Chapter 59 : Chapter 59
Chapter 59
“That crazy bastard!”
Vergil swore at the young lord who had pushed him aside and disappeared into the darkness.
“Knightly Order!”
His voice, calling for the knightly order, trembled uncontrollably.
Was it right to follow the young lord?
Could they really survive in that darkness?
To save the young lord, he had to immediately follow the squad leader and rush in with the knightly order.
No, he had to return to the fortress right now.
The problem was that he had left the fortress, trusting that madman.
He was a bastard who would surely put him and Moner in danger someday.
Perhaps it would be better for him to die now.
After confirming that the three knights who had left the fortress with him had gathered around him, he was about to order a retreat.
The maid who had been following the young lord, clutching a menacing flail, ran into the darkness after her master.
“Damn it!”
The darkness swallowed the fluttering maid’s dress.
“Scouting party, follow the squad leader!”
“Just do as you practiced!”
Behind her, the soldiers, shouldering their bows and quivers, followed her without fear.
“Damn it!
Stop!”
He shouted urgently at the running soldiers, but none of the soldiers who had headed into the darkness stopped.
“If you see an enemy, don’t hesitate and shoot your arrows first!
As the squad leader commanded, we fight with bows, not swords!”
From the darkness that had swallowed the reconnaissance team, only the occasional shout of the 12th squad leader echoed.
“Damn it!”
It was already too late to retreat.
Leaving the soldiers behind and returning was the right decision, but he didn’t think they could safely return through the Demonic Beast forest, which they had already passed, with just four knights.
“Knightly Order!
All units, charge!”
At Vergil’s command, the three knights standing by his side ran towards the darkness with Vergil.
* * *
A knight of Moner knows no fear.
We cut and slash to prove it.
Valor is the pride of Moner, and we are the pillars of Moner.
We know neither failure nor fear.
It was supposed to be so.
“Don’t stop until we save the squad leader!”
At the commander’s order, he tried his best to ignore the sword that was trembling like an aspen tree and continued to run.
He had killed thousands of monsters on the castle walls, yet he couldn’t understand why he was so scared.
‘Son of a bitch.’
Unlike the young lord who was leading the way, there were no enemies blocking the knights who were following behind.
No.
The young lord hadn’t killed the large hobgoblins or the goblins in the distance, so there were enemies to block the knights.
Ping!
Ping!
Ping!
It was just that every time the soldiers, who looked as if they had eaten something wrong and were glaring, released their bowstrings, the enemies in front of them fell one by one.
‘Can you hunt a hobgoblin with an arrow?’
Or was the one that was falling with an arrow pierced through its head a large goblin that just resembled a hobgoblin?
He ran without rest, having such foolish thoughts.
Thump, thump, thump!
His heart was pounding like crazy, and the hand that held the sword was trembling like an aspen tree, but he did not stop running towards the young lord.
Thwack!
“Gyaaaak!”
A girly scream escaped him at the chunk of flesh that fell in front of him, cutting through the air.
“Fuck, what the hell is this!”
Only then did he see the maid who had gone far ahead.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
Every time she swung her flail, a crimson ray of light seemed to pour out of her eyes.
Who, seeing that sight, could recall the maid who had offered him water with a cute face?
“Tein!”
At the sharp call towards him who had stopped, Tein started running again and answered.
“Yes, yes, I’m coming!”
The maid who was clearing a path by swinging her flail, and the soldiers who were catching hobgoblins with their bows right behind her, were not afraid.
Yes, the Moner family feared nothing.
* * *
Only after seeing the shaman’s neck fall to the ground from the thrown sword did I stop my legs.
“Ah!”
Refreshing.
The heart that was beating as if it would burst, the agitated breathing, the mana circulating throughout my body, told me that I was alive.
I picked up the crude sword that had fallen on the ground.
And I started running again.
This time, to prove that I was alive.
I killed all the goblins that blocked my way.
I no longer avoided the hobgoblins.
If I couldn’t kill them in one blow, I just struck again.
When the goblin that blocked my way fell, I moved my body towards the next one.
It was unclear whether this hatred and anger I felt towards these bastards I was seeing for the first time was due to the experience of dying countless times in the game, or a sense of caution towards a different species that I felt as a human.
I just had to release this hatred by covering the ground with their blood.
The moment I defeated the last hobgoblin.
“Kieeeek!”
“Kiek, kiek, kieeek!”
A desperate cry echoed across the battlefield.
“……?”
The surviving goblins threw down their swords and blowguns one after another and prostrated themselves on the ground.
“Kiek, kieeeek!”
The sight of the bastards prostrated on the ground with their hands raised above their heads was a clear sign of surrender.
“Hah!”
Goblins surrendering?
“They’ve surrendered!
Scouting party, bind them!”
At Vergil’s shout from afar to bind them, the soldiers holding their bows stopped awkwardly.
They seemed unable to decide whether to go and get the ropes they had forgotten to bring in the sudden battle, or to stay put.
Hooo!
I filled my lungs with air and shouted with all my might.
“Reconnaissance team!
Kill the goblins and regroup!”
As I was confirming that the soldiers were dealing with the goblins, Vergil approached with a strange expression.
“You’re late.”
If this were a game, the entire reconnaissance team would have abandoned Ian and retreated.
So I had no particular expectations for the knightly order.
Because Vergil knew who I was.
“It’s a waste of arrows to hunt those who have lost their will to fight.
