The Dandelions were carefully moving forward in a battle-ready formation until they've reached a clearance in the forestation...

"What in the fuck...?!"

...because as soon as they got there, they saw what was the cause of the battle sounds that have lead them there.

It wasn't a clash between two forces of monsters and neither was it a newborn champion nor a king trying to amass an army of lower-ranked monsters.

*SWOOOOOOSH*

*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP*

A gigantic black blade was tearing apart dozens of goblins in one swing as if the green humanoid monsters were made out of paper-mache.

*SPLASH*

"...kghhhh! (Man-thing not child...!) Khhgragh! (Danger..! danger..!) Khhgraghg! (Back! All back...!)"

As the vile blood and gore of the bisected creatures from the first line rained down upon goblins in the back, a ranked-up monster, a hobgoblin holding a crystal ball screeched in a high-pitched voice while already skulking away from the ridiculously large weapon that was already in full swing again.

"KHAHAHAHAHA! Already?! But you just came here with the backup!"

The person wielding the weapon laughed maniacally and all of a sudden the weapon in their hand flashed white and changed from the enormous two-handed ultra greatsword into a scimitar – a one-handed sword shaped like a dragon's wing.

With its reach massively reduced, it seemed like the person decided to reduce the scale of their attack.

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

...yet that was exactly what they didn't do.

Instead, they let go of the weapon's handle and grabbed it by the red strings attached to the pommel, and began swinging it around like a whip, dismembering the nasty green monster from an even greater range.

*shing*

*plop*

"KHHHHGHAAAAGH...! (NOOOOOO...!)"

The hobgoblin cried out and tried to cast a magic spell at its opponent but as soon as its crystal ball lighted up and began gathering flames for a fireball, a single stray attack cut off both of its hands which flopped on the soft, goblins-blood covered moss.

"KGH...! (YOU...!)"

*SPLAT*

Whatever the unlucky hobgoblin had to say would forever remain a mystery since as soon as it opened its mouth, its opponent got to it in just a few incredibly quick steps and turned its head into a grotesque version of a smashed watermelon with a single well-aimed kick.

With yet another flash of white light, the scimitar turned into a simple one-handed sword just before the small warrior rushed into the remenants of the goblin's group that came to avenge their nest that got destroyed while they were out to claim the new territories.

*swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing* *swing*

The high-level blade storm ended up working like a blender making a smoothie with the only exception that there was goblins' flesh and bones instead of fruits and goblins' blood instead of milk.

Also, there were no walls so all of it just freely splashed around covering the moss, trees, and all the other vegetation with a fresh new and thick layer of goblins' gore.

"..."

Uresha slowly lowered her large shield – that had chunks of goblins stuck to it - and had a look at the horror-esque scene of pure carnage.

"Holy fuck, what is this kid...?!"

The wide-eyed Liars asked while she was the first out of the other four Dandelions to step away from the safety of Uresha's large body they all used as a barrier.

"Shut your mouth, idiot! As if this could have been done by some kid! This guy must be a banished dwarf or something! Don't get him angry!"

Shanks scoffed at the mage while not so keen to get away from the large tank.

"A dwarf?!"

In're gasped in disbelief and curiously peeked at the short brown-haired person that dealt with a small army of goblins – at least that what it looked like when judging the number of green corpses, both those finely chopped as well as those merely bisected.

"...? Huh...?"

Suddenly the supposed dwarf flinched and looked their way with a grim expression.

"Ah, he spotted us... Oh well, he has the emblem of an adventurer, he shouldn't be..."

Shanks breathed out in relief spotting the small, flimsy-made badge attached to one of the leather straps of the supposed dwarf's barrel-like armor.

...but then the dwarf turned to them with a ferocious grimace and pulled his hand back as if he was readying himself to throw his weapon right at them.

"...hostile?! EVERYONE DODGE!"

Shanks gasped and instantly shouted talking Uresha, nearly twice his height, and pushing her away while the other three spread around like a flock of scared pigeons.

*SWOOOOSH*

The one-handed sword cut through the air as if it was the perfectly balanced throwing knife and...

*THUMP*

Burrowed deep into the body of its shocked victim...!

"Kkhggghh... (H-how did you... know...?)

The hobgoblin that got impaled with the thrown sword through the chest appeared out of nowhere a few feet behind the cowering Dandelions and turned back to ask the supposed dwarf while the bloody foam was bubbling up in the corners of its mouth.

"The idiot mage surely wasn't the leader, he barely had the intelligence necessary to make a coherent sentence, I'm surprised that he could actually use magic."

"...?"

"Is... is he talking to a fucking monster...?"

The supposed dwarf smirked and shrugged his shoulders while the Dandelions looked at each other taken aback.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but you weren't that smart too, using humans as a living shield to get away from me – it was so painfully obvious... if you went in any other direction you would have gotten away - your stealth was surprisingly good."

"Kh... (I...)"

The supposed dwarf shook his head and snapped his wrist making the red strings connecting him to the sword piercing through the monster contract like a snake and...

*SHING*

*SPLASH*

The wave-like motion caused the embedded blade to break free by chopping upwards tight through the flesh and bones of the hobgoblin rogue as soon as he opened his mouth.

"..."

*thump*

The monster with its torso split open like a gruesome flower took a forward before falling down on his knees and dying while letting out a soft sigh.

"Hmph."

The supposed dwarf caught the sword that came flying right back at him and took out a clean handkerchief to clean up the blade from all the blood.

"You did a very good job, Kopia. Thank you."

The supposed dwarf smiled softly while looking at the simple sword before sliding it into an expensive-looking sheath of the highest quality.

"..."

Then he straightened his back and squinted his eyes at the five flabergasted adventurers, of which two – Uresha and Shanks – found themselves in a rather compromising position, with the short man on top of the tall woman.

"Sucks to be you, Marshmallow, the damned armor, right?"

The supposed dwarf smirked mischievously and nodded at the Dandelion's tank.