Goblins of all sizes lay scattered on the ground, shuriken or kunai sticking out of their bodies.
All dead!
Just a few blinks of an eye ago, why were they all dead, with only it left alive?
Goblins are fierce and cunning, but they are not fearless of death.
Especially mid-tier species like the Goblin Shaman, whose intelligence already far surpasses that of ordinary Goblins, they understand the horror of death even more.
"Goo… Guchi—!"
The Goblin Shaman's dull yellow beast eyes contracted violently, and without any hesitation, it turned its head and fled in panic and fear.
"Oh~ so Goblins can feel fear too?"
"But did I let you go?!"
Naruto grabbed a shuriken from the ninja tool pouch on his left leg, channeled strength into his arm, flicked his wrist, and threw it out forcefully.
"Swish"
Three shuriken spun at high speed, striking the Goblin Shaman's back. The immense force contained within them carried it down, making it roll several times on the ground.
Soon, crimson blood soaked its tattered vest.
The Goblin Shaman endured the pain silently, closing its eyes and pretending to be dead.
But, is pretending to be dead useful?
Naruto had a habit of finishing off his opponents.
Moreover, he even had a Shadow Clone go up to finish it off, so even if it pretended to be dead and ambushed, it would still be useless.
"Pfft!"
A Shadow Clone, holding a kunai, pierced the Goblin Shaman's throat.
"It's… it's Dalia!"
"Naruto, it's Dalia and them!"
The Sword Saintess covered her mouth, gasped, her pupils shaking violently, her face filled with disbelief and fear.
After several Goblins were killed by the Shadow Clone, the Sword Saintess finally saw what they had surrounded.
A scantily clad human woman!
Dalia's head was tilted, her short hair disheveled, her eyes wide and dull, her originally fair and delicate body covered with countless bloodstains, bruises, and marks of desecration.
As for Ryder, there wasn't even a complete corpse left.
The witch patted the Sword Saintess's trembling shoulder, her face also pale, but her emotions were more stable than the Sword Saintess's.
After all, the dead adventurers were once the Sword Saintess's teammates.
Thinking a bit more, if Naruto hadn't persuaded her to leave the Kane Adventurer Squad, would her fate have been the same as Dalia's?
The Sword Saintess knelt down, placing her hands flat above Dalia's chest, preparing to cast a healing miracle.
"The dead cannot be resurrected."
"Even the supreme god cannot bring her back to life."
The witch said in a low voice.
The Sword Saintess clasped her hands tightly over her mouth, her delicate shoulders trembling violently.
"Alicia, are you alright?"
"This adventure isn't over yet; there are more and stronger Goblins deeper inside."
"Why don't you two go back first?"
Saying that, Naruto prepared to summon a few more Shadow Clones to escort them away.
"No need, I'm fine!"
The Sword Saintess stood up, having already adjusted her mindset. Although tears still hung in her bright eyes, her expression was as firm as iron.
"That's good, let's keep going."
"Let's take a look at the 'King' of this Goblin nest!"
Deep within the cave, a spacious stone chamber.
The returning Goblin Hero casually threw Kane's headless body aside, letting other ordinary Goblins dismantle his equipment and dismember the corpse.
The Goblin Hero, meanwhile, carried its trophy—a head—and stepped onto the hill of corpses, seating itself on a massive stone chair.
Before its butt even warmed the seat, a chanting sound faintly echoed from the dark, cavernous passage:
"O judge of judgment, lord of the sword, wielder of the scales, condense lightning into a spear, pierce the throat of sin—Judgement Spear!"
In an instant.
In the dark cave, a blazing blue light spot illuminated.
The light spot arrived in an instant, a lightning spear flickering with electric arcs, carrying scorching heat and high temperature, tearing through the sky and shooting towards the Goblin Hero sitting on the stone chair.
"!!"
A death crisis erupted, but the reason a Goblin Hero is a Goblin Hero is because they are all battle-hardened and rich in combat experience.
