Vol 1 Chapter 21 (1/2)
LEVEL 1: A Whisper, an Aria, a Prayer, an Awakening
Chapter 21: The Fine Line Between Innocence
Things were always easier said than done, though
Haruhiro gulped reflexively He had worked up the resolve and set off to scout that place, only to find himself in for a surprise
“No way…” he whispered to hi like this happening “There’s more of them…”
On the balconied second story of the two-storied stone building, the plate-arround floor was the large hobgoblin, still outfitted with full chainmail and hel around the outskirts of the building were two more They both wore helms and chainmail as well, with shi+elds in one hand, spears in the other, and even short swords at their waists
They were sentries, for sure
The arround, either He was in a proper chair, one leg bent and the other stretched out in front of hiotten that chair? It sure wasn’t there before
Could the ars and expand its power? There was no way to knoithout actually asking the goblin hi with it was even possible, but either way, this was not a good sign
Haruhiro returned to his cos
“So… it’s not two like we thought, it’s four And it’s just a guess, but I think their nu”
“Four goblins” Mary closed her eyes, eyebrows knit tightly in thought
“Hmm…” Yume puffed her cheeks out round, while shi+horu dropped her gaze with a sigh
Mogzo tapped his barbute helm
“What’s the uys?” Ranta scoffed “Don’t be frickin’ scared There’s nothing we can do about their nu so pathetic, retainers of Lord Ranta!”
“Since when did we becoht better of it “Whatever, never mind”
“Don’t stop halfway,” Ranta baited “C’ht-man comeback? We can’t be rivals like this! There’s no way a peon like you can take away Lord Ranta’s reason for living!”
Haruhiro ignored hizo, Yuuess that we’ll have even more of them later, we need to make a decision now It doesn’t have to be at this very o for it, or give up? I don’t think I want to give up We could definitely take four, as we are now
Mary looked steadily at hiaze “Your basis for that?”
“Mogzo has much better defense now, and now that he doesn’t have to worry about protecting hiot more offensive potential too shi+horu can always take one goblin cootten way more reliable With [SWAT], even I can take one on directly And we’ve got you now too, Mary”
“Hey! What about me?” Ranta protested “Why wasn’t I in there, huh? HUH?!”
“You shouldn’t…” Mary turned her face and looked at the ground “You shouldn’t depend on me I’m… I’m a Priest who let her teammates die”
“And we’re a team that let our Priest die I don’t think ant that to ever happen again Never It’s the saht? I believe in you, Mary”
Mary didn’t reply She bit her lip, as if trying to keep… so under control Yume and shi+horu placed their hands on her shoulders
“I’ his thuonna die even if I’m killed I’m a man unknown to death, so don’t do worthless shi+t like worry about me”
When Mary looked up again, her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, and the corners of her htly Was that… could it really be… a smile?
Haruhiro couldn’t say for sure, it was so modest, but he wanted to believe that it was It vanished as quickly as it caaze
“I understand,” said Mary with a nod “I won’t let any of ain I’ll protect everyone, so rest assured”
“Alright then” When Haruhiro stretched out his right hand, so did everyone else; they stacked their hands on top of his for their ‘Fight! All or nothing!’ prefight ritual
Right after, Mary, tilting her head reuys say ‘Fight All or nothing’?”
The others returned her gaze with sht as they went over their strategy once again This was it Yes, today was the day they had been planning for, preparing for
Since the number of enemies had increased, they had had to make a few adjustments, but there was no need to make a new plan froh the sentries and get to the plate-arth, the sentries were small fry
To whatever possible extent, they would engage and finish the two sentries quickly, and thendiscussed how they would defeat the plate-aroblin, and this was the cul
They could do it They would definitely win
As usual Haruhiro led the ith Yuzo, Ranta, and Mary followed at a distance The first obstacle was to get within range for shi+horu to use her [PHANTOM SLEEP] spell; a minimum of sixty-five feet Up to about one hundred and twenty feet there was a wall that would conceal their presence, but after that there was nothing but open ground up until the building itself
However, after nu and its wider surroundings, they had found that if they took a certain path all the way around to the other side, they could approach within thirty feet of the building without being seen It was there that the three of thee pile of debris
Here It was here they would commence the attack
When Haruhiro gave the signal, Yume readied her bow and activated [SHARP SIGHT] while shi+horu refreshed her grip on her staff and took a deep breath
At last The plate aroblin would meet their end today They were the ones who killed Manato Haruhiro and the others did their best to not treat it as retaliation or revenge, because hatred would interfere with clear thinking Those teren’t their hated adversaries;enemies A barrier that they had no choice but to overcome
Haruhiro stuck his head out from behind the debris, and—
His breath caught in his throat Panicking, he quickly withdrew The plate arht at him
“We’ve been spotted…” he whispered
But how? Had the plate aroblin somehow sensed their presence? Maybe they had been spotted just out of coincidence;in their direction when Haruhiro had poked his head out
He didn’t know, but it didn’t ain just as quickly, this tioblin had a crossbow in its hands now, and it was aiht at them
“…What do we do now?” Yu her bow
shi+horu’s face had gone pale; she had shrunk even further behind cover
Did Ranta and the others, holding position a little further away, realize their situation? Probably not They were concealed in the shadows on the building’s perimeter wall, and most likely couldn’t see from where they were
What do we do? What should we do?
Fall back? No, they couldn’t The plate-ar An order It oblin and the sentries In another few er an option They had to engage, but the probleot hit with a crossbow bolt, it could be fatal
“Leave it to Yume,” Yume suddenly said
“What?!” Before Haruhiro could stop her, she had already set her bon and juoblin shot a bolt at her, but she curled and rolled forith tremendous speed
Pit rats Back in the forest, those pit rats—and the skill the pit rats had used,themselves all at once Did Yume mimic that movement to deflect the crossbow bolt? It sure seemed like it
Haruhiro rapped shi+horu on the shoulder “Use your ic!”
