One round after another, spheres filled with poisonous mist were steadily hurled down upon the chaotic crowd of Goblins beneath the ground.
Of course, the Goblins were not so foolish as to simply linger in one place waiting to be slaughtered.
After the initial confusion, they began breaking into groups, scattering in every direction.
Naturally, with such enormous numbers, preventing them all from escaping was nearly impossible.
Nearly, but not entirely, for there are always individuals whose abilities surpass common limits.
A specific example was Rose, the mysterious girl from the White Church.
If she were to make use of her "Domain," she could confine the entire Goblin horde in one place and slowly massacre them.
Unfortunately, the hunter hidden in the shadows did not possess such a power, or at least, not yet.
Therefore, all he could do at this moment was continue aiming at the places where the Goblins were most numerous, striving to kill as many as possible.
One thing to note is that among the herd of Magical Beasts being slaughtered, the Goblins and their few mounts were not the only ones present.
In fact, there was also a small group of their victims, villagers and townsfolk who had been captured and imprisoned by the Goblins.
After enduring a long time in a hell of torment, both physical and mental, these people had already lost their sanity.
The poisonous mist spreading everywhere, of course, made no distinction between beings, whether human or Magical Beast.
It simply attacked any living creature that came into contact with it.
Those unfortunate captives, upon breathing in the deadly mist, met the same fate as the Goblins screaming around them: only death awaited.
If anything, there was a slight difference.
From the start, their bodies were no stronger than those of the Goblins, and after prolonged torture and countless wounds, they were even less able to resist the poison.
As a result, death came to them more swiftly, rather than dragging on as it did for the Goblins. In a way, this became a great release for those unfortunate souls.
And at the threshold of death, many seemed to regain the sanity they had thought forever lost.
Watching the Goblins howl in despair, they smiled with grim delight before letting out their final breaths.
Witnessing everything unfolding in the distance, the hunter in the shadows did not hesitate in the slightest.
He continued to hurl one poisonous sphere after another, repeating the motion like a machine programmed to do so.
At last, he only stopped once every prepared sphere had been completely used up.
Having finished throwing all the poison bombs, the hunter did not retreat.
Instead, he drew his weapons. Thus he walked on through the darkness, heading toward the place where the Goblins had fled together in greatest numbers.
. . .
* * * * * * * * * *
"Goblin attack! Goblin attack!"
The alarm echoed throughout the camp, rousing all the soldiers and adventurers in the area.
In fact, dawn was already breaking; it was nearly time for everyone to wake up anyway.
Thus, those suddenly awakened found it strange that the Goblins would choose to launch a surprise attack at this hour.
Guildmaster John: "How many enemies are coming?"
Roused from sleep, John hurried to the front lines to check the situation.
The place they were stationed was one of the defensive lines being hastily built to block the Goblin army, with John as the commander.
In truth, most of the manpower here consisted of adventurers.
Since their numbers were only a few hundred, if the enemy force was overwhelming, John would have no choice but to consider abandoning this line of defense.
John thought to himself: 'By calculation, with such numbers, they shouldn't be able to move here so quickly. Nor could they get this close without us noticing. At most, it can only be a small detachment that rushed ahead. Could it be a few thousand?'
The scout and messenger then reported back:
"It seems to be fewer than a hundred."
John: "How many?"
Thinking the number too small, he suspected he had misheard.
The messenger hesitated, then gave a more precise figure:
"It looks like only about seventy or eighty Goblins are heading toward our camp."
John: "…"
After a brief silence, John asked again:
"Are they all high-ranking Goblins?"
Scout: "No. According to the reconnaissance, they are mostly ordinary Goblins. Only three or four are Elite Goblins or Goblin Mages."
'This counts as an attack?'
John wondered, confused about what the Goblins intended.
With such a small number, he alone could wipe them out, let alone with the adventurers and the half-built defenses.
John and the adventurers gathered and waited.
Soon, the Goblins the scouts had warned of appeared before them.
With his sharp eyes, John saw that the Goblins were in poor condition, as if they had run a long distance without rest.
The Goblins, upon seeing the humans, looked stunned. It seemed they had not expected a crowd waiting for them here.
Instead of foolishly charging, they immediately tried to change direction.
Naturally, John and the adventurers would never allow the Goblins to escape so easily.
Outnumbered and outmatched, the unlucky Goblins were quickly overtaken and slaughtered.
"What were these Goblins even trying to do? Attack another village?"
One of John's aides spoke in confusion.
John stroked his chin and replied:
"It looks more like they were fleeing."
Aide: "Fleeing?"
John: "Send scouts to approach the Goblin King's location as closely as possible. Check if anything unusual is happening."
Aide: "Understood, sir."