Opportune Moment

Once the effect wore off, in an attempt to avoid the same fate as Alex, Leo hurriedly distanced himself from the Goblin King. Simultaneously, he casted [Shadow Cascade] for extra insurance.

This Dark elemental spell can only be applied on the caster, and it can roughly last for one to two minutes. It gives the user the appearance of an inky, black droplet that is also blurry-looking to ordinary eyes. The longer a person stares at it, the harder it is to discern the distance between them, making it very suitable in throwing off an opponent's accuracy.

As he retreated, Leo heard an emotional cry coming from behind him.

----------

"ALEX!!!"

Over on the other half end of the cavern, a loud scream came from near the front of the entrance. It was Judy, who was crying out in horror after observing the tragic scene.

She and Sarah had been preoccupied with exterminating the goblin horde. Things were recently becoming easier for them; they would only need a couple more minutes to decimate their enemies' numbers and break through their ranks. But unexpectedly, before they could, a resounding crash echoed into their ears at the far end of the cavern.

They had initially been confident, believing that Alex and Leo were enough to finish off the Goblin King once the mages were defeated, but as soon as they heard that terrible crunching sound, and glanced at the body that was caved in, sheer terror rose in their hearts.

Sarah was standing behind her, and although she did not respond with the same emotions, her mind was still struggling to register what had occurred. The picture of Alex's broken body indented within the side of the wall had nearly traumatized her. Even from a distance, she could still see blood oozing out of him.

What was once supposed to have been a normal quest now became a complete nightmare. The shock she felt almost distracted her from the goblin horde.

As Judy was currently struggling to contain her emotions, Sarah had to temporarily cast a [Light Barrier] to protect the both of them.

"Judy!" Sarah attempted to recover her friend's mental state, "There's still a chance he's alive! The enchanted armor may have cushioned part of the blow, so he would not be entirely dead yet!

"But I'm gonna need your help to get close enough to heal him!"

A quiet gasp suddenly escaped from Judy's lips. After some initial confusion, realization dawned on her that now wasn't the time for mourning.

"R-right!" she wiped away her tears and prepared to cast a spell again. Right now, they needed to focus on saving him.

[Tackling Gust]!

Once more, the goblins were knocked back by an extremely powerful wind. The arrows that their archers had nocked were also flung away from their bows.

The two friends tried to cover the vast distance in the cavern to reach their friend, but a shockwave suddenly came to meet them through the ground. It came from the Goblin King who had countered their planned rescue.

It was another [Kinetic Quake], and unfortunately for the two women, they each did not possess any spells that could increase their movement speed. They could only depend on their natural physiques to withstand the Goblin King's skill.

Due to the vast distance, the momentum of the attack had decreased as it travelled. Similar to what happened to Leo just a couple moments ago, the women moved aside and were partially hit by the shockwave. Their bodies became sore as they landed painfully on the ground, and by that time the goblin horde had already gotten up to make their way towards them.

Thankfully Sarah was a priest or the result would have been beyond tragic for them. She consecutively used [Instant Recovery] on herself and Judy to prevent them from being overwhelmed and captured. But although they were healed, there was still quite a distance from where Alex was.

At the thought of Alex's situation, Sarah's heart sank. As a skilled priest, she did happen to possess spells that could save a person from near death. A warrior like him would also have a higher chance at surviving bodily harm than most ordinary humans and mages. But the blow that struck him would still at least have put him in a severely critical condition. Based on what she knew, if Alex did not receive immediate attention as soon as possible, he would be beyond saving.

----------

Over on the other end of the cavern, the Goblin King shouted orders again.

"A third of you need to split off from the main group! Move closer to the edge of this side immediately!"

If the humans try to use that wind spell again, not all the goblins would be in range of that powerful knockback. If the two women try to come to save their friend, then the one third of the goblins would be able to stall them long enough for their kinsmen to recover. By then, their enemies would be surrounded again.

The Goblin King had already formed a proper response to counter their enemies' rescue.

As the lesser goblins moved to obey, the Goblin King turned to admire his handiwork on the cavern's left wall. While the human warrior was indeed quite strong, based on what he had gathered of the man's abilities, unless immediate treatment was applied, the human was done for.

"He he he. What do you think?"

