Chapter 22: Crimson Goblin Retreat
"There are too many of them!"
"I’m running low on Mana!"
"We can do it! If we use everyone’s skills, we can pull through this together," Felix screamed amidst the chaos. He slashed down at the exposed shoulder blade of a Crimson Goblin, then quickly turned to deflect the blade of another, kicking its waist to knock it off balance before drawing a deep gash across its chest.
He didn’t notice when another snuck up behind him and drove its blade toward his exposed back, but a dagger suddenly embedded itself in its skull. Felix turned to nod in Joan’s direction.
Behind the melee duo were Jack and Rose, and the former was carrying the team hard. He played both the role of a melee and a ranged warrior as he circled around Rose, pulling his bowstring non-stop and occasionally using his arrows as melee weapons when the Crimson Goblins got too close, or using the bow itself to strangle the enemy.
Things didn’t always go as planned, but Rose did her best to cast her healing spells on everyone who got hurt. At first, she healed every little scratch, before settling for deep wounds that affected their combat as her Mana began depleting at an alarming rate.
Still, more waves of Crimson Goblins poured out of the bushes, throwing themselves at the party, who were starting to panic and lose hope. This resulted in them making mistakes that could have been easily avoided with a clear mind.
They all had one thought in mind: ’If only Liz were here.’
It wasn’t because the mage of the party had any exceptional skill that would have made it easy, but her participation would definitely ease the burden on all of them since she had AOE spells that could be utilized to break up the Crimson Goblin entrapment.
Felix saw all this and yelled words of encouragement non-stop, but even he was starting to doubt if they could actually pull through without losing a life. When—
Like a switch had been flicked, the Crimson Goblins froze in place all at once.
Felix quickly utilized that window of opportunity to send out a sword beam that cleared out an entire row of them, before retreating a bit to observe what was going on.
Then suddenly, the Crimson Goblins turned tail and ran, disappearing into the bushes as they quickly retreated from the battle.
Everyone was confused, wondering what might have changed—the mobs clearly had the upper hand in numbers.
"What’s going on?"
"Are they retreating?"
"Should we chase after them?" Jack asked thoughtfully.
Felix’s brows were furrowed as he remained silent for a moment, weighing the odds, before turning to address the party.
"You’re right. I think they’re retreating, and I also think we should give chase to be sure they’re actually retreating away from our island and not surrounding or camping on it. Anyone who’s badly injured can stay behind with Rose to heal up while the rest of us push forward. Do we have a plan?" He ran his eyes across everyone present.
"I’ll go with you," Joan spoke up first.
"Me too—"
"But you’re hurt," Rose called out worriedly.
"This is nothing. I can manage," Jack quickly said as he turned to Felix with strong resolve in his eyes.
Felix exhaled slowly as he nodded. "We’re all onboard. Try to keep up and watch out for the person beside you."
The party nodded in affirmation, and they all broke into a sprint as they chased after the Crimson Goblins through the island forest.
The Crimson Goblins already had a headstart and had mostly disappeared from view, but the party members were faster and more agile, having leveled up quite a bit from the battle.
So it wasn’t long before they began to catch up to the Crimson Goblins, just as the latter broke out of the forest and disappeared into a clearing.
The party doubled their efforts as they closed in on the forest border, breaking out into the unfamiliar clearing as well. They clutched their weapons tight but slowed down at the view of a vast blue world with no land below.
There was only another floating island wedged against theirs, which was also the place the Crimson Goblins were retreating to in massive numbers. Away from their island—which was the most important thing.
"Wow," Rose couldn’t help but exclaim softly in that tense moment, taking in the view of a world made of blue sky and white clouds.
The others present were also guilty of getting distracted by the breathtaking view, but they kept their thoughts to themselves.
"It’s beauti—wait... there’s someone on the ground there," Rose immediately called out, drawing the attention of the others. She pointed further into the clearing where a familiar figure was crouched with her hands over her head as the Crimson Goblins stomped past her.
"Is that... No way. Th—That’s Liz!" Jack immediately called out, recognizing the red-haired figure.
Felix was the first to dash forward, racing in the direction of Liz. The party immediately followed.
They quickly crossed the distance between them and charged onto the neighboring island where Liz was. As soon as they arrived, they immediately surrounded her and checked for any visible injuries, and Rose quickly cast her healing spells over the red-haired girl.
It took the girl a moment to look up, as if she were stuck in a trance. But the moment she recognized her familiar companions, her terrified face was instantly flushed with relief, and she hugged Felix as she began sobbing on his shoulder.
Felix comforted her by patting her back, but no matter what questions they threw at her about how she’d ended up in that place, it proved futile as Liz didn’t reply to any of them. So they dropped it and silently comforted her, feeling relieved that she was safe and the party was complete. Wait—
"There’s someone coming," Joan quickly notified the group as a silhouette began approaching from the Crimson Goblin island.
The party immediately stood on guard and held their breath as the silhouette, in battered clothes and with dried blood smearing his skin, calmly walked out of the bushes.
"A-Arc?" Rose blurted in surprise.
The others’ reactions weren’t far from hers, except for Liz, who froze up upon hearing that name. She slowly turned around to see Arc, who, though covered in dirt and grime, had an extremely calm expression and relaxed eyes as he walked toward the group. He walked right past them without sparing any of them a single glance.
Their eyes followed him as he walked past them and paused.
"You should leave the island before they change their mind."
That was the only thing he said, and he kept walking. Their eyes followed him in silence until he disappeared into the forest of their island.
"Is it just me, or does Arc seem... different?" Rose couldn’t help but ask.
She didn’t get a reply.
Joan turned to look at Liz, who had been completely unresponsive before but had suddenly become active the moment Arc showed up. Joan looked into her eyes and saw fear, along with something else she couldn’t quite place.
Something had definitely happened between the two on that island. But most importantly, what was Arc doing on the Crimson Goblin island? And how did he survive it?
The party members were pulled out of their heads when the island suddenly jolted and vibrated like an engine.
"G-Guys? Was that gap there when we crossed over just now?" Jack immediately called to the notice of the party, pointing at the gap between the two islands that was now widening before their eyes.
"W-What the hell?"
