Chapter 40: Ambush
Similarly, a cunning light flickered in Ji Ma’s golden eyes. Just now, she had extended her middle finger to the red-haired Stzwan only to stop that worthless virgin guy from desperately advising everyone against entering the cave. If they didn’t go in, how could they slap some faces?
Fortunately, the good-natured virgin was good-natured enough that when he saw Stzwan not listening, he didn’t continue trying to force his way in.
As for the possible life-threatening danger to others? Ji Ma didn’t care at all; she only knew that following the tool hero posed no life-risk.
Inside the cave, it was dark and narrow. The only light source was a faint torch flickering on the cave wall, some of which had already burned out; the goblins were inherently lazy and preferred the dark, so they ignored it.
Ji Ma saw everything clearly but nonetheless took out an oil lamp from her backpack, just about to light it.
“Put it out.” Red-haired Stzwan turned and ordered.
Ji Ma ignored him and hung the lamp on the hook on her shoulder.
The cave was too narrow for two adults to walk side by side, and Ji Ma followed closely behind George. Strangely, the poet Disha was at the back of the line, making Ji Ma feel pricked from behind, prompting her to move even closer to George.
The skinny goblin walked ahead, and when it reached the corner, it turned back and whispered:
“Yingxiong, be quiet, we are almost there.”
The group halted, and the sounds of goblins playing began to come faintly from ahead.
Red-haired Stzwan placed his short sword against the skinny goblin’s neck and asked, “What’s up ahead?”
“They are playing games, bad guys.” The skinny goblin replied while shivering, “Up ahead, two large halls, just go straight through.”
Red-haired Stzwan thought the other party was scared of him and nodded, saying to Lis: “Look, we can catch them off guard; let’s sneak in quietly.”
Lis gripped her staff tightly and nodded.
Stzwan waved his hand and said, “Lead the way again.”
This corner was nearly a right angle, and just as Red-haired Stzwan continued to crouch and tiptoe in an exaggerated sneaking motion, ready to order everyone to sneak like him.
The skinny goblin suddenly ran forward. Stzwan didn’t notice at first until Lis exclaimed, “It’s escaping!”
Only then did Red-haired Stzwan realize and hurriedly chased after it, shouting, “Stop if you don’t want to die.”
As soon as he finished speaking, his right leg suddenly sank into the ground up to his knee. It was a trap; a narrow hole had caught his leg, and pain surged through him.
He gritted his teeth and threw his short sword at the goblin four meters away, but this time Lady Luck didn’t favor him again. The sword missed by a whole body length.
The skinny goblin picked up the jewel-inlaid short sword, turned its head, and grinned, “Thanks, ha.”
Red-haired Stzwan’s face flushed with rage, and his eyes widened as he struggled to pull his leg free.
Ji Ma couldn’t help but laugh out loud, showing no restraint.
“There’s a long-legged person! The long-legged person has come!”
The skinny goblin ran toward the cave entrance illuminated by firelight, shouting loudly.
For a moment, it was like prodding a hornet’s nest, and a wave of curses erupted from ahead; judging by the sounds, at least a hundred goblins were coming rushing over.
Red-haired Stzwan struggled several times but couldn’t free his leg from the trap.
Lis rushed over, grabbed Red-haired Stzwan’s arm, and pulled him out. He hobbled on one leg, his face twisted in pain, saying, “My foot has been pierced.”
“Retreat.”
George said.
Red-haired Stzwan glared at George, feeling he was seizing the chance to take over his command, and shouted, “No! We hold our ground here; this entrance is narrow enough to hold them back.”
Lis said, “But your injury…”
“I’m fine; I have healing potions.” He pulled out a blood-red glass vial from his waist and gulped it down. “What happened earlier was a mistake; I should have tied a rope around its neck. Lis, watch me wipe out that group of goblins.”
“Are you going to use your fists?” Ji Ma asked, “I didn’t expect you to be a monk; you really are hard to read.”
Lis took out a faintly glowing gem, intending to call for reinforcements, saying, “Unfortunately, our adventure is about to end.”
“Wait.” Stzwan shouted instinctively.
“We have to retreat.” George said again.
Stzwan felt a wave of anger; if this adventure ended now, he would never get a chance to make up for this small mistake. On the contrary, George, this cowardly newcomer, would win Lis’s favor.
He instinctively shouted, “We have to fight! Coward.”
Lis questioned, “Why?”
