Gi Ba could not run away from a human. His pride would not permit it.
As iron clashed with iron, a goblin and a human took ragged breaths.
It was a fierce battle between Gi Ba with his superior stamina and Belthazar with his superior skills.
Nobles classes originally weren’t that different with humans, but under the king’s rule where food was plentiful, the goblins grew without any nutritional deficiencies, leading the noble classes to become at least a head taller than the humans.
But that couldn’t be helped. After all, there were always inherent differences between races.
On top of that, Belthazar’s dealings with the underworld has left him negligent of his training. So long as a person’s mind was healthy, he would be able to find the will to push forward. Although Belthazar was ahead of Gi Ba in terms of skill, his lack of training was pulling him down.
Despite that, however, Belthazar was still a notch above common adventurers. As one who was once renowned as the Almighty Spear, a warrior with skills on par of that of Gulland’s, his spear was still beyond Gi Ba’s reach.
Gi Ba instinctually understood that while his stamina was greater than his foe’s, his skill was a notch below. Because of that he tried to move the location of the battlefield, hoping to make his opponent put his guard down.
He took some dirt and threw it at his opponent. He took some stones and threw them too. He took some branches as he entered the forest and fought with them. But try and try as he might, he could not stop Belthazar for even a moment. The enemy was steadily closing in on him.
Be it dirt or stone, a single spin from Belthazar’s spear was all it took to brush them aside.
And With none of his tricks working, despair gradually settled in Gi Ba’s heart. A despair called helplessness. Gi Ba was already burning out.
But the same was true for Belthazar. After all, he was but a human, and one who has not trained in recent times no less. Strong as he might have been once, fighting against goblins whose stamina far surpasses that of man is not something his body could so easily afford.
Already, the sun was inclined toward the west, and the surrounding area was growing dim.
“Realize it already, goblin. No matter how much you run, you can’t win against me,” Belthazar said.
When the word ‘run’ was mentioned, a great fire blazed within Gi Ba’s eyes.
“Run? …Me? Against some lowly human!?”
Blinded with rage, Gi Ba took his axe, turned around, and angrily rushed toward Belthazar.
I Win, Belthazar thought.
Their exchange lasted only for a moment.
Gi Ba rushed toward Belthazar, but Belthazar deflected his axe, leaving him with no weapon left but his fists. That turned out to be a bad idea, as Belthazar’s spear left him with a deep wound on his chest.
But who was Gi Ba? He was a goblin whose bravery was acknowledged even by the king himself. Wounded he may be, he did not halt for even a moment as he continued his charge toward the enemy. And jumping forth from Belthazar’s blind spot, he was able to send the human flying with the last of his strength.
Belthazar tumbled on the ground, groaning out in pain, but his wounds were not fatal. He was immediately able to pick himself back up and look around him.
There Gi Ba lay.
“…I won. With this I…”
As Belthazar was about to drag his aching body to where Gi Ba’s body was, the strange cry of a bird and the breaking of branches from up above resounded.
“What!?”
Belthazar immediately got out of the way as something huge descended from above. Not long after, something stood in front him.
“~~! Oww…”
It was Shumea, covered in wounds from the branches of the trees.
In fact, branches covered her whole body as she wielded her short spear. She was wounded all over.
For a moment – and only a moment – even a hard man like Belthazar could not help but be stupefied at the sight of a human falling from the sky.
Shumea used that moment to ensure that Gi Ba was still alive, then she turned to Belthazar.
“You must be an adventurer,” she said.
Belthazar was greatly troubled by the sudden appearance of a human spearman, but nevertheless, he kept his composure as he wielded his spear once more.
“Move! I don’t feel like killing a human today!”
Anyone who stood in his way was an enemy, Belthazar convinced himself that as he held his spear tight.
“Unfortunately, I can’t leave a monster who kills children alone either!” Shumea said as she spun her spear to brush the branches off her body, then she stepped forward.
As iron clashed with iron, Gi Ba finally regained consciousness.
“Urghh…”
Despite his greater healing prowess as a goblin, the deep wound on his chest was still severe. If he moved poorly, he could endanger his life.
In fact, Gi Ba was not so sure how he was still alive.
