Soon, an hour went by and two more adventurers decided to join John's group. With two members short of a full party, the eight adventurers entered the tunnels that lead to the group of Gobblin' Goblins. According to the leader of the group, since the main tunnel splitted off into many smaller sub-tunnels, they should separate and follow their own paths. Each member should spend an hour in the tunnels and kill as many goblins as they can. Once the hour was up, they would meet back at the entrance. Everyone agreed to the idea after all, since goblins were easy to defeat, the members of the group thought that they should separate in order to maximize the number of kills against the Gobblin' Goblins. When John asked why it mattered to tally who killed the most, he was told that he could earn Squire's Valor depending on the number of kills which can then be used to obtain certain sigils in Majerio's shop.

Now that everyone was caught up to speed about the group's plans for the raid, they set out to each their own chosen paths. John decided to take the tunnel in the middle. The tunnel was rather wide, at least enough for the sword-wielding Shadow Walker to swing his sword around. The only problem was the height. Reaching up to just a head higher than John, jumping in the tunnel might prove to be a problem. After walking for a while, he heard a noise...something like a shuffling of feet in front of him. The path was dark and the torch could only illuminate a couple of meters. John knew that, although he could not see the enemy, the enemy could definitely see him...or at least his torch light. So, John decided to use that fact in order to cause a misdirection. Carefully, he walked next to one side of the tunnel and found a soft patch of earth on the wall. He stabbed the torch into the soft patch of the wall and retreated from the light. John waited and waited until a figure appeared next to the torch. It was a Goblin Thief! The goblin seemed to be confused as if it was wondering where John went. At this moment, John raised his sword and lunged towards the Goblin Thief. With a thrust of his sword, he punctured the goblin in the side, causing it to squeal in pain. It reeled back and threw down a smoke bomb. However, its blood gave away its position. John lifted up his leg and whipped out a roundhouse kick to the goblin's chin. The goblin collapsed in a daze and struggled to swing its dagger around. John viciously stabbed forth with his dagger and gauged out one of the goblin's eyes. However, a random dagger strike from the Goblin Thief slashed open a deep wound on his arm. John dropped his dagger as he winced in pain and discomfort. He hefted up his sword and stabbed once more, this time puncturing one of the goblin's lungs. Then, he stomped his foot on the goblin, crushing its throat. The Goblin Thief writhed for a few seconds as it tried to breathe, before dying from suffocation.

As blood flowed from the corpse, John searched through the goblin's possessions and looted a couple of silver. Once he cleaned his weapons and grabbed his torch, John continued onwards. During his journey through the tunnel, he met some more goblins. However, these goblins were different from the goblin he had killed earlier or the goblins he had encountered in the Glenfort River. These goblins had a more...greedier glint in their eyes. Like they saw John as a treasure and not as an enemy. John knew those looks as he too had shown similar gazes towards his enemies. The young Shadow Walker decided to nickname them Greedy Goblins and Greedy Goblin Thieves. So far, he had encountered the Greedy Goblins three times and the Greedy Goblin Thieves one time. With each successful victory, John was able to raise his Squire's Valor and rack up a good amount of silver and experience. After half an hour, the young Shadow Walker had defeated one Goblin Thief, three Greedy Goblins, and one Greedy Goblin Thief which gave a grand total of five goblins killed. Through these battles, John had increased his mastery over the sword. In addition, in this dark tunnel with only a torch for illumination, the young Shadow Walker was able to sharpen his other senses. Overall, this raid was considered good training for John.

Anyways, after looting his recent kill and lighting the corpse on fire, the young Shadow Walker decided to stop and take a small break. He tried to sit by the fire for better illumination and some warmth from the cold tunnel, but the stench of burning goblin nearly knocked him out. With a handkerchief tied around his mouth and nose, John scooted some distance away from the fire and began repairing his weapons. After cutting through bone and staining with blood, the weapons have chipped and rusted even more than what they were originally when he first bought them. If John didn't learn the essential field maintenance skills from Daedalus, his weapons would have long become unusable.

