Erana and I slowly descended to the bottom of the cave. We had to a.s.sume that Kany had gone ahead of us since we can no longer detect her. The interior of this room is a large circular stone room with a dome shaped roof. Smoke is piled on the top of the room and funneling into multiple different pathways. In the center of the room, there are three goblins standing around a fire. Hung above the fire, there is a stick that is slowly rotating. On the stick, Tael is tied up. Fortunately, he is not naked and is instead in a thin white shirt and boxers.

As we quietly entered the room, it appears that Tael spotted us.

"KENJI!!! MY VIRGIN BROTHER! YOU CAME TO SAVE ME! I KNEW YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME BEHIND! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" He shouted out as he was being spun.

"Grahg?" One of the goblins said in surprise.

Thanks to Tael's shout, all the goblins turned to look at Erana and myself.

"Virgin brother?" Erana repeated. I could feel her leering at me.

"T-T-That's not what you think it is!"

"Gruuuu…" One of the goblins said as it went over to grab its weapon.

Suddenly, Kany reappeared directly beside the goblin and stabbed it in the neck.

"Gruh!" The goblin yelped. It fell limply to the ground moments later.

Now that the goblins are outnumbered, the remaining two seem to be panicking. From what I can tell, goblins are cowardly. If they ever think they have a disadvantage they will attempt to flee instead of fight. We can use this to our advantage.

"Let's go! Kany, on me!"

"Got it, Onii-san!"

"SOMEONE GET ME DOWN FROM HERE! IT'S HOT!"

Kany and I got within close proximity of one another and faced down the two remaining goblins. Erana brought up the rear to provide support.

"Greee…" One of the goblins whimpered.

Suddenly, the other goblin turned around and began to run away.

"H-Hey, get back here!" Kany yelled out to the retreating goblin. She ran towards it only to be blocked by the goblin that stayed behind.

"Gruh!" The goblin shouted. This goblin is brandishing a shortsword. Thanks to Kany's preferred weapon length, she is at a disadvantage when it comes to range.

"Kany, I'll handle this one. Forget about that one. Help Tael get down."

"Fine. You get this one, Onii-san. Erana, help me with this!"

"Roger that!"

I faced off against the goblin in front of me. Unlike before, this is a direct one on one battle. My range advantage should provide me with the win.

"Graaaaah!" The goblin shouted as it charged at me.

I began to sidestep the goblin before I had a bad feeling. Something about how this goblin is charging me is different from the others.

Instead of acting how I had before, I instead swiped my sword from right to left.

"Greh!" the goblin shouted out as it jumped back. My worries were correct. This goblin wasn't running as fast as it could at me so it could counter my counter. It seemed like this goblin knew how to fight a bit better than the ones I had encountered before. This could be a problem.

What do I do? What advantage do I have over this goblin other than reach?

I recalled the words of a certain birdbrain I had met recently.

"Your strength stat is on the upper end of average…"

If I can physically overpower this goblin, then I can win. Let's do this.

I began to walk towards the wary goblin. It brandished its sword in a defensive manner. This is an all or nothing gamble.

I raised my sword upwards and brought it down with my full strength.

"Greh!" The goblin yelped in surprise. It seems like it didn't expect me to resort to brute force.

A loud sound of metal clashing against metal occurred.

"G-Grah…" The goblin whimpered. Though it had blocked my attack, it wasn't able to block it entirely. My sword was firmly lodged in its collarbone.

Before it could retaliate, I kicked the goblin in the stomach. The goblin was sent flying away from me and my sword was freed.

"Ahg…" The goblin whimpered on the ground.

I rushed over to the goblin and delivered the finishing blow.