Of course I don't retreat far, I simply move around to attack from a different direction. Although, these constant hit-and-run battles are making me use a lot more sacred power. I am not sure if I am going to be able to finish off all the goblins before I run out.

The armor and weapons that I was given as a captain are already broken beyond repair. Once I run out of sacred power and can't use knight blade anymore I will have to give up on killing the rest. Well, I suppose if there are only a few left I can always kill them with my bare hands.

So I take more risks than I should, just to kill as many as I can before I run out of sacred power. I am also running out of time, once dawn comes I need to head back to the castle to train my troops. So since it doesn't cost sacred power I use Lion's Rage more, using it twice kills most of the goblins in range.

It also means that I won't have to chase as many down, saving me time and energy. As I ruthlessly slaughter the goblins there is a huge grin on my face, this is fun! I couldn't have managed to do this before arriving at the great tower, the benefits from the tests are incredible!

Not only are my skills more powerful now, but they are also more versatile. I can adapt to most combat situations now fairly easily, and the damage I can do has gone up as well. If I can continue to grow at this rate, then even if I can't match them in rank, I should still be able to stand against a demon lord.

My constant movement from using Blade Dancer is making it really hard for them to surround me. As long as I continue to have room to move, the goblins don't stand a chance against me. Even the orcs have trouble keeping up with my movements, half the time they die without realizing I went past them.

There are still too many of them for me to kill all in one go, I have to run away from time to time. Sword Dance takes up way more stamina than normal fighting, I have to catch my breath from time to time. That and it is easier to heal myself when I am not in the middle of a bunch of enemies.

If I didn't have a healing spell there is no way I could survive going against this many enemies. Using meditation I would waste hours healing myself, plenty of time for them to run away. As it stands there are about a thousand goblins left, and I still have another hour until dawn.

The problem I am facing is I only have a few hundred sacred power left, I can't afford to retreat anymore. So after refreshing my armor and swords I have enough left to heal myself one more time and then I'm out of power. As I charge into the goblins I use Lion's Rage repeatedly, preventing the goblins from running and killing them every two times I use it.

With no more time or energy this is going to be the last fight, if my health drops too low I will run. I do my best to move around between using Lion's Rage, I want to taunt all of the goblins. That way none of them will run away, I hope to finish this right here and now by killing all of them.

At this point it isn't about the quest or even protecting the village, I want to see just how far I can go. At this point I am not even thinking about the fact that I am inside a test, I want to test my own limits. Since this is a test, where I can't die, it is the perfect place to find out just how far I can currently go.

While, individually, goblins and orcs may not be a worthy opponent, in enough numbers they can be very dangerous. However, for training purposes they are perfect, knowing how to fight against overwhelming numbers is very important. The worst that can happen here is I fail the test and have to wait a while before I can retake it.

None of these thoughts slow down my swords, every second more and more goblins die under them. Between my attacks and Lion's Rage the goblins are dying so fast that even I can't keep track of the numbers. So it comes as a complete surprise when I suddenly run out of goblins to kill.

Looking around all I see are corpses, nothing is moving except the leaves in the wind. Even all of the orcs are dead, but I don't remember killing them, I was just focusing on goblins. As I catch my breath I see the sky starting to lighten, I made it with time to spare.

Once I catch my breath I start back towards town, only stopping at a stream to try and clean off. When I see the state of my armor and clothes I realize that no matter what I do I am going to look horrible. So I give up and just head back to town, when I walk through town everyone stops to stare at me.

When I arrive before my barracks my troops look at me like they have seen a ghost. I explain to them that I was completing a quest and then lead them on our normal run. Once I am done training them and have had some food I head over to the adventurer's guild.

Mapleleaf says "Welcome back. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I'm here to turn in the quest."

After saying so I place the crystal on the counter in front of Mapleleaf. Curious she picks it up to examine it and then she shouts so loud everyone can hear her.

Mapleleaf yells "It's over nine thousand?!!?!"

As every adventurer in the hall turns to look at me I give Mapleleaf an exasperated look.

Mapleleaf says "I'm so sorry for causing such a commotion! Please wait here for a minute."

She quickly leaves and I am stuck standing there being stared at by everyone. If I had known this was going to happen I would have come when there would be less adventurers around. Then again this will cause rumors to spread and increase my reputation in both the guild and the town.

Mapleleaf says "Sorry for the wait. After confirming the crystal with my manager we have decided to give you an extra bonus. With the bonus your total for completing the quest is now 250 gold."