Chapter 596: Appearance

On the other side, Loris led the group to a spot nearby the main goblin settlement.

"This is going to be a swift operation. According to our scouts, there are ten hostages we need to rescue. We have no confirmation about the Goblin King, but there are at least a thousand goblins inside. We will use the water as a distraction and kill them one by one and rescue the hostage. After making sure they're okay, we will kill the goblins. Understood?" Loris briefed them for one last time.

All eight captains nodded their heads while Theo rolled his eyes, not caring about the operation. They didn't seem to believe him anymore, so why would he care about the briefing?

He had decided to only respond to them when the situation needed him, which was on the battlefield. 

Loris saw the anger on the eight captains but ignored it because when he fought the Goblin King, he couldn't take care of the squads. So, he tolerated Theo's behavior as long as he could command them later. 

He had recognized Theo's ability in the past two days after all.

"Alright. Since we have agreed…" Loris looked at the watch on his wrist and said, "Let's advance."

With his command, the group marched silently through the woods, approaching the settlement. 

As expected, the goblins didn't erect a wall around them, making their place easier to raid.

Since there were so many goblins around, they had expected they wouldn't be able to infiltrate their camp without getting found out. So, rather than giving them a chance to spot them, they just made the biggest entrance possible, trying to put the settlement into chaos. 

Loris and Filbert stood next to each other as they raised their hands simultaneously. The two guys exchanged looks and nodded.

Soon, Loris' sword began to glow in golden light while Filbert's hand had a similar shine. 

"Saint Hand." Filbert's glowing hand was projected above him and expanded to fifty times of Filbert's big body.

"Saint Sword." Loris also did the same and projected his sword, matching Filbert's Saint Hand. 

Surprisingly, Filbert's hand grabbed Loris' Saint Sword as they marched forward. 

"Attack!"

They ran toward the goblins while commanding them to follow right behind. 

"Kroark!" The goblins noticed them and informed the others, though they were too late. 

The Saint Hand waved the Saint Sword horizontally, cutting everything in the front. The tent was torn and the goblins were split into two.

"Kroark!"

"Kroak."

"Kroor." 

The goblins alerted the others while witnessing how a single slash could kill fifteen goblins. And another slash was coming to them.

With another swing, they killed another twenty goblins as they continued marching inside the settlement. 

Some goblins were smart enough to duck down or jump up to avoid the slashes and rush to them, but twelve knights arrived next to them and slammed their shields, stopping all of them. After that, another twelve Holy Knights appeared and cut them down. 

"Attack!"

The goblins started noticing what was happening. The settlement soon became chaotic because they kept screaming to inform the others.

"Kroar!"

The goblins started charging at them, trying to kill them. 

However, the group kept pushing forward, not caring about their attacks. 

Some hobgoblins even made their way to stop the group.

"Kroar!" The hobgoblins roared and raised their weapons.

The Saint Sword moved again and slammed the hobgoblins. The Saint Sword was obviously stronger than their weapons as they snapped their weapons and sliced their bodies. It was a complete wreck.

Filbert and Loris showed the group how easy they could take down the hobgoblins. Although it was due to their combination techniques and a huge gap in their level, their action motivated the Holy Knight Order to continue raising their level.

And they did it while pushing through the enemy's rank, revealing what they could do as Supreme Rank Experts.

Obviously, the Holy Knights loved the show and swore to become Supreme Rank themselves. 

Theo, on the other hand, followed them from behind closely, refraining from using his Magic Power for the time being. He only used his Magic Bullets and attacked the goblins from a distance.

Even Agata chose to summon some throwing weapons to attack the goblins.

Just like usual, they found several corpses around and ignored them for the time being as they set their priority to rescue the hostages. They would give them a proper burial later.

After a minute, they reached the middle of the main camp, where they found a huge cage made of black-colored metals.

The bars between the cages seemed big enough for a human to slip out, but all ten humans, four males and six females, weren't even trying to escape.

They were naked and simply sat down while staring blankly into the space. Some had tears on the corner of their eyes, some had red, moist eyes, and some even had dark circles under their eyes. 

Their bodies were full of blood mixed with some white-colored liquid.

"There it is!" Loris shouted loud enough for the people in the cage to hear them.

Three of them turned their heads but didn't say anything. They simply turned their vision back to the ground.

"Let's go rescue them first and leave this place. Prepare the signal for the flood as well." Loris commanded his Holy Knights to get ready as he planned to swing the Saint Sword to cut the cage, allowing them to move in. 

The situation seemed to be under control as they advanced pretty quickly toward the cage, but everything changed when a giant sickle attached to a chain flew toward the Saint Sword. 

The sickle seemed to be poorly made, but the green-colored energy that covered it was overwhelming.

As soon as it touched the Saint Sword, a powerful clash of energy shook the battlefield. The confrontation caused a shock wave that blew all the tents away and stopped Filbert and Loris on their track.

They all looked at the tent where the sickle came from and noticed a powerful killing intent emanating from the tent in front of them.

A green-colored hand suddenly reached the tent side as a ten-foot-tall shadow flashed inside the dark tent.