The arrival of the third party – the group of humanoid monsters – turned the tides of the battle instantaneously. The humanoid green monsters used tools such as steel swords and steel spears to charge at the blazing boar. Meanwhile, their archers nocked plain arrows on the bowstring, pulled back, and shot.
The arrows cut through the air and hit the huge target with ease. The blazing boar’s thick hide repelled most arrows, but some found their way through the flames and pierced themselves deep into the wounded neck, worsening the blazing boar’s injury drastically.
Meanwhile, the swordsman and spearwielders surrounded the boar to attack it from all sides. Injured and tired, the blazing boar trampled upon some of the humanoid monsters. But with every monster it viciously attacked, the boar sustained more injuries.
Xavier and his family watched the battle with various conflicting emotions surging through them.
Until now everything that happened since the world changed still held a semblance to reality – somewhat. At least in some crude way… The monsters looked somewhat normal before. Infected were Undead Humans and Mutated Cats were cats that had evidently undergone some kind of mutation. Even the blazing boar looked somewhat normal if one ignored its enormous size and the blazing flames enveloping it from all sides.
But these humanoid monsters, these Goblins as Xavier presumed them to be… They were far from normal. They were creatures straight out of fairy tales and Grimm stories. Goblins weren’t supposed to exist! But they had appeared out of nowhere and were trying to kill the boar.
Shocked to the core, Xavier and his family watched the Goblins fight the blazing boar without a care of sustaining casualties. Two dozen Goblins were trampled to death until the blazing boar collapsed onto the ground. Even after falling down, it was kicking its hooves and squealed weakly in pain. Its miserable struggle came to an end when the Goblins pierced its neck with several sharp steel blades.
The Goblins roared out with their high-pitched voices and lifted their weapons high into the air as if rejoicing in their victory. Not caring about the deceased, they surrounded the blazing boar and stabbed it a few more times to make sure that it was dead. Right after, they tried to pick up the boar to take it somewhere. But since it was too heavy, all the Goblins could do was drag it across the street. They swayed under the weight of their enormous kill but it worked – more or less. Five minutes passed before the group of Goblins disappeared behind the bush, carrying the blazing boar’s corpse along with them.
“That…was unexpected,” Mark was the first to speak. He tried to suppress his emotions, but his voice was stiff, just like the rest of his body.
Mark’s forehead was glistening due to sweat, and his right hand had moved subconsciously to the hilt of his longsword.
“And dangerous. These green things are far more dangerous than the Infected and Mutated Cats and Dogs. They know how to use tools and how to make use of their numbers. What in the world are they?” Silvia asked, glad that Bravery’s passive effect converted her fear into courage. If not for that, her legs would have given in and she would have hyperventilated.
At least that was what Xavier thought when he saw his mother. In fact, even his father and grandmother were shocked to the core.
It made sense. The mutation of animals could still be explained by saying that animals had been exposed to radioactive frequencies or something along those lines. But explaining the existence of a somewhat intelligent humanoid fantasy race was a little different.
Xavier grasped the ruby katana tightly and stepped forward. He grew worried about the sudden appearance of Goblins. They didn’t seem too strong, but their numbers were worrisome.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, Xavier?!” Silvia asked, her tone as sharp as the ruby katana.
“I will follow them,” Xavier responded as calmly as he could.
“Are you stupid?”
Xavier raised an eyebrow and was about to throw an angry or sarcastic retort when he thought of something. “Yes, and no,” He answered instead.
Mark looked at his son intently and studied him for a moment. He saw something in his son’s eyes that made him jump into the discussion of his son and wife.
“You want to follow them to find out where these…things have their hideout, right? You want to see if these things will turn into an issue for our family in the future. After all, we don’t know whether others can absorb and utilize Soul Essences in a similar way as we can thanks to the Classless Deck. Am I right, or am I missing something, Xavier?”
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Mark had noticed that the green child-sized monsters had spoken to each other in the middle of the battle. They made odd, high-pitched noises to converse, but it was a fact that they could communicate that way. Furthermore, they could use tools, and work together to kill a monster much stronger than their individual strength, and they dragged the corpse somewhere – probably to their hideout where more Goblins could be waiting to be fed.
These humanoid monsters were more intelligent than ordinary animals, moved in groups, and had great teamwork. It was eerie to consider the possibility of them having created a community somewhere, but it was not impossible.
If the community of Goblins had too many members, they could become a huge problem to the survivors of their little village, and that was something Xavier wanted to prevent if possible.
