Chapter 13: The First Quest is Always Goblin Subjugation

The goblin shaman split his forces into four different groups. It was smarter than the rest and had some understanding of tactics.

Four groups of six goblins prowled through the village, not doing anything to hid their presence as they searched for the intruders.

Therina ambushed one of the groups along with the three shroom gnomes once they were far enough away from the other goblin search parties.

Two goblins died from the iron maces splitting their skull open, but another survived by instinctively attacking back with a wooden club and luckily managing to redirect the blow to the side.

Therina attacked at the same time, thrusting her sword in a quick, pinpoint attack. The goblin raised its club to hit the sword, but she had already stabbed it through the eye before it could defend itself.

With three goblins dead at the very start, and now being outnumbered 4:3, the remaining goblins fled while screaming to raise the alarm. Therina pulled off a razer sharp steel throwing knife from her waistband and flicked it at one goblin, striking it in the back of the leg and causing it to stumble, while killing another goblin with a thrust of her sword.

She then dashed to the fallen goblin and stabbed it in the back of the head before it could get up and flee.

[

Goblin <Lv. 3> killed!

+ 45 exp

Goblin <Lv. 2> killed!

+ 31 exp

Goblin <Lv. 3> killed!

+ 45 exp

]

The shroom gnomes were a bit shorter than the goblins, but that didn't prevent them from ganging up on the final goblin and bashing it to death with their iron maces.

They were much more effective with these weapons than compared to when they were using stone spears.

No need to think, just bash.

This group of goblins had been killed and Therina had recovered the throwing knife, but another goblin search party appeared at this moment and ambused them.

Therina flinched back but thrust her sword out in reflex. The goblin managed to guard its body with a round wooden shield and caught the blade, which stabbed through and into its hand, but not killing it.

"Don't just rely on your sword, you have your entire body. Kick the goblin back and recover your sword. You have almost lost your sword as it is stuck in the shield, pull a dagger out with your spare hand to defend yourself"

The dungeon spoke in her mind and reminded her of things to focus on. She pulled out a dagger with one hand, catching a goblins club on it and dampening the blow, but still took a decent hit to her ribs which made her wince.

She raised a leg and kicked back the goblin which had released the shield from its crippled hand. She bashed another goblin with the shield stuck on the sword, knocking the enemy back and loosening the shield enough for her to flick it off.

The three shroom gnomes were fighting dumbly, even with the dungeon macro'ing their fighting style. It was basically bash and be bashed until one fell. They still held off three goblins, one getting a lucky strike in and crippling its arm, while all three were beginning to suffer more injuries.

"You need to be quick, more will be here shortly."

Therina charged at the goblins attacking the shroom gnomes and swiftly killed then while their attention was on their current opponent, although she suffered several blows from clubs, one on an unprotected section of her arm which hurt enough she couldn't use it properly. She suspected the bone may have fractured judging on the level of pain and was thankful she could at least hold onto the dagger still.

[

Goblin <Lv. 3> killed!

+ 45 exp

Goblin <Lv. 2> killed!

+ 31 exp

Goblin <Lv. 3> killed!

+ 45 exp

]

With the shroom gnomes freed up, she could bring her attention to the remaining goblins. She quickly dispated one, while the gnomes outnumbered and brought down the other two, their green blood dripping off the sinister maces.

[

Goblin <Lv. 3> killed!

+ 45 exp

]

Therina quickly fled the area with the shroom gnomes before any other goblin search party could ambush them. They headed to a half burnt down house which still had four walls and hid inside.

"Focus on the feeling when I heal you. Try increase the recovery speed of your arm."

Even though it was a futile effort, she still attempted to once again feel her mana so she could heal her arm faster, but she was unsuccessful.

Once she was sure the surroundings were safe, she led the three shroom gnomes once more around the town, ambushing another goblin search party. The last search party they met each other by surprise and she had to fight the entire party head on. She took a glancing blow to the head and one of the shroom gnomes died after a wooden club broke its neck, but she had finally eliminated all of the sparce goblins.

All the remained was the goblin shaman in the center of the village along with its personal guard, two goblins with iron swords, and another two with wooden bucklers and clubs.

"The rest of the village should be safe for now. Search through the homes and try to find a working bow and some arrows. This way you will be able to ambush them from a distance. That shaman could spell trouble for you."

"What. No. Stealing bad."

"Don't be naïve. They are dead, or enslaved, while you are alive. The strong live while the weak become food. What they left behind will make your stronger."

Therina still showed some reluctance, but she eventually submitted and raided the houses in search for a bow. The dungeon noticed many things it wanted her to go back and retrieve later, but didn't say anything for now.

She eventually found a wooden bow and some arrows after searching several houses. The goblin shaman and its guards saw her a couple of times moving around the town, but they didn't move from their defensive position in the town center. Despite losing most of its tribe, the shaman was determined to fight until the end.

Therina strung the bow and knocked an arrows. She hid in the shadow of a building and drew back the string, aiming at the side of the goblin shaman's head.

Her arm send sharp waves of pain up it, but she grit her teeth and released the arrow, flinching at the last second and causing the arrow to miss, missing the shaman altogether but at least managing to hit one of the guards in the hip.

The goblins erupted in a ruckus, the goblin shaman pointing in her direction with its staff and having the guards charge at her. It then swung its staff around in a circle and made a guttural chant.