He spoke to the only other human male left in this cave, paying no heed to the latter's retreat. It felt quite satisfying to share the joy of his labor to the enemy.

Leo did not bother to reply. His eyes were glazed but not out of sorrow. Although he failed to prevent Alex from getting smashed, he calculated that their team still had an opportunity to pull through.

In that last instant before the spiked club connected, Leo had desperately tried to think up a plan to save his new comrade. Seeing how the attack was inevitable, the only option he had left was the potion in his pouch. But he had needed to make sure that Alex would receive it immediately upon being hit.

As Leo watched the Goblin King warily, his mind recalled the recent events.

Previously, when he had summoned that [Mage Shield], it had not been to protect Alex, since the Goblin King's skill would likely have broken through it anyway, but to rather give Leo the opportunity to throw his pouch storing the healing potion. He used [Wind Boost] on the bag and threw it as accurately as he could towards the area where Alex would likely be hit by the club. Once contact was made, the contents of the pouch would all be crushed within, leaving a high chance for the potion to spill through onto his ally's body.

The [Mage Shield] had also served to prevent the Goblin King from aiming his weapon towards Alex's helm, since that would likely kill the warrior instantly. The front part of the shield had been placed very closely towards the monster's face, serving to both distract and annoy him, which in turn made the Goblin King angle his attack from the side instead.

Although Leo still believed that his magic shield did manage to soften the blow slightly, it had never been his real intention. He only hoped that the big creature was not able to deduce that a healing potion was indirectly given to Alex.

The [Shadow Cascade] spell had also been casted to prevent the Goblin King from noticing the lost pouch behind Leo's waist. The dark, blurry figure of his appearance would make it extremely difficult for the enemy to make a close observation on his person.

It had all been planned out through quick-thinking. The possibility for Alex's survival was actually higher than most expected. So long as the potion bottle broke and spilled during the attack, he would eventually be cured of all his injuries. Though it would still take some time for the potion to leak through the pouch, Leo believed that their team now had a perfect chance to end this battle.

All he needed to do was survive for the next couple of minutes, and give Alex enough time to recover, until the right opportunity to counterattack the Goblin King would appear. But both were not going to be an easy feat to accomplish...

The Goblin King decided to attack Leo while the latter seemingly appeared to be in a daze. But the human retreated backwards again and nearly bumped into the group of goblins who had previously split off from the main group.

"Don't bother, he's mine," the Goblin King waved his left hand to stop his minions from attacking the human. Then he raised his voice to the rest of his remaining brethren, "Their strongest warrior is dead because of me! Haha!

"There's no hope for any of them now! Take all the women as your hostages!"

'You mean our only warrior,' Leo corrected in his mind scathingly as he dodged towards the direction of the right wall, 'This guy sure likes to brag-'

A second after the loud declaration, Leo heard a collective cheer explode from behind him as the goblins started to fight more vigorously. Consequently, the rest of his teammates were struggling under the renewed assault. The turn in the situation enlightened Leo to his enemy's intentions.

'I see... the Goblin King is actually gaining advantage in morale!

'Our group has recently lost one of our best fighters. Although I didn't know Alex very well, for the rest of his friends it must have been beyond devastating to have one of their comrades seemingly crushed without any hope of surviving.

'This isn't good...'

Leo recollected the advice he gained from Gerald about real life battlefields. In a war, morale is an important factor that must be consistently maintained throughout every member. In most cases, it can decide the outcome of victory or defeat.

'My teammates don't know that I had my own healing potion.

'I need to reassure them.'

"Don't give up!!" Leo suddenly shouted while keeping his eyesight locked on the Goblin King, "Focus on killing the remaining goblins! Just leave everything else to me!

"Wait for the opportune moment!!!"

That last sentence had actually been secretly directed towards Alex. Leo still didn't know if the healing potion had allowed the warrior to regain consciousness yet. All he could do was hope that the man was still able to keep fighting and would not make any rash decisions as he was buried in the wall.

'I hope you are okay.' Leo gave a silent prayer.

----------

'Oooooohhhhhhhhh... my head.'

Partially concealed in the cavern's left wall, Alex was slowly regaining consciousness. His vision was pitch-black as his eyes were tightly shut after getting smashed.

'Wh-where am I? What the hell just happened?'

His head was aching as his recent memories started returning in blurry images. Everything seemed to be out of order.

