Violent Clash

Their objective was simple and obvious—they were going to hunt down the goblin tribe.

Still, there was a goblin that appeared stronger than the other goblins at the center of the goblin tribe, and it could be a hobgoblin judging from its size.

Led by the hobgoblin, the other goblins followed as they went to meet their uninvited guests directly.

Both sides held on to their weapons. The battle could start at any moment.

Time slowly ticked passed…

The group of humans stared at the goblins hostilely, just as the goblins stared fixedly at the humans.

An unusual atmosphere extended over the air.

"How long are we going to stand here?" asked someone in the group.

"We're not moving if they don't," answered someone beside him.

Seeing that the people around them nodded in agreement, it seems that they were sticking to the strategy of not moving unless the enemy moved…

"Then why aren't those goblins moving as well?"

"…"

How am I supposed to know why they aren't moving?!

The goblins all appeared ferocious like a pack of hungry wolves, but all they did was stand on at the plaza, silently watching the humans as if they had no intent to attack.

Nonetheless, after the standoff lasted for almost ten minutes, those people finally came to a realization.

It turns out that the goblins were afraid, too…

Ah, whatever.

They are the only ones scared, not us.

Not everyone had been a part of a mass brawl, not to mention that this was far bloodier and crueler than that.

"Charge!!!"

Many of the humans roared, and the rest of the group soon followed suit.

Perhaps doing that dispelled the terror inside their bodies, so that they had the courage to dash forward.

On the other hand, the goblins' gazes remained sinister. Though they fidgeted a little when the humans charged, they soon managed to regain composure.

In an instant, both sides collided. Those with long-hilted weapons naturally had the upper hand, though close-range weapons such as blades or swords became more effective as the battle escalated.

The strong survive while the weak die.

Both sides were untrained bunches of misfits without any tactics to speak of, and so clumped together in a melee.

Some of the humans who had summoned goblins were having hard time since their summoned beasts were almost attacked by other humans. Moreover, the goblins summoned were seen by wild goblins as clear enemies for some reason, and trying to impersonate them as wild goblins would not work.

Nonetheless, humans had one layer of insurance, since they could use their Summoner's Grimoire to recall their summoned beast.

Moreover, any goblins killed would become a summoned beast, and so the advantage leaned toward the humans.

Bizarrely, however, despite holding the overall advantage, once more than a tenth of the human forces were killed, their side was the first to collapse…

The first to run away were those whose summoned beasts had been killed—having no summoned beasts meant that they were denied the protection of the Summoner's Grimoire as well, and were no different from fat meat exposed in air.

As insecurity extended from head to toe, they lost all confidence to remain in the chaotic battle.

Moreover, there were quite a number of them. While they were not exactly vital, they were still a cornerstone of the forces.

And after they ran away, the human side had clearly decreased in number.

Those remaining behind either had surviving summoned beasts or had gained something in the fight. Even so, their summoned beasts faced the same problem everyone faced—a limit to the number of summoned beasts.

The maximum limit of three summoned beasts denied the existence of any sort of messiah who could stand alone.

It also meant that the group must work together to achieve final victory.

Even so, this group had been random people drawn together by slogans and profit… When some of them had reached the upper limit of three summoned beasts, they would goof off or avoid fighting altogether to keep their summoned beasts alive.

After all, from their own perspective, the summoned beasts were their own profits gained through much difficulty—why would they sacrifice it for some people they did not even know?

There were few with long-term vision and the resolve to make sacrifices.

And this minority were considered fools who would never change anything by the majority.

All they could do was stop the situation from falling apart.

Even so, fools would never remain foolish eternally—the time would come that they would become smart and calculating, and learn to raise thick shields around their body.

Like trees, the more humans reached toward the light, the deeper their roots would extend to the darkness of the ground.

As such, the already-weak cohesion between the group of humans collapsed further.

Hence, the goblins managed to reach a stalemate against the hastily formed group.

The side which could not last would break the stalemate.

If the goblins could not hold the line and scatter, the humans would chase them down en masse.

Likewise, if the humans could not hold the line and retreated en masse, the same outcome awaited them.

Time continued to tick by.

"Argh!" One of the goblins abruptly shrieked then before dashing away in retreat.

And like a stack of dominos, the remaining twenty or so goblins panicked fled in every direction.

Some of the remaining humans would chase them down, while others stared stupidly at the corpses laying in pools of blood.

***

"…"

Chen Yining, who was ready to enter the forest, heard footsteps behind him then, and turned to find in delight two goblins running toward him in panic, with more goblins behind them.

"Did they all come to offer themselves?" Chen Yining muttered.

He soon noticed that there were humans chasing down the goblins, but he had no intentions of holding back.

The goblins would definitely be running into the forest if he did not do a thing anyway, and he did not believe that residents of a modern city who was unfamiliar with forests could find those slippery creatures.

After all, the goblins were just like rats.

"I'm leaving it to you, Green Skin. Leave none alive," Chen Yining said.

Green Skin smiled fiercely in content.

"Don't worry, Master! None of them will survive!"

The two goblins that were running up front promptly stopped when they saw Green Skin.

Dropping to the ground, they felt a sharp pain on their neck before they took to the skies, and soon lost all senses.

The goblins to the rear all turned to flee at different directions when they saw Green Skin as well, as if they were facing a natural calamity.

Green Skin intimidated them more than the humans behind them.