"Kuhiiik!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Goblin Observation Log 1.
Goblins have a surprisingly clear hierarchy.
"Kiik...!"
"Kegek!!"
I cautiously watched the two goblins conversing.
Thud!
Whenever the chief slammed the wall with his weapon and stomped the ground, the other one flinched in fear.
"Kigik...."
I had no idea what they had talked about, but the goblin that had been speaking with the chief for a while turned away with its head hanging low.
As the chief of a wild pack like this, perhaps he was strong in combat.
Those bones around his neck might all be from his own kind.
Maybe he was some kind of tyrant.
Not that I knew much, since I had never fought goblins before.
"Kiik...."
Goblin Observation Log 2.
Goblins have ADHD.
Step.... Step....
They cannot stay still for even a moment.
After sitting down for about three minutes, they always get up and wander around.
But only exactly five steps away.
Step—
Just when it seemed like he was finally moving away from the entrance to the hole...
"Kigik."
"......"
He promptly came back and plopped down again.
"Keheeeek!!"
He suddenly sprang up as if enraged, shouting something or other—
"Kihik!"
Then, sounding satisfied, he returned to take up position at the entrance.
It was enough to make me wonder whether he knew I was here and was doing this on purpose.
"Kehek! Keheeeek!!"
"Kigik...."
Goblin Observation Log 3.
Does this bastard really not know I’m here?
Several goblins that had spent a while searching all around the cave approached the chief.
I could not understand what they were saying, but judging by the flow of things, they gestured that they wanted to check behind the chief... the place where I was hiding.
It was dark inside, so they would not notice anything at a glance. But the moment they entered the hole, they would find me.
And the moment I was discovered, my future was obvious.
One versus a hundred tag.... If I get caught, I lose... no, wait.
I’d be completely fucked.
I was gripping my sword and magic stones tight, tense at the thought of how badly this could go, when—
"Keheeeek!!"
"Kiik!"
For some reason, the chief flew into a rage and gestured as though he absolutely would not let them inside.
I did not know whether he was offended that they dared make a suggestion to him or whether he was genuinely certain no one was there.
Step....
"Kekekek!"
"......"
Watching him grin at his retreating underlings, I could at least be certain of one thing: this guy was an idiot.
He definitely had not become chief because he was smart.
"Kuhuk... kuhuk...!"
Goblin Observation Log 4.
This bastard is asleep.
It feels like an hour has passed.
He does not look like he has any intention of leaving this spot.
Bang! Bang!
The goblins faintly visible beyond the chief had apparently decided there was no way through and were breaking open a path.
More precisely, it was probably something the chief had ordered them to do.
I had no idea how long he planned to block the entrance or how long I was supposed to wait.
"Kehek!!"
Goblin Observation Log...
Ah, fuck.
I could not do this anymore. I could not endure it. I could not wait.
Chief or not, I had to kill them all eventually.
If the chief had really earned that position through nothing but brute strength, was this not actually the best time to take him out while he was defenseless?
I just have to fight with this entrance in mind.
The entrance was narrow, and they could not see well inside.
Whether I drew the aggro of ten or a hundred, only a limited number could enter at once.
So—
Goodbye, dumbass goblin.
This is just the result of what you brought on yourself.
"Kiheeeek!!"
Squeeze...!
I gripped my sword as the chief jumped in place and raged, apparently frustrated.
I briefly considered throwing a magic stone, but at this distance, cutting off his head seemed more certain.
I also wanted to see the effects of the swordsmanship I had practiced, as well as the Practice Steel Sword I had bought for 3,000 TP.
It’s not like I have a lot of magic stones.
Eight Low-Grade Magic Stones and one Mid-Grade Magic Stone.
A Practice Steel Sword and a wooden shield.
That was all the equipment I had right now.
"Hoo."
"Keheeeek!"
After steadying my breath, I immediately charged at the chief’s neck, visible through the hole.
Remembering the swordsmanship I had practiced for several hours every day for nearly three weeks.
I poured every ounce of strength I had into it and swung my sword at his neck with everything I had.
"Hup...!!"
"Kiek?"
It’s too late to turn around now, asshole...!
Slice—
Thud...
It worked.
It actually worked.
It was not a particularly clean cut, but I blinked as I watched his head get severed for certain.
A real sword was definitely different from a wooden one.
