Chapter 40: Ambush

Likewise, a cunning, predatory glint flashed in Gima’s golden eyes. Her giving the middle finger to the red-haired Strong just now was only to stop that damn, goody-two-shoes virgin from desperately trying to persuade everyone not to enter the cave. If they didn’t go into the cave, how could there be any glorious, satisfying face-slapping?

Fortunately, the damn virgin was a good person with absolutely no temper. Seeing that Strong wouldn’t listen, he didn’t continue to press the issue, saving Gima the trouble.

As for the possibility that the other, less important members of the party might be in mortal danger? Gima couldn’t care less. All she knew was that as long as she followed her personal, tool-of-a-hero, there would be absolutely no danger to her own precious life.

Inside the cave, it was dark, damp, and oppressively narrow. The only light came from the faint, flickering torches set into the cave walls. Some of the torches had long since gone out. Goblins were lazy by nature, and since they were more adapted to the dark anyway, they hadn’t bothered to relight them.

Gima could see everything clearly, but she still took an oil lamp from her backpack and was about to light it, for the sake of appearances.

“Put that out,” the red-haired Strong ordered, turning his head, his voice a harsh whisper.

Gima completely ignored him and hung the lamp on a small hook on her cloak.

The cave was so narrow that only two adults could walk side by side. Gima followed closely behind George’s broad, armored back. Strangely, the poet Disha had fallen to the very back of the group. Gima felt a persistent, prickling sensation on her back and instinctively moved even closer to George.

The scrawny goblin was leading the way. When it reached a sharp corner, it turned its head and said in a low, conspiratorial voice:

“Heroes, be quiet. We’re almost there.”

The team stopped. The faint, chaotic sound of goblins playing could be heard from just around the corner.

The red-haired Strong placed his short sword on the scrawny goblin’s neck and asked, “What’s ahead?”

“They… bad guys playing games,” the scrawny goblin said, trembling convincingly. “Ahead, there is a big, two-level hall. You can just rush straight in.”

The red-haired Strong, believing the creature was completely terrified of him, nodded sagely and said to Liz, “See? We can catch them completely by surprise. We’ll just sneak in quietly.”

Liz gripped her staff tightly and nodded, her eyes wide with excitement.

Strong waved his hand grandly. “Continue leading the way.”

This corner was almost a perfect right angle. As the red-haired Strong continued to hunch over, tiptoeing in an exaggerated, and frankly quite ridiculous, stealthy manner, and was just about to order everyone else to sneak just like him…

The scrawny goblin suddenly darted forward, running for its life. Strong didn’t notice at first, until Liz cried out in alarm, “It’s running away!”

Only then did the red-haired Strong notice. He quickly chased after it, shouting, “Stop if you don’t want to die!”

As soon as his words fell, his right leg suddenly sank into the ground, all the way up to his knee. It was a trap. A narrow, camouflaged pit had clamped down on his leg, and a wave of sharp, intense pain shot through him.

He gritted his teeth, reached out, and threw his short sword at the goblin, which was now four meters away. But this time, Lady Luck did not favor him. The short sword missed by a full body length, clattering uselessly against the cave wall.

The scrawny goblin picked up the jewel-encrusted short sword, turned its head, and grinned, its wide mouth splitting its ugly face. “Thanks for the gift, dumbass.”

The red-haired Strong’s face was red with fury, his eyes wide as he struggled to pull his leg out of the trap.

Gima couldn’t help but laugh out loud, making no effort to hide her amusement.

“Long-legs! The long-legs are here!”

The scrawny goblin ran towards the torch-lit cave opening ahead, shouting at the top of its lungs.

In an instant, as if a hornet’s nest had been kicked over, a series of angry, guttural shouts came from ahead. From the sound of it, at least a hundred goblins were about to charge at them.

The red-haired Strong struggled several times but still couldn’t pull his leg out of the trap.

Liz rushed up, grabbed his arm, and pulled him out. The red-haired Strong limped, his face contorted in pain. “My foot… it was pierced.”

“Retreat,” George said, his voice calm and firm.

The red-haired Strong glared at George, thinking he was taking the opportunity to seize command from him. He immediately roared, “No! We hold our ground here! The entrance is narrow! One man can hold it against ten thousand!”

Liz said, her voice full of concern, “But your injury…”

“It’s nothing! I have a healing potion!” He took a blood-red glass bottle from his waist and chugged it down. “That was just a bad example just now. I should have tied a rope around its neck. Liz, just you watch how I slaughter that group of goblins later!”

“With your fists?” Gima asked innocently. “I didn’t know you were also a monk. I really couldn’t tell from your technique.”

Liz took out the faintly glowing gem from her pocket. “It’s a pity, but I’m afraid our adventure is over.”

“Wait!” Strong subconsciously shouted.

“We need to retreat,” George said again, his voice flat.

Strong was furious. If the adventure ended now, he would never have a chance to make up for this small, embarrassing mistake. On the contrary, this cowardly greenhorn George would be favored by Liz for his caution.

He subconsciously shouted, “We fight! Are you a coward?!”

Liz questioned, “Why?”

The red-haired Strong opened his mouth. He wasn’t very confident. He was afraid that some other accident would happen later and implicate his beloved Liz.

