Chapter 2
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 2: I Became the Youngest Son of a Count (2)
"Uwaaah!"
"Kieeeek!"
As I began to be chased by the goblins, I quickly scanned my surroundings.
In a one-versus-many battle, the basic rule is to move to a place where the opponent cannot utilize their numerical advantage.
Narrow alleys or high ground would be good, but...
The goblins' tents caught my eye, but I held off on that idea because escape would be impossible the moment I entered.
The entrance I came through was narrow, but even there, four or five goblins could pass through, making it an ambiguous situation.
Since no particularly suitable location was visible, I had no choice but to change my strategy.
'I'll have to go with hit-and-run for now.'
I hadn't grasped the entire terrain, but I didn't see any particular dead ends.
My stamina was quite robust, and my running speed was faster than theirs, so this was a solution close to the standard textbook approach.
I stopped running, turned around, and thrust my spear at the guy popping out in front.
Kang!
Perhaps having learned a lesson from the goblins who died earlier, this guy had brought a shield.
He flinched while blocking the spear, but he didn't seem to have taken much damage.
Not all of the other guys were holding shields, but the individuals with shields were particularly tricky.
In times like this, run away again.
The guys who flinched when I wielded the spear started chasing me, making cackling sounds as if they had gained confidence the moment I ran.
It was the typical appearance of a monster that is strong against the weak and weak against the strong.
As I showed my back and ran, the guy who blocked my attack with a shield earlier rushed at me faster than the others, perhaps agitated.
It's only something to be grateful for if he isolates himself on his own.
I spun my body half a turn so the guy with the shield couldn't react and slammed the spear blade right onto his instep.
Puk- with that sound, the spear pierced the goblin's foot.
The guy screamed and dropped his shield, and I made a spear hole in his head.
In that interval, the fast ones from the group coming from behind pounced on both my sides.
I quickly retrieved the spear and swung it in a large semicircle.
One of the guys swinging a weapon at me fell backward, and the other stopped at just backing away.
I wanted to confirm the kill on the fallen guy, but behind them, there were still many goblins trying to rap... kill me.
I kicked the guy who backed away to buy time, then ran again, resuming our game of tag.
Did we repeat that game of tag and ambush about two or three times?
In the meantime, I succeeded in dealing with five goblins, but they also learned my method and began moving in a swarm.
The remaining guys numbered 15.
Since the leader individual who was shouting commands from the back divided them into three groups of five and started surrounding me, the number was easy to figure out.
A situation where I had to face 5 of them at once to catch one goblin.
Considering that 10 more would come in addition to that, a new strategy was needed.
There were still too many for a frontal breakthrough... and if possible, I wanted to catch that leader individual giving commands, but since he was hiding thoroughly in the back, this wasn't easy either.
I could feel myself getting slightly out of breath from playing tag a few times; dragging this into a battle of stamina would clearly be my loss.
Furthermore, perhaps having learned strategy from somewhere, they started trying to surround me from three sides.
It seemed they were trying to attack from all directions after surrounding me in a triangle formation. Right now, I was avoiding their encirclement by running without rest, but I had to make a choice soon.
Just then, a good idea came to mind.
Their current strategy was to surround me from three directions.
Since they were maintaining a sort of triangular formation, I decided to reverse-engineer this.
I stopped for a moment, pretending to be exhausted, so they could surround me.
As expected, the goblins drew a large triangle and surrounded me.
Since the composition I expected was drawn, I ran between two of the three groups of goblins surrounding me.
At my movement, the guys far away approached, and the goblins in the groups on both sides began to extend their weapons toward me.
I swung the spear largely over my head to keep them from approaching, while moving behind one of the groups that had aimed weapons at me.
While the group whose rear I had taken attacked me, the remaining two groups rushed over in a hurry.
If it went on like this, I would have to face three groups simultaneously, but instead, I thrust the spear forward.
As I crossed my hands and turned them while extending the spear, the spear moved forward drawing a circle.
Taking the stance of [Entwining Spear], I charged toward the goblin group while spinning the spear. Flustered by the sudden attack, the guys began to retreat, pushed back by my momentum.
The problem was that another group of goblins was coming from behind them.
The goblins rushing toward me, and the goblins retreating rapidly, pushed by my momentum.
Before long, the two groups of goblins became entangled, and several of them fell over.
Not every individual fell, but the goblins closest to me all lost their balance, and the ones who were fine couldn't reach me.
I quickly stabbed and killed the nearby guys with my spear, and bought time by kicking and stomping on the ones trying to get up.
"Huu.... Huu...."
A moment later, I backed away from them and caught my breath.
With just that attack, more than half of the goblins were dead or seriously injured.
