Retreat!

"You! Why did you retreat?"

As the battered remnants of the Goblin army trudged back to their lair, Gobta vented his frustration at Dick, clearly disgruntled with the decision to withdraw from the battlefield.

Dick, however, was only half-listening to Gobta's complaints. His attention was on a gravely injured Goblin Scout being carried by the Goblin Imps. The scout, having narrowly escaped a lethal blow from the Goblin Slayer, was fortunate to be alive.

Dick's mind briefly wandered to a past simulation where he had established a Goblin lair, eventually leaving it under the care of a Goblin Scout. He wondered how it had fared since then, but quickly dismissed these thoughts as irrelevant distractions.

Focusing on the present, Dick summoned a tree brimming with life energy and performed a vitality transfer. The near-death Goblin Scout was infused with this energy, pulling him back from the brink of death, though he would need time to fully recover.

"You! How dare you ignore me!" Gobta's anger flared as Dick continued to disregard his rant. He raised his sword in a threatening gesture, but Dick easily sidestepped it.

"Goblin Slayer incapacitated two of our main forces in an instant. You would have been dead too if I hadn't arrived," Dick retorted, his glare silencing Gobta's protests and instilling a moment of fear in him.

As Gobta's bluster faded, he reluctantly acknowledged the truth in Dick's words. They had all underestimated the Goblin Slayer, who had managed to maintain a formidable level of combat prowess against their entire force. If they had continued the fight, the outcome might have been disastrous.

Gobta fell silent, prompting Dick to withdraw his intimidating gaze and ponder their next move. "Goblin Slayer's strength is exceptional. He single-handedly held off an army of fifty goblins," he mused.

Dick recognized that strategy, reason, and sheer strength were on the Goblin Slayer's side. Without Dick's intervention, Gobuta and perhaps the entire Goblin army would have been annihilated.

"It's a challenging situation," Dick acknowledged silently. Despite his F+ level strength, the Goblin Slayer, a black Steal level adventurer, was equivalent to a D-level monster, a force not to be underestimated.

However, Dick's surprise attack had momentarily caught the Goblin Slayer off guard, disrupting his defense of the village. Dick glanced at the diminished Goblin army, now reduced from fifty to about twenty, most of them wounded. The Goblin Slayer's use of explosives had taken a heavy toll.

Yet, Dick saw a glimmer of opportunity. His gaze shifted to the cart cage, where ten human female captives were imprisoned, their sobs and whimpers echoing the tragedy of the raid. In this grim scenario, Dick began to formulate a new strategy, considering how he might leverage the situation to his advantage.

The Goblin army's return to their lair was far from triumphant. As they navigated the winding paths back to their dark abode, the majority of the captives were women in their thirties, considered ideal for childbearing. Despite the losses, the raid wasn't a complete failure, but it could hardly be called a full victory either.

Upon their arrival, the goblin lair was initially abuzz with excitement over the new captives. However, the mood quickly soured as they noticed the depleted ranks. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm back! Fresh women are back!" some goblins cheered, but their glee soon turned to dismay. "What happened to the others? So many missing... What did the leader do?!"

There were calls to inform Queen Kylie, their leader, of Gobta's failure. Dick, the Goblin Shaman, remained silent throughout this. He felt no obligation to defend himself, as Gobuta was the leader of this ill-fated expedition, not him.

But his calm demeanor was short-lived. Upon delivering the captives to the foul, dank confines of the Goblin lair, Dick and Gobta were summoned to Kylie's chamber. Unlike the rest of the lair, Kylie's quarters were more akin to a human dwelling, filled with books, medicinal herbs, and magical apparatus.

Kylie, a tall human magician, was already aware of their failure. She sat with her legs crossed, her attention buried in a book, exuding an intimidating aura with her red lips slightly parted.

"Why did it fail this time?" Kylie's cold voice cut through the tense silence.

Dick remained silent, glancing at a visibly shaken Gobta, who managed to stammer out, "My Queen... Your Highness, it was... Goblin Slayer!"

At the mention of that name, Kylie's expression shifted subtly, hinting at a mix of resentment, fear, and some unspoken pain.

Dick, observing quietly, wondered about Kylie's connection with the Goblin Slayer.

Kylie's demeanor suddenly shifted to eerie calmness. "Step back," she ordered. Gobta, expecting severe punishment, was surprised and relieved to be dismissed without further ado.

As Dick prepared to leave, Kylie's voice halted him. "You stay."

"Queen? What's the matter?" Dick asked cautiously, still wary of his mother.

Without warning, Kylie struck him across the face with her staff. Dick crashed to the ground, bewildered and in pain. Kylie's fury was unleashed; she kicked him repeatedly, her sharp heels inflicting excruciating pain.

Dick lay on the ground, battered and bruised, his initial pity and trust for Kylie vanishing in an instant. Rage and cold resolve replaced them. He vowed to himself that Kylie would pay dearly for her cruelty.