Chapter 10

Lighting a fire in the middle of the night in the forest is nothing but revealing one's position. Therefore, in most situations, it is best to avoid it. However, this time I decided to use it to my advantage.

"......"

I fell silent, staring at the well-burning campfire. All my senses were focused on detecting any signs of movement around me. I was waiting for the goblins.

As I had expected, the goblins quickly discovered me. The rustling of the bushes was unmistakable. I slowly got up, matching their approach.

When I turned my head to look, they revealed themselves.

"Krik? Why are you alone, human? Where are the others?"

The one in front asked. I shrugged and replied.

"They all ran away."

"Of course, cowards! Hahaha"

The goblins sneered at me. Their mocking and contemptuous gazes were quite unpleasant. I responded with a cold smile.

They easily believed my words, showing no hint of suspicion, which was quite pitiful.

Today, they must have had an exciting hunt. How amusing it must have been for them to chase humans who only ran and never fought. Indeed, there were no visible injuries on their bodies.

It was absurd. Did 15 people really fail to fight and get killed?

There were a total of 10 goblins. Fortunately, all of them were here. There was no need to search for them unnecessarily. If I could take care of them all here, the first stage would be over. Then, stronger goblins would come after us.

One of them stepped forward confidently, puffing out his chest to show his strength. I twisted my lips at his ridiculous appearance.

He took a stance with his dagger and kicked the ground. However, his reckless movement was easy to read. He seemed to think that I would be scared if he charged boldly.

As they lunged at me, I also timed my move and rushed forward. Goblins are indeed agile. That's a fact.

Despite their small bodies, similar to elementary school children, they had the agility to deceive human eyes. However, from another perspective, that was all they had.

Their small size. The disadvantage it created in combat. Their short legs and arms clearly showed their physical limitations. The difference in physique was a significant handicap in a fight.

Moreover, this was a tutorial.

Proper goblin adventurers might be dangerous, but here they were just nameless goblins.

They were nothing more, nothing less. As long as I didn't panic at their threats, I could handle them to some extent.

Could I overcome this? It was one of the core aspects of the tutorial. The fairies wanted strong players who could fight without retreating.

First, I would start lightly.

Swish!

I felt the sharp sensation of the blade cutting through flesh and muscle, slicing from the goblin's shoulder to his waist.

The goblin shuddered once and then collapsed weakly. His insides spilled out, and he lay still. He was dead.

But this wasn't the end. There were still many left. I quickly counted and saw that 9 were still alive. I could handle this number alone.

However, the children saw it differently.

"Um, we'll help too!"

When several goblins charged at me, the children, who had been hiding, couldn't maintain their composure and revealed themselves.

It would have been better to wait a bit longer, but this wasn't a bad timing. The goblins were already too late to turn back. The first bolt from Song Gayeon's crossbow hit a goblin.

With a scream, the goblin shouted.

"Human! Did you trick us!"

Who told them to believe a human? Even though this was a tutorial, it seemed too simplistic.

By luck, Song Gayeon's bolt had killed the goblin outright. It must have pierced his heart. One of the goblins running towards me collapsed weakly.

Still, they outnumbered us, but the goblins were in a panic, not knowing what to do. I took advantage of the chaos and charged.

With blood flowing down the blade, I swung it. The goblins, startled by the sudden death of their comrade, took a step back.

I mocked their indecision and beheaded a nearby goblin.

The gush of blood from the severed neck. When one of their comrades died silently, the goblins seemed to resolve themselves and started charging at me. I could feel the strong killing intent in their bloodshot eyes.

Their attacks were simple and fast. I twisted my lips and raised my shield to the top. The heavy impact of the shield echoed. I saw a goblin being pushed back by the shield.

I didn't miss the goblin who had flown bravely through the air and cut him down. Similar situations followed.

It was a mechanical movement. Deflecting their attacks with the shield and thrusting my sword into the exposed gaps was a simple task. This battle was nothing more than that for me.

'They are definitely weak.'

Before the regression, I would have been startled by the goblins' desperate attacks and retreated. Thinking about it now, it was embarrassing.

- Roar!

- Human! Kill him!

Why did I find these simple-minded creatures difficult back then? Recalling those memories, I began to swing my sword fiercely at the charging goblins, as if venting my frustration.

Swish. Swish.

The cruel sound of flesh being torn by the blade repeated several times, and soon the area around me was filled with goblin corpses. I hadn't intended to kill them all, but I had forgotten in the heat of the moment.

I kicked over the fallen goblin corpses to check if they were dead and to see if there was anything useful.

However, the goblins were poorly equipped, and there was nothing worth taking.

Their daggers were low-quality, with blunt tips, and their armor was so tattered that it was questionable why they were even wearing it.

'There's nothing useful.'

I clicked my tongue at the state of their equipment. Even though it was a tutorial, I had hoped to find something helpful.

I shouldn't assume that the goblins I would encounter later would be this inexperienced. The tutorial goblins were different from the real ones.

Goblins are indeed a weak race. They would probably be among the weakest of the races I would encounter. But that doesn't mean all of them are weak.

If I considered this, humans are also incredibly weak. They don't have the robust bodies of orcs or the agile movements of elves.

But humans can become stronger through continuous fighting.

The same goes for goblins. A goblin who has survived countless battles is not to be underestimated. They are well aware of their racial limitations and train to overcome them.

"We... we won..."

"Did we survive?"

After the fight, a faint, trembling voice came from behind me, barely suppressing emotion.

I snapped out of my deep thoughts and turned my head. I saw the children, who looked terrified.

I had killed a total of 6 goblins. The other four seemed to have been taken care of by the children. The goblin blood on their faces looked quite impressive.

They were holding their weapons tightly, breathing heavily, as if the reality of what they had done was just sinking in.

Among them, Lee Seo-yeon was pale and vomiting. Her trembling jawline looked pitiful, but I left her be.

Suddenly, our eyes met. Her pupils wavered strangely.

She glanced at the fallen goblins, then at my face, and then back at the corpses.

Alternating between looking at the goblins and me, she opened her mouth in surprise.

...Maybe I was too excited.

I had been so absorbed in the sensation at my fingertips that I had forgotten about the children's gazes. But was it really something to worry about?

I carefully jumped over the goblin whose intestines and organs were spilling out from a powerful strike to avoid getting them on my shoes, and moved away from the gruesome scene.

Just as I judged that the fight was completely over,

"Help...!"

A male student walked out of the bushes, his face pale.