Chapter 17 - Three Imps
Chapter 17 - Three Imps
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They say the secret to winning a fight is simply killing the other bastard before they kill you.
'There are about 10 of them.'
That's clearly the number of goblins agro'd onto me.
There could be more, or fewer. But the important thing is that I'm going to kill every single one of these bastards.
'...How the hell do you summon that imp thing anyway?'
I quietly thought back to when I summoned the imp three days ago.
I know doing this on a battlefield is basically suicide. But it's still an important matter.
'Right, I wished there were a lot of them.'
And then the goblin's body bulged and burst with a peong!
So what if I look at the bastard with the exact same desire as back then?
"Kuaeeek!"
-Peong-ung!
It worked!
I still have no idea how I pulled it off, but I managed to summon the imp again anyway.
"Imp!"
The reappeared imp rolled its characteristic, gleinting eyeballs and looked back at an approaching goblin.
Then, flashing its vicious claws, it ripped the goblin apart like well-cooked beef.
'I only summoned one, but it feels so reliable!'
The saying that an imp's combat power is enough to tear a person apart was spot on.
Just look at these goblins, whose specialty is joint attacks, getting sliced up bit by bit without being able to do a damn thing.
'Still, one doesn't seem like enough.'
It's slicing them up well for now, but there are just way too many goblins.
Eventually, I'll get overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
'Can't I summon one more?'
The thought suddenly popped into my head.
Summoning a single imp didn't particularly tire me out or exhaust me.
If so, wouldn't I be able to call forth at least one more?
With that mindset, I stared straight at another goblin.
"Kureureuk!"
-Peong!
My hunch was right on the money again!
The goblin's body burst open, spitting out an imp.
'...Ugh! But something feels different this time.'
A headache pierced my brain, something I hadn't felt when summoning just one.
It wasn't too heavy, just a dull, shallow ache. It wouldn't hinder my movements, but... it was the kind of pain that would get annoying if it kept up.
'About one more...?'
It seemed possible. It's not like my head hurts so badly I'm about to collapse right now.
Thinking that, I stared at a goblin and summoned yet another one.
"Ugh!"
Now the pain has gotten severe.
I can still move. To put it into a metaphor, it felt like suffering from a mild case of the flu.
Anyway, it didn't cause any real trouble for holding and swinging my sword. Thanks to that, I was able to drive my blade straight into the belly of a charging goblin.
"Fuck off!"
The imps have now increased to three.
Their destructive power was tremendous.
"Imp!"
Even just one slaughtered the surrounding goblins without much trouble, but with three, it was absolute carnage turning everything into a mess of blood and flesh.
The imps simply slashed, stabbed, and tore apart. Every single movement brought fatal results, and they were killing off a goblin roughly every three seconds.
'At this rate, I don't even need to step in, do I?'
These bastards mainly fought off goblins coming near me.
It was like they were escorting me. Needless to say how efficient and brutal the process was.
"Dennis!"
Right then, Karl rushed over, scattering a swarm of goblins like gravel or fallen leaves.
In both of her hands were two goblins, their necks crushed by her immensely powerful grip.
"Karl, where the hell did you go?!"
"That's my line. It's been a long time since the retreat order was given. Yet here you are, still."
"Is that so...?"
Has the time already passed this much? Quite surprising.
"Those are... imps? Handling three of them. Impressive."
"I somehow ended up being able to summon three."
"Normally, that's something only a seasoned dark mage can do. Anyway, Dennis. We need to break through here. Can you control those imps?"
It was an undeniable fact that these things were escorting me, but I couldn't say for sure whether I could actually control them.
However.
"I'll give it a try."
I can't just say I won't or can't do it!
I immediately looked at the imps and, just like when I summoned them, projected my wish onto them as I wanted.
"Imp!"
Instantly, the imps began moving just as I thought. They circled around Karl and matched her movements.
"Dennis! Follow me."
Karl lifted the axe she had been carrying on her back until now and swung it fiercely.
-Kwajik!
With a single swing, well over half a dozen goblins were literally minced.
