If There’s Something I Can Use…

Once he finished off the sword goblin, what remained were clubs, daggers, and spears. All of them were troublesome.

Troublesome, but… it was perfectly clear which one he should target first.

He grabbed the crude spear—so shoddy it looked like a blade tied onto a wooden stick—and yanked it with all his strength.

The moment the goblin pulled back, he let go, and the spear goblin toppled over from the momentum.

Next were the dagger and the club. Without hesitation, he threw his axe and split the dagger goblin, then lunged at the club goblin and smashed it with his round shield.

He kicked away the spear goblin as it tried to get up, then picked up the fallen spear and drove it into the goblin.

After that, all that remained was the swaying club goblin—Kikori split it with his axe, and it was over.

“Hoo… hhoo…”

Steadying his ragged breathing, Kikori forced himself to calm down.

His stamina was not infinite.

The more he rampaged, the more he poured strength into his movements, the more fatigue piled up.

And fatigue piling up was something that led straight to death.

That was why he thought—

“I’m… weak…”

Now that he had fought this many goblins, he understood it.

If he ran into an orc right now, Kikori would definitely die.

Strength and speed—he could not match a single thing.

If the orc let its guard down, he might win again, but that was not something you could call “winning.”

Even if he wanted to train strength and speed, those were not things you gained overnight.

“…I need something else. Something I can use…”

But he could not think of what, specifically, that “something” was.

Kikori thought… then decided, for now, he would collect the magic stones, and started gathering them.

Eight goblin magic stones. 8,000 yen of earnings, plus goblin weapons.

For a day’s work, it was close to passing.

“My pack’s heavy too… I’ll head back today.”

Thinking that, Kikori started walking toward the Hero Gate.

And in that instant, something pierced Kikori’s body from behind.

“Gi…!?”

From the sheer pain, Kikori collapsed, scattering his looted weapons everywhere.

“W-what… is… guh!”

Pain struck him again. A crackling, explosive sound—Bajii!—rang out, and it told Kikori that this was something unknown.

“G-gh… ugh…!”

He forced himself up and turned around. There stood a goblin with a staff pointed at him… and a larger goblin, staring at Kikori with an axe slung over its shoulder.

Yes, they were goblins without question. But something about them was clearly different from the others.

The large goblin and the staff goblin looked at the goblin corpses sprawled around and at Kikori, murmured something to each other, and then the large goblin began walking toward Kikori.

It was as if the intent to kill him was visible in the air.

Kikori tossed a knife as a greeting.