This Hero is Sleeping!

Low grunts and whistles echoed in a turbulent cacophony as the files of goblins busied themselves with different tasks. Some of them fanned the hobgoblin leader while others prepared the meals for the night, which was nothing but dried up, rotting rounds of raw flesh.

A pair of goblins holding a large boar skewered into a stick on their shoulders moved closer to the flames when.

"Grah!"

"Kukk!"

The two of them fell to the ground and the boar tumbled over. Two large holes were lodged inside their head, but no weapon came in sight.

All the other goblins stopped and stared in alert as the dead boar rolled down the incline and crashed against one of the makeshift tents lined around.

"Kieek?!"

"Kieek! Kieeek!"

The monsters screamed.

Enemy.

An enemy was around.

They rushed to grab their stakes and clubs as the goblins gathered in a circle. The hobgoblin smacked its hands on its chair and screamed at them to look around.

At that very moment, the goblins noticed a slight rumble in the bushes.

Their attention shifted to the side. In a group, about seven goblins tiptoed to the edge of the settlement, walking up the incline with their bodies lowered and their weapons raised.

"HIYAAH!"

Like a bull rushing out in a ring, a muscular man came charging through the bushes. The spear tip of his halberd lodged itself into the stomach of the closest goblin.

"KIEEK!"

"KIEEEKIEEK!"

Startled, the other goblins dived toward the man.

The man swung his halberd to the side, tearing apart the goblin's small frame as the axe end of his halberd sliced through two goblins at once.

The hobgoblin scream and ten more stood up.

"COME HERE!" Jamie, the Halberd swinging adventurer screamed out loud.

With his every swing, the very air trembled. He twisted his torso and clenched all the muscles in his arm to strike down the approaching goblins, but the numbers weren't to be underestimated.

Just as one of the goblins came close to his back and raised its club. A piercing arrow zapped through the air and lodged itself in the goblin's head.

"Nice cover!" Jamie screamed and swung his halberd again. His every swing managed to take at least one goblin down or injure another, and each time his back was revealed to his enemies, his partner would lodge an arrow in their heads.

"KIEKIEK!" The hobgoblin screamed again. Of the sixty four goblins in the place, nineteen were already about to die. At the hobgoblin's command, every last one of them mobilized themselves. Some approached the halberd warrior while others looked for his backer.

Now came the tough part.

"Jamie! Aggro!" Quinton shouted from the trees.

Jamie landed a kick on the goblin in his way and shuffled ahead. His practiced footwork made it easy to even slide down on such an incline. As he neared the scattering numbers of goblins, he raised his halberd up high.

"[EARTH SPLIT]"

Jamie's halberd came thundering down the skies, and an earth-shattering roar sent the wind tumbling down.

In a single hit, a wide crack spread through the ground. Slithering below the goblins' feets, the wide crack danced down the incline and split the earth below in two halves for ten meters straight.

The goblins that were about to scatter all gulped down their saliva and screamed.

"KIEEK!"

"KIEEEEK!"

They screamed and raised their weapons, all the goblins, just shy of fifty in number, rushed toward Jamie.

"Ah… fuck! Claude!"

"Sheesh, aren't you excited?"

From above in the trees, where the light of the sun created a silhouette of a single man, a gentle voice sounded.

And in the next moment, Claude jumped down the trees and rolled on the ground, landing smack dab in the middle of the crowd of gathering goblins.

"Haha, stupid goblins never change."

"KIEEK!"

"KIIEEK!!"

Claude tightened his grip on his pitch black sword and lowered his stance till his body neared the height of the goblins' waists.

And then, he kicked off.

A cloud of dust formed midair as Claude rushed down the incline, right amidst the gathering goblins.

The goblins could only shriek as he charged down their path. Like a bullet zapping past the skies, Claude rushed down the line of goblins without bothering to avoid. His sword haphazardly swung on the sides and chopped down whatever was near.

"HAHA!"

"KIEEK!"

"KIEEEK!"

