Red Toe Goblin Village Clear!

The goblin village wasn't that big, only about ten huts or so, with one slightly larger in the center, close to where Hotes and Fotes had ended up after charging into the village. The huts were also quite evenly spaced out, so there was a lot of room between them for Ritzy to see what was happening.

But the huts had Ritzy thinking. The larger one in the middle was obviously a sign there was someone with a greater status than the rest. It could also be some kind of meeting hall. In any case, there were clear signs of civilization beyond merely building huts and putting up a fence.

The huts also seemed to be decently made, which indicated a basic understanding of construction.

However, the goblin that Ritzy had seen attack Gerhart was nothing more than a mindless, crazed beast. It showed no signs of rationality or the capability of building a hut. But there was no way he could figure out the reason, even if he did notice it, so Ritzy put it aside for the moment.

The two skeletons he had summoned were much more interesting.

Ritzy hadn't expected much when he summoned them, even if he had looked forward to it. He had been happy they stuck around, but they weren't exactly the most trustworthy skeletons with their attitude and blatant disregard for Ritzy, their summoner. There was also the limb displacement issue.

But Hotes and Fotes turned out to be unexpectedly reliable as they tore into the goblins.

Since quick summoning could be a hit-or-miss kind of ritual, Ritzy had expected it would be a miss, especially considering his past summoning attempts.

Maybe quick summoning was his specialization. It would be a shame since the undead summoned that way only lasted for a short while, hence the name of the method.

But it would be a whole lot better to summon useful skeletons regularly than weird freaks who melted, flew off, or exploded, even if they were only temporary.

However, it could also have been that he was simply lucky and managed to summon a pair of useful skeletons.

Ritzy sighed as he kept watching the two skeletons. He had a lot of experimenting to do before he could begin spreading his reputation as the necromancer that would surpass the Dark One.

After a while, Ritzy noticed something regarding the two skeletons.

Although they injured and hit the goblins all over their bodies, their only real target was the goblins' hands and feet.

Hotes only targeted the goblins' feet, and Fotes only cared about the goblins' hands.

The handsy skeleton scampered all over the goblins' bodies with relative ease, thanks to the four hands that helped him move like a spider. That alone did damage to the goblins since Hotes' grip strength was powerful enough to bruise the goblins' skin.

Even if Hotes didn't bruise or break any bones on the goblins' upper bodies, his fingers still slipped into their eye-sockets and popped their eyes. It also happened occasionally that Hotes' fingers found their way into the goblins' pointed noses and tore them off.

But all of that happened in passing. Hotes' main target was the feet and ankles. And each goblin he hopped on suffered the fate of having Hotes crush their feet either by grabbing it or slamming a skeletal fist on it.

Despite the distance, Ritzy was pretty sure he could see Hotes' ghastly spirit fire blossom with each successful goblin crippled.

Fotes wasn't much better as he smashed the feet on his arms into the goblins' arms each chance he got.

The only one who didn't care too much about where on the goblins he hit was Gerhart.

Ritzy didn't see Gerhart for a while after he took down his first goblin, so he was a little worried. But Gerhart wouldn't have gone down without a fight. And if he was really desperate, he would have shouted. Ritzy trusted Gerhart.

And when Gerhart reappeared on one of the huts' roofs, the reason behind his temporary absence became clear.

Gerhart hadn't expected much, but he had still entered the huts in search of arrows.

The first goblin's madness spoke against such dexterous activities. So did the plains they were in. But it was obvious the dungeon's setting didn't make much sense. If there could be huts and a fence of wood, mud, and reeds, why couldn't there be arrows?

Gerhart wasn't even disheartened when he didn't find arrows in the first hut and kept looking. He was happy he did since he found an entire quiver and a bow in one of the huts.

The arrows were too short for his bow, but the goblin bow was too small for him. But the only thing that the arrows' size did was prevent Gerhart from fully drawing his bow. Thankfully, he didn't need that to launch the arrows across the village and into the hearts and heads of the goblins.

Compared to engaging in a melee battle and stabbing a goblin to death, Gerhart found it a lot easier to shoot them from a distance.

Imagining they were practice targets or prey made Gerhart feel less resistant to shooting and killing them, even if they looked like small, green humans.

Gerhart continued drawing and releasing his bow, letting an arrow fly each time. Not all arrows struck true since it was such a chaotic brawl in the middle of the village and because Gerhart wasn't used to that kind of shooting, even more so when using ill-fitting arrows.

But eventually, thanks to Gerhart and the two skeletons, only a single goblin, slightly larger than the others had been, remained. That goblin was also the one with the clearest red toe on its left foot.

The toe practically shone bright red, even while bathed in the blood of its kin. Or maybe it was because it had bathed in blood.

The big goblin with a bright red big toe was noticeably stronger than the rest of the goblins in the village had been, and it put up a valiant fight. But it was too little too late.

With the other goblins already dead, the Red-Toe goblin was forced to defend against the assault of both skeletons and Gerhart all on its own.

It did manage to land a couple of blows on the skeletons before succumbing. But the injuries it inflicted were a couple of broken ribs and several fractured bones. It was nothing fatal. And since they were undead, it wasn't even debilitating or incapacitating.

The goblin fell down with a bloody thump. Dead.

Red-Toe Goblin Village Clear.