Chapter 61 - v2c22 Battle With Hobgoblins (1/2)

—Raust—

「Kh-!」

The sadistic glint in those hobgoblins’ eyes that started to move made me realize I didn’t have time to think about the anomalies that currently happened.

There are so many of them.

If they’re not defeated as soon as possible, the damage might extend to the city folks.

The moment I determined that, I strengthened myself and started to run toward the hobgoblins.

Seeing I willingly approaching them, the hobgoblins curved their mouth into a smile.

Their expression was one that didn’t take account they could lose against us.

「Gaaaaa-!」

However, their smile vanished the moment I cut off the arm of the leading hobgoblin.

The hobgoblin that got its arm cut off raised a murky scream.

Along with that scream, the hint of ridicule in its eyes vanished and it started to raise its vigilance against me.

On the other hand, even though my expression didn’t change, I felt a little surprised inside.

The attack that cut off the hobgoblin’s arm was supposed to take its life instead.

I didn’t go all out with my strengthening when I cut the hobgoblin’s arm off.

Even so, that attack supposedly capable of killing an orc in one hit, never mind a hobgoblin.

The hobgoblin, however, capable of reacting to the attack, which made me only able to cut its arm off.

That strength was abnormal for a hobgoblin.

…… If all the hobgoblins here are also that strong, common adventurers wouldn’t be able to fight them even if they group up.

If these hobgoblins appear in the other places too… Thinking so, my expression distorted.

In that case, there was no doubt some damage would occur even in this Labyrinth City that was accustomed to fighting monsters.

「If it’s us, we can handle this.」

That was why, it was a blessing in disguise that the hobgoblins appeared before us.

They wouldn’t be able to react if I increased my strengthening a bit more.

Knowing this, I was convinced once again that the hobgoblins weren’t strong enemies for us.

The hobgoblins, understanding they couldn’t beat me, tried to use their numbers to attack me, but that, too, also ended in vain.

I was used to getting attacked from other directions, so it didn’t really matter whether I was surrounded or not.

Zieg-san entered my line of sight, he looked to do fine against the hobgoblins too.

Despite not using his magic sword, he kills several hobgoblins with a single blow.

It doesn’t seem like I need to worry about Zieg-san.

Seeing the number of hobgoblins steadily decreasing, the city folks were gradually regaining their composure.

There were people trying to escape blindly at first, but now, they were watching us overwhelming the hobgoblins.

Seeing those people, I let out a sigh of relief.

With this, it’s possible to defeat all the hobgoblins without any damage.

「Retreat!」

When one of the hobgoblins raised its voice, it was when I felt so relieved.

The one that raised its voice, without checking the reaction of its friends, turned its back to Zieg-san and me and started running.

The other hobgoblins also started to run after the one that escaped.

At that moment, I knew the fight was over.

Now that they had escaped, the hobgoblins were no longer hostile.

The hobgoblins escaped in unison gave me an eerie feeling, but monsters escaping wasn’t unprecedented.

Even then, I need to kill all the hobgoblins as soon as possible anyway, there is no need to worry about anything else.

Deciding that, I re-gripped my dagger with a more relaxed attitude than before.

Indeed, annihilating this amount of hobgoblins was troublesome, but with the difference of physical ability between us and them, it wasn’t impossible.

Even considering that, it wouldn’t be as troublesome compared to before because now, the risk of damage to the surrounding was smaller.

Maybe because I had a thought like that that I became careless.

At that time, once the hobgoblins turned their back to me, I immediately decided that they were no longer willing to fight.

I realized that was my misunderstanding the moment I noticed the direction the hobgoblins went to in order to escape being annihilated.

「………Ehh?」

The next moment, I turned around and became dumbfounded when I saw the hobgoblins were turning toward the city folks.

For a moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The calm part of my mind warned me that the hobgoblins were trying to take the city folks hostage.

And yet, I did nothing in regard to that warning.

What hindered my movement was the common sense that monsters weren’t intelligent enough to take hostage.

Of course monsters might try to attack their weakest enemies first and might even form a party themselves.

But that was about it.

I had never seen or even heard the case where monsters taking hostage in my long years of being an adventurer.

That was why I was losing my composure.