A smile came to my face at the proof that my efforts had not been wasted.
The swordsmanship must have helped too.
All I could do was vertical and horizontal slashes, but they were definitely effective.
[Remaining Goblins: 99]
Splaash—!!
"......"
The chief’s body, blood spurting from it, collapsed with a thud. Beyond the one who had been blocking the hole, the goblins stared blankly as their chief’s head rolled across the ground.
I could have confidently shouted something here, but—
They can’t see well from outside anyway, right?
Even after taking care of the chief, I quietly backed away.
From now on, I was this dungeon’s trap.
If you are confident enough to find out who cut off your chief’s head in one stroke, then come on in.
Even if they’re holograms, they’re the same until they die.
They felt fear. They felt rage.
The Tower of Time, the Tower of Earth, the Tower of Fate.
I had already confirmed that in plenty of places.
So—
Come at me, you bastards.
The first confident bastard to come in dies. Got it?
"Keheeeeek!!!"
*
Splaash—!
"Haa... haa...."
I was out of breath.
I was tiring out faster than I had expected.
Practice really is different from actual combat....
There was a world of difference between swinging a sword alone in a shared space for an hour or two and swinging one against a real enemy.
"Kiheeeek!!"
Flash!
Now...!
If not for the parry that activated automatically against any attack, I would surely have taken several hits.
"Kehek, kuh...."
A goblin with its neck hanging loose collapsed sideways.
It clutched its neck with both hands as if struggling, then croaked and closed its eyes.
"Hoo...."
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that the piling corpses were making the terrain difficult for them to stand on.
It’s getting narrower on my side too, though.
Since I could successfully parry no matter what, it was not that big of a problem.
"Next customer!!"
"Keheeeek!!"
I forced a smile at the goblin charging in while trampling over its comrades’ corpses.
I could not let them see how exhausted I was. If they realized I was tired, they would rush in as a group.
I had to keep pretending I was fine here if I wanted to last even a little longer.
After all, crazy bastards were the scariest to deal with.
"Welcome!!"
"Kehuk?!"
Crunch—!
Honestly, I had been a little startled when the chief’s blood first splattered on me, but I got ahold of myself quickly.
Maybe it was because I thought they were all holograms, or because they were the low-level enemies you saw most often in every kind of media...
It feels like I’m playing a game.
Whether that was fortunate or not, it still felt close to a game.
Well, a VR death game where dying meant game over.
*
Slice—
"Hoo."
[Remaining Goblins: 60]
Forty percent down.
My stamina was already bottoming out.
Even if every goblin had only dodged once, I had swung my sword eighty times.
Even if I had only parried each one once, I had parried forty times.
For someone whose only combat experience was two one-on-one fights exploiting the enemy’s mistakes, this was a pretty overwhelming situation.
I did not know how to hold back, so I had to put my full strength into every attack.
Those bastards are getting less afraid too.
After the chief died, it had taken a long time before the first goblin came in.
It was only natural, since their chief had been killed in one stroke, but now they were not nearly as scared.
Maybe they had lost their minds at the sight of the slaughter, or maybe it was anger at losing their own kind...
Tap—
"Kehek! Kegek!!"
"I can’t understand you—!!"
They were charging at me without much hesitation now.
Whoosh—!
"Tch...!"
I swung at the charging goblin, but only cut empty air.
I tried to move my shield-bearing arm in preparation for the attack that would immediately follow, but for some reason, it did not charge me.
"...?"
"Kehek! Kehek!"
It was rummaging through the gaps between its fallen kin and tossing the dead goblins’ weapons outside.
...What are they trying to do?
Were they short on weapons or something?
When I charged at it with my sword gripped tight amid the incomprehensible situation, it freaked out and retreated outside the hole.
Whoosh—
Slice.
Tap!
After that, the goblins kept smuggling weapons outside. For a while, this repeated: I would take some down, while others escaped just like that.
[Remaining Goblins: 55]
"Kegek!"
"Kiik! Kiiik!"
The moment I had barely taken down five more, they all began shouting something.
"What the hell are you trying to—"
Just as I was about to ask what they were doing, a red light flashed at the entrance.
Once, twice, three times.
I widened my eyes at the continuously flashing parries and knocked away the incoming attacks.
Crunch!
Clack!
They’re throwing weapons at me...!
