I'm not a Witcher anymore.

As blood spurted out, the third goblin finally let out a strange cry and turned to flee into the depths of the forest.

Zieg flicked his wrist, sending blood droplets flying along the blade, while simultaneously advancing towards that direction.

The goblin crawled over a section of overgrown tree root, and its ankle suddenly sank – the old hunter's arrow, though not very accurate, had pierced its calf.

It had barely managed to prop itself up when Sieg arrived, slashing its neck with a sword.

On the other side, Valeria had already overwhelmed the horde of goblins that were charging at her.

Her playing style is neither clumsy nor does she rely on brute force.

Each time the kite shield is thrust out, it doesn't hit the hardest spot, but rather the shoulder, elbow, knee, and ribs, specifically targeting the areas most likely to cause the opponent to lose their balance.

The one in front was knocked off course by her, and the two behind it were also thrown off balance.

Her longsword rose and fell almost touching the edge of the shield, not aiming for far or wide strikes, but only when the group of short figures were huddled together, specifically targeting their throats, faces, armpits, and wrists holding weapons.

Just as a goblin emerged from beside the tree roots to her left, before she could even pass the dagger halfway, the shield struck its shoulder, knocking its entire arm to the side.

Valeria stepped forward, her longsword piercing the shield's throat.

As the sword was withdrawn, another goblin was about to pounce on its companion's corpse.

She turned halfway, the edge of her shield slamming heavily into the goblin's knees. The goblin howled and fell to its knees, and the next sword cleaved down into its face.

Another one tried to sneak around to her side and behind her along the edge of the bush, but Ravenna's arrow arrived first, piercing its eye socket.

Before the body even fell to the ground, another one darted out from the shadows of the trees and, taking advantage of the chaos in front, pounced on Valeria's lower back.

She suddenly shifted her feet, turning half a step to the side along with the shield. As she turned around, she slashed her longsword upwards, slicing open its belly.

The dark red filth and blood were splashed onto the wet ground, instantly intensifying the stench.

Ravenna's eyesight was exceptional; she specifically targeted the little devils who tried to sneak in from the side during the chaos.

Short bows aren't designed for long-range shooting, but a distance of a dozen or so paces is just right for her.

Arrows pierced the thin mist one after another, striking eyes, throats, and wrists. They might not kill instantly, but they disrupted the movements of the group of creatures.

This battle came fiercely, but retreated even faster.

Before the fog had even dissipated, the wetlands and decaying leaves were already littered with the corpses of goblins.

The remaining three, which had been barking wildly, lost most of their courage when they saw their companions fall one after another.

One of the larger ones turned around hastily, and as soon as its foot stepped onto the slippery slope, Valeria caught up from behind.

She didn't use a sword.

The shield slammed heavily onto its back, smashing it into the muddy slope.

The goblin struggled to sit up, but Valeria stepped forward, her boots pressing firmly against its back. She reversed her sword and plunged it into its back.

The sword pierced through the hilt, and the thing only had time to twitch once before becoming completely still.

The last two completely panicked.

One of the wrists holding the knife was severed by Zieg's sword, and it screamed as it stumbled backward, tripped over a tree root, and fell backward.

Zig stepped forward, his sword slicing across its throat, abruptly silencing the scream.

The other one lost its courage and didn't even care about its companion.

The old hunter gritted his teeth and fired another arrow, but this time it still missed by an inch, just grazing past its ear.

It ducked low, about to disappear into the fog, when Ravenna's arrow caught up and pierced the back of its head, causing it to fall forward face-first into the decaying leaves and mud, where it lay motionless.

……

The woods fell silent again.

The smell of blood was stronger than before, mixed with the goblin's stench, rising up in the damp, cold air and drilling straight into the nostrils.

Lucy was the first to walk over.

She came to Valeria's side.

"Don't move yet, let me check... are you injured?"

"no."

Valeria sheathed her longsword, her breathing steady, with barely any movement in her shoulders or back: "I'm fine here."

Zig also came back from the other side.

As he walked, he slowly wiped the blood off the sword with a linen cloth, which soon soaked into the cloth, leaving a dark red stain.

As he approached, he crumpled the cloth in his palm, casually tossed it back into the Book of Adventure, and sheathed the sword.

"I'm fine too."

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief, but before she stepped back, she checked each of their shoulders, arms, backs of hands, and sides of legs again to make sure there were no wounds before she loosened her grip on the medicine bag.

Zig glanced up at the mountain.

The higher you go, the denser the trees become, and the thicker the fog becomes.

The stench didn't dissipate because of the brief battle; instead, it seemed to be carried by the wind and gradually pressed down from an even higher place.

"We can't stay here for long."

The old hunter bent down to pull back his arrow and wiped the blood off the shaft with his sleeve.

"After going up another slope, that's where the hunting trail branches off."

"The main road is wider and easier to walk uphill, but goblins usually use that road when they come down the mountain. If we take the road on the sloping side of the mountain, we can avoid the open slope outside the main gate of the fortress."

Valeria nodded and made the decision immediately.

"Hunting trails."

The mist clung to the mountain path and rose upstream; the forest was damp and cold, and the branches and leaves were dark and gloomy.

The group left the blood-stained wetland and followed the old hunter into the hunting trail behind the mountain.

This path is much narrower than the main road. At first, it was just covered by bushes and vines, but the further you go, the more remote the terrain becomes, and the harder it is to keep your footing.

In many places, it's hardly a road at all, just a shallow trail worn by mountain dwellers over the years, following the tree roots, stone embankments, and collapsed stone troughs all the way up.

The broken stone troughs were cracked, their edges covered with moss, half of them sunk into the mud, and the other half leaning precariously on the slope.

The bottom of the trough was filled with a layer of black, stagnant water, and a few rotten leaves were soaked and swollen. Small bubbles rose to the surface from time to time, emitting a faint fishy stench.

The old hunter pointed ahead, his voice low.

"Going up further, it's not far from the back of the fortress."

Ravenna walked in front, her steps always light.

Without warning, she raised her hand.

The group immediately stopped.

Zig followed her gaze and saw a gray-green ear peeking out from behind a crooked old pine tree.

The thing squatted on the ground, as if dozing off, its short spear pressed against the ground, its nose twitching as it sniffed the scent in the wind.

It's not far away.

If it takes just two more steps, and someone breaks a dead branch, it will scream.

Ravenna did not turn around.

She slowly raised the short bow to a horizontal position, the bowstring being pulled back little by little, the sound so soft it was almost inaudible.

When the arrow leaves the bowstring, it makes only a very faint scraping sound.

The goblin froze as the arrow pierced its ear.

It dropped its spear, collapsed beside the tree roots, and hit its forehead on the damp mud.

No one spoke.

The old hunter stepped forward, dragged the corpse into the ditch beside him, and then used a handful of decaying leaves and branches to push it up, instantly obscuring most of the dark corpse.