Knight and Wand

Chapter 8 The King of the Forest
"Kaa! ~ Kaa!!" The wild goblins brandished their crude weapons and pounced on the prey in the camp with strange cries.

I'm gonna fuck your mother——!
Looking at these small monsters that looked like goblins, Leon lost his fear after the initial surprise. He took a steady step forward, raised his arm and stabbed the three prongs of the pitchfork at the nearest enemy.

The leading wild goblin dodged nimbly and raised his arm, using his rusty broken knife to block Leon's thrust, but was pushed and staggered. The other two wild goblins took the opportunity to swing their weapons from both sides of the pitchfork and rushed towards Leon.

Unlike the beasts they face on the hunt, these creatures possess a savage intelligence capable of understanding the power of weapons and parrying accordingly.

However, although his attack was blocked, Leon did not panic. The situation in front of him was barely within the range of the gunmanship skills he had learned in his previous life. Especially when facing these short creatures, he had the absolute advantage of size and arm span.

He quickly stepped back and retracted the pitchfork to make room, then twisted around to pull back the blocked pitchfork, and with a quick sideways strike, knocked the careless goblin pitchfork on the left side, which was only focused on attacking, to the ground.

The sharp iron tip pierced directly into the Wild Goblin's eye socket, and it screamed as its eyeballs burst and blood splattered. Without waiting to see more, Leon immediately steadied his body and swung the hayfork horizontally with both hands. The tip of the hayfork that passed by scared away the Wild Goblin that was approaching again in the middle. The remaining force of the hayfork head knocked back the attacking swing of another Wild Goblin on the right.

The siege was resolved without any danger. Leon seemed to feel a rapid surge of adrenaline in his nervousness. The three prongs of the pitchfork that was used to knock down the attack had not yet completely fallen to the ground when he pushed the tail rod again and fiercely picked it up.

——Puff.

The three-pronged pitchfork pierced sharply into the unprotected abdomen of the right wild goblin. The little monster grabbed the pitchfork on its belly in pain. Leon roared and dragged the pitchfork hard, pushing its body towards the wild goblins that were still rushing over.

The seriously injured wild goblin was forced to knock over his fellow goblin behind him, and rolled over and howled, covering the three hideous bloody holes on his stomach.

Leon decided to quit while he was ahead, and quickly took a few steps back to the campfire to adjust his slightly disordered breathing rhythm.

He glanced to the side and saw Lohak, wearing chain mail, slashing and stabbing rapidly with a torch in one hand and a sword in the other.

As the sword moved vigorously, four or five corpses of wild goblins were lying at his feet. Wearing chain mail and an iron helmet, he was not afraid of the crude weapons in the hands of his enemies. Every wild goblin who dared to face him would be chopped to the ground before he could last more than two moves.

Compared to the ferocity of Lohak, Azerien was much more cautious. He never left Leon's side. Holding a round shield and a pitchfork, he repelled several attacks from the left wing and steadily protected his companions' flank.

Lohak's eyes were red, and he seemed to be in the mood for killing. The excitement of continuously killing enemies made the young man rush into the wild goblins unconsciously, slashing left and right, and the chain mail on his body was soon stained red with blood.

Suddenly, a stone lock thrown from the darkness hit Lohak's ankle. The stone weight of the lock spun and entangled the boy's leg. Lohak was unable to react and was tripped by the sudden pull and fell to the ground.

The wild goblins, who had been lying in ambush in the shadows for a long time, began to exert their strength, trying to drag this most threatening armored target into the dark bushes.

Lohak lost his balance and fell, and immediately swung his sword to cut the rope at his feet, but two wild goblins who had been waiting for the opportunity also rushed out from the darkness and smashed him with spears and daggers.

"Get out of the way!" At the critical moment, Azerien, who had been keeping an eye on his companions, arrived without them noticing.

He used his shield to knock away the wild goblin next to Lohak.

At this time, Leon also noticed that his companion was in danger. He no longer wanted to fight with the enemy in front of him. He took two steps at a time and waved his pitchfork to force the enemy back. He ran over and covered Lohak on the ground with Azerien to help him turn over and stand up.

