Chapter 13: Level Up

Marni Wilf was regretting everything terribly.

As a traveling merchant affiliated to the Silver Chimes, he had chosen the more dangerous route by crossing the Dray Forest in order to shorten the period for moving his goods.

After all, there never had been dangerous magical beasts around these parts. And even if there were goblins sighted recently, they posed no threat, not to mention that the Dray Forests was quite vast. He did not believe that he would be so unlucky as to run into an entire tribe…

But he did. In fact, their convoy ran headlong into one that was migrating due to food running out.

In their hunger, they fought well above and beyond their usual ability. Aside from the dead humpbeasts, several elite mercenaries were wounded as well.

Thank the Goddess of Prosperity for taking pity on them right then: just as they were all about to die, five village kids popped out of nowhere, and with their mysterious abilities that could have been divine providence or magical power, they managed to slow the goblins’ attack.

Be that as it may, as the initial confusion that had been their advantage faded, they were now entire tightly within the quagmire of the goblin’s swarming tactics.

The warrior who Marni had thought to be an adult was now immobile, held beneath the weight of an entire pile of goblins.

The archer brat was forced to run as more goblins approached, occasionally turning for a sliding tackle to bring some of them to the ground before continuing running…

Meanwhile, the girl who looked older was no longer casting buffs for the others but was guarding a younger girl, knocking back any approaching goblin with her massive cross that was larger than herself.

The younger girl herself was casting sacred healing spells. Even if Marni could not tell whether her ability belonged to the God of Life’s Temple or the Brilliant White Church, her help was the reason those children could endure until now.

Their leader (Edward) was now no longer casting spells like before. Instead, he was scrambling away, only unleashing his magic between long periods while mumbling things like ‘my blue bar is empty’, ‘move it, Joe. Why aren’t you moving?’ or ‘milk Gou Dan, Eleena, he’s almost finished’.

In the end, he was cornered by four goblins, and stabbed in the stomach with a rusted sword. Even if the boy did beat the one in front of him to the ground, pulled the sword out and stabbed it to death in return, it did not look like he was going to make it.

Everything seemed finished right then.

Although he felt bad about it, it appears the children would be killed by the goblins as well.

Marni started to think about what he should do—encourage the mercenaries and have them fight to the death, or look for a chance to run?

Nonetheless, that was when he suddenly noticed that the mage brat was smiling unusually.

“Wow. Goblin XP is so high—I leveled up!”

With those words which made no sense at all, the boy who had been left ragged after being chased began to start unleashing a flurry of spells once more. The goblins, having secured the advantage and hence threw caution to the wind was blasted into the dirt.

He looked so lively and energetic, completely different from that disappointment when stabbed.

Soon, Marni also saw through the young mage’s torn clothes that there was no wound beneath!

That was not right. He had clearly seen the boy having a rusted sword of iron pushed into his stomach, along with the sight of skin splitting and blood gushing—in fact, the bloodstains were still there. So how did the wound disappear? Where had the gaping wound gone?

Still, even more curiosities that went beyond Marni’s common sense were occurring.

The young warrior who had been almost been crushed into a pile of flesh underneath the goblins, but kept alive by the healing spells cast by a younger girl with silver-haired and twin ponytails had also suddenly burst out.

Every goblin which had been mysteriously blasted away, just as every bruise on his body vanished. He was no longer heaving for air like he did in that fierce battle a while ago, and instead looked spirited as if he did not actually use up any energy.

“Really! I leveled up too!”

He was looking distractedly into the air in front of himself with delight, before simply picking up one of the goblin’s weapons and crying out, “It’s mad, even this goblin club has higher attack stats than the best sword from our village!”

Then, he rushed towards the dazed goblins.

Even his sword skills seemed to have improved now compared to his previous limited ability of powerful swings and suplexes. Now, he seemed to have learned a double lunging stab, which not only deals twice the damage on the goblins but also knocks them back by a certain distance.

Still, it appeared that he had yet to adjusted to the skill and had to run in order to use it, and he could now be seen leading a pack of goblins that were running backward…

Aside from those two, the young archer seemed to have strengthened as well. Having been fleeing all over the place, he was now… still fleeing all over the place, although he was a lot less ragged than before—not to mention that he would often turn around and fire several high-speed chain shots that would kill one goblin each time.

And what the hell? How many arrows did that guy have?

As Marni quietly counted the youth’s usage of arrows, he could not help but be perplexed by where his arrows were coming from.

“I actually leveled up too,” the older girl said softly in surprise as she stopped flailing her cross. “Is killing goblins is such a profit…”

“Great! Jessica, you must click Gradual Heal. That way, I’ll be free!” The younger girl she was protecting cheered happily before bounding toward the goblins while ignoring the other’s attempts to stop her.

It was a reckless move which certainly left Marni frowning as his danger alarm went off.

The reason those children could endure until now was thanks to the younger girl’s continuous casting of healing spells—and it was not only their own party, but his own mercenaries were also being helped. Indeed, half of them would have gone down if not for her healing!

But now, she was running with a strut towards the goblins, essentially asking for a beating!

Unable to stand and watch, Marni tried to order the mercenaries to protect her, or at least stop her from getting killed.

That was also the moment when he witnessed the most shocking scene.

Air itself seemed to have become still as endless golden radiance gathered in the girl’s palm. The entire world seemed to lose color save for the girl and the light in her hand, and even the goblins movement seemed to have slowed countless times.

Then, in the very next moment, the surging holy power that left even onlookers staggered condensed in her hand into a bright and massive spear.

Even if it was merely a form blessed by streaming radiance, the spear was noble and elegant, a pure beauty that no one could avert their eyes from.

In an instant, the spear was unleashed. Rushing forth with a force as if it would pierce heaven and earth, it penetrated every goblin before the girl and pinned them on the ground!