Leap Strike

The hobgoblin was confused.

In the middle of a fierce battle with a neighboring tribe, his own people had suddenly vanished without a trace, and then he himself had been dragged to an unfamiliar place.

- Hooop? Hoooop? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠(Who am I? Where am I?)

If that had been all, perhaps it might have been bearable.

- Hooop...?

Behind him, a huge black hole had twisted open in the air, while ahead of him lay the breached gate of a human city.

And someone was speaking inside his head.

Go to the road.

The voice rang on and on, high and clear and dark, as though drifting between the night sky itself.

Drawn by that voice, he kept moving forward.

Remove anything in your way.

With his crude mental world, it was hard to grasp what was happening. The voice spread through his head like a literal migraine, leaving him more and more dazed.

Go to the road. Head for the capital.

About all he could infer about whatever was making him do this was that, from the voice's thin, beautiful tone, it was probably a human female or an elf female.

Head for the capital.

After hearing the voice far too many times, the hobgoblin gave up on thinking altogether.

Like random noise swallowed by the sound of waves rolling in, his awareness was rapidly being consumed.

"Stop him!"

Humans only up to his waist came charging at him. They weren't using magic, nor did they have any strange force rippling around their bodies. In other words, they were weak.

- Hooop!

One sweep of his hand, and they went tumbling.

"Aaaah!"

Even so, they did not stop resisting. They kept thrusting spears at him, annoying him endlessly.

- Hop!

When the hobgoblin was stabbed in the side, he snorted in irritation and snapped the spear shaft in half.

- Hooop...!

If it had been up to him, he would have torn them apart.

Ignore the obstruction.

If not for the voice pounding in his skull.

- Hoooop!

Do not pursue. Do not pursue. Do not pursue.

The moment he turned toward a human who had thrown down his spear and fled, the voice grew louder, vibrating harder and harder.

- Hooooeooop!

The hobgoblin clutched his head at the awful headache.

Continue toward the road.

The voice's vibration softened, almost as if it were soothing him.

Go to the road. Find the large building.

The hobgoblin looked around.

- Hooop? Hoop.

By his standards, there was no building that seemed particularly large.

- Hooop?

Soon, he spotted the eastern ward office. It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bigger than his own body, and though half of it was shattered, that must have been the one the voice meant.

Pass through it.

The moment he took a step toward his target.

"W-what is that?!"

The humans surrounding him suddenly recoiled in shock.

- Hooop?

Following their collective gaze as it snapped upward, the hobgoblin turned his head too.

- Hop...?

A nearly naked human was flying through the sky.

Right at him.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaah!"

- HOOOOOOOOOOOP?!

Crack.

The last thing he felt was that the skin on his head had become hot, and then the hobgoblin's consciousness was severed.

* * *

"Everyone who can handle aura, gather to me!"

At Ho-yeong's strangled shout, the soldiers rushed together.

"Help me take off the armor! Quickly!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

As elites who had fought at Joren's side for years, they obeyed at once despite their confusion.

"My lord, what in the world are you...?!"

As she stripped the purple cloak from over the armor, Lilian asked.

"I'll explain later. There's no time!"

Even as the cords and belts binding the plate armor were torn free, the hobgoblin kept advancing.

"Mortar's ready!"

The lord crouched down inside the barrel of the Bakgyeokpo. The pose made him look exactly like someone squatting in a bath tub.

"What? Still over the weight limit?!"

While muttering words no one else could understand, Ho-yeong pulled off his shin guards and shoes.

"This is damn inconvenient. Is it enough now? Still not yet?!"

Off came the gauntlets, and even the inner mail worn beneath the cuirass. At last, the Count of the Border Region was left wearing nothing but his undergarments.

"Everyone, hold the Bakgyeokpo tight! Tilt it a little. More. A little more. Yes, that's it. At this angle!"

And yet he shouted without a trace of embarrassment.

"Everyone, pour every ounce of aura into the barrel! Remember this well! The barrel must not shake, no matter what!"

Inside the Bakgyeokpo, angled according to the HUD display, Ho-yeong clutched his sword to his chest.

"Mana stone active! Maximum power! Fireeeeee!"

And then he shot upward.

"Aaaahhhhhhh!"

He became a human cannonball launched by the Bakgyeokpo.

"Who cares about the spawn point being random? I'll turn it into a grave!"

His blood surged as his altitude climbed higher and higher.

He unleashed that momentum as aura, wrapping it around his entire body.

"Haaahhh!"

Flying like a summoned gale, Ho-yeong closed in on the hobgoblin's torso, and just before impact he brought his sword down on the monster's crown.