Clubs, daggers, machetes, and more.
They were hurling their own weapons and the weapons of their dead comrades at me with all their strength.
Wham!
Not every attack was especially threatening, but it was irritating.
Every so often, something sharp would fly at me, forcing me to defend with everything I had.
They’ve realized I’m a rat trapped in a jar.
I had nowhere to retreat to. Nowhere to run.
Apparently deciding that weapons were not enough, they were also throwing the rocks left over from smashing up the cave for so long.
Each one would not do much damage, but if this kept piling up, it would become a problem.
"You cowardly bastards—!!"
I shouted at them, my voice full of rage.
"Come in and fight fair!!"
Not that I was really one to talk.
Flash!
"Agh!!"
I frowned at the nonstop ranged attacks.
I was already low on stamina, and they were pulling this annoying shit.
Squeeze...!
I wanted to use these after reducing their numbers more....
I gritted my teeth as I gripped the magic stones that were practically my last resort.
You think you are the only ones who can use ranged attacks? Mine is way better, so look forward to it.
"Lightning Bolt!!"
Krrrzzzt!!
"Kehek?!"
A sphere of blue lightning flew toward the head of a goblin happily preparing to throw a rock.
The goblin that tried to flee too late was blocked by the goblins pressing in from behind.
The goblin blinked blankly, then was struck by the lightning magic.
"Kegegegegegek."
With a strange scream, its body shook violently before it limply fell sideways.
Along with the goblin behind it that had been pushing it while trying to throw a weapon.
[Remaining Goblins: 53]
"Ah.... This is called ‘magic.’"
The expressions of the goblins visible outside the hole changed.
Plain shock.
Resentment, as though asking why I had been hiding such a trump card.
"Keheek!!"
One of them swallowed its fear and raised a rock high—
Krrrzzzt!!!
As the sphere of lightning slammed into its head, the other goblins instinctively stepped back.
The unpleasant smell of burning flesh, and pale smoke rising into the air.
It proved they were not too stupid to understand what had just happened.
Six magic stones left.
Fifty-two goblins remained.
There were still half of them left.
No, for the sake of my mental health, I decided to think of it as only half remaining.
I need to draw them into melee combat like before if possible.
I could not let this continue as a ranged fight.
Once they realized I could no longer use magic, they would keep poking at me and throwing rocks.
And if I lost patience and went outside, they would surround me and beat the shit out of me.
So, it did not matter if it was a bluff or whatever.
Two shots at once.
I grabbed two magic stones and hurled them at the bastards with all my strength.
Pzzzzzzt!!
The goblins, having learned through repetition what was happening, tried to dodge, but they were too late.
Three goblins were nicely roasted by the lightning-fast magic.
Lucky.
One tried to use a friend as a shield to escape, but got electrocuted along with him.
Four magic stones left.
The bastards were too scared to do anything outside the hole.
They exchanged glances among themselves, but with no chief, they looked like they could not decide what to do.
"Come on."
I grinned broadly at them and crooked my finger.
Come at me. If you do not, magic will fly at you again. I struck a pose while gripping a magic stone.
"Ke, keheeeek!!"
That’s it.
Watching a goblin forced to charge by the pressure of its comrades behind it, I tightly gripped my sword with my right hand, which had been resting for a moment.
Splaash—!!
*
[Remaining Goblins: 33]
"Haa.... Haa...."
I was exhausted.
My heart pounded fiercely even as my reactions slowed.
Some sticky liquid, whether sweat or blood, covered my body.
My right arm trembled violently; I was only barely managing not to drop my sword.
Even when the red light of a parry flashed, even when I calculated the timing perfectly, my body would not keep up.
"Keheek!!"
"Haha... You must be so damn happy, huh?"
The more exhausted I looked, the faster the goblins poured in.
When I barely took down one, the next one pressed in immediately without even giving me a moment’s rest.
I’ll die at this rate.
But how?
How could I hold out against the remaining numbers?
Even if I gritted my teeth and swung my sword, five more at most.
No, if I accepted getting injured to some extent, I could probably take down up to ten.
And I could only use magic four more times.
"Kekekek!"
"......"
At the goblin sneering at me with a machete in hand, I raised the only sign language gesture I knew with my left middle finger.
"Heh heh...."
I laughed aloud as its face twisted, as though even a monster instinctively knew that was offensive.
