Their rest was short-lived as a group of goblins tracked them down in the darkness. Well, considering their terrible weakness of navigation skills, it was a big enough achievement that they managed to find them. Well, it was really because of the fire and the goblins were in the vicinity. They weren't really the group they came across inside the catacomb.
"What's your call, captain?" Warden asked as Agnes woke up from her nap.
"I'm pissed," she said, finding six odd goblins surrounding them. "You should have dealt with them silently when I was asleep. Well, I can forgive such incompetency. Anyway, I'm tired of withdrawing. Let's just take care of them. There wasn't even a fiend among them."
With that, she leapt up to her feet when a goblin was about to smash his club onto her head. She didn't even bring out her weapon, as she kicked the one on her rear to send it flying a dozen metres. She wasn't even a little merciful in her attack. Next, she shot sharp arrows of condensed darkness to wound them easily.
The goblins weren't dead, but their movement was impaired with just a single attack. On top of that, the superiority they felt with their high number was no more in their form either, as they began to flee without sparing another glance at their assailant.
"My dear Janitor," she said lazily. "Would you mind finishing them up? The essence they'll drop isn't really anything to my current self."
Agnes had been easing up somewhat since their group was divided. At the beginning, she was all a stuck-up military officer who only knew how to work... but now she was somewhat fun. Warden didn't hate it.
He brought out his weapon and said, "I'll be back in a moment."
Warden carried himself over in a large stride to finish up the one trailing at the rear. He had no trouble closing the distance, even the goblins were moving at their most desperate speed. But didn't feel any thrill either. It was more like him executing them, their power unable to stir up anything within them. The captain's attack made sure of that.
Still, he had to dodge a few times at the bombs they threw at him. He took care of the bomb guy, severing his head. He took away the satchel that held the leftover of the goblin bombs. Without taking a look, he took care of the rest, which turned out to be no problem at all.
[You have slain goblin warrior (Iron), 6x]
[1.2 Strength.]
"Well, not completely a waste." Clicking his tongue, he came back, holding a goblin bomb in hand. He studied it to find there were no complicated runes at work, just common ones that separated two types of combust elements. However, if he introduces a little bit of energy into the bomb, the separation wouldn't last anymore and the two elements would combine to create the explosion.
The scripts or runes were not anything special, but combust elements inside. It seemed like something borne out of alchemic. The effect was quite useful, as the explosion could kill copper rankers and heavily injure normal Iron rankers. He wondered if they have a greater version of these.
"Let's get out of here," Agnes said as soon as he returned. "I'm in mind to complete the mission as soon as we can and get back."
That earned no complaint from him.
***
Luis was doing some paperwork when the man from the administration came into the office with their demand.
It was actually someone Luis was familiar with. Kession Dime came from a minor noble finally with minimal talent in combat, but quite good at knowing what he needed to do to survive.
Kession was like a lower-middle officer who took care of a lot of the official exchange between the different charges of the army. Looking at the folded paper in his hand, he came with an official vendetta as well.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure?" Luis asked, gesturing for the man to take a seat.
"Well, that'll probably work out if you just work on making weapons diligently," Agnes said. "Hell, you can repair my armour, you'll never be free of work if you like."
"Well, is that a compliment, Madame Captain?"
"Sure," she said easily.
"Well, I'm also looking forward to..." Warden paused for a second, unsure how to say it.
"What is it?" Agnes turned to shoot him a look. "Girl issue?"
"Something like that," Warden said. "It mostly worked out; I just wonder what her family will be like. You know, we don't look very compatible with one another."
"I can see that," Agnes said, nodding heavily. "You as an ugly sod, while she's probably beautiful, and out of your league?"
"Hey, I'm not ugly," Warden crackled.
"You're not handsome either, friend."
Warden made a noise, but didn't bother to comment on that. "I feel like you're balancing out that rare compliment with more insults."
"Well, everyone needs some balance in their life, more for someone like you."
They walked for a few more minutes in silence.
"So, who's unlucky enough to have you as their partner?" Agnes asked with mild curiosity.
"You won't believe me if I say it," Warden said with a smile. "Hell, even I don't believe it sometimes."
The captain quirked her brows. "Looking at you, you probably like some demure, pure-looking girl, don't you?"
"So, you're a master in this thing now?" Warden snorted.
Agnes seemed like she wanted to say something, but then stopped. Her face tensed up as she looked around in alert.
"It's me, captain," a voice said, as the figure of Kevin in dark clothing manifested a safe distance away. He would think twice before sneaking up on the captain. His earlier memory of sneaking up on her hadn't gone without drawing his blood.
"Kevin, is everyone safe?" the captain asked.
The rogue nodded. "They are waiting for you in the clearing a few miles away," he said. "More importantly, we think the issue with the Essence Vein may not just be false."
Agnes frowned. "Did you find anything?"
"Nothing concrete, but we did find some signs that evidenced of a source of high spiritual power around here."