At this moment, the battle in another location was already on the verge of collapse.
Although four goblin corpses lay sprawled on the ground, Bell—the main force—was also lying there, continuously emitting painful wails.
His right Achilles tendon was mangled, looking as if a large hole had been gouged out alive.
Panting heavily, Mia anxiously looked toward Bell’s direction.
When she saw two goblins sneaking up beside Bell, her face turned pale. She tried to move closer to Bell to stop the goblins from attacking him.
But blocking her path was a goblin far larger and bulkier than the others. Unlike its kin who resembled human children in size, it stood two meters tall with muscular limbs and thick bones. Its fierce face, adorned with sharp fangs, exuded an overwhelming sense of oppression.
It wielded a black iron machete, crude in craftsmanship but with a broad blade. Besides that, it wore an ill-fitting set of leather armor.
If other goblins were mere trash mobs, this one was undoubtedly an elite commanding them.
With a larger size, stronger muscles, and superior equipment, it held a clear advantage when facing low-tier adventurers head-on.
In desperation, Mia had only enough time to cross her twin blades in front of her to block the sudden attack.
The weapons clashed, and sparks briefly flashed in the dark night.
Mia was then blasted backward by a tremendous force.
Gauss saw everything and a flicker of urgency flashed through his eyes.
Mia, who wielded two daggers, was clearly developing toward agile, stealthy classes like Ranger or Rogue.
Moreover, her small physique made it natural for her to be at a disadvantage when confronting this large goblin with just daggers versus a long blade.
And, because she was too focused on saving others, her mind was thrown into chaos.
"Damn it! The mission description clearly said they were all ordinary goblins!" Gauss cursed inwardly.
According to his memory, among the vast number of goblins in this world, elite individuals with professions could emerge—such as big goblins, goblin shamans, two-headed goblins, and so on. These elites were rare compared to normal goblins.
That goblin, which seemed like a captain figure, might have deliberately hidden in the deep night or only appeared from the cave after the battle broke out. Either way, Gauss had not noticed its presence before.
But now it was undoubtedly a special individual evolving toward the big goblin archetype.
Its strength was still far from a true big goblin but already far surpassed its smaller kin!
For true professionals, this might still be a fairly ordinary monster, and killing it might be no more difficult than killing an ordinary goblin.
But for low-level adventurers who had yet to enter the professional realm, this was a terrifying existence capable of wiping out the entire team.
Goblin troops led by a strong individual possessed a stronger fighting will. It was no wonder that although four goblins had already been lost, the remaining goblins still focused their efforts on their respective enemies.
Three goblins had the three villagers pinned down.
Two other goblins circled around Bell like sinister snakes, waiting to launch a deadly kiss.
The core big goblin suppressed Mia, the only one still retaining some combat ability.
But visibly, there was a clear power gap between them.
Mia’s endurance until now might not even rely on her strength but simply because she was a human female—and the big goblin wanted to capture her intact.
Gauss observed all this and his mind began to race again.
Mia and the villagers were restrained by their opponents, and Bell was already injured and out of the fight.
The two goblins circling Bell were clearly very sinister. Bell swung his longsword in pain, but tortured by the pain, he had lost his composure and was only wasting his remaining strength.
Once he was exhausted, the two goblins would pounce and finish him off.
The battle would completely tilt in the goblins’ favor.
Gauss struggled to stand up from the ground.
If this battle was lost, neither he nor Hayley would survive.
But just as he stood, dizziness overwhelmed him, like a hypoglycemic attack, and the world began to spin.
Many people might have experienced this: once you start a long-distance running plan, you can’t stop halfway, because if you do, restarting will burden your body with multiple times the previous weight and fatigue.
Gauss’s recent fight had consumed far more stamina than a long run, so his condition was even worse.
He also discovered a drawback of the ultra-low version of bullet-time he had entered just now. Although his reaction and combat ability were greatly enhanced, his body couldn’t keep up with the overclocked brain. This state caused enormous physical consumption and damage, yet during the fight, he was unaware of it.
At this moment, his thighs felt as heavy as if filled with lead. Every movement was accompanied by aching soreness and stabbing pain all over. Tiny wounds rubbing against his cloth armor made him continuously suffer.
His condition was much worse than expected.
He felt every muscle in his body was no longer his own. Standing still, his calf muscles trembled nonstop, as if trying to convince him not to push himself and to lie down and rest.
Mia, who had been blasted away, got up and saw Gauss barely able to stand.
Her last shred of hope shattered.
She was also nearing her limits. Multiple uses of the Thrust skill had caused muscle strains in her calves and arms.
The burly goblin gave her no time to breathe, quickly closing in and swinging its long blade repeatedly.
Each strike made Mia’s tightly gripped daggers tremble more violently in defense.
Gauss took a deep breath.
Everyone seemed to have been pushed to the edge of a cliff; the death line was about to arrive.
But this was not an utterly hopeless situation!
There was still hope.
Enduring the excruciating pain, he looked toward Hayley, who was also weakened on the tree trunk.
All of them were like grasshoppers on the same thread. They had to give their all.
He pointed toward the two goblins feinting attacks while circling Bell and shouted at her with all his might.
"Hayley, just like before, create me another opening for an attack!"
Even though his hands had started trembling, the deep jade green in his eyes shone with unwavering determination.
That determination seemed to cross the air and reach Hayley.
Though she couldn’t understand what use another chance to kill an ordinary goblin would have now, she chose to trust Gauss unconditionally.
Because Gauss’s heroic and bloodied fight earlier had won her trust.
Even though they had been teammates for less than two days, and she didn’t understand what was on Gauss’s mind.
She took a deep breath. As the air filled her chest and her breathing calmed slightly, Hayley nodded at Gauss.
Her chestnut hair was drenched in sweat, sticking tightly to her forehead.
She pushed aside the tangled strands and, with trembling arms, drew an arrow from the quiver behind her.
The feather of the arrow lightly rested on the bowstring. She did not draw the bow but looked toward Gauss, signaling she was ready.
Her strength was nearly gone. After this next shot, she might completely lose all power for a while.
Gauss wobbled as he picked up his daggers.
He forced his aching, stiff, stone-like thighs to move as he started to shuffle toward Bell’s direction.
One step, two steps...
The large goblin battling Mia noticed Gauss’s labored movement.
A flicker of confusion flashed in its eyes.
It had rudimentary thinking ability equivalent to a child’s but still didn’t understand what threat the unsteady human approaching its two subordinates could pose.
It withdrew its gaze, no longer paying attention to the harmless Gauss.
It opened its mouth and roared angrily at Mia.
Her continuous resistance had already made it irritated.
Like a child about to lose interest in a toy, its eyes narrowed and its gaze on Mia sharpened with ferocity.