Chapter 22 - Silent Kill

"Guga!"

『You have killed Goblin LV. 7!』

『 Goblin Slayer 』

『 Kill all goblin inside the cave. (3/10)

Reward: 5 Attribute Points

Punishment upon failure: Fate worse than death 』

After killing the goblin, Sheila let out a breath of exhaustion and sits at the back of the wall. The goblin's corpse in front of her turns into fragments before disappearing entirely into nothingness. She had gotten used to seeing such spectacular sight in front of her, which explain her calmness. She was surprised when the first time it happened and even considers that the Trial Tower was perhaps, a virtual game that she was playing. She had once considered on getting herself killed for the sake of testing if she could revive but vote against it in the end.

She's not so stupid as to try such thing on herself, especially when it involves her life. Was she possessed back then? If not, how could she even come to consider such a horrible thing? She shook her head to remove the thought away from her mind.

"Gulp. Fuah~ Seven more to go."

Sheila put the bottle of mineral water back into her inventory after she was done drinking it. When she entered the cave, she had come across a single goblin walking around in one place as if guarding the path ahead from intruders. After slaying it, she only needs to walk for a couple of minutes before seeing another yet single goblin. Her wariness grew stronger as she dives deeper into the cave.

It had been easy and smooth ride up until now, but she wouldn't let her guard down. In fact, she grew even more cautious as she dives deeper. This kind of pattern, she had read it in the countless novel and knew what's coming ahead of it. Every time she had finished a fight, she would take a couple of minutes or possibly longer to rest. It wouldn't be good if she were put into a dangerous situation yet unable to do anything due to exhaustion, right?

After having enough rest, Sheila gets up and slowly walk to the only path deeper in the cave. Even though it was so dark that one usually couldn't see anything, but how is she fine you ask? She only needs to lead the mana inside of her and focus into one place, which was the eyes. It sounds simple and easy, but it took her about 4 hours of trials and errors until she finally managed to acquire the Night Vision skill. She had almost given up, but because of Mana Sense skill, it helped her a lot with the effort of it.

With the Night Vision skill, she could even see the corner of the wall inside the cave as it was bright as day. A pretty convenient skill. If not, she would need to use the torchlight which would expose her location to the goblin as an intruder. It was like a moth flying to the fire.

"!! This is..."

Sheila quietly muttered to herself when Presence Detection skill picked up two signal ahead of her. She slows down her pace before crouching down and tries to walk as quietly as possible without being notified by them. Finally, the two goblins were in her sight.

She stopped for a while and supervised her surrounding with her eyes and concluded that only the two goblins were around. She held the knife on her right hand while on the other hand, she picked up a rock before throwing it a certain distance from her.

"Guga?"

The two goblins noticed the noise the rock made when she threw it to the side. One goblin urges the other to walk ahead to check the cause of the noises. The goblin grumbles in its language before picking up its blunt cub and heading toward the location of the throw. Sheila waits quietly for the goblin to came close to her as she took a deep breath and gripped the knife tightly in her hands.

When the goblin was a meter away from her, she throws another small stone while moving backward at the same pace as the goblin moving forward. The goblin idiotically walks toward the noises that were made by the small stone without any caution of its surrounding. It didn't realize that it was baited by someone to get a distance away from its other comrade.

The goblin arrived at the location and looked around, but it didn't notice or find anything. It went into a rage as it realizes that it has wasted its time for absolutely nothing. It swings its club at the wall, wanting to release its anger at the innocent wall. But before it could hit the wall, it feels a throbbing pain in its back. It was about to yell in pain, but something blocks its mouth from making noise.

Sheila, who has stabbed right in the goblin's heart from the back, covered the goblin mouth stopping it from making noise to attract the other goblin with her other hand. The goblin struggles wildly for a while, but she managed to keep her hold with her strength until the goblin struggle becomes weak and eventually die due to the fatal strike in its heart.

『 You have killed Goblin LV. 6! 』

Once she was sure it has died, she pulled the corpse a distance away and left it there before going back to hunt the other goblin. When she came back to her previous location, she noticed that the other goblin was walking back and fro in the same place. Perhaps, it feels that something happened or went wrong to its comrade since it didn't return after waiting for a while.

While the goblin was moving back and fro, Sheila was pondering whenever she should attack it upfront or do the same plan called, 'Baiting the Idiot'. If she strikes it upfront, that might make a lot of noise when she fights which would attract the other goblin, and in no time, she would be surrounded and face the cruel fate worse than death.

Sheila immediately rejects the idea and also thought, since when did she become a muscle brawn? This is not a game! I almost forget that this is real, and before I knew it, I was making a plan that could literally kill me with the mindset that I'm just a 'character' of a game. While she was pondering on such a thought, she accidentally makes a noise by stepping on a small stone.

"Guga!"

The goblin shriek brought her back to reality, and she immediately jumped forward, wanting to finish the goblin in front of her quickly before it causes a ruckus which would attract the other goblins. When she was close to it, the Presence Detection picked up two signal five meters away from her. The two signal was running straight at her location.

It was at this moment that she realizes that she's in deep trouble. She must kill the goblin in front of her immediately, or she would not survive when the two other goblins join in the fight, which would result in 3vs1. She took a deep breath for a few moments before dashing forward as quick as her agility could and swing the knife in her hands at the goblin.