“Urghh…”
As the sound of iron clashing resounded once more, Gi Ba finally remembered what he had been doing.
Yes, he was fighting with a human adventurer, wasn’t he? As he thought that, he noticed from the corner of his eyes Shumea fighting Belthazar.
“Why…” Gi Ba groaned.
Shumea was covered in wounds and she was fighting Belthazar. In a sens, it could be said that she got hurt protecting him.
Could he let such a thing happen?
Could he really let the thing he hates so much protect him like this?
“…Never!”
Gi Ba stood up, ignoring the pain coursing throughout his whole body. He hated humans the most, so he could not possibly allow himself to be protected by one.
“GURUUOOAA!”
With a howl, Gi Ba forced his mind to ignore the pain, then he picked up his axe and ran for Belthazar.
At that, Belthazar clicked his tongue, and with no other choice, turned around and left the forest.
Blinded with rage, Gi Ba chased after him, ignoring Shumea’s pleas.
“Damn it, Gi Ba!” Shumea spat as she too was forced to give chase.
As she dragged her hurting body, she blew a whistle to signal the harpies flying up above. Naturally, her sudden descent from the sky was only possible because of their help.
After leaving the forest, Belthazar and Gi Ba resumed their battle.
Shumea butted into their fight and spoke to Gi Ba.
“Stop pushing yourself! Do you want to die!?” Shumea said.
“Shut up! Shut up! Don’t tell me what to do, human!” Gi Ba said back as Belthazar swung his spear.
With the blood having gone to his head, Gi Ba could not dodge Belthazar’s attack.
As Belthazar’s spear parried Gi Ba’s axe, the butt end of the spear slammed into Gi Ba.
“I told you this was a bad idea!” Shumea said as she jumped in front to cover for Gi Ba.
As Belthazar’s spear pierced Shumea’s shoulder, blood splattered into the air.
“…Die!”
Belthazar swung his spear once more after collecting his breath a little, but Shumea did not back off. Instead, she raised up her spear to block his attack.
Seeing her attempt such an unthinkable thing, against his common sense, Gi Ba cried out.
“Stop it!” Gi Ba cried.
“—GAH!?”
But the grim reaper’s fated scythe did not claim Shumea’s head. Instead, it claimed Belthazar’s.
For before anyone knew it, before Belthazar’s spear could even descend, another spear had appeared out of his chest.
Blood flowed out of his mouth, and with it, his strength.
With its last drops, Belthazar turned around, and there he saw a one-armed goblin riding atop a monster beast.
The last of his strength used up, Belthazar fell to the ground with his spear.
“Liza…”
The last word to leave his lips was the name of his most beloved daughter.
“Ms. Shumea!” Selena cried out as she ran to Shumea.
She had been moving with Gi Ga and his men searching the western region for the invading adventurers.
She took Selena into her embrace and – with tears in her eyes – healed her wounds.
She used the same spell on Gi Ba, a warm sensation filling his chest.
“I should thank you, Gi Ba Hagar,” Gi Ga Rax said as he got off his black tiger.
“…I.” Gi Ba did not say anything else and Gi Ga Rax eyed him with narrowed eyes, then he handed Shumea to Yoshu and his men who arrived last.
◆◇◆
Gi Ga Rax threw his spear and slayed Belthazar the Almighty Spear. At that, the trouble started by the invading human adventurers was drawn to a close. But with Gi Ba and Shumea heavily wounded, the fighting power of the western region has gone down just as Gulland had hoped.
Much to his chagrin, however, the goblins did not come to attack the fortress, and even the archer adventurer who returned was heavily wounded, dying as soon as he reached the fortress.
Try as Gulland might to petition the king to dispatch the troops, King Ashtal firmly refused him.
As such, war did not break out between the western region and the Germion Kingdom.
Immediately after the adventurer trouble was settled, Gi Za Zakuend arrived. When he heard that the problem had already been settled, he sent a messenger to the king and headed to the Forest of Darkness to pick up the fresh recruits.
Much of the details of this incident was spread throughout the western region by the gossip-loving harpies, which as a result began to stir an air of reconciliation between the human-hating goblins and the humans of the western region.
Result-wise, it could be said that this incident was favorable for the Goblin King’s southern expedition.
