Chapter 36 : Excitement
Chapter 36: Excitement! The Choice!
As the experience points were gained, the fear he originally felt toward the Beastkin transformed into the pleasure of harvesting rewards.
In truth, the strength of these Goblins was not particularly high—roughly just slightly stronger than the wild wolves from his previous life.
Watching Leo slaughter with rising momentum, the other Knight’s Squires gradually calmed down as well.
With their abilities, in a one-on-one situation, they could definitely defeat a Goblin; they had simply been frightened out of their wits at the beginning.
“Don’t be afraid! Cut their necks.” At this moment, Arthur, following Leo’s lead, also noticed the weakness of these Goblins.
With Arthur’s reminder, the tide of battle began to turn.
Each of the Squires held either a Wooden Sword or an Iron Sword. Facing these unarmed Goblins, their morale rapidly surged.
“Kill! For the glory of knights!” Fidis roared, violently shaking off several Goblins clinging to his body.
Raising his large blade, he charged toward a group of Goblins not far away.
Under Leo’s example, the Goblins in the courtyard were quickly cleared out.
After regaining their morale, the combat strength of dozens of Knight’s Squires began to show.
“Sha!” One of the Goblins bared its teeth, letting out an unwilling hiss.
At the same time, the remaining Goblins began to rapidly retreat from the courtyard.
With two strides, Leo stepped forward and grabbed the last Goblin in the yard.
He lifted the green-skinned little monster by its neck with one hand, as if gripping a dead dog.
Only now did Leo have the chance to properly observe this Beastkin creature.
Its gray-green skin emitted a sulfuric stench, paired with a large triangular head.
Its limbs were abnormally long, and its hunched body had a bizarre, disproportionate structure.
At this moment, it struggled violently in Leo’s grip, emitting low, guttural hisses.
Like a mutated ape.
However, Leo did not kill the Goblin in his hand.
In the next moment, he actually loosened his grip.
The Goblin, having regained its life, fled in panic.
The other Squires also gathered behind Leo at this time.
After the battle, each of them had gone red-eyed from killing, and quite a few bore wounds on their bodies.
Several Knight’s Squires watched Leo let the Goblin go, their faces filled with doubt.
But when they saw Leo’s face, covered in blood and grime, they were so frightened that they immediately shut their mouths.
At this moment, Leo was covered in blood from head to toe, like a man who had crawled out of a pool of blood.
Yet the blood appeared darker and more viscous, with faint traces of green fluorescence mixed within.
Not a single drop of it belonged to him—it was all Goblin blood.
Those Knight’s Squires, glanced at by Leo as he stood among the pile of corpses, felt their hair stand on end and no longer dared to say another word.
“So terrifying…”
But in truth, Leo was not looking at them at all.
He was sensing the position of the Goblin he had just released.
【Tracking (White) Level 1 1/100 (Agility +0.1, able to mark the position of prey, number of marks: 1)】
Leo had already placed a mark on that creature.
Now he could sense that the mark was rapidly moving away in a certain direction.
It was fleeing.
But soon, Leo noticed that the Goblin seemed to have suddenly stopped.
Stopped? What was going on?
Just as he was thinking, chaos had already erupted behind him.
With temporary safety secured, everyone began to consider their next plan.
“What should we do next?” A round-faced female Squire was at a loss.
“Let’s go to the Knight Hall. We should quickly find Eve. She’s the strongest in the city right now.”
“No, the outside isn’t necessarily safe. I think we should hold this place.”
“Exactly! We just drove away a group of Goblins—they probably won’t dare come back.”
“But as knights, shouldn’t we try to help others in the castle? I believe there are still people being attacked by Goblins right now.” Fidis spoke seriously.
“What are you thinking? We’re just Knight’s Squires. Those are matters for the Quasi-Knights in the Knight Hall.”
Having just gone through danger, the emotions of these youths were all unstable.
The perilous environment magnified the selfishness and desires buried deep within them.
For a time, all kinds of opinions sprouted like weeds.
Soon, these differing voices evolved into arguments, then into quarrels.
“Coward! Do you think staying here is safe?”
“You reckless fool, how do you know we won’t encounter danger on the way?”
“Then let’s act separately.”
Just as they were about to split up—
Leo spoke decisively, “We cannot split up.”
His words were brief, yet carried undeniable weight.
The moment he spoke, the argument instantly fell silent.
Clearly, after the previous battle, Leo’s words now held authority.
“Right, he’s right. We can’t split up.” Fidis, the second strongest among the Knight’s Squires, expressed his agreement.
The situation in the castle was still unclear, but no matter what, the most important thing was not to separate.
At this moment, Leo made a judgment—since that Goblin had stopped at a certain location, it was very likely a gathering point for them.
There might even be something stronger there.
Moreover, those Goblins had fled in that direction. As the saying went, one should not pursue a desperate enemy.
In any case, they must not go that way.
Leo judged that heading in the opposite direction would be safer.
When facing the unknown, safety was his top priority.
With a step, he leaped onto the courtyard wall.
Looking toward the marked direction, he found it extremely familiar.
That was the central area of the castle, where the former stables and the Knight Hall were located.
Looking down, the trail of footprints indeed led in that direction.
Leo then turned to look the other way—away from the center.
The back courtyard stables were in that direction.
He raised his head and saw the towering black stone tower standing beside the stables.
That was the watchtower—the highest point in the entire castle.
Generally speaking, the commander of the castle would go to the watchtower to control the situation.
At this thought, Leo made his final decision.
Go to the watchtower.
Leo immediately strode toward the watchtower in the back courtyard.
The Knight’s Squires glanced at each other. After only a brief hesitation, they all chose to follow.
From his earlier performance, Leo was the strongest among them.
Whether his judgment was correct or not, his strength alone inspired confidence.
However, a portion of them insisted on heading to the Knight Hall.
Leo did not interfere—between life and death, each followed their own fate.
The two groups parted ways, sprinting in opposite directions.
Leading more than a dozen Knight’s Squires, Leo quickly passed through the residential area.
On the way, he returned to his room and retrieved the Starfall that Eve had given him, slinging it across his back.
He had not expected real combat to arrive so quickly. Although the Starfall sword was difficult for Leo to wield,
in critical moments, landing one or two strikes would not be a problem—and its lethality was far beyond that of an unsharpened training Iron Sword.
Tap, tap, tap!
Amid hurried footsteps, the group of more than ten squeezed into a narrow passage only wide enough for two people.
Less than fifty meters from the watchtower—once they passed through this passage, they would reach its entrance.
But at that very moment, Leo suddenly stopped.
His nose twitched as he sensed a dangerous sulfuric smell coming from ahead.
That scent seemed to be emanating from within the watchtower.