Scuttling through the underbrush, the greenskin made its way towards the place it regarded as home. Unbeknownst to it, above it, in the thick green canopy, the bat was tailing it. Jumping from branch to branch, the bat made use of its passive skill predator. The skill proved to be useful as the bats inexperienced stalking would have long alarmed the greenskin's sharp hearing.
Suddenly, the goblin's fat nose sniffed the air, its steps fastened, and it broke into a small run. It had detected the smell of its kin as a couple of underbrushes away. Five goblins lay in hiding. Their stature was no different from the other. The only distinguishable factor was the weapons they carried and the clothes and ornaments they wore.
After it located its kin, the goblin rushed to them and happily greeted them, only to be smacked to the ground by a goblin with a massive club. The smacked goblin flailed its hand around as it tried to get back on its feet. Its face spoke volumes how wrong it felt. Did the bond formed after several hunting escapades only result in this? Initially, they had gone hunting together, but an incident separated it from the main group, so it celebrated when it finally reunited with them.
Upset it might be, but taking action, it didn't dare. It knew its position in the clan, so it could only scratch the sore spot as it positioned itself at the back. Though the upset goblin didn't dare take revenge, that didn't mean the aggressor was done.
It approached the smacked goblin with hurried steps. Its eyes that burned with anger pierced the latter.
"You scare food!"
The dominant goblin shouted at the latter, its sticky and smelly spit getting mixed in the words. The scolded goblin could do nothing but lower its huge head and stick its pointed ears as close to its body as possible to avoid them being torn off should the other goblin find distaste in them.
The dominant goblin was pissed off. The food they were hunting was extremely alert and cautious. Any mistake and it was gone just like the goblin in front of it had done.
The troublesome goblin was sent to the ground with a smack to its head, and the dominant goblin finally walked off. The others stared at the events unfolding with no reaction. If the dominant goblin were not present, they would be the ones to punish the stupid goblin.
The dominant goblin led the hunting party towards the direction their food had dashed off to. The beaten goblin got up. Its eyes shined with ambition and hatred as it looked towards its departing comrades. If it were stronger, it wouldn't be on the receiving end. Its body shuddered at the thought of getting revenge here and now. Luckily its instincts warned it of its position in the hierarchy.
Grabbing the spiked club that had fallen on the ground during the scuffle, the goblin followed its hunting buddies that had already walked off.
Above, inside the canopy, the bat watched with interest. Unexpectedly following the greenskin had resulted in it locating even more. Suddenly, a realisation struck it, what if... what if it continued following the greenskin? Indeed, only bountiful greenskin awaited it.
Not to be left too far behind, it quickly followed the goblins. If it could grin, a silly crescent smile would have been plastered on its face right now.
The goblin hunting squad seemed to be well versed in their craft as they soon located their prey. It was a brown four-legged creature with branching antlers on its head.
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The goblins silently coordinated, and they formed a circle around their prey. The latter didn't seem to notice the impending danger as it indulged itself on the supple greenery. Once the hunting leader was sure of the formation, it started to advance towards the prey. The others followed suit, and soon a bunch of six goblins were slowly closing in on an unaware prey.
That didn't last. Suddenly the prey raised its head and vigilantly surveyed its surroundings; it didn't notice any anomaly, but that was never a good sign either. Its thin legs advanced slowly while its ears and eyes vigilantly surveyed for any threat.
*WWWAAAARRRRGGGHHH*
With a war cry, a goblin jumped out of its hiding spot and headed straight to the prey, its club-ready to dish out devastating damage.
The brown deer was immediately spooked, and its springy legs propelled it forward in a swift fashion. Usually, this should be all it needed to do, and it would never be caught but, it wasn't a typical day as it landed straight into a waiting goblin that didn't hesitate to put forward the knife it was holding. The deer noticed the goblin, but it was too late. It landed on the pointed blade impaling its guts.
The goblin wasn't fairing well either. The sheer weight of the falling deer was enough to critically injure it, that plus the sharp hooves that the deer didn't hesitate to use as a weapon.
With a knife stuck on its guts, the deer struggled to get up hastily and tried to rush away, but its face was greeted by a spiked club, almost stunning it. The deer wasn't done struggling as it soon made another jump and quickly got out of its predicament.
The goblins weren't keen on letting it escape as they immediately gave chase. The injured goblin wasn't able to give chase as its vitality was draining away.
It sat on the ground with its back leaning on a tree as its hands felt the wounds that slowly started to heal.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a dark shadow appeared inside its field of vision, its head quickly turned to catch a good glimpse, but it was too late.
*Slash*
The goblin felt its vitality drain away quickly as its consciousness drifted away.
You have slain a level 2 lesser goblin.
You have gained exp
The bat got off the goblin's lifeless body and immediately gave chase to the other goblins, it was almost gone, but it suddenly halted its steps. Turning its head, it looked at the goblin corpse with interest. Unlike the other corpses, this one didn't disappear.
The bat didn't ponder for long as it had some catching up to do. Its running speed was surprisingly fast given its initial hate for the ground before its evolution.
After catching up to the goblins, it went up to the trees as the higher it was, the safer it felt.
The goblins had already caught up to the deer as its injured state was no match for the goblins' stamina.
Though it was injured, the deer was still proving to be formidable as it still was a couple of steps in front of the goblins. The goblins used a strategy where one would occasionally burst into a short sprint and land a hit on the deer before returning to the group to regenerate stamina.
The goblins' tactics worked perfectly as soon the deer collapsed, much to the joy of the greenskins. It wasn't known if exhaustion or vitality loss was the finishing blow, but the goblins didn't care.
They surrounded the deer, and rain of kicks and clubs befell the poor fellow, satisfied the deer was dead, the hunting leader raised its wrinkly hands, and the blows instantly stopped.
The goblin proceeded to crudely pull out the dagger that was stuck on the goblins stomach and instantly started to work on the carcass.
The goblin divided the flesh into sizes that they could easily carry back to the clan, the others salivated as they saw the hunting leader stuff some pieces into its mouth, but they didn't voice their greed.
After a mouthful and successfully dividing the flesh, the leader instructed the others to carry the meat while it remained at the back to watch over any who dared to taste the meat.
Reluctantly, the goblins carried their respective pieces and headed towards the clan, with the hunting leader following behind chewing.
Up in the trees, the bat watched the goblins walk away as the smell of flesh awakened something within.