Ossan Saikyō Chapter 2 Part 03
About forty minutes after that, Kaim quietly called out,
“Wait.”
Each of us hid behind trees and looked toward the depths of the forest where Kaim pointed.
There, unmistakably, was something that looked like a goblin settlement.
Roughly ten hut-like structures made of gathered branches were scattered among the trees, and more than fifty goblins were sitting around or wandering nearby.
There were probably quite a few inside the huts as well, but there were too many goblins for my【Presence Detection】to pick them all up.
“Just like we thought, about a hundred in the settlement. Same as usual: Meribe opens with magic, then we rush in while they’re in chaos. After casting, Meribe and Raberto stay here. If you can, hit them with another spell. Old man… can you charge in?”
“I can.”
“Then stick behind me and Ranan. Alright, let’s go.”
At Kaim’s command, Meribe raised her staff and fell into what looked like deep concentration. Preparing magic, probably. It was my first time seeing magic in this world, and I couldn’t suppress my excitement.
After about ten seconds, the tip of Meribe’s staff began to glow faintly.
“Here I go!”
She stepped out from behind the tree and pointed her staff toward the goblin settlement.
The glow at the tip vanished, and in the next instant, several fist-sized stones suddenly appeared in midair around it.
The moment they appeared, the stones shot forward in straight lines at tremendous speed, slamming into multiple goblins and their huts.
The goblins struck directly had parts of their bodies blown off; the power was incredible.
The huts shattered in a single hit, and several goblins inside collapsed, covered in blood.
“Alright! We’re going in!”
Kaim and Ranan charged straight into the now-panicked settlement without hesitation.
I hesitated for just a split second before following after them. Thank god for the【Composure】skill, without it, I might have been overwhelmed by the sudden battlefield atmosphere and frozen.
Kaim and Ranan cut down and pierced goblins one after another. The goblins tried to fight back with wooden clubs, but were struck down before they could even swing.
Kaim moved toward the center, Ranan to the right, so I headed left. Ahead of me were two huts and about ten goblins.
Just as I moved in, something slammed into my abdomen. A stone. I had forgotten that field goblins throw rocks.
Thrown stones are actually highly lethal attacks, but given their size, goblins can’t throw very large ones.
Stopping here would be a mistake; that’s what my【Calm】and【Thought Acceleration】skills concluded. Shielding my head with my buckler, I charged straight into the group.
A few stones hit me, but with my body in a heightened state, I didn’t feel the pain. I swung my mace horizontally at the nearest goblin.
Three goblins were blown away, scattering blood, flesh, and everything else.
After that, it was brute force. Swinging my mace and buckler, I mowed down every goblin in front of me.
Once the goblins outside were cleared, five more each came out of the huts. Without hesitation, I rushed in and smashed them one after another.
I also destroyed the huts to check for any remaining inside. Good, this side was cleared.
I took a moment to cool my head. The spots where the stones hit hurt a bit, but it was probably just bruising.
Looking around, I could still hear goblin screams from the direction Kaim had gone.
I activated【Presence Detection】and headed that way.
“Tch, Ranan, get over here! I can't stand this ‘Failed King’ !”
Kaim’s shout rang out, urgent and tense. A “Failed King”…? In other words, a boss-type enemy, maybe.
I jogged over and saw Kaim being pushed back while fighting multiple goblins.
One goblin stood out, clearly larger than the rest. About the same height as Kaim, with well-developed muscles. It was smashing a large club against Kaim’s shield over and over, not giving him a chance to counterattack.
Ranan… had gone quite far ahead. She was heading back, but waiting for her would be too late; Kaim looked in real danger.
I circled behind the large goblin. It was completely focused on attacking Kaim and didn’t notice me.
I raised my mace and brought it down with all my strength onto the back of its head.
Gush!
The impact was on a completely different level than with normal goblins. Its skull shattered, and it collapsed forward.
“Whoa!? Old man!? Nice one!”
With the tide turned, Kaim quickly finished off the remaining goblins.
Ranan, Meribe, and Raberto gathered soon after.
Raberto’s mace was also stained with blood; some goblins must have gone toward their side too.
My【Presence Detection】didn’t pick up anything else. It seemed the settlement had been completely wiped out.
“Kaim, are you okay?” Meribe asked worriedly.
Kaim scratched his head. “Yeah. The old man showed up at the perfect time. Didn’t expect a ‘Failed One’ to be there.”
“Yeah. A ‘Failed One’ in a group this size shouldn’t happen. We should report this to the guild,” Ranan nodded.
“Still, old man, that was impressive. Even if it was a surprise attack, taking down a ‘Failed One’ in one hit means your skills are well-trained. Strength-wise, you don’t feel like a fresh F-rank.”
“Yeah, seriously. And your fighting style doesn’t match your appearance at all; you were a full-on berserker. That’s my kind of style,” Raberto said excitedly.
Berserker… well, now that he mentions it, maybe. I should reflect on that.
“I only managed it because Kaim kept it distracted. I understand now why fighting as a party matters.”