A high damage artillery shell. Claude culled down the numbers of the goblins by hitting one with every move as he charged ahead. His attacks would either chop off a goblin's head or its arms, either its stomach or its legs.

This was the power of [Wild Swordsmanship: Advanced]

As if a tango dancer tapping his feet, Claude relentlessly ran ahead and cut off every goblin. He neared the end of the group as the last one came right in front of him.

Claude jumped in the skies. His body performed a full flip as he turned upside-down—

"KIEEK!"

—And chopped off the head of the last goblin.

Claude's cape fluttered as he landed, but his charge didn't end. As if he hadn't even stopped, Claude warped his lips in a terrifying smile and ran ahead again.

"KIEEKEIEE!!" His target, the hobgoblin.

Arching around the huts, Claude rushed into the goblin from the sides.

The hobgoblin stood from its spot, and Claude's vision darkened.

"HM!"

The hobgoblin had thrown a pot straight at him. Claude moved slightly to the side when an arrow came speeding through the air.

A loud crash resounded as the arrow and the pot tangoed and broke into bits.

His charge undisturbed, Claude widened his smile and pounced on the hobgoblin.

The monster screamed and met Claude's sword with his club. A small spark flashed as the two weapons clashed.

Claude's lips raised upward in amusement.

He jumped back down to the ground and looked at the towering hobgoblin, thrice the size of normal goblins.

The monster swung its club down, and Claude lowered his body to dodged. The club came swinging back at a lower angle.

"Woah," Waving his hands, Claude bent his body back and avoided again. His hands landed on the ground, and Claude pushed himself ahead.

Claude kicked the hobgoblin square on its tusk before wrapping his feet around its neck.

"KIEEK!" The hobgoblin squealed in pain. Taking the opportunity, Claude pushed his body up. Now straddling the hobgoblin's neck, he flipped his sword to the back and started hammering it down the monster's head.

"There you go!"

"KIEEK!"

The hobgoblin, even in its confusion, managed to pull Claude's cape and yanked him back.

Claude jumped out and landed on a single foot, he leaned forward and then backward before stably stopping on the ground.

The hobgoblin had already raised its club.

Grinning, Claude twisted his sword and clashed with the monster's attack. Even though their positions were changed and the smaller one was on defense, there was no problem in blocking the attack.

"Kie!?"

The hobgoblin screamed in realization.

This human was just playing around.

"KIEE!"

"Haha, bring it!"

A crazed melee began as the hobgoblin and Claude clashed weapons with each other. Sparks constantly flowed out as their weapons crashed into each other.

Stones on the ground trembled as they stepped around, the huts to their sides collapsed with kicks flourishing. Blackish blood splattered over the ground as the hobgoblin was constantly bombarded by Claude.

Range and experience were one thing, but the hobgoblin was severely outclassed even in skill and strength.

The hobgoblin swung the club, Claude leaned back to dodge and raised his sword in a counter, but instead of avoiding, the hobgoblin dived in.

With a smirk, Claude accurately aimed a kick at the hobgoblin's groin.

"KIEE!"

"Not bad," the boy raised his sword and smiled wider than ever. "I rate you 0.1 Gardars!"

And stabbed the blade through the hobgoblin's neck.

"KIEE…."

The monster squealed and tried to reach out to Claude, but the boy wasn't done yet.

The jungle wasn't so kind to leave a mortal wound and walk away.

Claude pulled out his sword and punched the monster. In a hefty barrage of swings, he chopped off every part of the monster and ended it with a stab straight to the heart.

"W-way to go, Claude!"

A scream sounded from the distance. Quinton was showing him a thumbs up from the trees.

When Claude shrugged off the blood on his sword and looked back, only a dozen or so goblins were still remaining.

"Heh."

He hadn't used any, but it was quite interesting to see a fight with skills. Instead of just being used as an enhancer like he did, skills were useful to change the shape of the battle.

"Fun," he muttered and dived ahead again.

Whatever they were, bloodying his own hands was the best.