Nolan sat on his log the rest of the day and throughout the night. Each time Arden brought him food and water, Nolan wondered if he should have brought his backpack with him. But he knew he didn’t want to fight with it on. Several times he fell asleep while sitting on the log so he eventually just laid on the ground leaning against it, Arden promising to wake him if needed. After about three hours he awoke with a crick in his neck so he got up and started exercising. Nothing strenuous, just keeping loose.
At daybreak, a goblin approached him and let him know the king would be out shortly. Two hours later a hobgoblin came out and stood about twenty feet from him but never said anything. It just stared at him. Two hours later another hobgoblin came out and did the same. This continued throughout the day. Nolan hated to admit it but when he was being looked at like food by four hobgoblins he started to get nervous. When Arden brought lunch, he brought enough for all the hobgoblins as well and sat it in front of each of them. Then he took up position to the side of Nolan and proceeded to stick his tongue out at the hobgoblins and make various other faces at them. It had no noticeable effect on them but it did help Nolan to feel better. The hobgoblins never said a word nor touched the lunch Arden brought out.
More hobgoblins continued to come out as the day went on, though the time between them started to get shorter and shorter. Eventually, just before sunset, three hobgoblins stepped out. There was no doubt in Nolan’s mind that these three could easily handle all the ones that had come before. While all the other hobgoblins were about six feet tall, these three exceeded that with the one in the middle easily topping seven feet tall. As they got closer he used his [Inspect] skill on them and his heart sunk.
[Ordak the Rotten - Elite Hobgoblin Warrior - Level 20]
[Raldak the Cold - Elite Hobgoblin Warrior - Level 21]
[Chief Dronkazol the Loud - Hobgoblin War Leader - Level 25]
Nolan looked over to Arden who just smirked.
Then Arden sent him a [Message], “Some of the folks you’ve sparred with were higher than him. Levels matter, but training and skill matters more. If I didn’t think you could win, I wouldn’t have agreed to this plan. You got this.”
Chief Dronkazol walked right up to Nolan and started speaking. "Why should I accept your challenge? We greatly outnumber you. We could just kill you all and be done with it."
"You could try. But even if you win, what will it cost you? How many people will you have left afterwards? My group has already killed over a hundred of your people. How many more would die today? Or, we could engage in honorable combat. One on one, without weapons. You win, my family and I leave. I win, you and your hobgoblins leave. No one has to die today."
The chief looked at him with suspicion, "Humans always have a trick. You know you can’t stand toe to toe against hobgoblins so you always try something dishonorable. What’s your trick? Are you going to cast some powerful magic spell try try and kill me out right? Do you think the females you have hidden out of sight can aid you? Maybe the druid can change your shape into something able to stand against me? Tell me human, what is your trick?"
Nolan tried not to react when the chief mentioned the girls but from the grin on Dronkazol’s face Arden must have shown surprise. Nolan took a breath and answered, ""No tricks. Just tired of all the killing. I promise not to cast any magic on you if you don't cast any magic on me. No outside interference, magical or otherwise. Just an honorable fight."
The hobgoblin chief stared at Nolan for a moment before nodding his massive head. "Very well human."
"Shall we swear an oath to abide by these rules?"
"We have no need of the gods interference. Do you question my honor?"
"Not at all, sir. But you seem distrusting of me so I offered in hopes of calming your nerves.”
The huge hobgoblin huffed at Nolan before turning and walking a few steps back to his men. After a few words, the hobgoblins that had come out early each started walking out to the sides and positioned themselves in a line about fifty feet apart. One of the elite hobgoblins blew a few notes on a horn and a moment later goblins spilled out of the fort. They rushed the field and started to line up in front of the hobgoblins. What started as dozens turned into hundreds taking the field. Row after row. Column after column.
Arden’s voice appeared in Nolan’s mind again, “He’s just trying to make you lose heart. That’s what all of this has been. Making you wait all night and day. Sending out hobgoblins to try and intimidate you. And now he has his people lining up to make you think we’re badly outnumbered. But if you look, most of these goblins are not of the warrior caste. He’s doing all this, because he knows you’re going to win.”
Nolan just chuckled to himself. He knew all this but it was nice of Arden to try and help.
Once all the goblins were lined up, the chief turned and walked back toward Nolan,
“What is your name human?”
“I am Nolan. And yours?”
“With a grin the chief turned to his people and bellowed, “I am Chief Dronkazol the Loud! And I accept your challenge to honorable combat!” Immediately the goblins and hobgoblins started cheering.
“Definitely know why they call him the loud,” thought Nolan as he saw that he’d actually lost two points of health just from that yell.
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The chief turned back around, “You will regret challenging me Nolan.”
With that he simply stepped forward and threw a haymaker. Seeing it, Nolan ducked and stepped in close, landing a jab to the chief’s short ribs. “Do hobgoblins even have short ribs?” he wondered as he threw his next attack at the chief’s stomach.
