Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Tutorial (3)
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Goblins were weak and cowardly monsters.
However, goblins lived in packs ranging from a few to several dozen strong, and the larger the group, the more aggressive and bold they became in proportion.
There were plenty of cases where overconfident rookies charged in thinking goblins were pushovers, only for their entire mercenary band to get wiped out.
"Mercenaries who want to do this job are running from goblins?!"
But even such goblin packs were still just goblins at the end of the day.
They had a habit of avoiding fights and fleeing if the enemy looked stronger or outnumbered them.
Chris had probably planned to bring a bunch of mercenaries and scare the goblins into running.
In fact, that was the normal progression in the tutorial, with the goblins fleeing first.
However, because a few mercenaries had bolted first, the goblins now saw the mercenaries as a weaker group than themselves.
Goblins were timid and cautious, but extremely aggressive toward opponents they deemed weaker.
"Hold your positions, the rest of you!"
Chris, who had been barking orders at the mercenaries, finally drew his sword and stepped forward.
The approaching goblin warrior sensed that Chris, standing before it, was the enemy leader and let out a threatening screech.
"Kyaaak!"
"Tch... The morning fortune said my luck was shit..."
The goblin pack wasn't much, but the goblin warrior that appeared as the tutorial boss was a monster over level 10.
It was impossible for level 1 mercenaries on a tutorial mission to handle properly, so Chris had no choice but to take it on himself.
The goblin warrior that closed in swung the wooden club it held.
The simple attack flying at Chris was easily dodged with a single step back, but the club whistled through the air with a chilling whoosh.
The watching mercenaries felt a chill down their spines at the ferocious swing, which they couldn't imagine coming from a mere goblin.
If they pictured that blow coming at them, none felt confident they could handle it.
Even Chris couldn't just tank those attacks head-on, so he backpedaled to evade while guiding the direction, gradually putting some distance between himself and the other mercenaries.
"Just huddle up and hold! The little ones get too scared to charge if there are enough of you!"
There was a fairly widespread tip in the tutorial about deliberately engaging the goblin warrior for the experience points, so Ian had seen Chris fight plenty of times.
At least he didn't have to worry about Chris losing.
But in the meantime, the other goblin packs were closing in on the mercenaries.
"Just hold until I take this guy down!"
Chris's shout rang out, but the mercenaries facing the approaching goblins didn't move decisively.
They called themselves mercenaries, but most had been simple farmers or laborers until yesterday.
Chris's orders sounded simple, but for these total greenhorns experiencing their first monster fight, it wasn't easy.
Their resolve was strong, but cold sweat trickled down their backs.
A heavy pressure was spreading among the mercenaries.
"Um... Captain."
Ian felt someone lightly tugging his sleeve and turned his head.
Rin, with a panicked look, gazed up at him and whispered.
"What should we do? The mood's bad..."
Not just Rin— the other mercenaries were glancing around, gauging each other.
It hadn't happened yet, but if one more started running, the rest would surely follow.
This was nothing like the tutorial battle Ian had expected.
The tutorial was just a short fight to teach basic combat controls.
There had never been a situation where allies panicked and fled.
"Wouldn't it be better if we all retreated together?"
"...No. See that?"
Ian pointed to the red flag hanging on the hut the goblins had surrounded.
"That's a signal from the people working here. They hid in the hut and raised it."
The hut at the forest entrance was visible from the city walls, so they used flags like this to send messages when needed.
The mercenaries had arrived promptly because the walls had spotted the rescue signal from the goblin escapees.
"If it was just goblins, they could barricade the door and hold out... but that's there."
Ian pointed to the goblin warrior, far larger than the others.
The goblins alone couldn't break the sturdy hut door, but with that thing, he couldn't guarantee the safety of those inside.
Rin's face darkened; even hearing that, she couldn't suggest running.
In the meantime, the goblins drew closer, and the mercenaries' agitation grew.
"...Wait here a sec."
Ian told Rin to stay put and headed toward the still-confused mercenary group.
To clear this game, he had to repel several massive monster invasions heading for the city.
He couldn't guarantee success, but it wasn't impossible.
Even with the mode jacking up the difficulty, Ian had cleared this difficulty multiple times.
With years of strategy guide experience, he was confident his knowledge of the game surpassed anyone's.
