PICK ME UP, ANOTHER LOBBY!

Keeping our backs to the towering hills, hiding our presences, we took a peek toward the eastward path and observed our obstacles.

[Goblin Lv.8 x4]

Four goblins. Each was well muscled and a tad bigger than the ones we faced on the fourth floor.

They were all cladded in leather armors and boots, wielding machetes which looked much sharper, more refined, and deadlier than the weapons of the goblins we had seen so far.

I noticed two of them were carrying sounding horns.

Unless goblins had developed a taste in music, those instruments must had been purposed as warning tools.

It meant there were others than these four.

I turned to my comrades, ready with instructions.

"Shanny, Trudy, you each pick a side and climb the hills to get above the goblins unnoticed. Jonah, Darius, take down the goblins with the horns from afar. Jonah the one on the left, Darius the right. Once they are down, Shanny and Trudy jump in and take care of the remaining two."

"You want me to use my exploding spear? It could take three or all of them at once with how gathered they are."

Jonah asked.

Before coming here, during the inactive days, I enchanted dozens of Jonah's throwing spears with fire spells.

We would not have to worry of him running out as long as I could open a dimensional portal.

At the moment, he was carrying two of that many aside from the three normal ones.

I shook my head against his suggestion.

"Save it. We need to take them down quietly since we're not sure how many more of them are hiding in these mountains."

After hearing my rebuttal, my comrades proceeded with my instructions.

Shanny and Trudy each made their way on top of the hills bordering either side of the mountain path.

Stealthily they walked through the slopes. Dashing to one standing rocks to another to hide themselves. All while being careful not to slide down any rocks that could alert the goblins ahead.

Once they both had hid themselves behind two small boulders just above the four goblins, Jonah and Darius crept themselves hidden to each side of the road and took aim on their designated target.

Whoosh!

Shuck!

With great precision Darius and Jonah launched their arrow and spear toward the two horn-carrying goblins. Their eye sockets were hollowed and brains punctured through by the projectiles.

The goblins' two comrades let out a short panicked screech and scrambled to reach for the horns on the ground.

But before they could even bend themselves, Shanny and Trudy jumped down from their hiding spots and plunged their swords to the throats of the remaining monsters.

We waited in silence for a few seconds to listen to any reaction from our swift takedowns.

The sound of the wind breezing through the mountains was all we heard.

Our ambush was left unnoticed by whatever reinforcements the four goblins were keeping.

"These goblins looked stronger and better equipped than the ones on the lower floors. Even the fifth."

Trudy commented while observing their corpses.

"The enemies are supposed to get stronger as we climb higher, after all."

Jonah replied.

Shanny turned to me.

"Now that we found enemies, should we keep going this path?"

I nodded to her.

"Our mission is to investigate the land. Whatever it is we need to see is likely to be at the end of this trail."

Leaving the four goblins, we treaded on farther through the eastward path.

Now that we confirmed the existence of hostiles, we marched forward with greater caution.

But no matter how far we walked, no goblins were obstructing our path nor any ambushed us from the hills around us.

The eastward trail ended in a downward slope far ahead.

We could not really see what was at the base from where we were, spare the overlooking faraway mountain ranges lied beyond.

My comrades and I were well aware to slow our steps as we approached the end of the path.

From the amount of presences my detection field was sensing, it made us think of no other suggestion.

And what a wise decision that was.

What was under the slope was an open rugged flatland which ended in steep cliff.

The area did not seem to form naturally. As if there was something on top of it previously, then it got destroyed and formed this terrain.

The unnatural rugged flatland ran along the northward buried valley that Trudy and I observed earlier.

Camping atop this flatland were thirty goblins. All were as well-bodied and well-equipped as the other four we encountered down the trail.

[Goblin Lv.8 x30]

"So this is their army. The four from before must had been the patrols."

Darius stated.

"What should we do, Serafina? Do we engage them?"

Jonah asked.

The mission was to explore. It was not a subjugation quest.

We did not necessarily need to wipe these monsters out.

However, I had been curious about the buried valley and that strange smell I found earlier.

The flatland would allow us to observe the valley more closely.

Plus, from the top of the slope where we were, we could not really see much around the flatland thanks to the high hills fencing the path.

"We'll exterminate them. Prepare for battle."

I softly ordered my comrades.

They did not question me and immediately ready their weapons.

I scanned the battlefield below me.

18 goblins were huddling around the bonfire at the center of the camp. The rest of the 12 were scattered all over. Seven to the right, and five to the left.

"I'll take care the crowd at the center of the camp. Jonah and Trudy, spread to the left and handle the remaining enemies from that direction. Shanny and Darius to the right."

Obliging to my words, they all paired up as I told them.

They waited for my signal before we attack.

Considering our mission was to investigate the area, it would not be right to obliterate the field.

Fire was not the suitable method of assault.

Fortunately, I had learned a perfect alternative.

I raised my hands toward the bonfire and began casting my spell.

[Maha Vayu]

Winds swirled around me. It concentrated into a strong current beneath my palms.

In two seconds, once I felt the stream was powerful enough, I activated the spell.

[Roar]

The spinning ball of air on my palms shot out as a powerful gale.

Boom!

The wind blasted through the bonfire, wrecking the encampment. The goblins siting around it were thrown scattered about.

That was when I activated its second stage.

[Swirl]

The powerful current encircled the ruined bonfire and expanded like a growing twister, devouring the surrounding goblins.

The enchanted air waves sliced through the armed monsters, tearing their limbs apart and drenching the ground with splattered dark blood.

Screeches and flesh squelching resounded throughout the rugged flatland.

The sound all came from the goblins around the bonfire, all 18 of them.

With the chaos that had now ensued, I turned to my comrades.

"Attack!"