We should have kept them alive and interrogated them, as they might have been able to communicate.”
Why did this bastard spew shit with his open mouth?
“You stupid bastard, just pick up a sword.”
The sword I had brought had long since broken, so I picked up a crude sword rolling on the ground and continued.
“You and I will go back first.
Tell the others to guard this place.”
“Yes?
Just the two of us?”
Why did I want to punch him every time Vergil opened his mouth?
Am I allergic to stupidity?
“What are the instructions in case of being missing in action?”
“Yes?
We search until we find the missing person.”
“Then tell them not to look.”
"Yes?!"
Tsk.
It would be nice if he could understand at once.
And why were his eyes trembling?
Was he afraid I would swing my sword at him if we went alone?
“Goblins are cunning, but not weak.”
“Yes, yes?”
“If goblins surrender, it’s one of two things.
Either they’re sure they can be released, or there’s an ambush hidden in the camp.”
The others, still busy dealing with the remaining goblin remnants, paid no particular attention to us as we slowly headed to the camp.
“In either case……”
The elation and excitement I had felt just moments before disappeared like a lie, and a sense of unease began to creep in.
I looked up at the sky.
If I cut down the leaves that were densely blocking the sky, would a blue sky greet me?
“They’re sure of our deaths.”
I retraced my past experiences in my mind and calculated the possibilities.
'If we're lucky, they might just be hoping we'll be killed by the Orcs and Ogres.
Or maybe there's another ambush unit?'
The party was by no means weak.
Ten soldiers, three 4-star knights, and one 5-star knight.
And Reina and me on top of that.
To annihilate a unit of this size without any warning…….
“The Goblin King himself might have graced us with his presence.”
At those words, Vergil stopped in his tracks and said.
“That will never happen.
Teheki will not move unless my father is here.”
What a useless conviction.
Vergil’s face, who realized that, also hardened.
Because it was nothing more than a groundless belief that the enemy would move as he thought.
“...But if he is after us, it might be difficult to return alive.”
Vergil said so and gripped his sword.
“I don’t know what kind of novel you’re writing on your own, but we will not die.”
Well, in the worst-case scenario, I could probably send this one guy back alive.
“I hope so too.”
* * *
We moved our feet, silencing even our footsteps.
One step at a time.
So carefully that even an Ogre would not notice.
Not long after we headed to the camp, we saw a faint, flickering light in the distance.
'Damn it.'
The two of us, who had spotted the light, stopped our feet at the same time.
'A campfire?'
As soon as I spotted the light, I grabbed Vergil’s hand, who was about to draw his sword, shook my head, and mouthed.
- Be careful.
To light a campfire in the Demonic Beast forest, which was teeming with demonic beasts, was a suicide mission.
Or, it meant they were so strong that they didn’t have to worry about the teeming demonic beasts.
'I have a bad feeling about this.'
I grabbed Vergil’s hand and carefully moved my feet backward.
I had intended to just confirm the scale of the enemy and flee, but my thoughts changed the moment I saw the campfire.
No matter who the enemy was, we would retreat.
'A monster is targeting the reconnaissance team.'
That alone was valuable information.
No matter what those who had lit that campfire were, they would have a military force close to a knightly order.
'Run while we can.'
The moment I made that decision, a voice that seemed to drill into my brain echoed in my ear.
“Come.”
At the thick, low voice, I reflexively grabbed Vergil, threw him backward, and stood my ground, sending a hand signal.
- Retreat.
All I could do was stand with my back to him until Vergil escaped.
As I sent hand signals to the stubbornly unmoving Vergil several times, the presence I felt behind me disappeared.
If it was impossible for both of us to escape, I had to at least buy some time.
I moved my trembling legs and walked towards the campfire, thinking to myself.
I repeated the words, as if making an excuse for the regret that was washing over me.
'This is the best I can do.'
Was it really the best?
What if I had left Vergil and returned with reinforcements?
What if it was an opponent we could win against if we were together?
What if we had held out until the soldiers and Reina returned?
'You fool.
We would have all died then.'
So me staying was the most rational choice.
Because I had the highest probability of survival.
'If Vergil had died, I don't know how the count would have reacted.'
What about Moner if the fortress collapsed while he was rampaging in revenge?
The Black Noble Troop?
The Black Noble Troop wouldn't disappear even if I was gone, but without the count and the soldiers of the fortress, there would be no Moner.
'Yes, this is the best.'
I was complacent.
I should have assumed the worst of the worst and retreated immediately.
I should have taken care of my and Reina’s safety first, without caring about who the enemy in the rear was…….
“You have many thoughts.”
At the suddenly heard voice, I looked up and saw a campfire that sounded like crackling firewood, a small man sitting in front of the campfire, covered in a robe, and a large sack placed next to him.
“Don’t worry and sit down, I have no intention of killing you yet.”
At those words, as I went to the opposite side of him, he turned over a piece of unidentified meat and continued.
“For Sven’s son to run away.
Moner doesn’t have much time left.”
I silently looked at the man beyond the campfire.
“Isn’t that right, young master of the Moner family?”
My eyes met the man’s, who had finally raised his head.
Fiercely torn eyes, a pointed ear and nose that were arbitrarily lengthened, a hideously torn mouth that went down to just below his ear, and green skin that glistened like a reptile’s.
“……”
[You have encountered the Goblin King, Teheki.]
In front of me.
The king was sitting.