Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: Rise of the Goblins
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Kobold, ranked 11th in species hierarchy.
A race with the form of a hunched wolf walking upright on two legs.
A vile-tempered race that takes pleasure in plundering or torturing those weaker than themselves.
Today, they set out to crush the goblins, who were always weaker than them.
As usual, to loot their food and slaughter them.
Anticipating that delightful sport, they arrived today.
They had no idea of the calamity about to strike them.
"Kekhek, hek! Kill them! Slaughter them all!"
"Krrrnghuhu, goblin scum. How's the taste of a kobold's blade?"
Kobolds were bounding through the goblin village like it was their own turf.
Drunk on the goblin massacre, they failed to notice the changes happening right under their noses.
The intoxicating scent of goblin blood was clouding their minds.
That's when it happened.
"Sniff sniff?"
One kobold lifted its head, catching a potent goblin stench.
The unique, filth-ridden odor goblins gave off after months without washing.
For some reason, it felt overwhelmingly concentrated.
The moment that kobold turned its head following the smell...
It wore a puzzled expression.
In the direction of its gaze stood a group of goblins, boldly holding their ground.
Goblins that should have fled in terror at the mere sight of them.
Why were they banding together, weapons in hand, marching forward defiantly?
The kobold's tiny brain couldn't comprehend it.
"The goblins are gathering!"
So the kobold shouted the news to those around it first.
It wanted to check with its comrades if its eyes weren't deceiving it.
In that brief moment it looked away...
Stones came flying toward it.
"Kyung!"
The kobold's wolf let out a massive bark, enraged by the incoming stones.
The culprits were none other than the goblin group.
"Goblins?"
Did they seriously think they could take them down with mere pebbles?
The kobold sneered and gripped its spear tighter.
"Smash them all until they learn their place!"
Baring its killing intent, the kobold ordered its wolf to charge the goblin mob.
The wolf, equally annoyed by the goblins, didn't hesitate and bolted forward.
A kobold and wolf, far larger than any goblin, were bearing down on them.
The kobold was certain the goblins would panic.
But for some reason, the goblins showed no fear and kept hurling stones.
"They've lost their minds!"
I'll impale them all with my spear and wolf, he thought.
That was right before a stone pierced his skull.
Pakak!
Half the head of the kobold clutching its spear vanished.
He tumbled off his wolf without even realizing his own death.
Kudangtang!
The kobold's corpse rolled across the ground, lifeless in an instant.
The now riderless wolf halted in confusion.
Seizing the moment, the goblins bombarded it with stones.
"Kkaeng, kaeng!"
The wolf shattered under the goblin onslaught in seconds.
"We took down another one!"
"We did it!"
The goblin group that felled the kobold and wolf cheered, their morale soaring.
They'd crushed the wicked kobold and wolf with their stone-throwing.
It was a monumental feat for them.
And on their way here, they'd already slain more than one or two kobolds.
At some point, the goblins had started banding together.
They'd already defeated ten kobolds.
For goblins always ravaged by kobolds, this was a revolution.
Band together and throw stones, and you can beat kobolds.
Having learned this new truth, the goblins kept gathering.
But they didn't know.
That among their ranks lurked one hurling stones that claimed kobold lives.
The kobolds weren't entirely oblivious to the shift among the goblins either.
Not with their numbers visibly dwindling.
They couldn't ignore it forever.
"Boss! The goblins are taking down kobolds!"
At the report from one kobold, the massive one leading the village rampage lifted its head.
The kobold with a huge scar across one eye snorted heavily.
"Sniff, what nonsense is that? Kobolds losing to goblins?"
"Y-yes, you have to see it for yourself!"
The boss kobold glared irritably at the reporting underling.
He wondered if the fool was spouting rubbish.
But sure enough, his nose detected fewer kobold scents.
"Tch, damn it."
Never had he led trash that folded to goblins.
Feeling absurd, the boss kobold wheeled his wolf around.
And soon, he spotted the dense goblin cluster.
They were pelting a single kobold with stones.
Seeing this, the boss kobold scoffed.
No way one of his underlings would fall to that.
Right as he sneered...
Pakak!
A flying stone smashed the charging kobold's head.
The boss kobold's eyes bulged wide at the sight.
For a split second, he doubted his own eyes.
But a kobold had fallen to a goblin's stone.
"We won!"
"We crushed it!"
The goblins erupted in joyful cheers.
And those cheers were piercing roars of victory over kobolds.
The boss kobold couldn't tolerate that.
"How dare you!"
Fury boiling over, he gripped his massive spear.
Aura began coiling around his spear.
A realm of power beyond any goblin's grasp.
The boss kobold hurled the spear with all his might.
Intending to wipe out the arrogant goblin mob.
Right before the flying spear...
Another stone came soaring in.
He thought they were fools trying stones again.
But then the boss kobold witnessed something bizarre.
Pakang!
The spear clashed with the stone, spun wildly, and embedded itself in the ground.
The boss kobold's eyes nearly popped out.
It was a full-power thrust from him.
