Chapter 543 - 8 Battle with the Goblin Lord

’That bastard has a name?’

Until now, the monsters didn’t have names.

’Is that what they call a Named? Either way, this is a problem.’

If I were fighting in proper conditions, I’m confident I could win a 1-on-1 somehow. But I’m pretty exhausted from the relentless waves of enemies.

The Goblin Lord suddenly shouted, and a faint light began to emanate from the Lord and other goblins’ bodies. I’m guessing it’s probably due to the Goblin Lord Makgashulla’s Skill, ’Enhancement,’ which seems to have increased their strength.

The enhanced goblins rushed in to fight, but they were sliced and diced in one stroke, no different from the other goblins.

"What? Is that all there is?"

While dealing with the goblins, I reacted late to a hobgoblin’s attack, and the bastard’s club collided with Terry’s sword.

Kang

’Ugh, they’ve definitely gotten a bit stronger.’

I’m tired too, but even considering that, I could feel that they were noticeably stronger than the previous hobgoblins.

The difference was barely noticeable with the goblins since they’re so weak. But they’re just hobgoblins anyway.

Since they’re only D-Rank monsters, they’re not on Terry’s level, so I focused on their necks without directly clashing with their attacks, reducing their numbers.

So the others started to fall behind little by little. They were already running on fumes, and it seemed like not just one, but all the nearby bastards were enhanced, so the effect must be enormous. Terry, who was in the best shape, had no choice but to face the Goblin Lord.

The bastard’s attack power was threatening, but I had the advantage in speed, so I decided to use that. I’m exhausted right now, so even one proper hit could throw me off balance, but I skillfully dodged and weaved without engaging in a direct power struggle, using my speed.

But as I moved quickly, my stamina was rapidly depleting, and my speed was gradually being caught up to.

Thinking this wouldn’t do, I looked around and saw Willy and Marco finishing off the other goblins.

"Willy! Marco! Come help me!"

From a disadvantageous situation, it instantly became a 3-on-1. But we were all quite exhausted, so it was difficult to create an opening for Makgashulla, and no proper attacks landed.

’At this rate, my stamina will run out first. I have to use that method.’

I whispered the order to Willy and Marco, barely loud enough for them to hear.

"N-No way!"

Hearing Terry’s order, the two tried to express their refusal, but their bodies couldn’t disobey the command. They immediately rushed towards the Goblin Lord.

Marco was hit by the Goblin Lord’s axe and his head was cleanly severed, and in that gap, Willy grabbed the Lord from behind.

He was already exhausted, and he couldn’t even hold his own with his original strength, so he couldn’t last even a few seconds. But that amount of time was enough.

After imbuing the sword with wind magic, I stabbed the sword into the Lord’s head in that brief opening.

"Die!"

Blood gushed from the bastard’s head. With his head cracked, he thrashed in a final struggle, and Willy’s body was cut in half by the swung axe, and the axe grazed Terry’s face, almost hitting him, but fortunately, it narrowly missed.

"Phew. It’s finally over. That was close."

[You have acquired the Trait?(B) (Dignity (B)). It is downgraded to (C) (Dignity (C)) due to the Plunder Skill rank.]

[You have acquired the Skill (E) (Enhancement (E)).]

As soon as the Goblin Lord died, the enhancement was lifted, and the goblins who lost their leader also lost their way.

With no one to command them, they wandered around and mostly fled into the mountains. We had finally won the battle.

"Haa, I’m tired."

My stamina was almost completely depleted, and as the tension was released, I collapsed to the ground as if falling.

"Benefactor, are you alright?"

Shara rushed over and checked on my condition.

"I’m fine."

"Thank you. We were able to win thanks to you, Benefactors."

"We just did what we had to do."

I tried to act as cool and nonchalant as possible. Her eyes seemed to change, sparkling. Surely, the Dignity Trait was working well.

The damage wasn’t small, but compared to taking down that many monsters, the damage was minimized.

The elves who had a little stamina left recovered the bodies of the goblins and humans while also collecting magic stones.

There were many injured elves, but fortunately, no one died.

That evening, a memorial service was held in the elves’ way for the dead Willy and Marco.

’Hmm, I don’t really need to hold a memorial service or anything...’

I don’t have any affection for them. I just think of them as dogs following my orders.

But I couldn’t say that out loud. There was a high possibility of being seen in a bad light, and there was nothing particularly harmful to me, so I just let them do as they pleased.

My stamina recovery was faster than the injured elves, so I helped treat the seriously injured, mainly with the White Magic I borrowed from Alfred.

"Terry, weren’t you a Magic Swordsman? You can also use White Magic... Amazing."

I could feel great respect in Shara’s eyes.

"Haha, it’s nothing. I just learned a little bit of everything."

"They were all top-notch, though? Your swordsmanship is also good, and you’re strong..."

