Against Goblin Party

"They're still following us, Star."

About half an hour later, while the three were heading toward the goblin area while killing the slimes they passed by, Cassy reported. Those adventurers, curious about their methods, were still tailing their party from a significant distance away.

"Really? Persistent guys..." Aster sighed before turning to Kali. "K, any idea?"

"Hmph. Let them be. Weaklings like them can't do anything to us."

"Weaklings?"

Based on Kali's words, her senses could apparently pick up the approximate level of someone nearby. As such, she could tell that the guys tailing them were just a bunch of level ones who would have a hard fight against goblins.

"Once we enter goblin territory, those bitches will stop in their tracks for sure."

"I see..."

On the first floor, the plains area was where the slimes were. Goblins and wolves both stay in forest areas, but goblins usually stay near the edge of the forest, while wolves tend to be deeper into it.

As Kali declared, when their party entered the dark forest, the weak adventurers hesitated to follow and decided to fall back. When both girls confirmed that they had lost those tailing them, Aster finally heaved a sigh of relief.

"Now, we can focus on hunting."

*WHOOOSH!* *TING!*

"...!"

But just as he relaxed his shoulders, Kali's hand moved forward, her dagger swinging, as she intercepted a crude arrow flying for Aster's face.

"Don't lower your guard; they've already discovered us!"

Kali growled as she lowered her stance, wary of her surroundings.

"Enemies! Two up front, one on the right side, and one at the back!" Cassy quickly reported while readying her dagger before her body. "Leave the one on the back to me!"

Kali flipped both daggers as she extended a leg behind, preparing to dash. "Then I'll take on the two bastards up front! Star, you go to the one who shot an arrow at you!"

"Okay!" Aster replied without thinking but quickly wondered: "Wait, I'm supposed to be the leader..."

*FWOOSH!*

"Woah!"

Aster's mark fired another arrow at him, but since he was staring in the enemy's direction from the start, he was able to see the arrow's trajectory and dodge. Thanks to the arrow, rather, he finally figured out the exact position of the goblin he was assigned to.

About fifty meters away, hiding under a large tree's shadow, a small green creature stood. It was roughly a meter tall, with skinny limbs and a bloated stomach. Sharp ears, goat-like eyes, and dirty yellow, chaotically arranged teeth. It was practically a recipe for a nightmare!

*KIEEEK!*

The creature, a goblin, poised the small, crooked bow in its hand and nocked another arrow. In about five seconds, it would shoot another arrow. "You think I'd let you...!"

Aster picked up a random rock from the ground and threw it forward. It flew in a high arc, causing the goblin archer to stare at it warily, only to see that it missed its target, hitting a tree behind it instead.

*GE GE GE! KEH?!*

But, of course, Aster didn't expect it to hit in the first place. He merely used it as a distraction, delaying the arrow from being fired. And it worked wonders! During the short few seconds the goblin was distracted, he managed to run past half the distance, jumping over bushes and roots!

The rest of the distance was too short for the goblin to ready its arrow properly! "Here's another one!"

After he noticed the goblin was trying to aim its bow in panic, he stepped hard, using a pivot foot, and transferred his momentum into throwing force. The distance between them was less than ten meters, close enough to let Aster make sure not to miss.

"Humph!"

The stone flew almost in a straight line and landed right at the goblin's face. Green blood, the same color as its skin, flew as the little monster fell to its back, groaning in pain as it squirmed around disgustingly.

"DIE!"

As soon as Aster reached his enemy, he swung the sword in his hand down, taking the goblin's life by piercing right through its chest.

"Haaaa... Haaaa... Haa..." Aster felt tired after dashing at his top speed inside a forest.

But at the same time, he felt elated. "I did it... I hunted a goblin by myself!" He cheered while leaning against the tree nearby.

"Congrats, Star! That was a good fight!" Cassy commented as she approached, dragging the corpse of another goblin with her.

"Goblin archers need ten seconds to aim properly. Even without throwing stones to distract it, the probability of getting hit is low." And from the other side, Kali appeared, dragging two corpses with her.

Aster saw the two girls, who took down their targets faster than he did and sighed. "I... need to get stronger, huh."

*Thud!* *Thud!* *Thud!*

All four corpses were lined together before Kali knelt and checked their bodies.

"Look for accessories. Those are made with special metals, which can be sold from 500 Tels to as much as 10,000 Tels depending on purity."

"Woah! So this is the real reason why most skip out on slimes, huh?"

"I found one! This necklace seems good, right, Star?"

After rummaging through the corpses, they found two rings, one necklace, one anklet, and one skull helmet, worn by the goblin archer. Kali evaluated the items roughly and estimated their price.

"The rings would be 500, the necklace and anklet around 3,000, and the skull helmet... Since it has a complete set of teeth, about 15,000 Tels."

"Wow! All that in just a single hunt~!" Cassy exclaimed in joy.

However, Aster sighed instead. "Compared to our pace earlier, we would've had about 10 slime cores by now. It's slow compared to that, right?"

"You do know that it's normally impossible to get slime cores as quarry reliably, right?" Kali commented lightly, exasperated.

After a while, both Cassy and Aster noticed Kali's attitude slowly changing. Or rather, they were simply discovering her hidden side. She was like a protective older sister with a bad mouth who wouldn't let danger come to her little siblings!

'She'd be a 10 if not for her bad mouth, really.' Aster lamented.

After keeping their loot, they moved to the next area, hunting goblins group after group. Whenever an archer was with them, they always targeted Aster first. Of course, Kali protected him every time, but he was getting fed up.

"Do I look so weak that I'm getting locked on like this?"

"No, of course not, Star! Believe in yourself a bit more!" Cassy spouted comforting words.

"Weak? Yes, you are weak, but that's not the reason. Goblins tend to kill males first before females, so it's natural that you, the only male here, get targeted first."

And Kali hit him with nothing but the harsh truth.

"Damned goblins..."