CHAPTER 13: THE GOBLIN SLAYER (BEGINNING)

Without straying from their target, the arrows shot by the villagers hit both goblins.

On the other hand, Laura’s Magic Arrow got a direct headshot on the left goblin—but only hit the right goblin’s right shoulder.

“I’m sorry…!”

Laura spoke with a choked-up voice.

The left goblin widened his eyes in surprise and fainted, but the right one simply staggered.

“Gugi!?”

“What the hell are you doing!?”

Garcia snapped at Laura with a yell, then scowled at her.

“Ah, fuck it! Fire, fire, fire!”

Garcia hurled commands in a panic, but the second barrage of arrows failed to hit the goblin fleeing into the cave.

“You worthless fucks!”

Garcia spat out complaints.

The goblin plunged into the cave and made a loud squealing noise.

I picked up the stone placed by my feet, which I had Laura apply Lighting to beforehand, and threw it into the cave.

The stone I tossed into the cave illuminated the surroundings.

I could see over ten goblins equipped with crude swords and shields, raising angry voices and charging out the cave.

Garcia yelled.

“You villagers! Get to the front! Hold back the goblins!”

“W-What the hell are you saying!? It’s your job to get to the front, isn’t it!? Is that splendid armor of yours decoration!?”

“In order to effectively kill the goblins, it’s best that us soldiers with attack power stand back and provide support!”

“Do you intend on jeopardizing the villagers!?”

I wasn’t expecting anything out of them from the start, but Garcia was acting outrageously.  

I can’t stand to listen to this farce anymore…

I aimed my right hand into the cave.

Timing it the moment the goblin vanguard tried to leap out of the cave, I spoke the words that acted as the trigger.

“Magic Arrow.”

Boom!

An explosive noise that sounded as if a boulder fell from a cliff and crashed into the ground reverberated.

The rowdy squealing of the goblins went dead silent.

The arguing between Garcia and the villagers ceased thereafter.

“W-What just happened…?”

Garcia muttered in a dumbfounded voice.

The bravest among the villagers gingerly approached the cave and took a peek inside.

Then, they turned around and reported to us.

“T-They’re dead. The goblins that were trying to get out are…”

“YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Both the villagers and the soldiers cheered.

“A-Are you, some sort of amazing magician…!?”

Garcia looked at me with an astonished expression.

“…Not in the slightest…”

I shook my head. I’m just a guy that can’t use more than a single spell. In a world where your superiority is based on the number of spells you can use, I’m the absolute weakest.

It’s genuinely embarrassing…

I asked Garcia a question.

“Did that finish it?”

“N-No… There should be 50 or so goblins living in that settlement. There’s also a Goblin Lord at the very bottom.”

Goblin Lords—if I’m not mistaken, they are extremely dangerous creatures. 

While a villager confident in his strength could take down a regular goblin, I hear a Goblin Lord could kill even a skilled warrior in a moment’s carelessness. 

Its existence was risky enough that we excluded it from our target of extermination.

After standing to my feet, I approached the entrance of the cave.

I held out my right hand.

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

With every word I spoke, a white arrow flew into the depths of the cave—and with every arrow I shot, the sound of an explosion shook the ground.

My Magic Arrows were rebounding; I’m able to make them reflect once they hit a wall. Once the countless ricocheting Magic Arrows found the supple meat of their rightful prey, they immediately pierced them and exploded.

The insides of the cave were probably a total mess.

…I felt a little bad for them, but there was no helping it.

They were inflicting actual harm onto Laura’s village. We were humans, and they attacked humans. We had no other choice but to beat them back.

If there’s a blood-sucking mosquito, a human will crush it.

At the end of the day, there was no difference between this and that.

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

I think he said there were around 50 of them. There were bound to be some misfires, so I ended it after firing up to 100 shots. This should be sufficient.

I turned around.

“Shouldn’t this be enough?”

“A-Are you serious…?”

Garcia and the five soldiers peeked into the cave.

After they confirmed it was dead silent, they abruptly raised an enthusiastic cheer.

“ALRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! Let’s go check on the goblins inside! Five of you villagers come along! That includes you as well, magician!”

After Garcia shoved a torch onto the villagers leading the way, he made his way inside along with the soldiers.

When I tried to follow them, someone spoke to me from behind.

“Y-You’re pretty amazing, Albert…”

It was Laura.

“No, not at all… I’m not nearly as great as you think…”

I shook my head.

Laura could use more spells than me, so she was above me in terms of rank. There was nothing more shameful than this.

“HA HA! This is crazy! There are goblin corpses littered everywhere!”

Garcia spoke in high spirits.

Just as he said, the scattered remains of goblin corpses were lying around here and there.

There were goblins on the verge of death every now and then, but Garcia swooped in and mercilessly delivered the final blow. 

“HAHAHAHA! This is my achievement! HAHAHAHA!”

Eventually, we arrived at the deepest section of the cave.

This place was a bit different from every other part of the cave. It was an immensely spacious room furnished with accessories made of animal bones and trees.

I wasn’t sure why, but the room gave off a goblin-like elegance. 

This place was most likely the Goblin Lord’s room.

There were goblin corpses scattered about here as well. Garcia gleefully jumped on any goblins who were still alive and finished them off. 

Just then—

I noticed something.

I noticed that there were corpses piled on top of each other at the very end of the room—I noticed that those corpses were shaking.

“GUGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Together with a scream, something burst out of the clump of corpses and stood up. 

It was a gigantic goblin that reached two meters in height. It held a large battleax in its right hand.

Garcia whispered the true identity of the creature in a dry voice.

“A G-….Goblin Lord!?”