And so, as John sharpened his weapons with a sharpening stone, he suddenly heard a muffled sound. John lifted his head up in alertness. Was that shouting? There it goes again! At first John thought that the sound was nothing significant, however, having heard it once more, he was convinced that the sound was shouting. There were people nearby! John quickly packed up his belongings and scurried towards the sound. In a matter of minutes, John was able to see light at the end of the tunnel. As he drew nearer, the shouts became louder and he was able to make out some familiar voices. His party must be just ahead. John unsheathed his weapons and rushed into the light...and into a cavern! It seemed that the tunnels he and his party chose had led them to this large room. John scanned his surroundings and saw that the rest of his party were already engaged in combat with a large number of goblins. The green enemies outnumbered them 20 to 1.

Without a moment of hesitation, the young Shadow Walker joined in the fight. He pounced on an unsuspecting Greedy Goblin and beheaded the monster before it could even register what had happened. After killing the goblin, John continued as he lunged at another Greedy Goblin with a fierce Piercing Strike. However, this goblin had noticed him and was somewhat prepared for his attack. Nevertheless, the steel sword shot forth and pierced into the goblin's shoulder, dealing more than a third of its health. The angry Greedy Goblin roared in pain and swung his club. The blunt weapon landed on John's shoulder and caused him to wince in pain. In retaliation, John lashed out his leg and smashed the goblin square in the jaw. The Greedy Goblin flew backwards a good meter or so before crashing into another goblin. With a flick of his wrist, John threw his dagger at the collapsed goblin which embedded itself deep into the Greedy Goblin's head. The goblin opened its mouth to screech in pain, however, before any sound escaped, John had rushed over and beheaded the goblin.

SWOOSH!

When the young Shadow Walker detected the sound of slicing air, he immediately jerked his head back. Luckily, he was able to avoid a fatal knife attack from the goblin that he knocked the Greedy Goblin into. John wasn't able to get a clear view of the goblin as it immediately threw down a smoke bomb and vanished from sight. Nevertheless, judging from the weapon used and the smoke bomb, he was able to deduce that his next opponent was a Greedy Goblin Thief. John carefully scanned his surroundings for the goblin and saw a drop of blood appear in the middle of the air before falling onto the ground. This allowed him to find out where the Greedy Goblin Thief was. Tracking the movement of the blood and the position from which the drops land on the ground, John was able to quickly determine the position of the vanished enemy. With a powerful slash, he cut down towards the air in front of him. A scream of pain could be heard as the enemy reappeared. While the Greedy Goblin Thief grabbed its bloody chest with one hand, it started to recklessly swing its sword around with its other hand. Unfortunately for it, John was not as inexperienced as he once was. Seeing the Greedy Goblin Thief flail its weapon around, the young Shadow Walker hopped back a couple of feet and threw his dagger towards the goblin. With a wet thud, the thrown dagger embedded itself into the goblin's neck.

The Greedy Goblin Thief backed away as blood welled up in its throat. In a last ditch attempt, it unexpectedly threw its weapon at John and ran away. The young Shadow Walker barely dodged the blade in time, taking only a small scratch to his face. As blood trickled down his cheek, John pursued the retreating goblin and launched his sword at it. The sword pierced into the goblin and pinned it into the ground. John reached over and grabbed for the sword but quickly rolled to the side as a fireball raged into where he was standing. John looked up towards the source of the magic attack and saw Robert.

"Hey! Watch where you're blasting that!"

The War Mage scratched his head and bowed slightly in apology. But it was that moment of distraction that caused Robert to suffer a deep slash wound. As the War Mage collapsed, his back revealing a deep wound, John grabbed his weapons and rushed to Robert's aid. The Greedy Goblin Thief that wounded the War Mage raised its blade up for the kill. However, it was not successful as John tackled the goblin, knocking it away from the wounded man. A loud crack could be heard as both man and monster crashed into the ground. Luckily, it was the goblin who had broken its bone and not the young Shadow Walker. Seeing the goblin writhe in pain, John glanced behind him to check up on Robert. It seemed that the wounded War Mage had drank a healing potion as he was back on his feet in a matter of seconds.

