Rather than make it known to the goblins that he'd already spotted them, Ronan decided to play the fool. He wanted to test his healing capabilities in this iteration, after all, and what better way to do that than to get injured?

Breaking out from behind the tree that covered his back, he rushed forwards, making a beeline towards the goblin archer who'd initially fired at him. As soon as he left cover, he spotted at least 3 'hidden' goblins breaking from their hiding spots and rushing through the underbrush to intercept his charge.

Conjuring a shortsword in his right hand, Ronan began to form a mana bolt in his left. Being a healer didn't mean he had to be passive.

The archer had quick reactions and had already fired two more arrows at him before he crossed half the distance between them. Avoiding them wasn't much of a hassle, but it did put him closer to the nearest ambushing goblin.

A gnarled little monster covered in leaves and mud erupted from the thick brambles at his feet. It clutched a dagger in its grimy hands, blade on a course for his throat. An unintelligible screech was its attempt at a battle cry, but it ended up doing more damage than its ineffectual strike.

Ronan let the mana bolt fly, the magic bullet tearing through space and bursting in the goblin's face. He heard a scream, but didn't stop to admire the results. Taking out the archer was his first priority.

Unfortunately the stubborn green gits were intent on stopping his rush. Another volley of arrows tore through the forest. He danced around the first few, before realising they were being fired from three disparate locations. Multiple archers.

Knowing this fight was going to be a pain in the arse, he redoubled his speed. By now he was just a few metres away from the ranger in the trees. It seemed to realise there was no use standing still, throwing its bow over its shoulder and bending its legs to leap away. Ronan grinned, knowing it was too late.

However, right as he jumped to catch the ranger another goblin erupted from the underbrush. It had a long spear clutched in its grubby hands, the tip arcing towards his hip at lightning speed.

For all their negative qualities, goblins could be rapid when they wanted to be. Ronan was committed to his leap, so he decided to ignore the spear-wielding warrior in favour of ensuring the ranger's demise.

It jumped from the branch right as he grabbed hold of it. Hauling himself up with a second burst of strength, Ronan flew after the goblin and reached out his left hand. It just about touched the goblin's ankle. Closing his fingers around the bony limb, he activated stone grip.

Once it was in his grasp there was no escape. He yanked downwards with his left hand and thrust the sword in his right up into the falling goblin's crown jewels. Whether it was a male or female goblin, or if the ugly little green things had the same stuff as humans, he didn't know nor care. All he needed was the spray of blood, the scream of pain, and the chime that signaled its death.

A burning pain down his left leg snapped his focus back to the battle around him. The spear goblin had sliced a nasty gash down his thigh, from hip to knee, as he'd jumped after the archer. Reaching down towards his leg, he was suddenly forced to flatten himself against the branch as a fresh salvo of arrows whizzed towards him. Once he had a breath's time, he reached down again and used suture wound.

His mana drained, but he felt the torn skin pulling towards itself and sealing the gash closed. His health still ticked down slowly, the bleeding not quite stemmed, and the pain throbbed gently. He paid special attention to how the mana flowed from his heart and into the wound as the skill was used, as that was what he hoped to repeat.

After that he used minor heal. The sensation was similar to the restoration of leveling up, but on a far lesser scale. A warm tingling feeling spread through his thigh as his mana flowed from his fingers to his wound.

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Unfortunately the mana was much harder to follow with the second skill, the one he most wanted to copy for himself. Nonetheless, it was only his first application and he was sure there would be many more opportunities in the near future.

Glancing down, he noticed the spear goblin was attempting to climb the tree he was resting in. The foolish creature had signed its death warrant.

Ronan walked down the branch towards the trunk, causing the spear-wielding goblin to climb faster and screech towards the other archers. As he drew near he made a show of pretending to kick out and knock its hands off the trunk. Once it was distracted, he suddenly dropped off the branch, conjuring a dagger to replace the shortsword in his right hand.

While falling, he thrust out and dragged the magic blade down the goblin's spine, from nape to waist. A shower of blood splashed across the grass and brambles, eliciting a hideous screech from the wounded goblin. It fell from the trunk to the ground, where it died convulsing.

Two down, at least four to go.

Another arrow whizzed past his ear, close enough to draw blood. Ronan decided then and there that his next target would be the little fucker who'd shot it at him. Checking the underbrush, he took note of the hidden goblins and began running in the direction of the offending arrow.

Within four strides he had the rogue archer in sight, but yet another pest threw itself at him from the side. This time Ronan was prepared, another mana bolt already in hand. With a flick of his finger the bolt screamed through the sky and exploded against the goblin's chest.

The chime rang in his ears as he raced past the falling corpse. The archer took advantage of the moment of chaos to fire another arrow between his eyes. Ronan wanted to make an impression, so rather than dodging and giving the rogue time to escape, he simply spent some money.

With wealth, all things were possible.

A barrier shimmered to life between his browbone and the racing arrow. The sharpened tip struck the barrier, before bouncing off harmlessly. His credits dipped down a little, but the cost was far less than he'd expected. Weak ass goblins. A smirk slipped onto Ronan's face as he neared his target.

The archer was hiding behind a tree trunk, attempting to slip him. It was futile. Once Ronan had the hideous creature in his sights its fate was sealed.

He blasted the trunk with another mana bolt. The penetrating power of his spell continued to improve the more he refined it. With every bolt, he was able to compress the mana further, and direct the blast into a smaller area of effect.

Splinters and chunks of bark sprayed across the forest, followed by a shrill screech. Unfortunately the lack of a notification meant his opening strike had failed. It was to be expected, with the tree in the way. Three large strides carried him to the crawling monster, clutching at a bleeding hole in its stomach.

A single well placed kick to the head ended it. Ronan leapt to the side as soon as his strike landed, right as a spear tore through the space his abdomen had occupied an instant before.

Spinning to face the new attacker, he cracked a smile. The tag floating above the warrior's head told him he was about to earn some great loot.

[Elite Goblin Warrior Lv.27]

Only one more archer remained, along with a weaker goblin warrior who was rushing to join the fray. Ronan didn't want the elite to get its reinforcements, so he struck like lightning.

As the warrior pulled its spear back and dropped its stance, he used gust. The sudden windforce knocked the monster off balance. Ronan stepped into its guard.

With how weak the uncommon skill was, the goblin quickly regained its stride. However, he was already up in its face, far too close for its long spear to be effective.

Two rapid jabs to the jaw and chest sent it reeling. A tooth flew to the right. His arm shot out, wrapping around the goblin's head. In a single fluid motion he ripped it towards him while slamming his knee upwards.

A satisfying crack echoed through the forest clearing as its nose exploded against his knee. The spear fell from its hands. Wanting to test something, he lunged forward for the killing blow, using surging strikes, but limiting it to just one hit.

The goblin's neck snapped as its head flew backwards, killing it instantly. There was no time to check the notification for confirmation of his experiment, but that was fine.

Another arrow tore through the trees towards him, on a low flight. Leaping upwards, he avoided being hit. As he landed he caught a flash of light on steel.

Reinforcements had arrived late to the party, but now he was caught in a pincer. With an acrobatic twist of his hips, he ducked under the swinging blade, but the warrior pushed forwards, slamming a shield up and into his chest.

The wind was blown from his lungs. He felt something thud into his thigh. Another sword swing arced through the air towards his neck.

"Enough, you little fuckers!"

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