Chapter 233: 233 Fight

Goblins are weak and cowardly monsters.

However, goblins living in packs act in groups of anywhere from a few to dozens. As their numbers increase, they become proportionally more proactive and aggressive.

There were many cases where novices, full of confidence because they were “just goblins,” charged in only for their mercenary group to be wiped out.

“You guys call yourselves mercenaries and you’re running away from goblins!”

But even such a goblin pack is ultimately just goblins.

They have a habit of avoiding a fight and fleeing if the opponent looks strong or outnumbers them.

Chris likely planned to lead a large number of mercenaries to scare the goblins away.

In fact, the normal progression in the tutorial was for the goblins to flee first.

However, because a few mercenaries fled first, the goblins perceived the remaining mercenaries as a pack weaker than themselves.

Goblins are cowardly and cautious, but they are extremely aggressive toward opponents weaker than them.

“The rest of you, hold your ground!”

Chris, who had been giving instructions to the mercenaries, finally drew his sword and stepped forward.

The approaching Goblin Fighter realized that Chris, who had come out in front of him, was the leader of the enemy pack and roared threateningly.

“Kyaaaak!”

“Tch… My horoscope said I’d have bad luck this morning…”

The goblin pack itself was no big deal, but the Goblin Fighter appearing as the tutorial boss was a monster with a level over 10.

Since the level 1 mercenaries who made up the tutorial mission were incapable of facing it properly, Chris had no choice but to deal with it himself.

The Goblin Fighter stepped forward and swung the wooden club he was holding.

The simple attack aimed at Chris was easily evaded by a single step, but the wooden club tore through the air with a chilling sound.

The watching mercenaries felt a shiver down their spines at the sight of an attack so powerful they couldn’t believe it came from a goblin.

If they imagined that attack being swung at them, they had no confidence they could handle it.

Since Chris couldn’t afford to take that attack head-on either, he stepped back to avoid the swings, guiding the direction of the fight and gradually increasing the distance from the other mercenaries.

“Just huddle together and hold on! The little ones are too scared to attack if you have the numbers!”

As the tip for intentionally starting a fight with the Goblin Fighter in the tutorial to soak up experience points was quite well-known, Ian had seen Chris fight many times.

At least he didn’t have to worry about Chris losing.

But in the meantime, the rest of the goblin pack was slowly approaching the mercenaries.

“Just hold them off until I take this guy down!”

Chris’s shout was heard, but the movements of the mercenaries, faced with the approaching goblins, were lackluster.

They were mercenaries in name, but most had been mere farmers or laborers until yesterday.

Even if Chris’s instructions sounded simple, most were complete rookies for whom fighting a monster was a first-time experience.

The wind was cold, but cold beads of sweat trickled down their backs.

A heavy pressure was spreading among the mercenaries.

“Um… Captain.”

Ian felt someone lightly tugging on his sleeve and turned his head.

Rin, with a flustered face, looked at Ian and asked in a low voice.

“What should we do? The atmosphere isn’t looking good…”

Ian could sense not only Rin but also the other mercenaries glancing at each other, gauging the situation.

It hadn’t happened yet, but it seemed certain that if someone started running again, the rest would flee as well.

This wasn’t at all the atmosphere of the tutorial battle Ian had expected.

The tutorial was supposed to be a short fight simply to learn the combat controls.

Situations like allies fleeing in terror never happened.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we all avoided them?”

“…No. You see that?”

Ian pointed to the red flag hanging on the hut that the goblins had surrounded.

“That’s a signal raised by the people working here. They hid in the hut and raised the flag.”

Huts at the forest entrance were positioned to be visible from the city walls, so people used such flags to communicate when needed.

The mercenaries were able to arrive in time because they had seen the distress signal from people fleeing from the goblins from the city wall.

“If it were just goblins, they could have just locked the door and held out… but that guy is there.”

Ian pointed at the Goblin Fighter, whose physique was much larger than the other goblins.

With just the strength of normal goblins, they couldn’t break down a sturdy hut door, but with an opponent like that present, the safety of those hiding inside couldn’t be guaranteed.

Rin’s expression darkened, as she could no longer suggest running away after hearing that story.

Meanwhile, the goblins were drawing closer, and the mercenaries’ agitation grew accordingly.

“…Wait here for a moment.”

Ian had Rin wait briefly and approached the still-confused group of mercenaries.

To clear this game, one had to repel the massive monster invasions that would swarm toward the city several times.

He couldn’t guarantee success, but it wasn’t impossible either.

Even if the difficulty had increased due to mods, Ian had the experience of clearing this difficulty several times before.

With his long experience in writing guides, he was confident that his knowledge of this game was richer than anyone else’s.

But if even the tutorial, the very beginning, didn’t go as expected, what use would it be to know so much about the game?

He wouldn’t even be able to stop the first invasion, let alone the final defense.