John turned towards the injured goblin and ended its miserable life with a swift slash to the neck. Then, he surveyed the ongoing battle and attempted to determine whether he and his party could win against the numbers. Currently, while the goblins had lost over 40 of their numbers, there were no casualties within his group. Naturally, the members of the raiding group were of higher level than John and they could each take on three to four goblins at a time with no problem, making them feel dependable. John smiled with confidence knowing that he can freely attack the goblins without worry about whether or not an enemy would attack him from behind. The young Shadow Walker sneered towards a Greedy Goblin Thief in front of him and charged. The startled goblin reached into its pocket and pulled out a smoke bomb. However, before the goblin could throw the smoke bomb, John had already thrust out his sword. With a ripping slash, he hacked off the goblin's arm.

The Greedy Goblin Thief roared and swung its blade towards its enemy; however, John wasn't there. Having guessed what the goblin would do next, the young Shadow Walker decisively rolled to the side of the goblin. Upon rising from his tumble, John slashed up and nearly split the green monster in half. After killing the Greedy Goblin Thief, he set his eyes on another enemy. It was another Greedy Goblin Thief. John dashed towards it with his blade raised when...pain...searing pain. A stray ice spell accidentally smashed into him, rapidly freezing his side and causing severe frostbite. This attack was Icy Grasp - one of the War Mage's Tier One skills! Luckily, the attack skimmed him...if it had hit him directly, he would be encased in ice. John winced in pain as he looked sorrowfully towards the caster. It was a female War Mage who went by the name of Karen. She had seen her ice attack hit John and was looking very sorry about it. She kept bowing her head in apology and didn't pay attention to the battles around her. John suddenly caught sight of a Greedy Goblin sneaking up on her. With its club raised, the goblin swung at the unsuspecting girl. John winced in pain as he threw his dagger towards the goblin. Karen, thinking that John was angry at her and threw the dagger at her as payback, screamed in fright and squatted down with her eyes closed. Only when she had heard a thud following by a screech did she opened her eyes. She saw a goblin behind her, John's dagger sticking out of its head. She had mistaken John. The female War Mage glanced towards the young Shadow Walker appreciatively and reached over to retrieve the dagger.

As soon as John threw the dagger, he could feel his side split open from the excessive movement and blood began to leak out. He reached into his bag and quickly drank an small health potion. Immediately after he finished the potion, the Greedy Goblin Thief in front of him had scrambled to its feet and cowardly ran away. John grunted in disgust and hurled the empty potion bottle at the goblin. The glass bottle shattered upon impact and the pieces embedded themselves into the goblin. The projectile had slowed down the goblin slightly, bringing John enough time to catch up. The young Shadow Walker appeared before the goblin and kicked it between its legs. Squelching sounds were heard as the goblin widened its eyes in pain before fainting from shock. The young Shadow Walker walked up to the unconscious goblin and pierced its heart.

While he was wiping his sword, he heard a scuffle behind him. John turned around and hacked with his sword only to see Karen. The young Shadow Walker nearly strained himself trying to stop his swing. He glanced at the young War Mage and asked her what she wanted. Karen timidly bowed her head and apologized for the earlier accident. Then, she handed John his dagger back and hurried off to rejoin the battle. John gazed at the retreating figure and shrugged with indifference. What he didn't realize was that Karen had already formed a certain type of emotion towards him that could later on evolve into something more intimate...that was if he played his cards right. But this type of future seemed grim for the clueless young Shadow Walker as he rushed off towards a Greedy Goblin.

The Greedy Goblin before him was currently prying away a dagger from the corpse of a Greedy Goblin Thief and did not realize until it was too late that John was aiming for it. With a fierce thrust, John unleashed his main attack - Piercing Strike - and punctured the goblin's heart. As the goblin shivered before becoming motionless, John kicked the Greedy Goblin off of his sword. While he wiped away the blood from his sword, the young Shadow Walker looked behind him at the raging battle and searched for the next opponent. Suddenly, an intense pain erupted from his thigh. He glanced down and gaped with shock. The Greedy Goblin...it wasn't dead? How can that be? John had penetrated the goblin's chest and punctured its heart. How can it still move? Was this some sort of magic? As the goblin slashed with its dagger, John realized that it wasn't the time to ponder on such things and raised his dagger up to parry the attack. The young Shadow Walker did not want to waste any more time and decided to end it. He swiftly brought up his sword and, with a mighty stroke, beheaded the goblin.

