In this situation, with how we are now, there must be some way we can pull this off.
Of course he hadnât dared to think it would all go well from the very start. It couldnât be that simple.
Even so, to think that it would be this badâŠ
ââku! RantaâŠ! Donât back offâŠ!â
Haruhiro was trying to get a grasp of the situation while parrying the attacks of goblin A with [SWAT].
Goblin A was wearing a leather helmet and chainmail armor, and was armed with a short sword and a small shield, but it wasnât like it had an orcâs big body, nor were its blows as heavy. Even fighting it one-on-one wasnât that hard; the problem was Ranta.
âItâs not like Iâm backing offâŠ!â
Ranta yelled â[PROPEL LEAP]âŠ.!â to retreat in a hurry. Goblin B was drawn in and gave chase.
Without a momentâs delay he attacked the approaching goblin with his long sword.
âEat this! [JUKE STAB]âŠ!â
However, thanks to its good physique, the heavily armed goblin managed to avoid Rantaâs sword by a hairâs breadth. Well, even if heâd landed the attack between the neck and shoulder of the armor, a blow of that caliber wouldnât have dealt much damage. Goblin B didnât falter and closed the distance between them. Ranta slashed his long sword at Goblin Bâs blade,
â[EXPEL FRENZY]âŠ!â
And immediately knocked the goblinâs sword down. It was all going fine, but thenâ
âKiran! Got you! [HATREDâS CUâŠ]!â
Ranta stepped in aggressively and performed a full body slash, landing a perfect strike on top of Goblin Bâs left shoulder. However,it wasnât enough. It was the armor. The armor was so strong, Rantaâs long sword failed to penetrate, leaving only a dent.
âYouâre being too aggressiveâŠ!â Haruhiro complained while still parrying Goblin Aâs sword.
âShut it!â Ranta yelled back. He then showered Goblin B with attacks.
âOrya orya orya orya oryaâŠ.! Ura ura ura ura ura ura uraâŠ!â
Though Goblin B was recoiling, Haruhiro could see it was somehow fending off the swings.
Thatâs why a brute force approach is impossible. Do you understand, Ranta?
âYou bastardââ
Because you arenât Mogzo.
Haruhiro almost said as much, but he swallowed his words. That was something he shouldnât say. Because Ranta was doing his best in his own way. He had tried to take on the tank role of the party, and from the beginning of the battle, plunged himself right into the middle of the enemies.
But unlike Mogzo, Ranta was never the type to hold position and continually exchange blows with the opponent.
To begin with, the core of the Dread Knightâs fighting style was to make use of its mobility to lead opponents around by the nose, confusing them. Moving around was inevitable. If he didnât do that, he wouldnât be able to use his real strength. Ranta wasnât like that. He wasnât a tank. Haruhiro and the others would have to change the very basics of their strategy. But what would their new tactic beâŠ?
âOhâŠâ
Haruhiro tried to [SWAT] the Goblinâs sword, but his hand slipped. The goblin will break through. This is badâ
âTsuaaaâŠ!â
Mary. Mary rushed in aiming her short staff at Goblin A. The goblin was sent flying despite blocking with his shield.
âAre you preoccupied with somethingâŠ!?â
âS-sorry, Mary!â
âFocus!â
While answering yes in his mind, Haruhiro attacked Goblin A. Pretended to attack, to be exact. As soon as Goblin A turned to counter attack, Haruhiro switched to [SWAT]. He somehow managed to connect [SWAT] with [ARREST] and tried to incapacitate Goblin A, but it didnât look like it would work.
Goblins are a bit too small. Iâve never used [ARREST] against a goblin. Whatâs up with this? Damnit. I was able to kill an orc, and happily lose my virginity, but I canât defeat a single goblin facing him fair and square? Iâm too weak. But I know. I know well enough that Iâm too weak.
âOom rel eckt nem dasâŠ.!â
Shihoru used her magic, [SHADOW BIND]to shoot a shadow elemental at the ground. It attached itself near the right foot of Goblin C, which had locked blades with Yume.
Nice, Shihoru.
Goblin C panicked and planted its left foot, trying to pull its other foot away, but the shadow elemental clung tightly and didnât let go.
âFunya!â
Yume jumped at Goblin C, and showered it with a combo of [SWEEPING SLASH] and [CROSS CUT]. However, Goblin C was wearing chainmail in addition to its hatchet-like weapon, so it didnât suffer a fatal wound. Even so, its shoulders, arms and torso were hit with the kukriâs full strength, so they should be in quite a lot of pain.
Goblin C began to randomly swing its hatchet. It must have been really desperate, but Yume pulled back.
If Yume took a hit from that with just her leather armor, it would be bad.
âYumeâŠ!â
She briefly glanced in Haruhiroâs direction, and seemed to understand just from being called.
Yume is coming here.
Parrying Goblin Aâs sword with [SWAT] once more, Haruhiro dashed away. Goblin A tried to keep up with him, but Yume took over and stopped it.
Goblin Câs right foot was still affected by [SWADOW BIND]. It noticed Haruhiro coming and tried turning around to face him, but was too slow. Or rather, because it couldnât freely use its legs, it couldnât move or turn around. Of course, taking someone like that from behind would be easy.
Haruhiro circled around to Goblin Câs rear and leapt in. He immediately pinned the goblinâs arms behind its back and slit its throat in one go with his dagger. After Haruhiro pulled away, Goblin Câs knees bent and audibly hit the ground. His right foot was still fixed to the ground, so it didnât collapse completely.