Chapter 119: Goblin part 1

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Translator: Soafp

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After exactly one hour, Halva woke up. When I looked at Mom, she was sleeping with a happy face and drooling.

It was not good for Halva to see her face.

I immediately needed to wake Mother up. After shaking her 2-3 times, her eyelids slowly opened, and she gazed at me with a vacant expression.

Gradually, reason returned to her eyes.

“…Al, good morning. How long did I sleep?”

“Exactly one hour.”

“I see.”

Mother stood up, stretched widely, and turned around.

“Alright, let’s get going.”

Everyone nodded with determination in their eyes.

We moved in formation under the cliff. Halva led the way, with El, Mother, and I in the middle column from left to right. Ashera was in the rear, completing the Imperial Cross formation.

It was dinner time, but we didn’t take a break. While walking, each of us nibbled on dried meat. I had to make sure Halva drank enough water.

Once everyone finished their meal and began walking, Halva spoke up.

“I’m going to pick up the pace a bit. Let me know if it’s too much.”

Halva started moving at a brisk pace, almost a jog. I wouldn’t mind going faster, but it was probably out of consideration for Mother, a magic user.

After about an hour of brisk walking, we reached the top of the hill in the direction we were headed.

Looking towards Blue Ring, the sky was bright…

“It’s likely that a battle is happening…”

Halva’s voice echoed loudly.

From there, we increased our movement speed to Mother’s limit.

Normally, she was carefree and had no discernible grip, but now she was sweating like a waterfall and running desperately.

“Ashera, can you carry my mother?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Please. El and I can’t afford to waste magic…”

“Don’t worry. It’s natural for a disciple to carry the master… No, that’s not right. It’s natural for a wife to carry her… parents…”

“Y-Y-you at a time like this…”

Despite sweating, Mother gave us a sharp glare.

“You two lovebirds can’t stop, huh…”

Ashera and I had to reflect on ourselves. It would be foolish to flirt here and die. With Ashera carrying Mom, our party’s movement speed increased dramatically.

After about 30 minutes of running, we arrived at the top of a small hill and saw the surviving members of the expedition conducting a retreat.

However, something was off about the retreat, not like a normal one.

They were slowly withdrawing, but not attempting to escape from the goblins.

It seemed like a blatant delaying tactic. In this situation, help was unlikely to arrive, yet…

In Blue Ring City, there were knights, wizard families, friends, and loved ones. I wished for every second of their survival…

“El, let’s join forces with the expedition and fire a Condense Ray. Everyone, provide cover.”

“Yes, Nii-sama.”

“Leave it to me, Aldo.”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

To our right were the expedition members, and to the left were the goblins.

First, we aimed to join forces with the expedition.

From here, Ashera carried Mom, and El carried Halva on his back.

With Momon Ashera’s back, I led the way and used Space Kick to ascend into the night sky.

The distance was about 1000 meters, and the magic consumption was within expectations.

In the middle of the expedition, the exhausted Grano the Mage Commander was delivering a rousing speech.

“We have three days left! Hold on no matter what! Your families and loved ones will be saved! Aldo and Elphus will surely do something. We won’t die in vain!!”

Everyone looked as if they were about to die, but there was a great cheer.

Meanwhile, I arrived directly above Grano the Mage Commander and descended naturally.

As I suddenly fell from the sky, Grano the Mage Commander almost fell off his horse, and tension spread around.

“Nii-san, I’ve come to help.”

Mother’s voice sounded strangely clear amidst the sounds of battle.

“Rafi? Halva? Am I dreaming?”

“It’s not a dream. Get it together!”

“No, but… why?”

“‘Grano. Your magical talent may be average, but with your calm judgment, you can multiply the effectiveness of magic.’ That’s what our teacher always said. Pull yourself together, Nii-sama!”

At Rafina’s words, Grano’s eyes widened, and he looked around again.

“Is it really you, Rafi?”

“Yes, Nii-sama.”

Grano shook his head and slapped his own cheek hard.

“Rafi, from here, you can see that the goblins below are just part of the advance team. The main force is waiting behind them.”

“An advance team of this size…”

Grano nodded once with a sorrowful expression.

“Aldo-sama, may I request a maximum-level spell?”

“Understood. However, I can cast it, but it might be difficult for El, as he’s been carrying Halva.”

“If it’s that maximum-level spell, one shot should be enough.”

After a brief discussion, it was decided to use horizontal firing to take down as many goblins as possible.

“We want to take down as many as possible, so I’ll temporarily advance with our party and cast Condense Ray.”

“I see. So if we don’t advance, the firing angle will be limited…”

“Yes. If someone is next to me when I swing the ‘Sword of Light’ for two seconds, there’s a risk of getting caught in it.”

“But even temporarily, won’t Aldo-sama be vulnerable?”

“El will protect me. He’s an unsinkable ship!”

“An unsinkable ship? Is that so…”

“Yes, just watch.”

Our party’s formation had Halva and Ashera in the vanguard, with me and El, and Mom in the rear.

