The Goblin Champion looked down at Lawrence with arrogant eyes.
Its red eyes were full of confidence.
That gaze seemed to be saying that someone like him could not possibly be a match for them.
It looked as though it had gained even more confidence thanks to its subordinates running toward Lawrence.
“Die!”
Lawrence did not hesitate.
Right now, even a single second was urgent.
He leaped forward in a great bound and closed the remaining distance to the bastard in an instant.
But the Goblin Champion attacked one step faster.
As if it had been waiting, the bastard swung its longsword in time with Lawrence’s charge.
“Ugh!”
Startled by the Goblin Champion’s unexpected swift counterattack, Lawrence hurriedly raised his sword and blocked the attack.
CLANG—!
With the sound of swords colliding, Lawrence’s body slid far backward as if he had been blown away.
Part of it was because he had not properly set his stance, but it was also because the Goblin Champion’s strength was greater than Lawrence had expected.
When his attack, made with all his strength, was blocked with almost absurd ease, Lawrence could not hide the frustration showing on his face.
Meanwhile, the water spirit, having received Lawrence’s command, exerted its strength and created an ice sheet as large as possible behind Lawrence’s back.
Without a word, it was slowing the goblins’ advance as much as it could.
If the goblins rushing over had not slipped and tangled with one another, they would have already reached Lawrence and then some.
Thanks to that, he had bought time, but in exchange, Lawrence’s mana was being rapidly depleted.
Now, he truly had no time.
“Kuwuuuuooooh!”
The Goblin Champion roared, and at the same time, beat its chest like King Kong as it showed off its confidence.
For a moment, Lawrence wondered whether that bastard was really a goblin.
It was taller and had a larger build, but to think it would be this strong.
This was strength that surpassed the bounds of its species.
Perhaps having read panic in Lawrence’s eyes and thought it had seized victory, the champion goblin attacked even more boldly.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
As if refusing to lose, Lawrence planted both feet on the ground and faced it head-on.
The collision with the bastard was so intense that it felt as though he were crashing into a lump of iron.
This was the first time he had experienced such powerful attacks.
Each time he blocked the bastard’s longsword, vibrations ran through his palms as if they would tear apart.
As countless exchanges continued, the Goblin Champion spat out words Lawrence could not understand in a voice like metal scraping.
He could not understand what the bastard was saying, but he could clearly feel that it was looking down on him.
Seeing that attitude, Lawrence’s face hardened.
His pride was hurt, but right now, he had to acknowledge his own insufficiency and work to overcome this situation.
Lawrence forcibly tried to counterattack, but attacks lacking both strength and speed only raised the bastard’s confidence.
“Uwowowowowow.”
The bastard let out a shout of victory.
As if it had already won.
It looked certain of its own victory.
The Goblin Champion began pouring out even rougher attacks.
The barrage of attacks felt like a giant wave crashing down over Lawrence.
Lawrence gradually began to be pushed back by the bastard’s overwhelming strength.
He desperately defended against the bastard’s attacks, but his body was gradually reaching its limit.
Both his stamina and his mana were nearing their end.
At this rate, the fight would soon conclude with his death.
Seeing Lawrence’s defeat grow obvious, the Goblin Champion became even more excited.
As if it intended to slowly end this fight, the bastard began making bolder movements, and greater power was loaded into its longsword.
WHOOSH—!
The attacks were so strong and heavy that each and every one tore through the air.
Lawrence barely straightened his staggering body and prepared for the bastard’s next attack.
But his eyes trembled thinly, filled with fear, and his sword, too, shook as if it had lost strength along with his will.
Pfft!
The Goblin Champion let out a mocking laugh.
As if Lawrence was no longer worth facing.
And so the bastard loaded great strength into its final blow.
The longsword filled with its will came swinging in a wide fan shape, as if it would bisect Lawrence’s body in one stroke.
That was the moment.
The moment Lawrence’s eyes changed.