The Goblin Hero lifted Kane's severed head and threw it, simultaneously lunging off the stone chair to the side.
"Crack!"
The Judgement Spear and the head collided, immediately exploding in mid-air, accompanied by a sharp crackling sound, as electric arcs burst, forming a bright blue thunderball.
As for Kane's head, it was naturally split into pieces, charred and smoking.
The Goblin Hero, lying on the ground, looked terrified.
"The power is considerable, but unfortunately, the chanting time is too long."
A voice came from the cave.
A sunny youth with short golden hair and an orange jacket walked into the stone chamber with a normal expression.
"Human—brat—?!"
The Goblin Hero was clearly stunned when it saw Naruto.
It thought some tough character had arrived.
But in the end… it was just a human youth.
Looking at the rank on the tag around his neck—Bronze-level?
It had just effortlessly slain a Bronze-level adventurer, who, by the sound of it, was close to advancing to Silver Rank.
What's a mere Bronze-level?!
The Goblin Hero, with its wide mouth and tusks, grinned sinisterly: "Human brat, I hope you can do your best to please me…"
Before it finished speaking.
More than a dozen shuriken transformed into spinning black blurs, assaulting the Goblin Hero like a furious storm.
"Roar—!"
The Goblin Hero roared in pain, grabbing its zanbato and standing up, its muscular body riddled with shuriken, bleeding profusely.
After all, it wasn't a high-tier species like a Troll; it didn't have self-healing abilities. Although a dozen shuriken couldn't kill it, they were enough to give the Goblin Hero a hard time.
Moreover, the Goblin Hero was equipped with somewhat crude armor.
But the shuriken seemed to have eyes, avoiding the armor and striking the exposed skin.
After throwing the shuriken from their ninja tool pouches, three Shadow Clones simultaneously drew their kunai, constantly crisscrossing their positions—one to the left, one to the right, and one in the middle—as they charged towards the Goblin Hero.
"Human brat! Die—!!"
The Goblin Hero let out a deafening roar, swinging its zanbato with formidable power, the gusting wind creating a powerful sense of oppression.
There was no doubt that the terrifying power contained in the zanbato was something even a Silver Rank warrior would not dare to easily confront.
Although Naruto had increased his [Strength] attribute, compared to the Goblin Hero, he was naturally far inferior and could not directly confront it.
Two Shadow Clones spread out to the sides, while the middle Shadow Clone leaped up.
"Die!"
Seeing this, the Goblin Hero's arm muscles bulged, and the explosive brute force actually managed to change the trajectory of the zanbato, sweeping it upwards from below, directly striking that Shadow Clone.
With a "poof" sound.
The Shadow Clone exploded into a cloud of white mist and vanished.
"Wh-…what?"
The Goblin Hero was stunned.
There was no blood and gore, no "guts spilled," no body split in half; the opponent just… disappeared?
However.
Combat changes in an instant. One Shadow Clone closed in, its hand gripping a kunai, which it viciously plunged into the Goblin Hero's thigh.
"Roar! You seek death—!"
The Goblin Hero suddenly reached out, grabbing the Shadow Clone's neck, opening its fanged mouth wide, and viciously biting down.
"Poof"
It bit empty air.
The last Shadow Clone, taking advantage of this gap, had already circled behind, jumped onto the Goblin Hero's back, grasped a kunai with both hands, and plunged it down forcefully.
"Ahhh…!"
"You hateful human brat, why do you jump and scurry around like an insect."
"But do you think a tiny 'dagger' can kill me?"
The Goblin Hero roared, reaching both hands backward, grabbing nothing but air, only able to rage in impotent fury.
But as it said, the size of the kunai could not deliver a fatal blow.
The Goblin Hero's massive physique meant that the thickness of its neck alone was comparable to an adult's thigh!
Even if it were a ninja sword, piercing the Goblin Hero's neck would not instantly kill it.
However…
Naruto's kunai had explosive tags attached to them.
Naruto's lips curved upwards as he formed a hand seal and chanted lowly:
"Explode!"