Chapter 238: He was so cool!

The moment Isaac gave the signal—

All of them moved immediately.

Jake and Ella were the first to rush forward, their figures shooting through the darkness as they closed the distance between themselves and the Kobolds.

At the same time, Isaac raised the torch in his hand, allowing its light to spread across the cave and illuminate the surroundings.

"Skek—!"

"Kaakh!"

The Kobolds let out startled shrieks as they suddenly noticed the two of them charging towards them, interrupting their peaceful meal in an instant.

Ella closed the distance as her sharp dagger approached the nearest creature, and with a sharp motion, she swung it towards its body, the blade cutting through the air.

"Krah—!"

The Kobold reacted just in time, barely avoiding the dagger as the sharp blade grazed across its chest, leaving a thin line of blood on its skin.

"Shit!"

Jake cursed as his own strike missed, his dagger meeting nothing but air. The Kobold in front of him immediately grabbed the small axe lying beside it, its expression turning wary as it realised the intruders were attacking it.

Instead of attacking, it turned around and tried to run, but Jake couldn’t let that happen.

He immediately chased after it.

The other Kobolds, meanwhile, immediately tried to attack the two newcomers, grabbing whatever weapons were near them.

But the moment one of them tried rushing towards the humans—

The ground beneath its feet trembled.

"KiK?!"

The Kobold’s foot suddenly slipped as a small crack formed beneath it, and before it could even try to get back up—

Stab!

A dagger pierced straight through its throat, making the creature’s eyes widen in horror.

"Ghk... ghk...!"

Ava’s hand remained steady as she pulled the dagger from its neck. The Kobold desperately tried to reach towards her, trying to scream, but without hesitation, she stabbed again.

The creature’s movements became weaker, and eventually... it stopped.

Everyone moved almost simultaneously after that, each member focusing on at least one of the monsters before gradually gathering around them, closing in on the remaining Kobolds.

The Kobolds, seeing one of their own lying dead on the ground, abandoned their attempts to escape and started attacking instead, their expressions shifting into anger as they saw one of their comrades die.

They let out sharp shrieks before dashing towards them.

"Ava, look out!"

Jennifer’s voice suddenly echoed through the cave.

Ava’s head snapped backwards, only to notice an axe coming towards her.

Her eyes widened, but before she could even react—

A dagger sliced through the Kobold’s neck.

The creature’s body froze—its eyes remained wide open for a brief moment before its head tilted unnaturally, and its body collapsed onto the ground.

Ava’s widened eyes shifted towards Selene, who calmly pulled the dagger away from it.

Her masked face remained directed towards the fallen creature as she watched it drop lifelessly onto the ground.

She didn’t even turn towards Ava—her mind almost overwhelmed and blank for a brief moment.

Ava tried to speak, but before she could say anything, another Kobold rushed towards the frozen Selene.

Ava immediately reacted. She stepped forward and attacked the creature, forcing its focus to shift onto her.

The Kobolds were swift and extremely fast, their movements quick and erratic, making them difficult targets to hit unless they were caught off guard and killed before they could even think about moving.

To the F Rank members, it was a bit more difficult, making them take much more time to kill the troublesome creatures.

Ava was an E Ranker and therefore possessed an advantage in both physical ability and combat experience, and even then, she simply couldn’t overpower the Kobold.

And amidst all of this—

Selene stood still in her spot, her gaze shifting away from the Kobold she had killed and briefly turning towards the others, seeing them fighting.

Perhaps she was still a little stuck on her morals, and she had killed a monster for the first time, at least if she didn’t consider when Lucian had immobilised them.

And she wasn’t someone who would remain trapped in those thoughts for too long, especially not when she had already killed a person before.

And perhaps because of all that...

She knew how to pull herself back together.

Her fingers tightened around the dagger, and after taking a deep breath...

She moved, entering the fight once again.

Lucian watched his mother from a short distance away, keeping a close eye on her throughout the entire battle, though he didn’t try to interfere even once.

And just as he had expected...

She got over it within a few seconds.

His mother didn’t need words of comfort or reassurance from anyone. She was someone who had already suffered, and people who suffered enough... learned how to gather themselves from even the lowest pits without anyone’s help.

At least some did...

And his mother was one of them.

Lucian’s expression softened slightly, but then—

"Lucian!"

Isaac’s voice suddenly rang beside him.

"What are you doing, just standing there?! One of them is running away!"

Isaac, Jennifer, and Lucian—the three of them—were standing in the same spot as earlier, and none of them were fighting the monsters unlike the others.

Jennifer was assisting the others by keeping track of the battlefield and calling out whenever a Kobold attempted to attack someone from their blind spot.

As for Isaac...

’What is he even doing other than giving orders?’

The thought surfaced in Lucian’s mind with a hint of annoyance, but he didn’t say anything aloud. Isaac was at least making sure the monsters didn’t escape, despite not attacking them himself.

And hearing the shout of their wonderful leader...

