One minute. That was how long Leon waited by the cave entrance before he entered, striding in in as pronounced a manner as possible.

  It was a good plan, despite how grating it was to admit such. Ambushing the two sentries was enough for him to believe that they would have held the advantage in a sneak attack into the cave. They could have quickly dispatched a few goblins and evened out the battle before their enemy was properly prepared.

  Instead, they would kill none of the goblins in an initial blitz but rather strike the shaman in a flank. The remainder would be child’s play and significantly less dangerous than if the shaman was allowed to freely engage them.

  As he walked into the cave and his eyes adjusted to the lack of sunlight, he was able to begin making out the figures of the goblins camped inside. There were three on his side of the water and around five on the other side. They mostly seemed to just be faffing about; chatting around a torch, running around a small makeshift bridge, one of them on his side even seemed to be asleep. It was a disgraceful sight for a fighting force and he grimaced at the unwelcome memory of almost being bested by such creatures. This time would be much different.

  Finally, one of the goblins on his side of the river seemed to notice him. Taking a deep breath and hoping there was no one nearby to hear him, he opened his mouth and let loose a loud battlecry. To his ears, it sounded much more shrill than intimidating, his face heating up as he internally cringed. The tales of armies facing off against one another always made it seem much more majestic; here and now, it sounded like some sort of crying cat.

  He winced as the cave echoed his scream back to him, but the goblins had successfully been surprised. The two before him quickly grouped up and brandished spears towards him, while the sleeping one rose from their slumber to reveal their true height. Roughly adult human sized with obvious muscles, it was a stark contrast to the appearance of all the lesser goblins he had met—this was his first hobgoblin.

  That made things a tad more complicated. It would be fine though, so long as he could quickly dispatch the lesser ones before him, then the hobgoblin would pose no threat to him.

  On the other side of the river, he was cognizant of four of the goblins shielding another with their bodies, all of them arrayed towards himself. Four spikes of rock began to form above the goblin party which only confirmed where the shaman was. Charging forward at the two goblins, he braced his legs in preparation to dodge the spike volley.

  The shaman had impressive restraint, firing the volley only as Leon swung horizontally at the two before him. Any lesser swordsman might have been trapped by the momentum of their sword, but Leon had seen the trap coming and simply pulled his feint back. A quick jump backwards let him avoid the three rock spikes that slammed into the ground. The fourth was hurled as he dodged the first three, while the goblins before him ran forward to jab at him.

  Readying himself for his landing, he prepared his counter. Landing on one foot, he pirouetted out of the way of one spear and brought his floating foot down atop the other to break it. His sword swung upwards and sliced through the earth spike midair, pelting himself and the goblins with tiny rock shards. Briefly glancing at the geomancer, he could see the glint of steel approaching them from behind as a large boulder was being formed in the air.

  He would need to trust that Syra could take care of them before their next attack. There was little choice in the matter, though. Behind the two goblins in front of him, the hobgoblin had finally fully risen from its slumber and was analyzing the situation. It brandished its one-handed axe as its eyes scanned over everyone.

  Assured in his abilities to take on a lower silver-tier monster even with two smaller annoyances, he was not overly concerned. Even if he could not easily win, he would never lose, and really, he only needed to distract the goblins long enough to be reinforced by his companions. Confidence quickly wavered as the hobgoblin disregarded him and began to run across the bridge towards Syra.

  Shit.

  A quick slash to force his two opponents away allowed him to scan the otherside for wherever Rayne may have been hiding. The idiot was readying a shot and obviously waiting for Syra to execute the shaman before engaging. It was the right move, but it also meant that the man was oblivious to his surroundings.

  Trust in his teammates to lack any situational awareness. Even still, they were better than his old ones merely on the basis that they actually were helping him. It was a shame to ruin the element of surprise, but it would be worse for them to be caught unawares.

  “HOBGOBLIN,” he yelled, sidestepping another spear jab and stabbing the eager goblin through its head.

  Not bothering to spare a glance for his teammates, he quickly pulled his sword out of the dead goblin and rushed in to finish the second. They would have heard his warning and reacted, of that he had no doubt. Issues arose, however, at their ability to face the hobgoblin and five normal ones at all.