Red-haired Stzwan opened his mouth but felt he had little confidence; afraid something else might go wrong and involve Lis.
But fortunately, the warm-hearted Ji Ma was there. She flicked her pinky, sending courage to Red-haired Stzwan, indeed a true do-gooder.
Before the fight even started, was he really going to lose to the newbie George? Red-haired Stzwan’s jealousy flared up as he pointed at George’s bucket helmet, asking, “Do you really believe a newbie with an obscured view is going to explore the cave?”
Lis glanced at George’s bucket helmet, which left only a narrow slit to see outside. She suspected whether George could even see the goblin in front of him. In contrast, Stzwan seemed much more professional.
Lis was just about to put away the faintly glowing gem when Red-haired Stzwan sighed in relief.
At that moment, the poet Disha’s flippant voice rang out:
“Oh, ladies and gentlemen, we’re running out of time.”
Ji Ma turned her head to see the poet Disha, holding a short bow, with an arrow lodged in a goblin’s throat lying before him.
Wait, where did the goblin come from?
Ji Ma then noticed that behind them, a piece of cloth, similar in color to the cave wall, was hanging. Goblins were hidden inside.
If the adventure team had walked around the corner without noticing, they would have been ambushed by the goblins and ultimately flanked from both sides.
“Trap, trap!”
A goblin shouted, pulling back the curtain and escaping. Poet Disha aimed and shot an arrow, but it only hit the goblin’s ear. The goblin yelled and jumped up, triggering a lever hidden in the wall.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound of rolling stones came from above. Ji Ma looked up and saw sand trickling down from above.
“Ji Ma, be careful!”
George grabbed her right hand, ready to lead her to escape.
A massive boulder came crashing down, dust swirling up, and the ground shook. Ji Ma hid behind George; she was a bit scared, but with George holding her wrist, she felt a wave of reassurance.
In no time, the deafening roar stopped. Ji Ma wiped the dust from her eyelids and found that the stones had fallen and blocked their only escape route on the other side of the corner.
Filthy goblins wearing tattered armor surged in from the cave entrance. They excitedly waved short spears in their hands.
“This is great,” Ji Ma said, “Now we don’t have to worry about being flanked from behind.”
“Yeah, I want to write a poem praising our leader’s decisiveness.” The poet Disha began to sing, “Stzwan, ah, Stzwan, you’re a big fool♪.”
“Shut up, pretty boy. If we were scared and ran away, we would have been buried by those rocks long ago.” He said, comforting Lis, “Don’t be afraid; there will be other exits in the goblins’ lair.”
Lis, holding the gem, felt Stzwan’s words made sense and didn’t call for help for the moment.
Stzwan plunged into the goblin crowd, relying on his strength and martial skills, slicing through goblins left and right. But there were simply too many goblins, attacking from all sides; he couldn’t defend against many of their attacks, and only his breastplate protected his torso.
A short spear pierced his armpit, and Stzwan ground his teeth, his attacking momentum slowing. More spears came stabbing in, and as he dodged the attacks, he stumbled and fell, with goblins rushing forward and grabbing him. Stzwan fell to the ground.
Just then, George pushed to the front line. He kicked a goblin off Stzwan and sent it crashing against the cave wall with a crunch; its bones shattered, and it died. The goblins immediately climbed off Red-haired Stzwan.
George moved past Stzwan like a tank, charging directly into the goblin crowd. Short spears scraped against his armor, and only striking at the joints could hurt George, but that was too difficult for the goblins, especially when facing the terrible greatsword.
One goblin was cut in half by George’s sword across the shoulder. The goblins scattered in panic, shouting:
“A big iron block! It’s a big iron block!”
“Run away.”
Red-haired Stzwan got up, limping and shouting, “Charge!”
The five rushed into the main hall, which had two levels. They were on the first floor, while a dense mass of goblin archers crowded on the second floor.
“Lis, hide behind the column, and make sure to keep a low profile while attacking from a distance. George, you go up front—Lis, watch out!”
Several arrows shot toward Lis. Just as she was about to dodge, Red-haired Stzwan tackled her to the ground, causing her to bite her lip in pain.
“Enough, enough.” She said, pulling out the glowing gem, “Braggart, enough.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a small bolt of lightning suddenly lunged at them, accurately hitting the glowing gem in Lis’s hand, shattering it, with the shards flowing down her fingers.
Lis’s little face instantly turned pale, and Ji Ma strangely recalled the plot from her past life.
It was really thrilling.
