Gulp.
His adam’s apple shakes roughly.
‘Two? No. Three.’
Roan lowered his posture while still leaning on the tree.
Blow.
The leaves are blown by the wind.
Chwee. Chwee.
They cries of the goblins get nearer.
Stealthily.
Roan slowly took out his short sword.
An old and sharpless short sword.
However, it was enough to complete his role.
Chwee.
A sound heard nearby.
‘Now!’
Roan quickly turned his body.
And then, he saw the goblin right in front of his eyes.
Chwee!
The guy fell in a state of confusion when he saw Roan appearing suddenly.
Roan didn’t let go of the opportunity and quickly stabbed the goblin.
Stab.
The short sword got stabbed in the guy’s chest.
Chwee.
And the goblin that dropped down after.
Chwee! Chwee!
The goblins that were behind got angered at the death of their companion.
Those guys rushed on to him.
Pull.
Roan pulled the short sword that was in the chest of the goblin and threw it.
Thump.
The running goblins couldn’t dodge it and rolled in the floor.
An ideal opportunity.
Roan quickly rushed on to them and stabbed them with his spear.
The spear stabbed the head of the goblins in succession.
Chwee.
He disposed three goblins in an instant.
But even so, his face wasn’t good.
‘It’s a disaster.’
His palm of the hand hurt.
Just because he moved his spear twice, the skin seemed to peel off.
On top of that, it didn’t even have strength behind it.
‘I really became a complete novice.’
Roan smiled bitterly and picked up the items of the goblins.
“I’m sorry but I will have to take your necks.”
His hand that moved at the same time.
Slice.
The head of the goblins rolled in the floor.
Roan tied the dirty and rough hairs of the goblin and grabbed it.
Drip. Drip.
Green blood flowed from the sliced part.
And then, the leaves of the mountain shook fiercely.
‘Mmm!’
The wind was was still the same.
‘It’s them!’
If it wasn’t for the wind, then only one option remained.
The other goblins were coming down to look for their comrades.
Roan quickly ran towards the exit of the gorge.
Chwee! Chwee!
Angry noises from the goblins could be heard behind.
However it was impossible for them to chase him.
He had already come out the gorge and entered the plains.
He could see the rose troop far away.
Roan shook the thing in his hand.
“It’s the goblins! Goblins are waiting in ambush!”
He shouted loudly but no one heard him.
He was still too far away.
*****
Mason, that was waiting for Roan to come, frowned when he looked at Roan coming out of the gorge.
“Why is that bastard like that?”
It seemed like he was yelling something, but he couldn’t hear him.
“And what is that thing he is holding?”
A thing that seemed to be like water melon.
“He seemed to have picked a fruit in the woods.”
Another guide that was next to him said with an impudent voice.
Mason looked at him as if it was stupid.
However, as Roan got closer, Mason’s face froze.
Because his yells were heard more clearly.
“It’s the goblins! Goblin!”
Only then he realized that it wasn’t a watermelon he was holding, but the head of a goblin.
Mason looked at the other guides with dumbfounded faces.
‘It’s really a goblin?’
Especially, Mason was several times more surprised than the others.
‘For a monster to appear in the zone of Ale! It had never happened until now!”
He shook his head like that while opening his eyes abruptly.
This wasn’t the time to be like this.
He ran to the squad following from behind..
“Go, goblins!”
Shouting with all of his strength.
At that time, Gale that was cautious of Dosen yelled while he lit up with joy.
“What?! Is that true!”
“It is! Look over there!”
Mason pointed at the gorge with his finger.
Everyone’s sights moved.
Roan, that was running with his hair fluttering.
And a faint voice.
“It’s a goblin. Goblins are waiting in ambush.”
Gale’s eyes became sharp.
“The thing in his hands is the head of the goblin.”
His right hand extended to the skies.
“Squad hold. Battle formation.”
At that moment, all of the adjutant yelled with all their strength.
“Squad hold! Everybody battle formations!”
“Battle formations!”
The aides yelled and they each went to their respective squads.
Gale still looked at the gorge calmly in the middle of this noise.
“Dosen.”
“Yes!”
Dosen that was nearby approached him.
Gale pointed at Roan.
“Bring that soldier. I need to hear the story.”
“Yes!”
After Dosen replied like that, he made eye signs to Mason.
“Yes! I will bring him!”
Mason replied nervously and moved his feet.
‘Damn. Am I the only one that’s going to get punished?’
His face showed a hint of nervousness.
He made fun of the guy that said he was going to investigate.
He was absolutely confident that there weren’t going to be any monsters
‘A goblin!’
But the guy he had made fun of appeared with the head of a goblin.
Mason bit the lower parts of his lip.
‘I need to coax him well so he doesn’t say unnecessary stuff.’
His feet that was running towards Roan became faster.
*****
‘Pant. Pant. Pant.’
Roan felt like dying.
He ran with all his strength because he feared that the rose troop would enter the gorge, so his chest felt like exploding.
He wanted to rest a little after informing that the goblins were waiting in ambush, but he didn’t have the leisure to do so.
“Commander Gale is looking for you.”
Mason grabbed Roan’s wrist.
In the end, Roan couldn’t even take a breath properly and got dragged towards Gale.
At that time, Mason whispered in a low voice.
“Forget everything I said to you back them. Understand? Actually, I also thought that there was a high chance for an ambush. So I got responsible for it and sent you to the gorge. Huh? Right?”
Roan didn’t even have the strength to talk back.
Mason got anxious as he saw that Roan wasn’t showing any reactions.
“Are you listening to me? Huh? Answer me.”
“Whew. Understood.”
Roan let out a deep breath and nodded.
Only then did Mason’s mouth shut.
The two of them moved quickly and soon reached in front of Gale.
“Oh! Come here!”
Dosen exaggerated without any need to.
Roan slightly ignored him and bent towards Gale.
“What was in the gorge?”
Abruptly taking out the main subject.
“It’s an army of goblins.”
“The numbers?”
“There were at least a thousand in the side of the mountain I searched. And normally, thinking that when you ambush, you will have another squad in the other side of the mountain. So thinking about it, it would be more than 2000.”
“Mmm.”
Dosen frowned.
The number of soldiers the rose troop had was 800 in total.
It wasn’t even the half of the goblin’s army.
“Are you certain?”
“I am.”
Roan replied unhindered.
Because he had already experienced it in his past life, there wasn’t even a tiny bit of mistake.
“Mmm. What a pain.”
Gale shook his head.
The number was also it, but the location they were hiding was also a problem.
The goblin army had already took over both sides of the mountains. They were in a really vulnerable position to attack when they were below.
Then, Dosen interrupted.
“Wouldn’t it be better to go round the gorge and go directly to Pedian’s plain? We will get 2 days late but we can evade an unnecessary fight.”
Anyways, the objective of the rose troop was reuniting in Pedian’s plain with the other squads and subjugate the monsters together.
There was no need to confront the goblins.
Roan, that was listening still got surprised and yelled.
“You can’t do that!”
He remembered the miserable and cruel past.
< First battle (2) > End
Translator’s note: Thanks for reading!
Translator : Subak