Brimming with hostility.
All the goblins lying dead now must be Oliver’s handiwork.
Even injured, he was someone who could easily dispatch ordinary goblins.
“Don’t underestimate them.”
Oliver warned.
Soon, the reason became clear.
Among the small goblins, several large ones came running with thunderous steps.
“Hob goblins!”
With red skin, they were certainly hob goblins.
But something was odd.
They were bigger and more muscular than known hob goblins.
When he blocked the club swung by one, he was certain.
Kwang!
That strength was extraordinary.
Zain felt an impact that seemed like it would break his arm.
It was impossible to block with just a dagger.
Zain rammed his shoulder into the goblin’s chest and clung to its arm.
It was a joint lock he had learned through knight training.
Crack!
“Kweeeeek!”
The hob goblin, no, surely a goblin that had evolved one step beyond hob goblins, screamed.
But the joint was already perfectly locked.
If he hung on with his full weight like this, the shoulder would dislocate.
“Kuuk, chweeee!”
But the hob goblin possessed monstrous strength.
With strength like an orc warrior, it lifted Zain right up.
If it slammed him to the ground like this, Zain would be in danger.
Fortunately, Oliver intervened.
Slash!
The hob goblin’s forearm was cleanly cut, and Zain was freed.
Zain hurriedly picked up the dagger again.
But the watching goblins rushed in.
Though small in size, their numbers made them threatening.
A life-threatening situation.
Someone shouted.
“You filthy bastards-!”
It was a human voice.
Turning his head with joy at the thought of reinforcements arriving,
Someone was running through the goblins.
At first, he thought it was a human.
The skin was slightly red, and clearly taller than the goblins.
It was the form of a beautiful woman with a face like a cat.
But she was not human, but a hob goblin.
She was the empress of these creatures, the hegemon who had unified the goblins of the great forest and was trying to advance to the continent.
Nanaluk charged like a tiger and kicked Oliver.
Thud!
Oliver flew back like a ball.
He managed to land, but immediately vomited blood.
In that moment, Zain rushed at Nanaluk.
The dagger rushed towards her neck.
But Nanaluk raised her hand to block it.
Stab!
The dagger pierced her palm, but she paid no attention and instead grabbed Zain’s hand holding the dagger.
Zain felt a chill down his spine at the sight.
“Are, are you human or goblin!”
“Can’t you tell by looking! I’m the Goblin King!”
King?
Nanaluk’s fist smashed into Zain’s head.
Swoosh!
He barely dodged by throwing his head back.
Zain had also trained in close combat.
There was no reason to lose in a fight to a mere bipedal monster.
Whoosh- Whoom-
But each of Nanaluk’s punches was lethal.
If he failed to dodge even one, he would die.
Zain was clearly at a disadvantage.
“You crazy goblin!”
Oliver joined in.
Even so, Nanaluk was stronger.
If only Zain and Oliver had been in normal condition…
“You humans aren’t bad.”
Nanaluk stomped the ground hard and pushed Zain and Oliver back.
They barely maintained balance as they retreated.
At that moment, an old goblin approached Nanaluk’s side and whispered something.
She clicked her tongue and glared at Zain.
“Seems you’re protecting one young human woman.”
“You-! The young lady…”
“Shut up, before I kill you all.”
Nanaluk’s voice, angry at her subordinates being hurt, had an infrasonic quality.
Zain’s knees weakened, but he tried his best not to show it.
But an unexpected situation unfolded.
Nanaluk received two longswords from her subordinates and threw them.
“Take them.”
Was she suggesting they settle this with swords?
But that wasn’t Nanaluk’s reason for giving them weapons.
“You two fight with swords too. If you don’t want to die here.”
Zain didn’t understand what Nanaluk meant.
He just carefully picked up the longsword.
From that moment, Nanaluk paid them no attention.
She tied her hair tightly and drew her own axe.
“We came this way to avoid the wave, but to think they’d flood in here.”
She shouted.
“To the wall, stick as close as you can to the right wall! Hob goblins take the front!”
The goblins huddled against the right wall of the gorge.
The strongest hob goblins took the lead, as if to protect their kin.
Zain and Oliver also retreated to the front of the carriage.
The carriage had fortunately crashed in front of the right wall of the gorge.
“Kwiiiiik!”
A goblin cried out.
“It’s coming!”
Nanaluk shouted.
And the ground began to shake.
Rumble…
What came rushing in, shaking the earth’s axis, were monsters.
An endless procession of monsters.
Oliver, knowledgeable about monsters due to being a hunter, realized what was happening.
“Mo-monster wave.”
A monster wave was surging in from the great forest.
He urged Rania, who was hiding inside the destroyed carriage.
“Miss, close your eyes and stay hidden in the carriage.”
“What is it, what’s happening?”
“Quickly! You must not come out no matter what. No matter what happens.”
He blocked the door with debris from the broken carriage.
Hoping this poor defense would help somehow.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud!
And the monsters approached.
Bears, insects, birds, giraffes, elephants, dogs, leopards, jaguars…
Monsters that don’t normally travel together were crazily clustered.
Most of the frenzied monsters just brushed past the goblins.
But some set their sights on this group.
And that alone was terrifyingly dangerous.
“Uwaaaaah!”
Zain stabbed a wild boar’s face repeatedly with his dagger.
But the crazed boar pushed Zain’s body back even as knives pierced its body.
Oliver ran over and stabbed his sword into the boar’s spine.
Thud, thud!
A giraffe-like monster nearly crushed Oliver with its foot.
He barely dodged by rolling his body.
It was no different from hell.
Goblins were dying one by one too.
Oliver’s back hit the carriage with a thud.
It was embarrassing, but he felt like hiding inside the carriage with Rania even now.
A monster caught Oliver’s eye.
It was a noticeably huge monster.
Probably a chimera in the form of a snake.
It had a wooden body, with something like a crown on its head.
“Grooooar-!”
When it roared, all the other monsters roared together.
That was undoubtedly the leader.
Faced with imminent death, Oliver’s body trembled.
It was such a bizarrely grotesque monster.
Something white like a mushroom is protruding from its nape.
No, not a mushroom… Is that also a snake?
That’s when it happened.
“Ah, aah!”
Nanaluk, the hobgoblin who had been fighting like mad, shouted loudly.
“Whitey!”
Whitey? Who?
Her voice was clearly filled with joy and delight.
==
‘Nanaluk?!’
There was no way I could mistake her calling for me.
Nanaluk and the goblins were being attacked by the monsters.
「Using Beam lv1.」
I shot a beam in front of them.
And then our chimera snake leaped up.
It landed, crushing the other monsters that were attacking the goblins.
Kwaaang!
The monsters’ blood splattered everywhere.
The goblins who were seeing me for the first time were so surprised they hugged each other.
Some were begging for their lives, hands and feet flailing.
‘Why is the atmosphere like this!’
“That’s right, everyone smile! You should smile!”
Nanaluk shouted that to the goblins.
I smiled brightly too.