Chapter 56. The Goblin king (1)
"Cheww!!"
Several Goblins shrieked in fear as they looked at the people charging at them. The Goblins were more in numbers but they were easily killed by the villagers.
Swish! Slash!
The vigilant guard members were at the front. After getting their wounds treated, they were an unstoppable force.
It was also thanks to Ian's Goblin vegetable soup.
"Slash at their chest. Those with spears should keep their distance and stab at their necks. Girls should be on the back."
Tacan shouted as he slashed at one of the Goblins. The Goblin was beheaded and he was not even able to make a sound.
"Yeah!!"
"Don't worry about us."
"We will kill these bastards."
The villagers shouted as they kept fighting the Goblins. None of them was hesitating and the blood of the Goblins was spluttering everywhere.
Swish!
"You damn monster!!"
One of the young girls tried to stab a Goblin but the Goblin was swift and he managed to dodge that.
Without wasting time, the Goblin jumped at the young girl.
'Will I die?'
The young girl's face became deadly pale as the fear of death crawled up in her heart. At that moment, a vigilant guard member suddenly came forward.
Stab!
"Damn you!!"
He shouted and stabbed the Goblin who was still in the air, on his neck. The Goblin fell to the ground and died.
"You should be careful. Goblins are easy to kill but they are swift."
"T-thank you, Alex."
The young girl was shy as she thanked the vigilant guard member but he simply nodded and went to fight another Goblin.
The fight hasn't ended yet and there were many Goblins to kill. No one has time to chit chat with each other.
'I should fight too.'
The young girl thought as she picked up her spear and began attacking another Goblin.
The fear she had against Goblins was now gone after battling with them for two days. She won't hesitate now.
Swish! Whoosh!
"Come forth the blazing flames and take the form of arrows and burn my enemies to ash. Show them the power of fire!!"
From the back, Alice was firing fire arrows at the Goblins.
Fire arrow is a spell that has a good AOE effect and it can be used by both archers and fire magicians.
As soon as she activated the spell, several arrows formed in the air and rushed towards the Goblins, leaving a trail of magic power.
The arrows hit quite a few of the Goblins and the vigilant guard members quickly finished those injured Goblins.
'Ian's plan is working.'
Alice thought as he activated another spell.
Ian's tactic was simple. He first healed and strengthened the villagers and then, he divided them into groups of three and four.
It was done to help the young girls who don't know a bit about fighting.
As it is easy to pierce a Goblin's skin, they won't have much problems in killing them but the reaction of the Goblins was fast.
There was a chance that the young girls would get injured or in worse scenarios, they can die. That's why, Ian made groups and instructed them to attack together.
This way, no one would die.
The vigilant guard members were already experienced in fighting the Goblins and with the buff from the Goblin vegetable soup, Ian was sure that nothing would happen to them.
He even made Alice to assist them from the back with fireballs and fire arrows.
Ian has quickly implemented this tactic and acted as the leader to the group for a day.
He stayed at the back and assisted the villagers who were getting familiar with Ian's tactic. It was fairly successful.
But after a day, he gave the command to Tacan. It was because Tacan knows the villagers better than him.
Ian thought that Tacan could better coordinate with the villagers and he was right too. The villagers were an undefeated force under Tacan's leadership.
There was also another reason behind this.
Ian wanted to be at the front and kill the Goblins. Standing in the back was good, but what he was looking for here was experience.
'Ian is surely enjoying fighting.'
Alice thought as he looked at the front. Ian was standing there and at least 20 Goblins were making a circle around him.
Swish! Trust!.
'The Goblins sure are persistent.'
Ian thought as he thrusted his spear at one of the Goblins. It was a precise stab at the Goblin's neck which was enough to kill him.
"Cheww…!!"
The Goblin cried as he took his last breath but this was not the end, Ian quickly stepped back and dodged an incoming attack.
Then, he twisted his body around and swung his spear at one of the Goblins.
Swish!
Without wasting more time, he immediately turned back and kicked a Goblin who was close to him. After that, he again attacked with his spear.
He was fighting with 20 Goblins. So, attacks were coming from every direction and there was no time to even breathe.
Swish! Slash! Stab!
Ian kept turning and twisting around his spear. At the same time, he was also dodging the attacks of the Goblins.
His feet were moving at a swift speed like he knew where the Goblins were going to attack.
If it was before, then he won't be able to execute these movements. It was only possible because he invested his points into evasion.
Evasion was the hidden stat he had gotten when fighting in the Lizardmen colony.
He had not invested stat points in it till now but as he had to fight with several Goblins, he invested all his stat points in it after leveling up.