“Yeah, there’s a limit to what you can do alone. Either way, this one’s your achievement, old man. Now comes the real work, collecting mana stones.”
“This is why I don’t like subjugation jobs…” Raberto muttered, slumping.
Yeah, compared to this, fighting in a dungeon is way easier. They say subjugation missions are the glory of adventurers… but those kinds of words are usually used to gloss over something unpleasant.
◇◆◇
After collecting nearly a hundred magic stones, we left the forest and headed back to the village along the way.
I wondered if it was okay to leave the goblin corpses behind, but apparently, in remote forests, it’s standard to just leave them.
When we told the village chief, he thanked us and offered us a place to stay the night, but because of the “Failed One”, we decided to return straight to Tolson.
As always, the stamina of awakened adventurers is terrifying.
We arrived in Torson by evening and went straight to the guild.
Seeing us, the receptionist Kisara smiled.
“Welcome back. You’ve completed the goblin subjugation, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, perfectly. Here are the mana stones, check ’em.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
Kisara called over other staff and began checking the stones. Soon, she noticed one particularly large one, about the size of a ping-pong ball.
“Excuse me, Kaim, this is…”
“What does it look like to you?”
“At this size… it’s larger than a goblin general, but not quite a King…”
“That’s right. That’s from a ‘Failed King’. There was one in the settlement.”
“What!?”
Kisara’s eyes widened, and she covered her mouth. The other staff reacted the same way. So a “Failed One” appearing is that serious.
Perhaps noticing the commotion, one of the adventurers behind us approached.
He looked around thirty, with the air of a veteran, probably D-rank.
“Hey, Kaim. Is that true?”
He glanced at the mana stone, his brow twitching.
“…Yeah, that stone’s definitely real. Hope this doesn’t turn into something troublesome.”
“For now, everyone from〈Silver Ring〉…and Mr. Okuno as well, please tell us the details. This way, to the back room.”
Kisara hurriedly led us to a room in the back.
The veteran returned to his party, seeming to start a discussion. Maybe this is something that will involve D-rank adventurers.
◇◆◇
The back room felt like a meeting room.
A large table sat in the center, with about ten chairs around it.
As we sat and waited, the door opened and Kisara entered with another staff member, a man in his forties.
His clothes looked a bit more refined, so he was probably a superior. He sat across from us and spoke.
“Sorry to hold you back. This is something we can’t ignore.”
“Yeah, Guildmaster, no problem. I get that it’s serious.”
“Guildmaster”? So he’s the head of the Tolson Adventurers Guild.
Didn’t expect a rookie like me to meet someone like that so soon.
“Alright, tell me what happened.”
Kaim took the lead and reported everything that happened.
Meribe filled in any gaps, and as far as I could tell, it was a thorough account.
After hearing it all, the Guildmaster looked at me.
“Hm. I hear you were the one who defeated the ‘Failed One’. I don’t recognize you.”
“Yes, I only recently became an adventurer. My name is Soushi Okuno.”
“You awakened at that age, huh. Kisara mentioned someone like that. Quite the situation for your first outing. Taking down a ‘Failed One’ as an F-rank shows promise… do your best.”
His response felt slightly restrained. Well, I get it, a newcomer at this age isn’t exactly normal.
“Thank you for the report. We’ll escalate this and compare it with other information before deciding how to proceed. Continue your activities as usual for now.”
“Got it. Just make sure to give us some extra points.”
“Of course, that will be taken into account. For you as well, Okuno.”
With that, the Guildmaster left.
Soon after, we were dismissed. I received my share and returned to the inn.
◇◆◇
Back at the inn, we held a small celebration, then returned to our respective rooms.
While there, I learned from the members of〈Silver Ring〉that a goblin “King” is a special existence; its presence causes goblins to multiply explosively.
Individually, goblins are weak, but as their numbers grow, higher variants appear, and the threat level rises sharply. In that sense, a “King” is extremely dangerous.
It might seem like a good thing that we eliminated the “Failed One” beforehand, but apparently, it’s not that simple.
A “King” is said to emerge from multiple “Failed Ones”, meaning there are likely other “Failed Ones” nearby, and one of them could become a King.
If a King appears unnoticed, it could cause massive damage. So this incident will likely be reported to the local lord, and some kind of measures will be taken.
“I’ve only been an adventurer for a week…”
I muttered to myself on the bed. I wanted to take things slow and level up steadily, but things keep moving in a direction that won’t allow that.
Well, if that’s how it is, then I have no choice, I have got to train harder.
Before anything happens with the goblins, I’ll defeat the boss of the Great Rock Dungeon and obtain a special skill.
Apparently, that’s one of the conditions for reaching E-rank, and if I get a magic-type skill, becoming a mage like Meribe wouldn’t be bad.
At the very least, it’d look better than being a berserker at my age.
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E/N:
Damn, that Goblin's head was crushed grotesquely! Anyway, Ossan, don't jinx your future skills!
Stay tuned!
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