Right after they'd exited the monster cave, Rudeia had started to feel a little dizzy. Being seated at the foot of a tree, he was being looked after by Roxanne, but that did not help his racing heartbeat. Audrey and Charlotte were also concerned about him, but since they were still just outside the dungeon, the two were busy with lookout instead of checking on him as well.
Holding his hand and casting minor heal, Roxanne tried to rid Rudy's ailment, and although it helped a little with his stomach, the proximity of their bodies was still turning him red. Forcing himself to get up, he swung his arms in an arc and took long, deep breaths to appear as if he'd already gotten better.
That lie was far from convincing, but the party had to leave before the goblins arrived, and so nobody pressed the matter further. Their time to check up on him will come later; for now, they had to get to a safer place. Thus, allowing Roxanne to retake charge, the group decided to make their way back to the village.
However, at the very first step by Roxanne, the sound of snapping twigs came to them from the direction opposite to the dungeon's entrance. Quickly glancing at each other, they looked for an order for what to do next from whoever might have a plan. Unfortunately for them, the returning goblins had already caught the sound of their beating heart.
"AUGHH!" Suddenly, one of the goblin pack jumped out of the trees with their weapons held high. Their screams gave just enough time for everyone to move out of the strike, but as their gaze turned to the direction of their escape, their bodies froze at the sight of a row of goblins aiming arrows at them with crude branch bows.
"Get back!" Lifting his shield, Rudeia rushed in front of Roxanne. "Get in formation, now!"
Snapping out of their stupor, Audrey and Charlotte rushed next to him with their weapons held tight. One with a dagger in each hand and the other with two elemental longswords. Eyeing everyone as the goblins slowly circled them, their mouths began to drool at the sight of the fine women.
A leopard demi-human with bandages tied to her chest for a top and a baggy pair of pants with four swords hanging to the sides. Her tail was stiff and curled around the other two blades, as she was keeping a close eye on the goblins. Being the highest level of them all, she was the only threat in the goblins' eyes.
Audrey, on the other hand, was much smaller, and her attire was all the more reason for the goblins to try their hands on her. Wearing a dark leather bra that barely hid her medium-sized breasts and pairing it with netted stockings, a short skirt that gave off the curve of her rear, and dark panties whose strings rode above her skirt and rested on her waist, she was, in their eyes, practically inviting them to breed her in their cave.
Pitching a tent in their tunics and laughing to themselves, the goblins readied their arrows and other weapons. Ready to shoot and strike at the first order given by their leader, a much larger red goblin holding a massive club and only wearing a rugged tunic at his waist.
Smiling, he approached the group from the back and held his weapon to Rudeia's face.
"Give girl me, you go no fighting…" Making his offer, he smirked and awaited a response from the apparent leader of their group.
"We can take them, Rudy," Charlotte muttered, not paying mind to what the goblin had just said.
"Y-yeah…" Holding his shield tighter, the hero took a deep breath and screamed. "AGHHHH!!"
Ramming the shield into the leader, he knocked him off his feet, and while everyone was stuck with shock, he swung the shield in an arc to knock the arrows out of the crude bows of the goblin. Seizing that moment, Audrey the rogue, reached into her pocket and took out a spidersilk bomb.
"Everyone run!" Throwing it at her feet, the fox girl flooded their surroundings with smoke. Grabbing Roxanne's hand, she helped her run. Meanwhile, the same goblins that Rudy had knocked the bows out of were trying to pry the shield out of his hand.
Unaware that he was held down by those monsters, everyone ran through the mist. And although Rudy's energy was fading and he was down on his luck, turning his head to where he'd knocked the red goblin, he unbuckled the shield from his hand and reached for his blade instead. Raising it high while the monsters fell backwards from the loss of struggling from his side, he aimed right for their leader's neck and cut it right in half.
Unfortunately for him, however, as the blood of the red goblin began gushing out, he realized that his blade had snapped in half. Without his shield and the sword, his body and mind both froze with fear.
"Damn it!" In that brief moment before further panic set in, he was reminded of Audrey's suggestion to buy better equipment. But that would matter no more as the next thing he knew, something rock hard hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out before the pain could even manifest.
The others, expecting him to follow right behind, kept on running with hopes that the goblins were far behind. Keeping their head straight as even a glance back could be met with a flying arrow or a blade to their face, the girls kept running and running until eventually they realized that something was wrong and that Rudy was missing.
Their hearts dropped in an instant, and no words would come to their mouths. Fear, anxiety and every mix of emotion bubbled inside their heads, but to head right back into the goblin's dungeon to rescue him? That would've been suicide.
"We need to get more people!" Audrey exclaimed, and the others couldn't have agreed more.
A trip back home to get more adventurers, but what was waiting for them, or rather who was waiting for them, was much-much better.