Goblins

The wolves, Goblins and the bear stood still, staring at each other while bracing themselves as they acknowledged the stalemate they were in. They knew whoever made the first move was also making the most risky move since everyone would have their attention on them. It was to their luck that one of the members of the stalemate could not care less about the very stalemate, who was of course the baby Death Maggot. Well it was either that it did not care or that it didn’t even understand the situation in the first place considering how young it was.

The Death Maggot screeched once more before it dived deep into the ground. Its movement was easily tracked due to how every move it made would uproot soil and plants, meaning that it was tilling the ground as it moved. A Death maggot was in fact a monster that lived nearer the centre of the forest where everything was chaotic and extremely dangerous. This was just a weak, young one that had left the centre only to smell the deep scent of blood that it was physically addicted to. Therefore it was obvious who the Death Maggot went after: the bear, who was in fact the only one alive and bleeding.

Its movement certainly wasn’t fast but nor was it slow as it closed in on the bear. The bear noticing the situation it was in went into a frenzy as it decided it would at least take the ones who brought all this trouble with it as it died. Therefore the bear scrambled across towards Raraak and his 3 remaining warriors who were in fact in the centre of the clearing. It didn’t help them at all that most of their weapons were either stuck in the bear, like Raraak’s battle-axe, or they were dropped somewhere in the clearing.

Withil at this moment could have very well called a charge for his men to save Raraak, but that would definitely not put them at a tactical advantage and the fact was that he wouldn’t mind if Raraak did die here. And thus instead of going towards the centre of the small clearing, Withil charged towards the wolves who awoke from their stupor as they watched the few Goblins charge at them.

In total there were 6 wolves but only 4 Goblin warriors to face them. The others were just the pack carriers who trailed behind and Damon who had charged alongside the rest. The biggest wolf there seemed to be the leader as it howled before bolting towards Withil.

Seeing the sudden charge, Withil didn’t fluster but rather trusted his needle-like spear as he gripped it tightly and placed it in between him and the Large Nightwolf. Now if all went well, the wolf would charge into his spear and die, but the wolf clearly had other plans as it instead leapt up into the sky, barely dodging the thrusted spear.

Noticing the dodge, Withil seemed to be playing against the laws of the world since time seemed to slow down as his mind cleared up due to the hormone releases. And yet it was such a cruel game as it didn’t change his physical speed whatsoever as he struggled to pull the thrusted spear back into his hold. He could feel the strain breaking his muscles and yet he had no choice but to carry on as he then mustered up all his remaining strength before thrusting the spear upwards to where the wolf would land.

Note that such an attack could not cause major injury to anything, and at worst could bruise someone, due to the weak force behind it but that was without taking into account how sharp the spear actually was. Instead the wolf struggled but failed as it tried to change its trajectory and rather ended up tilting its body so that it was instead pierced across the back.

The wolf howled in pain as its dark fur was now wet with dark red blood. Ending its howl, the wolf returned its vision to its front only to find itself not seeing the battle in front of it, but rather a large, grey metal block that seemed to only fill up more of its vision as time passed.

A few seconds back Roger, seeing Withil in danger had instantly sped up only to reach him as the wolf landed. Not one to let such an opportunity escape, he raised his cumbersome hammer before swinging right into the wolf’s head. Now it would be a joke if a tier 1 beat a tier 2 so easily, but such rules no longer applied once tampering had been done. And the drug taken before the fight seemed to take great effect as the wolf’s spine fractured from such attack as the head flung off.

Another wolf seeing its leader die instantly leapt onto Roger before tightening its jaw as it bit deep into his shoulder. Instead of howling in pain, Roger smashed his head against its skull before following up with a hammer smash into its body as it fell off. Anyone could tell that Roger and Withil were not normal Goblins as they cleared 3 wolves within the first moments of the initial clash. In fact it was even obvious that they weren’t even their normal selves, as muscles bulged out all across their bodies with snake-like veins growing across them.

Ignoring them, Damon instead stayed near the back of the charge as he threw knives. One of the wolves got through the Goblin barrier as it instead made its way towards the backline, towards Damon. It bolted across the last few metres before it tensed its muscles in preparation of leaping. Damon understand the cue prepared another knife that was thrown upwards to where the wolf would jump. The wolf must have sneered as instead of leaping, it used its tensed muscles to dive onto the ground before leaping the final jump, jaws open wide as it aimed towards Damon’s head.

At this point his brain had no time to think whatsoever and it was instead his pure instincts that worked as he felt his body collapse to one side, dodging the open maws by a hairsbreadth but unable to do the same for the hind feet that followed as the claws tore into his shoulder before passing on. Fully knowing that it had no chance if it went backwards, the wolf instead kept running away from Damon towards the other pack carriers. Although it never got a chance to kill them as a few steps down the line, a rage-filled knife precisely pierced through its ear, causing the wolf to howl in pain as it turned its head to see Damon following hot on its heels.

A mistake that you should never make in a fight is getting distracted, although the wolf had no chance of learning this as in front of the Wolf stood a pack carrier Goblin who stabbed downwards with his sword. The blade slashed the wolf through the back of its neck but it was not strong enough to kill the wolf as the wolf once again turned its pain-filled face forwards. A repeat of such mistake wouldn’t be forgiven as Damon used this chance to leap over the wolf before shooting a knife downwards, penetrating the wolf’s skull.

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During this time, the warriors had managed to kill off one more wolf and the last one fled understanding that it stood no chance against the Goblins alone.