  The second goblin he faced, weaponless and now alone, turned tail and ran towards the bridge. He gave chase and quickly caught up. A single slash was all it took as he ran past the now headless goblin.

  Leaving it as a bleeding pile on the ground, he ran to catch up with the hobgoblin. Surveying the other side, he could see the shaman lying in a pile of blood while another had an arrow through its skull.

  Luckily for Rayne, the hobgoblin had mostly ignored him in favor of the assassin they obviously saw as the bigger threat. A quick axe swipe while it ran past the man was all he had to dodge, even if he barely managed that. As it approached Syra, she had to make the unfortunate decision on whether to face three goblins or the hobgoblin.

  She performed admirably, keeping away from the regular three and engaging the hobgoblin directly. It was not enough, though, her slashes were parried, her stabs dodged, and her kicks blocked. All the while, she was slowing down at the exertion. The fact that the other three goblins were occasionally stabbing at her doubtless messed with her concentration. Every move she made had to be finely calculated to not overextend herself. It was a precarious balance where she had to attack to keep the hobgoblin off herself while not being skewered by the other three behind her. Give Syra a single hobgoblin, or even any two, and little doubt she could dismantle them with time. Four foes pushed her agility-based fighting style too far, though.

  Dodging a particularly large overhead by a hair, she countered with a clumsy stab at its leg. From Leon’s perspective, the trap was obvious. As her blade embedded itself in the hobgoblin, it took the opportunity to grab her arm and pick her up, throwing Syra into the air and slamming her into the cave walls where she was released. Her body slumped down onto the floor as blood ran down her forehead and her eyes flickered out of consciousness.

  The hobgoblin brought its axe overhead, and prepared to strike down onto the quickly fading Katiine. Leon was still too far away to properly stop it, and an arrow flew into the hobgoblin’s waist, but that did nothing to dissuade the impending attack.

  “FIGHT ME,” Leon called out to the hobgoblin in what little orcish he had learned.

  The language was woefully lacking of many terms he was looking for, including the word for ‘duel’. Thankfully, the hobgoblin stopped its attack and turned to face him. There was the worry that the differences between the goblin tongue and orcish would have been enough to have him shouting gibberish, but it seemed the hobgoblin had understood.

  “You… … … I… Fight you.” Leon smiled at the words, or at least those he understood.

  Days of studying had paid off. It may have not technically been at a conversational level, but that hardly mattered. The hobgoblin was singularly paying attention to him now while the other three goblins looked between himself and the hobgoblin with trepidation.

  The hobgoblin turned to speak some words with the goblins while it pulled the arrow out of itself. Leon turned to regard Rayne and make sure that the man did not interfere in the duel and get Syra killed. Luckily, it seemed that the archer was too confused by the interaction to interfere.

  “I shall fight the hobgoblin. You may need to deal with the chaff,” Leon informed the other man.

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  Rayne nodded dumbly in response.

  Leon turned back to the hobgoblin and raised his greatsword. Syra seemed to still be alive as the other three goblins walked past Leon, giving him a wide berth and going to fight Rayne. He would have preferred to kill the hobgoblin and then kill the rest while Rayne checked on Syra. But it would be too dangerous to engage them all, even if he knew that he could win. Best case scenario still saw him wounded, however, and if the worst came to pass, then Rayne would need to carry both of them back to Torid. No, it was better to take them all on individually.

  The hobgoblin raised its axe in return and got into an unsteady combat stance; the wounds in its leg and thigh would obviously hamper its ability to provide a proper duel. A shame, but it hardly worsened its odds. Fact was that the hobgoblin had lost the second the shaman had died; it simply had yet to realize this.

  Glancing over his shoulder to Rayne, he resolved himself to a quick victory. It would hardly do to have his first student die so early in their development; he would dispose of the hobgoblin and then ensure that Rayne did not die. Sparing a quick peek over at Syra, he paused.