The fear-stricken gaze disappeared, and in its place settled a firm will like steel.
He had fought countless battles at the Barrier Wall until now and had experienced countless situations of crisis as well.
Lawrence was not someone whose heart would waver at a crisis of this degree.
Every action he had shown until now had been an act meant to draw out the Goblin Champion’s carelessness.
No matter how clever a monster might be, it could not match human intelligence.
It was not very difficult to draw out the excitement of a monster faithful to its instincts.
With movements far faster than anything he had shown until now, Lawrence lowered his head and evaded the attack.
WHOOOSH—!
After easily avoiding the Goblin Champion’s attack, he took a great step forward with his right foot and closed the distance in an instant.
Like a leopard rushing at its prey like lightning, he succeeded in slipping into the bastard’s chest in a heartbeat.
Moreover, because the Goblin Champion had attempted a large attack out of excessive confidence, it had not yet recovered its disrupted stance.
At Lawrence’s sudden change, the bastard’s face hardened.
As befitting a creature with excellent instincts, it immediately realized that this situation was strange.
The bastard, sensing danger, tried to reverse the direction of its longsword by force and swing it back, but Lawrence had been aiming only for this opportunity.
In the end, Lawrence stabbed his sword into the Goblin Champion’s abdomen.
SQUELCH—!
At first, he felt strong resistance as it was blocked by the bastard’s thick and tough hide, but the sword filled with mana soon pierced through the skin and drove in.
“Cough.”
With a groan full of pain, the Goblin Champion’s face crumpled.
The bastard’s eyes, widened as far as they could go, glared at Lawrence as if it could not believe this.
The Goblin Champion wore an expression of utter disbelief.
That expression said it had been struck down not because of skill, but merely because of bad luck.
Seeing the bastard like that, Lawrence’s face twisted violently.
“How dare a monster bastard.”
Enraged by the Goblin Champion’s attitude, Lawrence put strength into his sword and drove it deeper.
As the sword tore through the bastard’s flesh, red blood sprayed out.
Soon, when blood burst from the Goblin Champion’s mouth, only then did the bastard become frightened.
It thrashed as if trying to escape from this place, but Lawrence instead gripped the bastard’s shoulder hard and pushed the sword in even deeper.
The Goblin Champion let out a groan full of agony and resisted until the end, but Lawrence ignored the bastard’s resistance and continued his attack.
Strength gradually drained from the bastard’s body, and its gaze grew dimmer.
At last, the Goblin Champion’s body went limp and collapsed helplessly to the ground.
The bastard died just like that.
Lawrence pulled his sword from the Goblin Champion’s body and gasped for breath.
“Now you know who’s truly strong.”
Fatigue was written on his face, but for some reason, his eyes looked refreshed.
[215 experience and 10 points obtained.]
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
A full two levels had risen at once.
The levels that would have required killing hundreds of goblins to raise had risen in a single moment.
It felt as if he had leaped over several hurdles all at once.
The power that had surged up in an instant flowed through his entire body, and tremendous exhilaration burst forth and wrapped around him.
The soldiers’ cheers congratulating him erupted from every direction.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
“Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence!”
Once the Goblin Champion’s influence disappeared, the goblins once again began rampaging every which way.
There were even bastards attacking their own comrades, as if something displeased them.
It was the moment when a strong army transformed into a disorderly mob in an instant.
The bastards that had been gathered together scattered in all directions according to their instincts, and unlike before, spread widely as they charged at the humans atop the Barrier Wall.
Naturally, the soldiers welcomed this change greatly.
Because of the characteristics of the aging Barrier Wall, the goblins’ concentrated attack had been the greatest danger.
Now that the area the bastards were attacking had widened, the soldiers could also spread out, allowing more soldiers to deal with the goblins.
Thanks to Lawrence’s performance, the battlefield atmosphere that had been thick with defeat changed in an instant.
