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EP.34 [Goblin Extermination]1
"The villagers gathered a lot of hay."
Eugene looked quite surprised.
After finishing the final check, the Red Fox Mercenary Group
Immediately began work on the goblin extermination quest.
Eugene and Mari led the shield soldiers to the designated cave entrance,
While on the opposite side, Thomas positioned himself with Sophia and the archers.
Those two spots were identified as the most effective places for smoke to spread throughout the goblin cave when lit, based on information from villagers and Thomas's investigation.
There were two cave entrances in total,
And large piles of hay were already prepared there.
"Most of the villagers mobilized and even went outside to gather it. The forest here is so damp that there's not much hay even in spring, brother!"
Mari set up the hay piles with the shield soldiers while Eugene kept watch.
In that situation, Mari mentioned that these large hay piles represented about a week of busy effort by the villagers.
The desperation of the Jebodang villagers who had experienced continued request failures was tremendous.
So when Jeanne tried to carry out a labor-intensive strategy,
The villagers volunteered to help on their own, rolling up their sleeves and actively cooperating.
"Honestly, the villagers were a bit skeptical when they heard the captain's age. But when she mentioned the fire tactics and revealed the roadmap, their eyes changed. It immediately became a reason to trust her. It's a strategy you'd never see from a new mercenary group."
The passionate girl Mari told Eugene about the dramatic change in atmosphere she personally experienced when Jeanne explained the strategy to the villagers.
The Jebodang village representatives were so happy to hear from the association that a mercenary group had finally accepted their quest that they came all the way to the Athens mercenary district.
As a result, they saw Jeanne's face for the first time and were flustered that she was not only a woman but also very young.
However, Jeanne was still relentless in negotiating with the numerous villagers.
Moreover, her planning of the strategy and preliminary setup to achieve it was thoroughly meticulous.
Thus, the novice mercenary captain Jeanne ultimately succeeded in winning over the villagers' hearts.
As a result, they even voluntarily gathered these hard-to-obtain hay piles to help.
'Hmm... Jeanne the second daughter of Orléans and Jeanne the mercenary captain are really different. The Jeanne at the mercenary inn seemed to be the former. No, if that's the case, that's also a problem in its own way.'
Since this was on-site content Jeanne hadn't directly told him about,
Eugene was quite surprised.
Especially since he had experienced Jeanne's historically bad blunder a few days ago,
The gap was even more remarkable.
"Brother, the fire is lit over there!"
"Torch,"
"Yes! Assault Captain!"
Smoke first rose from the cave where Thomas was.
The Jebodang Dark Forest goblin extermination quest had begun.
"Then I'll go to the big entrance. If the goblins unexpectedly gather here, contact me right away."
"Got it, Assault Captain! Be careful!"
Eugene's hay pile was also lit.
The shield soldiers then used large boards to fan the flames,
Guiding the smoke to enter deeper into the cave.
After confirming all of this, Eugene
Moved towards the main cave entrance where the goblins were expected to flee from the smoke.
"Is this enough for smoke to fill the inside everywhere?"
"If the internal passages we and the residents identified are correct, it should be almost full. So considering other variables, we should start seeing the goblins soon."
Eugene shouldered his greatsword.
In that state, he stared at the main exit of the Jebodang Dark Forest goblin cave where smoke had started leaking out.
Thomas answered Eugene's question with a cautious expression.
The Dark Forest has considerable mountainous terrain.
The goblin dens thoroughly searched and identified in that terrain totaled six places,
Four excluding the passages where fires were lit,
And one of those was abandoned as it was thought unlikely to be used as an escape route.
Among the remaining dens, the huge main exit deemed most likely for the goblin horde to rush out,
Eugene, Thomas, and Sophia were positioned there.
And at the other two places, Jeanne with four sword soldiers,
And Ivan with Priscilla were deployed respectively.
At that moment
"Can you hear it, bro?"
Swish...!
Thomas gripped his main weapon, the curved sword [wāndāo] scimitar, and took a combat stance.
"Yeah, I hear it."
Shing...!
Eugene also gripped the greatsword on his shoulder straight, his eyes clearly different from before.
"Kieeee!!"
"Kueeee!!"
Patter patter patter!
From inside the cave where dark smoke was leaking out,
Finally the howling cries of many goblins and
The sound of them rushing towards the main entrance began to be heard.
"Shall we start our goblin hunt then, everyone~?"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Excited by that sound, the high-level nun secular priest Sophia
Swung the mace in her left hand.
"Kueeeeee!!"
Fwoosh!!
A few seconds after Eugene's group had fully taken their battle stances,
A regular goblin wielding a crude dagger burst out of the cave through the black smoke.
Fwip!!
At that moment, a dagger was thrown simultaneously with its appearance,
Thunk!!
"Guk!!"
The dagger that flew like an arrow embedded itself right in the forehead of the first goblin.
It was assassin class Thomas's dagger,
Thud!!
"Kieeee!!" "Kueeee!!"
Rumble rumble rumble!!
Beyond the scene of the goblin with its head pierced by Thomas's dagger falling backwards,
Soon the sight of about 20 goblins pouring out all at once from the cave main entrance unfolded.
Some were holding crude knives and clubs, with hand axes here and there.
"Regular goblins are perfect for my scimitar!"
Slash! Slash!
Thomas charged in between the goblins rushing forward chaotically.
Then he swung his long curved scimitar in succession.
Fast speed and fluid continuous movements,
Above all, coolness was heavily evident.
Thomas's movements were not only swift but without pause,
Accurately slicing deeply at the goblins' necks and abdomens.
The assassin class Thomas's appearance unfolding was in complete contrast to his usual friendly and sociable self.
