A fight broke out between Darius's group and the goblins. The five of them easily overpowered and thrashed on the tiny chumps with their sheer strength and magic abilities.
"Should we help Darius and the others?"
Eugeo could see that Darius's group was winning but the uneasiness in his heart did not go away. Something was still bothering him about the sudden appearance of the monsters when most of them should have been driven away.
He was in a dilemma when Eugeo heard Darius's words.
"We don't need help!"
They witnessed goblins flying away, getting beheaded, split in half, thrown down in the gulf, eaten alive by the carnivorous monsters residing from within, and mutilated.
No mercy was shown to the low-level monsters but the goblins did not back away. They kept trying to push through the defense, hoping they
would slip past Darius and the others.
"Another barrage of arrows incoming!"
Struggling with impaired vision, Neurell suddenly kicked off the ground, breaching through the number of goblins. Out of everyone, Neurell was the most pissed off of them all. He was raring to annihilate the entire goblins as payment for the eye he had lost.
Darius and the other three defended themselves from the arrows whilst Neurell arduously showed the goblins who were superior. Here and there, Neurell was throwing precise slashes, carefully evading attacks, and utilizing his wind magic.
"That idiot's overextending!"
Darius followed through the opening Neurell made, increasing his speed and senses just to make sure nothing bad would happen. He was about five steps away from his earlier post when a block of molten rock flew in his direction.
Thanks to his sharpened senses, Darius barely jumped to the side, feeling the force of the throw from the molten rock.
"No! Lucilius!"
Lucilius was one of Darius's comrades. Unfortunately, it was he who got hit by the whizzing block of molten rock, putting a hole in his iron armor and thus piercing his chest.
Darius turned and saw Lucilius standing still with the hole in his chest. If one squints their eyes, one can see what's behind Lucilius.
"Man, I'm feeling... cold."
That was when things began to turn south for Darius's group. Their formation was broken, and every one of them was affected by the instant death of their comrade.
Strangely, the seamless efforts of Darius's groups looked like they did nothing when more goblins appeared.
"Two king goblins?! No, that one is a queen and a king! And what's more, there are five hobgoblins!"
Fighting the goblins by themselves with the remaining force from the provincial town and winning was still plausible until more of them popped up.
"That's it! Everyone needs to help Darius's group!"
The remaining four knights who first went against the goblins were jumped by the smaller ones.
They were swarmed by the goblins, stabbed here and there. Although the attacks weren't going through instantly because of their armor, the goblins found a way to successfully stick their shortswords to the knights' flesh.
"Argh! H-Help!"
Neurell could not finish his chant due to the excruciating pain being inflicted on him, distracting him from finishing his words.
"Oh no! The knights are getting killed!"
Panic began to shroud the civilians' minds. Various scenarios of themselves getting killed played themselves in their head, which added more to their anxiety.
The children saw the vile expression on the goblins as they mercilessly, repeatedly struck Darius and his comrades whilst being pinned on the ground.
"Cover your eyes, Maria!"
"H-Hey, can't you guys go back a little?"
"No! The fire keeps spreading! It's already searing hot here!"
Witnessing the fall of the five knights trying to fend off the massive horde of goblins put fear in their minds. None among the remaining civilians are able to fight or will last long, even if they try to fight back.
"Xenon, you and your group take the right flank! I'll take care of the other side!"
The three clerics and the lone priest just stood there alongside the civilians they just healed. Constantly treating the injured whose number
was quite tiresome and drained them of their mana.
Even if they want to support Eugeo and the rest of the knights, they can't because they already put their all into saving the civilians.
Excluding Darius's group, only 8 knights remain unscathed and still full of energy.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!"
A swarm of goblins sprang up the ground with Darius on top of it. He was covered in wounds, drenched, and choking in his own blood.
"Buwahahaha! Did you really think you can take me that easily?!"
And at the side of Darius's eyes popped up the mocking expression on a hobgoblin's face. It was holding a club full of spikes and raring to crush some bones.
"How high can it jump?!"
Darius was faced with imminent death, his face grim, and his body didn't listen to what he wanted to do.
Like how Darius would crush an ant's head with the tip of his finger, the
spikey club bashed directly on his head, crushing whatever was inside his head into a mash.
"Don't lose your cool! Death is a part of everyday lives!"
And so the entire group of Darius was annihilated by the monsters they looked down on. The baton, which holds the objective of protecting the civilians, was passed on to the remaining 8 knights led by Eugeo.
"Sir! We must come up with a plan!" Xenon suggested, pulling his double-edged sword out of a goblin's throat. "If this keeps up, we'll only tire ourselves!"
"Sheer strength and raw power are not enough against the numbers of the goblins."
They noticed that the small goblins began to move back, and the three hobgoblins stepped forward, holding a club in their hands.
Each of them growled, spit splattering all over, and trying to impress the king and queen by facing off Eugeo and his comrades.
"They've got guts, thinking they can kill all of us with mere hobgoblins."