The chief took the gut punch and delivered a hammer blow aimed at the top of Nolan’s head. Nolan saw it and tried to dodge but the hit still caught his ear and shoulder. Jumping back for a moment Nolan looked up to see that the chief was laughing.
“Ready to run already, Nolan?” the chief taunted.
“Not yet chief,” he replied as he stepped forward and attacked.
⚷
Arden was twenty feet or so from the fight and his nerves were frazzled. He was trying to watch all the enemies on the field while watching to the fight as well. He knew Nolan could fight but the fact he agreed not to use magic really concerned him.
He sent a quick [Message] to Hazel, “What did Prit say about all the goblins being called out?”
“He says that after the duel the chief is going to order them to kill us all and that we should run so that only Nolan dies.”
“That’s what I was afraid of. The chief knows you and Willow are here but he didn’t mention Prit.”
“Well, he’s been hidden in a hole since yesterday so they probably didn’t see him.”
“Talk with your sister about Prit’s advice. Maybe y’all should head back.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“No, we’re not abandoning you and Uncle Nolan. Ohana means family, and family means nobody is left behind.”
“Did you just go Disney on me? Seriously?”
“Yes, now stop trying to make us leave and figure out a plan.”
⚷
Nolan was forced himself to take deep breaths. The fight had been going on for maybe five minutes and nothing he’d done seemed to hurt the chief at all. Unfortunately, he couldn’t say the same about the chief’s punches. Each attack the chief had landed caused a noticeable dip in his health. And he was still bleeding from when the chief’s claws sliced his shoulder. Nolan was starting to realize that he needed to pace himself. Fights on Traum obviously weren’t as quick as on Earth. He had to figure out a way to actually hurt this guy. Maybe a stand up fight was not the way to go about this. Maybe if he could get this guy on the ground he could actually deal some damage. “Time to work on the legs.”
For the next little bit, Nolan just waited for openings and kicked the chief’s knees. Strike after strike after strike. The whole time the chief was making fun of him, but Nolan picked up on how the chief wasn’t moving around so much any more. He kept at it, landing kick after kick on the hobgoblin until he felt he had softened him up enough. Then, when the chief took a step back Nolan shot in attempting to take him to the ground. Just before he made contact he felt it and knew he’d made a mistake. He couldn’t describe it but it was the feeling he got when someone used a class skill. Sure enough, when he made contact with the chief it was like trying to take down a tree. The chief’s legs didn’t even budge. Instead of falling, the chief reached down and grabbed Nolan by his torso and lifted him into the air before slamming him headfirst back into the ground.
A status flashed in the corner of Nolan’s vision.
[You are dazed. -50% to coordination and concentration for the next 10 seconds]
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” thought Nolan as he tried to focus enough to cast [Healing Touch] on himself. The first time he miscast it and the spell feedback made things worse.
[You are dazed. -50% to coordination and concentration for the next 15 seconds]
As Nolan saw the new status flash, pain shot through his body as the chief stepped in and kicked him in the ribs with everything he had.
[You have internal bleeding. -5 hp/sec for the next 30 seconds]
Nolan strained with everything he had to move away. He managed to roll over just in time to avoid another kick. He could hear the chief laughing at him. Taking a deep breath to center himself he tried to cast his healing spell again. This time it took hold and he felt some of his ribs snap into back into place and a pressure lessen in his head. A moment later the status conditions blinked out. Immediately he rolled again to ensure he was away from the hobgoblin before he stood to look around.
The hobgoblin was standing back where they had started the fight, laughing at him. “Nolan wants more? Come on then.”
Nolan smirked as he started to walk back toward the chief, casting another healing spell on himself as he walked, fully restoring his health. When he got within a dozen or so feet, Nolan did a two-step sprint and jumped into the air and activated his [Tornado Kick] class skill. Surprised flashed in the chief’s eyes for just a moment before he started blocking and back peddling. Nolan’s skill maintained the forward moment he had when it was activated so the first three kicks managed to land before the chief was able to back up far enough to dodge a kick. It was then he realized that the kicks were also sending out blades of air, two of which cut him across his face, drawing blood for the first time.
Nolan landed in time to see the second air blade hit and it was as if it cut through an illusion. The chief went from being the image of perfect health to actually looking like he’d been in a fight. Part of Nolan wanted to stop and figure out what the hell was going on, but thankfully that was not the part in charge right now. Nolan again went in for the takedown and this time it worked. He immediately took up a full mount position over the chief and started raining punches down.
It was clear the chief had some sort of status condition as he made no effort to block anything which Nolan was happy to see. Between the sixth and seventh punch Nolan got the sense that the chief was about to activate another class skill. He quickly pushed himself to his feet and was about to jump away when the chief grabbed his left leg, sinking his claws into his calf. Nolan reflexively jerked his leg back and jumped away. As he did so he saw another notification appear:
[You have been poisoned. -3 hp/sec for the next 60 seconds]
Nolan looked over at the chief and saw that his claws on both hands had a sickly green haze surrounding them.
“Fuuuuck”