An ordinary villager was level 1. Maybe some of the trained villagers made it to level 2. The troops accompanying the tax collectors from E-Rantel didn’t seem quite like level 3. This meant the soldiers he was fighting now were very strong.
As an aside, it was difficult to accurately judge Enri’s and Nfirea’s strength because they weren’t combatants, but they were strong in their own way.
“This goblin… no, is it a hobgoblin? Or is it only natural to meet strong opponents like this?”
“But, they say hobgoblins are bigger… is it a goblin king? Maybe those guys took control of the village by force… but if that was the case, why would the villagers fight so hard?”
“Haaaa! Humans have such dull minds. It’s because we have hostages! Don’t you get it?”
“He must be lying. They wouldn’t fight for such a lousy reason. Rather, they’d stab you in the back.
I can sense there’s something like a camaraderie between you guys that goes beyond the barriers of race. Why? Why would humans and goblins fight side by side?”
“As if I’d tell you, dumbass!”
“So I guess they are comrades after all, if not―”
“Ahhhh, shut the hell up! Busybodies like you piss me off!”
Jugem swung the greatsword once more.
But the outcome was the same as before.
He could take the hit, but not completely. The soldier’s balance broke, but when he wanted to follow up, he was interrupted by the attacks targeting his vitals coming from both sides
With that in mind, Jugem decided to forgo avoiding the blows.
The attacks, aimed at the unarmored parts of his body, cut him open.
Rather than pain, all Jugem felt was heat oozing out of two points on his body.
Jugem grit his teeth, and activated his special skill. His sword changed direction, striking at the soldier that slashed at him from the side.
“「Goblin Blow」!”
The mighty stroke cleaved through the weak spots of the soldier’s chainmail and dealt a grievous wound to the flesh beneath. In this moment, the soldier started twitching.
This was the power of the greatsword ― poison. However, it was still resistible, and it couldn’t completely take an opponent out of the fight.
Because he was distracted, Jugem could not avoid the sword blow that came from behind him.
Although his armor meant that his wound wasn’t a serious one, his body groaned from the sword thrust.
“Shit!”
“That’s our line! You got Bike!”
“Let Bike fall back, get behind this guy!”
During the wild melee, there were more opponents than just these four. Some had tried to attack the openings Jugem left and had been cut apart for their trouble. Judging by their poor equipment, they were probably conscripted farmers.
Even so, there were a lot of them. Being outnumbered was truly unfair.
“Get back! This goblin is strong! We’ll take care of him. You lot go deal with the villagers behind him!”
“You think I’ll let you?!”
Jugem snarled at the conscripts and waved his swords. Intimidated by him, they backed away.
The heat he was feeling in his body was slowly turning to pain.
As a warrior who swung his sword to live, Jugem had learned several secrets of the battlefield, the first of which was how to fight on in spite of his pain. Another secret was to tell how much damage he had taken, and when to flee. His instincts told him that he could still fight, but for how long, he didn’t know.
Another brave warrior of Carne Village met his end, his blood soaking into the earth.
Their defeat was certain, and his vision was slowly turning red.
Even so, he still had to buy time for Enri and the others to flee, to his very last breath.
―Objective: the enemy camp.
―Forces: myself.
Perhaps he had seen Jugem’s resolve, but the soldier in front of him stiffened up.
In that moment, Jugem gripped his sword, preparing himself for a charge. A great clamor washed over the battlefield. With his eyes firmly fixed on the opponent in front of him Jugem could not look away.
That was because from the side of Carne Village―
―The reason was simple. Its true power was not simply a matter of summoning 19 goblins.
In YGGDRASIL, this item had been unable to reveal its true value and was discarded as a trash drop.
However, in this New World, it had the chance to unleash its true power.
Let us go over the name of the item once more.
“Horn of the Goblin General”.
Its true power, revealed only when three conditions were met, was―
The rhythmic beating of heavy drums reverberated throughout the battlefield from just beside the village. The moment he looked at the direction the sound was coming from, his eyes opened wide. A roughly five-thousand strong formation was marching in cadence and in a well-disciplined formation.
Both the villagers and Prince Barbro thought it was the Prince’s reinforcements. The only difference was whether they knew of anyone who might be sending the reinforcement or not. But everyone changed their mind after taking a closer look.
The formation was made up of goblins. The demi-humans called “goblins” were smaller than average humans and roughly the size of a child. However, their aura made them look bigger than they actually were.
Their bodies were sheathed in steel armor, and their well-used weapons gleamed with lethality. This was equipment befitting of true warriors. They were no militia, but an army comprised of professional soldiers.
“Now! Anyone alive, run like hell! It’s the reinforcement! We have reinforcements! Run towards them!”
Jugem shouted out loudly.
Their identity was a mystery. It was unclear whether they were enemies, allies, or an unrelated third party. Running towards them just because they were the same species was in itself not a good decision. The correct course of action would have been to run towards the village.
However, Jugem felt something that told him that they were comrades. A feeling that that they somehow served the same master. A feeling that he would be welcomed by them.
The survivors from Carne Village raced towards the goblin army without hesitation.
The encirclement loosened with every step he took. Even though the Kingdom’s army knew it had to give chase, they were sluggish. It was only natural. Carelessly approaching such a well-disciplined army was a foolish course of action.
There were two other reasons why they just allowed the villagers to escape. The first was because the main camp had signalled for retreat, after deciding that it was the time to reform the line rather than to give chase. The other reason was because they were afraid of possible retaliation for chasing down the members of the same species as the new army.