I’m not Goblin Slayer Chapter 050

“Watch out! There’s a monster coming!”

After confirming that the newcomer was not human, Gauss quickly reminded everyone who was engrossed in their “work.”

The second to discover the monster was Meva. Prompted by Gauss, she quickly locked onto the monster on the distant riverbank.

“Is it a ghoul? Or a fiend, even more powerful than a common ghoul?”

Upon seeing the target clearly, her normally calm heart immediately began to pound.

“What ghoul? Weren’t all the water ghouls killed by us?” Doyle, not far away, hadn’t reacted yet.

Following the direction indicated, he looked over, and as soon as he saw the target clearly, he instantly sprang up from the ground, his face pale with fright.

Unlike water ghouls, both ghouls and fiends were enemies that required professionals to deal with.

Everyone immediately put down their collecting work, quickly packed their belongings, and gathered together, feeling uneasy.

Although ghouls, like water ghouls, were keen on scavenging, their strength was far beyond what weak water ghouls could ever hope to compare to. In fact, for most low-level adventurers, they were formidable opponents capable of wiping out an entire team.

Moreover, its appearance was different from the loose and flabby water ghouls; it looked more like a well-trained, tall, and formidable warrior.

“Don’t panic, I think the situation isn’t that bad,” Meva observed for a moment, then slowly spoke.

Firstly, this might be a lone ghoul. Secondly, it didn’t seem like it was preparing to attack them, otherwise, it wouldn’t be walking so openly from the riverbank.

Although ghouls were monsters that only professionals could deal with, they were, after all, a six-person team with reasonably well-equipped gear. A ghoul not in a pack might not necessarily be willing to attack.

After all, living beings had the instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm.

Of course, the most crucial point was that the nearly 20 rotting water ghoul corpses on the ground were already enough for it to feed on.

“Yes, it probably just wants to drive us away,” Gauss also realized.

The initial confusion about the unusually high number of water ghouls counted now made perfect sense.

Presumably, they had fallen victim to this ghoul.

Everyone felt a little more at ease, but they still gathered together, cautiously on guard.

“Don’t run away rashly, that might provoke it. Retreat slowly, we can’t outrun it,” Levin’s cold sweat poured down, but he still remembered to remind them. “At the same time, be prepared for a fight.”

The ghoul’s movements looked slow, but they were not. Before long, it arrived in front of the open space.

“Get out! Get far away!” The ghoul raised its head, a pair of crimson eyes gazing at everyone, its long tongue flicking, uttering obscure Common Speech from its mouth.

Its gloomy, hoarse tone was like an old dog snarling.

Whether it was its terrifying appearance or the predatory aura it exuded, everyone felt uneasy after hearing its not-so-fluent Common Speech, as if they had suffered mental contamination.

Cold sweat continuously beaded on their foreheads.

“Are we, are we going to fight?” Doyle’s hand, gripping his sword, trembled slightly from fright, but he still looked left and right at his teammates, asking for their opinions.

“No, we retreat.” Without any hesitation, Gauss and the others made the same decision in unison.

Although he had gained increased agility and mastered a new spell, [Mage Armor], Gauss had no inflated idea of fighting the creature before him.

Of course, if it truly came to a fight, he wouldn’t be afraid, but it was clear that the situation hadn’t reached a life-or-death point yet.

Especially since the aura emanating from the ghoul opposite them was not weak.

Even if they might ultimately win, the team would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses.

Retreat was not shameful, but a wise move.

Doyle also breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone gave up the water ghoul corpses, facing the ghoul, weapons in hand, cautiously retreating slowly.

Meva was responsible for observing the rear, to prevent it from being a trap or an ambush from enemies hiding behind them.

However, this concern never materialized, even as they retreated dozens of meters and the ghoul began to pounce on the water ghoul corpses, devouring them in large gulps.

Only after they were far away did they accelerate their pace towards the village.

“Phew—”

Seeing the dim yellow lights again, their chests heaving violently from running, hearts pounding, everyone finally completely relaxed upon returning to the civilized settlement.

“We actually survived!” Oliver wiped the sweat from his forehead, not feeling ashamed of showing his joy at having escaped death.

They were just a group of low-level adventurers who hadn’t embarked on a professional path; escaping from a ghoul like that was already something to be celebrated.

In fact, if one was thick-skinned enough, this incident could even become a topic of conversation in a tavern, red-faced and drunk.

“What, you’re too lame,” Doyle straightened his back, pretending to be calm. “I wasn’t scared at all. If you guys hadn’t said we should retreat, I would have already been ready to fight.”

“If your hand stops shaking, that sentence would have a tiny bit of persuasiveness,” Meva glanced at him expressionlessly, silently retorting.

Gauss followed her gaze and saw that his hand was indeed shaking violently, whether it was from being too tired from running with the sword or from fear.

But no matter what, Doyle, caught red-handed, couldn’t explain himself now. He just kept shaking his hand and mumbling, repeatedly emphasizing that he was tired from running, not scared.

“Alright, let’s go to the tavern first and tell Harvey, the tavern owner, what just happened,” Levin also felt a sense of relief at having narrowly escaped death, but he quickly adjusted his mindset.

The impact of the ghoul’s appearance was not yet over.

Although they had fortunately escaped, this time there was readily available food, which made the ghoul’s hunting desire not very strong. But without those water ghoul corpses, it would truly have been a desperate situation.

Moreover, they had completed their mission and could leave at any time, but what about the residents living here?

They had to explain the situation clearly to the locals, so they could decide whether to go to the Adventurers’ Guild and repost the ghoul quest.

In addition, although they had killed the water ghouls and completed the mission, they hadn’t had time to collect all the spoils.

The number of items in their backpacks that could prove the mission’s completion was also slightly insufficient, which also needed to be explained to Harvey.

Their quest was not yet completely finished.

They arrived at the only tavern in the village.

As one of the few entertainment venues in the village, the Mermaid Tavern was brightly lit with candles, much livelier than during the day.

Bearded ship merchants drank heartily from ceramic bowls, letting out satisfied sighs; sailors, red-faced, rattled dice cups, constantly shouting out numbers; drunken, shirtless middle-aged men with hairy chests danced in the narrow hall…

The tavern was a scene of noise and chaos.

“Creak—”

The moment the door was kicked open by a boot.

Before the people outside had even stepped in, a strong, foul fishy smell immediately wafted into the tavern.

A hazy drunkard leaning against the wooden tavern door, already startled and annoyed by the sound of the door opening, was now hit full in the face by this overwhelming stench. His face, already red from drinking, instantly turned crimson!

“Where did this stinking beggar come from! Get out!”

“Smack!”

The drunkard’s swinging arm was firmly caught by a large hand.

Everyone looked towards the doorway.

Moonlight spilled through the crack in the door, revealing a team of tall adventurers covered in grime. Upon closer inspection, one could even see indescribable organ fragments like internal organs, intestines, blood clots, and scabs in the gaps of their armor. For a moment, the few people in the eyes of the onlookers seemed like demons walking out of hell.

The previously noisy tavern patrons were immediately scared into silence by this scene, as if their throats had been constricted.