Chapter Nineteen: "You Are Stronger Than a Goblin"

When a group of goblins appeared ahead on the wilderness, looking somewhat like a “regular army,” Shaya’s previously carefree demeanor finally grew a little more serious. He kicked the pitiful goblin captive down to the ground, then dragged him up again, eyes alertly fixed on the road ahead.

Compared to the beggar goblins encountered earlier, these ones barring their way were far less ragged in appearance. There were about a dozen of them, all somewhat sturdier than the previous beggars—though only slightly so. Their skin was the same shade of green, but at least they wore some semblance of proper gear. Their dirty leather armor hadn’t been cleaned in who knows how long, stained with mud and suspicious red and white smears—but at least it could barely be called “armor.”

Moreover, each of them wielded weapons, although by human standards these were still crude and laughable: a few short spears with beast bones for shafts and sharp iron fragments for tips, some rusty, blunt knives that might have been dug up from some grave. The tallest goblin even carried a shield, though it was no larger than a human’s washbasin and consisted of a rotten plank covered with beast hide.

At least, these goblins were organized.

The pitiful captive immediately grew anxious. With this squad added to the vagrant rabble tailing behind them, the goblin numbers around them now exceeded seventy or eighty. If all these goblins rushed them at once...

But soon, something happened that astonished the pitiful one