Think....
I bit down on my lip for a moment, wondering what the hell I should do.
Flash!
"Keheeeek...!"
"...!"
Clang!
I barely knocked away the enraged goblin’s charging attack.
Its weapon flew over its head and it lost its balance. I gritted my teeth, stepped in, and cut its neck.
"Kegek!"
At the sight of a fresh goblin immediately entering, I grimaced and shoved my hand into my pocket.
I’ll kill this one with a magic stone and buy some time....
As I rummaged through my pocket in hopes of buying even a little time to rest—
"...Ah."
A larger, smoother magic stone, different from the Low-Grade Magic Stones, fell into my hand.
A costly Mid-Grade Magic Stone worth a full thousand TP.
I had bought it just in case, but had been carrying it around because I could not use it for experiments.
...First, buy time.
I took out a Low-Grade Magic Stone rather than the Mid-Grade one and threw it at the charging goblin.
Krrrzzzt—!!
"Kegek!!"
The goblin ran for its life as if asking why I was shooting magic at it, only to get hit and burst into flames.
"Kehek!!"
"Kiiiik!!"
I gave a hollow laugh at the goblins pointing at me as if I had broken the rules.
As they prepared to throw rocks and weapons as though saying they would do it too, I took out the Mid-Grade Magic Stone.
...Water Rain.
The reason I had learned water magic in the first place was to aim for mass slaughter through electrocution.
I had not used Water Ball or Water Arrow because they could not soak a large number of enemies, but...
If it was magic I could not use with a Low-Grade Magic Stone...
If I could use it with a Mid-Grade Magic Stone, and if, true to its name, a rain of water could thoroughly soak every one of them outside the hole...
Tap!
"I’ll be really pissed if it eats up a High-Grade Magic Stone after this."
"Kegek?"
I stood still as a rock flew at me without even triggering a parry.
Without sparing any attention for the rock that barely grazed past my head, I tightly gripped the Mid-Grade Magic Stone.
Thinking that somehow it would work, while praying that it would succeed.
"Water Rain...!"
I threw the Mid-Grade Magic Stone at the goblin horde with all my strength.
One second.
Two seconds—
Three seconds....
Fuck.
For a moment, I thought it had failed.
"Kehek?"
Then I opened my eyes wide at the sight of the goblins all looking up.
"Kegek!!"
A goblin pointed upward, bewildered that it was raining indoors, and then—
Whoooosh—!!
"Haha...!"
A fairly heavy rain began pouring down on them, and I grinned broadly.
Ding!
It must be a skill book notification.
I had no time to take out my phone and check.
I immediately gripped a Low-Grade Magic Stone as the goblins tilted their heads and stared at the rain.
Drip....
The rain was fairly strong, but it did not last long before it stopped.
"Kegek!!"
As a goblin raised a rock again, I threw the Low-Grade Magic Stone.
"Chain Lightning!!"
Pzzzzzzt...!!
The flying magic stone turned into a chain of lightning.
The drenched goblins were startled by the sideways streak of lightning, but—
You can’t run from that.
There was no way mere goblins could block an attack like that.
Flash!
Krrrzzzt!!!
"...Wow."
True to its name, the lightning chain spread from the goblin it had first struck to the ones beside it.
I gave a hollow laugh at the sight of the lightning smoothly riding the path of current made by the rain, linking the goblins one after another like skewers.
"Kegegegek!!"
"Kegeugeuk...!!"
The goblins’ eyes rolled back as their bodies shook violently where they stood.
Unable to do anything, they suffered for a long while as the lightning kept circling through them, then collapsed one by one.
[Remaining Goblins: 12]
"Keheeeek!!"
"Kiiiik!!"
When the lightning chain, which had produced an effect beyond my imagination, disappeared, the goblins in the back or those that had narrowly been outside the range of Chain Lightning began shouting.
Two-thirds of them had fallen, but goblins still remained.
They remained, but it did not really matter.
Tap.
"Kegegegek!!"
I gave a faint smile to the goblin that entered the hole with a weapon in hand, determined to kill me somehow.
Slide—
"Ta-da~! What do you think this is~?"
"Ke, kegek...."
I still had two Low-Grade Magic Stones left.
"You’re wet, aren’t you?"
Should we have a little more electrifying fun?
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