Lucian slowly shifted his gaze toward the running Kobold.

The creature seemed injured, with blood covering parts of its chest from the earlier attacks, causing it to slow down, though not by much as it desperately tried to reach one of the right exits of the cave opening.

Isaac, seeing Lucian simply standing there without responding to his shout, gritted his teeth.

He glanced toward the others, trying to find someone else who could stop the monster.

But no!

Everyone was pretty much occupied!

’Tch! I shouldn’t have trusted him that much!’

Wind began fluttering around Isaac’s feet as he prepared to move himself, but the moment he was about to step forward—

The temperature beside him suddenly shot up.

Both Jennifer and Isaac immediately turned their heads.

Their gazes snapped toward Lucian, and before either of them could even fully turn toward him—

A fireball suddenly shot through the air.

It streaked across the cave like a blazing comet, illuminating the dark passage with its orange glow.

Fwoosh!

The injured Kobold, only a few steps away from escaping through the cave entrance, didn’t even realise what was happening until...

The flames swallowed it whole.

And in the next instant—

"KRAAAAH—!"

The Kobold released a horrifying shriek, one that echoed loudly throughout the cave, bouncing against the stone walls and filling the entire area with the sound of its agony.

Almost everyone flinched before snapping their gazes toward the burning monster.

The Kobold stumbled forward, desperately trying to extinguish the flames as it moved erratically, its shrieks only growing louder with every passing second.

"It’s making too much noise."

Lucian muttered, sounding more annoyed than concerned.

He placed one foot forward.

Whoosh!

His body shot across the ground, and without leaving even the slightest impact against the stone floor, Lucian moved toward the howling monster.

His hand reached toward the sword hanging at his side.

He drew the blade from its scabbard—

Slice!

Lucian appeared directly before the creature.

His sword swept across its neck in one clean arc.

The sound of the creature abruptly stopped.

Its burning head separated from its shoulders and flew through the air.

Straight toward—

"Aaah! It’s coming at me!"

Jake let out a similar shriek before immediately jumping backwards, almost stumbling away from the incoming flying head and the surprised Kobold, which had almost forgotten about attacking him during this time.

A thin moment of silence descended upon the cave, and everyone simply stared at Lucian with wide eyes, not knowing what to say as they saw him casually slicing the blade into the air, flicking the blood off the sword before placing it back into his scabbard.

As though nothing unusual had happened.

He looked at all of them one last time, his gaze briefly flicking towards Selene, before giving her a small nod—

"Go on. Continue."

He casually said that before walking back towards Isaac and Jennifer.

Another moment of silence followed.

Jake’s mouth remained slightly open.

And then—

Chk!

Selene plunged her dagger straight into the stunned Kobold, killing it before moving across to another one, which unfortunately managed to dodge her strike.

Meanwhile—

"He was so cool!"

Jake suddenly shouted as he swung his weapon towards the Kobold in front of him, which briefly looked at the human with confusion before attacking him as well.

Ella shook her head, quickly killing her target before moving to help Jake, who seemed to be struggling slightly against the Kobold wielding an axe.

"Let me help you."

"Oh! Thanks!"

Jake easily accepted.

Over a minute passed, and everyone finally finished killing every one of them, leaving only the corpses of the Kobolds scattered across the cave, along with one crisp, burnt corpse with its head absent.

Jake and Ella took heavy breaths, both slightly panting after the battle, while Ava and Selene seemed much calmer.

Selene took a few deep breaths, feeling her body slightly drained, but more than that...

Her heart pounded heavily within her chest.

She had just killed two monsters... with her own hands.

She stared at the dagger in her hand for a few seconds, her fingers tightening slightly around its handle.

Then—

Her body stiffened as she felt a hand reach the top of her head.

She slowly turned her head, only to see Lucian standing beside her with a gentle expression.

"Calm down and take deep breaths."

His hand remained on her head as he gently patted her.

"Don’t let those deaths consume you. You did it of your own choice, so you need to stop feeling guilty about that."

Selene remained silent.

She briefly closed her eyes, taking a few slow breaths.

Then...

She finally opened her eyes.

Her lips slowly parted.

"I... I don’t think that is good advice that you should be giving."

Lucian blinked.

"Well, Valentina said those words to me, and they worked. So I thought they were good quotes... perhaps I was wrong...?"

Selene went quiet for a second before sighing softly, genuinely wondering if the Duchess was trying to turn her son into some kind of villain.

Though she couldn’t deny...

His words somehow seemed to have worked, making the tightness within her chest ease somewhat.

"And don’t pat me..." she said quietly, and yet... she didn’t try to move away.

That only caused Lucian to chuckle softly before he continued to do just that.

Nearby, Ava and Isaac watched the scene, and after staring at them for a few seconds...

Both of their expressions immediately soured.

Jennifer, on the other hand, seemed amused. After glancing at the two for a few seconds, she walked towards the others, checking Jake and Ella and making sure none of them had suffered any serious injuries during the fight.