10 - How to Walk in the Little Devil's Forest No. 3

As their name suggests, goblins are small, about the same height as a child around ten years old.

Their skin is a dark greenish color, and they have an unforgettable appearance with a large mouth that opens to the ears and two eyes that move incessantly.

Their movements are slow during the daytime and become more active at nightfall.

It is said that this is because goblins and other subhumans are the servants of Raramoor, the goddess of despair and endless darkness.

They usually roam deep in the forests, but on rare occasions they may appear near forest roads in the evening darkness, so beware of them.

They are ferocious and cunning, and are good at surprise attacks, taking advantage of their small stature.

They always work in packs of two or three, and always work in tandem to surround their prey.

Although their appearance may deceive you, they have strong muscles and can easily crush human bones when they are hit by the club they wield.

Many people have been bitten by them and almost lost their fingers because they were caught off guard.

Being turned back by an underestimated ogre was one of the leading causes of death among novice adventurers.

Against three such goblins, Thor had already been on the offensive for nearly enough time.

The area is quite dimly lit due to the dense foliage.

The roots of the trees, which had not received proper sunlight, were full of bumps and twists.

If we stepped on them carelessly, we would surely hurt our ankles.

The dark green moss spreading in some places also made it difficult for us to stand on the ground.

One of the front ones swung his club at us, making a strange, shrill noise.

A few moments later, another one jumped at us from the right, just above the ground.

A single leg is grabbed, which is fatal in the current situation.

Another one.

A goblin, which had been climbing a nearby tree, jumps down onto Thor's back without a sound, shaking the branches.

If he clung to Thor's back, the smaller man would not be able to reach his weapon and shake him off.

The Goblins were thoroughly familiar with their own size and fighting style.

Thor spots the surprise attack from the side and from behind by the busy movement of the goblin's eyeballs on the other side.

He throws himself forward to the left, dodging a club that is about to be thrown at him.

He rolls forward, slips aside, and strikes the goblin in the right knee.

As soon as he stands up, he strikes the goblin in the unprotected back with his wooden sword.

The goblin groans and stops moving as his patella is shattered and his lumbar vertebrae are punched through.

Two shorter goblins run out from either side of him.

Thor chose the one on the left.

Against a large number of goblins, it is not a good idea to stay in one place for too long.

The best move is to keep moving and try to make it a one-on-one fight as much as possible.

Thor, turning to the left, knocked off the arm of the goblin that had grabbed him, changed the trajectory of his sword, and thrust it into the open face.

The goblin screamed loudly as the tip of the sword pierced his left eye.

The soft eyeball and the mouth of the goblin's mouth are more accessible to the blade than other parts of the body.

One more step and it would reach the brain's core, but Thor steps back as the blade is about to grab him.

Then another one, stepping on the back of his staggering companion, leaps through the air and grabs him.

He quickly raises his sword and strikes the back of the leg.

But the goblin, already accustomed to Thor's moves, read him and kicked the tip of his sword in the air.

The goblin clings to Thor's shoulders and opens his jaws wide.

Just before his throat was about to be ripped out, Thor called out the name of his companion in a calm voice.

"--Sora."

It seems that the monsters were not the only ones accustomed to the movement.

The girl's magic moves protect Thor as she signals the lifting of the ban.

--

The fangs of all the goblins lined up in a row burst out at once just before they touched Thor.

A disembowelment knife, which had been pulled out of its sheath, is inserted into the goblin's right eye, which flinches in surprise.

The knife, which has a thin blade, is bent when it hits the skull, but is quickly and straightened out after being pushed to the handle.

Thor twists the knife, which has been deeply pierced, mercilessly.

The goblin's brain is racked and its breath knocked out, and Thor pushes it toward one of the approaching goblins, swinging his cudgel.

The spine and knees he had just shattered seemed to have healed.

Next, he kneecapped the other one, which jumped on his waist.

The goblin that tried to hug Thor falls to the ground with a dull thud, probably due to the .

The lone goblin pushes away the corpses of his companions with his club and closes in on Thor.

The club is bounced off the wooden sword and deflected to the side.

The sword that came back from below strikes Thor in the jaw, which is now empty.

The goblin's head staggers as the sword is brought down again, and a blade with a different trajectory smacks him in the temple.

The wooden sword plunged deep into the goblin's eye, shaking his brain and making his legs wobble.

The goblin lets go of the cudgel with a desperate grunt.

