The goblins didn’t wait a single second.
The moment they came out of the bushes, all five let out a sharp shriek and lunged at James at the same time, from every direction.
"Seriously?!" he managed to shout, throwing himself to one side.
The first goblin’s attack grazed his face by just a couple of inches.
James rolled through the dirt and got back up just in time to dodge a sharpened stick aiming to go through his ribs.
And he was barely regaining his balance when another goblin was already on top of him.
This time he didn’t manage to dodge it.
The blade slashed his torso and a searing burn spread immediately through his body.
"Son of a bitch!"
Then he took another cut, this time on the arm, making him stumble and trip over his own feet.
His body felt slow, clumsy, and heavy.
Nothing like the ease with which he had moved before.
Then one of the goblins launched itself directly at his chest with its knife out front.
James reacted by instinct. His fist shot out with everything he had and sank square into the goblin’s face, caving its skull in instantly.
Crack.
The goblin flew a couple of yards and hit the ground in a motionless heap.
’Oh, right... my Strength stat is D rank,’ he thought with relief.
But there was no time to celebrate.
James crouched quickly, yanked the rusty knife from the dead goblin’s hand, and spun around just in time to face the other four again.
Well, the other three.
Because the fifth had hung back a little.
The first one launched itself straight at him, but he stepped aside at the last moment and drove the knife into its stomach.
The second goblin tried to attack him from behind, but James ducked at the last instant and let it fly past.
The creature fell face-first and before it could get up, the knife had already slit its throat.
The third goblin didn’t even get a chance to attack, barely had it raised the rock in its hand when the knife sank into its skull.
Triple kill.
James was breathing hard, his heart pounding, with a mild sting from his small wounds.
Suddenly he realized there was still one goblin left.
He turned immediately and saw it sprinting desperately toward the forest, back turned, its little legs moving at full speed.
"Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!" he said, taking off after it. "Get back here, you little bastard!"
Hearing him, the goblin ran even faster.
James chased it through the trees, dodging branches and bushes, until both of them burst out of the forest.
But the landscape that appeared before him forced him to stop. Where a village should have been, only ruins remained.
’Fuck...’ he thought, taking in the scene around him. ’This must be the village the quest was talking about.’
There were human and goblin corpses scattered all over the ground. And judging by the scene, the battle was nearing its end.
Only a couple of goblins were still running around between the houses, and two others much larger than the rest.
Their skins were darker, and in their hands there were no longer simple sticks or rocks, just enormous clubs or heavy blades of rusted metal.
James had already started advancing toward the remaining goblins with the intention of completing his side quest when a desperate cry stopped him dead.
"Help!" screamed a young woman, cornered by one of the fat goblins. "Someone help me!"
She had brown hair, blue eyes, and a huge pair of tits that, being honest, were pretty hard to ignore.
James’s gaze swept the village for an instant.
On one hand, the villagers were still fighting desperately against the last stocky goblin.
On the other, the big-chested woman remained cornered by the goblins, completely defenseless.
’Being honest... the rest of the villagers seem to be managing fine on their own,’ he thought, turning his back on them. ’She, on the other hand, clearly needs urgent help... it would be a crime not to help her first.’
James launched himself at the fat goblin and took it down with a tackle that sent it crashing onto its back.
He quickly tore the club from its hands and, before the creature could recover, smashed it full in the face.
A single blow was enough to finish that goblin.
"Take it easy, it’s dead," he said, extending his hand toward the beautiful woman with a confident smile. "That ugly bastard isn’t going to—"
"Watch out! Behind you!"
James didn’t manage to react in time and the next instant felt himself being stabbed from behind.
The small goblins still loose around the village had taken advantage of his distraction and piled on him all at once.
"You little shits!" he screamed as he shook those tiny pests off as best he could.
He threw one against a house, knocked another down with a club swing, and stomped the third flat before it could escape.
One by one they fell until none were left alive.
James was struggling to breathe when heavy footsteps caught his attention.
It was the last goblin remaining, and also the largest of them all.
It was wielding an enormous butcher’s knife and, with a growl, swung it at him.
Although James reacted instantly and threw himself to one side to dodge it, it wasn’t enough.
The blade opened a long, deep cut on his left arm from elbow to shoulder, sending blood pouring out in torrents.
"Argh! That’s enough! I’m sick of all these sons of bitches!"
Completely furious, he didn’t wait for the next attack and slammed the club into the goblin’s face with everything he had, dropping it to the ground.
And then silence.
Seeing that had been the last one, James let the club fall to the ground and turned toward the brown-haired woman.
"Finally..." he said between gasps, flashing a tired smile and reaching his hand out to her again. "You’re safe now..."
She opened her mouth to respond, but before James could hear a single word, everything around him started spinning.
’What the hell...?’ he thought, confused, feeling his eyelids grow impossibly heavy. ’Why... why do I feel like this?’
James looked down at himself and finally understood why he felt so strange.
He was covered in blood from head to toe.
Most of it came from the numerous cuts he had received during the fight without even noticing, including the deep gash on his shoulder, which was still bleeding without stopping.
"Oh..." he murmured, his voice faint. "So that’s why..."
James tried to stay on his feet, but it was useless.
His body gave out and he ended up collapsing onto the woman in front of him.
The last thing James felt before losing consciousness from massive blood loss was the softness of the enormous breasts of the woman holding him in her arms.
After that, everything went black.