But if even the tutorial—the very start—didn't go as planned, what use was all that knowledge?
He couldn't even stop the first invasion, let alone the final defense.
Games with so many random elements were often dismissed as pure luck, but what really mattered for clearing was momentum.
A good start snowballed into gains, but a bad one triggered domino losses.
When an unwanted situation arose, since he couldn't rewind it, he had to ride the flow naturally and squeeze out the best gains.
Riding that unpredictable flow required nothing but the instinctive sense honed by long experience.
If he wanted to clear this game, Ian had to make it happen himself.
"Hey! Everyone, over here! Line up on this mark!"
Ian stepped in front of the mercenaries, who had been slowly backpedaling from the approaching goblins, and drew a line on the ground.
"Shields up front! Three behind each shield! You with the spear, over here!"
Ian positioned the mercenaries in the exact formation they would have used if the tutorial had gone normally.
Veteran mercenaries might have ignored a random guy's orders, but these clueless rookies hesitated, then started taking positions now that someone was stepping up to lead.
"Don't advance first— when they're close, thrust from where you stand!"
As the mercenaries thrust spears and blades forward behind their shields, the approaching goblins halted.
No matter how fierce goblins got, they only rampaged against easy prey.
They lacked the courage to charge into blades right in their faces.
The goblins hesitated to approach the gleaming sharp edges aimed at them, and the mercenaries gradually regained their confidence.
If someone had started running, everyone would have followed, but now that a group fight atmosphere had formed, breaking away alone wasn't easy.
With the solid standoff between goblins and mercenaries secured as planned, Ian turned to find Rin.
He spotted her hesitating near the other group and beckoned her over.
"Rin!"
"Yes! Where should I go?"
"No, forget that— you're good at throwing rocks, right?"
"Huh? Did I even mention that?"
Ian knew because he'd checked her traits beforehand in selecting her, but Rin couldn't recall spilling such trivial details and looked flustered.
Rin's [Throwing] skill, which boosted accuracy, was D-rank—enough to reliably hit most early-game monsters even with thrown objects.
Though it fell off later due to lack of worthwhile throwables, it was incredibly versatile in the beginning.
Ian pointed to Chris, battling the goblin warrior off to the side.
Without a tank to hold aggro up front, Chris was retreating from the continuous attacks and poking back in brief openings, slowly accumulating damage.
"You throw rocks at that goblin from behind!"
"Huh? What if it gets mad?!"
"That's the point!"
Rin paled at the order to hurl stones at the massive goblin warrior that made her knees weak just looking at it.
In the meantime, Ian glanced at the goblins' status—they still weren't charging, just threatening the mercenaries.
There was no need to aggressively engage; dragging this out worked fine.
Once Chris finished and joined, the goblin pack without their leader would be no issue.
"Hurry!"
Urged by Ian, Rin crouched with a teary expression, circled behind the goblin warrior, and picked up a rock.
Even without her help, Chris would win eventually, but the key was letting Rin earn combat participation experience.
Just partying up gave base XP shares, but directly damaging a monster—even by 1—earned a bigger cut of its XP.
The tutorial goblin warrior gave enough XP for 3-4 levels at level 1 from base alone.
Hitting it with a rock counted as direct participation, so she'd get extra combat XP on top of the shares.
"Ei!"
"Kak!"
The small rock Rin hurled flew true, smacking the goblin warrior squarely in the back of the head.
The goblin warrior scowled at the sudden stone, trying to turn, but couldn't afford to take its eyes off Chris right in front and just screeched irritably.
"Hit it!"
"Good job! Keep throwing!"
The goblin warrior ignored the stones to focus on Chris, but as the annoying pebbles kept bonking its head, it finally snapped in rage and whipped around toward Rin.
"Kyaaaak!"
"Eek!"
The furious goblin warrior lunged toward her, freezing Rin in panic as she yelled at Ian.
"C-Captain! Now what?!"
"Stay put."
Before Ian could reply, Chris's voice rang out first.
Chris charged at the goblin warrior's exposed back, his sword gleaming.
[Continuous Slash]
[Critical Hit: Additional Attack Effect]
Chris's strikes landed unhindered on the goblin warrior's exposed body, instantly wiping out the half-remaining HP in a flurry of consecutive slashes.