A faint green ring shone around the goblins feet as their speed increased by 20 percent. It then began casting another spell, forming a fireball over its head.

She used her Rapid Fire skill to quickly pull out more arrows and fire them one after another. 5 mana per shot would have been a lot of mana which would have drained her in ten shots and left her in a state of mana down, slow to respond and highly vulnerable to attacks. She could now release 30 arrows and still have room to spare.

The goblins with the bucklers charged at the front, defending against as many arrows as they could, while a sword wielding goblin followed behind them, and the final one with an arrow in its hip limped even further back.

Therina's aim was terrible due to her injured arm, but she still grit her teeth to continue firing arrows. The shield goblins stopped most of them, but several go through their defense. One goblin died while the other became heavily injured. The sword goblin at the back was an easy target too and received a stray arrow through its neck.

[

Goblin <Lv. 4> killed!

+ 58 exp

Goblin <Lv. 6> killed!

+ 71 exp

]

A large fireball came hurtling through the sky like a catapult before the goblins reached the elf, causing her to abandon her attack and hurl herself to the side.

The goblin shaman then cast a debuff spell which made Therina feel weak and fatigued, her injured arm falling limp by her side. The shroom gnomes received the same debuff, their knees slightly bucking in weakness.

There was only one goblin shield bearer and iron sword wielder between Therina and the shaman, and the shield bearer was already injured.

She did her best to ignore the shield bearer and slipped around it to attack the sword wielder while the shroom gnomes attacked the former.

She stabbed out with her sword, but it didn't have the strength or speed it did before, allowing the sword goblin to knock her sword to the side and swing its own at her. Therina clenched her teeth and tilted her body so the sword landed on a thick part of her armor, which stopped the sword, but injured her shoulder.

She slashes her sword in retaliation and cut the side of the goblin's neck, but not deep enough to be fatal.

The goblin, while still being smarter than the others of its tribe, was still dumb. It merely swung its sword at her again, expecting it to kill her without considering how. Therina stepped back and allowed the sword to pass in front of her before stepping back in and thrusting her sword with all the strength and speed she could muster.

The faintly glowing manasteel blade stabbed straight through the goblins neck, glancing off the spine but still doing fatal damage as it burst out the back of its neck

[

Goblin <Lv. 5> killed!

+ 65 exp

]

The three shroom gnomes killed the injured shield warrior as Therina sprinted toward the goblin shaman who was still casting magic. It cast another fireball at her and she used gracefully dodged to the side right before it would hit her.

"Excellent! Truly an excellent move!" The dungeon cheered and complimented in her mind.

The goblin shaman didn't have enough time to cast another spell, so it attacked with its staff, which Therina merely parried with her sword before thrusting with her sword at its throat.

The goblin shaman was a higher level than the rest, and as such its body was stronger and more resilient than the other goblins, but the weapon was razor sharp, and Therina's well practiced thrust cut straight through the weakest point of its throat.

[

Goblin Shaman <Lv. 9> killed!

+ 148 exp

]

[

Experience threshold met. Level Up!

Lv. 3 -> Lv. 4

Accumulated skill experience bonus:

Swordsmanship <Lv. 3> -> <Lv. 4>

+ New Skill: Iron Will <Lv. 1>

All Stats(Non-Luck): +1

Class bonus: Dex +2, Int +1

Mana: 191 -> 261

]

[

Species: Tree Elf

Name: Therina Sel'Ether

Class: Thatcher

Age: 40

Mana: 97/261

Exp: 1/1,210

Level: 4

Str: 6

Dex: 15

End: 8

Vit: 15

Int: 13

Mnd: 9

Lck: 6

Skills:

Nature Touched (Racial) <Lv. MAX>

• +20% Dex, End, Vit when in forested regions.

• Forest wildlife is less hostile to you.

Weaving <Lv. 10>

• 3-Fold Plat – 1 mana/min

• 5-Fold Plat – 2 mana/min

• 9-Fold Thatch – 3 mana/min

• Wood Weaving – 10 mana/min

• Thread: Auto-Spin – 2 mana/min

Flower Arrangement <Lv. 9>

• Nature Alignment – 15 mana

• Mana Alignment – 30 mana

• Defense Alignment – 40 mana

Archery <Lv. 7>

• Twin Shot – 5 mana

• Rapid Fire – 5 mana/shot

Trap Setting <Lv. 5>

Concealment <Lv. 6>

Swordsmanship <Lv. 4>

Iron Will <Lv. 1>

Titles:

Child of Mana

]

~~~~~

Therina looked over the village square. What was once a conglomeration of activity, the a warzone against human mercenaries, then a goblin tribe establishing a nest, was now covered in gravemounds.

Elves had a custom in which their bodies were buried beneath the ground and a tree sapling was planted over them. They would then be returned to nature as the trees grew. Other races may consider this superstition, but the elves had a very firm belief in existing with nature like this.

The trees which grew in this way were different from the others in the forest, their leaves would turn red in autumn and shed, a phenomenon called Nature's Respect, in which the fallen elves would make their presence known through the trees in which their souls resided.

The village square was now filled with the depression of death, but from that, grew the vitality and hope of new life.

Therina bowed in respect to the grave mounds before turning and returning toward the dungeon.