CH 11

The weird bird in the sky. And goblins on land, they're all around us.

Not to mention the big Hob Goblin in the back. In fact that's the main actor.

The goblins didn't immediately attack us, they made a circle around me and Alma to cut off our retreat path.

Must be the Hob Goblin's order. That thing can give commands despite looking so dull huh.

Well, this actually works in our favor though.

"Hikaru, I'll stay here and lure the magic beasts away, you go back to the town and ask for help."

"Denied. Even if I went with that, and these goblins let me go, that bird's just gonna kill me dead. Of course the end result would be the same if I were the decoy."

"Uu..."

Her self-sacrificing mind set is respectable, but honestly, it's not gonna do anything in this situation.

Even if I somehow managed to get to the guild and get help, there's a high chance Alma dying in the meantime.

There's no acceptable plans except one where both of us survive. I don't wanna die either.

Eh? I should have said I'd at least keep Alma safe? Uh, yeah, well, I mean dying is still scary...

"This must be, my punishment..."

Alma muttered dead serious.

You're not gonna be able to overcome this with that mind set you know?

"Naw, not at all. Heck, I think this is our rewards even."

"...Eh?"

"The higher level these monsters, the more exp we get no? God must be telling you to beat the crap outta this bunch, level up and Job Change pronto."

I tried to make a joke to loosen the tension.

Well, I'm half serious thought. God part aside.

"But, then how..."

"We're not gonna win taking them on head-on. 'Head-on' that is. Lend me your ears for a bit."

"Eh? U-un."

I briefly explained her my plan. Though uh, it's not that grand.

If it fails, we're just gonna die. Gotta steel my resolve.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's gonna go over nicely. Ah, but no hard feelings if it fails ok?"

"It's okay. I'm sure it's gonna go well. I'm not gonna blame you even if it fails."

We proceeded with our plan while praying this won't be our last conversation in this world.

"Alrighty, let's do this!"

After which I threw the sword in my hand at the flying weird bird. Pooi.

Of course it's never gonna reach it, the weird bird is laughing like it's making fun of me.

I can tell all the goblins are laughing at me too.

After confirming their lines of sight were all concentrated on me, I threw a pouch filled with a certain something I had overhead and set it on fire.

Shubo

KAA!!

The pouch burst open before emitting an intense ray of light everywhere.

The goblins, the big gob and the weird bird all took that light head-on, blinding them.

Their States all uniformly show 'Temporary Blindness'.

I just set off a powdered form of a horn that releases an intensely bright light when ignited, bought from the mat shop near the guild I mentioned before.

【Horn of Spark Wolf】

<<A horn chiefly made of magnesium. By filling it with mana and set it on fire, it will release a light more dazzling than magnesium could.>>

The intensity is such that even igniting an earpick worth of it emits a light so intense shutting your eyes still let it through.

...I seriously thought I was gonna go blind when I lit it up in a test run. I went 'My eyes, my eyes~!' like that character in a famous work.

The goblin gang descended into chaos.

ZASHAAAAAA!

『Kiiyii!? Kyugiiiyiiii!!!』