Who Says I'm Not a Proper Adventurer?

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Losing Reason

A surge of bitterness and fury welled up inside her.

’How dare this damned monster try to hurt the senior who’s been protecting me!’

’Unforgivable!’

Lance watched the girl’s expression change. ’Looks like this practical combat lesson is having the desired effect,’ he thought.

With a slight exertion of force, he wrenched the stone shard from the monster’s grasp.

The Goblin let out a terrified shriek and turned, scrambling head over heels into the bushes in its haste to escape.

Cecilia paid the fleeing monster no mind.

She rushed over to him, her voice thick with unshed tears as she asked urgently.

"Senior! Is your hand okay?!"

Lance gave a relaxed smile and held out his left palm.

Other than a bit of dust from the stone shard, there wasn’t so much as a faint white line on his palm.

Before his powerful physique, enhanced with a Level +2 Natural Base Armor, such a crude stone weapon didn’t even have a chance of breaking his skin.

Only after carefully confirming that Lance was truly unharmed did Cecilia’s taut nerves begin to relax.

But in the next moment, she whipped her head around, her eyes locked on the fleeing Goblin.

A dangerously cold glint flashed in the girl’s downcast eyes.

She raised her right hand again as Magic Power gathered frantically in her palm.

The 0 Ring Spell, [Thorny Whip], took shape in an instant!

A long, barbed whip, condensed from pure Magic Power, shot through the air and, like a viper, coiled precisely around the Goblin’s scrawny ankle.

Cecilia gave her arm a violent backward jerk.

The Goblin’s small body was yanked airborne, then slammed heavily against a thick oak tree nearby.

A dull thud and the sharp crack of breaking bones echoed through the forest.

But she wasn’t finished.

The girl’s face was devoid of expression as she swung her arm up and down as if wielding a Warhammer.

The monster, having just slid down the tree, was yanked into the air again and smashed viciously onto the hard, rocky ground.

What followed was a furious barrage of repeated slams.

Into the tree! Onto the ground! Into the tree! Onto the ground!

Green blood and shattered organs splattered everywhere.

Standing to the side, Lance watched with a twitching eye.

He looked at the pile of gore on the ground, now unidentifiable, and, unable to bear it any longer, spoke up.

"Cecilia, that..."

"It’s thoroughly dead."

At the sound of Lance’s gentle voice, Cecilia’s body gave a slight shudder.

The viciousness in her eyes vanished in an instant. As if waking from a dream, she hurriedly withdrew her Magic Power.

The Thorny Whip dissipated. The Goblin’s remains hit the ground with a wet SPLAT, a truly gruesome sight.

The girl nervously hid her hands behind her back.

Her face beet-red, she lowered her head, her voice barely a whisper.

"I’m sorry, Senior... It’s all my fault. I hesitated with my spell, and you almost got hurt because of me."

Seeing her on the verge of tears, Lance couldn’t help but laugh.

"Don’t apologize. Your counterattack was decisive. Just... a little over the top."

He gestured with his chin at the paste on the ground.

Cecilia followed his gaze, and her cheeks instantly turned the color of ripe apples.

"N-no, it’s not like that! I... I’m not usually this brutal!"

She was so flustered she was on the verge of tears again.

She was terrified her senior would mistake her for a violent maniac with some kind of perverse hobby.

’But she couldn’t explain, even to herself, why she had suddenly been consumed by such a frantic rage.’

’The moment she saw a monster trying to harm her senior, all reason fled her mind, as if a rabid beast was rampaging through her heart.’

"It’s alright, I was just teasing you."

Lance’s smile faded, his tone turning serious once more.

"However, the Goblin extermination quest requires us to collect their left ears as proof of the kill."

"Come on. This is a lot bloodier than cracking crab shells. You need to get used to it."

"I’ll do it right this time!"

Cecilia took a deep breath and assured Lance with a determined voice.

She drew the exquisite Skinning Knife from her belt and, fighting back the overpowering stench, walked over to the corpses.

The girl’s brow was furrowed and her face was still a little pale, but her hands moved without hesitation, diligently slicing off each pointed, blood-caked ear.

Lance efficiently dealt with the corpses on his end, then stood up and wiped his dagger on a strip of cloth.

He quietly watched the slender figure in the distance struggling to overcome her physical revulsion, a gentle smile touching his lips.

Though this Half-Elf Maiden was from the Violet Academy and possessed the distinct naivete of someone from an Ivory Tower...

...in Lance’s eyes, she was more like a lily of the valley growing on a cliff’s edge.

She looked pure and delicate, as if a gust of wind could snap her in two. But in reality, she possessed an unimaginably tenacious Life Force. Give her a little sun and water, and she could quickly take root and thrive in the harshest of environments.

After clearing the first camp, the pair continued deeper into the forest.

Their quest for the day was to clear a total of four scattered outposts.

To save time, after efficiently slaughtering the Goblins in the camp, Lance decided against a detailed search of the lair’s interior.

For one, the dark, damp caves stank, and there was no need to suffer through that.

For another, there was no valuable loot to be had from these low-tier, outlying monsters.

Once he confirmed there were no stragglers, he would immediately lead Cecilia to the next location.

However, as they finished clearing the second small outpost, Lance’s keen combat Intuition told him something was wrong.

This outpost was much smaller than expected, containing only ten or so old and weak Goblins barely clinging to life.

What was most unusual was that in both camps, Lance had found no signs of any stored food.

Goblins are Low Level Demons with an extreme hoarding instinct; they drag every scrap of rotting flesh and every bone they find back to their camp to hide.

The lack of food reserves went completely against the species’ survival instinct.

When they wiped out the third outpost with the same ease, the same strange situation presented itself.

Once again, there were pitifully few guards, and the supply storage area was completely empty.

Lance pulled his Short Sword from the last Goblin’s chest and flicked the blood from its blade.

He could now confirm his theory.

’The fourth and final outpost—the largest lair, located in the center of this region.’

’It must have forcibly gathered all the wandering Goblin forces and food resources from the surrounding area.’

There was only one reasonable explanation for what could make these naturally greedy and selfish, low-level monsters obediently surrender their food and act in unison.

A higher-level monster with absolute authority had to be there.

The one specifically mentioned in the Guild’s extermination quest: the possible variant, an elite Goblin.

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