  Perhaps she needs the help sooner than him? Three goblins is good practice…

  Figuring he ought to provide some boost in Rayne’s morale, Leon briefly closed his eyes and concentrated. Practiced days led to almost instantaneous results, and the edges of his blade began sparking quickly before the entire sword became engulfed in a bright yellow flame. Leon opened his eyes to see the hobgoblin watching the blade warily. He smiled. The hobgoblin would at least understand that it was being slain by a proper adventurer.

  Not sparing a glance for Rayne, he began the fight with a quick lunge at the hobgoblin. Behind him, he heard something splash into the water, and prayed it was not his student embarrassing himself.

  The hobgoblin parried Leon’s initial lunge to the side, steel sparking against steel, fire licking over their hands. Leon turned himself around, now with Syra to his back. The exchange helped prove one thing: the hobgoblin was definitely weaker than him. It also underscored his weakness in Flame Blade; a more proficient user would have the fire so hot that their foe could not block or parry without risk of warping their weapon or burning their arms.

  Cursing his own lack of mana for the issue, he resolved to practice the efficiency of his skill but did not dispel it. To a hobgoblin, his sword was bright and hot, two things that would scare it away from either defense or offense. As important as skill and strength were in a battle, it was infinitely more efficient to make your opponent lose their nerve rather than just overwhelm them. Of course, Leon could overwhelm the hobgoblin quite easily, but perfection was required to keep Syra and Rayne alive, and perfection was what Leon excelled at.

  Blocking an overhead axe swing with his sword, he quickly brought a knee up to deflect the kick at his core. With the hobgoblin off balance, he jabbed his greatsword into the axe and sent his opponent reeling back. A quick stab at its heart almost ended the fight right there if not for the hobgoblin activating a skill and wildly flailing its axe in front of it with wild speed.

  Jumping back let him dodge the whirlwind of slashes. The hobgoblin seemed incapable of advanced movement with the skill and did not give chase; instead, it just kept flailing its axe as if possessed.

  Hobgoblins should really only be a bronze-tier monster, especially one this weak. All hobgoblins had skills, however, and that unpredictability allowed them to climb into silver-tier. Skills could change the dynamic of a fight in an instant. A lunge skill would have easily allowed Leon to end things there by making his attack faster than the hobgoblin could react, and a less skilled adventurer may have ended up minced meat in the hobgoblin’s flurry.

  It was unfortunate that skill books were so expensive, even for simple skills such as a lunge. The ferocious swinging that the hobgoblin employed would likely sell for one to two gold itself. Alas, skills were powerful weapons, and having them be too easy to obtain was asking for nefarious elements to take hold of them.

  Once the skill finally wore off, the hobgoblin spoke again. “You … … … … … … …”

  Leon felt bad that he could not understand his opponent. The chances of it being a surrender were slim to none, but it was still awkward to be spoken to and be completely oblivious.

  His lack of reaction seemed to anger the hobgoblin. It rushed towards him, and he prepared to give himself room if the skill was activated again. Feinting a slash, he instead shelved the attack and quickly stepped back as the hobgoblin predictably began wildly swinging the second it entered close enough range. The hobgoblin caught nothing but air and dust in its flurry.

  The skill was annoying despite the ease of which he avoided it. It served as a powerful defense merely through its overwhelming offense; any attack that did not kill the hobgoblin would undoubtedly see Leon injured far worse than his opponent. Instead of dwelling on the unfairness, he got to work counting the seconds as the skill raged on. The fact that the hobgoblin kept swinging despite being unable to hit him meant that the skill worked on a timer rather than being a simple activation and deactivation such as his Flame Blade.

  Three. Four. Five. Six. Gone. Six seconds until the effects stop.

  Quickly, he slashed at the hobgoblin as its skill ended, earning a small nick across its stomach as it dodged back. His Flame Blade undoubtedly helped to hurt the monster more, but ultimately, only provided superficial damage. Pushing on his offense, he followed up with a stab and quickly jumped away when the hobgoblin sidestepped. Another flurry of strikes filled the air between them.

  Really, how stupid did his foe imagine him? Every attack he made may as well have been pressing some invisible “activate skill” button.

