Chapter 31: Ambush
Emerging from the shadows in her cloak, Medvedeva returned quietly.
The entire process was almost soundless.
"What’s the scouting situation?"
The members of the Night Owl Squad looked at her.
"Here."
Medvedeva took out a piece of yellow-brown parchment from her arms.
She spread it out on a stone surrounded by the group.
On the paper, she had drawn some simple markers and symbols, writing some information.
This is the benefit of having a Wandering Apprentice in the team; she’s both an assassin and a reconnaissance scout.
Although the Wanderer may not excel in frontal combat against many professions, and their role seems inconspicuous in the team, in many other fields, their professional knowledge surpasses that of other professions by far.
For instance, they master various stealth and infiltration techniques.
Faced with special terrains, their light bodies and agility allow them to climb, search, scout enemies, disable and set traps, and pick locks with ease.
In combat, rather than brute force, they prefer to strategize and target the enemy’s weak spots for precise strikes.
In short, this is a distinctly specialized profession.
Even though Medvedeva is just a Wandering Apprentice, her stealth skills are indispensable to the team right now.
Returning to the map.
Medvedeva began sharing the intelligence she just gathered with the others.
The paper had ten or so simple squares drawn on it.
Each square represents a building.
The mission location they were commissioned for this time was the ruins of an abandoned village town.
A small group of goblins had gathered among the originally desolate ruins and debris, though it was unclear when this happened.
As these ruins were relatively close to the nearby Mill Village, even though this group of green-skinned monsters hadn’t yet threatened the village, the villagers still issued a commission with the Adventurer’s Guild.
The objective was to nip the threat in the bud.
"The number of goblins is likely between 15 to 22, some are hiding inside buildings and I couldn’t see them clearly."
"The distribution is relatively scattered; the exact numbers are the marks I’ve noted on each building."
"Their weapons are mostly stone spears, clubs, wooden shields, and steel blades, and there are 4 goblin archers."
With a few words, Medvedeva clearly described her intelligence along with the simple map.
"Are there any special leader individuals?" Levin nodded and asked further.
"No."
"That’s good, carry out the plan as previously detailed."
"Everyone prepare for combat; we’ll ambush the enemy here on the map. Medvedeva, see if you can create some noise to lure some of the goblins out without alerting all the monsters, so we can save some effort." Levin explained the deployment to everyone.
"But even if it fails, it’s not important; our combat power is enough to annihilate this group of goblins in a direct confrontation."
"Be careful of the archers."
"Understood."
𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Nobody had any additional comments on his command.
Each one began silently helping each other put on protective gear.
Gauss, being a newcomer temporarily joining the team, naturally had nothing to add.
The team members worked together seamlessly, and this task was not considered difficult.
He mostly learned quietly from others and absorbed experience as an adventurer.
They arrived nearby late last night, choosing a suitable place to camp and rest for the night.
Having slept well, they were now full of energy.
Gauss donned his leather armor, hand and shin guards, and jabbed his rapier a few times on the spot to warm up.
During this time, he had been practicing some basic sword skills from time to time.
Though the results couldn’t compare to professional guidance, as long as you practice, you will gain something from basic actions.
At least his thrusts now looked more like the real thing compared to before.
Of course, the rapier can also slash, parry, and perform other moves, but those are auxiliary; tactically, it still mainly relies on thrusting to attack.
The rapier demands quick movement and flexible maneuvering from its user.
Although Gauss typically lacked these, he had a trick up his sleeve; when activating his brain’s overloaded state, with the huge advantage brought by 7 points in Spirit, he entered a low-budget bullet time, which just aligned perfectly with the rapier’s specialty.
With help from his teammates, Doyle finished donning his scale armor and turned his attention to others.
Suddenly, his gaze landed on Gauss nearby, who was making short strides back and forth and warming up with thrusts, and a big question mark popped up in his mind.
What is he doing?
Although he also noticed Gauss always carrying a rapier, he didn’t pay much attention.
After all, many professions carry a melee weapon for self-defense in emergencies.
But now seeing Gauss’s focused warm-up...
Could he really be planning to engage in close combat? Is this guy really a Mage?
He didn’t have time to focus on Gauss, as he too had to hurry and warm-up for the battle ahead.
Once everyone was ready, they headed towards the predetermined ambush point.
This highlights the difference between an experienced lower-tier adventurer squad and a rookie squad: Facing a group of goblins weaker in direct combat than themselves, these veterans still set ambushes for divide-and-conquer tactics.
As Levin mentioned, even though they could defeat the goblins head-on, they shouldn’t be reckless because such confrontations would undoubtedly exhaust more of their strength and stamina.
And in this boundless wilderness, you cannot predict what enemy might appear next.
Even near human-paved roads, though the probability is lower, a group of weapon-wielding monsters might still leap out at any moment.
Therefore, proper stamina allocation and management are necessary.
Maintaining an extra bit of energy means an additional guarantee of survival.
Soon, after greeting the team, Medvedeva disappeared into the shadows, stealthily heading toward the ruins.
Her movements were as agile as an old cat.
The group each found good places to hide, quietly waiting for Medvedeva’s return.
Soon, a series of faint footsteps came from the direction of the ruins.
It wasn’t Medvedeva, but a few green-skinned creatures about chest-high of an adult.
These goblins were lured by the noise Medvedeva created.
Suddenly, the leading goblin seemed to spot some treasure and turned to its companion, exclaiming, "Waa waa!"
In front of them under a tree, a blood-stained grey rabbit was kicking its legs, battling against death.
"Waa waa waa!"
"Waa waa waa waa!"
After a quick, excited exchange, the goblins cautiously gathered together.
While carefully scanning their surroundings, they approached the grey rabbit.
Goblins aren’t very intelligent but are inherently cunning.
Even faced with the enticing lure of blood, they didn’t rush in mindlessly.
This is the terrible part of goblins; as long as their team hasn’t collapsed, despite being monsters, they can maintain decent discipline.