The Two Leaders

The barghest’s movements stopped, and it stared at the group of people who had jumped out and then at the goblin child. Perhaps it was afraid that its prey had led it into a trap.

“Hey hey, come on boy,” Unlai said, pointing to himself with his thumb. “Want to play? I’ll play with you. Come on.”

The barghest growled, full of menace.

In a natural, flowing motion, Kaijali drew the machete at his waist. The other goblins followed suit.

“No need to think so much. I’ll teach an old dog like you new tricks. How about we start with ‘play dead’?”

“Ashaaaa!”

As a response to the goblins’ taunts, the barghest squeezed the goblin child it was stepping on, and he let out an angry growl.

Although it couldn’t speak, its actions made its intentions clear. Make a move and I kill the brat.

However―

“Very good! Go ahead and kill him!”

The three goblins ignored the barghest’s taunt, and stepped in with growls of their own.

This unexpected response brought confusion to the eyes of the barghest.

The barghest could not have known that the goblins had not shown up with the intention of saving the goblin child. They were only here because of Enri’s wish, and their attitude was “as long as we tried to save him, it’s good enough”.

Since they had shown themselves for a confrontation, if they didn’t kill the barghest their precious Enri might get hurt. Because of that, they needed to finish off the barghest for good. So if the goblin child was murdered, if that wasted their opponent’s first action and let them seize the initiative, then the goblins would gladly let the kid die.

Seeing itself reflected in the blades of three machetes, the barghest understood that it could not use its hostage against them and stopped moving. It was confused as to whether or not it should kill the boy it was pinning down.

Taking his life would be easy. It would be gone in one bite. However, if it did that, there was no question that it would be hacked to pieces by its enemies’ weapons.

The threat to its life led the barghest to its decision.

Ignoring the goblin child, the barghest leapt at the goblins to meet their attack.

A barghest was heavier than a goblin. The barghest was hoping to pin its foes under itself and finish them off by ripping their throats out with its fangs.

However, this was a poor choice.

The targeted goblin easily twisted out of the way of the attempted attack, and at the same time the other two goblins on the left and right slashed at the barghest with their machetes.

One blade was deflected by the barghest’s chains, but the other ripped into its body, sending blood everywhere.

At the same time, a small hurled vial shattered after hitting the tip of the barghest’s nose.

“Shaaaaa!”

The vile miasma which now clogged its eyes and nose drew an agonized howl from the barghest.

And at that moment, three more jolts of pain ran through its body.

It could sense that it was in trouble from the outflow of blood alone. The barghest wept, its vision shaky and blurred, and made its move. Its target was the one who had thrown the vial ― a human.

However, the barghest had only taken a few steps when its feet stuck onto something below and could not move.

Looking down, it saw that the ground was covered a bizarre glue-like liquid. The bizarre liquid was not absorbed by the earth.

“The glue won’t hold it for long! Take it down in one blow!”

In response to the human’s voice, the goblins shouted their battlecries and charged. In addition, the human released a powerful spell from its direction.

“SHAAAAAAAA!!!”

The barghest had used all its strength to try and pull its feet from the ground. Although its movements were slowed because its feet were still coated with adhesive and dirt, it was still able to fight.

Watching the goblins close in for the kill again, the barghest used its superior intellect (compared to a regular beast) to accept the fact that “these goblins were mighty foes”.

It acknowledged that these were different from regular goblins in one crucial way ― they were enemies who could kill it.

This barghest knew three methods of attack. Goring, piercing its foe with its horns. Biting, knocking its foe down and raking it with its claws. Unlike stronger barghests, it did not have any special abilities. But in truth, it had an ace in the hole.

This tactic would completely abandon defense, and if the barghest failed, it would be doomed. But now wasn’t the time to worry about holding back. It had to make full use of what could be the last few seconds of its life.

The barghest howled wildly, checking the advance of the enveloping goblins.

“「Reinforce Armor」!”

The spell from behind, cast by the human, made the goblins’ armor glow brightly. The barghest panicked, predicting that it was some sort of enhancement spell, but the goblins in front of it simply grinned.