  Sparing a glance for the Katiine behind him, he noticed her skin rapidly losing color. She did not have much time with an untreated head wound.

  In a normal fight, he would ensure that the skill had a six second timer, take a bit more time to bait his opponent until he was sure of the hypothesis. This was not a normal fight, however, and risks would need to be taken if all of them were to escape the cave alive.

  So it was that, as he counted the fifth second, he rushed into the flurry of axe swings, sword poised and ready to stab directly into the monster's heart. The slight widening of the hobgoblin's eyes was all the confirmation that he needed to push all of his strength into the attack, ensuring that it would kill the hobgoblin. Already, it was trying to step back, but the force and speed of its blows made it an almost impossible endeavor.

  The skill ran out and Leon’s greatsword burst through the hobgoblin's back as easily as it would through straw, flames licked at its torso and insides. Weakly, the monster attempted to cut at his sides, its axe scrapping pitifully against his steel chestplate. He cupped the monster's head behind one hand and slowly lowered it to the ground.

  “Fought well,” he told it, closing its eyes for the final time.

  Dismissing Flame Blade, he turned his attention to Rayne. He was still fighting the goblins, although one was dead and the other was trying to climb back onto the river embankment. Leon’s pupil was significantly worse for wear, cut up and bruised, but he was still alive and fighting. For a moment, he considered how impressive it would look to throw the hobgoblin’s axe into one of the last goblins’ heads, but ultimately, he dismissed the idea. There was just as good a chance of braining Rayne with such a move.

  Instead, Leon moved to kneel over Syra and inspect her for injuries. Her head was sticky with blood and seemed like the most injured area. Gently prodding her arm and torso revealed broken bones and smaller cuts from the rocky wall. Digging into his chest plate, Leon pulled out some gauze that he had bought once the idea to spar with Rayne had popped to mind. He tightly wound it around the Katiine’s head to stop any bleeding before stowing what remained back in his chestguard. Reaching further down his armor, he found a familiar and well-padded bundle. Working his fingers to open it, he grasped the smooth glass vial and brought it back out.

  After his… poor run-in with the goblins, he had taken to bringing a minor healing potion on missions, just in case. It had not been cheap, but it was a small price to pay for a life. Uncorking the potion, he brought it to Syra’s lips, gently pouring the liquid down her throat. She would need a healer to help her further, but the potion would help stabilize her condition. Laying her flat across the cave floor, he turned his attention back towards Rayne.

  The waterlogged goblin had brought itself back out of the water and had joined the fight. His other opponent was still alive, but was attacking and defending with sluggish actions; it was clear they were not long for this world.

  Rayne, meanwhile, had a feral look in his eyes as he fought on. It was clear that the man was moving more on adrenaline than actual stamina. He might be able to eke out a victory, and it would most certainly be a grand achievement for the man, but Syra was badly injured. Waiting around a few more minutes was poor strategy. Besides, Rayne would be more likely to know how to stabilize the Katiine than Leon.

  The goblins evidently heard Leon approach, as the watery one quickly turned to face him while the injured one slowly tried to turn. Rayne took full advantage of their inattention, and stabbed the injured goblin through its neck at the first opportunity.

  The last remaining goblin looked between the two adventurers with naked fear in its eyes. Given the chance, it would likely have tried to jump back in the river and swim away, but Leon refused it the chance. One kick sent it sprawling towards Rayne, who eagerly killed it while it struggled on the ground. He would need the mana more than Leon anyway.

  “Thanks,” Rayne managed as he struggled for breath.

  The fight obviously left the man exhausted, but there would be time for rest later.

  “Attend to Syra. I will collect any valuable loot.”

  Rayne looked over to his unconscious companion, worry and panic etched on his face as he hobbled over. Watching the man struggle to walk a straight line had Leon thinking it likely that he would be carrying all their supplies back to Torid, including the unconscious adventurer.

  Such did not sour his mood, however. The mission was a success, he had killed a silver-tier monster, and neither of his companions had attempted to betray him. In Syra’s current condition, he doubted she would attempt to swindle him either, if that was even her original goal to begin with.

  It had been a good mission.