Goblin Knight - Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Prayer on the Land of Departure (2)
Whoosh!
The moment Blanc swung his sword, the Goblin Chief, as if waiting for it, brought down his iron “mace” with a mighty blow.
Their paths overlapped perfectly, a collision inevitable.
However, the deafening metallic clang that everyone expected, the clash of a massive mace and a silver moon, did not occur.
Blanc, using the momentum of his sword swing, threw himself aside, avoiding the collision between the sword and the mace.
“Smart… are you? Or is it… experience?”
Chuckling leisurely, as if joking, the Goblin Chief slung his mace back over his shoulder.
The long sword, already at the end of its lifespan, was forcefully revived.
Even a well-made sword would have its blade shattered if it were to clash with that mace, so it was obvious what would have happened if Blanc’s sword had been hit.
‘Before, I didn’t know that a sword could shatter like that…!
A few months ago.
Suppressing the urge to run wild with grief over his mother’s death and the endless burning hatred, he remembered fleeing, carrying her lifeless body so that her remains would not be left here.
He recalled the Goblin Chief’s mocking laughter as he watched Blanc, battered and bruised, fight his way through the Goblin horde and reach the cave’s exit.
He was no match for them.
The old, rusty human weapons were no match for that mace.
As a mere child, still growing and barely more than a liquid, he could not overcome that monstrous strength.
His only option was to flee.
If there was one thing that the young Blanc, who spent his days immersed in the playground, indulging only in his desires, had over the Chief, it was his knowledge of the nearby forest’s terrain.
But now.
As an adult, his body was in balance, full of vitality, and he had spent thousands of hours recalling and ‘learning’ from every memory of that day.
The first thing he had to do was…
Blanc, picking up a rusty axe that lay on the ground, focused all his nerves on his shoulders, arms, and hands, unlike when he faced the Goblins.
Thick veins bulged under the firm muscles of his green skin, and the sensation of water flowing from a high place to a low place transmitted power from his shoulders to his fingertips.
When that flow reached the tip of the axe, Blanc finally unleashed the pent-up force.
CRASH!
The rusty axe, infused with Blanc’s newfound strength, collided with the Goblin Chief’s iron mace with a thunderous clang.
Unlike the previous clash, the impact sent shockwaves through the air, causing dust to rise and the ground to tremble.
The Goblin Chief, caught off guard by the unexpected force, staggered backward, his eyes wide with surprise.
Blanc, seizing the opportunity, pressed his advantage, his movements a blur of green and silver.
The Goblin Chief, despite his immense size and strength, was no match for Blanc’s agility and precision.
With each swing of the axe, Blanc chipped away at the Chief’s defenses, slowly but surely gaining the upper hand.
The Goblins, witnessing their leader’s struggle, let out cries of fear and began to retreat.
Blanc, ignoring their panic, focused solely on the Goblin Chief, his movements fueled by a mix of determination and vengeance.
The battle raged on, the air thick with the sounds of metal clashing and grunts of exertion.
Finally, with a mighty roar, Blanc swung his axe one last time.
The Goblin Chief, unable to withstand the blow, collapsed to the ground, his massive body lifeless.
Blanc stood over the fallen Chief, his chest heaving, his body drenched in sweat and blood.
He had avenged his mother’s death.
But as he looked at the carnage around him, he felt no satisfaction, only a profound sense of emptiness and loss.
The war was far from over.
There were countless other Goblins out there, and Blanc knew he couldn’t rest until they were all defeated.
With a heavy heart, he turned and walked away, leaving behind the scene of his victory.
He knew that the path ahead would be long and arduous, but he was determined to see it through.
He would avenge his mother, and he would protect the land from the Goblins’ evil.
Whoosh!
With the impact of striking the air with the whip’s end exploding in his fingertips, the axe transformed into a streak of light and rushed towards the Goblin Chief.
“……!”
As if remembering the powerless Blanc of the past, the Chief’s face, which had been shaking as if he was desperately avoiding the mace, hardened in an instant.
He realized that if he was hit, he would be “pierced.”
The Goblin Chief exerted his overwhelming physical strength to throw his body to the side.
He had enough strength to make the cave shake lightly just by rolling his feet on the floor. There was no way there wouldn’t be a backlash, but that axe was worth
Whizz! The circular saw blade, which cut down everything in front of it, grazed the Chief’s right arm and flew into the darkness of the cave.
“What is this,…”
With only a few months having passed, the Goblin Chief, bewildered by the excessive change, was surprised to see Blanc, who had quickly put his long sword back on his back and picked up two rusty daggers, jump at him.
It was a distance that was difficult to block with the mace. The Chief instinctively reached out his left hand to try to block the dagger.
At that moment, Blanc spun his body in the air.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!** Without even a chance to scream in pain from the dozens of bloodlines cutting his hand, Blanc used his hand as a stepping stone and jumped straight up towards the Chief’s face.
Instinct warned him. It was dangerous.
“You… insolent bastard!!!”
The Chief let out a lion’s roar of tremendous volume. The roar echoed through the cave. Blanc, who was hit head-on by it, was frozen with his face contorted in pain.
A good target.
“Get crushed, you fly!”
The iron mace swung towards the frozen Blanc. Bang! There was a dull sound of something bursting, was mixed with the remains of the mace.
“Hahahahahaha!! Nothing but a bug, right…?”
The Chief, convinced of victory at the sight of the familiar figure, immediately noticed something strange.
No matter how much of a Goblin he was, the weight on the end of the mace was too light. Why?
At the end of the stopped mace, the brown rags that Blanc had been wearing over his armor were fluttering.
