As they delved deeper into the cave, the holy light illuminated the passage as bright as day.
Naruto glanced around, noticing that there weren't as many skeletal remains or rusted equipment scattered about as he had imagined.
"Goblins eat people, so the bodies were probably all moved away."
"The remaining bones are probably piled up somewhere."
"As for the equipment, the Goblins would definitely use whatever they could."
As Naruto pondered, the Sword Saintess exclaimed softly, "Naruto, look, another Shaman totem pole."
Naruto cast a glance, pointing to the side of the passage, and calmly explained, "It's just a cunning trick of the Goblin Shaman, setting a memory anchor for people, attracting attention, and then making them overlook certain things it wants to conceal."
The Witch and the Sword Saintess turned their heads to look, and under the holy light, they discovered a hidden opening in the corner of the stone wall.
However, this opening was narrow and cramped, with rough traces of excavation in the dark grey, hard rock, barely wide enough for a child or a slender woman.
adventurers in armor couldn't squeeze through at all.
Naruto said, "It was most likely dug by Goblins as a secret passage to ambush adventurers from behind."
"With bright holy light, it's naturally not difficult to discover, but with the light of torches, plus the attraction of the Shaman totem pole, it's very easy to overlook the opening in the corner."
"adventurers who come in, thinking there are no other paths besides the one they've taken, will let their guard down, lose vigilance, and neglect their defense from behind."
Naruto shook his head, "I'm afraid many adventurers have suffered losses and lost their lives here."
A strange glint flashed in the Witch's beautiful eyes, and she praised, "Young man, you are truly amazing, to understand Goblins so well."
"I've just killed too many of them."
Naruto didn't show any complacency; instead, he said to the Sword Saintess, "Can the Shield of Redemption be cast on the opening?"
"The opening?"
The Sword Saintess was slightly stunned.
Why would a defensive miracle need to "guard" an opening?
"The Shield of Redemption can only be used four times a day, Naruto, are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Alright!"
The Sword Saintess no longer hesitated, raising the balance sword staff and chanting the incantation again: "Lord of Judgment, Wielder of the Sword, Person of the Scales, please protect all beings, let the blade of sin stop before the shield of light."
As the incantation sounded, a miracle descended.
The Sword Saintess's golden ponytail swayed, her holy white priestess robe fluttered without wind, and specks of pale golden light appeared out of thin air, swirling around her graceful body, making her appear even more sacred and inviolable.
When the staff pointed, the pale golden starlight, as if guided, surged like a stream towards the narrow opening, forming a massive light shield.
It looked like it was guarding the opening.
In reality...
The Witch said with a sudden realization, "So that's it."
"The light shield, like a wall, blocks the opening."
"It can prevent Goblins from flanking and ambushing."
She looked at the Sword Saintess with a half-smile.
"If the supreme god knew, would He revoke your miracle?"
"He shouldn't, the supreme god isn't that petty, right?" the Sword Saintess mumbled softly, her voice growing less confident as she spoke.
Naruto asked, "How long does the Shield of Redemption last?"
The Sword Saintess replied, "If it doesn't receive a strong attack, the Shield of Redemption can last for half an hour. If it's attacked, the duration will shorten."
"Basically, it can defend against one attack from a Gold-Grade Adventurer."
"That's enough."
Naruto said calmly, his hand resting on the hilt of the ninja sword tucked diagonally behind his back, as he walked straight towards another opening.
He was ready for battle, as he could already faintly smell a hint of blood.
Soon, the three stopped, their faces filled with shock.
Naruto and the two women saw a hellish scene.
Blood everywhere!
Everywhere were the marks of blades and swords from combat.
The air was heavily permeated with a pungent, nauseating smell of blood.
Seven or eight Goblins surrounded something, their ugly faces twisted, excited, and frenzied, emitting piercing, strange laughter.
Not far away, a Goblin was using a rusted dagger to stab a corpse, "splish," "splish," splashing blood and mangling the flesh.
A larger, more burly Big Goblin impatiently pushed the Goblin aside, extended its large hand, grabbed the corpse's foot, and dragged it deeper into the cave.
At this moment, the sudden light stunned all the Goblins.
The Goblins, accustomed to the dark cave, experienced a temporary blinding effect due to the holy light's illumination.
They all squinted their dull, murky yellow eyes in unison.
At this moment.
Shinigami came!
Naruto formed a hand seal and cast the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"Puff, puff, puff."
White mist billowed, and four Shadow Clones appeared.
Before the Sword Saintess and the Witch could react, Naruto and three Shadow Clones, some holding kunai, some throwing shuriken, some drawing ninja swords, charged straight over to kill them.
One Shadow Clone was left behind to protect the two women and simultaneously guard against surprise attacks from behind, just in case.
"Whoosh!"
First came the sound of shuriken cutting through the air.
Having killed so many Goblins, Naruto had already trained his throwing technique to the [Mastery] level.
Each shuriken was like it had eyes.
Not only could they carve out unpredictable and hard-to-anticipate trajectories in mid-air, but their accuracy was also greatly improved, basically hitting the throat for a fatal blow, with no "sword" missing its mark!
Only a few "thud, thud, thud" sounds were heard.
Whether there were seven or eight Goblins, all of them died!!
What if some weren't completely dead?
No problem.
There was a dedicated Shadow Clone responsible for finishing them off, letting them enjoy the pleasure of a kunai through the throat one last time.
Two Big Goblins remained.
Naruto and one Shadow Clone, one for each.
The Big Goblins squinted their eyes, gradually adapting to the holy light's illumination, their vision slowly recovering from the blinding white.
As it began to see things a bit more clearly, it noticed a dark shadow attacking.
Immediately following was an intense pain in its throat, sweeping through its entire body!
Naruto leaped up, gripping the hilt with both hands, and plunged the sharp ninja sword into the Big Goblin.
With a "thwack" sound.
The ninja sword fiercely pierced through the Big Goblin's throat, white blade in, red blade out.
Naruto's feet landed on the Big Goblin's shoulders, his hands firmly gripping the hilt, he forcefully pulled out the ninja sword, then gave a strong push, his body leaping backward, flipping in mid-air, and landing steadily.
Clean and precise, without any hesitation!
He went straight for the kill!!
"Hiss, hiss, hiss----"
The Big Goblin was horrified, its throat bleeding profusely, no matter how it tried to cover it with its hands, the blood spurted like a fountain, and life drained away like a tide, its massive body falling backward stiffly to the ground.
Another Shadow Clone, holding a kunai, also leaped up, but he plunged the kunai into the eye of the remaining Big Goblin.
The Big Goblin cried out in pain and went berserk, swinging the corpse in its hand wildly.
The Shadow Clone dodged nimbly and delivered a few more kunai, only then did the Big Goblin unwillingly fall to the ground.
At this point, only one Goblin remained—the Goblin Shaman.
It was responsible for casting magic, so it stood further away, and its vision recovered the fastest.
When the Goblin Shaman rubbed its eyes and its vision fully returned, it saw the "purgatory" scene before it and was utterly stunned.
Dead!
All of them dead!!