Chapter 33: I Come to Aid You
The battle erupted at lightning speed.
Levin, standing at the very front of the group, raised his shield before him, and with a powerful shout, he charged into the goblin formation, shield held high.
Contrary to the clumsy and lumbering impression his tall, muscular frame gave, Levin surged forward almost too fast to see, faint white air currents trailing along the edges of his shield.
It was as if a fully loaded freight truck barreled straight into the goblin ranks, his oak shield leading the way.
Behind and flanking him, Doyle, Gauss, and Daphne pressed forward just as tightly.
“Thud!”
With the full force and weight behind him, Levin crashed directly into several goblins wielding small wooden shields on the front line.
After an exceedingly brief clash...
The immense force within Levin seemed to detonate like an underwater volcano!
Five wooden-shield goblins were flung aside by his swinging great shield, tumbling over!
Gauss, following directly behind Levin, felt a moment of admiration flash across his eyes.
In actual combat, Levin’s “Great Shield Charge” performed far better than in training—likely because having a real target made the explosion of power all the more impressive.
The five wooden-shield goblins flew out, shrieking as they tumbled across the ground, dropping their wooden clubs and small round shields.
Just as they were about to scramble up and reclaim their weapons and shields...
Doyle leapt forward, his longsword raised for a downward strike.
“Shing!”
A glint of cold light flashed.
Next, a terrifying streak of blood carved across a goblin’s left shoulder down through its body, the horrendous wound instantly draining the creature of any will to fight.
The goblin flew backward and never got back up.
“So fast!”
Gauss felt a bit agitated.
Five wooden-shield goblins had been shattered by Levin’s skillful charge—their combat effectiveness severely reduced.
Although Gauss had decent stamina, his burst strength paled in comparison to Doyle’s.
It was only after Doyle had already slain a goblin that Gauss’s figure finally arrived on the scene.
Fortunately, he hadn’t arrived too late.
Before him, a goblin lay on its back, clutching its wooden shield and club as it struggled to rise.
Gauss, seizing the opportunity, didn’t hesitate; his arm and wrist worked in unison as his slender sword pierced directly into its back.
The sharp blade sank into its lower spine effortlessly, as though cutting through tofu, then sliced through muscle, intestines, and lower abdomen.
The slender sword pierced straight through the goblin like a skewer through candied fruit!
“Wah wa!!” The goblin, not yet fully upright, was caught completely off-guard by the sudden sneak attack and let out a mournful, horrific shriek.
Gauss twisted the slender sword inside the goblin’s body for a moment, then withdrew it swiftly.
Thick blood, mixed with some unknown brownish substance, gushed from the wound.
“Goblin slain *1”
“Total monsters slain: 19”
One more down!
The ease of this kill left Gauss feeling strangely pleased.
But unfortunately, before he could continue collecting trophies...
A spear goblin, originally positioned behind the wooden-shield fallers, circled around Levin, who was engaging a steel-sword goblin, firmly grasping its spear and dashing swiftly toward Gauss!
A crooked, jagged stone spear—its edge sharpened by impact—sliced through the air toward Gauss.
Sensing the attack, Gauss’s mind raced at incredible speed.
Time in his vision seemed to slow down bit by bit.
He was no longer the newcomer to this world who relied on sneak attacks to kill goblins; now, facing such an assault, he was coolly confident.
He stepped firmly and dodged in another direction.
In the instant when the spear goblin lunged and missed, its body went stiff…
He activated Mage Hand, pulling the goblin who hadn’t yet fully regained its balance.
Normally, this pull might have had limited effect, but since the enemy was in an awkward state—old strength spent, new strength not yet mustered—the timing made it extremely effective.
The goblin stumbled and lost its footing.
“Pfft!”
Gauss’s slender sword pierced the goblin’s lower belly again, stirring and withdrawing in one smooth motion.
His experience in killing goblins was steadily increasing.
“Goblin slain *1”
“Total monsters slain: 20”
Gauss’s gaze quickly scanned the battlefield.
Suddenly, he spotted Doyle sending a goblin flying, shield and all, directly toward his direction.
“I’ll help you!”
He sprinted over with long strides, arriving before Doyle.
His slender sword pierced the heart of the goblin lying temporarily incapacitated on the ground.
Pierced! Twisted!
“Goblin slain *1”
“Total monsters slain: 21”
Doyle blinked at the sight.
“Thanks.”
Something felt off.
Oh well, since Gauss had helped, he might as well hurry to deal with the remaining goblins.
......
Less than ten minutes passed in a flash.
The battle ended quickly.
Gauss looked at the ground littered with green corpses and raised an eyebrow.
He steadied his breathing.
This battle had been unexpectedly easy—so easy it was hard to believe.
Was this the efficiency of team coordination?
Besides the one goblin he “assisted” Doyle in finishing off, he also used Magic Missile from a distance to take down a Goblin Archer that had locked onto him.
This brief frontal clash, lasting only a few minutes, capitalized on their teamwork—especially the opportunities created by Levin and Doyle—allowing him to easily slay five goblins in total.
His monster kill count reached 23.
That was nearly halfway to their goal of 50.
Thinking back, the only real danger in the fight had come from the final arrow loosed by that Goblin Archer targeting him.
But he had anticipated it and dodged in time, the arrow only grazing his bracer.
Fortunately, the leather armor was sturdy, and he remained uninjured.
That Goblin Archer was then blown apart by a counter Magic Missile from him.
Thinking further, after ambushing and killing six goblins without injury, only 14 goblins remained.
Their small team had six members in total—excluding Daphne, who had slightly less combat power—every one of them held a huge advantage over goblins.
Each possessed one or two attributes well beyond the average human, wore leather armor or better for protection, had greater strength, faster reflexes, and well-maintained sharp weapons.
This level of disparity in strength was something a 14-to-6 numerical advantage couldn’t compensate for.
Once the goblins were swiftly wiped out, the group rested briefly at the site, then began cleaning the battlefield at a leisurely pace.
First, they harvested the bounty proof—goblin left ears.
With daggers and small knives, they cut off each goblin’s large, pointy left ear one by one.
Judging by the practiced motions, everyone except Gauss was clearly experienced—they must’ve cut a lot of goblin ears before.
The collected ears filled their small bags to bursting.
The task they’d accepted this time had decent pay—each goblin carried a bounty of one silver coin.
This small pouch alone held 20 silver coins.
Everyone would get about three silver coins and a bit extra.
It didn’t sound like much, but in other words, this task reward was enough for Gauss to slack off with food and lodging covered at the Sophia Inn for two whole months.
And they’d only spent three days on this job, most of it traveling—actual work, including scouting, trap setting, and combat, didn’t even take up two full hours.
Work for three days, lay flat for two months—if the so-called “Three-Harmony Deities” of his previous life knew this, even if it was a bit dangerous, they might still be tempted to pack up and come running.
Besides, their gains on this trip weren’t limited to just that.
Goblin spoils—like weapons—could fetch a fair bit of coin too, and that profit wasn’t even listed in the official task rewards.
The only regret for Gauss was that the two most valuable steel blades had sustained heavy damage, likely reducing their selling price significantly.