'Right... there was a conflict... with some... go-goblins?

'Huh?!'

Alex felt extremely dizzy as he tried to remember what had happened to him. Just as his thoughts began to form, terrible pain seared throughout his body and nearly made him unconscious again.

'Damn it! It hurts so much!

'That damn Goblin King actually pulled such a dirty trick!'

Alex felt like yelling, both out of rage and for the excruciating pain, but his entire body was currently too badly damaged for him to make any response. Just as he felt like he was being helplessly tortured inside the wall, Alex noticed that a cool sensation was growing throughout his body. This calming feeling steadily soothed his agony and made him feel much more vitalized than before.

'Wait a minute. Why am I not dead yet?

'Did Sarah manage to heal me in time? But our distance should have been too far for that...'

Questions kept popping up in his head one after another. Just when it was giving him a headache, clear voices suddenly reached into his ears.

Alex heard the Goblin King gloating loudly in victory towards his kin. He heard the goblins cheering in triumph. A moment after that, he heard Leo's own shouting.

"Wait for the opportune moment!!!"

'Opportune moment...'

Alex nearly tore himself from the wall when he recalled what Leo did.

'Yes, he threw something to me after casting a [Mage Shield]. Was it that pouch of his?

'I think it had been pressed into me after I was hit.'

The cool sensation eventually reached every corner of his body, stopping his bleeding and steadily mending his injuries. Very soon, Alex started to recognize that it was the effect of healing.

'This is... D-did Leo secretly have a healing potion?'

The possibility was quite logical. A recently-joined, lone adventurer would obviously take some careful measures, especially on his first quest. Back in the city where the guild was situated, there were also stores that could sell magic items and potions.

'He never told us this, though,' thought Alex with a frown, 'Oh, I see. Back then, we had still just met each other; it wouldn't make sense to reveal any trump cards to a stranger. Not to mention that he later discovered our group had Sarah.

'There was no need for him to reveal his secret.'

It didn't take long for Alex to deduce the reason. It took only slightly longer for him to appreciate his luck at the fact that Leo had secretly kept a healing potion on himself.

'To think that this would happen... Well, I can't really complain.

'Oh right! How is everyone else doing?'

Taking a peek with his right eye that wasn't completely concealed inside the sides of the wall, Alex spotted his companions desperately fighting back against the goblin horde.

Sarah and Judy were holding on, but their movements were somewhat restrained. They had originally been panicky with their actions until Leo's words slightly calmed them down. But pain and despair were contorting their expressions. They did not know that he was actually still very much alive.

Leo was left to deal with the Goblin King by himself. It took Alex some time before discerning that the inky, black spot that was moving around blurrily was actually his new teammate; looking at the weird appearance had nearly made his mind dizzy again.

The situation did not appear to be in Leo's favor. He was running around continuously and was only able to keep himself alive using a strange spell.

'I should help him- No, wait.' Alex recalled Leo's previous shouting. The message contained was clear.

'I need to wait for the best opportunity. Right, the Goblin King is currently unaware of my situation.'

----------

The shockwaves frequently disturbed the air as the Goblin King waved around his giant club. The time this monster had spent fighting Alex did not seem to have depleted his stamina whatsoever.

'Damnit,' cursed Leo, 'At this rate, I might die.'

The duration of [Shadow Cascade] wasn't too long, and sustaining the spell only took up more time for Leo to defend against his opponent. The amount of mana in his body was also steadily decreasing at an alarming rate.

Every time the Goblin King struck, he had been forced to use multiple methods to dodge; taking the attack head on was simply too risky for him.

He had been running around while counterattacking every chance he could get, but none of it seemed to faze the Goblin King. The previous wounds that had been inflicted on this monster were already healed away, and any new wounds inflicted also didn't last long. Whatever magical equipment it may have been concealing appeared to be of high quality. The fact that the Goblin King had kept another trump card like this only made Leo lose more confidence in surviving this ordeal.

Throughout this fight, he was constantly reevaluating this absurdly evolved creature. It's intelligence could definitely rival that of the average human being. Even when Leo attempted to use other concealed tricks, such as the enchanted daggers against the goblin mages, the monster would not hesitate to make exaggerated movements to escape any suspected traps. As of now, Leo approached this battle as if he was against his worst enemy.