These goblins aren't wind-based ones. I've only fought goblins with air affinities so far, but the mage in the group I'm examining has a reddish-orange crystal on its staff. This goblin mage also has low-quality leather armor, like I've seen on a few goblins, and a dirty, tattered red robe with orange flame patterns.

Something tells me he's on the stronger side. The fact that all four of the goblins in his group have magic items as well supports that theory. So far, all of the goblins that had a magic item ran their group and were the strongest of them. This one leads a group of four, all with magic items.

Two of them are knights, their swords not rusty but still of crude craftsmanship, with reddish-orange crystals in their pommels. One of them uses a pair of daggers with reddish-orange crystals in their hilts. The final member of the group uses a bow, which has a reddish-orange crystal above and below the part where the shaft rests, as well as at each end of the bow, by where the string fixes onto it.

From my inspections, the staff held by the goblin mage is the most powerful of the items.

I've managed to figure out enough of their language over the last week or so to know that he's giving them instructions right now. Something about scouting out and looking for the "power hunter". I guess only two of the outposts being destroyed didn't deter them enough. We need to find the rest and demolish those as well.

Until we do, they'll just look for those hunting them. What's this "power hunter" they're looking for? I can't understand enough of their language to make out the rest.

Wait. Power hunter? A hunter who's powerful… and we're in the area where I've been hunting down the goblins. I've been putting more effort into it than others mostly 'cause I want to sell their magic items for coin.

They're looking for me.

Well, they found me. Or rather, I found them.

I step out from behind the bush I was crouched behind and enter their clearing. All five goblins turn and look at me.

"Yo," I greet them in their language, though I'm sure my accent's terrible. "Gimme yer stuff!"

All five of them stare at me for a few moments longer. I mostly said it like that because that's the only way I know how in their language right now. Did I mess up the pronunciation?

"Kill him!" The goblin mage exclaims in their language.

Guess they understood me well enough.

The archer jumps back several times, putting distance between us as it draws the string on its bow, a fiery arrow forming. The two goblin knights charge forward while the knife-wielder runs off to the side, probably to attack me from behind. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before.

Flames wrap around the blades of the swords as a fiery arrow shoots at me. I conjure up a [Water Barrier] and shove it forward, dousing all three attacks.

Wait.

The arrow was only mostly destroyed by that, and the swords steamed the water, even if they were doused some. Their flames return to full as soon as the water passes through them. The bonuses on their weapons aren't that strong so as to boost the fires that much over the might I've faced against goblins before.

These are stronger goblins.

Very well, then. Not doing this casually.

I thrust my left hand forward, a jet of water blasting out of it.

[Water Jet] learned!

I blast the arrow out of existence before knocking one of the goblin knights back. The other one jumps to the side but continues forward. I summon an [Ice Barrier] to stop his attack while focusing on the first goblin knight. The dagger-wielder will come to my side or front after sneaking up behind me – they always do because of my pack. Fortunately, the goblin knight I stopped with my barrier seems to be an idiot as all it's doing is attacking the barrier, which I'm repairing at the same rate it's attacking.

Though its attacks are pretty strong, its flames doing a little bit of damage to it with every strike. That's more Mana waste than I care for, but it's necessary to keep the idiot occupied. At least I'm not actually burning through that much.

My main issue with it is that this fight might be prolonged. These goblins are stronger than any others I've faced so far, and their items give bigger bonuses than most goblin equipment I've come across, too.

I have to douse two more arrows and three [Fire Bolt]s before I have to stop focusing on the goblin knight. A fair amount of its skin was flayed off by the blasts, anyway, fat, muscle, and bone exposed, blood oozing out of it. I flick an [Air Bolt] at the goblin knight before side-stepping a [Fire Bolt] and two fiery arrows.

As I do that, the goblin rogue finally makes its presence known again, lunging at me as I move to the side in an attempt to get me while I'm distracted by the movement. The other goblin knight stops attempting to get through my [Ice Barrier] and actually moves around it for once.

The thing was faking being an idiot, waiting for the right moment.

I reach out with my right hand and catch the blade of the sword while shooting a pair of [Ice Bolt]s at the goblin rogue in quick succession. The goblin rogue deflects the first one, but the second one slams into its chest as the goblin knight pulls its sword free of my grip before I thought to yank it out.

Rather than just punching through its leather and flesh, the bolt just staggers it. This one is tough? No! That armor!

Wyvern Leather Armor Grade: 4 This leather armor is made from the hide of a wyvern. Lightweight, it's perfect for quick-moving fighters who need mobility over defense. Thanks to the hide of the creature it's made from, this armor will withstand much.

Dammit! Why did it have to have that? As I dodge and stop more attacks from the other three goblins still in action, I assess them. Only the archer, rogue, and mage have wyvern leather armor, the two knights both have crude metal armor. My [Water Jet] actually tore through the armor of the one I focused it on.

"Huh?"

I glance at the rogue as I summon a thicker, stronger [Water Barrier] to stop more fiery projectiles. It's moving more slowly now, even if the blades of its knives are still burning just as well as they were before.

The armor protected it from my bolt punching through the goblin, but it didn't protect it from the force of the impact. Not all the way… I broke bones in its chest!

"Ha!" I exclaim when I catch the goblin knight's sword again. "Got ya!"