In the vanguard, Ashera was on the left, Halva on the right. In the rear, it was Mother on the left, me in the middle, and El on the right.

In this configuration, El was positioned to protect me while I cast Condense Ray.

“Let’s go.”

Everyone nodded at my words.

As our party advanced, the surrounding forces began to retreat gradually.

Without stopping to fight, the situation naturally led us to take a forward position.

As usual, Ashera was rampaging through the goblins with abnormal attack power. Beside her, Halva was steadily taking down enemies one by one.

Mom continuously used Wind Bullets, aiming at long-range weapon wielders like goblin archers and knights.

Looking around before murmuring to El,

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Nii-sama.”

El clung to me from behind, deploying his shield in front of me, on both sides, and behind with magical shields.

Of course, Reactive Armor was also primed.

“Everyone, retreat!”

I issued the order to retreat while concentrating my magic.

When the order to “retreat” was given, everyone had to retreat without fail. I couldn’t see much with El’s shield almost blocking my view.

I could be at risk of friendly fire if they didn’t retreat.

Just as Condense Ray was about to be ready, El’s Reactive Armor detonated in front and on both sides.

The power of the armor was supposed to be suppressed this time, because if the armor was too powerful, I would be blown away as well. But at the very least, it was powerful enough to disable Commander Shirea.

“El, release the shield!”

“Yes.”

El lowered his shield and dispelled the magical shields.

For some reason, just El, Ashera, and I were left stranded in the middle of the enemy. Thanks to Reactive Armor, there was a space around me where there were no enemies.

“Let’s go!”

First, a beam of light extended from the edge of the enemy group… Soon, the Sword of Light swung across the opposite edge.

After a moment of silence, there was a roar. El deployed his magical shield while Ashera used her air conditioning magic within the shield.

I received El’s magic and my consciousness faded away.

“Retreat now!”

At my words, El and Ashera grimaced but nodded.

The space around me seemed to be a hellish inferno due to the goblins being too close for the magical shield’s heat to dissipate.

Indeed, the eyeballs of nearby goblins exploded, and their bodies ignited in an instant.

As we quickly retreated, Mom used her wind magic to release the hot air into the sky.

Finally, when we looked back, flames were rising within the visible range, and the remains of what were likely goblins were scattered around.

The soldiers of the expeditionary army witnessed everything.

Among them, there were quite a few who thought the rumors of “Shuras” were lies fabricated to enhance the reputation of the lord’s son.

Some even mocked Grano’s shouting during the retreat, considering it mere bombast to boost morale.

However, at this moment… the Shuras were indeed real before their eyes.

The three Shuras, still showing traces of childishness, displayed terrifying combat prowess.

Especially the battle of the cute girl known as the “Bludgeoning Maiden” was shocking.

She wrapped herself in countless spells and plunged into the goblins, causing their numbers to rapidly decrease. Wherever the girl was, it seemed we were pushing back.

Then there were the other two Shuras. Disappointed that they were not as powerful as rumored, they seemed to huddle together behind a shield.

Just as I wondered what they were doing, Vice Captain Halva and the future lord’s wife began to retreat.

This was bad. Isolation. Just as I thought that, the shield disappeared.

Just as several knights, including myself, tensed to go to their aid, it happened.

It was a “beautiful light”… a pure white light swept from left to right among the goblins.

A few moments later, with a rumble, the goblins began to explode and disintegrate…

The scene from then on was truly hell.

Everything around was engulfed in flames, and even the surviving goblins burst into flames with their eyeballs exploding.

Despite fearing being swallowed by terror and flames, I desperately retreated to avoid being caught up in it.

How much time passed… it felt like both minutes and hours…

When I came to my senses, there was nothing but scorched earth as far as I could see, remnants of what were likely goblins, and the three “heroes” called the Shuras standing proudly.

After managing to annihilate the goblins, as I breathed a sigh of relief, several knights began to prostrate themselves before me.

They were performing a “prostration” – in other words, a deep bow… What was going on??

They knelt before us, pounding their heads into the ground…

I spoke, hiding my inner annoyance.

“Please stop. Thanks to you, we made it in time. We should be the ones showing gratitude.”

There was murmuring, but it seemed they had no intention of stopping the prostration.

“Thanks to the Shuras-sama, my family was saved… Thank you. Truly… thank you…”

I understood their feelings. I also understood that this person had no malice.

“Thank you so much… to you and to the knights and mages who lost their lives…”

That was all I could manage to say. I left the scene as if fleeing.

Ashera, El, Mother, and Halva followed behind me.

“Nii-sama… that attitude wasn’t very…”

“Yeah… I don’t think I handled that well either. But even if they ask, I can’t just…”

They must have understood my personality, as a resigned atmosphere settled in.

“Well, it’s okay. Let’s hear what Nii-san has to say first.”

At Mother’s words, everyone nodded and moved toward Grano the Mage commander.

The knights from earlier were still prostrating themselves, rubbing their heads against the ground.

I felt an indescribable sense of discomfort as I followed Mother.