However, Thomas alone couldn't control twenty-some goblins,
And the remaining goblins outside his attack range
Instantly closed the distance towards Eugene and Sophia behind Thomas.
"I'm grateful when they come this close~!"
Even though the hideous goblins filled her immediate view,
Sophia had an excited face and beamed.
"My clothes are in this state so I'm a bit slow on my feet~!"
Smash!!
"Gueeee!!"
Then she swung her mace to the side, smashing the temple of the goblin that approached her first.
Indeed, it was a sight befitting the assessment that this world's nuns are closer to blunt weapon soldiers than healers.
Like that for about 20 seconds,
Thomas and Sophia slaughtered about fifteen goblins.
But as many as they killed, large numbers of goblins poured out of the cave again.
"You two, quickly move to the sides,"
Watching that sight, Eugene requested Thomas and Sophia to make space.
As the two in front spread out to the sides at that request,
Whoosh!!!
A vicious sound of cutting wind burst out.
It was the sound of Eugene's 190cm greatsword being swung vertically with a refreshing feel.
Clang!!!
The piercing boom that burst out as the heavy sword tip collided with the hard ground,
"Gak!" "Gueeee!"
Splat! Splat! Splat!
And the bodies of three goblins were cut in two by the long sword's blade.
"Wow, as expected of our Assault Captain!!"
"That power~~!"
It was an overwhelming performance that changed the flow.
When Eugene Schneider showed such a performance befitting a greatswordsman,
Thomas and Sophia displayed reactions bursting with dopamine.
"It seems to be going according to the main scenario. I hear the sound of dozens of goblins swarming towards the Assault Captain."
Priscilla, sitting relaxedly on a large rock, said to her partner Ivan.
As an elf with hearing four times better than humans,
She was essentially grasping the overall situation unfolding.
"But I don't hear any hobgoblin sounds. I think I should go to the captain and report the situation."
"Alright Priscilla, I'll cover this place alone for now."
However, only regular goblin sounds were heard and not even a trace of hobgoblins was seen.
Feeling the situation was not right, Priscilla
Immediately moved to where Captain Jeanne was.
"I see, Priscilla. That means there must be a quite high-level shaman goblin inside."
"Yes, it means they can even use purification magic. But there's a limit to how many can be affected by the magic, so it seems they sent out many regular goblins to distract us."
Priscilla reported the situation she grasped to Jeanne.
After Thomas's additional investigation, the Red Fox Mercenary Group
Saw a high possibility of shaman goblins existing.
But beyond existence, the goblin's abilities were the variable.
Usually, the quality of shaman goblin magic is at the level of setting up totems to disorient people who enter the cave
Or enabling the use of more diverse neurotoxins.
Occasionally a few more abilities are added,
But the shaman goblin encountered this time seems to far surpass such cases.
"They probably know it will rain soon too. Calculating to drag it into a long battle, we'll have no choice but to go in."
It looks like it will rain tomorrow afternoon or the next day.
Then fire tactics using hay like today won't be possible for over two weeks.
A prolonged battle could lead to discord with the villagers, so Jeanne is determined to settle it today.
Whoosh!!!
The greatsword swung to the side,
Splat! Splat! Splat!
By that heavy thing,
The heads of four similarly short goblins were sliced off like dominoes.
"Wow~ 60 goblins exterminated! Of those, you seem to have slaughtered nearly 30, bro!"
They were the last goblins to come out of the cave.
To grasp the number of goblins remaining inside the cave,
Thomas, who meticulously counted the enemy numbers even during battle,
Stuck out his tongue after figuring out the ratio Eugene had caught.
"But honestly, it doesn't feel satisfying. Regular goblins weigh less so it seems the feeling of slicing with a greatsword is less."
"To have that mindset when you haven't even done a few quests, you must be a natural, bro?"
Unlike the other comrades, Thomas knows Eugene's identity,
So he fully grasps that this is Eugene's first quest performance.
But he had heard in advance that Eugene had beaten a few goblins with a club on the pilgrim's path.
So he inserted that fact, matched the context appropriately, and then expressed great surprise at Eugene's current appearance.
Though they are monsters, they are still living beings, so there's a psychological difference between occasionally taking their lives
And killing them like this on a quest.
However, Eugene's current appearance shows no signs of being intimidated, though he looks slightly flushed.
"You'll properly feel that satisfaction. We're going to enter that cave now."
Thud! Thud! Thud!
At that moment, Jeanne approached them leading the sword soldiers.
"So we're going in after the smoke clears a bit?"
Then Jeanne shared the situation Priscilla had secured with the comrades at the main entrance.
She also made it clear that they would settle it today since it needed to end before the rain.
Eugene looked towards the cave where smoke was still leaking out a bit and asked about the exact timing.
"Priscilla says even shaman goblins need quite a bit of preparation time to use higher-level magic by their standards, so we shouldn't give them that preparation time."
"That's right! We can't give time when the opponent has a mental class. And that quick decisive action is possible because I, high-level nun Sophia, am here."
Jeanne shook her head as she was loosening up her body a bit in response to Eugene's words about waiting for the smoke to clear.
If purification magic was used, this is likely the weakest timing from the shaman goblin's perspective.
Sophia, hearing Jeanne's decision, actively agreed and appealed that she was the key figure for this strategy.
"Does Sophia have a method?"
Since Eugene Schneider only properly knows healing ability among healer abilities,
He looked at her with very curious eyes, wondering how Sophia would deal with the poison gas.
"Look forward to it, Assault Captain, this right here! This will give us hope."
Stretch!!
Reach!!
Then suddenly Sophia stretched out the neck of her nun's habit
And reached her hand into her voluptuous breasts.
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