Chương 72: GOBLIN FOREST RAID (3)

Jimin soon reached near the edge of another path, leading deep inside the forest. But instead of stepping onto it, he remained crouched behind a cluster of dense bushes along the roadside. His eyes narrowed slightly. He focused for a brief moment. I can still sense Yuna. The party is still within range… Good. They seem to be doing fine for now. Jimin sighed. I better focus on this now. Then, he opened his status window, without wasting any time.

【STATUS WINDOW】 Name: Sam Jimin Age: 16 Rank: E Level: 7 HP: 485/485 STA: 223/335 MP: 372/440 PE: 587/855 STATS: STR: 16 AGI: 30(+11) END: 25(+5) INT: 33(+2) WIS: 25(+3) VIT: 17 CHA: 10(+3) PSY: 58(+16) LUK: 15(+4) A faint grin formed on face.

"Damn…" he muttered. The gear gave huge stat boosts. Especially agility and psyche… These are more than enough t o deal with goblins alone. He closed the window. Then took a deep breath. There's no point in hitting the road, when I have a stealth build on. I should finish the whole group in one fell swoop, from the shadows. A faint smirk formed. Finish everything before they even realize what happened. He immediately activated 'Detection'. But could detect nothing but a pitfall. There's no point in waiting here.

I should keep moving through the forest. And as planned, he started moving through the trees and fog in stealth mode.

After a while- Jimin suddenly stopped. He has finally detected a group of 4 goblins. And the group happened to be closing in. So, he hid behind the bushes, waiting for them to appear out of the fog. And within a few seconds, they did; 1 with a sword, 2 with daggers and one archer. As soon as the group was within Jimin's sight, he didn't wait another second. His gaze locked onto the archer first. He immediately launched a 'Fireshot' at the goblin archer, while he shot his three daggers forward. BOOM!

The condensed fire hit the archer directly on the face, bursting it off. While the three daggers pierced through the necks of the other three right after. Killing all of them on the spot. Jimin's stealth had been deactivated. But it didn't matter. After all, the battle had ended in just a few moments, without Jimin even breaking a sweat. Within a few moments, notifications started popping up. [+22 LP]

"Damn. That was easier than I expected," he muttered. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I can totally pull this off. Then, he fetched the monster cores using telekinesis and stored them in his storage ring. He was about to advance forward in the same way. But he decided to check his resources first.

HP: 485/485 STA: 219/335 MP: 338/440 PE: 587/855 His brows furrowed slightly. Shit… I have plenty of psychic energy. But I'm losing Stamina and MP fast. He exhaled slowly. I'm burning through them faster than expected. His gaze sharpened. If this keeps up… I'll be in a stitch, if I don't manage these properly. I should be careful about using stealth from now on. Or… He clenched his fist slightly. I won't have enough during battles. Just in case, I need to use overtime and other skills.

But an unexpected grin formed on his face.

It's been a while since battles have felt any challenging. With that he advanced forward through the trees again. But he didn't activate stealth, unless goblins were nearby. But as Jimin advanced, the groups slowly got bigger over time. He even had to face a group of 8 goblins. But he easily handled them all.

Two hours were about to pass. Everything was going well. While Jimin was sitting in ambush for another group, grinning- Damn. This is LP heaven. I've earned around 1400 LP by now. His eyes sharpened. I might even hit 2000 like this. Suddenly, a group of 7 goblins appeared out of the fog. But his grin disappeared, as he spotted a new type of goblin among them. It was wearing a black robe, with a skull in its hand. Goblin shaman! I heard those throw curses and buff the others. He narrowed his eyes.

I should take that one out first. With that Jimin shot his daggers at the shaman first. Making quick work of that and the others after. Then, he collected the cores and started stretching. This stealth attack strategy is really great. But I'm about to hit my resource limits. At that moment, a sudden realization hit him. Wait… My party members should already be out of steam. No wonder they have been slowing down. They are already lagging behind... They might even run into these shaman bastards any time. This is bad.

His eyes sharpened instantly. I said I would meet them in 2 hours. I better head back now. With that Jimin immediately set out to return to his party.