Deflected by a mere stone?
Unbelievable.
Regardless of his disbelief, one goblin stepped forward.
A goblin with near-snow-white hair.
Wearing a sword at his waist, he looked utterly unusual.
"Are you the kobold boss?"
And he even spoke the common tongue.
Something was off about this situation.
Sensing it, the kobold ground his teeth.
It irked him that a goblin had made him feel uneasy, even for a moment.
"What are you! A goblin?!"
"Yeah, a goblin."
As Havel spoke, the goblins behind him roared in cheers.
"Gibl!"
"Gibl, the strongest goblin warrior!"
They chanted the name of Gibl, whom Havel possessed, in ecstasy.
It was possible because of Havel's presence that they could unite like this.
After witnessing Havel smash kobolds with single stones.
The goblins all started hurling stones at kobolds.
As a result, they'd crushed countless kobolds just like now.
Goblins defeating kobolds!
For goblins, it was revolutionary.
Thus, before they knew it, Havel had become the goblins' greatest warrior.
Simple goblins were quick to idolize.
"Strongest goblin warrior?"
The boss kobold snorted in disbelief.
Then he drew the longsword from his waist and dismounted his wolf.
"A pathetic goblin dares call itself the strongest?!"
The boss kobold kicked off the ground.
Infusing his sword with aura, he aimed to cleave Havel's neck.
"Die!"
As his sword lunged forward...
Havel swung the stone knife in his hand.
Kaang!
The boss kobold's sword crumpled upon colliding with Havel's stone knife.
"Gaaak!"
At the same time, he screamed from the numbing shock surging up his arm.
This was the boss kobold, with thick muscles honed beneath dense fur.
Yet he was the one feeling pain?
Inconceivable.
Havel gleamed once more in the boss kobold's eyes.
"A goblin!"
His rage peaking, he forgot the pain in his arm and bared his fangs.
Intending to chomp straight through Havel's head.
But that was a grave mistake.
Havel's stone knife was moving again.
Ppakagak!
The swung stone knife tore into the boss kobold's temple and embedded deep.
His head shattered entirely, and the boss kobold toppled over.
The boss kobold perished screaming in an instant.
All the kobolds froze at the sight.
On the flip side, the goblins cheered wildly before it.
"Gibl wins!"
"Goblins triumph!"
"Kobolds are weaker than goblins!"
Treating Havel's victory as their own.
The goblins glared at the kobolds with frenzied morale.
The kobolds shrank back at those eyes.
With even their boss fallen.
Compared to the skyrocketing goblin morale, the kobolds' spirits plummeted.
The species hierarchy gap was just one rank.
In truth, the morale disparity was too vast.
The kobolds' combat power didn't overwhelmingly surpass the goblins'.
If they clashed now, the outcome was obvious.
"Kkaeng! Retreat! Fall back!"
In the end, the kobolds decided to retreat from mere goblins.
As they fled desperately, the goblins erupted in cheers.
They'd driven off the kobolds with their own power.
Naturally, their morale soared to the heavens.
"Listen up, goblins."
That's when Havel spoke.
He'd claimed the greatest feat in repelling this kobold raid.
All goblins naturally perked their ears to him.
"Goblins, how long will we live enduring this violation?"
The goblins murmured at Havel's cry.
As the lowest-ranked species, they'd always just endured.
None immediately grasped his words.
"Today, we repelled the kobolds."
In truth, Havel had done it all.
But the goblins saw it as their achievement.
Thus, they listened to Havel even more intently.
"We can't keep taking this forever. We must grow stronger. To protect ourselves, and beyond that, our families."
Having lived in the world, he knew mentioning family was the ultimate stimulus.
Proof came as the goblins' eyes reddened.
Some had lost family to the kobold raid.
"From now on, we goblins must stand against the races that persecute us. And grow stronger."
Havel preached to the goblins like a fish in water.
And his speech utterly captivated them.
The deep-seated inferiority ingrained in goblins.
And their innately lacking intellect.
They were exceedingly vulnerable to incitement.
Havel's incitement worked perfectly on them.
"Just as we united our strength today and repelled the kobolds, we can grow strong."
"Y-yeah. Gibl's right."
"We repelled the kobolds!"
"We're not weak!"
It was all Havel's doing.
But goblins lacked the intelligence to discern that.
As a result, they drowned in the delusion that they'd repelled the kobolds themselves.
"I have the confidence to turn us goblins into the strong."
Havel had shown heroic feats single-handedly crushing kobolds.
Those scenes were etched vividly in the goblins' minds.
"Follow me, and you'll surpass even me."
The intoxication of defeating foes with their own power.
Plus the yearning for strength sparked by watching Havel.
The moment those two converged, the goblins' fighting spirit boiled over.
"Will you grow strong?"
"We will!"
"I'll grow strong!"
The goblins shouted in unison.
Seeing this, Havel slowly smiled.
"Yes, I'll make you strong."
Into the ultimate strongest species, no less.
The goblins didn't know.
That on this day, they had made a pact with the devil.