I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 121 Assault
Three goblins pounced at the same time. The paladin spun around and swung her sword. The silver blade, imbued with a light spell, slashed across the neck of the first goblin. Her gauntlets shattered the sternum of the second unfortunate goblin. The third goblin was kicked into a sharp rock on the cliff wall, the crisp sound of his spine breaking drowned out by the noise.

The foul-smelling blood slid down in mid-air. With the help of the boomerang paladin's spin, the blazing greatsword cleaved a goblin who was trying to ambush it in two. Despite suffering such a terrible blow, it was still alive. The strong creature let out a meaningless howl, and soon its eyes went glazed over, and it could no longer make a sound.

But the goblins, roused by the spell, were not as cowardly as usual. The tragic death of their companions did not awaken any fear in them, but only made them feel even angrier.

These small green monsters, known locally as goblins, emitted shrill laughs and curses, trying to distract the paladin. They emerged from the crevices of the rocks and swung down from the stalactites, their dirty spears and poisoned daggers gleaming in the shadows.

Some goblins hid further away, trying to aim their crude arrows at the gaps in her silver armor's joints, the rotting liquid smeared on the arrowheads emitting a pungent stench.

The paladin neither dodged nor evaded, but swiftly dismembered the enemy before her. Blood could not slow her attack, and the goblins were fearless, launching wave after wave of attacks over the slippery blood and entrails of their companions.

Bottles of kerosene and arrows rained down from above, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. Flames erupted from the paladin's body, and the intense heat from the flames caused him to clench his teeth beneath his armor, the arcane glow quickly fading away.

The silver armor gleamed coldly in the remaining firelight on the ground, but the stubborn paladin refused to retreat. She wielded her greatsword in the tunnel like a forgotten idol, her heavy breathing echoing inside her helmet. The stench of rust, sweat, and blood made her dizzy, but Deva still stood there stubbornly, cutting all the invading enemies in two.

The spell that drives these goblins mad is Berserk. This spell is similar to the Barbarian's Berserk, except that it only increases their strength and constitution by 2 points, and it also puts them into a frenzied state where their morale skyrockets, causing them to fight to the death, exchanging blows for blows.

This is a huge improvement for the cowardly goblin race, but in Deva's memory, this spell shouldn't be one that goblin shamans can learn. Orc or barbarian shamans, on the other hand, have a high probability of learning it.

After all, being able to cast third-circle spells means being a level 5 professional. Becoming a shaman among goblins is an extremely rare occurrence, with only one in ten thousand being able to achieve it. Reaching level 5 in the relatively weak goblin race is practically an impossible task.

But she actually encountered this bizarre thing!

And these goblins even have their own special bottles of kerosene?!
Seeing the glass bottles being thrown at her again, Deva finally took two steps back. She casually threw her priceless sword, piercing through the few remaining goblin bears. Deva took out a simple leather-covered wooden shield from her spatial bag and smashed the bottles. Before the oil inside could ignite, she pulled out a glass bottle containing a pale yellow liquid with her right hand and smashed it directly at the feet of the goblins.

The moment Deva took out the glass bottle, a goblin who had lived for several years instantly sensed something was wrong. Fear instantly overwhelmed its mind, and it let out a piercing howl: "Watch out, blazing glue!"

However, some goblins didn't hear a scream at all in the midst of the noisy battlefield, and those who did hear it looked at the bottle that had already been thrown to the ground and were almost in despair.

They have nowhere to escape.

"Boom!"

The deafening explosion echoed through the tunnel. The liquid explosives made by the alchemist would detonate like detonators as soon as they were thrown, and the spilled oil caused the already powerful explosion to ignite, sending thick smoke billowing out.

The goblins, who had been severely injured by the explosion, let out mournful cries amidst the burning oil. Even the paladin coughed from the fumes. She stepped back a few paces, took out her holy symbol, and soon a transparent shield enveloped her.

The second-circle spell delays the onset of poison and also has a certain mitigation effect on gases like smoke. The poison will only take effect after the spell wears off. The explosions and burning oil temporarily slowed the goblins' attack, but the arrows and random projectiles continued unabated. Deva glanced at her wooden shield with some heartache and took a slight step back.

This was the training shield she used during her three years of apprenticeship at the church. It had no special effects; it was just a piece of leather covered with some sword marks from sparring.

For her, this ordinary wooden shield was more like a fond memory of the past, and she would almost never use it in actual combat.

But she clearly didn't have enough shields prepared. After her most comfortable mithril shield fell, she didn't have time to pick it up and had to use this one.

Seeing the flame barrier caused by the Blazing Glue, Deva first used Healing Touch on herself to heal her burned skin, then took out her light crossbow to snipe, thinking that she should prepare more Blazing Glue next time.

Blazing Glue is a simple and easy-to-use alchemy item. It is a cheap area-of-effect damage item that is most easily obtained by low-level adventurers, and its price is around 15-20 gold.

However, there are quite a few adventurers with magical knowledge in Harua, and many of them would buy Flame Hand, which has a larger range and higher damage. As a paladin, she would normally not carry such a thing, but fortunately, that reliable guy gave her a bottle, giving her a precious chance to catch her breath, as she was already somewhat exhausted.

"DuPont, how are things going over there?"

The only response she received was the deafening explosion.

Is that the sound of a fireball spell?
The Fireball scroll was quite valuable, and for DuPont, who jokingly called himself poor, to use it meant the situation must be truly dire. Just as she was about to go and provide support, she heard DuPont's voice in her mind.

"How are you doing over there?"

"Fortunately, I've temporarily suppressed their attack. There are probably more than 30 left, which is quite a few more than the intelligence indicated," Deva replied quickly. "What about you?"

“There were four trolls in total. I killed two, one escaped, and the other is still fighting me, but it's not a big problem.” DuPont’s voice was unusually calm: “I just felt a sudden burst of arcane energy inside. Is there a spellcaster inside?”

"It must be a goblin shaman, he even knows Lightning Bolt." Dava gritted her teeth as she mentioned this, then blew a goblin she was exchanging fire with in the head: "What incredibly bad luck! The tavern owner who sent you this should have his wages docked!"

"A goblin shaman who can cast lightning bolts? That's really outrageous." DuPont paused for a few seconds. "I'll take care of this right away. You stay here and distract them. I'll go over there right away and see if I can find that shaman. His head should be worth a lot of money."

"Ah."

(End of this chapter)