Fantasy Lord: I Have a Moving Castle

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Slaying the Bear Goblin

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Slaying the Bear Goblin

In the forest, a blindingly red glow kept circling the Bear Goblin incessantly.

The Bear Goblin swung its nail head hammer creating a fierce wind, but it simply couldn’t keep up with the red glow. Instead, its wounds increased one after another under the continuous assault of the Lantern Firefly.

Though the Red Glow’s damage seemed insignificant at first, it was like a festering ulcer, spreading its burn ever wider and impossible to extinguish. Initially, there were only a few clusters of vivid red flames, but by now, they had grown to the size of a palm.

It not only singed the hair off in those areas but also burned through the skin and charred the flesh beneath, burning deeper into the tissue. If left untreated, there was no doubt the Red Glow would burn down to the bone.

At first, the Bear Goblin could ignore the pain, but now it was becoming increasingly unbearable.

Even with its limited intelligence, the Bear Goblin understood that its situation was dire.

So, amidst an angry roar, it activated its failproof skill— “Bloodthirst”.

A surge of blood red ascended, and the Bear Goblin’s dull, yellowish eyes instantly turned blood red.

At the same time, the muscles all over its body began to swell, instantly increasing its size. Even its canine teeth grew substantially; every single one of its hairs exuded an aura of bloodlust.

But the increase in size didn’t slow down the Bear Goblin.

On the contrary, it moved even faster.

Under the “Bloodthirst” state, another skill, “Hammer Strike”, was immediately activated!

The crimson spread, and the nail head hammer brutally plunged towards the Lantern Firefly.

Even though the Lantern Firefly had braced itself, the sudden increase in the Bear Goblin’s speed caught it somewhat off guard.

However, being an agile Insect Warrior, it ultimately dodged the attack by a hair’s breadth, thanks to its swift reaction.

But the skill’s attack was something entirely different from a normal hammer strike. Although the nail head hammer didn’t hit the Lantern Firefly directly, when it smashed into the ground, it sent out a blood-colored shockwave.

The blood-colored ripples flung the Lantern Firefly out.

The Bear Goblin exhaled two streams of blood-colored breath from its nose. Its vile, ugly face showed a bloodthirsty grin as it pulled out the nail head hammer and started to chase after the Lantern Firefly.

But just then, a dazzling golden light burst forth ahead, and it was much more blinding than the midday sun, like numerous Light Swords piercing the Bear Goblin’s eyes.

The intense burning sensation tormented the Bear Goblin’s eyes, and it let out a pained scream, instinctively covering its eyes with its arms.

But the next second, excruciating pain shot through its eyes, and the Bear Goblin’s screams of agony were abruptly cut short.

Looking down from a tree branch, Char breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the Bear Goblin fall with a crash.

The combination skill unleashed by the Lantern Firefly and the Star Worm was indeed failproof, not guaranteed against higher-level Demon Beasts, but against enemies of the same level as the Lantern Firefly, it had a perfect record.

The Star Worm quickly landed on the Bear Goblin’s corpse to hasten the absorption of strength.

Char glanced at Betty, who had relaxed on his shoulder, and suddenly had an idea.

“Betty, if I take the Bear Goblin’s hammer, can it track us through the hammer?”

For safety’s sake, he had intended not to take any trophies, because he wasn’t sure if the Bear Goblin could trace them through the nail head hammer’s scent.

But now, with Betty, a native, at his side, he at least could ask for an opinion.

“No, Bear Goblin’s noses aren’t that sensitive.”

Char felt relieved and quickly asked the Lantern Firefly to bring over the nail head hammer as well.

The Lantern Firefly was much smaller in size compared to the nail head hammer. The sight of the tiny Lantern Firefly flying through the air, holding a gigantic nail head hammer in one hand, looked utterly unscientific, defying physics and common sense, and even somewhat comical.

But with a strength of 25 points, it wasn’t surprising that the Lantern Firefly could lift the nail head hammer.

The group quickly left, and without any delay, they moved once again after returning to the carriage.

Fortunately, all of Char’s belongings were on the carriage, making it convenient to transfer; otherwise, it would have taken more time.

Watching Old Ma struggle to pull the carriage, Char couldn’t help feeling anxious.

The horse pulling the carriage was really too old, and it was slow to begin with. Moreover, with the recent increase in the number of items on the carriage, the weight had significantly increased, making it even slower.

In a situation like this, where danger had been detected in advance and a preemptive move was possible, it was manageable. However, if they were to suddenly encounter danger and needed to make an urgent transfer, then they would be in trouble.

Who could they outrun?

But there was no other way for him to improve this problem, the “power” of the Mobile Castle was fixed. Unless upgraded, there was no way to enhance the “power system” of the castle.

In other words, even if he were to get a second horse before the carriage was upgraded, it couldn’t be used to pull the carriage.

Therefore, to increase the mobility speed of the castle, Char could only hope for an upgrade to the castle itself.

After leaving the Lantern Firefly outside to keep watch, Char turned and entered the carriage.

He first expended a strand of Praying Power to exchange for a bottle of wound medicine, but this potion was made from crushed herbs, rather than a Magic Potion.

In fact, if he used a Prayer Fragment to make a prayer, he could have received a better healing concoction, such as a bottle of “Basic Healing Potion.”

If it was a Basic Healing Potion, Betty only needed to take a sip, and the wounds on her wings would heal rapidly.

However, Betty’s injuries were not life-threatening, so there was no need to use a Basic Healing Potion; regular wound medicine could also cure her injuries, though the healing time would be longer.

The key point was, didn’t he want to recruit Betty to join the team?

Of course, he couldn’t heal her injuries right away.

If he healed her immediately, what if she just flew away the moment she got better?

The healing needed to be gradual.

Recruiting also had to be subtle and gradual, like a spring breeze that nourishes silently.

Otherwise, without having built up any rapport, if her injuries were healed right away, would she not just leave?

Moreover, with the “Bear Goblin” crisis looming, how could he afford to waste a Prayer Fragment on a bottle of Basic Healing Potion?

The best way to resolve the “Bear Goblin crisis” was to continue recruiting Magic Pets. As long as he could recruit a Magic Pet with a Challenge Level of 4 or higher, the crisis could be resolved immediately.

Although the chances of recruiting a Magic Pet with a Challenge Level of 4 or higher were slim, if one prayer didn’t work, then he would try twice; if twice didn’t work, then ten times. If ten times didn’t work, then a hundred times!

Eventually, he would be able to recruit one.

What’s more, even if he was unable to recruit a Magic Pet with a Challenge Level of 4 or higher, there was no need to pray a hundred times.

Praying ten times would give him enough strength to resolve the “Bear Goblin crisis.”

Lantern Fireflies, Star Worms, Betty, and he himself already constituted a considerable force. With ten more Magic Pets, even if his luck was bad and the average Challenge Level of the pets recruited was only Level 1, it would still be enough to cope with the crisis.