“That sleazy, treacherous, bastard!” Chloe swore her lungs out while driving her fist into a Goblin’s skull, obliterating it like a watermelon; blood and brain matter spilling out and splattering on the floor.
She bashed two more goblin skulls while tossing them off the stairs, slowly clearing a way for her friends and herself so they could get to the second floor. After Rick abandoned them, the trio was overwhelmed by the monsters, barely keeping them back as Chloe and Arthur fended them off while climbing the stairs, one goblin kill at a time. Arthur was having a hard time killing his goblins due to him not only being severely wounded, but he was also carrying Lucy on his back. Several of the green gremlins tried to grab Lucy, but the wounded knight swung his sword at them, severing limbs and necks in the process, but the numbers just kept increasing rather than declining.
He breathed heavily, struggling to keep the goblins in front of them at bay while Chloe mowed down the ones up the stairs. It also didn’t help that he had to dodge the occasional arrow aimed at his head. Just as he ducked, another projectile zipped past him and got lodged into the wall. Arthur took a glance at the goblins below them, noticing that around half a dozen or more were in position with bows at the ready, all of them pulling their strings back, prepared to launch a volley of arrows at the group.
Arthur was the first to notice this before addressing the matter to Chloe. “Arrow volley, incoming!”
Chloe acted fast, kicking away the goblin that tried to attack her before spinning around to face the volley. The moment the goblins fired; the arrows flew in an arc before descending on the trio. Arthur used his sword and activated his sword aura, swinging his blade and launching a wave attack at the hail storm arrows. His attack was successful as the arrows' path was disrupted, all of them going off course and falling to the ground.
Just as Arthur was about to deliver another sword aura arc attack, he was immediately struck in the shoulder by an arrow. He let out an anguish groan while getting thrown back to the wall from the projectile.
“A-agh…!”
“Arthur!” Chloe panicked, moving toward Arthur in a flash.
One of the goblins attempted to lung at the Knight and Healer, but Chloe stepped in and kicked it away. Her foot was planted square in its chest, driving the monster back with enough force that it crashed into its fellow goblins like a bowling ball attempting to get a strike. Thanks to this, the goblins down the stairs all tumbled down to the bottom, allowing the group to get some breathing room. But not for long as the goblins at the top of the stairs were still making their way down and attacking them.
A goblin jumped and swung its sword at Arthur, to which the Knight retaliated by lifting his blade and blocking the attack. However, because he was weak, the creature’s attack, although weak, was still strong enough to cause Arthur’s knees to buckle under the pressure, making him kneel on the floor. Just before the goblin charged in again to finish him off, Chloe immediately grabbed the creature and slammed it against the stair railing, breaking its back in the process. Not only that but due to how forceful she smashed the goblin against the railing, she even bent the metal.
As the goblin went limp, the brawler then tossed it at the other goblins, taking down a couple in the process, and making a path up the stairs.
“Let’s move!” Chloe shouted, looking at Arthur and Lucy.
Arthur sluggishly nodded his head and hastily climbed the stairs. Lucy was still out of it as she clung to Arthur as they desperately fought to survive. Both Chloe and Arthur beat and slashed at the goblins, clearing the stairs as much as they could while marching their way to the second floor. More arrows were shot at them, but Chloe managed to pick up some goblins and used them as meat shields against the projectiles.
It didn’t take long before the trio finally made it to the second floor, practically bulldozing through several goblins that blocked the path there. However, even when they managed to get to the floor, they were far from safe because, on the second level of the warehouse, there were just as many goblins there as there were on the first floor. And the moment the goblins took notice of Chloe, Arthur, and Lucy, the entire horde charged right at them.
Before the horde could get to them, Chloe scanned the area, immediately spotting a large table nearby. Thinking that it could hold them back, the brawler rushed forward and grabbed a hold of the table before planting it on the floor as a barrier. And with a swift kick, she sent it barreling toward the goblins, knocking down quite a lot in the process.
Looking around again, she spotted some large boxes near the stair's entrance. While pushing the big table against the goblins in the center of the floor, she turned to Arthur.
“Arthur, use those boxes and block the stairs!”
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Arthur didn’t even think twice before sprinting over to the boxes. Instead of picking them up, he simply got into position and kicked them toward the stairs. As the boxes slid across to the stairs entrance, not only did Arthur manage to block it, but he also took down some goblins in the process, knocking them down the steps. He could hear the monsters yelp in pain and surprise as their voices faded while tumbling down.
With the entrance more or less blocked, Arthur went over to Chloe to help her out. While using the table against the goblins, a couple of the green gremlins managed to maneuver around it and lunged at the brawler. Chloe punched one away but got her leg slashed by the other goblin.