It’s easy to think that games with many random elements are all about luck, but in reality, what mattered for a clear was momentum.

If the start goes well, the gains snowball, but if the first step is wrong, the losses chain like dominoes.

Even if an undesirable situation occurred, since he couldn’t undo it, he had to naturally follow the flow and create the best possible advantage.

Riding that unpredictable flow was only possible through an intuitive sense built by long experience.

If he wanted to clear this game, Ian had to make it happen himself.

“Hey! Everyone, over here! Line up along this line!”

Ian, stepping out in front of the mercenaries who were backing away from the slowly approaching goblins, drew a line on the ground.

“Shields in front! Three people behind each shield! You there, with the spear, over here!”

Ian arranged the mercenaries in the exact formation they fought in when the ’tutorial’ proceeded normally.

If they were experienced mercenaries, they wouldn’t have listened to orders from someone who just stepped forward, but since the rookie mercenaries didn’t know what to do, they began to hesitantly take their positions now that someone was giving directions.

“Don’t step forward first! Just thrust from your spot when they get close!”

As the mercenaries put their shields forward and pointed their sharp blades, the approaching goblins stopped in their tracks.

No matter how savage a goblin is, it is only ferocious toward easy targets.

They didn’t have the courage to charge while ignoring the blades right in front of them.

Seeing the sharp, glinting blades aimed at them, the goblins couldn’t bring themselves to approach, and the mercenaries also gradually regained their confidence.

If someone had started running, everyone would have followed, but conversely, once an atmosphere of everyone fighting together was created, it wasn’t easy to go against it and leave alone.

Once the solid standoff between the goblins and mercenaries was established as intended, Ian turned his head to look for Rin.

Ian found Rin, who was hesitantly trying to join another group of mercenaries, and gestured for her to come closer.

“Rin!”

“Yes! Where should I go?”

“No. More importantly, you’re good at throwing stones, right?”

“Huh? Did I even tell you something like that?”

Ian knew because he had checked her traits and picked her, but Rin was flustered, unable to remember when she had shared such a trivial detail.

The [Throwing] trait Rin possessed, which increases the accuracy of throws, allowed one to hit targets with projectiles without missing against most early-stage monsters at even D-rank.

Although the use for ’throwing’ gradually disappears in the later stages because there are few useful items to throw, it was a very useful trait in many places early on.

Ian pointed at Chris, who was fighting the Goblin Fighter on one side.

Since there was no tank to soak up the attacks in front, Chris was slowly accumulating wounds on the Goblin Fighter by backing away to dodge its continuous attacks and thrusting during short openings.

“You, throw stones at that goblin from behind!”

“What? Wh-what if it gets angry?”

“I’m telling you to make it angry!”

Rin looked ready to cry upon being told to throw stones at the massive Goblin Fighter, which made her knees shake just by looking at it.

In the meantime, Ian briefly checked the state of the goblins, but they were still only threatening the mercenaries without being the first to pounce.

There was no need to actively pick a fight with the goblins; they just had to keep stalling for time like this.

Once Chris’s fight was over and he joined them, the goblin pack that had lost its leader would be no problem at all.

“Hurry!”

As Ian urged her, Rin finally, with an expression like she was about to burst into tears, lowered her body, moved behind the Goblin Fighter, and picked up a stone.

Even if Rin didn’t push herself to help, it was only a matter of time before Chris won, but the important thing was for Rin to get combat participation experience.

While one could receive shared basic experience just by being in the same party, if one directly hit a monster and inflicted even 1 point of damage, they received a larger share of that monster’s experience.

The tutorial’s Goblin Fighter was a monster that gave enough experience at level 1 to level up about 3 to 4 times based on basic experience alone.

Since hitting it with a stone counts as direct combat participation, she could receive not only the simple distribution but also a bit more of the combat experience.

“Hiyah!”

“Kyack!”

The small stone Rin threw flew and accurately hit the back of the Goblin Fighter’s head.

The Goblin Fighter frowned at the sudden stone and tried to look back, but unable to take his eyes off Chris right in front of him, he only let out a irritable shout.

“I hit it!”

“Good job! Keep throwing!”

The Goblin Fighter had ignored the flying stones while dealing with Chris, but as the annoying pebbles continued to strike his head, he finally turned his head toward Rin in a rage.

“Kyaaaaak!”

“Hiee!”

As the enraged Goblin Fighter tried to rush toward her, a frozen Rin cried out to Ian in a panic.

“Ca-Captain! Now what do I do!”

“Stay still.”

Chris’s voice was heard even before Ian’s answer.

Toward the Goblin Fighter, who had exposed his back, Chris’s sword rushed in with a glint.

Several sword strikes followed in an instant due to the effects of [Continuous Slash] and [Additional Attack on Critical Hit].

As Chris’s attacks hit the Goblin Fighter’s body without any resistance, the roughly half-remaining HP of the Goblin Fighter vanished in an instant.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep