I'm not a Witcher anymore.

"Valeria!"

Ravenna and Lucy grabbed Valeria's arms on either side and desperately dragged her backward.

"Hurry up!"

Ravenna gritted her teeth, her face tense.

She was small, and Valeria was wearing plate armor, so the drag pressed her down to the ground, but she held on tightly and wouldn't let go.

Lucy wasn't doing much better; her face was flushed, her forehead was covered in sweat, but her fingers still wouldn't loosen.

Valeria tried to stand up, but her shoulders, back, arms, and knees ached almost everywhere. Her chest felt tight and her breathing was painful.

She managed to sit up, but still couldn't stand steadily, and could only be half-dragged and half-supported by the two people as they backed away.

"I'm sorry... I..."

"Don't talk," Ravenna interrupted her. "Conserve your energy!"

Meanwhile, the goblin hero, with a heavily armor-piercing arrow deeply embedded in his right eye socket, was still standing.

Blood was flowing down the arrow shaft, mixed with murky eye fluid, dripping onto the stone ground.

If it were an ordinary goblin, this arrow would have shredded its brains, but it simply raised its head, its chest heaving violently, and a furious, almost distorted roar rolled out of its throat.

The sound boomed and shook the air throughout the entire corridor.

It raised its right hand, grabbed the thorny vines wrapped around its left arm, and pulled them outwards with a fierce tug.

hiss-

The vines were torn apart, sap splattering everywhere from the broken ends, and the shattered branches drooped helplessly.

Hill's face paled instantly. The backlash from the forced break of the spell struck her, causing her to groan and sway.

As the monster tore through the vines, Sieg drew his bowstring taut once more.

The arrow shot through the air, heading straight for the goblin hero's throat.

Having learned its lesson once, the monster reacted even faster this time, instinctively raising its left arm to block.

The armor-piercing arrow pierced its forearm, the arrowhead protruding from its flesh, causing its face to twitch in pain.

The next moment, it went completely berserk.

He kicked the broken giant stone pillar next to him.

With a muffled thud, the entire stone pillar was kicked and sent flying horizontally, like a giant crossbow bolt, shooting straight toward Zig.

The whistling sound as the stone pillars tore through the air was so loud it hurt your eardrums, and the strong wind blowing in your face alone was enough to make your chest feel tight.

Zieg's pupils contracted, and his body moved almost before his thoughts could even process them.

He decisively lunged to the side, rolling as he landed.

The stone pillar flew past him, almost grazing his back. The strong wind whipped up his clothes and hair, stinging his skin.

Immediately afterwards, the stone pillar crashed heavily against the stone wall of the corridor.

With a deafening roar, the entire wall exploded on the spot, scattering countless fragments of stone and sending up plumes of dust.

The corridor floor trembled violently, and stone chips and dust fell from the ceiling, instantly enveloping the entire area in a swirling cloud of gray mist.

Taking advantage of the swirling smoke and dust, Sieg took out "Prologue: Maripo Forest" from the Book of Adventures, uncorked it, and gulped it down.

The medicine was icy cold upon entering the mouth, but after falling into the throat, it suddenly exploded with a spicy and burning sensation, burning down the chest and into every part of the body.

My heart suddenly raced, and the chaotic roar and the sound of falling rocks that had been in my ears not only didn't fade away, but became clearer.

The direction of the billowing smoke and dust, the trajectory of the pebbles bouncing up and falling, the landing point where the goblin hero shattered the ground, and even the angle at which its single eye turned in the gray fog, were all forcibly pulled into Sieg's perception.

The surroundings did not slow down.

At that moment, he saw it clearly.

From the depths of the smoke and dust, the goblin hero charged forward once more.

It was blind in one eye, with an arrow still stuck in its left arm, and its face looked even more ferocious due to its rage.

The heavy footsteps pounded on the ground, making the gravel bounce.

