I'm not a Witcher anymore.

Zig did not give them a chance to get close.

His sword was terrifyingly fast.

A goblin lunged forward with its mouth open to bite, but the steel sword had already slit its throat first;

Another creature leaped up from the side, but Zieg's foot slipped, and he skimmed past the rotten wood on the ground. With a backhand slash, he severed the wrist holding the weapon, and then thrust it in again, pinning it to the ground.

Every step he took was deliberate and deliberate.

Even if the distance were closer, or if there were an extra rope half-buried in the ground, he would not hesitate to go around it.

These were all observations made by Sieg through the poisonous vines clinging to the trees between the time the goblins awoke and when they had diarrhea. He memorized which goblins in the outer village had stepped on which places, and which goblins would avoid even if they had diarrhea.

So the entire team, in this chaotic situation, was as if being pulled by an invisible thread, managing to carve out a path to survival from the filth and traps all around.

Ravenna's arrows continued to fly.

She doesn't try to take on many people; she only targets those who can slow down the team's pace.

The goblins that tried to charge from the side were all shot down by her.

The old hunter and the two villagers initially just protected the person and rushed forward, but after running for a while, they gradually regained their footing.

A goblin approached from the side, and the old hunter, not having time to draw his bow, simply swung the bow at it.

The villager next to him gritted his teeth and thrust his wooden spear forward. Although the spearhead didn't penetrate very deeply, it still forced the goblin back halfway. Immediately afterward, the green-skinned goblin was shot to the ground by an arrow from Ravenna.

"Don't stop!" Zieg's voice came from ahead. "Keep going!"

Nobody stopped.

Mud and water splashed everywhere, and wails and curses mingled all around, the air stinking as if it would rot your lungs.

Several goblins clutched their bellies and rolled into the mud, while the rest charged forward, roaring and charging with their weapons in hand.

However, the team's speed was never slowed down.

Because the line that Zieg brought out was getting closer to the target.

After rushing through a clearing filled with fallen wooden frames and rubble, the view ahead suddenly narrowed.

Two dilapidated wooden walls and a half-collapsed abandoned house were squeezed together from both sides by something, turning the passage into a narrow and dark crevice.

Old, blackened vines and half-rotten canvas still hang by the wall, and broken beams, broken tiles, and weeds dried up by the years are piled up in the corner of the house.

Deeper inside, the light was dim, and only a narrow passage, barely wide enough for a person to pass through, could be seen, stretching all the way towards the main castle.

Zieg's gaze sharpened.

Arrived.

Ravenna was the first to rush in, followed closely by the old hunter and two villagers who protected Lucy and Hill, but they all stopped and did not rush in rashly.

Only Valeria remained to hold the rear.

Instead of immediately turning around and retreating inside, she held her shield and pressed it against the outside of the opening, taking a little more of the hit for the people in front.

That's when the goblins that had been thrown off earlier started screaming and swarming back.

First, there was a sharp whistling sound that tore through the air from the right rear.

An arrow was aimed straight at her neck.

Almost at the same moment, an even lower wailing sound came along with the filth covering the ground.

Those were stone pellets thrown from the slingshot, flying low and stealthy, specifically targeting her chest when she raised her shield and shifted her stance.

The arrow's protective aura first deflected it.

The arrowhead grazed the outer edge of her shoulder armor and embedded itself in the decaying wood beside her, its tail feathers trembling wildly.

But the stone projectile was only slightly deflected by the magic, and still slammed hard into the shield she had raised.

A muffled thud.

Valeria's arm sank slightly, but she didn't take a single step back.

The fastest-charging goblin had already reached her, its dagger raised high, and it was still letting out an excited, distorted roar. It was clear that it wanted to take advantage of her taking the stone ball and drag her to her death outside the opening.

Valeria shifted half her body to the side as she raised her shield, and slashed out with her longsword.

The swordplay was completely devoid of any fancy moves.

The blade slashed diagonally into the goblin's shoulder and neck, causing it to stagger and splatter blood on the shield and the muddy ground, shattering its forward momentum.

The goblin, having swung the sling, twisted his wrist, attempting to launch a second stone projectile.

Before it could let go, an arrow pierced the darkness and went straight for its eye socket.

The green head jerked back suddenly, and the slingshot flew out of his hand.

Valeria then used the opportunity to turn around.

Zieg stood on the inside of the narrow passage, his yew longbow still in his hand, his steel sword stuck in the mud at his feet.

He didn't urge her, but stood there steadily, guarding her last escape route.

Behind Valeria, several of the most aggressive goblins had already leaped up, stepping over the corpses of their companions.

Zieg drew his bow again.

The bowstrings twanged, and arrows pierced the air one after another. The two goblins at the front fell at the same time, one with a hole in its face and the other with a pierced chest.

However, one of them rushed too close, and was only a few steps away from the narrow passage.

The longbow in Sieg's hand suddenly scattered into silvery dust.

The next moment, he had already pulled the steel sword from the ground and slashed at the goblin that was rushing towards him.

The two figures passed each other by.

Zig didn't stop, clearing the path behind him completely.

The goblin remained frozen in place.

The broken knife in its hand remained raised, and a thin line of blood first appeared on its neck. Then, its head slowly tilted along the cut and rolled down.

The body lay horizontally on the ground, blocking most of the narrow passage between the crumbling wall and the half-collapsed house.

Valeria protected Ravenna and led the way inside, while the others quickly followed them into the shadows.

Only when they finally found a wall behind them did the tension in their chests ease a little, but none of them dared to truly relax.

The howls of goblins outside were still drawing closer.

Sieg stayed behind, guarding the entrance with his sword drawn.

Any greenskin that dared to venture in were forced back by his sword the moment they showed themselves.

What's more jarring than the shouts is the road itself beneath our feet.

He fought his way here from the outside, and neither the scene he had seen through the poisonous vines nor the chaos during his advance had seen a single goblin charging towards him.

They would rather dart around the crumbling walls than step into this narrow passage.

Valeria had clearly thought of this as well.

She held her shield protectively beside Ravenna, her voice low: "Watch where you're going."

Ravenna had already crouched down.

She first touched the gravel covered by dirt, then reached out and brushed aside the rotten wood pieces clinging to the base of the wall.

Not long after, she raised her hand to stop him.

Between the two broken bricks, she gently picked out a taut thin rope with her fingertips. It was dark gray, almost blending into the mud. The other end disappeared into the shadow of the collapsed wall, vaguely connected to a wooden plank buried diagonally in the ground.

Ravenna bit the dagger, carefully cut the thin rope, and then used the tip of the knife to pry the wooden board in place before moving forward half a step.