CHAPTER 38: HOB GLOBINS

’How long exactly have we been walking?’ Ash wondered in his mind, taking one step after the other.

The burning sun beat down on his skin as he moved, sweat dripping from under his jaw.

Aisha, who was just right behind him, had the same exhausted look on her face.

The sun was way too hot, and the distance to the forest only seemed to be getting wider and wider.

They had limited water as well, so they needed to manage it as much as possible.

Suddenly, there was a thud echoing right behind them.

Bang!

Ash and Aisha immediately turned around, only to see Echidna on her knees, gasping for air.

"Oi! What are you doing? Get up!" Kelvin remarked, glaring at her with intensity.

Echidna still tried to catch her breath, her sweat dripping onto the hot ground continuously.

"Give me... a second... I just need to catch my breath for a bit."

"What? Are you being serious right now? Just cast a stamina spell on yourself or something."

"That is such a genius idea. Maybe next time, tell that to a white mage and not a regular one," Echidna tried to yell, but her exhaustion restricted her voice.

"Hey. What do you think you’re doing?" Ash finally spoke from the front, sending a chilling glance at her.

Echidna was quick to raise her head to look at him, then she chuckled nervously.

"Sorry, Ash, my legs gave out on me. I am a mage class, after all. I don’t exactly have the stamina for this."

"I see. Alright then." Ash turned around, about to walk away.

"Wait! Stooop!"

He halted, then peered around.

"What is it?"

"You’re not just going to leave a defenseless girl all by herself in such a dangerous place, are you? What if I get attacked by monsters?"

"I don’t understand what you’re worried about. Isn’t your boyfriend there supposed to protect you or something?" Ash pointed at Kelvin.

Kelvin, of course, had a frustrated look on his face, fighting the urge to lash out at him.

But after remembering what Ash did to those wild beasts, his anger was replaced by conflict.

"Unfortunately, I doubt even he would be able to fight against a monster swarm if it came down to it," Echidna replied anxiously.

Ash was about to blatantly refuse her, but then he looked to the side and noticed Aisha was looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.

Obviously, she was trying to sway his mind into helping Echidna.

She would never speak against his decisions, but if she could get him to at least think about it, it was worth the shot.

"Why are you so keen on helping these people? They have not done a thing for you," Ash uttered to her.

"We can hear you, dude," Kelvin jumped in.

"Because, I know how I felt when you rescued me back then. I don’t w—"

Ash suddenly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close to his chest, allowing his dark cloak to completely cover both her and Echidna, though only slightly.

From the top of the hills, goblins showed up, a few of them already firing their arrows at the humans below.

Ash’s cloak covered the two women, the arrows bouncing off the fabric as though hitting metal.

Kelvin, on the other hand, had to start leaping left and right, slashing his blade in order to avoid getting stabbed.

And even then, he still fell short.

An arrow pierced the upper left of his back, bringing him to his knees as he winced in pain, trying to see if he could pull the arrow out.

The rain of arrows stopped pouring, and a single goblin, huge and muscular, with beads around its waist and neck, appeared, slamming the bottom of its staff to the ground.

By this time, Ash had already freed the girls from the cape, his eyes now picking up on the multiple goblins that had surrounded them.

[Notice, you’ve been surrounded by goblins.]

Ash narrowed his gaze as he stared at the leader.

[Name: Hobgoblins.]

[Level: 16.]

’A level 16, huh? Should be worth it.’

He suddenly moved away from the girls and straight towards Kelvin.

Then—

"Argh!" Kelvin screamed as Ash yanked the arrow from his back.

Even before Kelvin could say anything, Ash had already handed him a potion from his inventory and stretched it towards his face.

"Use this. It should heal you right up."

Kelvin didn’t hesitate.

Merely looking at the bottle, he could tell it was a healing potion.

After taking a few swigs, his injuries closed right up, the pain disappearing in an instant.

"This is some high-quality potion. Where did you get it?" asked Kelvin.

To which Ash simply glared at him. "You ask too many questions."

"Ack!"

Another attack.

"I count 23 goblins surrounding us. They are hobgoblins, so they should come for the attack soon enough rather than waiting for us to come to them. I’ll go for the leader. You can handle the rest?"

"A hobgoblin? You do know a single bite from that monster can kill you, right? You need backup."

"Aisha will help you down here. There, they are coming."

One by one, the goblins began sliding down from the hills, their sinister laughs echoing through the entire place.

The hobgoblin leader remained on the hill, watching with a calm look on its face.

"Good luck."

Boom!

Ash dashed forward before Kelvin could even protest.

Seeing that the goblins were pulling closer, Aisha reached for the blade around her waist and pulled it out.

"Miss, can you fight?" she asked.

Echidna had her eyes on Ash, watching as he was running up the wall to meet the leader of the goblins. "Yeah, don’t worry about me."

"Alright then. These are hobgoblins. Don’t hesitate for a moment, or we are dead."

Echidna smiled. "I detest monsters like these, but I understand. After you."

Aisha quickly glanced at Ash. The moment she saw that he had climbed the hill, she smiled, knowing she could fully focus on the task at hand.

"Good."

She stretched her sword to the side and slashed her blade in a vertical position, sending an invisible slice straight at the first goblin dumb enough to approach her.

In mere seconds, the goblin was split in half.