The moment the former hobgoblin leader finally died was the same moment sunlight peeked through the entrance of the cave. I got a little too enthusiastic and overdid it.
Since his vitality was greater than a goblin's, he simply didn't die easily. I did, however, continue to heal him as well, which contributed to his prolonged torture.
When I returned to my senses, I looked at my surroundings to discover that everyone were terrified.
While pleasantly smiling, I then asked the gathered goblins "Have I made myself clear enough?" and they all nodded their heads with astonishing vigor. Feeling satisfied with that answer, I disbanded the meeting and ordered everyone to sleep till noon, they must be tired considering that they were forced to stay awake for a prolonged period of time. Well, excluding those who had already fainted, it would be nice if everyone managed to sleep, considering that they'd been forced to watch my torture session till morning.
Thus I ordered everyone to sleep. I also told them that today's training is cancelled.
After creating a water ball with my ability to wash away the blood from my hands and face, I noticed that Redhead who was watching me torturing closer than anyone was shivering uncontrollably with vacant eyes.
In order to snap her back to her senses, I created another water ball and threw it at her.
Then I picked her up and carried her like a child to her bedroom. I disregarded when she began to shiver even more. When I safely dropped her off, I returned to the hall again and, because the other four were paralyzed, I repeated this four times.
After confirming that the other goblins had returned to their beds, I also went to sleep.
I woke up around 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
As a replacement for lunch, I ate the hearts and stomachs of the goblins I killed, and buried the rest of their remains with my [Earth Control] ability.
Around this time, the other goblins woke up and, because I had said that we will skip the training for today, I went hunting with the other three hobgoblins as usual.
I left the protection of the girls to my five servants, then warned them, Gobujii, and the others by asking "You know what'll happen if you tried assaulting them, right?". It was when they nodded vigorously that I acknowledged that the girls will probably be safe.
Well, the girls were within a walled off area that I created with my thread, and with the short-sword wielding Redhead there, at the very least they should be able to buy some time if trouble comes up.
In addition, when we subjugated the orcs at the mining site, I found an emergency horn. I gave it to the girls in case an incident were to occur. If they blow it, we should be able to quickly return and save them.
With that taken care of, the four of us left with peace of mind. The first thing we encountered on our hunt was a [ Triple Horned Horse ]. At a glance you could see that its body was covered with solid looking scales and was twice as large as a normal horse. It was such a big horse that with our current bodies we had to look up to see it. It was pretty clear that it was a creature in a different league compared to a hobgoblin, in addition, there were two of them. They were probably a couple and, as one of them had a swelling abdomen, it was probably pregnant.
However, I don't care about something like that, that's why we conducted a surprise attack like usual on the horses to eat their meat.
Our first attack went by the book. Gobumi-chan and Gobue-chan shot poisoned arrows from their crossbows. One of Gobumi-chan's arrows went right through one of the horses' eye, while Gobue-chan's arrow was slightly off course and bounced off the other horse's stiff scales.
"Those scales are tough! Even though the power of these crossbows could easily pierce through standard plate mail, the scales easily repelled it!!" I nearly screamed that out loud.
Moreover, we applied a strong poison, created by me, on the arrowheads and yet the Triple Horned horse that was hit didn't instantly die, rather it began to act aggressively because of the intense pain. It had a tremendous vitality!
While we were busy, the horse that wasn't hit noticed us. It turned in our direction pointing its three horns at us and entrusting itself to its rage, charging in an attempt to impale us. Well, with my thread and thunder combo I somehow managed to stop it, but my threads were under a tremendous stress and the thought that they might snap off made my innards go cold.
Just how much horsepower did this horse have?
There was no question that its physical strength couldn't even be compared to that of the likes of a hobgoblin.
While Gobumi-chan and Gobue-chan's sniping kept the riotous horse pinned down, Gobukichi and I attacked the uninjured horse with my halberd and his crescent axe. At first our attacks were easily repelled, however, after repeatedly attacking we found a way to scrap off the scales. After that, the rest was quick.
My halberd and his crescent axe scraped off the scales and, once our blades reached the thick flesh below, we managed to behead it.
The other one was weakened by my poison and because we had already figured out how to kill it, it was an easier kill.
It was quite the heavy work, however, we didn't receive any major injuries, it was truly a significant hunt. It would've been okay to bring all the raw materials with us back to the mine, however, since it was our first time hunting this prey, we decided to eat it all by ourselves.
Since it's big, all three of us, except for Gobukichi-kun, were set to diligently removing the scales in order to get the meat, Gobukichi-kun was once again stationed to watch the surroundings. We needed the right hobgoblin in the right place. Thus I ate six horns, two hearts and a fair share of the rest of the meat which was split in four equal shares. After that I also ate the shells, since I thought I might get something from eating them.
Ability [Armored Scale Charge] learned
Ability [Scaled Horse's Neigh] learned
Ability [Rapid Recovery] learned
Ability [Enhanced Leg Strength] learned
Ability [Improved Charging Power] learned
Ability [Triple Stab] learned
After we finished eating I managed to obtain 6 abilities. Well, the Triple Horned horse was quite strong, so it's not surprising. Normally, it would have been impossible to kill even one with just four hobgoblins.
Also, this was the first time since I reincarnated that I obtained a physical attack skill, which was great. I thought [Triple Stab] would stab three times in a row, however, when I tried invoking the ability with my estoc targeting a tree, the result was that three holes were made in the tree at the same time. Yes, I actually only stabbed it once, yet I made three holes, one was above the place I stabbed and the other was under it.
I stabbed the tree again, then a hole on the right and the left of the place I stabbed appeared, after experimenting with it for some time, I found out that I can make the holes appear horizontally or vertically according to my will. After spending such a long time in this world I didn't feel the urge to question how it worked anymore. However, I wonder if the other holes ignore physical defense? I tried to think about it, however, the answer to this question will have to wait for another time.
After that, we walked around for a while, hunted some of our usual preys and brought them back with us before finally going to bed. After I fell asleep, Redhead snuck into my bed, so we slept together.
I'll say it just to make things clear, we didn't do anything erotic. I just reaffirmed that another person's warmth is a good thing.