second woman said before releasing her hand.

She took a single step forward. "My name is Sarah," she bowed elegantly in Leo's direction, "The one who is suspicious of you is Judy," Sarah indicated with her scepter, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Leo."

"Nice to meet you, too." Leo respectfully bowed in return. The quick exchange already gave him some insights on the common characteristics between these two ladies.

Finally, Judy stopped gazing at him and turned towards Alex.

"You said you also encountered a strange goblin. Did it use magic against you?" she asked carefully.

"Yes, it did," Alex replied, with an incredulous expression on his face, "Don't tell me you guys found another one?"

"Not just one," Judy shook her head, "But two, along with a whole troop of ordinary goblins in one of those caves."

"Seriously? All together?!"

"Yup, but you don't need to be too worried. They actually weren't any trouble.

"While it was shocking at first, they were only capable of using Beginner level magic. We still managed to kill all of them."

Judy suddenly looked at the corpse next to her friend. Her eyebrows scrunched up slightly.

"How strong was your goblin?" she curiously asked.

"It was able to use [Mage Shield]," Alex turned his head towards the impaled creature with an uneasy expression, "And it had even fully mastered the spell."

"What?!"

Not just Judy, but Sarah also expressed shock at the information she heard.

Before coming out of the caves, they had both discussed about the possibilities of goblins being able to learn spells on their own. However, never would they have imagined this kind of revelation before.

It was terrifying. This ruin might just be more dangerous than they had initially suspected.

"It was indeed quite talented," Leo grudgingly admitted as he suddenly interjected himself into the conversation. The fact that the goblin had such considerable talent still bothered him, "But including the [Mage Shield], the goblin had only been able to use two spells during our entire fight. It appeared to have spent most of its time mastering defense rather than learning other types of spells.

"I don't think we should overestimate its abilities."