In fact, Terry’s swordsmanship isn’t good. It’s only improved a little by learning from Marco in a crash course, but most of it is just ability made up for by Traits.

Her eyes are sparkling. It seemed like the Dignity Trait was working properly this time too.

’As long as she sees me in a good light somehow, it doesn’t matter.’

???

"Thank you. Terry, and everyone. If it weren’t for you, we would have suffered even greater damage, or the village itself might have been destroyed. I offer my deepest condolences for the deaths of your companions. I don’t know how to repay this favor..."

"Don’t worry about the deaths of our companions. It’s a relief that the people of the elf village are safe."

"Ah... Benefactor, I can’t thank you enough... Please, if there’s anything you want, please tell us. We will try our best to fulfill it."

"Then I’ll get straight to the point. We are adventurers. Would you allow Shara to adventure with us?"

"Yes?"

"We lost our companions. It’s a very sad thing, but we have to continue our adventurer activities. But this time, losing our companions has greatly reduced our combat power. Shara, she’s very strong. If she joins us, she can grow quickly too."

"It’s not up to me to decide. Please wait a moment. I’ll call her."

Soon, Shara arrived in the room. The village chief explained Terry’s request to her on his behalf.

"Shara, what do you think? You’ve wanted to go outside the village for a long time, haven’t you?"

"I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can right now. Could you give me a little time?"

"Time? What are you talking about?"

"The village has suffered quite a bit of damage from this incident. It will take quite a bit of time and money to restore the village, and even if we try to get food, it will be difficult to supply because there are so many injured. And we haven’t dealt with the potential danger of the dungeon near the village yet..."

Even though Alfred and I treated them, we were quite exhausted, and there were so many injured that we only treated the urgent cases.

There were still many people left to treat. It seemed that the reason she hadn’t been able to leave the village until now was because she was worried about the villagers.

"Shara. It’s okay. We’ll take care of that, so don’t worry about it and follow the Benefactors as you wish. Do what you want to do."

"But..."

I could see that Shara was clearly conflicted, and I judged that if I coaxed her well, I could win her over.

"Village Chief, we will give you all the byproducts of the monsters we hunted and a certain amount of money we have collected. And while we are here, we will continue to help treat the elves and we will take care of that dungeon too. How about that?"

Everyone was surprised by my words, and soon Shara answered first.

"Yes? Even so, we can’t let the Benefactors do that much..."

"This much is nothing to get Shara. You’re strong. You’ll definitely become stronger than you are now. Let’s be together."

"Th-Thank you."

Shara blushed as if she felt a little embarrassed by my words.

"Then I’ll think about the people who will go to the dungeon."

"Okay, I understand."

It’s not exactly clear when or how dungeons are created, but when mana excessively gathers in a specific space, a portal to another dimension is created.

It is said that if you don’t clear the monsters in time, they will gradually leak out due to the constantly generated monsters, so you have to periodically reduce the number of monsters or completely eliminate them by attacking.

There are various types of dungeons depending on the type, including dungeons with a limited number of people that can only be entered by 6 people at a time.

Dungeons with an unlimited number of people that can be entered without restrictions, open dungeons that anyone can freely enter, and closed dungeons that a team cannot leave until they come out or until they attack the dungeon.

The place we are going to now is an open dungeon, so fortunately we can come out in the middle, but there is a limit of 6 people.

"I have a friend a little far away. She’s strong too, so it would be good to go with her."

"Her...?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I understand. When are you going to leave?"

"Everyone is still very tired, so I think it would be good to rest for about 1-2 days before going."

"Let’s do that."

So we took a break in the elf village for a while. In the meantime, Peter and Alfred sent resentful glances at Terry.

In Peter’s case, he even had his girlfriend stolen, so he must have been desperate to kill Terry.

"Why did I come to a place like this, damn it!"

From their point of view, it would be unfair. Their companions died, and they almost died too, and Terry took almost all the money they usually earned, so it would be strange if they didn’t hate him.

I think it’s their own fault. I didn’t want to hear their complaints, so I ordered them not to complain.

???

The small group was decided to be Peter, Sophia, Alfred, Terry, and Shara, and the remaining one was decided to take Shara’s friend.

"How is she? How strong is she?"

There were a few skilled people in the village, but I was a little puzzled that we were going around so far, so I asked.

"I haven’t directly competed with her, but you can think of her as almost the same as me."

"What? Then why didn’t you call her in this fight?"

"That’s... it’s quite a distance. It was already tight just going to Mizri, a human city."

"That’s true."

In fact, monsters attacked not long after we arrived, so if it was a little further, the timing to bring her would not have matched.

"This way."

Shara, who knew the way well, took the lead. The distance was quite far indeed.

The place we arrived at was a place with a large lake, which had a different kind of beauty than the elf village. She used detection, so she was not hesitant to go forward.