I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 230: Supposed Victory

Chapter 230: Supposed Victory

Irene didn’t have her bow with her, but she unsheathed her sword nonetheless. Leif did the same, and they stood there, waiting for the hell that was slowly approaching them.

The least they could do was pull the boxes of dishes onto the shore so that none of their valuable supplies floated downstream.

After that, they both sprinted to where the others stood in front of the cooking area on the southeastern end. The squires and apprentices left there had their weapons drawn.

Sir Gunnar and Sir Sven both rushed to their apprentices and gestured for them to follow. They handed them shields as they passed the armory tent that stood just south of the ancient wall—it being placed meticulously so that it was always guarded by the wall but also a convenient place for people to grab weapons as they passed.

It seemed that more about the tunnels supposedly leading to the Duke’s Tower couldn’t be explored further now that more monsters had appeared.

The sight before them was rather strange.

Droves of goblins surrounded ogres who seemed to only want to escape. It further solidified the thought that the goblins were eating ogres in the valley on their scouting trip.

There was no time for realization as the girl raised her sword for the first time.

The knights and apprentices worked in pairs as they guarded each other’s backs. They both stood halfway towards the oncoming monsters so that they would have equal amounts to handle. His right and her left side were towards the camp, while the opposite was towards the incoming hell.

Irene pushed forth her shield so that she could cleanly slash a goblin’s chest that stood taller than her. She only separated herself from her knight so that she could stab its throat and ensure it wasn’t getting back up.

The next was thrown away from her with her shield. It was thrown towards another knight, who took care of it so Irene could focus on the two next.

She felt Gunnar step closer to her until their backs were truly pressed against one another. Something must have tried to get between them, but she couldn’t focus on that. Since he was wearing full armor, she hoped he couldn’t feel the fact that she was still quite wet from the stream.

"Push this way!" Gunnar shouted.

Their two shields practically overlapped as they pushed further into the goblins and held their shields high so that they only had to slice down those that came around the other side. Since these goblins were a bit taller than the usual ones in the forests further in the duchy, they had little worry that something would attack from below.

"They’re focused on the ogres and less on us. Let’s do what we can to take down the ogres instead," Gunnar insisted. "Go for its armpit. It has wooden armor on its chest."

The thing about Sir Gunnar’s mastery in battle, Irene wholeheartedly trusted his direction.

It was true.

When she was able to pull her eyes away from the goblins that surrounded them, she realized they weren’t actually trying to stab at the humans. They were starved and trying to take down an ogre-sized meal.

Effectively, they were helping the humans take the ogre. However, their lack of complex thoughts—while still smarter than the average goblin—made them unaware of the fact that the humans who helped them take down an ogre had attacks ready for the goblins on the other side.

Irene and Gunnar only separated when their pushing led them to the back of one of the ogres.

In a split-second decision, Irene stepped on the bulbous calf muscle of the ogre that stepped backwards. She used it for leverage to jump and sink her sword in the monster’s armpit.

Her sword was embedded deep in the monster’s flesh. She dropped her shield and went for the multi-purpose knife that was tucked into another part of her belt. She lost the sheath so that she could keep stabbing into him.

Once relying on the sword to keep her stuck to the monster, she then relied on the smaller sword.

When the arming sword was out of its flesh, she was satisfied at the dark blood that poured out with the beating of what had to be the monster’s heart.

However, with much less to hang onto with a smaller blade embedded into the monster, the swinging of its arm was more impactful to the girl.

She was tossed to the side like discarded scraps.

The only thing that caught her fall was the body of already fallen monsters. She was relieved to have that, or she could have easily broken something being tossed that far and onto hard ground.

Gunnar rushed forward, having witnessed her throwing her shield, then getting tossed. He handed her the shield he had retrieved and then helped her up.

"You did good," he complimented as his eyes went to the ogre that was now down on a knee with blood pouring out of its body and onto the ground. "That was mostly you."

There was no time to stand still as the goblins kept moving forward.

However, this time it was like slashing down puppies that were feeding off their mother. They were entirely vulnerable. The goblins were sinking whatever they could into the fallen ogre to get a few bites of flesh. The knights and apprentices took the opportunity to kill off the goblins while they were desperate for food.

Merely seeing it made Irene want to throw up, but she had to press on.

When the other ogre was down, mostly due to knights on horseback, it was much the same for them. It was a mass genocide of goblins that day, and one of the more effective battles they had.

As usual, quite a few escaped back to the foothills, but Irene was starting to feel a bit happier at the outcome. The bodies of the monsters were starting to pile high.

Even the others seemed a bit lighter than battles past.

That was until she heard the familiar shouting of someone she cared deeply about.