Alan swiftly traversed the destroyed landscape with the aid of the Quick Step spell, though Rose remained in the lead. As he noticed her come to a halt just beyond the ruined terrain—standing before the goblins, her sword ablaze, he slowed his pace, releasing the mana enveloping him. Stopping beside her, he shouted, "That was reckless!”

  Rose turned to look at Alan with a smug look. "It was. Maybe kids should stay out of the battlefield then."

  She is still messing with me over that comment, really? Alan said to himself as he looked at her with a frustrated expression. Before he could say anything, two hobgoblins charged at him with a high-pitched scream.

  Alan moved his sword in a swift motion, cutting off both goblins who jumped at him into two with a single, swift horizontal strike that was targeted at their core.

  "Does slicing through their core while killing them let you steal more mana?" Rose asked, pointing at the exposed goblin core with the index finger of her left hand.

  "I wouldn't call it stealing," Alan replied with furrowed eyebrows. "It's more like absorbing their mana, and putting it to good use."

  "And that is what I call stealing," Rose replied in a sarcastic tone with narrowed, uninterested eyes .

  "It actually—" Alan began to speak, but before he could complete his sentence, he was cut off by Rose.

  "Quick Step," she said, as she dashed toward a group of goblins, slashing them one by one with her flaming sword.

  She didn't even wait for my answer, idiot kid! Alan said to himself as he himself entered the fight with a quick dash toward the goblins. He sliced through the forces of goblins as if they were butter, making sure to cut each and every hobgoblin’s core.

  Ferrust's ability, Lifesteal, worked at its best when exposed to a high density of mana. In the case of humans, it was their heart, while in the case of monsters, it was their mana core. That's why Alan tended to slice small monsters at their core. This method helped him absorb roughly half of the monster’s mana.

  "I should have enough mana for Inferno now," Alan mumbled to himself, his eyes locking onto a Goblin King that stood slightly behind the horde, surrounded by several hobgoblins forming a protective circle.

  Alan was reminded of a lesson he had learned from Alisa when he was new to adventuring.

  "The best way to kill a Goblin King is to kill its minions first," Alisa had told Alan with a calm, confident expression.

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  "Isn't a Goblin King supposed to be an A-rank monster on its own?" Alan had questioned her with a doubtful look.

  Alisa had nodded at Alan’s reply. "That's true, but if you don't kill the goblins and hobgoblins that surround it, it would be way tougher than an A-rank monster," she had replied. "A Goblin King has dominion over any goblin that is within twenty steps from it."

  "I understand. Separate and kill it, since it can control any goblin within a certain range, "Alan had replied. "But…"

  "But what, kiddo?" Alisa had questioned with a curious look on her face.

  "Why are you telling this to me? I'm not even a B-rank adventurer."

  "Ahh, about that… I have some work to do. Go practice with Ais or Blake," Alisa had replied, waving her hand and escaping the room.

  "Yeah, she definitely messed up that day," Alan mumbled as a smile spread across his face. "Separate and kill… Do I have the luxury of fighting the Goblin King alone though?" Alan questioned as a group of hobgoblins rushed toward him.

  "Fireball," Alan mumbled, raising his left hand, launching a huge fireball in the goblins' direction.

  The fireball was sufficient to kill most of the hobgoblins in the group, but a few survived its impact. Standing up with their bloodied bodies, they rushed toward Alan in one final attempt to kill him.

  They don't know when to quit, Alan said to himself. "Fire Bolt," he mumbled, casting three Fire Bolt spells in quick succession. Each spell targeted the goblins’ chests, killing them in an instant, providing an immediate death.

  I have to do something about their numbers first, Alan thought to himself. He glanced toward Rose, who was already carving a path for herself. He looked at the hundreds of goblin corpses that lay around her. "She sure is capable," Alan mumbled with admiration. Though I think I should do my part and decrease their numbers before engaging with that damn Goblin King, Alan thought, shifting his sword to his left hand.

  "Fire Affinity Projection Magic, Blazing Spears," he said, raising his right arm, his palm straightened and condensed red colored aura emitted from it. The sky brightened as, one by one, numerous spears began to emerge from thin air, each bearing a red, blazing, lava-like texture.

  The goblins in front, sensing the impending danger, rushed toward Alan in desperation. Yet he remained unmoved, confident in his spell, a smirk spreading across his lips.

  "This should suffice," Alan mumbled, halting the projection spell as he gazed at the sky, admiring the hundreds of spears he had forged from his mana.

  The hobgoblins' high-pitched battle cry rang sharply in Alan’s ears, yet he paid it no heed—after all, the goblins who had charged at him and those who had dared stand in his way were already dead.

  "Fall," Alan commanded in a deep, cold voice, his face now void of expression.

  The spears hovered briefly before plunging downward in an instant, piercing numerous goblins. Some were struck through the core, others through the torso, and some in the abdomen. Regardless of where they landed, the flaming projectiles burned through from within, sealing their fate. A few goblins who didn’t die immediately attempted to remove the spears, only for their hands to melt and fuse to the scorching projectile.

  "And that should buy me some time to face the Goblin King," Alan said coldly, his gaze fixed on the goblin corpses, which now resembled scarecrows.