The biggest issue Xavier had was the fact that enemies with long-range attacks were rather difficult to fight. He didn’t think that it would be problematic to deal with the Goblins individually, but their numbers and means of attack bothered him the most.
“I merely want to find out where they reside and how many members they have. Maybe, we can exterminate them after growing a little bit stronger. Of course, that means there cannot be a stronger monster than these tiny Goblins,” Xavier said, certain that they had a base nearby since they pulled the blazing boar corpse somewhere.
“Alright, you can go. I will take care of your mother and grandmother. Don’t worry about us and make sure that you will be fine!” His father said to Xavier and nodded at him but soon his breath was knocked out of his lungs. He received a punch in the chest from his wife, who glared daggers at her husband, “Have you lost your mind? Do you want to push my son straight into hell? Do you want him to die just like that boar?!?”
Silvia was on the verge of screaming, and her veins were almost popping out but Mark remained calm. He stared at his wife with a dead-serious expression and replied, “He is my son as well, don’t forget that.”
Silvia, who had been about to add something, closed her mouth abruptly upon hearing what Mark said.
“I think Xavier is old enough to make his own decision,” Mark added,” I believe that…and so should you!”
Silvia was stupefied. Her husband had never been like this. He always gave in when she was about to get angry. He always obeyed her commands and the only thing he did against her will was to purchase an unnecessarily large number of expensive weapons. But not today. Today he disobeyed her for the first time in what felt like forever, vehemently at that.
“I do trust him…I am just worried,” Silvia mumbled quietly, unable to raise her voice against her husband’s firm stand. Xavier was thankful for his father’s support.
“I will be fine. There is no need to worry about me.”
Saying so, he gave his mother a reassuring smile and descended the flight of stairs leading to the driveway. He approached the bloody battlefield where the Goblins had killed the blazing boar in the hopes of finding some half-dead Goblins.
A grain of luck, please!
Xavier had noticed that the Goblins didn’t pay any attention to the Mutated Dogs. Therefore, it was not really surprising to see that three Mutated Dogs were lying on the ground, severely injured but not dead. Their breaths were numbered and wouldn’t survive the next few minutes.
The Mutated Dogs couldn’t be saved anymore after the blazing boar took them by surprise. Not even the last Mutated Dog that had been thrown across the streets could be rescued. Its spine looked like it was broken in the worst possible way. The Mutated Dog was disfigured and would never be able to walk again. All it could do was breathe and that too cost it a great deal of effort.
Xavier felt a little sad looking at the scene around him. He heard some weird voices from the humanoid creatures whose legs and upper body had been crushed, but he ignored them.
“I’m sorry,” Xavier mumbled, staring pitifully at one of the Mutated Dogs, whose entire body had been burned. Its breath was labored, and it could barely lift its head to look at Xavier, who unsheathed his emerald dagger with a deep sigh. The Mutated Dog looked at the dagger and lowered its head again. Then it went silent. The Mutated Dog accepted its fate and stopped breathing – maybe to give Xavier a sign, or maybe because it was too difficult to breathe at this point.
A shudder rose up from the base of Xavier’s spine and he took a moment to calm his nerves before stepping forward. One by one, he went towards the Mutated Dogs and freed them from their pain with a quick stab of his dagger. The Mutated Dogs let out a whimper and stopped moving altogether as he liberated them by giving them a quick death.
A few notifications popped up in front of him for every Mutated Dog he killed, but Xavier ignored them. He also ignored the wisps of the Soul Essences that emerged from the corpses of the Mutated Dogs. Some of the wisps shot in a different direction – the direction of the Goblins and blazing boar – while the remaining Soul Essences merged into his Classless Deck.
Once the Mutated Dogs were killed, Xavier moved to the crippled Goblins and the dying Goblins that had been abandoned by their own kind. Xavier didn’t feel as guilty as he did when he killed the Mutated Dogs when he placed his blade on the necks of the writhing Goblins. They squealed and tried to move desperately. However, they didn’t try to escape Xavier’s clutches. On the contrary, all the Goblins desired was to attack him and tear his throat apart to end his life, to take him down with them.
Xavier understood their intentions even if he couldn’t understand their language, and his eyes turned cold.
The slight pang of remorse that had tried to take root in his heart after seeing them writhe helplessly, disappeared. It was replaced by anger and frustration that he used to slash the Goblins’ throats.
“Fucking bastards. What did you think would happen after invading our world??”
****
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