However, since I had moved a lot in a short period of time, my stamina consumption was significant.
At most, about 7 remained.
I couldn't kill the leader individual because he stayed in the back until the end, but I could see their morale had visibly broken.
The guys flinched when I swung the spear.
"Whoever wants to die, bring it on!"
I bluffed and approached them to completely kill their morale.
"Kieeeek! Kieeeeek!"
Whether they intended to fight to the death at the leader's voice, the goblins huddled tightly around him.
Since it's come to this, I should finish it with a frontal breakthrough.
Among them, only 2 individuals held shields.
It's plenty possible.
Having made my decision, I immediately rushed at them.
My target was the individual who looked uncomfortable moving, perhaps having injured his leg in the accident just now.
As I approached, the guy resisted by swinging a club.
I pressed down the club with my spear and extended it straight through, piercing his stomach.
In that interval, the remaining 6 approached me.
I tried to quickly retrieve the spear and respond.
"....Damn!?"
However, I had no choice but to be flustered.
The spear stuck in the goblin I had just critically wounded wouldn't come out.
It seemed the blade had become dull from continuous fighting, or I hadn't pierced the stomach properly in the process of stabbing.
When I applied force once more, the spear finally came out, but it was already too late.
Behind the two individuals blocking my front with shields, a goblin holding a dagger was rushing at me.
I tried to widen the distance by swinging the spear to resist, but the goblin holding the shield desperately withstood my attack, not hesitating even as he was bounced away.
A situation where the guy holding a dagger and another aiming for a follow-up hit were rushing at me while my spear was sealed.
There were even guys surrounding me from behind, so I couldn't retreat.
It was a real crisis.
'What do I do? The goblins have come too close to swing the spear, and since they have shields in front, it's hard to respond with kicks. But I can't retreat either?'
All sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind.
Evasion, counterattack, defense, attack.
'What options do I have left? I can't thrust forward because the angle isn't right. Then... behind?'
The blade of the spear is only on one side, but attacking backward isn't impossible.
Especially if the opponent is a guy who thinks he has taken my rear and isn't even defending properly...?
'It's possible.'
The judgment was quick.
I put strength into the arm holding the spear and drove it straight backward while running.
Perhaps he hadn't imagined I would attack behind me in this situation; the tip of the spear was planted intact into the goblin's abdomen.
Judging by the impact felt in my hand, it seemed even his internal organs had burst.
I kicked the goblin away to clear him, then took my stance for the last time.
"Now, let's really end this."
"Kieeeeeek! Keeeeek!"
"Kerrrrrek!"
"Kieeeek!"
They must have realized this was the end too.
A charge that followed the leader's final scream.
Other goblins also screamed with expressions full of malice, responding to him, and rushed at me.
I stabbed and killed the leader who rushed in first, kicked the shield of the rushing goblin to knock him and the one behind him down, then caught the next guy.
Now only three remained.
As even the leader died, the malice in their eyes turned to fear.
When a guy appeared who pissed himself, screamed, and tried to run away, the other two also seemed to lose their minds and started screaming.
Those who lose their will to fight cannot even become a threat.
I stabbed the backs of the two running away and drove my spear into the head of the last crawling individual, completing the subjugation of the goblin village.
"Huu.... That was hard."
Having dealt with all the goblins, I wiped the sweat flowing down my forehead and headed for the entrance.
I heard it was common to get loot when subjugating a village like this.
But since this place hadn't been formed long ago, it looked like there wasn't anything to take at a glance, so I just wanted to go back to the mansion quickly and wash up.
To prevent a dizzying situation like earlier from happening again, I needed to sharpen the spear blade and change out of these blood-soaked clothes.
It was when I was walking while thinking about going home and resting well.
-Kyaaaaaaaack!!!!
A massive roar was heard from the village entrance where I had entered.
'Did an individual that went outside return? But for that, the roar is too loud compared to the goblins I fought until now?'
I grabbed hold of my mind that was about to relax and headed toward where the roar came from.
And a moment later, I was able to face the owner of that voice.
Not the green skin of a typical goblin, but red skin and a rugged, bulky build that looked to be 180cm tall.
It was a Hobgoblin, a mutant of a goblin.
It was merely adding one syllable, but the difference between a normal goblin and a Hobgoblin was as big as the difference between a child and an adult.
A monster that was still burdensome for me to face, seeing as I didn't have an easy time even against goblins.
I looked beyond the entrance to where Master was...
Master silently pointed at the Hobgoblin with his chin.
"......"
I pointed at myself and the Hobgoblin.
'Me? Him?'
Master answered by nodding his head.
"You damn Master!!!!!"
I had to receive the Hobgoblin's rage first before I could even accept reality.