Once he killed the monster, curiosity overtook him and he approached the green corpse for a closer look. After analyzing and dissecting the goblin, he realized that its heart was on the opposite side. This was a rare case of Dextrocardia - something that would happen to one person for every million. To think that even a goblin could suffer such a heart condition. With his curiosity satisfied, John did not dwell on the matter any longer and headed towards the frontlines of the battle. The young Shadow Walker pounced straight forward with his sword held like a lance and speared an unsuspecting Greedy Goblin. The sword pierced into the goblin's chest and dealt a critical of 97 damage. Not wanting to make the same mistake even though the chances of another Dextrocardia were slim, John withdrew the sword and spun around. The momentum of his spin doubled the power behind his swing as he cleanly beheaded the goblin, cutting through bone and all.

The young Shadow Walker continued to fight and the enemies continued to diminish. After roughly ten to fifteen minutes later, the goblins have been nearly wiped out. There were still about 12 goblins left including a powerful level 6 Greedy Goblin Warlock. As for his party, three members - a Justicar and two Frost Knights - had retreated due to severe wounds and lack of small healing potions. Robert had retreated as well in order to check up on the three wounded adventurers. The rest of the group - John, Karen, Newman the Inquisitor, and Granger the Flame Warden - remained to take care of the remaining enemies. Karen and Newman decided to handle the warlock and three of the Greedy Goblins. The rest were split between John and Granger. The young Shadow Walker nodded in agreement with the decision and rushed towards one of the goblins - a Greedy Goblin Thief. Unfortunately, the goblin saw through his ambush and screeched for help. Soon, another two Greedy Goblin Thieves ran to its aid. John looked to Granger for help but luck was not on his side. The Flame Warden was surrounded by five Greedy Goblins and thus couldn't spare any energy to aid John.

The young Shadow Walker grimaced slightly as he circled towards the nearest Greedy Goblin Thief. He swiftly slashed out his sword but was parried. It seemed that this level 5 Greedy Goblin Thief was battle-hardened. It won't be simple to defeat this type of enemy. Suddenly, two puffs sounded out as a thick smoke surrounded John. He rubbed his teary eyes and coughed a couple of times. In the moment of distraction, the disappeared goblins took this chance to launch a counterattack. Although John could not see the incoming attacks, the months of training he had accumulated with Daedalus coupled with the experience he obtained through battling allowed him to roughly sensed that something dangerous was coming towards his way. John reacted on his hunch and rolled forward, dodging both knife attacks. As soon as he completed his roll, instinct took over once again and he quickly reacted against another knife attack. This time the attack came from the level 5 Greedy Goblin Thief in front of him. John rolled to the right and scrambled to his feet. The young Shadow Walker lunged forward without giving the Greedy Goblin Thief any time to pull back.

SWING!

The sword attack would have been fierce if not for the fact that John swung from an unstable position. Nevertheless, he was able to hack off the Greedy Goblin Thief's extended arm. John raised his sword up once more for another slash when he saw two glints of light flashing at the corner of his eye. The young Shadow Walker rolled behind the wounded Greedy Goblin Thief and grabbed it by the neck. With a grunt, John lifted up the goblin and hurled it towards the two flickers. The goblin crashed into the owners of the two glimmers of light and knocked both of them out. The wounded goblin shrieked with pain and revealed two knives embedded into its body. Using this instant of diversion, John lunged forward and thrust out his sword.

"Piercing Strike!" John roared as he saw his sword slid into the goblin.

