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Chapter 18: A Hero Rescues the Maiden

The adventurers entered the room one after another.

Reiner felt a persistent sense of foreboding, so he raised his head and studied the ceiling.

He feared that the moment they stepped into the chamber, a falling stone wall would cut off their retreat just as before.

Nora narrowed her eyes, having noticed a tell-tale sign.

Yet before she could get closer, the roof cracked and massive boulders rained down.

The adventurers already inside were cut off, while Reiner’s group was trapped in the narrow corridor.

Several adventurers were buried deep under the stones, and cries for help, sobs, and roars mingled all at once.

“Help!”

“There are lots of goblins in the room!”

“You filthy beasts!”

Reiner heard the clash of blades, which meant the people inside had also been ambushed by goblins.

The adventurers who had not yet entered and had avoided the boulders began clearing the rubble to rescue the buried.

Even Junice strained to lift stones, helping as much as she could.

“We’ll help too.”

Following the order, Nora and Martina bent down and started hauling rocks.

They soon pulled someone free from the pile.

Sadly, blood streamed from every orifice and his chest had been crushed; he was unmistakably dead.

“There’s still someone alive here, dig over here!” an adventurer shouted.

Everyone gathered, shifted the stones off the man, and dragged him out together.

The fellow was lucky; both legs were broken by the rocks, yet he was still alive.

Junice treated him on the side while Reiner joined several others and kept digging.

Suddenly the ground trembled and small pebbles tumbled down.

Reiner heard an adventurer inside gasp, “Oh my goodness!”

“It’s huge…”

“We can’t hold it!”

Reiner strained his voice and asked, “What showed up? Hey!”

Perhaps it was too noisy inside, but nobody answered him.

After a few seconds, Reiner heard Dimas bellowing encouragement.

A deafening crash followed.

Several adventurers worked faster, yelling, “They’re about to break, we need to hurry!”

When the last boulder was shoved aside, a beam of light finally shone in.

A few adventurers swarmed inside, yet quickly scrambled back out.

Reiner glanced at them, then led his three companions in carefully, and the moment he steadied himself he saw corpses strewn everywhere.

Human and goblin bodies lay tangled together.

Next, he locked eyes with a pair of murky pupils.

A giant goblin stood in the center of the room, surrounded by a cluster of smaller goblins.

It differed from the others not only in size but also in gear.

It wore rust-stained iron armor and gripped a blunt cleaver in its right hand, exuding a murderous aura that chilled the heart.

Reiner also noticed its left hand continually whipping a blood-smeared iron hook.

Dimas and the few surviving adventurers and retainers were confronting it.

Another knight had been embedded in the wall, blood seeping from the cracks in his plate armor; he was dead.

At the same time, the system’s voice echoed in Reiner’s ears.

[Warning! You are making eye contact with the Goblin General…]

Dimas turned and shouted, “Watch out for its hook!”

Before he finished, the blood-stained hook flew toward Reiner.

The hook snagged his round shield, and the sudden force yanked him to the ground.

Seeing this, the goblins swarmed forward and locked into combat with Dimas’s group.

Several cunning ones tried to flank, but Martina decapitated them with a sweep of her greatsword as soon as they approached.

“Nora, stick your throwing knives in its eyes and blind it.”

In a blur, Nora flicked three knives; one buried itself in the Goblin General’s right eye, drawing a howl of pain.

Junice fired a Fireball at it, yet the thick-skinned Goblin General barely seemed affected.

The scene descended into chaos again.

“Martina, find an opening and finish it!”

No sooner had Reiner spoken than Martina charged like a runaway stallion.

Nora took her position and teamed up with Reiner to clear out goblins attempting to sneak behind them.

With Martina’s aid, Dimas’s side gained unstoppable momentum and soon reached the Goblin General.

At that moment the Goblin General surged forward like a raging bull, barreling into the formation and cutting down several adventurers in quick succession.

“Hah!”

Martina brandished her greatsword and rushed in; though smaller than the Goblin General, she traded blow for blow with him.

“Clang!”

After another clash, Martina sheared off a chunk of the Goblin General’s cleaver.

Realizing it was losing, it flung its chain hook, wrapped around her greatsword, and after a brief struggle hurled the weapon away.

Nora seized the chance and hurled three knives, but it blocked them with its arm.

The Goblin General then whipped the hook again, this time aiming at Nora.

“Look out!”

Nora nimbly sidestepped and dodged with ease.

After missing, the Goblin General did not retract the hook but lashed it sideways toward Nora like a whip.

Yet Nora leaped lightly and evaded again.

As she breathed a sigh of relief, Reiner suddenly sensed something wrong.

Two goblins had sneaked around while they were distracted.

Nora frowned, stabbed one with her dagger, but the other grabbed her arm.

The Goblin General’s hook swept toward her again, and she could only struggle helplessly as the danger closed in.

In the nick of time, Reiner lunged at Nora on instinct, hoping to knock her clear so both of them would leave the hook’s arc.

Unfortunately he was a bit slow, and the hook snagged him somewhere, flinging him through the air.

After dragging him twice, the other end of the hook fell silent.

Reiner struggled to his feet and found that the Goblin General was already dead.

The blood-soaked Martina had simply chopped off its head.

Seeing the tide turned, the remaining goblins fled through hidden doors in all directions.

At the same time, Reiner felt a wave of agony.

The hook thrown by the Goblin General before dying had buried itself in his arm, and blood was dripping along the iron barb.

The dust-covered Nora ran over and said, “Master… your hand.”

Martina walked over carrying the general’s head, peeked at the wound, and asked, “Want me to pull that hook out for you?”

“If we yank it out the blood will gush faster; wait for Junice and let her handle it.”

Nora turned to fetch Junice.

Reiner hastily grabbed her with his good left hand and said, “Just wait until she comes; others are worse off than me.”

After a while Junice finally arrived.

“Bear with it,” she said, and forcibly yanked the hook out, the pain nearly knocking Reiner unconscious.

Yet the pain eased quickly.

“The bleeding has stopped and the wound is closed, but you can’t move it for 3 days or it may tear open again.”

“Understood.”

Junice stood and ran toward the other injured.

Just then Reiner felt an itch, turned his head, and saw Nora carefully licking the wound…

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