Chapter 41 – Rise, Hero!

“Vo, garuou…” (I’m here again…)

For some reason, in the space holding the Silver Spiral Staircase, continuity of memory was preserved. Once someone stepped out of this space though, everything about it just faded away like a transient dream… Well, now that I was here, might as well climb the silver double helix staircase.

(Anyway, unlike Chief, I don’t know the troublesome things he does and I don’t care about such things…)

I am only going to conquer my own path, and cut down everyone that stands in my way!

Cut, slash, cut, slash, and in the end, I’m going to get slashed and kick the bucket.

(Hah, it’s easy to understand, isn’t it?)

While he thought of such disturbing things, Buster ascended the shining staircase one step at a time. Amidst the blessings that poured down, a silvery-white powder believed to be the remnant of the souls of the departed occasionally drifted down from the upper levels. As soon as it piles up on the lower levels, it becomes a new life.

Everything is made of the same thing here like in a bubble or a dream. Therefore, when I wake up, my memories will only pop and disappear…

……………

………

…

“Wafi? Voaruoon!!” (What? I’m bursting with power!!)

Name: Buster (Male)

Race: Kobold

Rank: Kobold Vanguard

Skill: Arm Strengthening (Large/ Effect is Instantaneous), Instinctive Evasion, Hard Blade (Depending on Fighting Spirit, Specializes in Slash Attacks)

Title: The Dog that Cuts the Vanguard

Weapon: Greatsword

Armament: Leather Armor

His remarkably well-developed muscular arms stayed as they were, but his overall build seemed more agile, while his long tail remained healthy-looking, proving that he had just reached a new level.

“Gauruoon, guruaao?” (How are you doing, Buster?)

“Waoooann.” (Not bad.)

The Kobold whose specialty was being a vanguard raised and lightly swung his Greatsword, scattering blood everywhere as he returned the weapon to its scabbard as if it was just another regular day, but… he was bleeding from the wounds on his shoulders and abdomen that were caused by the light blade.

“Wau, garuuoafu gururuuh.” (Hey, stop moving and keep still.)

Sticking her Goblin Spear into the ground, Lancer placed her hands over his shoulder and abdomen and cast the holy attribute magic “Healing Light”.

“Ruauu…” (Thanks…)

Watching as the warm light accelerated Buster’s metabolism and gradually closed his wounds until only a faint scar was left, Dagger tried to grab my attention with her absurdly fluffy tail…

“Kuon, kuon, kyuuh!” (Big brother, big brother, look at me!)

“… Wafu, kuoruau.” (… Wow, you turned fluffier.)

Wondering how I should react, I reached out and grabbed her fluffy wagging tail.

“Kyan!?” (Hyan!?)

As I amused myself for a while by playing with my sister’s tail as she made strange noises, I caught sight of the parent and child duo, Wallace and Liz, approaching me so I turned around and faced them.

“Mr. Silver Kobold, allow me to express my gratitude.”

“Thank you, Archer.”

I responded by lightly raising my hand, and as I sat down and wrote on the ground with my slate pen, the two bent down and followed the letters with their eyes.

“Wallace, what about pursuing them?”

“Hmm, well they did scatter and run away like spiderlings, so I think it would be futile if we chased after them now…”

“They’re going back to the same place, though. We can look for them there and purge them.”

“But we’re tired after what happened yesterday. And we also have to bring back whatever they took from the village without permission.”

Just as Liz said, I could see that the Werecat warriors gathered around seemed tired indeed. Even though we were victorious in the end, there were also a lot who were injured, and one of them had died due to the sorcerer goblin’s magic attack,

Of course, we could not just leave his corpse lying with all those Goblins, and about four people carried the corpse and prepared to take it back to Lucua village.

(… we are closer to Lucua village, so rather than forcing them to chase after the Goblins, I guess we should go back first.)

“Very well, let’s return to the village. But if we don’t eradicate these Goblins, these things will just happen again, you know?”

“I also understand that. On that note, there is indeed a possibility of them capturing female adventurers and the like, huh… So if we’re not careful, their numbers might grow again.”

“That’s right, this is our chance to destroy every last one of them!”

Liz, who clenched her fists, was fired up.

I guess her anger was also rooted in the fact that the G’s pushed her down…

“Well, there’s still the situation with everyone, so let’s go home first.”

Following Wallace’s instructions, they recovered the looted items and the Goblins’ weapons and equipment before heading home. At that time, the Holy Lance Kobold, also known as Lancer, fished around the Goblins’ equipment, but… apparently, there was nothing but Goblin Spears so she dejectedly gave up.

……………

………

…

A short while after the Werecat warriors left, the surviving Goblins reappeared at the place where the bodies of their fallen comrades laid. Out of all of them, the tall, skinny Goblin knelt on the ground and gently picked up his robed sorcerer friend’s corpse in his arms.

“… Guan, giia gierugiasu.” (…Lord Rock, we will avenge you.)

“Giido gia…” (Lord Sword…)

They offered a moment of silence for their fallen friends.

But in the middle of their meditation, a light sound of pouring sand was slightly heard.

“Giau?” (What’s happening?)

As the Goblins opened their eyes, their sight fell on the ground where Brave’s prone form was.

【Activated: ????? → Hero’s Resurrection】

【Effect: There is a low probability of resuscitation, but for each resurrection, the probability decreases each time until it reaches 0.】

※However, areas that are severed from the body will not be healed, and resurrection will not activate if the head is severed.

“GAAAAAAOOOOOOAAAA!!”

With a roar, the Goblin Brave rose!

“Gyaauh!?” (What!?)

“Gigiugiah!?” (Lord Brave!?)

“Gi, giigii, gireuedosu, gigiuh!!” (Hahaha, he’s alive!! Brave is alive!!)

Sword, who was the first to react, rushed over and propped himself up as he nearly tripped and fell again.

“Gireu, garugiah!” (I will never forgive those dogs!)

“Giuh!!” (Yeah!!)

“Garesu, garesugiuh! Guuarudesu!!” (Power, we need more power! More than we have now!!)

With the help of Sword, the Goblin Hero burned with hatred as they walked back to the east of the forest. What he had to do with the current situation was to gather his remaining people and lie low for a while. As a rule of thumb, Brave knew that lairs and settlements were always attacked after suffering a major defeat.

He looked at his silent companions lying cold on the forest floor. Vowing to take revenge, they abandoned their base and moved away from the land…