CHAPTER 8: Group Fight
After getting everyone into position and making sure their unused gear wasn’t left behind, Adam approached the shadows. His sledgehammer came up and dragged around the outside of the alley. All the shadows were checked before he led the group to a side door that entered the eastern most warehouse. Not surprising of an unused building near a high school, the lock to the door was already broken. Adam slowly pulled it open. Smart enough to push his sledgehammer through before his head, in case an attack was coming, Adam cautiously peeked in. The room was full of shadows in the fading light, and the windows were about 16 feet above the ground. Most of the room was in hazy darkness.
Adam crept into the warehouse. The size of it was about 15,000 square feet, larger than the light could cover. The floor was rough cement, chipped and worn in a lot of areas. A few support beams, towards the outer parts were about two stories tall, holding up a wavy metal ceiling. The furthest wall did have stairs leading to two rooms with windows that overlooked the rest. In this lighting there were many places he couldn’t see.
“Lantern,” called Adam. Quickly one of the largest flashlights lit up and a covering was pulled up to allow it to act as a lantern. The effect was significantly diminished by the bodies of their group throwing shadows. Adam just sighed at the ineffectiveness, though of course they weren’t going to get things right the first time. Or probably the second, third, and fourth.
“I’m going to roam. Nick, stick close to me and think about how to be a part of the darkness. Lucas, watch everyone and make sure Tom isn’t too noisy.”
“Hey,” Tom nearly shouted. Andrea slapped the back of his head in response.
Venturing into the warehouse, making sure to keep away from the walls and beams, Adam walked a circle. There was no feeling of being watched nor presences that he could tell were there. He would whisper with Nick occasionally to see if he noticed anything. After ten minutes he came back to the group.
The group was in their circle formation, everyone holding tightly to their weapons, tension clearly high. There was a group exhale when he got back.
“There is no one here that I could tell. Maybe up the stairs but I don’t think it is worth checking. Let’s go to another one. Move together.”
Leading them back out the door they came from, they followed the road to the next warehouse, turned into the alley, and checked the door. It was also broken, with the building resembling the previous one except with a lot more rubbish in it. Broken boxes and a few metal drums were scattered around, most dented and rolled around as teenagers had messed with them.
Two more times they checked buildings and found nothing. The road had 8 warehouses on each side of the road. Then all the warehouses had one more row behind them, making 32 buildings to check in total. The alleyways between buildings were about 20 ft wide so shipping vehicles could pull in with room for people to move. Adam was sure that the goblins were among the buildings somewhere. When they turned down the alley next to the fifth building Adam stopped when he got close to the door.
“They are here,” Adam announced and looked around. He couldn’t see anything and the light had almost completely faded.
“How call you tell?” Nick asked from his shoulder.
“The smell. The air feels more stagnant here.” Sniffs and large breaths went around the group as they tried to notice the same thing. Several shook their heads while Lamar seemed to understand.
“What do we do, boss?” asked Tom, trying to eye everywhere at once.
“Head up the cement stairs to the door. I can’t tell if they are inside or out, but I would guess both since it feels like we are being watched. Lucas will lead to the door and make to go inside, but won’t head in. I will stay at the bottom of the stairs. Make use of those railings on the stairs for protection.”
They quietly switched positions at his whispered commands. Heading up the steps, Lucas started to open the door when he slammed it shut with a loud clang. He grabbed
Joseph’s scraper and wedged it in the door handle to prevent it from opening.
With slight panic, Lucas said, “Human blood in the doorway. Not going in there.”
“What do we do,” someone whispered.
“Should we call the police?”
“Why are we even doing this?”
“We should get out of here.”
Adam then spoke up at his normal volume, casually, sounding odd after so long of trying to be quiet. “We are doing this because earth is being invaded. Because no one will believe we were attacked by goblins. Because if we don’t get some XP and levels we will just get stepped on. We are doing this because we prepared and because we can.”
“Hey, boss. Why the sudden noise? Did you want to bring them all here?” Tom spoke up.
“They're already here.” Adam turned away from the group, standing at the stairs. He hefted his sledgehammer with one hand and then announced, “I hope this is all of them. Otherwise, we are even more screwed than now.”
From both ends of the alley goblins stepped out of the shadows, eight on each side. Adam couldn’t see their tags but he could see weapons. In the front of both groups were two shield carriers, the shields looking like wood wrapped in animal skins. Behind them were stone axes and clubs. Both sides were closing in. The goblins were clearly in a formation, but it was managed terribly. Better than the high schoolers, but still without a lot of discipline.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Scared gasps sounded from the high schoolers as they shakily held their weapons.