“R-right!” shi+horu e the spell as she sketched the elelyph with her staff “Oom rel eckt krom dash!+”
The frizzy black shadow eleoblin downstairs had picked up its club, but still hadn’ttheir way towards Haruhiro and the others It didn’t oblin to sleep, they could still…
“Whoa!” Haruhiro exclaimed
The plate aroblin had jumped from the second floor down to the first The shadow eleoblin had occupied justaltogether
They had ood They had failed No! We can still do this They could recover, regain the initiative Don’t panic! Haruhiro drew his dagger
“Attack!” he shouted “shi+horu, fall back to Mary’s position!”
“Alright!”
Ranta and Mogzo had come from behind the periain to avoid an incoht towards Haruhiro
What about the plate aroblin? damn it He didn’t have tioblin’s spear was coer
The [SWAT] skill fro attack Rather, it round, and it inflicted critical injuries However, the sentry goblin was fairly strong and no matter how oblin’s spear, it kept cooblin
“I’ll take both of thezo yelled
Mogzo was intending to take on the plate aroblin at the saoblin or hobgoblin, the only one who could directly take on either one of thezo That’s why their plan had been to incapacitate the plate arht at the start That was the point on which their entire plan hinged
—A plan that had fallen apart right at the start Wasn’t it better to have retreated right away? But it was too late and there was no use for regret now
“That’s—!” Haruhiro used [SWAT] as he fell back And fell back And fell back again
It seeoblin shi+horu had cast [PHANTOM SLEEP] again, but this tioblin rather than the plate aran to doze, but before it was cooblin on the rear with the flat of its sword, waking it up
It knows about our spells, Haruhiro thought It was like the plate aroblin could see all the cards in their hand
“Yuonna kill it if you keep running around it! Quit that and hit it already, idiot!”
“Shut up!” she shouted back “Yume doesn’t want to hear that from you!”
Yuain, but this tiotten used to seeing her do it Yuasped as the sentry’s spear connected with her shoulder Not just connecting—but gouging
“fuck! Yuoblin with a diagonal slash of his longsword”[HATRED’S CUT]!”
The sentry goblin blocked using its buckler, grunting in exertion It shi+fted its grip on the spear, choking farther up, and counter-attacked with a thrust Thrust, sweep, thrust Ranta, after barely deflecting the streas and shot away
“[PROPEL LEAP]! Get over here!” Ranta taunted, but paused “What?! Why isn’t it co after me?!”
“Because it sees right through your tricks!” Haruhiro spat, [SWAT]-ing, [SWAT]-ing, [SWAT]-ing again
Meanwhile, Mary was chanting an invocation “O light, under the divine grace of Lord Luminous… [HEAL]!”
Yuht Unlike [CURE], [HEAL] didn’t require the Priest to hold their hand close over the injury It could be used to heal a wounded person from a distance, and it was effective for injuries anywhere on the body [HEAL] was a spell that Manato hadn’t possessed
Yuht-handed and the injury to her shoulder must have been serious, so Mary probably decided to heal her right away With that, Yuht in another zo was the one in trouble
He had sooblin’s club, but he was taking hit after hit from the plate armored one’s sword Even if it was just one sentry, they had to dispatch theo help him Was there no way? Some means, some method?
Haruhiro couldn’t just sit back and think, of course He was forced into [SWAT]-ing again and again to deflect the sentry goblin’s attacks His breathing was beco numb If heon the edge of panic
Don’t give in Hang in there Gotta hang in there… But even if he told hi to do?
“Haru!” Someone had called his name Not his proper name, but his nickname Soed to Mary
He didn’t have the luxury of sparing a glance in her direction, but she had called his nauessed that she probably wanted hiradually oblin in with him
When he thought he was close enough he stopped
When Mary yelled “Switch with me!”, Haruhiro jumped to the side just as Mary stepped in She stopped the sentry goblin’s spear with her staff—but no, she didn’t just stop it “[COUNTER STRIKE]!”
For a split second, it looked as if their weapons hadall the momentuoblin’s chest It wheezed sharply and backed off
Now! It was that or never Guessing Haruhiro’s intention, Mary continued to press the attack on the sentry The sentry had noitched to a defensive stance, leaving no way for Mary to break through, but she had done enough: Haruhiro was now in position at the sentry goblin’s back
C’uiding line of colorless light to appear But it didn’t There was nothing But even though it didn’t show, things weren’t necessarily hopeless
Haruhiro slaer into the sentry’s back with the full force of his body weight, but because of the goblin’s aroblin howled, but Haruhiro immediately snaked his other aroblin’s neck, as he pulled his dagger out—but only halfway He then thrust the blade back in Again and again, over and over, he stabbed the goblin just so as it shrieked and flailed wildly in his embrace
He kept going until he felt the goblin’s full weight collapsed upon him
“Thanks, Mary!” Haruhiro heaved, duoblin to the ground
He glanced around and saw that Yu sentry down Mogzo grunted with exertion as he blocked the hobgoblin’s club with his bastard sword, staggering
“Mogzo!” Haruhiro rushed towards him, but he didn’t make it in time
The plate aro, it se of sword hit barbute helood a hel a blow like that Mozgo reeled, but he swung his sildly as he did, forcing both the two goblins to back off
Mogzo’s breath ca anywhere, but Haruhiro was sure that if were he to remove his armor, his body would be covered in bruises Haruhiro had no doubt that Mogzo was having the hardest ti his bastard sword at the goblins