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Swiish!

Goblin riders were quite skilled in archery.

This was because they were an evolved form of the common goblin, so what they lacked in strength, they had already made up for.

“Keuuk!”

Schudlen groaned as he quickly changed direction due to the sudden bombardment of arrows.

“Schudlen.”

“My apologies. I don’t think I can hold out much longer, Young Master.”

He had just made an unnecessary turn and strained his joints.

It would be hard to keep up the pace like this, and his joints could really hurt if he continued.

Schudlen voiced his opinion cautiously.

“We might as well just fight them.”

“They’ve already got us now, they’re just playing with us for the fun of the hunt, and it doesn’t matter if we slow down a bit more.”

“But won’t that mean we just play into their hands?”

Schudlen gritted his teeth.

They were being hunted by monsters even though they were hunting them before.

Although he was still a new knight, he didn’t look the part.

But Ethan calmed him down.

“It’s okay, just follow my lead.”

At the moment, Ethan did not have a body to use the knowledge in his head. Instead, that body was in Schudlen.

It could not be used perfectly, but it could help with the current situation.

“All right.”

Schudlen slowed his pace with determination.

Then the goblin riders caught up to them in a flash.

That was when Ethan extended his body and plunged his sword into them.

Schuk!

“Kiiik!”

The goblin riders who had rushed in were immediately stabbed by Ethan’s sword. However, they were too skillful on their horned hogs for Ethan to inflict fatal wounds.

‘It doesn’t matter!’

He continued plunging his sword into the red dot, coating it with poison.

“Keep running. Schudlen!”

“Yes!”

The angry goblin riders were no longer playing games. With all their might, they drove their horn hogs to kill Ethan and Schudlen.

“Kiiiik!”

Swiish!

A flying arrow aimed for Ethan’s neck.

But Ethan just didn’t have the strength to move fast enough, not that he wasn’t skilled.

He quickly sliced the arrow in half and they hid among the trees.

As soon as Ethan and Schudlen were out of sight, the goblin riders split up and entered the trees. As soon as they entered, Schudlen jumped out.

Tuk!

“Kiiiik!”

One of the goblin riders who had been following dropped dead.

Ethan immediately gave Schudlen an order.

“Run!”

This time they changed direction and ran in the opposite direction. The goblin riders on the horn hogs would have a hard time making a sharp turn.

On the other hand, it was easy to turn this way for Schudlen, though it would grind his joints.

As he burst out the other side, the angry goblin riders swerved wildly with a snicker.

But where were they hiding just then?

It was in a grove of trees. It was hard enough to swerve, but how would they do it in a grove of trees?

Ethan held the bow of the goblin rider he had just killed in his hand. With a strong draw, he fired.

‘Instead of arrows.’

The needles of Heo’s Acupuncture were used instead of arrows. There were several different sizes of needles, so the largest could be used in place of arrows.

Swish!

The needles shot straight at the goblin riders as they tried to escape through the trees.

“Kiik!”

He pierced them right in the red dots.

The goblin rider slumped from the horn hog it was riding as the needle hit its weak spot.

“Stay on your toes. The guys that are distracted by the blood I threw are coming.”

“How do you know they’re coming!”

There must have been some distance.

“They just made a noise before they died, didn’t they? They’re calling for their comrades. There’s an enemy they can’t handle.”

Dudududu!

Schudlen was too scared to answer since the sound of Horn Hog’s hooves could be heard.

“Damn it. Run again, Schudlen!”

“Can’t we just kill them like we just did?”

“There’s a big one coming, blending in among them.”

“If you say big, then…….”

-Kiiiiiiiiiiik!

“It’s the Goblin Rider King.”

[Lv 35]

A whopping level 35.

The Goblin Rider King, who had a much higher level than regular goblin riders, was much bigger than regular goblins.

And there he was, on an even bigger horn hog, chasing Ethan and Schudlen at a furious pace.

“Th-the speed……”

His speed was so much faster than the regular goblin riders, which made Schudlen panic.

But Ethan was calm.

“Go back to the tree!”

Ethan’s calm voice calmed Shudlen’s panic.

If it was Ethan, he must know something. If so, this wouldn’t be their graveyard.

Schudlen stomped his feet and headed for the trees.

But their hopes were shattered. The Goblin Rider King continued to advance, smashing through the trees.

In this case, they couldn’t use the same method as before.

“Young Master, what should we do now!?”

As Ethan said, Schudlen still had the strength to move. He had to do something more while he still had the strength or the worst would happen.

Ethan made a quick judgment call and gave instructions.

“Go deeper. And. Wait.”

Kwaaang!

The Goblin Rider King displayed tremendous strength. With a single strike, trees crumbled and paths opened up.

It was the kind of strength that a mere goblin could never hope to possess.

Only an ogre would be capable of such feats, but in this dark forest, it was only natural for those named King.

This was a place where one couldn’t survive unless one were strong.

To be alive in this dark forest was to be a survivor.

“Kiiik–”

Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!

Reaching the depths of the forest, Schudlen paused to catch his breath.

“Young Master?”

There was no movement from Ethan on his back.

“This!”

He’d forgotten. That Ethan was sickly.