The goblin struggled for a few seconds before limping on the sword. The weight of the corpse forced John to lower his sword. As the goblin slid off the blade, John glanced at the two dazed Greedy Goblin Thieves. They seemed to still be in a dazed state but there were signs of movement from the goblins as if they were struggling to regain their senses. Not wanting to give them the chance to recover, John lunged at the two Greedy Goblin Thieves and beheaded them. After making short work of the two Greedy Goblin Thieves, John looked over to where the others were. Karen and Newman have already killed off the small fries and were currently barbecuing the Greedy Goblin Warlock. The young Shadow Walker turned his gaze to Granger who seemed to be holding up well against the Greedy Goblins. All of a sudden, John furrowed his eyebrows. While Granger was distracted with the four Greedy Goblins in front of her, she did not notice the Greedy Goblin sneaking up from behind.

John reached into his knapsack and pulled out a barbed net. With an accurate throw, he ensnared the goblin, knocking it to the ground and trapping it in place. Granger heard the thudding noise behind her and quickly turned her head for a glance. When she saw the entrapped goblin, she nodded in appreciation before refocusing on her opponents. As she forcefully pushed the Greedy Goblins away from the netted goblin, John rushed towards the goblin and unleashed a Piercing Strike through one of the holes. Unfortunately, he was unable to deal a fatal attack. As John pulled out the sword from the screaming goblin, it suddenly thrust out its club and bonked the young Shadow Walker in the knee with an attack of its own. John winced in slight discomfort and pierced his sword once again. This time, he was able to puncture the enemy's throat. With a sharp wrench, John killed the Greedy Goblin. Afterwards, he unraveled the corpse and retrieved the barbed net. Carefully, he wrapped up the net and stored it into his bag.

John looked up and surveyed the situation at hand. The War Mage - Robert - had returned from healing the three wounded members of the group and was currently helping Granger finish off the four Greedy Goblins. Karen and Newman had just about finished with the Greedy Goblin Warlock as well. Once all of the goblins in the area were killed, the party began looting the corpses and searching the area for any treasure. A total of roughly 10,000 silver coins were either found or looted. As per agreement with the dividing of loot, if the team were to encounter a situation that required all members to participate, each adventurer would get an equal share of the accumulated treasure. Thus, from the 10,000 silver coins, John received a little more than 1,300 coins. Once they finished dividing the loot, they headed towards the entrance of the tunnels. It was time to leave. The party headed to the inn to report back to Colette of their successes. Upon arrival, Colette greeted the tired adventurers with a bright smile and a tray of cold ale.

"Great work, you guys! Thanks for the help. Hopefully those goblins will stop raiding my larder and cutting into my profits! With those bastards gone, the customers will start coming back in no time."

John and the others each received a tankard of ale and drank the contents deeply. With a loud "puuaahh," Robert saluted, "You're welcome Colette. It's the least we can do in return for the great food you provided us these past few days. If you have any other grievances, just say the word and we'll come to your aid."

"Haha, that's good to hear. I do have some information to tell you. Be on the lookout for blue banners flying in the skies in different locations of the continent. They are recruiting spots for raids nearby like the one you did for the Gobblin' Goblins raid. You can assist the other adventurers and earn Valor in order to purchase new and better equipment. Different levels of Valor will be earned with respect to different levels of difficulty."

"Really? That's great. Thanks for the information!" Karen cheerfully beamed with a frothy mustache on her lip. When she realized it, she wiped her mouth in embarrassment and shyly stole a glance towards John. However, she was a bit disappointed when she saw that the young Shadow Walker wasn't paying attention to her.

"Yea." Colette affirmed as she retrieve the empty tankards and handed out a bag to each of the adventurers, "Here's your payment - 5 gold coins, 600 silver coins, and 1 medium energy potion."

Once the group had drunk the ale and received the payment, they left the building. At the entrance of the inn, the group bid their farewells and walked their separate paths. Newman, Granger, and three others decided to head north as there were news of recruitment for a raid against a Rath'een base. Robert and Karen, as it turned out, were fraternal twins who took up adventuring to pay for their sick mother's medication bills. They quickly said their goodbyes to John as well and headed home. Once he bid the others goodbye, the young Shadow Walker decided to visit the Training Hall.