Narrow Victory

Chapter 4 - Narrow Victory

[Firewood of Purple Beech]

A type of wood commonly found in the Night Forest. Oily. It can be used to make torches.

…

After wiping his hands, Zwei got the idea to use Collection on a nearby tree. Upon testing, he discovered that it actually worked.

Only, compared to collecting the goblin's corpse, which took only a few seconds, he spent several minutes collecting the tree. Moreover, the item he collected didn't seem very good.

"Why did such a huge tree yield only a 30 cm piece of firewood?" Zwei grumbled as he tossed the short piece of wood to the ground. He then continued down the beast path.

Along the way, he encountered several more goblins. Among them, there were even Level 2 Strong Goblins that wielded short, rusty knives.

Fortunately, the strong goblins here didn't seem to possess any noteworthy magic resistance. They fell after just five Magic Bullets.

In fact, because goblins didn't possess high intelligence, many a time, the strong goblins would run away after suffering four attacks from Zwei. It didn't matter even if they had already arrived in front of him. Upon suffering the fourth attack and falling into a heavily injured state, their instinctive fear of death would kick in. They would then ignore Zwei, who was clearly within arm's reach, and turn around to flee, only to have their lives ended by Zwei's finishing blow.

Unfortunately, Zwei didn't manage to collect anything good from these strong goblins. Thus far, the best item he got was something called Rusty Blade Fragment.

Based on the item description, it would seem that he could craft a good-quality weapon at the Smithy after collecting a certain number of the item.

As for where the Smithy was… Who would know where it was?

Sitting on a tree stump, Zwei ate the last piece of hardtack he had on him.

The texture of the hardtack resembled osmanthus cake, but the biscuit had no flavor at all. Even so, the hardtack not only helped Zwei quickly recover his stamina but also sped up his mana recovery. If not for its support, Zwei would've long since depleted his pitiful mana halfway through his journey.

However, since he had already eaten the last of his supplies, the next time he ran out of mana, he would have to return to camp.

After sitting for a while, Zwei sensed that he had mostly recovered. He stood up and did some light stretches before resuming his journey down the beast path.

However, as he continued advancing, he found that the sky above him was turning gloomy. Simultaneously, the forest gradually darkened.

After eliminating two more strong goblins and collecting a broken blade and underwear (tossed), Zwei considered giving up on his journey and returning.

However, all of a sudden, he noticed a faint light coming from nearby.

Is it a new camp? Or is it the Boss's location?

Some time ago, he discovered that the Exit option on his tattoo had grayed out and could not be selected. As such, he concluded that he could leave this dungeon only when he was in the camp.

Zwei reached into his bag and grabbed the Emergency Potion and Return Crystal. He then mustered his courage and walked toward the light source.

After moving closer, he discovered that the light came from a small bonfire. There was something roasting over the fire. However, two strong goblins flanked the bonfire, facing an elderly goblin. The old goblin had warts covering its face and wore a shabby robe several times larger than its body. It also held a magic staff that resembled a tree branch. Currently, the old goblin sat on a bamboo basket. It kept swinging its staff about while making strange howling noises. As for the two strong goblins, they sat meekly before the old goblin, like students listening to their teacher.

The sight looked very amusing.

However, Zwei couldn't find it within himself to laugh at all.

As someone incapable of moving while casting spells, he would already have difficulty facing two strong goblins simultaneously. Not to mention, there was also a goblin he suspected to be a spellcaster.

As one of the goblin race's crucial mutations, goblin spellcasters were monsters with a minimum hunting level of Level 3. According to the knowledge left by Zwei's predecessor, the strongest known goblin spellcaster had reached a whopping Level 9, only one level away from being categorized as a dangerous monster.

If that Level 9 goblin spellcaster improved, there was a chance it would become infected by the elements and mutate into a goblin subspecies. Many of the goblin subspecies were listed as dangerous monsters and possessed hunting levels of Level 10 or above. For Zwei's current self, such monsters were basically invincible existences!

Fortunately, the goblin spellcaster Zwei currently faced didn't seem that dangerous. From his inherited memories, his current opponent most likely became a spellcaster at a very old age. In other words, it belonged to the category of Level 3 Goblin Spellcasters.

Even so, with the support of two strong goblins, the goblin spellcaster would still pose a great threat to Zwei.

Just as Zwei was stressing out, he noticed something strange about the two strong goblins, whose backs faced him.

Hence, he sneaked around to behind the spellcaster. In the end, he discovered that the two strong goblins had actually fallen asleep amid the goblin spellcaster's nonsensical howling.

If Zwei still didn't know that this was his perfect opportunity to strike, he would be unworthy of being a transmigrator.

Hence, he decisively raised his hand and sent a Magic Bullet smashing squarely into the back of the goblin spellcaster's head.

The goblin spellcaster's howling transformed into a scream that startled the two strong goblins awake. They then grabbed their blades and rushed at Zwei with ferocious looks on their faces.

However, Zwei paid them no heed as he shot another Magic Bullet. This time, his attack smashed straight into the goblin spellcaster's face and even interrupted the spell the other party was chanting.

Since the strong goblins would soon arrive before him, Zwei started growing anxious.

Didn't they say goblin spellcasters had weak physiques and could be killed easily? Why isn't it dead even after eating two Magic Bullets to the head?

Despite his complaints, Zwei gritted his teeth and launched another Magic Bullet. When this Magic Bullet landed on the goblin spellcaster's head, however, the sound generated was different from the loud bangs from before. Instead, the sound resembled a watermelon bursting.

Unfortunately, Zwei did not have the leeway to verify the results of his third Magic Bullet. Like a lazy donkey, he threw himself to the ground and rolled away. In the end, he barely evaded the two strong goblins' assault, sustaining a half-inch-deep cut on his arm.

Initially, the wound only felt numb. However, throbbing and tingling sensations quickly followed. His mind even went blank for a moment from the pain.

This definitely wasn't a good situation.

What the pain brought wasn't simply an inconvenience in movement. The pain distracted him, which, in turn, prevented him from casting Magic Bullet!

After barely dodging another attack from his enemies, Zwei pulled out a fine glass bottle from the Temporary Pocket. This item was the Emergency Potion, and it held roughly a mouthful of green liquid.

Disregarding everything momentarily, Zwei downed the potion in one gulp. Immediately, he felt a refreshing feeling wash over his throbbing wound. The originally severe knife wound was actually mending at a speed visible to the naked eye!

After regaining his mobility, Zwei first looked toward the goblin spellcaster, only to discover the other party's green body collapsed on the ground, with a puddle of red and white viscous material before it. By the looks of it, the spellcaster should be dead already.

Although the two strong goblins still posed a problem, Zwei had nothing to fear. Using his previous hunting method, he kept his distance from them while peppering them with Magic Bullets.

Unfortunately, one of the strong goblins managed to escape after becoming heavily injured. Otherwise, it would've been a complete victory for Zwei.

Similar to before, when Zwei used Collection on the strong goblin he killed, all he got was a Rusty Blade Fragment. However, when he used the skill on the goblin spellcaster, he got something different: a red gemstone, roughly the size of his thumb. For some reason, though, he couldn't see its stats.

However, this wasn't the most important part. What was truly important was the bamboo basket the goblin spellcaster had been sitting on. Zwei suspected that the basket was most likely something commonly seen in RPG games—a treasure chest.