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By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 16




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Chapter 2 Episode 16: Group Battle

After my reconciliation (or an unreasonable facsimile thereof) with Beck’s party and asking them to spread the news about the pit toilets, it was time for the plan to commence.

“Is everyone in position? The enemies may appear immediately! Be careful!”

Everyone was fired up at Ploria’s words, a tension hovering over the area.

I was also on high alert with my bow in hand, and ten minutes later the first goblin appeared.

“They’re here! Three from the front! More following behind!”

“Got it!”

Beck reported the discovery first from the top of the tree he had climbed, to which everyone around us responded. The goblins had noticed us too, but they charged at us in a straight line. They weren’t very smart creatures to begin with.

Out of the three goblins, one of them didn’t notice the pit and fell in on its own. The second one noticed and came to a stop, but the long scythe-wielding adventurers dragged it into the pit, while the third one tried to leap over it but couldn’t reach the other side.

The goblins screamed as their skin was melted by the acid, but their cries of suffering quietened in a few seconds. The following goblins continued to meet the same fate.

Occasionally a goblin archer or goblin mage would appear and remain at a distance, but those were taken care of by adventurers with bows and magic.

For the record, all the arrows we were using had been coated with poison from poison slimes. Since the enemies were put to an end even with a light injury, we were yet to suffer any damage through arrows and magic.

Archers were identifiable immediately by their bows, and goblin mages could be detected with the magic detection skill, and it wasn’t as though they were any good at using them either. They were so slow, there was plenty of time to detect their magic energy before firing an attack.

The conditions for us were far superior. But there were many more than we expected in numbers... There were no injuries yet, but I had never seen so many before. We’d soon surpass 500, the number that was predicted to be the nest total. Had something happened in the main fight?

The acid slimes were gradually falling behind in their consumption and goblin corpses were beginning to build up in the pit.

It wasn’t enough to panic yet, but at this rate... The adventurers around me had noticed too and reacted in confusion.

“Isn’t this strange?!”

“Indeed, there’s far more than there should be.”

“At this rate I’m going to run out of arrows!”

“I only have a few arrows left too!”

“You there! Don’t let your arrows go to waste!”

“Hah... Hah... Why are there so many goblins... How long will they keep coming for?!”

Goblins were weak and only as tall as a human child, but they had the intellect to use weapons. And most importantly, they could reproduce and multiply their numbers rapidly. If you underestimated them for being weak, you’d be swallowed up in no time at all.

They ate both human and animal meat. Though they had similar bodies to humans, there was no friendship to be had there.

Even if their skills were poor, having that many of them swing around bladed tools was dangerous and more than any person could handle alone. Based on our meeting earlier, there were over 100 people on our side too, but most of them were F and G rank. They could only barely take on a goblin one-on-one, at most. There was no way they would be allowed forward, where things could get messy.

Thus, only E rank adventurers could be at the front line, out of necessity. But we didn’t have enough in numbers. E rankers were still practically newbies themselves, having trained enough to have some form of ability.

Furthermore, not every E ranker was capable of close combat. There were those who used magic and bows, and others who specialized in healing magic. That’s why there were only 28 people in charge of close ranged combat. I could already see fatigue in them from holding the frontline until now. Several had been injured and treated with magic before returning to the battle. It was clear they would reach their limit at this rate.

Our plans could have covered a large number of running goblins, but there were just way more than expected. It was a small mercy that the goblins weren’t streaming out like an avalanche, making it somewhat manageable...

This was bad... The frontline was finally running low on steam.

“Ploria, could my slimes and I take over the frontlines for a bit? It looks like the battle will be a long one, so the frontline can rest in that time.”

“Ryoma... the guildmaster said you were above E but... All right, can I count on you? Buy us as much time as possible, without pushing yourself too hard.”

When I suggested the swap in positions to the commanding leader, she answered within seconds.

“Understood.”

“Frontliners on both sides! Ryoma and his slimes will be joining you! Swap over and rest as much as possible!”


I called over all the sticky slimes, poison slimes, and scavenger slimes that had been waiting at the back and sent them to the front lines on both sides. Then I jumped down from my high platform and leaped over the pit before giving my orders to the slimes.

“Show me the results of your training up until now against the goblins!”

At that moment, all the slimes started quivering in a display of enthusiasm. Each one extended a feeler towards the goblins.

One sticky slime picked up a stick discarded by a goblin and began handling it nimbly. As a group, they beat the goblins and sent them rolling, or otherwise used sticky solution to halt their movements.

A poison slime picked up a shabby spear used by the goblins and spat poison over the tip.

The scavenger slimes slipped under the feet of the goblins and tripped them up with their feelers. Or they would allow themselves to be stepped on before rolling their bodies out to trip them, then cover the faces of the fallen goblins.

Lacking in pure strength, they couldn’t punch the goblins to death, but fighting one-on-one they could hold their own. The slimes acted as a group, attacking the goblins in their own ways, putting an end to them.

Especially the poison slimes, whose secretions proved a powerful and especially effective weapon.

It looked like I could leave this to them.

Beside them, I drew my two daggers.

I was probably seen as a target. I closed the distance to an approaching goblin and stabbed it through the heart.

Withdrawing my dagger, I slashed the throat of another goblin passing.

“Gukeeh?!”

“Gowah!”

“Gweeh!!”

A goblin tried to raise its sword in a completely open stance, so I slashed the tendons in its wrists and kicked it down. The rest the slimes could handle.

“Geeeeh.”

I evaded the goblin’s spear coming from behind and circled around. When my dagger pierced its medulla oblongata, it collapsed like a puppet cut from its strings.

One of the traits of a goblin was how similar in shape it was to a human, but that applied to both their appearance and their organs. They were sturdier than humans, but they could be finished off in a single blow if their vitals were struck with accuracy, and rendered immobile by cutting their wrists and carotid arteries.

At the very least, the goblins I had fought until now died like that. Just like now. So it shouldn’t be a problem to deal with it as I have until now.

Every time I killed one, blood would spurt everywhere as the goblins screamed, but I ignored them all and single-mindedly continued to hack away at them.

However, they really kept on coming. Where were they hiding such numbers?

The goblins were still steadily coming, and combat power-wise we were starting to struggle. Since we had the advantage of numbers we had a little more leeway now, so I ordered the slimes that weren’t fighting to collect arrows.

“Hold on... hah... Isn’t that kid... way too strong? ...We were struggling... so much...”

“We’ve been saved...”

“It looks like we can leave it to that kid for now... We’ll rest up as much as we can while he buys us time! Then we’ll swap over!”

“Right!!!”

“Huh, are those really slimes?”

“Those slimes... they’re good at using spears. Even better than me...”

“They’re good... wait, why are slimes using weapons?!”

“So many weird things are happening, but at least we’re saved... Hmm? An arrow?”

“Oh?! Bow team! The slimes have gathered the arrows! Hey you, move it! Let the slimes pass!”

I could hear the voices of the frontline, so it seemed like they were resting properly. That aside, I guess it was rare for slimes to use weapons, huh... Or rather, were they really so carefree as to worry about that right now?

Just as I thought that, I felt more magical energy. Another goblin mage, huh?

I returned my right dagger to its sheath and took out throwing knives instead, finishing it off that way. The slimes and I continued doing that until the others had recovered their stamina.



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