The soldiers gained strength once more and fiercely drove their wooden spears down at the goblins.
Lawrence dealt with a few goblins charging at him, then hid himself in the tall grass.
The tall grass that had troubled the soldiers now became excellent cover for Lawrence.
While hiding in the grass, he raided the backs of the goblins attacking the Barrier Wall.
Before long, the hot and humid battlefield was covered in goblin blood and screams.
“Take heart. We’ve almost got them all now.”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
At the senior soldier’s encouragement, the soldiers’ cheers burst out.
Because a battle they had thought they had lost had been dramatically overturned, their joy was beyond words.
Before long, the last remaining goblin fell, and the battle ended like that.
The soldiers, overcome with emotion, embraced one another and shed tears.
But Lawrence could not rejoice with them.
Because even in today’s battle, the knight who should have commanded the soldiers and fought with them had still not appeared.
‘I can’t stay like this.’
As Lawrence looked at the rejoicing soldiers, he made a resolution in that moment.
He would no longer stand by and watch the knights’ atrocities.
Until now, he had raised his level by hunting monsters and diligently trained in the family’s swordsmanship.
But his skill was still insufficient to face knights.
Even so, he could no longer delay.
In Lawrence’s judgment, this place had now reached its limit.
If he dragged out more time, something truly terrible seemed likely to happen.
Today’s battle alone was enough to make him realize that.
Before the territory truly collapsed, he had to move first.
The next day.
From early morning, Lawrence’s face as he prepared for the day was more solemn than ever before.
Firmly armed, he headed to the clearing he used as a training ground.
First, in preparation for the fight that would happen today, he ran around the clearing and warmed up his body.
Just as Lawrence was running his third lap, Martin arrived at the clearing.
“You came out early, Young Master.”
At Martin’s greeting, Lawrence lightly raised his hand in reply.
He ran a few more laps, then stopped running.
His body had warmed up moderately, and his muscles had grown much more supple.
“Martin, let’s go to the training ground.”
“Yes? Young Master, why the training ground……?”
Martin was startled and asked while looking puzzled at Lawrence, who was walking toward the training ground.
“There’s something I absolutely have to do at the training ground today.”
“Then perhaps you should go in the evening…….”
Right now was the time when the Knight Order would be occupying the training ground.
Martin wanted to avoid having Lawrence run into the Knight Order as much as possible.
But Lawrence did not say a word. With a resolute expression, he simply looked straight ahead and moved quickly.
‘This is strange. Why is he suddenly acting like this?’
Martin could not understand the current situation.
No matter how much he thought about it, he could not guess why Lawrence was going to the training ground.
He never imagined that Lawrence was going to meet the Knight Order.
“Um, Young Master. Could you perhaps go a little later?”
The Knight Order had been staging a sit-in for several days.
They were holding the territory’s fate hostage, presenting conditions that could not be realized given the territory’s circumstances, and boycotting all work.
The reason not a single knight had been seen not only in yesterday’s battle, but also over the past several days, was all because of this.
In this situation, if Lawrence appeared, the situation would surely worsen, whether he knew it or not.
But despite Martin’s attempt to stop him, Lawrence’s steps did not slow in the slightest.
Rather, the closer he got to the training ground, the faster he moved.
“Please wait, Young Master. There is something I need to tell you.”
Although Martin knew it was extremely rude, he had no choice but to step in front of Lawrence and block his path.
“In truth, there has recently been a conflict of opinion between the Knight Order and the count, so the atmosphere is not good. Therefore, perhaps you should delay your business a little…….”
“A conflict of opinion?”
Lawrence stopped walking because there was a word among Martin’s words that bothered him.
Although Martin had expressed it as mildly as possible, this was clearly insubordination.
Recently, Lawrence had been busy with training and Barrier Wall duty, so he had been ignorant of the news within the count’s house.
He had known that the Knight Order’s tyranny was growing worse by the day, but he had never dreamed that something like this was happening too.