The battle broke out quickly.
Leven, standing at the front of the group, raised his shield and held it in front of him. With a hearty shout, he charged at the goblin formation, shield held high.
Contrary to the clumsy impression his tall, burly build gave, Leven was fast once he got moving. A white current of air seemed to skim along the edge of his shield.
He was like a heavy truck at full throttle, barreling straight into the goblins with his Oak Greatshield.
Doyle, Gauss, and Daphne followed close behind and on his flanks.
"Boom!"
Leven, bringing all his momentum and weight to bear, collided head-on with several goblins in the front row, each carrying a small wooden shield.
After a brief struggle of strength,
the immense power within Leven erupted like an undersea volcano!
Five wooden-shield goblins were sent tumbling through the air as Leven slammed into them with his greatshield!
Gauss, following behind Leven, watched with admiration in his eyes.
Leven's Greatshield Charge was much more effective in actual combat than it had been during training. Maybe having a target to hit made the difference; the move looked incredibly powerful.
The five wooden-shield goblins tumbled away, wailing as they rolled across the ground. Their clubs and Small Round Shields fell from their hands.
Seeing the goblins about to retrieve their weapons and shields,
Doyle leaped forward from behind them and brought his long sword down.
"Whoosh!"
A flash of cold light.
In the next instant, a terrifying gash ran diagonally from a goblin's left shoulder across its entire body. The immense wound immediately robbed it of the strength to struggle.
The goblin was flung backward and never got up again.
"So fast!"
Gauss was starting to panic.
Leven had used his skill to scatter the five wooden-shield goblins, and they were now badly weakened.
Gauss had decent stamina, but his explosive strength was no match for Doyle's.
By the time Doyle had already killed one goblin with a single sword strike, Gauss had only just arrived.
Fortunately, he wasn't too late.
A goblin stood in front of him, its back turned as it grabbed its wooden shield and club, struggling to get up.
Gauss wasn't about to let such a perfect opportunity slip by. He put his whole arm and wrist into it and thrust his Rapier straight into the goblin's back.
The sharp Rapier slid in through its lower back as effortlessly as if piercing tofu, then passed through its muscles, intestines, and abdomen.
The Rapier skewered the goblin like a candied fruit!
"Waaah!" The goblin, not yet fully upright, was caught off guard by the sudden sneak attack and let out a shrill scream.
Gauss quickly twisted the Rapier inside the goblin, then pulled it free.
Thick blood mixed with some brown, unidentifiable substance gushed from the wound.
"Goblin killed *1"
"Monster Kill Count: 19"
Another one!
Picking off such easy kills put Gauss in a good mood.
Unfortunately, before he could grab another,
the spear-wielding goblins behind the wooden-shield ones had gone around Leven, who was holding off the steel-blade goblins. Clutching their spears tightly, they charged at Gauss!
A crooked Stone Spear, its edges chipped into sharp points, jabbed toward him with a gust of wind.
Gauss's mind raced as he sensed the attack.
The scene before his eyes slowed, bit by bit.
He wasn't the newcomer who'd relied on a sneak attack to kill his first goblin anymore. Faced with this sort of attack, he was completely at ease.
He took a step and dodged to the side.
Then, in the instant the spear-wielding goblin overextended and its body stiffened, he used Mage Hand to yank at it, while it was still struggling to regain its balance.
In normal circumstances, the pull might not have done much. But the enemy had just spent its strength and hadn't yet gathered any more, leaving it awkwardly off balance. The effect was naturally excellent.
The goblin stumbled forward, losing its balance.
"Squish!"
Gauss's Rapier pierced the goblin's abdomen again. He twisted it, pulled it out, and completed the whole sequence in one smooth motion.
He was getting more and more experienced at killing goblins.
"Goblin killed *1"
"Monster Kill Count: 20"
Gauss's gaze swept quickly over the battlefield.
Suddenly, he saw Doyle knock a goblin away along with its shield. It flew right toward him.
"I'll help you!"
He strode over, beating Doyle to it.
He thrust his Rapier into the heart of the goblin lying on the ground, temporarily unable to move.
Pierce! Twist!
"Goblin killed *1"
"Monster Kill Count: 21"
Doyle blinked at the sight.
"Thanks."
Something about this felt off.
Never mind. Since Gauss had helped, he might as well hurry up and deal with the other goblins.
In the blink of an eye, not even ten minutes had passed.
The battle was over in no time.
Gauss looked at the green-skinned corpses and scattered limbs covering the ground and raised an eyebrow.
He took a moment to catch his breath.
The fight had been unexpectedly easy—so easy that he could hardly believe it.
Maybe this was the efficiency of teamwork?
Aside from the one goblin he'd "helped" Doyle take down, he'd also used Magic Missile to kill a goblin archer who'd set its sights on him from a distance.
In this brief, direct battle, the team's advantage—especially the opportunities Leven and Doyle had created—had let him kill five goblins with ease.
His Monster Kill Count had reached 23.
He was already close to halfway toward the target of 50.
Looking back, the only real danger in the whole battle had been an arrow shot by the goblin archer who'd targeted him at the end.
But he'd anticipated it and dodged, and the arrow had only grazed his gauntlet.
Luckily, his leather armor was sturdy, and he wasn't hurt.
Then he'd turned around and blasted the goblin archer to death with a Magic Missile.
Thinking about it, after they'd ambushed and killed six goblins without taking any damage, only fourteen remained.
Their group had six people. Aside from Daphne, whose ability to fight head-on was somewhat lacking, everyone had a huge advantage against the goblins.
Each of them possessed one or two attributes above the average human range. They wore leather armor or better, had greater strength and speed, and their weapons were kept much sharper.
The numerical difference of fourteen to six couldn't make up for such a gap in strength.
After dispatching the goblins cleanly, the group rested where they were before calmly setting about clearing the battlefield.
First, they each collected the quest items: the goblins' left ears.
Armed with daggers and small knives, they cut off the goblins' broad, pointed left ears one by one.
Judging by their practiced movements, everyone present except Gauss was an old hand. Who knew how many goblin ears they'd cut off?
They gathered the ears in a small pouch until it was bulging.
The task they'd accepted paid fairly well: each goblin carried a bounty of one silver coin.
This little pouch contained twenty silver coins.
Each person would get a little over three silver coins.
That might not sound like much, but put another way, this job's pay was enough for Gauss to eat, stay, and laze around at Sophia's Hostel for two months.
And all they had to do was go out for three days. Most of that time was spent traveling, and the actual work—scouting, setting traps, and fighting monsters—had taken less than two hours in total.
Work for three days, lounge around for two months. If the odd-job drifters from his previous life had known about these returns, the danger might not have stopped them from being tempted to grab their buckets and come running.
Besides, this trip had brought them far more than that.
The goblins' loot and weapons could be sold for a good amount. The profits not included in the quest reward were just as substantial.
The only thing Gauss regretted was that the two most valuable steel blades were badly damaged, so they probably wouldn't fetch a particularly high price.
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