Chapter 64: Expressive Kill
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
After the first goblin mustered up the courage to rush out, the others gradually realized the enemy probably wouldn’t enter the cave, and finally organized themselves to resist.
A volley of wooden arrows shot out from inside the cave.
Everyone moved away from the entrance, avoiding the first wave of attacks.
“Prepare for combat!”
“Clack‑clack‑clack!”
Alongside the arrows came the sound of dense footsteps behind them.
Gauss listened to the sounds, crouched at the cave’s edge, feeling the distance was just right before leaning in to peer inside.
Simultaneously, magical energy surged from his bone wand.
“Magic Missile!”
Azure energy missiles quickly coalesced at the wand’s tip, merging with ambient magical power in no time.
At that moment, the first wave of goblins were charging straight at him.
“Boom!”
The missiles released from the bone wand traversed several meters in the blink of an eye, striking the first goblin’s soft abdomen.
“Bang!!!”
Like a large bullet piercing flesh, the magic missile, after brief resistance, struck several goblins in succession.
Then came a second volley of magic missiles in rapid succession!
A blast erupted within the confined cave!
“Killed Goblin *1”
“Killed Goblin *1”
...
After a brief rumble, many notifications flickered across Gauss’s vision.
Facing a tightly packed group in the narrow cave, the two magic missiles were surprisingly effective—Gauss didn’t even bother aiming, yet the goblins seemed to crash into them.
Unfortunately, only the approach to the exit was relatively straight; otherwise, they wouldn’t have had to expend effort cooping the goblins out with smoke.
“Total monsters killed: 66”
Glancing at the notification, Gauss immediately realized how many had been eliminated by those two magic missiles.
Six goblins in total.
He felt a warm flow within his body—his rapid-digestion ability was slowly increasing.
This must be the joy of being a spellcaster?
Gauss felt he understood more and more.
Struggling warriors, wielding real steel, laboriously slaying small fry, ending up covered in blood.
But as a noble mage, as long as enough mana was available, enemies like these goblins wouldn’t even reach him—they’d perish from inexplicable magical attacks.
It was just that magic missile seemed a bit too effective.
The goblins, who had barely mustered courage, recoiled back into the lair under the intimidation of the magic missiles.
“Continue the smoke!”
The goblins retreated again.
The initiative was firmly in their hands, so no one in the group was anxious.
They stoked the fire and blew wind back in, and thick black smoke billowed down the cave once more.
Ten more minutes passed.
The green-skinned monsters, suffocated by the toxic fumes, finally launched another charge at the cave entrance.
This time Gauss didn’t cast magic missile again.
He worried that if he did it once more, these goblins would be utterly frightened—they’d rather suffocate inside than come out and fight.
Also, the sulfur powder and toxins the group carried were limited; they couldn’t continue burning indefinitely.
If they didn’t finish off the goblins now, going in to drag them out later would be a huge hassle.
Amid the black smoke.
A group of goblins rushed out, waving their weapons.
Their originally green skin was now blackened with soot, their faces covered in dirt, and their eyes streaming with tears.
Some even collapsed right outside the cave the moment they came out.
“Prepare for combat!”
Seeing that the enemies had finally emerged, everyone raised their weapons and picked their targets.
Gauss moved swiftly, immediately targeting three goblins who had fainted on the ground.
Swordsmanship Basics granted him better weapon handling; the tip of his sword struck the goblins’ vitals, and in the next moment, three crimson blossoms of blood bloomed.
“Killed Goblin *3”
“Total monsters killed: 69”
There was no shame in finishing off stragglers.
Besides, what if the goblins were playing dead?
Better to finish them off early than waste attention.
After dealing with the three fainted goblins, Gauss looked toward the battlefield—everyone else had begun slaughtering goblins.
These goblins, disoriented by the toxic smoke, stood no chance against these seasoned low-level adventurers.
He needed to speed up.
“Killed Goblin *1”
...
Gauss’s figure darted among the goblins, the rapier in his hand continuously harvesting lives.
Notices flashed rapidly before his eyes.
“Slash!”
Thanks to the Goblin Hunter title’s effect “Nemesis,” his rapier was wrapped in a faint white glow, enhancing its damage.
He cleanly and efficiently slashed through the last goblin’s neck.
Gauss sheathed his sword and took a deep breath to calm himself.
It was like cutting vegetables.
It had been a while since his last goblin kill.
Now, reuniting with his old friends, he realized just how much stronger he had become.
Moreover, the effect of Swordsmanship Basics in actual combat was even better than he expected.
“Total monsters killed: 75”
“Magic Missile Lv2 (13/20)”
“Mage Armor Lv2 (15/20)”
“Swordsmanship Basics Lv1 (6/10)”
The three skills had increased by 1 point, 2 points, and 1 point respectively.
Once they returned from this mission, he planned to focus on training Mage Armor—it should soon reach level 3.
Gauss wiped his hands and took a few strips of jerky wrapped in cloth from inside his tunic, chewing as he recovered and quietly pondered.
“Good work, everyone.”
“Is anyone injured and needs checking?”
“Take a look at me, I think I got poked in the side—it’s a bit sore.” Doyle pointed to his waist.
Just as Gauss’s thoughts returned to reality, he looked at Doyle in surprise.
That shouldn’t be, right?
Those goblins were in such bad shape—could they still cause injury?
But when his gaze turned to Daphne,
He seemed to understand.
He vaguely recalled that Doyle always had some injury after battles.
In reality, the guy probably wasn’t hurt at all—he just wanted the little priestess to tend to him up close.
So lame.
Gauss shook his head helplessly.
“Gauss, how many goblins did you kill just now?” Levin suddenly asked beside him.
“Let me think...” Gauss glanced at the kill count in his Adventurer’s Handbook and did a quick mental calculation. “Should be fifteen or sixteen.”
The exact number was 16.
The total before departure was 59, and now it was 75.
Soon, he could claim another stage reward.
He had started by sneak-killing one, then his Magic Missile took out six.
He had picked off three easy ones, and finally killed six head-on with his sword.
The reason for his speed was that he saw these goblins as a ragtag bunch—no decent equipment, mostly wooden weapons—so he fought aggressively.
Attacks others might have avoided, he just tanked with Mage Armor.
And clearly, bullying the weak was the right call.
Killing six goblins quickly in a short time was the best proof.
What Gauss didn’t notice was that after he reported the number, the air fell into a strange silence.
Because in total, there should only have been a little more than twenty goblins.
Levin looked at Gauss, overwhelmed with mixed emotions.
No wonder this mission felt so much easier than before—he didn’t even feel fully warmed up before it was over.
Turns out Gauss had killed that many by himself.
“Gauss?”
“......”
“What is it, Levin?” Gauss looked up at him.
“It’s nothing... we’ll talk on the way back.”