Vol 1 Chapter 52 (2/2)

Oort stood in front of the giant kobold, Louis to its right, and Paul circled around behind it.

“Well, let’s go…”

He licked his dry lips, and held his s.h.i.+eld up in front of him. He gripped his axe in his right hand. The kobold, didn’t wait, it leapt at him with a growl. Oort moved his gaze from Louis and Paul, making sure he knew where they were. All three had cold sweat dripping down their cheeks. The kobold’s weapon

kobold’s weapon was, to put it simply, a club. It could only be swung around. But that swing alone could crush them. It was a simple weapon, but also a terrifyingly intimidating one.

Wynn, Leti, and Eliza were about ten meters away from Oort, watching the fight. The boy gripped his wooden sword tightly, staring intently at the scene before him.

“Will they be alright?”

“It’ll be fine, the three of them are strong,” Eliza replied, closing her eyes in preparation for a spell.

She inhaled, then exhaled. Relaxing her whole body, she mustered her concentration. She blocked out all of the noise from around her, as if she were in the middle of a deep, deep abyss. That’s why she never noticed. From the moment they fought the goblins, to the moment the giant kobold appeared, Leti, the girl clinging to the boy named Wynn, had her eyes trained on Eliza. She observed Eliza’s every single action, not letting a single movement go unnoticed.

“Haaaaaaaaaa!!”

Oort let out a war cry as he took a step forward in order to focus the kobold’s attention on himself. He braced his legs as he stepped. A fierce glint shone in the kobold’s eyes as its gigantic club swept across the ground. He heard a thunderous roar from the kobold, and the impact soon followed.

“Gu-guh”

Despite bracing himself and using a s.h.i.+eld, Oort’s whole body felt the blow.

“Oh s.h.i.+—”

“—Louis!”

Oort heard Louis swear while he was recovering from the impact. From behind his s.h.i.+eld, he saw that Louis had stepped into the path of the kobold’s swing, only to be sent flying as the club drove into his side. The enemy’s attack was sharper, faster, and fiercer than Louis had expected. It felt more like an impact of a howling gale than a normal blow. Sensing that the club would reach him before his spear reached the kobold’s heart, Louis immediately drew the weapon back to block, but the club easily broke through the shaft and smashed into his ribs. He was sent flying as if his attempt at defense was a bad joke and hit the ground ten meters away.

“Gah… cough…”

He rolled on the ground several times. Thanks to the blow being softened by both Oort’s s.h.i.+eld and Louis’ spear, Louis seemed to still be conscious. Through his groans, his eyes still followed the kobold. If he had taken the full brunt of the blow, he would definitely have been crushed to death. But judging by how things looked, his ribs were definitely

ribs were definitely broken.

“Friggin Monster!”

With another shout, Oort moved towards the kobold’s left side. The kobold, which was recovering from its swing, turned towards Oort.

“Strike true, Fireball!”

At that moment, a fireball launched into the monster’s chest exploded. The kobold stumbled from the impact. But despite its agonized cries, it didn’t fall. Oort could feel the heat and, keeping his s.h.i.+eld up, barked out a command.

“Paul, now!”

“Haaaaaaaa!”

Paul stabbed his sword into the Kobold’s bulky chest.

“We- we did it…”

Paul let go of the sword as the kobold fell forward with a thud.

“Alright, finally. Good job, Paul.”

“Y-yes?”

It was Paul’s first time killing such a big monster. He looked down at his hands. They were still shaking. He had acted brave in front of the children, but he was still only eighteen. He had just become a full-fledged adventurer.

“Louis!”

Eliza rushed over to where Louis had fallen.

“Owowowowow… I messed up pretty bad.”

“Please! Just shut up for a bit…”

She knelt beside him and placed both hands on his side.

“O Power, bend to my will, grant this one healing!”

“Thanks.”

Faint light surrounded Eliza’s hands. She was casting healing magic.

“Remember, since you’ve broken some ribs, I can’t heal you completely, okay?.”

“…As long as I can walk.”

He’s st.u.r.dier than I thought, thought Oort and sighed with relief as he watched Eliza heal Louis.

He thought about the close call they had, while looking at his s.h.i.+eld. It was badly dented as a result of the blow it had taken. Louis was lucky not to suffer worse injuries. They might have been careless in a.s.suming it was just a kobold. He looked back at the fallen monster. It had taken a lot of effort for Paul to make the hole in its back. The young man had put a lot of force into the thrust, and the blade must have gotten stuck in the bone. Then he looked to see if the children were alright.

“Hm?”

Leti was still clinging to Wynn, but she was looking towards him, trembling.

Was it too much for her? She’s trembling so hard… he thought as he began to walk towards the children with a smile on his face.

“Heey! It’s alright now. What’s wrong? Were you scared by the fight? Louis and Paul took care of it, so it’s fine. How was it? Did you learn a lot?”

“Mr. Oort…”

“What is it, Wynn?”

“Leti says… Leti says that it’s not dead yet!”

“Whoa…Huh!?”

Just as he heard Wynn’s words, he heard Paul scream.

“…What!?”

Oort whirled around, and saw the kobold, still with the sword in its back, standing back up.

<script>