I yank the sword out of its grip, clenching my fist around the blade. It might be a magic item, but it can't withstand having more than 400 Strength applied to it. The goblin knight is stunned by the action, and that gives me enough time to skewer it with an [Ice Spear].

As I send more [Ice Bolt]s at the goblin rogue, I send my [Ice Spear] all the way through the goblin knight's chest before directing it toward the goblin mage. The creature conjures up a barrier of flames, but I wasn't actually aiming at it. My [Ice Spear] changes direction and pierces through the still-screaming goblin knight's chest. That's two down, and the goblin rogue is doing its best to deflect and dodge my assault of [Ice Bolt]s.

Unfortunately for it, I'm focusing on it now, keeping it between me and the other two as well in order for me to protect myself as best as possible. This one is too fast for me to hit with the [Ice Spear], so I don't even bother. No, I use the [Ice Spear] to take care of projectiles from the other two, though I'll have to replace it soon. I can't repair it like I can a barrier.

It takes me almost a minute longer, but I manage to down the goblin rogue, allowing me to finally focus on the two ranged goblins. They've taken out three [Ice Spears] in that minute, but at least they were unable to hurt me. Only one of their attacks even made it to me, and I was able to just slap the arrow out of the air.

Annoyingly, the arrow kind of "splashed" when I did that, and my sleeve caught fire. I had to put it out using a quick application of water magic, and now my sleeve is burned a little. Might be time to replace the tunic, but the damage isn't that bad so I probably won't.

The moment I meet its gaze, the goblin archer freezes up. The goblin mage shouts something at it, possibly an order to not be intimidated?

I throw a [Water Bomb] at the goblins, and the goblin mage doesn't even bother to try to stop it. Why would it? After all it's just an orb of water. It even lets the spell hit, water bursting out in all directions. The force of it isn't enough to blast off skin, but it was just a distraction, anyway.

An [Ice Spear] skewers the goblin archer from behind, going straight through its head. I would have aimed for the chest because that's an easier target when manipulating the spears like this, but I'm not sure I could pierce their armor. Wyverns are resilient creatures, after all.

The goblin mage somehow knew there was an [Ice Spear] coming for it as well, swiftly stepping to the side and striking the spell with its staff, knocking it to the side. At the same time, flames swirl out of the crystal of the staff, enveloping the spear and destroying it.

"Tch!"

At least I got one of them. Now it's just the mage and me, and considering when it realized the spear was there, its detection range is probably limited. Or it wasn't trying to and will be now.

I summon four [Ice Spears] and four [Ice Bomb]s, and the goblin mage stares at me, then starts laughing as it conjures up [Fireball]s to counter. Unfazed, I send all eight of my spells forward and the goblin mage starts shooting its fireballs forward, both of us conjuring barriers to oppose the other's spells.

Our spells clash and explosions ring out. I'm sure the goblin mage's [Fire Barrier] will stop its flames as well as the ice shards. My [Water Barrier] steams and sizzles, but I manage to maintain it without letting any of the flames pass through. Shards of ice pass through from my own spells, but I stop those with an [Air Barrier] layered right on this side of the [Water Barrier].

Then I summon a film of shadows over my eyes. Just in time, too, because the [Flashbang Bomb] I also sent over goes off. I reduced the sound effect on this one to almost nothing so that it doesn't deafen me, and I felt it wouldn't have done much against the goblin mage, anyway.

Horrid howls fill the air as the goblin mage is damaged by the concussive force of the spell, and I immediately cancel my barriers to give me a better view of the battlefield. Trees and underbrush are burning, shrapnel of trees and dirt and stone everywhere.

The goblin mage has lost its [Fire Barrier] and is stumbling around, clutching its eyes. Wounds cover every part of its body not covered by wyvern leather armor, blood flowing out of every last one of them. I can even see bone in several of the injures, a couple of which look like they're broken. Well, I know one is – the beast's left calf is bent at an unnatural angle.

Summoning four more [Ice Spear]s, I send them at the goblin mage from different directions, these ones a little more resilient to heat than the others. As I expected, the goblin mage still manages to conjure up barriers even while blinded, but it's not enough.

These spells were a trick Thomas taught Colt and me this morning. The inner core is an ice spear, then there's a layer of water over it, followed by another layer of ice. A miniature [Water Bomb] is also in the head of the spear, right where it meets the shaft, with the inner [Ice Spear] being shorter to accommodate that and still have a point.

Casting four spells at once isn't really feasible for me, so I had to cast them one at a time for maximum effectiveness. Even then, I can't control them too well and could only shoot the spear, not manipulate it around with fine control, due to this.

The goblin mage's barriers melt off the outer layer, and the water from the middle layer protects the inner layer while the miniature [Water Bomb]s detonate, putting out more of the flames.

All four spears pierce the goblin mage, killing it. Well, sort of. The creature still has a few last breaths left in it.

"Power… hunter… this… is yer… death."

Then it dies.

+37% Experience! +43% Experience! +42% Experience! +39% Experience! +82% Experience! You have gained 2 Levels!

I barely have time to read this message before some instinct in me warns me against a danger. I don't know what the danger is, just that my gut says I need to act, and now. Layer after layer of [Water Barrier], [Air Barrier], and even [Light Barrier], which I didn't have until now, wrap around me. More than a dozen layers of it, and just in time.

Something detonates, an immense boom filling the air before my barriers are impacted and fire fills the air. The explosion is so powerful that my barriers are torn through and I'm struck, sent flying through several trees before everything goes black.