The battle broke out fast.
At the front of the formation, Laevin raised his shield and let out a powerful shout, charging toward the goblin formation.
Despite his bulky frame, he was surprisingly fast—white air trails even streamed off the edges of his oak shield.
He looked like a fully revved freight truck as he barreled straight into the goblins.
Behind and to the sides of him, Doyle, Gauss, and Daphne all followed closely.
Boom!
Laevin's full-speed charge collided with the goblins holding wooden shields at the front. In an instant—
Bang!
The impact was like a volcanic eruption—
Laevin swung his shield with such force that five goblins were smashed off their feet, sent flying through the air.
Gauss followed right behind him, eyes gleaming in awe.
Laevin's shield charge in real combat was way more effective than in training—probably because hitting real enemies gave him much more explosive momentum.
The five goblins hit the ground hard, crying out in pain and rolling over several times. Their wooden clubs and shields flew from their hands.
One goblin tried to scramble for its fallen weapon.
Before it could reach it, Doyle lunged in and brought his greatsword crashing down.
Whoosh!
A flash of steel—
Then a gruesome gash slashed diagonally from the goblin's left shoulder all the way through its body.
The wound was so massive that the goblin instantly lost all strength.
It crumpled backward and didn't move again.
"Damn, that was fast."
Gauss suddenly felt a bit of pressure.
The wooden shield goblins had been scattered by Laevin's charge and were now severely weakened.
While Gauss was physically strong, he wasn't nearly as explosive as Doyle.
So by the time he caught up, Doyle had already slain one.
Still, he wasn't too late.
Right in front of him, a goblin had its back turned and was struggling to pick up its shield and club.
Gauss didn't hesitate.
He threw his full weight behind his arm and wrist—the rapier pierced straight into the goblin's back like it was butter, sliding cleanly through its flesh, organs, and belly.
Like a skewer piercing a candied apple.
"WAAAGH!!"
The goblin, halfway to standing, screamed in agony.
Gauss gave the sword a vicious twist, then yanked it free.
Thick greenish blood mixed with brown sludge oozed out in a disgusting stream.
[Goblin Slain ×1]
[Total Monster Kills: 19]
Another one down!
It felt great nabbing these easy kills.
Unfortunately, before he could move on to the next—
A goblin wielding a stone-tipped spear had flanked around Laevin and was now charging straight at Gauss!
The roughly-hewn spear whistled through the air toward him.
But Gauss didn't panic—his mind went into overdrive, and the world slowed down.
He wasn't the same rookie who once sneak-attacked a goblin to score his first kill.
Now, he was calm and composed.
He sidestepped with a quick pivot, narrowly dodging the thrust.
Then, as the goblin stumbled slightly from its missed attack, Gauss struck.
He used Mage Hand to give the goblin a little tug—normally the spell wasn't that effective against living targets, but this goblin was already off balance, making it the perfect opportunity.
The goblin stumbled forward, completely exposed.
"Squelch!"
Gauss drove his rapier into its abdomen, twisted, and yanked it out smoothly—flawless execution.
[Goblin Slain ×1]
[Total Monster Kills: 20]
His eyes scanned the battlefield—
Just in time to see Doyle knock another goblin airborne—straight toward Gauss.
"I got it!"
Gauss sprinted to intercept the tumbling goblin,
plunging his sword into its chest before it could recover.
Twist. Pull. Done.
[Goblin Slain ×1]
[Total Monster Kills: 21]
Doyle blinked in surprise.
"Thanks."
Though something felt... off.
Still, if Gauss was helping, he might as well move on to the next target.
...
In less than ten minutes, the battle was over.
Gauss took a deep breath as he surveyed the carnage of green-skinned corpses.
That was... easier than expected.
Easier than he thought possible, really.
Maybe this was the power of teamwork?
Besides the goblins he "helped" Doyle with, Gauss had also picked off a goblin archer using Magic Missile.
All in all, he scored five kills this round.
[Total Monster Kills: 23.]
Almost halfway to his goal of fifty.
Thinking back, the only real danger he faced was that final goblin archer, whose arrow had whizzed past his bracer.
Thankfully, the leather armor held up—no injury.
Gauss retaliated immediately, blasting the archer with Magic Missile.
Now that he thought about it—with six goblins ambushed and instantly killed earlier, the remaining 14 had little chance.
The Night Owl had six members.
Even counting Daphne as the least combat-effective, the rest had overwhelming advantages.
Every member boasted one or two above-average stats.
They all wore leather or better armor, hit harder, moved faster, and had well-maintained weapons.
That kind of power gap made the enemy's numerical advantage meaningless.
Once the fight ended, the group took a short rest and began cleaning up the battlefield.
First step: harvesting the quest items—goblin left ears.
Everyone pulled out knives and began slicing off the goblins' pointy left ears.
Judging from how smooth their movements were, it was clear everyone except Gauss was a veteran.
Who knew how many ears they'd carved off in their time?
The collected ears filled a pouch until it bulged.
This quest actually had decent payout—1 silver per goblin.
Twenty goblins = 20 silver.
Split six ways, that's about 3 silver each.
Not a fortune, but—
That's enough to cover two months of food and rent at Sophia's inn.
Not bad at all.
Three days of work, most of it spent traveling—
with only about two hours total for scouting, traps, and actual fighting.
Work three days, rest two months.
If some guy from Earth heard that—even with the danger involved—he might seriously consider jumping worlds for a shot.
And that wasn't even counting the loot—the goblins' weapons could also be sold off for some decent cash.
Unfortunately, the two most valuable steel swords were badly damaged—Gauss doubted they'd fetch much.