Chapter 317: Battle on the Street

Even if there were barricades, there were bound to be a few Goblins that did climb over them in the end. Climbing over it, they headed towards the southern side of the city.

Following him were three Goblins. They didn’t cross the barricades due to some specific reason. It could be said that the effect of the Lord’s domination on them was slightly weaker.

Thus, their faintly remaining reasoning had told them, if there are walls, they must be hiding something behind them.

And as expected, they had discovered it. A soft-looking meat—that is, a child.

Three days ago, the citizens had evacuated to the southern part.

Even if they were told it was a Goblin raid, they had the chivalric order, and were also protected by tall walls, so they didn’t have much sense of danger.

Much less when they had never seen the threat they possessed, so it was hard to get them to really understand the dangers.

And the children who had been forced to stay in such secluded places had, from time to time, failed to hold back their curious hearts.

They who lacked the sense of danger more than the adults had lost to their inquisitiveness despite being warned of the dangers, and decided to do something as reckless as “scouting”.

“Hey, there are walls built here.” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

“Hey, let’s go back already.”

“There are Goblins just beyond this wall. I wonder if we can see them?”

The girl who had been convinced to come along by the carefree boy urged him to go back with teary eyes.

Ignoring her pleas, the boy tried to climb up the barricade.

“Let’s go, I said!”

“Leave me alone, if you wanna go, just go back by yourself.”

“It’s scary being alone…”

“In that case, be quiet and wait there. We are here for ‘scouting’, remember?”

It was then, when the boy was trying to climb up, that a Goblin had appeared behind him.

“Gugyaya?”

“Huh… Waah!?”

“What… Eeeeek!”

Seeing the Goblin, the boy was petrified in place while the girl raised a shriek. That only served to further stir the Goblin’s sadistic desires.

In front of the delicious-looking feed that it found after so long, it started to lick its lips in an ostentatious manner.

Seeing its ugly expression, along with the uneven teeth that peeked from its mouth, the children’s fear intensified even more.

“G-Go away, go awaaay!”

He was trying to be tough, but his voice was shaking pathetically. His legs gave out and couldn’t stand up from fear. The girl was also the same, no longer able to speak a word since the first scream.

Seeing the Goblin slowly approach, the boy’s fear finally went over the limit and a lukewarm liquid started to leak from his crotch.

“No… No…Nooooo!!”

There was no place to run. No way to strike back. That fear made him scream out of hopelessness.

The Goblin slowly raised its hand up. The girl could do nothing but stare back with hollow eyes.

But then, a certain youth suddenly rushed to the scene.

“Haaaaaaah!”

He set up his large metallic shield and charged to ram the Goblin as it had its hand raised. Thanks to the difference in physique, the Goblin got blown away and crashed into the house wall.

“Are you two alright!?”

“Huh!?”

“I rushed here when I heard a scream… What are you doing in a place like this.”

Due to the drastic change of the situation, the girl could only muster a silly sound in response. The boy, on the other hand, had covered his head after his scream and closed his eyes shut, so he didn’t even realize what had occurred.

“If you are fine, then run already. Follow that path back!”

The youth yelled once and turned towards the Goblin. On his head was visible one small horn.

That was proof that he was a Half-Demon. He also had a card on his chest showing that he was an Adventurer. It had a red border, which meant he was a novice Adventurer.

The children had been saved, but the boy’s legs had given out and the girl’s legs also trembled so standing in place was the best she could do.

Sensing that, the youth—Cloud, decided to take down the Goblin here.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲, you can’t stand… In that case, I’ll just have to take it down here!”

He had faced Fang Wolves before, so defeating a single Goblin was no problem.

The problem was… There were more. He had to face four Goblins alone. With two powerless kids behind him. He had to take on every attack himself, without letting even a single one pass behind. And there was no one who would back him up.

Understanding the situation, the Goblins charged at him again. He received their attack well with the shield and forced them back.

He swung his sword to keep the Goblins that tried to slip behind him in check, focusing their attention on himself.

If he attracted their attention like this, he would lose chances to counterattack.

Thus, Cloud was experiencing the power of numbers.

Until now, Nicole made plans and they fought in favorable situations during their adventures. And when he trained with Lyell, most of the battles were against a single, strong opponent.

He had almost no experience in drawing many enemies towards himself.

In this hard struggle, he once again realized how grateful he was for Nicole’s ability to take the lead. Even so, he could not pull back here.

Behind him were children even younger than him. They weren’t the kids of the orphanage, but he had learned there to protect those younger than him.

That said, it would be hard to make up for the difference in numbers with just his resolution alone.

Goblins that slipped through his shield defenses started to graze his skin with claws. Each of those wounds wasn’t significant, but the bleeding would still cause fatigue.

Realizing that he would not be able to withstand the onslaught forever, he looked behind him, where he saw the girl lending her shoulder to the boy and trying to escape.

But her legs also trembled, so she tripped up and collapsed. Seeing their condition, it would take some time until they would manage to run.

“Until then, I have to endure no matter what!”

He voiced his decision to rouse himself up. But then, one of the Goblins suddenly flew up into the air as if by magic.