Ch.38Goblin Village (3)

According to what I’ve read in books, the ‘demons’ of this world are beings born from residual emotions that flowed into an independent dimension called the demon realm, which is like the sewer of the world.

If I had to compare them to something similar, they would probably be spirits. The only difference is that they are formed from the malice or residual emotions flowing from the souls of intelligent beings rather than natural elements, so they inherently possess qualities that correspond to ‘evil.’

Of course, if we set aside all these creation myth-like stories and focus on the practical aspects, ‘demon’ is simply a term used to collectively refer to all entities living in the ‘demon realm.’

Plants, animals, material constructs, humanoid forms, and beings of all other appearances. Although demons may classify themselves in various ways, from the perspective of this material world, they are all demons and…

[[[—EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!]]]

By this standard, those flies flying around making noise in the high sky are also demons.

To be precise, they are subordinate demons created by the demon lord of ‘gluttony,’ the Fly King (tentative name), using his own power. Among the demons classified as subordinates of ‘gluttony,’ they would be lower-ranked… in common terms, ‘cannon fodder.’

They’re about the size of a pony, large enough to carry a goblin and still fly without burden. Given their size, they could easily hunt unarmed humans, and their ability to fly freely in all directions would exceed normal ranges.

Inside their creepy compound eyes, something constantly writhes while observing the surroundings, and though fluid seeps between the joints of their exoskeleton, it appears extremely sturdy.

At least their wings look thin and light, seemingly not difficult to destroy, but my intuition tells me those wings aren’t merely fragile organs.

Being demons, they clearly possess powers like ‘physical resistance,’ making them tougher than they appear, and this applies equally to their entire body.

Therefore, these demons would be considered high-ranking among the lower classes, monsters difficult even for elite soldiers to handle.

…Of course, before a sword wrapped in aura, they would all be cut down equally.

Anyway, amid the appearance of these monstrous flies—which my intuition tells me are called ‘Gluttony Flies’—about 20 of them, I also noticed goblins climbing onto their backs and moving like cavalry.

A cavalry not only wearing custom-made breastplates hammered from proper metal but also carrying grotesque weapons like crossbows or spears wrapped with disgusting pink entrails.

Especially sensing the magical energy formed in those weapons wrapped with entrails, I couldn’t lower my guard.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one affected by these things.

The remaining goblins, about 20 percent—at most 50 to 60—who had been momentarily intimidated by my one-sided slaughter, regained their vigor as soon as those fly cavalry appeared.

And… the reaction these revitalized fanatics would show me was obvious enough to guess without explanation.

“””””””””GUWOOOOOOOOON—!!!”””””””””

Like moths diving into flames, a group of fanatics who made me wonder if they ever had any thought of victory.

The goblin cultists, squeezing out courage born from escapism and compensation psychology, leaped at me with bizarre screams, weapons in hand—

—Pshwoong!!

At that moment, the fly cavalry hovering in the sky aimed their entrail-wrapped crossbows and fired them all at once.

While the expendable minions—numerous enough to take time to kill regardless of their actual threat—threw themselves at me in attack, the fly cavalry shot crossbow arrows from high altitude, raining down on me.

Moreover, the arrows shot from their crossbows were rippling with energy of mixed green and purple colors.

I decided to counter this situation—which even a decent intermediate-level fighter would find difficult to handle—in an extremely simple way.

—Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The best method: grabbing approaching goblins and throwing them at the cavalry, both eliminating goblins and keeping the fly riders at bay.

The mass of a goblin flying through the air due to my transcendent strength is more than sufficient as a lethal weapon. Their bodies block the magic crossbow shots and prevent the cavalry from firing again.

Besides, there’s no need to use weapons on goblin cultists anyway.

I crush their skulls with the grip strength of my fingers, then throw their mangled corpses to shoot down the fly cavalry.

In an instant, about 6 out of 20 flies are struck by goblin corpses, their bodies bursting and perishing, while the rest desperately avoid the attack, unable to even attempt approaching.

The result of an intermediate warrior exerting full physical abilities, pumped up with the help of various ‘factors,’ was nothing but a mountain of corpses swept away and annihilated in an instant…

‘…Ah.’

In the process, I finally realized the true nature of the arrows shot by those cavalry.

The goblin corpses hit by arrows rippling with green and purple energy had maggots writhing inside them, as if flies had laid eggs.

“Huh…?”

Moreover, those horribly writhing corpses began to expand into something resembling eggs.

—PUOENG!!

After swelling like balloons in just a few seconds, the corpses exploded, and from inside, fully formed ‘Gluttony Flies’ emerged, using the goblin cultist corpses as sacrifices to manifest in reality.

[EEEEEEEEEEEE—!!!]

Of course, the power of these newly manifested Gluttony Flies charging at me was at best upper-lower rank level.

My attacks, representing nearly top-tier close combat ability at the intermediate level, easily bisected those disgusting creatures.

However, there were a few things I learned in this process…

‘…It feels choppy?’

Perhaps due to the ‘physical resistance’ possessed by demonic beings from the demon realm, the sensation when cutting through their bodies felt somewhat delayed by a half-beat.

For someone like me, accustomed to the overwhelming cutting power provided by aura combined with troll-like strength, it was unfamiliar and slightly frustrating that the sword didn’t move exactly as I wished…

‘…Phew, done.’

—Slash!

Having cleared them out by wielding a longsword in one hand and an arming sword in the other, I now intended to cut down those flies in the sky—so I kicked the ground forcefully with my aura-wrapped legs.

—KWAAANG!!!

Using the rebound from kicking the ground, I leaped into the sky with a thunderous sound and immediately bisected one of them.

—Slash!

With a clean sound, the half-severed goblin corpse fell to the ground, while the body of the Gluttony Fly, lacking material substance, gradually disappeared into thin air.

But since the Gluttony Fly’s body maintained some physical form until it completely vanished, I used these gradually disappearing corpses as foothold to move freely through the air.

Unfortunately, I haven’t yet reached the level where I can kick the air itself to move, but with excellent footholds like these, I’m confident I can perform well even in aerial combat.

Unleashing the ‘Sword Demon’ factor without restraint, I cut, kicked, and crushed the ‘enemies’ one by one with my sword, gradually adapting to the unfamiliar three-dimensional combat.

Thanks to this, by the time I was using the fifth fly as a stepping stone out of the 14 remaining cavalry, I had gotten the hang of it, and with this confidence, I continued cutting down the rest one by one…

‘…Huh?’

As I leaped to cut down the last remaining fly cavalry, I suddenly sensed an ominous feeling in my mind and reflexively released aura from my body to establish a defensive system.

And this turned out to be the best move to save my life.

—Shook!

A thrusting attack from an aura-wrapped spear blade, flying at tremendous speed. This strike, aimed at my breastplate, came fiercely with its presence concealed, making it impossible to predict.

—TAENG!!!

If I hadn’t followed my intuition’s warning and released aura, or if this breastplate hadn’t been a high-quality item made with a craftsman’s skill, it would have pierced straight through my heart.

“You—!!”

Barely managing to move my body to deflect it, I swung my arming sword infused with aura, which simultaneously bisected the Gluttony Fly but was sent flying by the ‘aura-wrapped spear blade’ that had come at me…

“…Ah.”

—KWANG!!!

And so, having lost both my foothold and balance, I crashed to the ground.