A trick? But how──
“Your disgusting voice.”
An eerie voice came from behind him.
“How could you not remember?”
Pulling out the blood-soaked cloth from both ears, Blanc swung his long sword widely.
The silver moon took away the Goblin Chief’s right leg hamstring.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
The Goblin Chief screamed in excruciating pain that he hadn’t felt in a long time.
His instincts, which had only been warning him a while ago, were now screaming.
That Goblin was really dangerous, and he might die if he kept fighting him.
Even as his vision flickered painfully, the Goblin Chief thought he had felt this sensation before.
When was that, exactly?
In the midst of lethargically pursuing only desires day by day, his brain, which had dulled to the point of stickiness, began to emit sparks.
No matter how strong one may be, as long as they possess the instinct of a coward, the instinct that screams to survive, it was possible.
And the Goblin Chief found the answer.
“……!!”
Turning his head abruptly, he catches Blanc, who is about to swing his sword again, in his gaze.
The broken toy that the crazy goblin had been fixated on.
Yes, now that he thought about it, that crazy goblin seemed to have been born from it back when it wasn’t yet a broken toy.
It was long overdue, but now everything made sense. Why that monster was so fixated on the broken toy!
Did he pursue his selfish desires to the point of absurdity, you trash!
No, that’s not important now. It was a time when the broken toy wasn’t a toy yet.
She was strong. Incredibly strong. Even though the crazy goblin is pushing him as if he predicted all of his actions, she pushed him to the brink of death without such things.
How could he turn such a woman into a toy?
The answer was!!
“Wooooooo!!”
“Ugh…!?”
With a scream, the goblin chief got up and began to run somewhere.
Blanc hastily chased after him, but surprisingly, he couldn’t catch up with the Goblin Chief.
Because the tendons in his right leg were cut off, he couldn’t walk on both feet, so he ran with three legs, throwing away his club and running with both arms.
Whining like a bastard with one leg caught in a trap.
That’s all.
Because of that, he could defeat her.
Under the firm belief that he could also defeat her child, forgetting even the pain, he ran and reached his destination—
“Ha, hahaha! Hahahahaha!!”
The toy that was enjoying ‘play’ just a moment ago.
And to handle it a little more easily, the thick wooden board with limbs tied to it…
…For days like this, it was a ‘handle’ attached to be used as a shield.
The ‘uses’ of kidnapped women or defeated female troops vary.
They are breeding boards for goblins, tools of cruel play, ingredients for traps…
Hostages for threats.
“Now, block it, try blocking it once, you crazy goblin!”
Laughing manically, the Goblin Chief grabbed the ‘handle’ of the hostage shield and hoisted it up high, completely covering his body.
If he, the goblin who was fixated on the woman, the son of the woman, acted like the woman, he too hesitated and hesitated in front of this shield.
“If you block, this toy will shatter into pieces!!”
It will shatter and collapse, eventually leading to defeat—
The hostage shield tilted heavily in the Goblin Chief’s grasp, as if one of the wooden poles connecting the handle had been severed.
“Ah…?”
In disbelief, the Goblin Chief peered through the slanted shield with a dumbfounded expression, uttering a futile question.
When?
Belatedly, far too belatedly, the reflection of the rusty iron, mixed with the flickering torchlight, pierced his eyes.
It was the battle axe that had plunged into the cave wall, completely shattering it.
It was the one that Blanc had thrown with all his might just a moment ago.
The Goblin Chief was aghast. It made no sense.
Even with my stature, it would take at least 10 seconds to charge at full power.
How could he, from such a distance, aim for just one of the small handle poles, and cut it down with that rusty battleaxe?
That’s…
“That’s unfair.”
Swish!
Blanc, who had drawn his sword, pierced the Goblin Chief’s remaining eye through the gap in the shield.
“Ugh, ah, ahhh──”
But before he could express that pain as a scream, Blanc had also taken away the tendons in his left leg.
Kuoong!! The Goblin Chief’s massive body collapsed, and the hostage shield, once a weapon of despair, fell limply to the ground.
Nothing was left to protect him.
Despairing at the fact, yet believing that there must be some other way, he frantically scanned his surroundings with his remaining eye.
Blanc grabbed his hands and clasped them together on his kneeling knees.
He pierced them with a sharp metal skewer in one go.
White, red, black, red, hot. Unable to bear the excruciating pain any longer, he tightly shut his remaining eye.
No sound came from his exhausted vocal cords.
What’s next?
What kind of torture will this monstrous horror inflict next?
Even amidst the madness of fear, only one thought filled his mind.
The Goblin Chief’s Plea
“Anyone will do, please just spare my life!”
“I’ll be your eternal servant if you just get this crazed monster out of my sight. If you tell me to repent like that woman, I’ll repent, I’ll repent as many times as you want.
“Please, help me──”
For some reason, no new pain was inflicted.
The Goblin Chief slightly opened his remaining eye and stole a glance at Blanc.
Blanc was looking up at the ceiling of the cave.
As if waiting for something from there.
……But nothing happened.
With a sneer, Blanc lowered his head again.
He stared at the Goblin Chief with both eyes.
The sight of him kneeling, his hands clasped tightly on the cross, his mouth shut, his eyes closed, praying fervently.
“Is your prayer over?”
Instinctively, the Chief realized.
This was the last thing he would hear──
“It seems you have not been forgiven.”
Put your intention to caution into that sword.
Crack.
The Chief’s vision rolled to the side.
……With this.
His work on this earth was done.
Translation Notes:
- “mace” – mace refers to a heavy, club-like weapon with a spiked or flanged head. It’s used for crushing armor and delivering blunt force trauma.