Thor, however, is not to be dissuaded, and he pushes the goblin off his feet, knocking him to the ground and pushing the sword further into his body.

The monster convulses, and this time it dies, green blood gushing from its eye sockets.

"............Oh, is it over?"

"No, not yet."

Thor approaches one of the animals, which is still down after being kneecapped.

He slammed his wooden sword into its neck.

It lets out a muffled scream, and the prone creature rises from the ground.

The eyeballs and broken noses that had been poked at earlier were already healed, with flesh rising from them.

Without a pause, a wooden sword is thrust into his face.

The last one, skewered in the head, stretched out its arms and bared its fangs as it expired.

"Okay, you can come out now, Sora."

"Yes, sir. Good night, Thor. Your neck is bleeding!

"Oh, you got hit by a flying tooth."

With a quick touch, the wound vanishes without a trace.

Relieved, Sola exhaled slowly.

Sola's does not nullify all attacks.

He knew this well enough, but the sight of Thor being wounded was still heartbreaking.

He would like to take his place if he could, but it seems that this is something that Thor would never allow.

The girl, who was almost caught in an indescribable dilemma, made up her mind once again to do the best she could with what she had at the moment.

"Well, you look really bad up close, don't you?"

As I poked the goblin with the tip of my stick, Thor offered me a dismemberment knife he had pulled from the corpse.

"Yeah, what are you going to do with this?"

"First, the right ear. It's proof of defeat."

"Ho-ho. I guess so."

With the knife he received, Sola rips off the goblin's right ear.

He is not hesitant to do so because he grew up in the countryside.

"Next is the bottom of the neck. The base of the jaw. Right there."

"It's cut, Thor."

"Put your fingers in there and see if you can find anything hard."

"Oh, I think this is it."

Sola pulled out a long, thin, rugged stone.

It was as long as a thumb and as transparent as a crystal.

"What is it?　Goblin seeds?"

"Oh, you guessed right. That's what they call a magic stone.

It is said that a demon stone is an existence in which the divine energy of transformation contained in the miasma has solidified in the body of a subhuman or spirit monster, becoming only pure power.

The stone has no use as it is, but when combined with a magical stone tool, it can be used to produce a variety of effects.

The trade of these magic stones was one of the major pillars supporting the city of Boundary.

"Wow, it's amazing. But my hands are so sticky.

"Wipe it off with moss for now."

Sola rubs the green blood-slippery magic stone against the moss at her feet.

Then she made a curious sound.

"Hey, there's a shell on the ground. Thor, is there a hole in the bag?

"That's what these guys ate."

"What?　Are these clams good?

"Don't do that, you'll get a stomach ache."

The snails that are inside the thin shells are the goblins' favorite food.

These snails, also called flue shells because of their appearance, are found deep in the miasma forests, and their tougher-than-usual shells are often used as containers.

Incidentally, one copper coin is purchased for five katatsumuri, but Thor washes them and uses them himself.

The loot this time consisted of three kobold ears and two magic stones, the lowest grade of the tenth class.

There were also six thin shells.

The goblin's club is just a thick branch, so its only use is as a firewood club.

"Aren't you bringing back meat?"

I heard that subhuman meat tastes bad. They won't buy it.

"I see. That's a bit of a waste.

The corpse of a kobold melts and disappears after a while.

It is said that this is because they return to the miasma and are reborn anew.

If so, taking the corpse home and mourning it might reduce the number of goblins, but this was forbidden.

The real reason for the ban is the magical stone, though it is a good reason that it is prone to plague and other diseases.

If the supply of magic stones decreases, the town will be in trouble, and so will the adventurers.

"This went easier than I thought it would. Let's look for the next one.

Yes, sir. I'll do my best not to hurt you next time, Thor!

"Don't worry, I can fix it. I can fix it, so don't worry about me. It's better if you concentrate on defeating them.

"Ew."

If Thor had been alone before, he would have had to fight endlessly running away to defeat the current three.

Thor is able to face most opponents, but only if he can focus on the opponent in front of him.

No matter how good he was at evading and counterattacking, he would not be able to maintain his strength and concentration if he had to keep ducking and dodging attacks from blind spots.

However, with the current combination of Thor and Sora, they can rebound from attacks that cannot be avoided, and even if they are wounded, they can heal immediately.

This party was showing more strength than Thor had expected.

"Hey, Thor, am I useful?

"Yes, I'm counting on you, Sora."

The girl smiled broadly at Thor, who said just what she wanted to hear.

The two of them set off together and started to go deeper into the forest.