"What the hell?!!" Kazuma was about to make a scene trying to pull Aqua's cheeks, but Inox stopped him with a glare.
"Monsters like goblins, even elite ones, shouldn't have enough intelligence to speak," the prince thought, looking at the elite goblin atop the mammoth. Sensing several other elite goblins hiding in the foliage, he couldn't put his confusion into words.
"Let's finish them off first," Dust whispered, patting Darkness's back—an agreed-upon signal to attack.
The paladin's eyes filled with their familiar gleam as she cracked a genuine smile. "That Mammoth is so big and thick, it must be really heavy, hehehe." An image of the Mammoth falling on top of her and crushing her flashed through her mind.
"Gaahhh!!!" the girl yelled, charging forward with her sword without a second thought.
"Idiots!!!" the goblin on top of the woolly mammoth yelled right before the beast reared up on its front legs, ready to crush Darkness with its massive weight.
"Attack!!!" The cry from the goblin riding the mammoth quickly caused more goblins to reveal themselves, completely surrounding the group. The ones in the front carried swords and shields, while the ones in the back had longbows aimed right at the humans.
Swoosh
The first volley of arrows was fired by the goblin archers. Inox's eyes shot wide open; the whistling volley and the sharp tips gleaming in the sunlight made his senses sharpen.
He shifted his body slightly to the right. The Japanese boy's sweaty back was pressing against his, and Aqua's sweat-free back brushed against his ribs; their triangle formation had broken a long time ago.
Then, his lips trembled. His body hunched rigidly, and he stopped breathing, focusing entirely on the incoming arrows. "Is the shield... is my shield capable of stopping that?"
His left hand gripped the shield tightly. He tried to force himself to lift it, yet that small, round wooden shield, chosen specifically for its versatility, felt immovable.
The arrows continued their advance. To Inox, and to his overwhelmed mind, they formed the face of the man disguised as Dust, looking down at him with a Machiavellian smile.
"I... can... do this," he thought. He swallowed hard, remembering his training under the dragon knight and his clashes with demons on the border of the Belzerg kingdom, and yet... he didn't move.
He thought for a moment that he should just move his shield with ease; it was light, it was made of wood, perfect for a rookie. But he didn't do it.
Images of him fighting demons long ago, back when he traveled with a caravan to annihilate them, rushed into his mind.
He blinked, the weight of it all sinking deep inside him. And in the stillness of his thoughts, an answer came to him.
"In those moments, the dragon knight was always there to protect me. Now, there is no dragon knight watching over me."
"What the fuck are you guys doing?!!" Dust noticed the panic. Kazuma was barely moving the shield behind his face trying to protect himself, and Aqua was hiding, covering her face. Dust jumped back with incredible speed, his spear moving like a snake.
That snake flashed with a white light, dancing around and slicing every single arrow in half.
Rumble
The ground shook as the woolly mammoth stomped heavily toward Darkness. However, the woman stopped one of the giant's front legs with both hands raised, her smile never wavering.
"Hmph..." Dust didn't think twice. Putting all his strength into his legs, he dashed forward with blinding speed.
"Gyaaa!!! Warriors, attack!!!" The sword-and-shield goblins charged in a legionary formation, with their shields up front and their swords jutting out like spikes.
The dragon knight's spear moved with dexterity, leaving white trails in its wake. With a swift motion, the tip sliced through the shields and bodies of more than five goblins.
Dust didn't stop there. With a leap, he retreated from a new volley of arrows while striking down several others aimed at Kazuma, Inox, and Aqua.
"Watch out for my spear!!!" he yelled as he swung his weapon, killing two more goblins.
The dragon knight's body moved with an agility Inox had never seen before. His spear looked like a beacon shining even on a sunny day, and the smile on his face never wavered, even as the blood of the goblins stained his face.
Inox blinked, regaining control of his body. He watched every afterimage of Dust, every single one of his movements, attacks, and smiles.
He gripped his sword tightly, still hunched over, still hesitant. But a nearly divine resolve grew within him and took hold.
"Hahahaha!!! Who's got this arrow now?!!!" Dust laughed as he caught an arrow mid-air with his bare hands before hurling it back at a goblin.
"You have it..." Inox answered in a low voice. The old desire in his heart emerged with force. Even though there was no hate, no person he wanted to eliminate, and no revenge to fulfill, even in his current state, there was still a naive desire.
"To cultivate plants in peace, to be a divine farmer," he told himself, pursing his lips tightly.
With one hand holding the shield and the other holding the sword, his heart racing, he took a step forward, then another. Before he could even think about it, he charged forward with an unconscious smile.
"Hahaha!" he charged right at a sword-and-shield goblin.
"Ah, kill!!" the elite goblin screamed, swinging its sword with intense force. Inox's body remembered the little training he had undergone as he swung his own blade.
Clang
Both swords clashed, the sound of metal ringing out, but the force with which the prince swung his sword made the goblin stumble back several steps.
Seeing their comrade fall back, the other elite goblins beside him charged forward.
Five swords slashed at him from different directions. His left hand exerted superhuman strength, using his shield to sweep away the incoming blades.
The sheer force of this movement shattered his shield into tiny wooden splinters.
"Gyaa!!! Gyaaa!!!" The five Elite goblins stumbled back, some losing their grip on their swords from the heavy impact.
A sword lunged forward swiftly, flashing with a white gleam.
SlashSlash The first goblin took almost the full force of the impact. With a "Gyaa!!!", it fell to the ground. The other goblin tried to move but was also struck down.
Right at that moment, a new volley of arrows was fired in his direction. Unlike before, when Dust was nearby to strike them down, Inox had moved slightly away from Aqua and Kazuma, resulting in several arrows piercing his back.
"Tsk!!" He almost fell forward from the momentum of the attack. Planting one foot ahead, he steadied his body while raising his sword to block another elite goblin's blade.
Inox didn't stop. He swung his sword over and over, taking a few minor cuts while slashing through his enemies. He didn't pull the arrows out of his back; instead, almost like a human hedgehog, he attacked coldly.
"Mahh!!!" The mammoth let out a massive grunt when Darkness finally pushed forward, toppling it so it began to fall backward, completely crushing the goblin riding on top of it.
A few moments later, the battle ended. Aqua recovered and cast a healing spell on Inox, who was the only one injured in the fight. They gathered in the center, looking over the absolute mess.
They decided to talk about what happened later and quickly cut off the elite goblins' earlobes as proof of their quest. They brought out thick ropes so Darkness could drag the mammoth, after all, a mammoth that size had a lot of meat and would sell at the guild for at least 50,000 Eris.