“A-agh!” Chloe let out a groan.
Just when the goblin was about to cut her again, Arthur arrived and drove his blade through the monster’s chest. He raised the monster with his sword and then tossed it away, not sparing another glance as he turned to Chloe.
“You alright?” He asked.
Chloe winced while stumbling from the cut on her leg. Looking down, she was bleeding quite badly as the blood trailed down all the way to her feet and the floor. However, she did her best to ignore the pain while focusing on the goblins. She grabbed a nearby rebar that was on the floor and swung it at one of the green menaces. Its head instantly caved in and collapsed on the spot, blood and drool leaking out its mouth and wound. She wasn’t done and swung the rebar more, managing to cave in more goblin skulls.
She did this so much that she was seeing countless kill notifications flooding her vision, making it difficult to continue her assault against the goblins. Suddenly, Arthur pulled her back by the back of her collar, moving her away from the table that held back some of the goblins. Before she could question why he did that, her answer soon came as the table broke down as the goblins pushed through like water flowing through a broken damn. If she stayed there any longer than she did, she would’ve ended up getting stampeded from the goblin horde.
“Move, move!”
Seeing the goblins slowly overwhelm them, the trio rushed to another area of the second floor, attempting to put some distance between them. However, the number of goblins kept increasing to the point where there were so many that it could be compared to the number of people at a rock concert.
The trio stopped running the moment they came across a wall. Just when they tried to move left or right, the goblins flanked them on either side instantly, blocking their exits as they closed in on the group. Their backs against the wall, both Chloe and Arthur held out their weapons and tried to hold out for as long as they could.
“Think you can use another [Sword Aura] attack like before?” Chloe asked.
“I…don’t think so,” Arthur admitted, his breathing becoming shallow with each inhale he took. His lungs felt like they were on fire along with the burning pain in his shoulder and head from his previous injuries.
The goblin horde continued to get closer, all of them wearing sadist and menacing smiles on their faces. Their yellow jagged teeth were on full display as they grinned like maniacs. Chloe couldn’t help but feel disgusted by such a sight even though she had bigger problems to worry about.
Not only did her legs feel weak, but every muscle in her body was close to giving out. Even when she held out a rebar to use against any goblins that got close, her hand trembled while holding it. It wasn’t out of fear but exhaustion. Her vision started to fade in and out, unable to keep her conscious for long.
She likely estimated that she could get a couple of kills in before her body collapsed on the spot and the goblins could do whatever they wanted to her. However, she was determined to make those kills count. With a determined expression on her face, she glared at the goblins as they continued their approach.
In the back of her mind, she wished that she could’ve gotten to see Vlad one last time. He was likely still looking for them while all of this was going down. And yet, their friend won’t know what happened to them. And that…depressed Chloe.
She really…wanted to make sure that Vlad was okay, even if it was only for the last time before her death. If she was granted such a wish…she could most likely die happy knowing that he was still okay. With that in mind, Chloe braced herself against the horde of goblins.
Arthur held out his sword, ready to strike down any enemy that came their way, and Chloe had her rebar, prepared to swing it at the monsters that tried to get close to her. It was at this moment, that they were ready to die, but at least die fighting.
Just then, Arthur and Chloe witnessed a wave of red go through some of the goblin horde. For a moment nothing happened until the goblins were suddenly split in half, both halves of their bodies collapsing on the floor. Seeing this, Chloe and Arthur had no idea what just happened.
“Looks like I made it just in time,” a familiar voice rang out.
Just when the pair tried to locate the source of the voice, the person appeared right before them in a familiar flash of red. Once the red faded, Chloe and Arthur immediately recognized who it was. Their eyes widened as both of them shouted the person’s name.
“V-Vlad…?!”
“Vlad…it’s you!”
Standing before them was none other than their missing friend, Vlad Stoker. He wore leather armor like a rogue or archer and wielded a spear in his right hand. As he planted the butt of his spear on the floor, he glanced over at his friends, his crimson eyes shining for a brief moment.
Wait, crimson eyes?
“Are you guys alright?” Vlad suddenly asked, his voice filled with concern.
Chloe glanced at herself and her friends for a moment, noticing how injured all of them were. As she turned to Vlad, she wore a smart-ass smile before replying. “What do you think, asshole? We’re practically dying over here.”
For a moment, Vlad smiled at her remark, likely relieved that she could still act like this despite nearly dying at the hands of the goblin horde. However, his smile soon vanished as it was replaced with a face filled with malice and resentment. And he directed it at the monsters that caused this.
“You guys just sit back for a second, okay?” Vlad advised. “I’ll take care of these bastards.”
Stating this in a cold tone, Vlad faced the goblin horde with only one thing on his mind; killing them for hurting his friends.