“Looks like we’ve got one last trial to go through,” I murmured.
The exit to the Purgatory Forest was within sight. We’d parted with Aht less than an hour ago, and now we just had to get out of the trees...or so I’d thought, but things wouldn’t be so easy. Right in front of the exit, there was a gang of about ten goblins and orcs lying in wait, as if they were intentionally blocking our way out.
“Woof! (We can’t proceed unless we kill them!)” Mataza said with a battle-ready smile. No longer were the kobolds the fainthearted monsters at the bottom of the forest’s hierarchy. Aht’s training had given them not only basic strength, but confidence as well.
“Grrrr... (We can vanquish these ones by ourselves.)” Liber’s confidence was also promising.
I was still hesitant to go along with this suggestion. But when I glanced at Cath on my shoulder, she bopped my head with her paw and meowed. By this, she meant “How about you let them handle it?”
I pondered for a moment. As far as I could see, there were only goblins and orcs. Neither species was very strong, but they were holding weapons, meaning they were higher-ranked. The way they carried themselves was intimidating as well, so I couldn’t automatically assume they were weak. In fact, I could feel a decent amount of mana from them too. However...
“No, I should have faith and let them try.”
This was the conclusion I reached. I could fight them myself, but against these minor enemies, the kobolds wouldn’t have much chance to help out. I’d gained that much power getting trained by Aht. Even still, Aht had beaten it into me that there would always be someone stronger out there, but I could at least tell at a glance whether I would win against an enemy or not. And I could tell that these would make good practice opponents for the kobolds.
So I gave them my orders. “All right, guys! This time, Cath and I won’t help you! Try to defeat them all on your own! But victory isn’t enough! Every last one of you needs to come back alive too!”
The kobolds gave a rallying cry and moved out.
Mataza and Liber were at the vanguard, of course. With that said, they weren’t charging in recklessly. It was plain to see that they were following what Aht had taught them.
“Bworgh?!”
Mataza swung his spear at the most powerful-seeming orc among the bunch of ten monsters. The orc was pretty large, and the size difference between them was like a child and an adult. But Mataza demonstrated his skill by how he easily deflected the orc’s giant sword with his spear. After a few exchanges, the orc dropped its sword. Mataza didn’t miss his opportunity. He leaped up with his spear held sideways and cut off its head.
Meanwhile, Liber had gone after a goblin with a staff. In terms of raw mana capacity, this one was stronger. My suspicions that it was a mage were confirmed as Liber approached it. After reciting a short incantation, the goblin fired huge chunks of ice. However, Liber knocked all of them down with her sword. This wouldn’t have been necessary if they were fighting one-on-one, but there were friendly kobolds fighting other orcs and goblins behind Liber. She’d done this to make sure stray chunks didn’t hit them. This wouldn’t have been possible if she didn’t have a good grasp of her surroundings and energy to spare.
The goblin understood this as well. Sensing the gap between their abilities, it attempted to retreat. But Liber didn’t permit this. She quickly closed the distance between them and swung her sword. The goblin wouldn’t let itself be killed so easily, and made an earthen shield with magic. However, it wasn’t tough enough to repel Liber’s attack. Her slash pierced through and left a large gash in the goblin’s stomach. This made the goblin lose its concentration completely. Using magic usually required intense focus, but now that the goblin’s focus was broken, its fate was inevitable. Liber’s sword stabbed straight through the disoriented goblin’s chest and took its life.
The orc and goblin that Mataza and Liber had respectively killed were powerful monsters, and had apparently been the leaders of the gang. After they died, the group suddenly lost cohesion. Some of them panicked and tried to escape, but the other kobolds surrounded them and took them down one at a time. Within a few minutes, the gang of monsters lay annihilated in front of the kobolds.
“Your teamwork was perfect. Great job, everyone!”
When I congratulated them, all the kobolds wagged their tails and barked. Apparently they were expressing joy.
They’re monsters, but when they do this, they just seem like normal dogs. It’s honestly pretty cute. But if they can battle like this without needing me to give them specific instructions, we should be able to get by in town just fine.