"Go back, stay away from the bushes." Leon shouted to the two men to fight and retreat. They returned to the campfire in the camp again and narrowly avoided the situation where they were almost defeated one by one.

The shouts and cries that pierced the silence of the dense forest continued. Within just ten minutes, a dozen wild goblin corpses filled the crowd.

These bloodthirsty wild goblins are extremely cruel, but fortunately, the three hard-working teenagers are not vegetarians either in the real sense or in the symbolic sense.

The smell of blood that filled the open space soon calmed the impulse of the surrounding wild goblins. They wandered around the crowd, confronting the teenagers with roars, but they dared not come forward to fight.

Azerien suddenly had an idea, and used the tip of a pitchfork to pick up a wailing wild goblin that was not yet dead on the ground. Then he clamped the shaft of the pitchfork with his arm and lifted the broken body to show the dying goblin to the hesitant wild goblins around him.

"Kaaak! Kaaak." The wild goblins raised their weapons high, seeming to be even more annoyed by Azerien's provocation and intimidation. Some impulsive individuals tried to move forward, but were killed back by the iron forks and swords of Leon and the other two.

Gradually, this continuous deterrence took effect, and the ferocious wild goblins showed signs of wavering and retreating.

Even though they are bloodthirsty by nature, they will still weigh the most basic gains and losses. Their sneak attack had already failed, and they had suffered considerable losses in the brief fight.

The leader of the wild goblins hiding in the dense forest looked at the "prey" wearing armor unwillingly. Even if they rushed forward at the risk of casualties, they still had a chance to kill the prey, but the cost seemed not worth it. If they continued to lose their people, they would not be able to survive in this dangerous forest.
After much consideration, it had to give up the tempting trophy.

There was a loud cawing sound coming from the woods. When the wild goblins in the open space heard the order to retreat, they roared threateningly at Leon and the other two, then slowly retreated back into the dense forest.

They watched the wild goblin gradually retreat. After a few minutes, when there was no movement around them, Leon and the other two were able to relax and breathe deeply.

The best outcome would be to make them give up when faced with difficulties.

Don’t think that the three of them seem to be able to kill these little monsters easily. This is just the state of the body’s hormones being stimulated for a short period of time.

After all, they are only mortals. If they really continue to stalemate with these little monsters for a long time, they will be exhausted after many days of escape and will sooner or later be injured due to exhaustion, just like Lockhak who was almost trapped and accidentally overturned.

"Don't let your guard down yet. The wild goblins are cunning by nature. We have to be prepared for them to strike back before dawn." Azerien reminded his companions not to take it lightly.

Everyone retreated to the campfire, recovering their strength while on alert, while continuing to stare at the darkness in the dense forest, waiting for dawn.

They didn't know how long they had been in agony. Just when the three men were gradually convinced that the wild goblins were completely gone, Leon suddenly heard the faint sound of rustling footsteps coming from the dense forest ahead.

".Did you hear anything?"

As soon as he finished asking, before his companions could answer, the noise became clearer and clearer. Not only was it the sound of running through branches and grass, but it also seemed to be mixed with the familiar screams of the wild goblins.

The wild goblins' cries of fear were getting closer and closer, and the ground was shaking faintly, until the wailing stopped abruptly with the loud bang of trees being knocked down.

--Roar! ! !

The roar that shook the mountains and forests was like a huge rock hitting the water.

The faces of the three of them suddenly turned pale.

Even though they didn't know what the thing that made the terrifying roar was, they knew it was beyond their ability to deal with.

"Run! Get rid of anything that's in the way and run!" Without even a moment's time to explain, Leon threw away the pitchfork that was meaningless and would only be a burden in the face of such danger without hesitation. He picked up the torch beside the campfire with his free hand, and the three of them took a step forward, running wildly in the direction of the deafening roar.

At this time, they no longer have to worry about encountering other threats when running into the forest at night.

The moment Leon heard this iconic roar, fear drove the original owner's memories to surge into his heart like a spring. He was fortunate enough to know what the roar represented.

