Roughly thirty minutes after reaching a sort of reconciliation with Beck and his crew—and asking them to spread the word about the cesspool cleaning jobs—it was time for the operation to begin.
"Everyone in position? They’ll be here any second! Stay sharp!"
Prolia's command tightened the tension in the air as everyone braced themselves. I readied my bow and kept watch. Ten minutes later, the first goblins emerged from the shadows.
"Here they come! Three in the lead! More are following behind!" Beck shouted from his perch high in the trees.
A roar went up from the line. The goblins spotted us and charged blindly, lacking the intellect for anything resembling a nuanced strategy.
The first one didn’t even notice the trench and tumbled straight in. The second skidded to a halt at the edge, only to be yanked into the pit by an adventurer using a hooked pole. The third tried to leap across, fell short, and plunged after the others.
Their agonizing shrieks lasted only seconds before the Acid Slimes dissolved them into silence. More goblins followed in quick succession, all meeting the same gruesome end.
Occasionally, Goblin Archers and Goblin Mages appeared among the ranks. My Mana Perception made the mages easy to pick out, and their sluggish movements meant I could often put an arrow in them before they even finished a spell.
Every arrow we fired had been coated in toxin by the Poison Slimes. Even a grazing wound was enough to paralyze a target, ensuring that our archery and magic units remained entirely unscathed.
Things were going well, but the sheer volume of the enemy was troubling. We had already killed nearly five hundred—the supposed total population of the nest. Had something gone wrong with the main unit?
The Acid Slimes were struggling to keep up with the digestion, and goblin corpses were starting to pile up in the trench. It wasn't a crisis yet, but it was headed that way. Bewilderment began to spread through the ranks.
"Isn't this a bit much!?"
"There are way too many of them!"
"We’re going to run out of arrows!"
"Don't waste your shots!"
"Dammit... why are there so many? How much longer is this going to last!?"
Goblins were roughly the size of human children and individually weak, but they were smart enough to use weapons and possessed a terrifying breeding rate. If you underestimated them, they would swarm and devour you in an instant. They ate animal and human flesh indiscriminately; despite their human-like appearance, there was no common ground to be found with them.
Even a crude swing of a blade was dangerous, and no one below a certain skill level could handle a group of them alone. More than half of our hundred-man force consisted of F and G-rankers who could barely handle a one-on-one fight. They couldn't be placed on the front line of a melee.
The burden fell solely on the twenty-eight E-rank adventurers capable of close-quarters combat. Though they were better trained, they were still rookies. Many were already showing signs of exhaustion, rotating out just long enough to receive healing magic before rushing back into the fray. They were hitting their limit.
"Prolia-san, let me and my slimes take the front line," I proposed, moving toward the leader. "This is turning into a war of attrition. The vanguard needs to rest."
Prolia hesitated for a heartbeat. "The Guild Master said E-rank or higher... but yes, please. Just buy us as much time as you can."
"Understood."
"Vanguard! Ryoma and his slimes are moving up! Rotate out and get some rest!"
I called to the Sticky, Poison, and Scavenger Slimes waiting in the rear, sending them toward the flanks. I leaped from the high ground, cleared the trench in a single bound, and landed on the far side.
Maximum effort, I commanded mentally. Show them what you’ve learned.
The slimes jiggled with sudden enthusiasm, lashing out at the goblins with specialized tentacles.
The Sticky Slimes snatched up discarded clubs and swung them with surprising precision, tripping and bashing the goblins before pinning them down with adhesive fluid. The Poison Slimes salvaged crude spears, coating the tips in lethal toxins before thrusting them into the fray. The Scavenger Slimes slid underfoot to trip the monsters or lunged upward to smother their faces.
They lacked the raw power to kill instantly with a single strike, but they worked in teams, systematically finishing off the goblins using their unique traits. The Poison Slimes were particularly effective; their natural toxins were devastating weapons.
Seeing that they were holding their own, I drew the twin daggers at my waist.
A goblin lunged at me, and I slipped into its guard, driving a blade into its heart. I pulled the steel free and slit the carotid artery of a second individual as I moved past it.
"Gugih!?" "Gogah!"
One goblin came at me with its sword raised high in a clumsy, overextended stance. I sliced its wrist, kicked it to the ground, and left it for the slimes to finish. Another tried to sneak up from behind with a spear; I dodged, took its back, and drove a dagger into its medulla oblongata. It collapsed instantly, its connection to its body severed.
Goblins were physiologically similar to humans. They were more tenacious, but a strike to a vital point was just as lethal. As long as I hit the arteries or the brain stem, they went down.
I moved through the swarm with mechanical efficiency. Blood sprayed and screams echoed, but I tuned it out, focusing entirely on the next target.
The flow of goblins was constant, yet our defensive line held. With the pressure relieved, I had the slimes not engaged in combat begin salvaging unbroken arrows from the field.
Exhausted voices drifted from behind me as the vanguard finally caught their breath.
"What is with that kid? He’s a monster..."
"We're saved..."
"Rest while you can! We'll swap back in once we've recovered!"
"Are those really slimes? They’re using spears better than I do!"
"Everything about this is weird, but I'll take it. Wait, are they bringing us arrows?"
"Archery unit! The slimes are salvaging ammo! Get out of the way and let them through!"
I felt another pulse of mana. A Goblin Mage was preparing a spell. I sheathed my right-hand dagger, drew a throwing knife, and ended the threat before it could manifest.
We held the line like that, a wall of slimes and steel, until the rest of the adventurers were ready to fight again.