Chapter 90: An old acquaintance

As the group stood locked in their formation, everyone gripping their weapons tightly prepared for the enemy ahead, Opposite their position, the brush rushled violently. The rustling spread horizontally, signaling that multiple enemies closing in simultaneously from several distinct angles.

?What puzzled Smith and the rest of the party was the sheer density of the forest’s lower foliage. Thick tangled vines, and broad-leafed bushes created a green barricade and a perfect ambush cover. Under normal circumstances, any creature of substantial would have burst into the open within seconds to strike. Yet, despite the aggressive shaking of the leaves, nothing emerged immediately.

?For several long, tense seconds, the party held their collective breath. Just as their patience reached its absolute breaking point and tension reached a fever pitch, a large, smooth dome popped unexpectedly out of the greenery.

?It was a bald head.

?Smith’s eyes widened slightly as he took in the features of the intruder. The stranger possessed exaggerated, pointed ears, a long hooked nose, green skin, a scrawny frame, and a crouched posture that accentuated its diminutive height. It was an unmistakable sight: a Goblin.

?The goblin, having just pushed its head through the thicket, froze instantly as its eyes landed on the heavily armed group of humans standing in combat formation. It was immediately clear that this was not a carefully orchestrated ambush, but rather a sudden, accidental encounter. The creature had simply stumbled into them while navigating the dense brush.

?Smith quickly inspected the creature, the goblin was merely at the beginner novice rank, possessing a 12 aura points. To a party of their caliber, it was no more threatening than a wild rodent.

?Even though the rustling in the surrounding bushes indicated that more goblins were lurking nearby, Velvet decided to take immediate control of the situation to keep their momentum going.

?"Don’t break formation," Velvet instructed quietly to the rest of her teammates.

?Without bothering to activate her title or summon her pawns, she lowered her stance. Her hand wrapped firmly around the hilt of her katana, and in a single fluid motion, she launched herself forward into the fray.

?The goblin was still stuck in a state of deep confusion, its sluggish mind trying to register the presence of the human warriors and figure out whether to flee or screech for help. Before it could make a choice, a violent red streak cut through the dim forest light. A sudden burst of wind whipped through the trees.

?The goblin felt a gush of wind on his face. Before its small mind could process what was happening, a clean horizontal slash severed both of its legs at the thighs. The creature tilted over, crashing face-first onto the earth, its blood soaking quickly into the grass below.

?While the creature lay writhing in shock, Velvet flicked the excess blood off her blade and glanced back over her shoulder.

?"Okay, Linda!" Velvet called back to the group. "You take the finishing blow!"

?Without waiting to see the strike, Velvet dashed deeper into the surrounding thickets to hunt down the remaining scattered goblins that were still struggling through the thick brush.

?Linda breathed out a nervous sigh, but her initial hesitation melted away instantly. The shyness that usually defined her demeanor vanished completely, replaced by an expression of sharp focus and determination. Holding her long spear with both hands, she glided forward smoothly. The defenseless goblin could only look up helplessly, its wide eyes filled with terror as the gleaming tip of the weapon descended toward its throat.

?With a single, precise thrust, Linda drove her sword straight through the goblin’s neck, pinning it firmly to the ground. The creature twitched once, its breathing turning into a faint rasp before going completely still.

?Guided by the frantic shrieks of the other trapped scouts, Linda followed the trail of broken branches that Velvet had blazed through the brush. One by one, she delivered clean, fatal strikes to the immobilized goblins Velvet had already disabled.

?This tactic was necessary. While the entire party needed to accumulate aura points to grow stronger, rules governing point allocation dictated that one could only earn points from targets possessing aura levels higher than or equal to their own. Wasting final strikes on low-tier targets was highly inefficient for and Queen. By neutralizing the targets without killing them outright, Velvet allowed Linda to reap the full point yield, accelerating her progress toward the peak of the novice rank.

?Moments later, the forest went quiet again. Velvet emerged from the thicket, wiping her katana clean before sheathing it.

?"It seems this was just a small scouting group," Velvet observed, analyzing the quiet situation "None of them were even peak novice rank—there were only five in total. Since this was just a small patrol, there must be others nearby. We need to keep looking."

