Chapter 69

"Damn!"

The sadistic gleam in the eyes of the hobgoblins as they began to move made it clear that I had no time to think about the abnormal situation unfolding before me. There were this many hobgoblins. If I didn’t eliminate them quickly, the people in the town could be harmed.

In the next moment, I understood this and enhanced my body, running towards the hobgoblins. The hobgoblins, seeing me approach, grinned with pleasure, clearly not considering the possibility of losing.

"Roar!"

But their grins vanished when I cut off the arm of the leading hobgoblin.

The muffled scream of the hobgoblin whose arm had been cut off made the mockery in the eyes of the other hobgoblins disappear, replaced by a wary look.

I, too, was slightly surprised, though my expression didn’t change. The blow that cut off the hobgoblin’s arm should have been enough to kill it. The enhancement I used to cut off the arm was not even at full strength. Yet, I had judged that it would be enough to kill a hobgoblin, or even an orc. However, the hobgoblin reacted to the blow, and I only managed to cut off its arm. This was an unusual level of skill for a hobgoblin.

...If all the hobgoblins here have this level of skill, even a group of ordinary adventurers would be no match for them.

The thought of these hobgoblins appearing elsewhere made me grimace. If that were to happen, even in this labyrinth city, where people are accustomed to fighting monsters, there would be significant casualties.

"We can handle it."

So, the appearance of the hobgoblins before us was a stroke of luck. With a slight increase in my body enhancement, the hobgoblins wouldn’t even be able to react. Seeing this, I became even more confident that the hobgoblins were not a formidable enemy.

The hobgoblins, realizing they couldn’t defeat me, tried to surround and attack me, but it was futile. I was used to attacks from multiple directions, so being surrounded was no problem.

From what I could see, Sieg was also not struggling against the hobgoblins. Without even activating his magic sword, he was cutting down several hobgoblins with a single blow. From the looks of it, there was no need to worry about Sieg.

As the number of hobgoblins decreased, the people in the town gradually regained their composure. At first, some were running around blindly, but now they were almost watching the massacre of the hobgoblins by us. Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief. If things continued like this, we could eliminate the hobgoblins without causing any harm to the people.

"Scatter!"

One of the hobgoblins shouted this as I was feeling relieved. Without even checking the reaction of his companions, he turned and ran away. The other hobgoblins followed suit.

At that moment, I realized the battle was over. The hobgoblins, now fleeing, would no longer pose a threat. The sudden shift to flight by the hobgoblins was unsettling, but it wasn’t unheard of for monsters to flee. So, I focused on eliminating the hobgoblins as quickly as possible, without letting my guard down.

With this in mind, I gripped my dagger more confidently. While eliminating this many hobgoblins was a challenge, considering the difference in physical abilities between us and the hobgoblins, it was not impossible. Given the low risk to our lives, the difficulty was much lower than the previous battle.

My sense of ease was due to this reasoning. At that moment, I believed the hobgoblins had no more fighting spirit.

However, I realized my assumption was wrong when I confirmed the direction in which the hobgoblins were fleeing.

"......Huh?"

The next moment, I turned around and saw the scene before me—the hobgoblins, who were supposed to be fleeing, had changed direction and were heading towards the people in the town. I let out a stunned voice.

For a moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The rational part of my mind warned me that the hobgoblins might be trying to take the people as hostages. But I couldn’t follow this warning.

What hindered my movement was the common belief that monsters don’t have the intelligence to take hostages. Of course, monsters can exploit weaknesses and sometimes act in groups, but only to a certain extent. I had never seen or even heard of a monster taking hostages in my time as an adventurer. This realization left me shaken.

"Damn!"

But the sight of the hobgoblins, with their ugly grins, closing in on the people made me realize that this was not the time for shock. It seemed the hobgoblins had no intention of giving us time to think or even to be startled.

"Run!"

Understanding this, I shouted at the people in the town, who still hadn’t grasped the situation, and started running after the hobgoblins. In the next moment, I enhanced my body to the limit and closed the distance to the hobgoblins. Even so, I couldn’t reach the hobgoblins closest to the people in time.

Realizing this, I didn’t hesitate to raise my dagger.

"Haah!"

The difficult movement, performed with strong body enhancement while running, put a strain on my body, but I ignored it and swung my dagger down.

"Crack!"

"Crunch!"

The dull pain in my arm was worth it, as the dagger pierced through the heads of the two hobgoblins closest to the people, killing them instantly.

"Uwaaah!"

"Quick, run!"

At the same time, the people in the town realized the situation and started running away from the hobgoblins, but without combat skills, they had no chance of escaping.

"Almost there!"

"Gr, gr"

But just before the next hobgoblin reached the people, I grabbed its enlarged head and slammed it into the ground. The hobgoblin’s face was crushed, and it died instantly.

"Bad, humans are!"

The hobgoblins behind the one I killed saw me blocking their path to the fleeing people and spat out these words. Seeing my blood-covered hands, they must have thought they had a chance, and their mouths twisted. But this was their last moment.

"Is this the end?"

In the next moment, a line appeared on the hobgoblin’s neck, and its head, still wearing a grin, rolled off.

"Phew..."

A moment later, the hobgoblin’s body fell, and I saw Sieg, who had been behind the fallen hobgoblin, and the lifeless bodies of the other hobgoblins. I realized the battle was over and let out a sigh of relief. It had been tense, but it seemed we had managed to handle it.

"It’s safe now! All of them have been eliminated!"

"What, are you kidding?"

"There were so many big goblins, and you got them all!?"

Sieg was informing the people in the town, who were still running, that the battle was over. However, his face was slightly tense, showing that he, too, had been shocked by the hobgoblins.

"What was that, those hobgoblins?"

I retrieved my dagger, which was stuck in the wall of a house, wiped the blood off, and couldn’t help but mutter. The intelligence of those hobgoblins was abnormally high.

To begin with, it was unusual for monsters that only appear in the labyrinth to be in the town. Moreover, these monsters were abnormally powerful. If they had appeared elsewhere, it would have caused a significant commotion.

"Haah..."

Thinking about this, I sighed, realizing that even though we had eliminated the hobgoblins, more trouble was likely to follow.

"......!"

I noticed something was wrong in the next moment.

Hoping it was just my imagination, I held my breath and listened carefully.

"The hobgoblins are eliminated, so why are the screams still...?"

Then I realized that what I was hearing was not a mistake, and my face twisted in shock.

We had definitely eliminated the hobgoblins that came to us. Yet, the screams continued. The answer to what this meant was clear.

"There are hobgoblins in other parts of the town!"

This realization hit me like a shock to the heart. If the hobgoblins appeared near where Mary and the others live, it would be the worst-case scenario. The area where they live is far from the adventurers, and there are almost no adventurers there.

"Sieg, please take care of the people here!"

I told Sieg this and, without waiting for his response, started running...

* I noticed the overlap and changed the Ogres in Chapter 3 from a mutated species to an enhanced species. I will explain the difference in the activity report!