The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

Before he finished speaking, a second arrow flew from the darkness.

The guard who shouted "Enemy attack!" had barely opened his mouth when an arrow pierced his throat.

He clutched his neck with both hands, making a gurgling sound, and lurched forward, plunging into the fire.

Flames shot up, and the stench of burning flesh mixed with the smell of blood filled the air.

"Damn! That jinx!"

Seeing the two people who were just laughing and talking suddenly die before his eyes, Lorraine felt a chill run down her spine.

The attack happened so suddenly that he had no time to react. What if those two arrows had been aimed at him instead of them...

Lorraine didn't think she could possibly escape them.

In his previous life, he was just an ordinary, law-abiding person who rarely even argued with anyone in his twenty-plus years of life. The most intense fight he had ever experienced was losing half a tooth. He had never seen anything like this before.

But he knew this wasn't the time to be dazed, so he grabbed Piper's vest and tried to drag him behind the wheel.

As it turned out, Lorraine discovered that this short man, though seemingly agile, was actually incredibly heavy; she couldn't even budge him. She could only roll away and hide behind the cart, shouting:

"Watch out! Hide!"

Piper quickly ran to his side, shrinking behind the wheel, which was taller than his head and completely blocked his view.

Lorraine slung the broken sword off his back and held it in his hand, only to realize that he was so nervous that he had forgotten to draw the scabbard.

He drew his sword, and although it wasn't some kind of divine weapon, it made him feel somewhat at ease.

After calming down, he finally had time to observe his surroundings and found that the guards and Soren and the others had quickly dispersed and found places to hide.

"In the woods!" someone shouted. "In the woods!"

"See what?"

"It's too dark; they're probably all behind the trees."

Sauron swiftly drew his bow and fired an arrow back in the direction from which it had come. The arrow disappeared into the darkness without making a sound.

The sound of a bowstring plucked rang out again, and he quickly pulled back, shouting, "Raise your shields!"

There were at least ten this time. Lorraine heard the sound of arrow shafts piercing the air and instinctively lowered his head.

An arrow grazed his ear and embedded itself in the wheel, the arrowhead piercing the wood and protruding half an inch.

"hiss--"

Lorraine's earlobe was scraped raw and bloody. He gasped in pain, but thankfully, an examination revealed it was just a scratch.

One coachman hiding under the carriage wasn't so lucky; he was too big to squeeze under the carriage, and his shield couldn't cover his entire body.

The exposed calf was hit by an arrow, and the man screamed, rolling around clutching his leg, before being shot dead on the spot by a subsequent arrow.

The crowd felt sorry for him as they watched his miserable state, and could only desperately huddle behind the car, praying that the arrows would not hit them.

The arrows stopped.

After a brief silence, Lorraine cautiously peeked out halfway, staring in the direction of the woods.

One by one, dark figures emerged from behind the tree trunks, short in stature, with hunched backs, two pointed ears, and greenish-brown skin that gleamed oily in the firelight.

They held rough, short bows in their hands, bone knives at their waists, and jagged, yellow teeth were visible in their split mouths.

Lorraine couldn't be more familiar with this image; they've appeared in countless games and movies—they're a bunch of goblins!

"Goblins, goblins!"

Someone cried out in terror.

A low growl came from the woods, and all the goblins simultaneously dropped their bows, drew their bone knives, and charged toward the camp.

Lorraine drew his sword and was about to stand up to prepare to engage the enemy when he noticed that the halfling next to him had drawn a long hammer from behind.

His eyes were fixed on the charging goblin, and his breathing became heavy and labored.

"Pipe?"

Piper took a deep breath and suddenly roared, "Fuck you green-skinned bastards!! I'll smash your dog heads (dwarven language)!!!"

Lorraine blinked, wondering if she had misheard.

Piper quickly jumped over the car, his short legs moving fast, dragging the long hammer across the ground and plowing a furrow.

Before the oncoming goblin could react, he swung his hammer and swept it away. The two collided and rolled into a heap.

"Come on!" Piper slammed his hammer down, and a goblin's head exploded like a rotten watermelon.

He grinned, a smile that looked utterly ferocious in the firelight.

"Hahahaha! That's awesome!!!"

"Is he really not a dwarf...?" The thought flashed through Lorraine's mind.

But there was no time for lamenting.

The goblins bypassed Piper and poured into the camp from all directions.

Lorraine gripped the hilt of his sword, sidestepped a goblin that lunged at him from the wagon, and slashed it across the neck.

The broken sword failed to sever its cervical vertebrae, but it did send it flying sideways, crashing into a wheel. It twitched twice and then lay still.

[First Enemy Kill - Goblin]

[Reward: 50 Exploration Experience Points]

Current balance: 91 exploration experience points

It seems...to be quite simple?

Lorraine stared at the convulsing corpse. Black blood gushed from the goblin's cleaved neck, and its lifeless eyes stared at him blankly.

He swallowed hard, forcing himself to look away.

It's either you die or I die; only the survivors have the right to be dramatic.

He kicked down another charging goblin, plunged the tip of his sword into its belly, and pulled it out, the warm liquid splashing onto his hand.

Lorraine discovered that these things were not difficult to deal with. As long as they didn't surround him, an ordinary person could take them down one-on-one with a pitchfork.

He fought while retreating, taking the opportunity to observe the situation in the camp.

The guards fought individually; some were surrounded by goblins and fell screaming. The coachmen cowered under the carriage, poking around with sticks. Sauron and the two adventurers, back to back, hacked down goblins one after another.

But there were just too many goblins. After killing ten, another twenty rushed out of the forest.

Not right.

Goblins are known for bullying the weak and fearing the strong, yet there are at least twenty corpses lying around the camp, and they are still charging forward, seemingly unaware of fear.

"Watch out, I have a bad feeling about this!" Lorraine frowned and warned loudly.

Sauron killed a goblin that was trying to ambush him, spat on the ground, and heard Lorraine's words and sensed something was wrong.

But how come this kid is so good at fighting? I thought he was just a novice. I was so wrong about him...

But where did all these goblins come from?

He glanced at the resisting crowd with a flickering look in his eyes, rubbed his fingers on the hilt of his sword, and waved to his companion beside him.

The group huddled together furtively and retreated to a spot where there were fewer goblins.

"Withdraw!" Soren whispered.

One of his men had been waiting for these words for a long time. He couldn't wait to climb over the truck and rush into the woods.

Soren looked at him with a grim expression, muttered a curse under his breath, and jumped into the car, trying to escape in the chaos.

But he froze on the spot, his angry expression stiffening, before letting out a trembling, terrified scream:

"Big... hobgoblin!!!"