Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

Especially those words that the front desk girl Nia had said.

On the surface, they all sounded like concern—but when carefully savored, not a single sentence felt pleasant!

The intimacy hidden between the lines made Cecilia feel a dull tightness in her chest.

At that moment, as she looked at her Senior standing patiently at the bottom of the slope waiting for her, a bold idea suddenly emerged in her mind.

“Senior, my shoe soles might have worn down a bit these past few days. It’s a little slippery here.”

The girl lowered her head, her voice extremely soft.

“Could you… hold me for a moment?”

There was a trace of expectation hidden in her tone.

But along with it came a small sense of guilt rising in her heart—she felt like she was lying.

“Sure.”Lance didn’t hesitate at all. He directly extended his broad right hand and grasped Cecilia’s slightly cool little hand.

“Then walk down first. Just hold onto me.”

Just as he finished speaking, that familiar blue light screen suddenly popped up on his retina without any warning.

【Demi-Human Half-Elf Research Progress +1】

The corner of Lance’s eye twitched slightly.

Forget it. Let it be destroyed.

He decided to let this broken system do whatever it wanted.

After all, he couldn’t stop this improper thing anyway. Right now, finishing the extermination mission was what mattered.

And just like that, under Lance’s guidance, the two steadily walked down a fairly large slope.

The moment their hands clasped together, Cecilia felt a warmth transmit through their palms.

All the unpleasant feelings she had accumulated in the guild earlier unexpectedly vanished.

She was somewhat surprised to find that the redness that used to appear on her skin when touching Lance had begun to fade recently.

But a subtle longing was taking root deep within her heart—she found herself wanting to continuously maintain physical contact with her Senior.

“There’s a small outpost ahead. About fifteen to twenty Goblins.”

Lance lowered his voice as he explained.

Cecilia nodded obediently, her palms beginning to sweat, her whole body appearing somewhat tense.

In contrast, as Lance switched his arrows, there was a trace of excitement in his eyes.

The time for revenge had finally come.

This was a crude camp built around a natural limestone cave.

Outside the cave entrance, two Goblin scouts responsible for keeping watch were leaning against rocks, dozing off.

This kind of small tribe on the outskirts was completely different from the elite Goblins Lance had encountered before that had been trained under a commander.

They were thin and small, not even equipped with proper weapons.

Lance hid behind a bush and slowly drew his Hazel Short Bow.

Whoosh!

A sharp tearing sound of air rang out.

The arrow precisely pierced through the throat of the Goblin on the left.

Green, foul-smelling blood instantly splattered onto the nearby stone wall.

This sudden change startled the other Goblin that had been dozing. The broken weapon in its hand fell straight to the ground.

It opened its mouth in terror and let out a shrill scream, alerting the Goblins resting inside the cave.

But Lance was faster. The second arrow whistled through the air, directly pinning this Goblin to the ground.

A group of Goblins rushed out of the dark cave, shrieking chaotically.

What greeted them was a third precise cold arrow. The Goblin charging at the very front was sent flying backward by the tremendous force, instantly losing all signs of life.

Lance did not continue shooting.

He calmly slung the short bow behind his back, equipped a Kite Shield on his left hand, and drew a Shortsword with his right.

He strode out of the bushes and charged straight toward the screaming Goblins.

This was a one-sided slaughter.

Clang!

The Goblins’ attacks were weak and feeble—they couldn’t even force Lance to step back half a pace. Aside from leaving a few sparks on the surface of his shield, they achieved nothing.

Lance sneered, his Shortsword thrusting forward, instantly harvesting the life of a green-skinned creature.

This group of Goblins couldn’t even organize the most basic encirclement tactics.

One cunning Goblin tried to circle around from the side for a sneak attack.

Lance didn’t even bother looking.

He suddenly lifted his right leg and kicked the Goblin in front of him square in the chest.

This kick struck directly on the red weak-point light. The sound of bones breaking could be clearly heard.

The Goblin that was kicked flew backward like a bowling ball, crashing precisely into the one attempting the flank. Both monsters were sent flying several meters away, letting out painful wails at the same time.

The crisp sounds of bones breaking echoed continuously across the clearing.

Facing Lance, whose strength and agility had already approached the threshold of the Professional Rank,

this small Goblin tribe was pitifully weak.

The battle could only be described as overwhelming destruction.

【Goblin Research Progress LV2 (31/50)】

During this one-sided slaughter, Lance did not let Cecilia participate, instead having her observe from the rear.

Only when the last remaining Goblin attempted to flee did Lance directly grab its ugly head.

He dragged the creature all the way and threw it in front of Cecilia.

“Try attacking it with a spell.”

Lance looked at the girl, whose face had turned somewhat pale, and guided her patiently.

“I know that facing this kind of humanoid monster for the first time can create some mental barriers.”

“You can just try to injure it first. Take it slowly—we have time.”

The Goblin thrown on the ground seemed to have injured its leg during the dragging.

It let out cries like a child, dragging its broken body as it crawled on the ground, then made a gesture of begging for mercy toward Cecilia.

Cecilia stiffly raised her right hand.

Her face was pale as paper.

The creature before her had a limb structure highly similar to that of a human.

This was completely different from killing those Stone-Shell River Crabs.

A sense of moral burden pressed down on the girl’s heart.

The education she had received since childhood made her instinctively resist taking the life of a humanoid being.

But she still bit down hard on her lower lip, forcing herself to mobilize the aether within her body and begin constructing the spell model of the zero-ring spell 【Thorn Whip】.

Just as the glow of the spell began to light up—

The Goblin lying on the ground wailing keenly sensed the fluctuation of magic.

It realized that this human female had no intention of letting it go.

The pitiful expression on the monster’s face instantly vanished without a trace.

It suddenly sprang up, a sharp stone shard hidden in its hand, and stabbed viciously toward Cecilia’s lower abdomen.

This sudden change made Cecilia cry out in shock.

Facing a life-threatening danger at such close range was something she had never experienced before—when fighting Stone-Shell River Crabs before, she had always attacked from higher ground.

Lance had protected her very well.

In her panic, she instinctively shut her eyes tightly, her mind going completely blank.

One second passed.

The expected pain of flesh being pierced did not come.

Cecilia trembled as she opened her eyes.

In front of her, that ugly Goblin was firmly held suspended in midair.

Lance’s broad left hand was tightly gripping that sharp stone shard.

Even though she was completely unharmed, seeing her Senior block the attack for her with his bare hand made Cecilia feel her heart suddenly clench violently.