It clearly had its sights set on Zieg, and even through the gray fog, it still charged straight towards the direction where he had landed.

Just as it crashed into the thickest part of the smoke and dust, the deadly poisonous vines that had been lying in the shadows of the rocky ground suddenly sprang up and wrapped around its calf.

The monster's center of gravity eventually shifted slightly.

It roared and bent down to grab, its right hand just managing to rip the vine off its leg when Zig moved first.

He didn't rush in to fight head-on, nor did he gamble on the monster being much slower in raising its hand.

He sheathed his longbow and drew his longsword with a backhand motion, which flashed with a cold light in the gray mist.

Zig stepped onto the rubble piled up from the collapsed wall, and leaped up, using the combined force of his forward momentum and the fall to cut diagonally downwards.

The sword did not aim for the back of the head, but instead precisely swept towards the seam where the back of the neck meets the shoulder.

With a soft "pfft," blood spurted out.

The sword cut very deep, causing the goblin hero's entire body to sink forward. He braced himself heavily with his right hand and slammed his knee down to avoid falling.

It was still alive, letting out a series of beast-like growls, its back muscles taut as it struggled to get up again.

After landing, Zieg immediately retreated during the gap created by the sword strike, taking several steps back with a quick thought. At the same time, he forcibly retrieved the poisonous vine that had almost been torn apart.

He knew very well that this monster was most dangerous at this time.

It's not quite dead, and its strength is far from exhausted. Anyone who tries to finish it off at this moment might be dragged down by it in its final moments.

So Zieg didn't give it that chance.

As the sword's momentum subsided, the yew longbow returned to his hand.

The monster was answered with yet another fully charged, armor-piercing arrow.

The arrow left the bowstring and pierced its side, embedding itself directly in its kidney. The goblin hero's face twitched, its body arched in pain, and its roar instantly changed tone.

The second arrow followed immediately.

The arrow pierced its right leg.

The monster, already kneeling due to the severe neck injury and blood loss, was now completely crippled. Its legs buckled, making it unable to stand and causing it to struggle on the ground, dragging its heavy body.

It still tried to lunge forward, wanting to grab people with its incredibly thick arms, but once the distance was increased, all its ferocity was in vain.

Its roar shook the dust off the ceiling of the corridor.

Sieg stood firmly where it couldn't reach, and continued to draw his bow.

One arrow after another.

Armor-piercing heavy arrows pierced the massive body one after another—chest, shoulder, abdomen… Each arrow aimed not at fancy techniques, but only at causing it to continue bleeding, to continue slowing down, and to continue getting closer to death.

Soon, the monster was covered in arrows, and from a distance, it really looked like a giant hedgehog covered in animal hide armor.

It continued to roar, its massive body struggling, and more and more blood flowed from beneath it, pooling along the stone ground into a large, dark pool of blood.

The initial ferocity and oppression that made one's scalp tingle was gradually worn down by the repeated loss of blood.

Zig waited until its movements slowed down noticeably, and even raising its right hand became sluggish before it moved.

He charged forward suddenly.

The goblin hero's large, bloody hand swept across, but this time it was far too slow.

Zig shifted his feet to avoid its paws, then darted past it, his body brushing against its shoulder, while simultaneously drawing two short swords from the Book of Adventure.

A flash of cold light passed by.

He didn't stop or look back; he simply swept past the monster's neck with his forward momentum.

The next moment, blood gushed from the goblin hero's throat.

Its entire face froze, its eyes wide open, as if it wanted to say something, but only a series of muffled, broken gurgling sounds came out of its throat.

It raised its hand, futilely trying to cover its neck, but the blood between its fingers just wouldn't stop.

Zig had stepped back, stood firm, and quietly watched it.

The monster swayed a couple more times, then finally couldn't hold on any longer.

Its massive body crashed onto the stone ground with a deafening roar, causing the ground to tremble.

Its limbs twitched for a moment, then it stopped moving.

The corridor fell completely silent.