Chapter 23
I instinctively opened my inventory and put the bomb inside.
Thankfully, one slot was empty.
“What… now?”
“Keep watch around us!”
“The cliff on the opposite side!”
Hearing Siwoo shout, I looked toward the opposite cliff and saw a goblin wearing bizarre glasses, staring at us with a bomb in each hand.
-Grruk? Grrak?
-Krorororor!
The goblin moved its head from side to side and made a bizarre sound; if I had to guess, it seemed to be asking, Why didn't it explode?
Wait, why is a goblin wearing glasses?
No, that's not the point. Why is a goblin carrying bombs?
Aren't goblins supposed to quietly wield daggers, swing them a few times, and die?
-Grruk! Grruk!
When we wondered aloud what to call the bespectacled goblin, a grunt who looked like Goblin A walked out from behind it, holding a burning branch.
Damn! Is it planning to light another one and throw it?
“Everyone, move back!”
If it threw another one, I could put it away again.
To do that, I needed to empty my inventory.
I took a throwing stance, pulled a bomb from my inventory, and hurled it up onto the cliff.
It would normally have been nowhere near enough distance, but I had activated the ‘Goddess Aria’s Power’ buff, so the bomb landed atop the cliff without any trouble.
The goblins had never imagined that I would throw the bomb that had disappeared, and they stood there at a loss even as they saw it flying toward them.
In the end, while they were panicking, the bomb ignited,
-KABOOM!
-KABOOM! KABOOM!
-Rumble-rumble-rumble
-KABOOM! KABOOM!
-BANG! BANG!
-KABOOOOOM! KABOOM!
[You have leveled up!]
Holy shit, how many bombs were there, anyway?
Once the deafening noise faded and the black dust settled, half the cliff had collapsed.
And a level-up? Why all of a sudden?
The unexpected mention of a level left me dumbfounded.
“Cough, cough… Are you okay, hyung?”
“Oppa! Are you okay?”
Siwoo kept watch with his holy sword drawn, while Sophia used Purification to clean the dirt from my face left by the explosion.
“I’m fine. Apparently… all the bombs that guy had went off in a chain reaction…”
“Really? Then did we take them all out?”
Oh, no, Sophia, don't say that…!
-Kraaaararararark! Keruk!
-Keruk! Keruk!
-Kukwakwak!
Damn, new goblins had appeared atop the collapsed cliff.
The ones that appeared this time also looked different from the goblins I knew.
A goblin as large as a human glared at us while holding a greatsword as tall as itself,
while three other goblins—not as large, but still big for goblins—shouted with green daggers in their hands.
“Damn it! Get ready for battle! Sophia, move back! Siwoo, you take the front!”
- Grruk! Kwar!
As Siwoo charged forward with his holy sword in hand, the large goblin rushed at him and engaged him.
Taking advantage of the opening, the other goblins moved toward Sophia.
“Where do you think you're going? How dare you!”
I stepped in front of Sophia and activated ‘Goddess Aria’s Shield,’ unleashing a blinding flash.
When one of the goblins charging us fell as a result, I swung my shield at the other two.
One was swept off its feet by the shield, but the other nimbly dodged and stabbed its dagger toward Sophia.
“You bastard!”
I quickly turned to knock the goblin away, but it stopped in place, reversed its grip on the dagger mid-thrust, and plunged it into my side.
“Fuuuck!”
A curse escaped me at pain I'd never felt before.
The pain felt as if my flesh were burning; my head spun and my vision blurred.
“Oppaaaa! Stay with me!”
Thanks to Sophia’s Heal arriving just in time, I did not lose consciousness.
I grabbed the arm of the goblin twisting its dagger in my side,
then raised my sword and opened an airway in its throat.
-Krrrek! Keruk, keruk!
It collapsed with a short scream, then laughed at me with a string of keruks.
This fucking bastard is laughing?
When I pulled the dagger from my side, blood spurted out with a hiss.
The sudden loss of blood made me dizzy, and my body staggered of its own accord, but I couldn't fall here.
When Sophia shouted for me to look behind me, I turned and swung my shield again,
-Clang!
Apparently one of them had thrown a dagger; it struck my shield and bounced away.
While I was distracted by that, the goblin that had thrown the dagger launched itself at me and tried to grab my leg,
so I brought my shield down on it from above.
Then, as I raised my shield to face the last goblin charging at me, my body staggered again.
For some reason, my body wouldn't move the way I wanted, and the wound in my side felt as though it were burning from the inside of my bones outward.
“Nooo! Oppaaa!!”
Fuck… I can't feel any strength in my body…
The charging goblin saw me like that, bared its rotten teeth in a grin, and thrust its dagger straight into my face.
-Fwoosh!
Blood gushed out like a fountain.
====
“Kyaaaah!”
Sophia's scream rang out behind me.
That sound brought my fading consciousness back.
I can't die like this.