It was the cry of a bear, but it was far from a bear in the ordinary sense.

"Then what is that? A tiger? A bear?" Lohak couldn't help shouting.

"Don't ask any more questions, just run! Don't stop for a moment!" Leon shouted to his companions as they ran for their lives.

His and Azerien's linen clothes were soon torn by the dense trees and bushes around them. When crossing the rugged mountains, even if they accidentally fell and were covered with bruises, they would immediately get up despite the pain.

Soon, the torches fell to who knows where. Leon groped breathlessly in the dark, trying to make sure his companions were still with him. Without the light, they had to slow down. It was not until the surrounding trees gradually became sparse and the moonlight was visible that they were able to speed up their escape again.

If it was an ordinary bear, although it would be dangerous, it would not be impossible to retreat calmly with the help of torches and weapons, and not end up in such a miserable state.

But the giant beast behind him, whose roar was deafening, had actually left the range of wild beasts. Staying in its activity range for even just one second would be an extremely dangerous and unwise move.

Dread mountain bear.

It was a terrifying giant bear that was as big as an adult African elephant on Earth, and it was said to have such thick skin and flesh that even steel swords could hardly hurt it. This rarely seen forest monster was even worshipped as a god by villagers in remote areas. As far as the original owner could remember, he had only been lucky enough to witness it from afar once when he followed his father in a deep mountain far away from human habitation.

But even if he only witnessed it once from far away across the cliff, he would never forget that terrifying and huge figure.

Not to mention the three of them, the fugitive teenagers who were scavenging along the way, even an ordinary army would not dare to challenge this true overlord of the forest.

Fortunately, as long as we can escape from the range of the Oreshan Bear as soon as possible
! Boom~Bang~!

Leon heard the sudden and clear sound of trees falling behind him and felt the ground shaking more and more rapidly under his feet, and suddenly he felt a chill all over his body.

What's going on? Is the Ore-Mountain Bear chasing them?
The Ore Mountain Bear is targeting these three?
why?
Suddenly thinking of the wild goblins who had just suffered the same misfortune, Leon came up with the answer.

——The smell of blood!

"Fuck!" He couldn't help but curse through gritted teeth. There was no doubt that the bloody smell of the large number of wild goblins killed by them in the battle attracted this monster.

Is it for food hunting? Or is it to protect their cubs?
None of this mattered. Listening to the increasingly alarming rumbling sounds of running behind him, Leon was so anxious that cold sweats broke out in his heart. What mattered was that their few legs could not outrun the Dinocratidae that was getting closer and closer.

What should I do?
How to escape from this monster that is about to catch up
".There..there's a river ahead!" Lohak, who was running in the front, turned back and reminded everyone breathlessly: ".Swim across or go around it--!!!" He was so frightened by the huge and terrifying black shadow behind everyone that his pupils trembled and he was speechless for a moment.

Turning his head, Lohak seemed to have his physical potential stimulated, and his legs quickened his speed to escape.

Leon followed where Lohak pointed and focused his eyes. Sure enough, there was a turbulent stream in front of him, reflecting the hazy moonlight, rushing forward, and no one knew where it was leading.

"Jump into the river!" Leon shouted without thinking.

The river was flowing fast, but they had no time to hesitate.

They didn't even dare to look back to confirm how close the giant creature was to the three of them. They rushed to the shore and jumped into the surging river one after another without stopping.

Bang!
Bang! ~ Bang!
The three young men sank into the river, and in the blink of an eye they were swept downstream by the rapid underwater.

Boom. Boom.
The heavy running sound gradually stopped at the river bank.

Roar, roar, roar——!!!
The ferocious king of the forest let out a terrible roar towards the river that shook the entire forest.

The giant bear lowered its huge head. It could still smell the scent of the invaders who had entered its territory gradually fading away. The river water could not block its keen sense of smell.

But it slowly raised its head and looked into the distance where the river led to. The Giant Bear instinctively took a few steps back.

The land at the end of this river is feared even by the king of the forest.

(End of this chapter)