Jimin was almost about to reach his party. He had been tracking Yuna, sensing the mark. At some point, she had stopped moving. His brows furrowed slightly. Strange… They haven't been moving at all for a minute. I don't feel like she's in any danger either. Are they resting? As he moved a little further, the fog began to thin slightly, and the faint outline of a path became visible ahead. At the same time, he detected multiple human presences clustered together. So, there they are. Jimin sighed.

He immediately switched back to his casual gear. And a faint smirk formed on his face. Maybe I should prank them a little. His footsteps were already silent, thanks to the boots. So, he slowly approached them from behind a tree. He could hear them chattering, while resting on the ground. Then suddenly- "BOO-" Jimin shouted, as he jumped out from behind the tree. But unexpectedly nobody reacted. Instead, he was welcomed with an arrow pointed at him by Hye-Jin with a grin.

"What the-" he murmured. Suddenly, the entire party burst into laughter.

"Got you," Gun-woo said between laughs.

"Hye-jin sensed you the moment you got close," Min-ji added. Jimin scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"Oh… I see." Hye-jin lowered her bow, still smiling slightly. Jimin cleared his throat.

"Anyways… why are you guys sitting here?" he asked casually.

"Ran out of steam?"

"Of course. Why? You didn't?" Yuna replied.

"Obviously," he replied smoothly.

"That's why I came back." Yuna narrowed her eyes slightly. Jimin coughed lightly and looked away..

"What about your potions?"

"Already took them. We are taking a break just in case," said Min-su. Already? Well, I do have a bigger resource pool than them.

"Good decision. Rest up well then. We will run into a group with a shaman soon," said Jimin. That got everyone's attention.

"Really?" Gun-woo frowned.

"Damnit… then take that thing out first, Jimin."

"Yeah," Jimin nodded.

"I will." Hye-jin's gaze sharpened.

"How do you know that a shaman will appear?" she asked.

"You ran into one before coming here?" Jimin was a bit taken aback by the question.

"N-no. I was hiding behind bushes," he replied quickly.

"Saw a group of seven from afar. But didn't engage. I was already out of gas."

"Oh," she murmured, as she shook her head. But didn't press further. Then, Jimin sat down and leaned against a tree.

"I'll rest for a bit as well." Everyone nodded. I should use this time to meditate a bit. No need to waste potions or reserves for now. Then, Jimin started meditating.

After resting, the party continued their advance. As warned, the group with a shaman had appeared. And as planned, they wiped all of them out. Then, they kept advancing. And after half an hour, they had finally managed to reach the boss's lair. But everyone seemed to be in bad shape. Yu-jun exhaled heavily.

"I don't think I can continue anymore." Min-su nodded immediately.

"Yeah. Me too." Then, everyone surrendered one by one. But Jimin felt a bit annoyed by the whole situation. He clenched his fist slightly.

"We're right outside the boss's lair," he said.

"Do we really have to head back now?" His voice carried a hint of frustration. Yu-jun looked at him.

"I get it," he said calmly.

""I am pissed too. But this isn't an F-Rank Rift." His gaze became serious..

"The boss is a Goblin Chief. And there will be a horde of mobs. Archers. Shamans." He shook his head.

"We're not in a condition to fight that." Jimin stayed silent.

"And we're running out of time," Yu-jun continued.

"There's only about thirty minutes left. We won't make it back in time if we push further." Jimin let out a big sigh. He's right… I'm also low on resources. And stealth won't work here. His gaze sharpened. I'll have to fight head on… I can't easily deal with all the monsters alone. And definitely not if I have to watch their backs. This wasn't a test of ability. It was about adaptability and endurance. I should come back with more preparation.

"Yeah… you're right." A faint smile appeared on his face.

"And honestly… we're probably the only party that made it this far. So we should be satisfied with that." The mood shifted slightly. Everyone agreed with satisfaction.

"Let's come back later," he said.

"With proper preparation…" A grin formed on his face.

"And clear it." That lit a spark among the party.

"Yeah!"

"Let's do that!" The party cheered lightly.

"Alright," Yuna said.

"Let's head back." Everyone nodded in unison. And just like that- The party's raid came to an end. And together, they finally headed back for the Rift exit.