Goblin Hunting is Stressful

The goblin army marched forward in an orderly manner, completely unlike what their wild appearance would suggest. Due to how they're moving in such a clean file, the soldiers started to get nervous, unsure about how to begin the fight.

"Then, let me take the first kill," I muttered as I weaved through the crowd, reaching the front row.

I heard a few voices calling me back, but among everyone here, nobody had the guts to stop me in earnest. I walked onward at a constant pace, closing the distance to the marching goblin "army."

When there were barely twenty meters between us, their stance changed, as if moving to battle formations. When I thought they would charge at me at once, I suddenly saw something move through the shadows, tracing a high arc in the air before falling back down.

"Damn it! Arrows! Everyone, take cover!"

The goblins had long-range troops?! I didn't hear such information last time! Did I just miss it, or... Anyway, there's no time to think!

The arrows were flying in a high arc, and even though it was dark, I could see that their aim was toward the soldiers behind me. A few arrows were headed for me too, but they're not something I can't handle.

Staying in place would be suicidal, so I quickly kicked the ground hard, dashing forward, and closed the 20-meter gap in one leap. The goblins were surprised; their eyes, pitch black, opened wide as their cheeky grins turned into a surprised frown.

"You can't shoot me when I'm this close, can you?!" I roared as I swung my blade.

Since the goblins were small, it was hard to get a lot of them in one swing of my sword without lowering my stance to the limit. So instead, I decided to simply kick them around.

It was something I learned later on, but physical attacks work regardless of your ability or weapons. The only problem would be the strength and the amount of damage inflicted. With me, who is level 11, each kick was basically fatal, but some lucky ones still survived the attack.

With me in the middle of their formation, the goblin army began to panic and act without orders. Chaos quickly ensued, and not a trace of their previous coordination was left.

"NOW!"

And as if finding that to be the perfect timing, the soldiers who hid behind their transparent riot shields finally charged forward. In moments, soldiers trampled the goblin army, rendering them helpless against our charge.

As the soldiers overtook me, I quickly heaved a sigh of relief before lowering my sword and turning in the other direction. Their having a bow unit was beyond my expectations, but their "stratagems" were already grasped by the camp during the last loop.

"..."

I narrowed my eyes and sharpened my senses, and after a bit, I finally detected them. Goblins! A detached force went around, planning to attack us from behind. There are only about a dozen of them, but if the soldiers were attacked unaware, it might result in a few casualties.

With me here, who knows their modus operandi, such tricks wouldn't work, though.

I retreated to the back, about to head for the few goblins that were approaching from behind, but suddenly, a powerful burst of flames covered them.

"...!"

This attack, I couldn't be mistaken. It's Garuda!

I turned to the gate and saw her standing there, her hand still glowing with a few more fireballs at the ready. As usual, she's good at stealing kills, but it's not like a few goblins would dent my level anyway.

She killed 12 goblins at once, so she should've jumped to level 3 in one go. It was a nice thing to know that your allies are becoming powerful...

"R-Report! Little green men armies appeared from other locations! South, 300 strong, and to the northwest, another 100!"

Hearing the report from the watchtower, I quickly frowned. This pace was a lot more than what I was told. It should have been around morning already when the goblin army started its attack. However, right now, it's barely past midnight. The invasion had just started, and the goblins were already on the offensive!

Although I didn't have to, I was still worried about the southern end. 300 against about a hundred troops. They're outnumbered! Adding the possibility of the goblins having bow units again, it wouldn't be weird for a few soldiers to die or get severely injured.

"Major Lucas!" After some deliberation, I decided to move. "Please send Garuda to the southern gate as backup!"

Again, 300 wouldn't dent my experience needed to reach level 12, so instead, I should prioritize letting others gain experience. And Garuda's ability was one of the best when it came to mass annihilation. Flames are destructive by nature, after all.

I turned to where Garuda was and noticed her picking up her radio and talking. Due to the distance and the noise from the fighting behind me, I couldn't catch her words, but it looked like she acceded to the Major's order. She quickly entered the camp and ran, heading toward the other side.

"..."

Well, there's also the fact that it's still a little awkward between me and Garuda at the moment, so I sent her away. Anyway, with that out of the way, I turned toward further north. I was hoping for such a thing to not happen, but it looks like my guess was off by a large margin.

"It's coming...!"

I could feel its large presence, each step shaking the ground like there was a small earthquake.

In the distance, a large shadow blocks the light of the streetlights and the stars, towering over a hundred meters tall, and fifty meters wide. It was like a moving, living, small mountain.

It had two long tusks of ivory-white, with red glowing eyes shining behind the thick brown fur. Its long trunk was waving around, smashing anything that got in its way.

Yes... The one approaching the camp, a day earlier than scheduled, was the Gigantic Mammoth, a Red-rank monster!