While the Goblins massacred the wolves, the rest of the monsters were still engrossed in a fight in the centre of the clearing. The centipede like Death Maggot was still in decent shape as it only had its shell cracked in a few regions. The bear on the other hand was bleeding from head to toe, fur heavy with blood, and yet the bear fought vigorously for its life as it continuously clawed and bit the Death Maggot. As for the Goblins… 3 new corpses lay mangled across the area, mashed up organs strewn away metres away from the actual corpses themselves. Only Raraak struggled onwards as it seemed he had forgotten the actual mission and instead continuously tore at the Death Maggot with his raw, bloody hands.

Withil felt a smile creep up his face, although it left as quick as it came as he instead on grimaced at the immense pain his body was currently feeling. Roger was feeling the same as it was due to the experimental drug the two had taken. Needless to say Withil still pointed his finger at the last battle as he managed to squeeze the words out of his mouth, “LET’S FIINISH THISS MEN!”

All but the pack carriers, who were shocked silly by the brutality that had ensued since the start of the fight, charged towards the centre of the clearing. Damon felt his meal hard to keep down in his stomach as he fully took in the scene he was looking at: it was horrible.

The only one who reacted to the pandemonium that closed in to them was the Death Maggot as the other two were far too gone in their battle highs to notice anything else. But instead of retreating, the Death Maggot seemed to relish at the fact it got more eager prey.

Both Withil and Roger reached the fight scene first and were the first ones to strike the Death Maggot. The bear and Raraak were next to them but it mattered not at the moment as they knew neither could be a danger anymore. In fact Withil and Roger had limited time left as both could feel their immense strength fleeting away, only to be replaced by an immobilizing pain which spread rapidly like an infection.

And thus in response Withil made one more leap as he stabbed the spear downwards which pierced through the Death Maggot’s shell and deep into its flesh. This was then followed by him using his last ounces of strength to throw his body away from the fight as he knew he would be unable to move. As for Roger he flexed his arms before flinging the bulky hammer at the Death Maggot, which seemed to crush into its shell but no further. He too followed Withil’s actions in preparation for his mental and physical collapse.

The Death Maggot, now getting attacked by everyone there, was suddenly assaulted by multiple pains that tore at its mind. It, in fear and anger, tore itself away from the bear and Raraak and instead charged towards the easy prey who stood in the distance. None of the pack carriers were experienced enough to be able to deal with such a monster, in fact they were so inexperienced against such situations that 2 of them actually found it hard to move their feet.

But this wasn’t practise, this was real life and that cost them dearly as the Death Maggot exploded out of the ground before taking off the head of one before swiping its claws against the second one. The third and last pack carrier couldn’t run very far at all before he also felt claws rip through his flesh and bones.

In the first place the Death Maggot had ran away from the fight to get away but the naïve monster once again fell for its lust of blood after experiencing kill the pack carriers. Its confidence grew back and it was faced with intense lust as it sensed the bloody scene at the centre of the clearing, almost as if it had forgotten how it had already been part of it.

Succumbed by lust, the Death Maggot shot back as it went deep into the ground before exploding out from underneath the exhausted bear which had collapsed, taking the bear’s body 30cm into the sky before falling back down under its weight. The last two warrior Goblins used this major mess up to assault the Death Maggot as they attacked the shell-less areas with axes.

Near this stood Damon who was completely sick of this the scene in front of him as he blanched before he purging the contents of his stomach onto the bloody ground. Unaware and completely delirious, the bloody Raraak stumbled away from the fight as he caught onto Damon’s shoulders. He kept screaming words of help and screams of pain, sounds that heavily triggered the delirious Damon as he pushed Raraak down onto the ground. After which he took out his last knife before stabbing Raraak in the chest, followed by one in the shoulder followed by another and a final one into the face. A face of agony, fear, tears and blood would from then on come to haunt Damon as he remembered such a night in the future.

He had killed a fellow brother…

He had killed a leader of the tribe…

He had killed the strongest Goblin he knew…

And he had done it for no reason…

And they had cried tears of blood and yet he still wouldn’t stop…

And they had choked on their own blood while he continued to stab them…

He was a monster.

To the side the Death Maggot collapsed with the body of one of the warriors snapped within its maw. Only one Goblin warriors remained awake of the whole company. Despite his exhaustion he knew he had stuff to do as he struggled to drag all the alive Goblins, who were Withil and Roger who were both collapsed and Damon who continued to cry for some reason, into a small empty cave a few metres away.

After which he grabbed his sword as he began to slowly cut open both the bear and the Death Maggot as he took out their vitals, which could be used to forcibly evolve. After placing that down into the cave, the Goblin warrior could no longer move as the cold embrace of sleep came over him.

To the side Damon still continued to cry, though those were beginning to dry out as his tear ducts stung in pain. Once his tears stopped, he felt his body go beyond cold as he lay there violently shivering. Following which came intense pangs of hunger, tearing at his stomach. It was just his luck that raw meat lay right next to him. Unknowingly, he tore into the heart of the Death Maggot, eating all of it before losing all the strength of his body.

The heart contained the most mana and was the best part of a monster to forcibly evolve with, and a higher rank monster held more mana within its body. The heart of the Death Maggot contained immense mana that quickly dissipated away into the atmosphere, but Damon eating it meant that it was now releasing that mana inside of him. That heart held more mana than a Goblin could hold, and thus a forced evolution was commenced.

None of the Goblins that had left on the trip would be coming back the same…