"I don't know… We can't afford to waste time. This torch is about to burn out."
We've been searching down different pathways for what felt like an hour, but this cave is like a maze. Each tunnel leads into more tunnels. I can't tell if this is natural or if they were carved out by the goblins or some other creature.
"Do you have a way to scout ahead? Can you use your fireflies for that?"
"At a higher level I can, but right now I can only manipulate where they go."
Instead of responding, I simply grimaced. I can't afford to waste time. What should I do?
I stood and thought for a moment before remembering a tip of advice I heard back on Earth.
"Erana, can you lick your finger and hold it in the air for me?"
"E-Eh? W-why do you want me to do that? I just met you!"
"N-No! I don't mean it in some weird way! There's this technique that you can do where you can tell where air is flowing by how the air moves around your wet finger! My hands are full so I can't do it, but you can. Can you please just do it?"
"F-Fine! B-But if this is actually just some weird prank then I'll scream and run!"
"Whatever! Just do it already! The clock is ticking!"
With that, Erana placed her pointer finger into her mouth and pulled it out. She then raised it into the air and her face lit up in surprise.
"Woah! I can feel the air move around my finger! It's true Kenji-san! This is really cool!"
"Hey, focus! Where is the air coming from?"
Erana took a moment to decipher the location before finally deciding.
"It's coming from the right tunnel."
"Alright, then let's go to the left tunnel. That will probably lead us deeper."
"Roger that!"
We then went down the left tunnel. I am in front while Erana brings up the rear. With someone behind me providing support, I now feel much more confident. We haven't encountered any goblins since we grouped up, but I know it's only a matter of time.
"Kenji-san, you were right! We're descending now! How did you know that your method would work?"
"I don't know the specifics, but it's something about how air has to flow in and out of places. It's the same reason why you need to have a chimney in a house or else the smoke will fill the room… I think."
"I see. That's super cool."
I can't tell if she's being serious or sarcastic. Either way, it's nice to have someone to talk to so that I can relieve my nerves somewhat.
After some time, we came across another opening in the cave. This one is large, with stalact.i.tes and stalagmites littering the area. Unfortunately, there are also 2 goblins in this room, and these ones have spears.
"Greeeh…" One of the goblins let out. It seems to have spotted us.
"K-K-Kenji-san, they've spotted us! What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?"
"C-Calm down! Provide me with support. I'll do my best to deal with them!"
"R-Roger! I-I'll provide s-s-support!"
Despite my confidence in her being next to none, I stepped forward while brandishing my sword and torch combo.
These goblins seem to be a bit different from the rest of them. Unlike the goblins I've encountered up to this point, these ones are keeping their distance from me. Perhaps it's because they're wary of what Erana will do?
"Erana, what is your effective cure light wounds range?"
"M-Me? It's about 10 meters!"
That means that I need to keep this battle within close proximity of Erana. I don't know how effective her healing magic actually is, but I can say with almost 100% certainty that I am not coming out of this fight unscathed.
"If you're not going to come to me, then I'll come to you! Let's do this!" I shouted as I began to move towards the goblins. Despite my tough words, I only slowly shifted myself towards the goblins. I wasn't about to rush enemies with good range after all.
"Hey, why are you moving so slow?"
"S-Shut up! I'm doing this as best I can!"
"Graah!" One of the goblins shouted as it charged at me. It seems that this goblin was trying to take advantage of our momentary loss of concentration.
I only narrowly dodged its spear thrust. My cheek has been cut, but it's definitely shallow. I retaliated at the goblin as it recovered from its thrust by charging at it with my broadsword. As it was about to thrust once more, I stabbed it.
"Greh!" It yelped. I could feel it going limp just like the others. Though these goblins seem to be more intelligent than their counterparts, they're certainly not very durable.
"Yah!" Shouted the other goblin as it thrusted its spear towards my right arm. It seems to have identified my weapon arm and aimed to disable me. I had no time to pull my broadsword out, so I let go of it and backed away. Despite abandoning my sword, the goblin still cut my arm slightly. This cut is notably deeper than the last one.
"Ehehehe!" The goblin laughed. It threw its spear to the side and pulled my broadsword out of its deceased ally. It seems that it has determined that I am too nimble for its untrained spear thrusts to hit, so instead it has elected to take my own sword and use it against me.
"This isn't good…" I said out loud.
"Eh? Kenji isn't that your sword? What do we do? You have no weapon!"
"Nevermind that! I need you to heal my arm! I doubt I can fight like this right now."
"Understood! Cure Light Wounds!" Erana shouted as I felt the pain in my arm subside.
"I still have one option…" I said as I began to draw my dagger once my arm had been healed.
"Geyah!" The goblin shouted as it began to charge me.
I had just barely pulled my dagger out before I was forced to block the attack from the goblin. Apparently, the goblin had put all of its strength into that attack as it dropped the broadsword when I blocked it.
"Gigigi!" It twitched. Though I can't tell the exact emotions of the goblins, I feel like it's afraid of me.
I rushed the goblin before it could pick up the broadsword again and stabbed it in the head with my dagger. Unlike the broadsword, this is much more personal so I got some of the goblins' blood on me.
I pulled the dagger out of the dead goblin and saw it fall limply to the ground. Once I had determined that both goblins were dead, I sheathed my dagger and walked over to my broadsword to pick it back up.
"Wow! You beat two goblins by yourself!"
"Don't get too ecstatic. I got hit twice. That was mostly luck. If I face more than 2 I will definitely lose."
"Well that just means we need to face only 2!"
"I wish I held your optimism."
While we shared this dialogue, Erana came over to me and began to heal the wound on my cheek.
"Sniff Sniff… Hey… Do you smell smoke?"
"Eh?"