If I die… I'll never be able to see Sophia again.
Sophia is crying.
I had done something awful.
“You fucking pieces of trash…”
This is all because of you.
Damn it.
I raised my sword with a trembling hand.
The flustered goblin tried to flee, but it wouldn't let go of the dagger in my mouth.
It could've just dropped the dagger and run, you stupid bastard…
As it twisted the dagger this way and that while trying to escape, the wounds at the corners of my mouth grew worse,
but by then I could no longer feel any pain.
I plunged my sword straight into its gut.
The deeper the sword went, the more its face filled with the terror of death.
At last, when I drove it in up to the hilt, the staggering goblin stopped moving.
“Ptui.”
When I spat out the dagger I had been biting, the blood pooled in my mouth and chunks of my severed tongue came spilling out with it.
I grabbed hold of my wobbling legs and hauled myself up, then approached the goblin I had struck down with my shield.
When I drove my sword into the back of its head, it flinched with a croaking scream and soon fell silent.
-Thud
Only then, reassured, could I collapse.
====
When I came to, I was in Sophia's arms.
Sophia was hugging me and sobbing her heart out.
“Sophie…”
“Oppaaaa… sob… I’m sorry, Oppaaaaa! I’m so sorryyy! Sob…”
Sophia kept apologizing to me endlessly, unable to stop crying.
Strangely enough, I thought Sophia looked beautiful even while crying.
-Krororororok! Krak!
“Hah! Haaah!”
Come to think of it, it wasn't over yet.
Far away, Siwoo and the large goblin were still fighting.
The two of them were absorbed in their own battle, as though we weren't even there.
“Sophie… ngh, I’m okay now.”
“Nooo! You’re still being healed… sob… You can’t move!”
“But Siwoo is still—”
“I’m keeping an eye on Siwoo too… So it’s okay!”
Come to think of it, Sophia had been using Heal whenever the greatsword-wielding goblin wounded Siwoo.
It looked aggrieved, but Siwoo never gave it an opportunity to target Sophia.
But you don't get to feel aggrieved.
That monstrous goblin healed itself every time it was wounded—was it a troll or something?
“I’m sorry, Oppa… I didn’t know you’d been poisoned… Sob, sob…”
So… it wasn't an ordinary dagger after all.
I had found it strange that it mocked me even as it died, but it wasn't just a dagger—it was a poisoned blade.
Did you think I'd be your companion on the road to the afterlife? Sorry, but our party has a saintess.
“It’s okay, Sophie. I’m really okay. I survived, see? Right?”
When I forced a smile, the wounds at both corners of my mouth stung.
At this rate… I looked just like the Joker, didn't I?
I almost said Why so serious?, but barely held it back.
This was absolutely no time for a joke.
“But… sob… if I’d known sooner, Oppa, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt like this… Waaaaah!”
After sobbing, Sophia finally broke down again and buried herself in my arms.
I gently patted Sophia's back and watched Siwoo, who was still fighting.
But is it okay to be flaunting our affection while they're fighting like that?
…I nearly died, so surely Siwoo would understand, right?
Yeah, if Siwoo had a conscience, he would.
The two were evenly matched. Though Siwoo seemed to be losing ground under the goblin's greatsword assault, he never retreated and continued to withstand it.
The more enraged it became, the more furiously the goblin roared, but Siwoo remained calm to the end.
But then the situation suddenly changed.
Siwoo retreated a great distance, then changed the holy sword to the size of a greatsword.
Then he began swinging the greatsword like a madman.
Huh? This is…?
The goblin counterattacked in response to Siwoo's sudden offensive, unwilling to be outdone.
But their movements were mirror images of each other.
Siwoo swung his holy sword in the same direction as the goblin swung its greatsword.
When the goblin brought its greatsword down after batting Siwoo's sword aside, Siwoo brought down his holy sword as well.
It was as though they were one body, fighting with the same swordsmanship.
No, it wasn't the same swordsmanship.
The longer the fight continued, the more Siwoo's swordsmanship evolved.
A little sharper, a little faster, a little more powerful…
In the end, Siwoo gained the upper hand.
With a sharp smack, Siwoo knocked the greatsword aside, then swung his holy sword and cut into the goblin.
But the wound was shallow.
The goblin suddenly exhaled poison, and Siwoo's strength left him.
“Damn it! Sophie!”
Ignoring my aching body, I ran toward Siwoo.
Sophia also ran toward Siwoo and cast Purification on him.
But the goblin had already knocked Siwoo's holy sword away.
“Noooo!”
At that moment, a blue flash passed through the goblin's neck.
At the same time, its head dropped off limply.
“…What?”
-Thud!
-Fwoosh!
The headless goblin dropped to its knees with a thud, and blood gushed from its severed neck like a fountain.
“Interesting.”
Behind the kneeling goblin stood a blue-haired knight with an amused expression.