Satoshi, the owner of a large business and the merchant caravans, was in a great mood.
Just a couple of weeks ago, he had struck a major deal, earning him a whole caravan full of Ryo, gold, precious materials, and other goods.
The value of the entire haul he was carrying in the caravans was no less than a few hundred million Ryo. It was a huge amount. His actual profit was no less than a hundred million Ryo in money, gold, and precious metals.
This one deal had earned him more than the total profits his business generated in the last six months.
Naturally, Satoshi was happy.
However, carrying such a large amount of money and goods also meant he would be ambushed by several bandits, robbers, and even malicious individuals who had already unlocked chakra.
Additionally, in this world that was filled with countless dangerous chakra beasts, a commoner with little to no combat power like him could easily turn into dinner for some random chakra beast.
Even though he was following relatively safer routes, danger could strike him at any moment.
Naturally, to protect his life and his assets, he chose to hire a large group of capable samurai and several ninjas from independent ninja clans.
The group had fifteen samurai—eight samurai cadets with the combat power of Elite Genin and seven full-fledged samurai with combat power ranging from Chunin to Elite Chunin to weaker Special Jonin.
The group from the independent ninja clan had seven ninjas—three Genin, three Chunin, and one Special Jonin.
Apart from them, the caravans were also protected by nearly three dozen regular guards with strong physiques.
However, these guards were everyday people who had either unlocked chakra but relied on brute force to fight, or had an incredibly strong physique but had not unlocked chakra.
In short, Satoshi and his goods were thoroughly protected.
Even if a random bandit or a group of five or six ferocious C-rank chakra beasts showed up, his hired guards, samurai, and ninjas would simply slaughter them as easily as killing a helpless chicken.
In fact, his guard group had already wiped out quite a few of the band of robbers and low-rank chakra beasts that tried to attack him.
They were killed before they could even get inside the 10-meter radius of him or his caravan full of goods.
Naturally, the Merchant Satoshi was brimming with confidence. His mood was cheerful, and he was already planning his next venture to make even more money.
The whole atmosphere around him was harmonious and joyful.
Unfortunately, this harmonious and joyful atmosphere was interrupted by a series of crooked, eerie laughter and oddly malicious shrieks.
"Keke…"
"Kekekekekeke…"
"Hihihihihi…"
"Scrieeeeeeee…"
The eerie and chilling laughter quickly caught Satoshi's attention. And it was the same for every member traveling with him, including his assistants, employees, guard unit, and the group of samurai and Shinobi.
All of them turned their heads simultaneously to figure out the source of the chilling laughter.
And what they saw sent chills down their spines.
They saw a group of green-skinned, yellow-eyed, bipedal monsters of various shapes and sizes watching them while letting out eerie chuckles.
They had sharp teeth, bald heads, pointy ears, hooked noses, and menacing claws. Each of them was carrying at least one metal or stone weapon, including swords, bows, arrows, spears, axes, and clubs.
Ugly. Revolting. Menacing.
Their sheer number exceeded Seimei's and his team's initial judgment.
The twenty goblins and hobgoblins they had initially spotted were just one group. They had a couple of more groups of goblins, which surrounded the merchant caravans from different directions.
Even without counting, Satoshi, the merchant, estimated that there were at least 60 goblins.
Among them, they had at least ten B-rank hobgoblins. The rest were C-rank goblins and a handful of D-rank weak goblins.
"Where the hell did so many monsters pop out from?" Satoshi cursed as he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
The hired ninjas' and samurai's expressions were also grim.
The C-rank goblins? They could handle them. But how the heck were they supposed to resist the joint attack of no less than ten hobgoblins that were radiating killing intent and chakra akin to B-rank monsters?
If they wanted to survive, they had to use every single one of their trump cards, including extremely costly explosive tags.
The situation was indeed dire.
The normal guard unit was literally panicking.
Fortunately for Satoshi, the group of samurai and ninjas wasn't afraid and was ready to fight the incoming enemy with all they had.
So what if the number of enemies outnumbered and outmatched them?
As long as they were breathing, they would try every possible way to bring these hideous and vile chakra beasts down.
That was how they had worked during the Warring States Era. And that was exactly what they were about to do now.
Besides, the Special Jonin-level samurai and Shinobi could contend with the multiple B-rank hobgoblins. If they worked smartly, they would surely find a way to break through.
However, reality wasn't a fairy tale. The goblins didn't give them time to organize their troops.
The moment the melee weapon-wielding goblins neared the merchant caravans, they snarled and charged forward.
"Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…"
Meanwhile, the goblin archers stayed in their place and prepared to fire volleys of arrows to kill or distract the enemies in front of them.
A little more than forty goblins charged forward, including six B-rank hobgoblins. The remaining goblins and hobgoblins that stayed behind were archers and a reserve force, ready to sneak attack the vulnerable humans as soon as they showed their weaknesses.
Goblins might be cruel, murdering species, but at B-rank, even they could instinctively control the battlefield and employ clever tactics to some extent.
