Taking his life would be easy. It would be gone in one bite. However, if it did that, there was no question that it would be hacked to pieces by its enemies’ weapons.
The threat to its life led the barghest to its decision.
Ignoring the goblin child, the barghest leapt at the goblins to meet their attack.
A barghest was heavier than a goblin. The barghest was hoping to pin its foes under itself and finish them off by ripping their throats out with its fangs.
However, this was a poor choice.
The targeted goblin easily twisted out of the way of the attempted attack, and at the same time the other two goblins on the left and right slashed at the barghest with their machetes.
One blade was deflected by the barghest’s chains, but the other ripped into its body, sending blood everywhere.
At the same time, a small hurled vial shattered after hitting the tip of the barghest’s nose.
“Shaaaaa!”
The vile miasma which now clogged its eyes and nose drew an agonized howl from the barghest.
And at that moment, three more jolts of pain ran through its body.
It could sense that it was in trouble from the outflow of blood alone. The barghest wept, its vision shaky and blurred, and made its move. Its target was the one who had thrown the vial ― a human.
However, the barghest had only taken a few steps when its feet stuck onto something below and could not move.
Looking down, it saw that the ground was covered a bizarre glue-like liquid. The bizarre liquid was not absorbed by the earth.
“The glue won’t hold it for long! Take it down in one blow!”
In response to the human’s voice, the goblins shouted their battlecries and charged. In addition, the human released a powerful spell from its direction.
“SHAAAAAAAA!!!”
The barghest had used all its strength to try and pull its feet from the ground. Although its movements were slowed because its feet were still coated with adhesive and dirt, it was still able to fight.
Watching the goblins close in for the kill again, the barghest used its superior intellect (compared to a regular beast) to accept the fact that “these goblins were mighty foes”.
It acknowledged that these were different from regular goblins in one crucial way ― they were enemies who could kill it.
This barghest knew three methods of attack. Goring, piercing its foe with its horns. Biting, knocking its foe down and raking it with its claws. Unlike stronger barghests, it did not have any special abilities. But in truth, it had an ace in the hole.
This tactic would completely abandon defense, and if the barghest failed, it would be doomed. But now wasn’t the time to worry about holding back. It had to make full use of what could be the last few seconds of its life.
The barghest howled wildly, checking the advance of the enveloping goblins.
“「Reinforce Armor」!”
The spell from behind, cast by the human, made the goblins’ armor glow brightly. The barghest panicked, predicting that it was some sort of enhancement spell, but the goblins in front of it simply grinned.
Maybe it made them reckless, but with their armor reinforced, the goblins advanced as one. Perhaps it might be called a foolish move, but then one could also say it was a brave step forward to quickly end what could be a long battle.
That was what would have happened — if the barghest had not expected them to do this.
If a barghest could change its facial features as easily as a human, it would have smiled to itself.
The chains on its body made the sounds of a snake. Then, the chains binding the barghest suddenly came to life.
The thick and crude shackles began spinning with tremendous force.
The special ability ‘Chain Cyclone’ would severely wound the goblins, if not kill them outright.
The barghest was giving this its all. This was a big move that could only be used once a day, and after the chains were used it would be unable to use them as armor for at least ten seconds. The risk was high.
The unexpected attack threw off the goblins’ dodge by a second. This was a fatal mistake. However―
“Get down!”
A thunderous order cut through the air before the chains could.
The barghest that had bet everything on this attack looked to the other human, who had shouted, and its eyes widened.
The goblins who should have been too late to evade it had nimbly dropped to the ground, as though the voice had injected them with a fresh dose of vitality.
The barghest stared at the commander who stood behind the magic caster.
And then, the barghest’s forelegs and one rear leg were severed from its body. It howled in pain. It tried to recover its chains, bare its fangs, threaten them, but the goblins were having none of that.
“Ani-san, no need for the magic support. For safety’s sake, just put up an alarm around this place.
The barghest, which knew it had already lost, was desperately trying to get away.
Its normally limber body was now cumbersome and slow. That was only natural considering that three of its four legs were now stumps. Even so, the barghest wanted to flee with all its might.
But the goblins thought otherwise.
Sticky blood coated the grass all around and the stench of iron drowned out the odor of the plants.
The goblins looked to the goblin child from where they were standing, bloodstained machetes in hand, knee-deep in the gore and viscera spilling from the corpse of the barghest.
The kid had been hurt badly and had lost the strength to flee, but he still forced his body upright against a tree.
“Hey, who are you guys? Which tribe are you from?”
The goblins looked at each other, wondering how to respond to the questions of a kid who was half frightened and half suspicious.
In each other's’ eyes, they wordlessly discussed the strategy for what kind of attitude would yield the most benefits and what kind of information they should reveal, but Enri felt that there were more pressing matters than that.
“We need to take care of his wounds first. What can we do, Enfi?”
The kid was hurt very badly and he had already lost a lot of blood. Left alone, he would definitely die. Although Enri had no idea how to help him, she was hoping that her childhood friend would know what to do.