Evasion also helped him to dodge the traps.
"Spiral spear!!"
"Vital thrust!!"
"Triple thrust!!"
Ian quickly used all his skills and defeated the Goblins. Then, he looked at the other villagers and noticed that most of them had finished killing the Goblins.
That message appeared before Ian and he finally reached level 48. He has gained 4 levels during his time in the Goblin nest.
It was a rapid leveling speed.
Although killing Goblins didn't give much experience, the speed in which he was killing Goblins was quick and there were a lot of Goblins.
Ian alone had hunted more than 200 Goblins till now and he was also receiving experience just by assisting the villagers.
'I even got the charisma stat by acting as the leader.'
Ian was happy by the results so far.
They had killed most of the Goblins and the villagers were coordinating well with each other. They only need to hunt the Goblin king now.
"The problem is that the underground cave is like a maze…"
As the underground cave was massive in size and it was spread like a big maze, it was hard to find the Goblin king.
He hadn't even gotten a clue about the Goblin king till now.
"Ian."
As he was standing there, Tacan came towards him.
"What happened? Is someone injured?"
"No, just some villagers have light scratches but everything else is fine. I just wanted to say that I think that the Goblin king is nearby. As we are advancing, the Goblins are increasing."
Ian nodded his head when he heard that. He had also noticed that.
At first, they were fighting tens of Goblins but the size of the Goblin group was increasing and they were now attacking in hundreds.
"We should warn the villagers of this."
Tacan agreed with Ian. The only reason there were no major injuries till now was because of their cautiousness.
Being cautious was better than getting killed.
"Everyone, be cautious. The Goblin king is probably ahead of us. Remember to look out for the traps. Let's go ahead now!!"
Ian shouted and everyone became nervous yet excited. Their confidence was currently on the peak after defeating hundreds of Goblins.
But the strength of the Goblin king wasn't something they could go against.
'Who is this Goblin king?'
Ian thought as he walked at the front. His eyes were darting around the cave as he was looking for potential traps.
He has become proficient in dodging the traps. At these times, he really wished that there was a thief in their party.
They can easily find traps and even disarm them.
"Ian, what do you think would be the level of the Goblin king?"
Alice came to him and asked.
"I think it would be around 40 at least. Although, more than level, I'm worried about the skills he possessed."
Ian still remembered his fight with Leverill. He can't forget it even if he wants to. Leverill has used many skills in the battle and Ian had a hard time because of that.
"From what I know, the Goblin king is a highly intelligent creature. He's probably a named monster with unique skills."
Alice nodded at that explanation.
She was also worried about fighting the Goblin king but she had a feeling that with Ian here, there won't be any problems.
"There's a door ahead."
Suddenly, Tacan shouted and everyone looked ahead. There was indeed a door ahead and there were strange inscriptions on it.
"Can you open it?".
"I think so."
Tacan went ahead and pulled at the door. Surprisingly, he didn't take much strength to open it.
Ian had thought that there was a special method to open the door because of the inscriptions on it, but it looks like he was wrong.
It was just a bluff!
'The Goblin king is probably at the end of the stairs.'
Inside the door, there were stairs leading upwards. They quickly ascended the stairs. It took them 10 minutes to climb all the stairs.
'There's light coming from there.'
Ian thought that the stairs probably led to the ground and his intuition was telling him that he would also meet the Goblin king at the end of the stairs.
His intuition was also right.
At the end of stairs, there was another door and behind that door was an open space.
The open space was a plain which was surrounded by many trees and plants. Due to its location, it was hard to find it.
Maybe because of this reason, the Goblin king was here!
"It's the Goblin king…!!"
"He looks menacing."
"Look at all the Goblins surrounding him, there are at least 500 Goblins."
The villagers murmured as they looked ahead at the Goblin who was sitting on a throne. There were hundreds of Goblins surrounding him like they were protecting him.
'The Goblin king.'
The Goblin sitting on the throne was bigger than any other Goblin. There was a red tattoo on his cheek and in his hand, he was holding a greatsword.
Moreover, he was the only person wearing proper armour.
He was obviously the Goblin king!!
"Chewwww!!"
The Goblin king let out a cry, that was filled with anger and fury. He was angry that the villagers he captured were now free.
He looked menacingly at the villagers. Then, he made his eyes towards Ian. The Goblin king felt that Ian was the most powerful person here.
Of course, it was after him.
"Be ready to fight!!"
Ian shouted and the villagers quickly took their positions. The Goblins were already in their positions after the cry from the Goblin king.
Ian felt that these Goblins were more powerful than the one he had faced till now.
It was going to be a tough battle!