- Crack.

Blood gushed from the shattered helmet, and with it came chunks of bone flung out from the soft gray matter within.

As if to punctuate it, the status window rang out.

Amid the burst of celebratory music, Ho-yeong heard it.

- Thud.

What had shattered was not only the hobgoblin's head.

"U...ugh."

The impact of flying several kilometers, crashing down, and then being flung away spread through his entire body.

As stabbing pain and the message tangled together and his mind went white, Ho-yeong lost consciousness.

* * *

Ho-yeong opened his eyes to a heavy ache.

"He's awake!"

Instead of an unfamiliar ceiling, the faces around him came into view.

"Phew. This should be about enough to call it healed."

Wiping sweat from her brow, Rubia set down the winged cross.

"What in the world were you thinking!"

Lilian pushed past her and barged in.

"Have you forgotten that the lord has already been resurrected once?"

"Yeah... yeah, I know. That's why I mean, it's just... "

"And knowing that, how could you do something like that? If it had gone wrong, you might have almost... "

She couldn't finish, and instead turned sharply on her heel and walked away.

"I've lived more than two hundred years and I've heard my share of fools, but Joren, you're a damned lunatic."

"I'll take that as praise."

As though making room for himself, Berneval thrust forward a bearded face.

"I-I was really worried. I'm glad you're safe."

"Sorry for worrying you."

Meyril let out a relieved breath.

- Laani, laaani? (You're not going to abandon me because I can fly, right?)

"No, no. Flying turned out to be pretty hard. Even if I find a pegasus, I won't abandon you."

Mandragorani No. 8 rubbed its horn against him.

"Master! Sob. I'm truly glad you're all right, but from now on you must preserve your body. Your body doesn't belong to you alone, you know."

"That doesn't make it yours, either."

Peach's eyes glistened with tears.

"More importantly, couldn't you help me up?"

Supported by someone, Ho-yeong managed to struggle upright.

"Ugh."

"Don't push yourself yet. The bones we finally set could break apart again. Like I said earlier, I only healed you enough to count as 'about' healed."

Just as Rubia had said, every corner of his body throbbed.

"Like that girl Lilian said, what were you thinking? Flying thousands of meters into the air? No matter how tough you are, that was way too reckless."

Even with aura wrapped around his body, there was a limit to how much shock it could absorb.

"Well, I got a good show, so I'll stop nagging. Take care of yourself."

"Thank you, Rubia."

Rubia lit her pipe, and

"Hey, what kind of priest smokes in front of a patient? And then tells him to take care of himself? You're a complete fraud of a priest!"

"What is this, the pink girl again."

Even in Peach's pink eyes, sparks seemed to fly.

"Why don't you go over there and help with the treatment? Leave the lord alone and let him recover on his own."

"What are you talking about? If you're going to heal him, then heal him completely. Don't leave Master in this state after making him look like this!"

"Peach, that's enough. My ears aren't hurt, you know? Though they are just starting to hurt now."

Ho-yeong sighed and pulled the two of them apart.

"Rubia wasn't slacking off."

"Huh?"

"Look over there."

What he pointed to were the wounded soldiers lying on stretchers. Most of them had been knocked back by the hobgoblins.

"She said divine power isn't something you can use forever. To heal all of them, she deliberately didn't fully heal my own injuries."

"B-but..."

"More importantly, let's go over there. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Why is it so noisy?"

The square in front of the eastern ward office.

"Dozens of soldiers were getting nowhere against a single hobgoblin and were practically helpless, while that hobgoblin walked in like he owned the place. The treasury official and the administrators who came to watch were in an uproar. Then all of a sudden the monster stopped dead in its tracks!"

"What happened?!"

The citizens had gathered in droves.

"Our lord suddenly flew in from the sky and smashed the bastard's skull open!"

"Come on, that's nonsense. It's not like he rides around on a dragon."

"Oh, is that so? There are a whole crowd of people here who saw it! Just look over there at the hobgoblin corpse. How else do you crack open a brute that size's head? You've got to hit him from higher up than he is!"

The legend of the Count of the Border Region's feat was spreading far and wide.

"Ah, I'll just head ba--"

"There he is! The lord!"

The citizens who spotted Ho-yeong as he turned to leave came surging toward him like an enraged herd of centaurs.

"Long live the Count of the Border Region!"

"Thank you so much for protecting us!"

Starting with Treasury Official Duonoraong, every administrator dropped to their knees.

"We apologize for doubting your wisdom. From here on, we will faithfully follow the lord's orders."