Although in most cases, those tactics were incredibly crude in the presence of trained ninjas and samurai.
But they were a nuisance on the battlefield, nonetheless.
Seeing the incoming monsters, the samurai leader barked orders, both to his samurai unit and the guard unit containing ordinary but able-bodied men.
"Guard Unit, use shield formation to protect the client and the caravans. Those who have unlocked their chakra and know how to reinforce their bodies come with us to face these critters."
"Follow my orders if you want to have even the slightest chance to stay alive."
"My fellow samurai brothers, charge forward and slay the goblins. For hobgoblins, full-fledged samurai must form a team of two to face one of them. Kill it. If that's not possible, stall it."
"I will personally handle at least two hobgoblins. Do not fear your enemies. Charge. Charge."
Meanwhile, the leader of the group of independent ninjas was rather calm as he scanned the battlefield and the enemies in front of him with a cool, chilling gaze.
His six subordinates were standing behind him, waiting for his orders to engage with the goblins.
The Shinobi leader began to speak without even turning his head back.
"I will take on two of those larger green-skinned beasts. They should be B-rank, but manageable."
Then, he turned toward two Chunin-level ninjas in his team and continued, "You two…"
"Try to hold back or kill the other large one as much as possible, or create opportunities for others to deal a deadly blow to it. We have plenty of explosive tags. One direct hit should kill it or at least injure it severely."
"As for the rest of you…fight with everything you have got. But be smart."
"Don't try to fight head-on. We are ninjas. Use your brains."
"Use everything you have to deal severe blows to these ugly freaks. Explosive tags, sealed Jutsu, explosive bombs, kunai, your trump cards—you're free to use them however you want."
"Don't try to be frugal here. Otherwise, we might not survive."
His subordinates nodded solemnly.
He smiled and issued the final order, "The guard unit is protecting the merchant. But don't let the enemies bypass you."
"Alright. Charge."
After issuing his final command, he, too, dashed forward with explosive speed. His figure blurred as he used the Body Flicker Technique to launch a surprise attack on the B-rank hobgoblins.
The other six ninjas also charged forward, ready to unleash their deadly weapons and skills.
Before them, the able-bodied civilian guards who had unlocked chakra and the samurai had already stepped forward and engaged with the goblins.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the air as the blades of humans and goblins met.
All of them fought fiercely.
The hired ninjas also stepped toward.
Two Chunin-level ninjas pulled out a total of four kunai covered with explosive tags and threw them in an isolated place filled with goblins, but no humans.
The goblins, however, were sharp. They swept their weapons to deflect the incoming kunai further from them.
Unfortunately, even though they had deflected two kunai with explosive tags into the air, the other two landed on the bodies of the goblins.
"Scrieeeeeeeee…"
The wounded goblins screamed in pain with a voice that sounded extremely grating to the ears. They sensed danger from the tags attached to the kunai and tried to remove them.
But it was too late.
The explosive tags flared up and exploded with a loud boom.
BOOOOOOOM!!
The resulting shockwave tore through the two injured goblins, while the searing hot, crimson fire spread around them.
Three C-rank goblins around them were caught in the fire and explosion, causing all five goblins to die.
As for the other goblins? They wisely retreated in time.
However, such surprise attacks were unlikely to work again.
These little green critters were quick on their feet. They were agile, had impressive reflexes, and learned from their mistakes, signaling just how powerful their combat instincts were.
The fight continued for several minutes.
Blood spilled. Flesh was sliced. Bones were broken.
Both the monsters and the humans had casualties.
Out of forty charging goblins, more than half of them were dead, including two B-rank ones.
On the human side, four samurai cadets and three samurai were dead. Meanwhile, on the independent ninja group's side, two Genin and one Chunin had died in the battle.
However, the guard unit suffered from the highest number of casualties.
At least a dozen of them died. And the remaining fighters who charged in had suffered from numerous injuries.
The casualties on the human group's side shouldn't have been this severe. But the goblin archers in the back weren't idle. They fired arrow after arrow.
Although most of them were a miss, the arrows still distracted the humans and even scored some kills.
Plus, the goblins still had more than twenty-five fighters in the back, who didn't charge forward.
The merchant Satoshi's eyes were filled with dread.
If no miracle happened, he would probably die here.
The mood of ninjas and samurai was equally grim.
Meanwhile, from the top of the cliff, Seimei and his group were watching the battle without moving a limb.
Haneda said, "I say Seimei, if we don't intervene now, things can be troublesome to handle later. At least, we still have some force fighting now."
Touma snorted. "It doesn't matter. One Fireball is all it will take me to reduce these ugly bastards to ashes."
Hearing this, Haneda rolled his eyes. "Don't spout nonsense. When has your Great Fireball Technique ever scored a proper hit against a B-rank chakra beast?"
Touma was about to retort, but Seimei intervened.
Seimei stood up, dusted his clothes, and said, "Well, boys. It's about time to join the battle. We need some goblins alive to find clues, too, don't we?"
"Gear up."
"Today, we will be the goblin slayers!"
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