Like the parting of the Red Sea. It didn't take long for the wave of goblins to split apart.
"Let's go!"
I silently followed behind.
Occasionally, some goblins would rush into Karl's blind spots. But those bastards were torn to shreds and pulverized by the three imps before they could even touch her.
There was nothing left to block her path. Even if there were ten times as many as this, they wouldn't slow her down a bit.
"All done."
After breaking through the countless green wave, we were already in front of the city.
Goblin corpses were piled up like mountains. The amount was so absurd I couldn't believe this was what Karl and I had done.
"If this had been a quest, I would've made dozens of silver coins."
I meant it.
"Fuck! You threw us out as bait!"
Back in front of the gathering point.
Rough shouts erupted from the crowd of adventurers gathered like clouds.
I hadn't really known, but apparently, these bastards had thrown us out as bait while they sat back and watched how the situation played out.
'Well, that explains all their bullshit.'
The street smarts I've built up over two years as a porter are finally paying off here!
The city blindly calling together adventurers must have been to gauge the enemy's numbers while using us as bait.
The standing army is elite, but their numbers are small. Plus, every single one of them that dies drains money.
If they somehow got wiped out by goblins? Even if they win the war, the city is ruined.
'That's also why they gathered a bunch of D-ranks.'
C-rank adventurers and above gain social status. But anything below that is just a bunch of bums swinging swords.
In other words, guys like that can die all they want, and their numbers can be replenished infinitely.
Of course, provided they can handle the armed rioters.
"Get your ass out here right now!"
The number of adventurers had visibly decreased.
Out of 700, 200 had died, 100 of those went to the infirmary due to injuries, and about 50 had run away.
So naturally, the numbers shrank.
Still, even this number was more than enough to burn the city down. Just looking at these people holding torches right now made that future crystal clear.
"If you don't show your faces by the count of three, I swear..."
"Ah! That knight bitch is coming out over there!"
The knight named Anders, whom I saw yesterday, was walking out with her helmet tucked under her arm.
You could tell she had been drinking heavily because she was holding a hangover-curing fruit in one hand and crunching down on it.
"What the. Quite a few of them survived. Deputy, this is different from what we expected."
"Ah, yup. Well, that's because the barbarian standing over there handled half of the goblins..."
"...Half?"
I looked around just in case she was pointing to a different barbarian instead of Karl, but that wasn't the case.
Anyway, this woman openly planned to have us killed. What a truly wicked bitch.
"Can't be helped. Go open the vault."
"Isn't that a whole month's budget?"
"What other choice do we have? In this situation, a riot breaking out right now wouldn't even be surprising."
What the. Is she planning to gloss this over with money?
This means they think way too simply of creatures like adventurers.
What just happened was no different from treating people not as humans, but as cheap consumables.
No matter how crazy about money people are, in a situation where comrades have died and been injured, they wouldn't show a greedy obsession with cash right away.
'At this rate, a riot is gonna break out in this city.'
I better slip away quickly before that happens.
Nah, maybe I could scavenge something of value? Of course, it's not stealing. I'd just be reusing items that lost their owners.
"One silver coin each should do it, right?"
Wait a minute.
Isn't that way too much money?
"One silver coin...!"
"Rolling around with a few goblins and you're giving us a silver coin?!"
"Whoaah! Holy shit, that's fucking insane!"
The mood flipped in an instant. The people who were talking about burning down the city hall just moments ago were now smiling warmly.
"Line up quietly and take yours! We have plenty of money!"
"Yup!"
"Dammit! I knew I could count on you, Knight!"
What a bunch of spineless, fucking losers.
Selling your pride for a mere silver coin?
Even as I wanted to scold them like that... my body was already standing in line.
I gotta take what's coming to me.
"Dennis. Collect your money and come to that inn over there."
"Pardon? Yes."
"Tonight, I'm going to have you all to myself."
"Ah, yup, go ahead. I'll take my leave now."
Karl said something or other just now.
I couldn't hear it well. She probably plans to tell me something at the inn.