This Hero Saves Tael!

Erana and I slowly descended to the bottom of the cave. We had to assume that Kany had gone ahead of us since we can no longer detect her. As we moved, the interior of the room was revealed. The best way to describe it is large and circular. The roof is shaped like a dome. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, slowly dripping water onto the floor.

Smoke has formed a pocket on top of the room. The excess smoke has been pushed into the pathways on all sides. In the center of the room, three goblins are standing around a fire. Each of them are watching a stick that is slowly spinning above the flame. On the stick, I can see my traveling companion Tael. Fortunately, he is not naked and is instead in a thin white shirt and boxers.

Oh, he also seems like he's alright. That's important too.

As we quietly entered the room, Tael's eyes bulged as he spotted us.

"KENJI!!! MY VIRGIN BROTHER! YOU CAME TO SAVE ME! I KNEW YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME BEHIND! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. His voice kept echoing around the room as he continued to spin.

"Grahg?" One of the goblins turned around quickly to look at what Tael had just shouted at.

After the first one, the other two goblins began to look towards us as well.

"Virgin brother?" Erana repeated. I could feel her leering at me.

I slowly nodded. "It's uh... A long story. You'd get bored."

"Gruuuu…" One of the goblins grumbled as it went over to grab its weapon.

Suddenly, Kany reappeared directly beside the goblin and stabbed it in the neck. It's crimson blood began to seep onto the stone floor.

"Gruh!" The goblin yelped. It fell limply to the ground moments later.

It took only this instant for the goblins to change from confidence to cowardice. They noticed that they were outnumbered, so they began to look towards the exits.

From what I can tell, goblins are cowardly. If they ever think they have a disadvantage, then they will attempt to flee instead of fight. We can use this to our advantage if we're smart.

I stepped forward and brandished my sword. "Let's go! Kany, on me!"

"Got it, Onii-san!" She ran towards me.

"SOMEONE GET ME DOWN FROM HERE! IT'S HOT!" Tael shouted as he continued to spin.

Kany and I got within close proximity of one another as we faced down the two remaining goblins. Erana brought up the rear to provide support.

Wow, this is cool! It's like we're a team or something!

"Greee…" One of the remaining goblins whimpered.

Suddenly, the other goblin turned around and began to run away.

"H-Hey, get back here!" Kany yelled out to the retreating goblin. She ran towards it only to be blocked by the goblin that stayed behind.

"Gruh!" The goblin shouted. This goblin is brandishing a shortsword. Thanks to Kany's preferred weapon length, she is at a disadvantage when it comes to range.

"Kany, I'll handle this one." I stepped forward. "Forget about that one. Help Tael get down."

She looked at the retreating goblin before she relaxed. "Fine. You get this one, Onii-san. Erana, help me with this!"

"Roger that!" Erana jogged forward.

I began to crouch low as I faced off against the goblin in front of me. Unlike before, this is a direct one on one battle. My range advantage should provide me with the win, but I still need to be careful. If this thing is more skilled than it looks, then I could be in trouble.

"Graaaaah!" The goblin shouted as it charged at me.

I began to sidestep the attack before I had a bad feeling. Something about how this goblin is charging me is different from the others. It's... slow.

Instead of acting how I had before, I instead swiped my sword from right to left.

"Greh!" The goblin shouted out as it jumped back. My worries were correct. This goblin wasn't running as fast as it could at me. It knew I would try to dodge, so it was waiting for me to lose my balance before it would attack.

It seemed like this goblin knew how to fight a bit better than the ones I had encountered before. This could be a problem.

What do I do? What advantage do I have over this goblin other than reach?

I recalled the words of a certain birdbrain I had met recently.

"Your strength stat is rather high for a level zero…" The voice echoed in my mind.

If I can physically overpower this goblin, then I can win. Let's do this.

I began to walk towards the wary goblin. It brandished its sword in a defensive manner as I shuffled my feet. This is an all or nothing gamble.

When I determined that I was close enough, I raised my sword upwards and brought it down with my full strength.

"Greh!" The goblin yelped in surprise. It seems like it didn't expect me to resort to brute force.

The loud sound of metal clashing against metal echoed throughout the cave.

"G-Grah…" The goblin whimpered. Though it had blocked my attack, it wasn't able to block it entirely. My sword was firmly lodged in its collarbone.

Before it could retaliate, I kicked the goblin in the stomach. My attack sent it flying away from me as my sword was freed.

"Ahg…" The goblin whimpered on the ground.

I rushed over to the goblin and delivered the finishing blow. Its crimson blood slowly seeped onto the floor.