"Huff... Huff... Huff..." A village girl who looked around 16 years old is currently in the woods nearby a small farming village, running with all her might.

The reason she's running so desperately? It's because she's being chased by three Goblins. The villagers had warned her not to go into the woods by herself since it's been getting more dangerous lately.

She did not heed their warning and went to the woods to play with the wild beasts. Ever since she was young, she had been on friendly terms with the beasts in the woods so she never thought of the woods as a dangerous place to be.

However, when she entered the woods today, she picked up a faint smell of blood, so she decided to approach and observe the situation sneakily. When she got closer to the location, the stench of blood becomes heavier and what unveiled before her eyes was......

A group of Goblin surrounding a wild boar and attacking it systematically. It was very unusual for Goblins to work together in such an organized fashion. The one commanding these group of Goblins was a black-skinned Goblin with weird crimson-colored tattoos all over its body.

It was an unbelievable sight, Goblins are known as the weakest monsters in the world, it should be impossible for a Goblin to take down a wild boar who was ten times their size. It might be possible if there were ten or more Goblins working together, but there's only three Goblins present at the moment. They had not suffered any casualties nor were they injured in the slightest.

The wild boar on the other hand, was covered in deep wounds all over its body and blood dripped down unceasingly. Its legs were very unsteady, it seemed as if it would collapse at any moment now.

The black Goblin was distracting the wild boar while commanding the other two Goblins to attack its flank. The female Goblin threw rocks at the wild boar's joint, then the other Goblin rammed the wild boar at the same time, causing it to collapse on the ground. Just when the black Goblin was about to deliver the finishing blow, the village girl jumped out from the bush she was hiding in and provoked the Goblins.

It would be fine if it was just any other wild boar, but that wild boar was her friend. As proof, there's a ribbon attached to the left hind leg of the wild boar. How could she do nothing when her friend was about to be killed in front of her own eyes?

Somehow, she managed to provoke the Goblins by snatching the loincloth that covered the private parts of the black one. The black one was very pissed, but the female goblin seems to be very pleased at the eye-candy though. At the command of the black Goblin, they started chasing the girl and left their bounty behind.

And now we are back to the current situation; The village girl was grabbing the black Goblin's loincloth on her arms and race towards the village with all her might. Two angry Goblins and one gleeful female Goblin were pursuing closely behind her.

The village girl ran, ran, and ran...... she ran with all her might. Due to the difference in heights between her and the Goblins, she was naturally faster than them. She was evidently increasing the gaps between her and the Goblins. However, her luck wasn't so good as she stumbled upon a root and fell face forward.

She tried to get up immediately, but she heard the sound of the Goblins getting closer behind her, so she turned her body around immediately, and saw the black Goblin was currently jumping towards her with his fist at the ready.

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Just when she was about to shout out loud, another ear-piercing scream came from the sky. She was dumbfounded and turned her attention towards the sky. The Goblin trio was just as dumbfounded as the girl and started to survey their surrounding.

"Plik! Plak! Plik! Plak!"

Before long, the sound of tree branches breaking could be heard and plenty of broken twigs and leaves were falling from the sky. The village girl, as well as the Goblin trio were looking at the scene before them with gaping mouth.

A girl was falling from the sky and using the tree branches and vines to cushion her fall.

***

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm SOOO dead!!” As I was falling, I keep shouting this line as if it was a curse.

"Oh shut up already, you will really be dead if you keep believing so. Miracle will only happens to those who believe it." Sylvidia reprimanded me as I kept muttering the cursed words.

Just at this time, I was reminded of a certain character I read about in a certain Light Novel ⌈1⌋. When he was undergoing a life and death situation, he was able to barely escape death because there was someone he cared about and refused to die. He was able to overcome his death because there was someone he wanted to protect.

But how about me? When I was in the face of death, I gave up all hopes and stopped resisting when we were facing the Abyss Beasts, if Mister Milton didn't intervene, I'm sure we would be dead by now. I'm ashamed at my own weakness... Not only am I physically weak, my mind was also just as weak. If I have someone I genuinely wanted to protect, will I become stronger too?

Do I have someone like that? My family? I do want to see them again... I believe that as long as I am alive, there should be plenty of chances that I could meet them again, even whilst I'm in this form. I think it would be funny when I meet my parent in this form, hehe.

How about Sheena? I just met her yesterday but she already spent so much fortune on me, I can't die yet until I repay all the debts I owe her. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to rest easy in my grave!

I braced myself and sharpened my eyes after thinking thus far, I prepared myself to brace the impact for when I'm falling into the woods. I will use the branches and tree vines to cushion my fall like a certain protagonist!

"Hoh~ That's a nice expression you got there! It seems like you have found your resolves. If you can get through this, you will surely get stronger! Now, brace yourselves for impact!!" Sylvidia noticed the changes in me and offered a few words of encouragement.

"Raaaaaaaarghhhh!!!" I let out a battle howl as I fell into the woods......

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Author's Note:

......

Well... this chapter just took an unexpected turn......

The face-off against the black Goblin... coming soon... or not so soon......

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References:

1. In case you're wondering which Light Novel was I referring to, I was talking about Overlord.