But fortunately, the kind-hearted Gima was present. She flicked her little finger, sending a powerful wave of courage to the red-haired Strong. She was a true good Samaritan, always willing to help.

Am I going to lose to this greenhorn George before the fight even starts? Strong’s jealousy flared up with a righteous fury. He pointed an accusatory finger at George’s bucket-helm. “Do you really trust a greenhorn who wears a helmet that he can’t even see out of into a dark cave?”

Liz glanced at George’s helmet. It only had a narrow slit to see out of, which severely restricted his vision. She doubted George could even see a goblin right in front of him. In comparison, Strong, for all his faults, at least seemed much more professional.

Liz was just about to put away the glowing gem. The red-haired Strong breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Just then, the poet Disha’s flippant, musical voice sounded from behind them:

“Oh, ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we’re running out of time.”

Gima turned her head and saw the poet Disha. He was holding a shortbow. A goblin, with an arrow sticking out of its throat, lay dead at his feet.

Wait a minute, where did that goblin come from?

Only then did Gima notice that the wall behind them was actually a cleverly disguised cloth curtain that was the same color as the cave wall. There were more goblins hiding behind it. If their adventure team had walked past the corner without noticing, they would have been ambushed from behind and caught in a deadly pincer attack.

“The mechanism! The mechanism!”

A goblin shouted, pulling aside the curtain and trying to flee back into the darkness. The poet Disha drew his bow and shot, but the arrow only hit the goblin’s ear. The goblin yelped, jumped up, and pulled a large lever on the wall.

Instantly, the sound of rumbling rocks came from above. Gima looked up and saw sand and dust trickling down from the ceiling.

“Gima, be careful!”

George grabbed her right hand, ready to drag her to safety at any moment.

A huge boulder fell, and a cloud of dust rushed towards them. The ground trembled violently. Gima hid behind George. She was a little scared, but with George holding her wrist, his grip firm and steady, she felt a strange sense of security.

Before long, the deafening roar stopped. Gima wiped the dust from her eyelids and saw that the boulder had fallen on the other side of the corner, completely blocking their only escape route.

Hordes of filthy, snarling goblins in ragged, mismatched armor poured out of the cave entrance ahead, waving their short, rusty spears excitedly.

“Well, this is just great,” Gima said with a cheerful smile. “Now we don’t have to worry about being attacked from the front and the back at the same time.”

“Yes, indeed. I think I’ll compose a poem to commemorate our esteemed captain’s brilliant and decisive leadership,” the poet Disha said, and then began to sing, “Strong, oh, Strong, is a big, fat moron~♪.”

“Shut your mouth, you sissy twink! If we had been afraid and run away, we would have been buried by those rocks by now!” he said, then turned to comfort Liz. “Don’t be afraid. A goblin’s nest will always have other exits.”

Liz held the now-useless gem in her hand, thinking Strong had a point. For a moment, she didn’t call for help.

Strong charged headfirst into the group of goblins. With his immense strength and impressive martial skill, he sent goblins flying left and right. But there were simply too many of them, and their attacks came from all directions. He couldn’t defend against all of them, and his breastplate could only protect his torso. A short spear stabbed him under his arm. Strong gritted his teeth, and his attacks slowed for a fraction of a second. More short spears came at him. As he dodged, he stumbled and was about to fall. The goblins, sensing an opportunity, rushed forward, piling on top of him and holding him down. Strong fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

Just then, George pushed his way to the front. He kicked the goblins off Strong, sending one flying into the cave wall with such force that its bones shattered with a sickening crack, and it died instantly. The other goblins immediately scrambled off the red-haired Strong.

George stepped over Strong and, like an unstoppable tank, plowed directly into the goblin horde. The short spears scraped harmlessly against his plate armor. Only a direct strike at the joints had a chance of harming him, but that was far too difficult for the goblins, especially when they were faced with his terrifying, sweeping greatsword.

He cut one goblin in half at the shoulder with a single, effortless blow. The other goblins, seeing their companion’s dismembered body parts, scattered in a blind panic, shouting in their guttural language:

“Big Iron Block! It’s the Big Iron Block!” 

“Run away! Run for your lives!”

The red-haired Strong managed to stand up and, limping heavily, roared, “Charge!”

The five of them charged into the main hall. The hall had two levels. They were on the first level, and the second level was crowded with a dense, chittering group of goblin archers.

“Liz, hide behind a pillar! All ranged attackers need to stay in cover! George, you go to the front and tank—Liz, watch out!”

Several arrows shot towards Liz. Just as she was about to dodge, she was tackled to the ground by the red-haired Strong. The impact made her wince, and she bit her lip in pain.

“Enough! Enough!” she said, taking out the faintly glowing gem from her pocket again. “You big braggart, that’s enough! We’re leaving!”

As soon as her words fell, a thin, crackling bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from the darkness, accurately, and with a malicious intent, hitting the glowing gem in Liz’s hand and shattering it into a million tiny, sparkling pieces. The fragments trickled through her fingers like sand.

Liz’s little face instantly turned a deathly shade of pale. For some reason, Gima was suddenly, and quite vividly, reminded of a very specific, and very interesting, hentai plot from her past life.

This is actually getting exciting.