Chapter 18 (1/2)
「Ambush……no, would they lay an ambush so far into the forest? In that case, I probably ran into this group of Goblins by chance.」
Rei muttered while holding the Death Scythe. His eyes quickly observed the Goblins.
(2 rusted long swords and 3 similar daggers, the rest have clubs. ……The story was that Goblins with high intelligence could use weapons, but all the members have weapons. Though it’s possible that only Goblins with high intelligence have gathered……)
「Hah!」
A Goblin at the back hurled a stone in a preemptive strike. Pouring magic power into the Death Scythe, the stone was cut down in one strike. All the huge, 1m diameter trees in the area were also cut.
He didn’t think that he would be able to cut tree trunks of that thickness. Though he was surprised when all the trees started falling, he immediately shouted to Set to take advantage of the situation to fight.
「Set, defeat the Goblins isolated by the trees!」
「Gururu~!」
The trees slowly fell, he gathered the thoughts in his mind as they fell towards the group of Goblins.
(In the end, its best if I find out if there is a rare species like they mentioned in the guild. I don’t see it here, the leader probably realizes that there is a danger at the front lines.)
「Gyi~! Gyi~!」
「Gyi~!」
「Gigyi~!」
The Goblins divided into to two groups to evade the falling tree as the shouted something at each other. Rei confirmed the situation and set up the Death Scythe to his right. Set moved himself respectively to the left.
「Haah!」
As the trees suddenly fell down, the Goblins were thrown into confusion. Rei entered and wielded the large scythe with abandon. The magic blade cut sharply through the trees without any resistance. The goblins weren’t able to block it. Rei’s large scythe went through the bodies, limbs and parts of the heads of the goblins without any resistance.
One strike. Most of the Goblins in the area died with one hit or where put in a state of near death.
Among the Goblins who had weapons, the one with the rusty long sword instinctively thrust out the weapon to block the large scythe. However, compared to the magic item battle axe that Vargas used, using the rusty sword to block the Death Scythe was like telling it to catch a huge waterfall with a small glass. The resistance was like no resistance, it smoothly cut through the long sword, arm and body, covering the ground in offal.
「Gyi~!」
The remaining Goblins divided by the tree, who saw more than half of their group killed in one attack, ran in all direction at full speed to try to escape.
Rei thought whether to chase for a moment, the request to subjugate Goblins had only asked for 5. It was better to take the killed Goblins as food for Set and the Death Scythe while there was time. Because of this, he judged that they wouldn’t chase.
「Gururururu~!」
Set’s cry could be heard from the other side of the tree. Rei judged that the other side had been cleaned up with no problems and moved over the big tree to Set.
What was left were the corpses of Goblins crushed by water balls, torn by sharp forefeet claws or bitten to pieces. In total, there were 4. It was two fewer than Rei, Rei had killed 6 with a single blow while Set had knocked down 4. If you think about the fleeing goblins, the fight was good.
「Guru~」
As Rei saw it when he approached, he praised Set and rubbed his head. A wry smile floated onto Rei’s face, in contrast with the the Goblin corpses scattered around.
After patting him for a little while, he praised Set’s results, turned around and began collecting the proof that the subjugation was completed.
By the way, in the case of Goblins, not many shops in the guild purchased their materials, because of that, he only stripped the right ears and magic stones.
「Set, keep watch of the surroundings while I recover the proof of subjugation and magic stones.」
「Guru~」
When Rei saw Set nod, he took the mithril knife from his waist……then put it back and took a iron dagger out from the Misty Ring. It was an item he had taken from Vargas’s companion.
(As expected, it’s too much of a waist to use the mithril knife to cut up the Goblins. I obtained this with much effort, I might as well use this dirty and scratched knife.)
The right ear of a Goblin, which was the proof of subjugation, was chopped off with the knife, the chest was cut open and a magic stone the size of his little finger tip taken out from the heart.
(Aside from the Water Bear, I don’t feel particularly troubled killing human like monsters. Though the fusion with Zepairu may have contributed, when I killed them……I’m lucky I didn’t feel hesitant or worried. Though I feel a little disgust at killing something human like, that was it. Maybe because this is Elgin and not Japan, in Rome do as the Romans do. In the first place, it’s not good to be an adventurer if you have a feeling of not wanting to kill the target.)
While thinking like so in his mind, Rei cut of a right ear and dug out a magic stone one after the other.
By the way, though he collected the magic stones of the Goblins, as they were one of the weakest monsters, Rei judged that it was impossible for Set or the Death Scythe to gain a skill even if they absorbed the magic stones and put the stones into the Misty Ring without hesitation. The magic stone of goblins were sold for the super cheap price of one copper coin, still, it was considered better than nothing.
After finishing the dismantling of the four Goblins that Set knocked down, Rei turned his eyes to the Goblins weapons for a moment. However, the long sword and daggers were rusted and useless, he still couldn’t repair them by himself. Though it might be possible to ask a blacksmith or weapon’s shop, the repair cost would probably make it a deficit. When Rei judged determined that it would be deficit, he crushed the weapons with the Death Scythe’s handle so that they couldn’t be reused by the Goblins that ran away earlier.
By the way, although clubs were also scattered around, he left them as they were. Though he called it a club, they were just branches used as club substitutes, Rei judged that they could be made immediately just by taking branches from trees in the vicinity and left them alone.
「Well, next are the ones I defeated. Set, the tree……no.」
As he was about to speak, he remembered what he tried in the Forest of Monsters. A tree that was knocked down then could be stored in the Misty Ring. In that case, this tree should also be able to be stored.
Though there was nothing particularly useful in storing the tree, Rei was optimistic about it and thought that it would come in handy.
「Alright. Now the object obstructing the way has been temporarily removed. Set, continue to keep watch.」
「Guru~」
Because the fallen tree had disappeared, there was now space to move about. Leaving the watch to Set, Rei began dismantling the Goblins that he had killed. The Goblins where in a different state compare with Set’s because he had cut them with the Death Scythe, torsos, hands, feet and heads were everywhere with offal and blood on the ground, flesh was scattered around. In such a state, Rei looked for heads to cut the right ears off, the magic stones were also taken from the hearts. By accident, as Rei reached out to the other corpses, he felt a gaze. It seemed that something was quietly observing them.
「Guru~」
Set was wary of the surroundings and was restless and looked sharply around.
(There’s an uncomfortable feeling, but I can’t pin down the position. ……Is it the rare species I heard in the guild? What is it’s aim? Is it safely waiting for us to leave? Or is it waiting to attack us by surprise when we finish dismantling and are not on guard? I would like the magic stone of that monster if it can hide that not even Set can find it. I should be able to lure it out.)