The Lost Artifact 1/3

The girl distracted the rat, giving Kaelen an opportunity to strike. He darted forward and plunged his sword into the creature. It shrieked, but Kaelen didn't stop his attack. Pulling out his sword, he struck again and again, continuing his assault until the rat lay motionless on the ground.

Kaelen panted heavily. It was his first time fighting a monster, and for a moment, he forgot that this was just a video game.

"I'm already struggling against a rat. And I'm supposed to go to a cave full of goblins?" he said, feeling overwhelmed.

At first, he hadn't thought much of it since goblins were low-level monsters in almost every game. But after his encounter with the ratling, it became clear that things wouldn't be as easy as he had anticipated.

The issue was his lack of fighting skills. He was just a high-school student who had never fought before, and he didn't have any skills at the moment.

A calm voice rang in his ears. "Thank you for helping me."

Now that they weren't in any danger, Kaelen took his time to size up the girl's appearance.

She was a stunning young woman with otherworldly beauty, her hair cascading down her back in soft, pure white waves. The dark mage hat framing her serene and straight face provided a stark contrast against her hair. Her eyes were a piercing shade of green and held a curious mix of innocence and experience that entranced those who met her gaze.

"It's alright. I'm happy to help," Kaelen replied.

"I'm Lunar Witch," she said with a straight face.

Kaelen felt awkward when she introduced herself using her in-game username. If he had a username like 'Dragon Monarch,' he would have found it embarrassing to introduce himself that way.

But since she wanted to use her in-game name, he would do the same. "My name is Crimson Blade."

"You got hurt because of me, so take this as compensation." In her hand was a test tube filled with red liquid.

After years of playing video games, Kaelen was a veteran player. At a glance, he could guess what it was, but he couldn't be sure. "Is that a health potion?"

Lunar Witch nodded. "I bought some for a gold coin each before going out of the village to explore."

"Where did you buy it from?" he asked. If he had known about it, he would have bought them before going straight towards the cave entrance. Luckily, he had encountered her, or he would have been in trouble without a health potion.

"The merchant is in a hidden spot. I managed to meet him by pure luck. Come with me, and I'll take you there to repay you for helping me earlier."

They returned to the village, and Lunar Witch led Kaelen to the health potion seller.

Upon arrival, he realized why he had failed to spot the merchant earlier. The guy was sitting in a secluded area.

Grateful to Lunar Witch for showing him the hidden spot, Kaelen invited her to join his party so that she could do the quest with him and get rewards.

Hiding behind a bush with his new party member, Kaelen whispered, "There are two of them. When I give the signal, we'll dart towards them. I'll take care of the left one, while you buy time against the other one. How does that sound?"

"Great," Lunar Witch replied, locking her eyes on her target.

In front of them were two goblins guarding the cave entrance. Sneaking up on them was not possible since they were backed by the mountain. So attacking from the front was the only viable strategy.

A small stone flew out of nowhere and landed with a thud at their feet. Startled, the goblins jumped back in surprise.

"Now!"

Both of them leaped out of the bush and attacked their targets.

Although Kaelen only had 6 points in dexterity, he wasn't as slow as Lunar Witch, who was a mage. Thus, he was able to take the goblin off guard and make a deep cut on its chest.

*Graaaah!*

Angry that it almost died at the hands of a puny human, the goblin charged at Kaelen. The club in its hand raised, ready to crush its enemy.

"F***!" With his experience with the rat monster earlier, he knew that the pain was real. So if he died, Kaelen didn't even dare to imagine the pain. But because of his fear, he stood there gazing at the charging goblin, losing a few seconds.

Now, it wasn't possible to dodge the attack anymore. The goblin was too close to him.

As the giant club came closer to his face, Kaelen could only try to use the flat side of his sword to absorb the shock. The physical strength of the goblin was much higher than him, sending the young boy flying backward and landing on the ground.

"Crimson Blade, hurry up!" Lunar Witch shouted.

Compared to him, she was doing way worse. As a mage, her stats were mainly on intelligence. She couldn't fight on par with a goblin in terms of physical strength. Besides, her small wooden staff stood no chance against the giant club.

After using her staff to defend herself so many times, it was already at the point of being shattered as she could see the cracks on it.

Kaelen opened the bottle cap of his health potion and guzzled the red liquid. His wounds started to visibly heal before his eyes.

"Hold the other goblin a bit longer. I'll come to help soon," Kaelen said, grabbing his sword and glaring at the goblin that knocked him down. "I'll take care of that motherf*cker first."

Without hesitation, Kaelen threw his sword at the goblin's head, catching it off guard and causing it to flinch. He rushed forward, kicked the goblin's legs out from under it, and sent it crashing to the ground.

With the goblin stunned, Kaelen quickly retrieved his sword and prepared to strike the finishing blow. But the goblin recovered quickly and sprang back to its feet, snarling and swinging its weapon wildly.

Kaelen was now in close-range combat, but he was ready. He parried the goblin's attacks with his sword, deflecting its blows and searching for an opening. Finally, he saw his chance and lunged forward, thrusting his sword through the goblin's chest.

The goblin let out a final, agonized cry before falling to the ground, lifeless.

Meanwhile, Lunar Witch's hands trembled not from fear, but from the soreness of enduring numerous blows from the giant club. She had already consumed two health potions; without them, she would have perished.

*Thwack*

The sound of the club colliding with her wooden staff echoed through the air. This time, she could not hold on. Her staff flew out of her hands, and she collapsed to the ground with the goblin standing before her, poised to deliver the finishing blow.

But before the club could fall on her, a sword sliced through the air and decapitated the goblin.

"Good job buying us time," Kaelen said, addressing Lunar Witch with a nod of his head.