After carefully observing the goblin and confirming its only weapon was a sword, the group quickly devised a simple plan.
"Let's go!" As Manato's voice fell, the five swiftly acted. First, Haruhiro, the Thief, cautiously approached the goblin fetching water. Confirming the goblin hadn't noticed, he carefully drew his weapon.
'We should have decided on a signal beforehand...' Haruhiro glanced around… focusing on stealth had left him unaware of his teammates' positions.
Suddenly, Ranta nearby shouted loudly, then charged at the goblin, wildly swinging his longsword.
'Stupid Ranta, shouting during a sneak attack!' Seeing Ranta's reckless move, Haruhiro couldn't hesitate anymore and also charged, attempting to surround the goblin...
The goblin, noticing multiple enemies, saw the situation turning bad and prepared to flee.
At the critical moment, Yume, the Hunter, quickly emerged from the grass and shot an arrow at the goblin. Though it missed, it made the goblin hesitant to flee recklessly.
"Nice one, Yume!" Seeing this, Haruhiro called out.
Then Haruhiro noticed Ranta seemed to be battling air, staring intently at the grass ahead, which made him frown...
A momentary lapse, and Haruhiro tripped over an exposed tree root, losing his balance.
By the time he regained his footing, he was in a face-off with the goblin...
Watching this, Takeru frowned deeply. Their performance was too poor. No wonder this seemingly decent five-person team hadn't killed a single goblin these days. Considering their lack of casualties so far was probably just luck...
Seeing an enemy appear, the goblin directly swung its short sword at Haruhiro.
Though scared, Haruhiro quickly entered combat mode, nimbly sidestepping and crouching into a roll, dodging the goblin's two attacks.
Then Haruhiro counterattacked. Getting up, he thrust forward at the goblin. However, his attack was amateurish, easily dodged by the goblin...
But Haruhiro reacted quickly. Seeing he missed, he swiftly retreated, dodging the goblin's swing.
As the goblin slashed down again, Haruhiro blocked the short sword with his dagger...
After a brief stalemate, Haruhiro attacked again, swiftly slashing the goblin's hand.
Though inflicting some damage, it wasn't significant. The goblin didn't hesitate, slashing at Haruhiro again, but Haruhiro reacted and quickly moved out of range.
By then, Ranta finally reached the combat area and also attacked the goblin.
"Hateful Crimson!" Ranta shouted, swinging his longsword heavily at the goblin.
However, hearing Ranta's shout, the goblin was already alert. It dodged, then kicked hard at the opening Ranta exposed from his full-power swing, knocking him down...
As the goblin prepared to finish Ranta, Manato rushed in front of him with his Priest staff, striking the goblin away.
"Mogzo, take the front! Let's surround it together!" At that moment, Manato called out to the still-dazed big guy, Mogzo.
Only then did Mogzo, belatedly realizing, approach the goblin with his greatsword!
"Ah!" Mogzo swung his greatsword at the goblin. Unfortunately, compared to the agile goblin, Mogzo's straightforward thrust was easily dodged with slight side-to-side movement.
"Mogzo, put some pressure on it, pressure, pressure!" While Mogzo and the goblin fought, the others dumbly stood and watched. Ranta kept raising his longsword and shouting.
Seeing this, Takeru's frown deepened.
Soon, after dodging Mogzo's several thrusts, the goblin jumped up and kicked Mogzo. However, upon landing, it landed right before Ranta.
Seizing the chance, Ranta stabbed it hard with his sword.
But it only penetrated a little before stopping completely. Then, Ranta's hands involuntarily trembled, as the sensation of piercing flesh felt extremely uncomfortable.
"Ahhh!" The goblin screamed loudly.
"So... so scary!" Seeing the unwilling goblin, Haruhiro was also startled.
However, after a moment's silence, he quickly resolved himself. This world was like this: the strong survived, the weak perished.
"Don't be scared, you guys! Damn it, I'll kill this thing and earn a pile of wais!" Noticing everyone was startled, Ranta reacted angrily, shouting and charging at the goblin again.
Seeing this, Takeru's opinion of Ranta slightly improved. Though reckless, he at least had some courage.
Hearing Ranta, everyone stopped staring blankly and quickly surrounded the goblin.
But the cornered goblin exploded with an extremely terrifying will to live, fighting fiercely against Ranta, Haruhiro, and Mogzo's encirclement...