Schudlen moved furiously, not thinking of Ethan on his back, trying to avoid their opponent at all costs.

Moreover, it also occurred to him that the goblin riders’ arrows might have hit Ethan.

“Young Master!”

There was no answer from Ethan.

He then tried to put Ethan down.

“I’m okay. Put me down.”

Schudlen slowly set Ethan down.

Ethan was turning quite blue.

He said he was fine, but in his current state, he wouldn’t be able to kill even one of those goblin riders like earlier.

Kwaang!

“Go run away, try to get out of the forest somehow.”

“It’s no use, we’re already outpaced.”

“Then we have no choice but to die as we are. I don’t know for sure, but Young Master is not one to die in a place like this.”

In the short time he’d been with Ethan, Schudlen had seen glimpses of his extraordinary power.

Ethan was a man who could change the Whiskers family.

He couldn’t let him die here.

“I am indebted to the Count, and nothing would be better than to repay him here.”

Kwaaang!

The Goblin Rider King was getting closer and closer.

Schudlen made up his mind. He would buy time for Ethan to escape, and he would stay here and fight that monster.

He knew he would die on the battlefield someday, but he didn’t think it would be by a single monster.

But it didn’t matter now.

“Please run away……”

“What if I’m already thinking about dying here?”

Suddenly, Ethan’s eyes glowed.

A fearsome gleam in his sickly, crumbling body.

That was determination. Cold, hard determination.

Although, Ethan was not giving up on anything.

“But I have no intention of dying here.”

Kwaaang!

The Goblin Rider King maintained his terrifying momentum and knocked down the last tree in front of Ethan and Schudlen.

“Kiiik.”

Then, with a threatening cry, he raised the spear at his waist.

He dismounted from his horn hog and let out a louder sound as he realized that Ethan and Schudlen were no longer running.

At the same time, goblin riders began to arrive on both sides.

A complete encirclement.

There was no way to escape now. The goblin riders looked forward to seeing how their king would divide up the kill.

Schudlen despaired.

This is it. There was no more hope.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

But that didn’t mean he would let go of his sword.

He stepped forward and pointed the sword forward as if to protect Ethan.

Then Ethan stepped forward as well.

Schudlen stared at him in amazement. It must be hard for him to move.

How can he walk so strongly?

Ethan’s eyes were fixed on the Goblin Rider King.

‘His brow.’

The Goblin Rider King was about twice the size of a typical goblin. He was over two meters tall.

He would have to stretch out his hand to reach for the brow. But doing so would cause him to lose speed.

‘Shoulders.’

The red dot pointed to a very deep part of the Goblin Rider King’s shoulder.

It was also very high.

“Huuu.”

The giant Goblin Rider King laughed at the humans who seemed to be observing him. The other goblin riders echoed his laughter.

The crazed goblins’ laughter froze Schudlen in place for a moment.

Ethan breathed calmly. The Hero’s Breathing kept him calm in the face of death.

A desperate situation.

There was only one way out of this situation.

It was very simple. Kill the threat in front of him, this Goblin Rider King.

‘There is only one way.’

He put power into the sword in his hand.

All he could see was a sea of red weaknesses. All of them were hard to stab.

-Breathe. Steady. And be brave. All these trials are to make you stronger.

Then, the words of the hero, Hercules, came to his mind.

-Concentrate your breath and cut it in a single breath. This breath, drawn from the deepest part of your soul, is then exhaled with your hands.

In his mind, Hercules came to mind, and the things he showed on video came to mind.

The hero smashed huge boulders and chopped down trees the size of houses with a single blow.

There was no doubt there. There was only naturalness and conviction.

This was Hercules, making the impossible possible.

-Breathe deeply. Be confident in your strength. Be confident that you can slay the thing in front of you with a single blow, whether it’s a cannibalistic lion or a giant dragon guarding a golden tree. Such is the breath of a hero. That is what a hero is.

Before Ethan’s eyes, he saw the Goblin Rider King.

He saw the Goblin Rider King raise his hand in the air and bring his massive club down upon him.

It would be difficult for anyone but the strongest to survive a blow like that.

Swooooooooshhh!

Even amidst the crashing sound of the wind, Ethan calmly mulled over Hercules’ words.

Hercules was a violent and brutal god.

But the moment Ethan understood everything he said, he could embody the power of a hero.

Breathing and being sure.

There were trials in the path of a hero, and a hero did not crumble in the face of trials.

The club came down. At the same time, Ethan’s sword was also swung like a shot.

-Convince yourself that you are a hero the moment you take a breath.

“Understood.”

There was only one thing to cut.

He didn’t need to think about whether he could cut it or not, but when he decided to cut it, he cut it!

Baam!

The Goblin Rider King, which had been slashed diagonally, collapsed with a thud.

For a moment, the surroundings became eerily silent.

Then, slowly, Schudlen opened his mouth.

“My word.”

The goblin riders’ eyes grew wide with horror, and they began to panic.

What they felt was terror. Fear that their king had been killed in a single blow!

They began to back away slowly, trembling with fear.

And Ethan took a deep breath after cutting the Goblin Rider King with his sword.

“Come.”

Glaring at them with a mocking expression, the goblin riders turned in unison and began to flee.