?Resuming their journey proved challenging for everyone. The forest was entirely unsuited for rapid travel. Twisted root systems, fallen logs, and dense patches of undergrowth made pushing Smith’s wheelchair an exhausting task. To compensate for the rugged terrain, the group was forced to maintain a deliberate, measured pace, keeping their guard up in every single direction.

?As they pushed deeper into the territory, they crossed paths with several more small scouting parties. The routine remained identical: Velvet moved in like a gale, severing the legs or arms of the scouts with surgical precision, leaving them completely vulnerable for Linda to finish off and collect the points.

?However, the continuous screeching of dying goblins echoed through the trees, eventually alerting the other groups nearby.

?As the party rounded a steep rocky ridge, the dense trees gave way to a wider clearing, and they found themselves face-to-face with a full Goblin Hunting Party.

?This was no ordinary gathering of weak scouts. In the first dungeon of velvet, hunting parties usually consisted of Giant Goblins acting as brute force at peak novice rank. This one was far more structured it was comprising over thirty goblins:

?5 Intermediate Novice Rank Hobgoblins acting as leaders, wielding heavy clubs.

?20 Big Goblins, most at the peak of the novice rank,some with aura values reaching up to 18 points.

?5 Ordinary Goblins with aura levels around 14 points

?When the two sides collided, Smith’s group braced for a tough fight. The Hobgoblin leading the party issued a direct command, letting out a guttural roar, and the entire horde charged violently toward them.

?The girls held their formation without flinching. Velvet stepped forward alone and activated her title, boosting her aura dramatically from 16 points up to 48 points.

?Drawing her katana in a flash of crimson light, she burst forward like a streak of red lightning. Weaving through the dense foliage and trees, she moved in a precise zigzag pattern, leaving a trail of blood in her wake:

?Ordinary Goblins had their legs sliced off instantly before their feet could hit the ground for another step while the big Goblins were decapitated before they even realized what was happening, their vision shifting wildly as their severed heads rolled onto the forest floor.

?Seeing their minions slaughtered so effortlessly, the five intermediate Hobgoblins realized their opponent was a complete monster so they had to grit their teeth and fight so by activating their physical enhancements they boosted their aura from 32 to 39 points—and charged towards Velvet with their heavy clubs raised.

?And Velvet met their charge head-on without batting an eye, as the first Hobgoblin swung its club toward her head, Velvet sidestepped smoothly and severed its arm with a swift slash. Before the creature could even scream she followed with a decapitation in one continuous motion, Ducking beneath a second Hobgoblin’s attack, she gathered energy in her legs and lunged into the opening created by the Hobgoblin missing the stike where by slicing the creature cleanly in half at the waist.

the remaining Hobgoblins froze in utter shock,but before they could think of a response or a counter measure, Velvet closed the distance and instantly decapitated a third one on the spot.

?the others upon realizing that they were completely outmatched, the last two Hobgoblins turned to run in opposite directions, hoping at least one would survive to report back. However, they couldn’t outrun Velvet’s speed. In a matter of seconds, she caught and eliminated both fleeing Hobgoblins.

?With the leaders dead, the remaining low-ranked goblins panicked and Velvet issued the clear command: "Everyone, engage!"

?Magenta and Astra remained behind to guard Smith and Sarafina, while the rest of the group fanned out to hunt down the fleeing goblins and Within minutes, all the goblin were killed and they had finished to clear the battlefield.

?As they continued searching for the main goblin settlement without a precise map, they fought through several more small patrols and hunting parties along the way.

?But unbeknownst to them, high up in the canopy of a massive tree, a pair of eyes had been watching them from the very beginning.

?Even after Smith’s group cleared the area and moved on, those eyes remained fixed on the scene with calm intelligence. At one point, Vesper’s sharp instincts picked up a faint sensation of being watched. She paused and scanned the thick canopy above, but the dense foliage blocked her vision, preventing her from pinpointing the source. Thinking it might just be her heightened senses acting up in the dangerous environment, she set the feeling aside and rejoined the group.

?As Smith and his companions pushed deeper into the forest, the pair of mysterious eyes quietly vanished into the deep shadows of the trees.

Thanks Cody_walker for the golden tickets