“Lucas, Nick, and Carlos, come down here. I will strike first. You guys do what damage you can then step back. We will try to hit and run on the left group. Everyone else stay on the steps. Tom and Randall at the front. Just poke them and don’t let them grab the scrapers. Joseph, get to the top and poke through the railing if any goblins come beside it. Mages fire conservatively. Try to keep them back. We’ll join as soon as we can. Lamar, make sure that door does not open!”
Everyone shifted around. There were only four cement stairs against the building with metal pipe for railings, which would be easy to reach through or get pulled down. The goblins continued to advance while Lucas, Nick, and Carlos hopped the railing, freeing everyone else to get into positions.
Adam wanted to get the left group before either group reached the stairs, so he dashed forward heading straight towards the shield bearers. While running, he moved his right hand to the bottom of his sledge handle, letting it trail behind him. The machete was pulled from its sheath at his belt into his left hand. When he was almost at the goblins, he swung his right arm with all his might. The length of the sledge allowed the swing to hit the shield goblin that was further away from him. As the hammer connected with the shield, a loud crack happened as the wood inside the hides broke and flung the goblin back into more goblins.
The shield goblin closer to Adam turned his head looking at the shield that had broken, which was a bad idea, as it allowed Adam to use the rebound of the blow to spin his right arm away from the goblins, bringing his left hand towards the goblin with more force. The machete plunged into its neck, causing a gurgling noise, as he ripped it back and stepped to the next goblin in line.
Confusion stirred among the goblins as a single human had taken five goblins momentarily out of play. The three that had been hit by the knocked back shield goblin were pushing him up and trying to ready their weapons but were too close together to defend against the arriving humans. Lucas swung his sledgehammer at head height hitting one and throwing the other two off balance again. Nick went to the shield goblin with the broken shield, who had yet to regain his feet, and tried stabbing in the neck, while Carlos did the same with a brawler that Lucas had hit. Nick and Carlos’s machetes went in their necks, but not nearly as deeply as Adam had gotten. Instead, they had to keep stabbing and slashing. Those goblins started using the shield goblin to block them, so the humans had to get closer.
Adam dodged an axe swing and stabbed that enforcer in its weapon shoulder. When he saw the other three from his group he took a step back.
“You are over committing, get back behind me,” he snapped at Lucas, Nick, and Carlos. They retreated before grasping goblin hands reached them. He quickly looked at the goblin group, who were all trying to get some space to use their own weapons. “You three finish that shield goblin I stabbed off. Get the XP from that. I’ll kill the other two you already hit, and once I do, level up your [Body]. Put three in strength and two in agility. You all need more force to pierce their skins.”
“Got it,” Lucas replied.
To allow them to get the goblin on the ground before the rest approached them, he stepped towards where the further away shield goblin was. He brought the sledgehammer down diagonally, passed the shield goblin and into the far eye of a brawler they had stabbed. The hammer easily went through the eye and impacted the brain. As he pulled the hammer upwards and back towards himself, his left hand brought the machete up under the shield goblin’s chin. The machete was longer than the stone knife he had used before and was able to deeply penetrate the head. The goblins body slumped in death.
Goblin “Shield-bearer [4]” slain. 20 shared XP gained.
Goblin “Brawler [5]” slain. 24 shared XP gained.
Adam was pulled off balance from the body toppling with his machete. He wasn’t getting it back right now as two enforcers and a brawler came at him, weapons swinging. Dropping the body and machete, he took a two-handed grip on the sledgehammer and blocked the axe and club, while another axe hit his shoulder, knocking him back a few inches. The blow hurt but he wasn’t going to fall back from it.
Goblin “Shield-bearer [4]” slain. 20 shared XP gained.
“Get those stats quick and help!” Adam called, knowing he couldn’t do this himself. He was aware that the other group of goblins was already at the steps and trying to pull his group down.
The sledgehammer turned sideways as Adam took a wide grip of the handle. He pulled it to himself and then lunged forward to body check the three goblins with it, as if it were a hockey stick. His strength was enough to hold them back for a second and then Lucas’s hammer was swung over his head at the enforcer on the right. A crack of skull sounded as it landed on the center of the head, knocking the enforcer down but not killing him. At least until Nick and Carlos both stabbed it as it fell, one in the neck and one between its ribs.
Goblin “Enforcer [3]” slain. 16 shared XP gained.
Adam held the sledgehammer against the two pushing goblins for just a moment longer as Nick and Carlos ducked under his leaning body and each sliced the side of the knees to one of the two goblins. Right away Adam stepped back, allowing the pushing goblins to fall forward as their legs gave out on them. Lucas immediately brought his sledge down on one goblin’s eye, and Adam did the same with the other, after swinging his hammer down and behind him into a circle that became an overhead smash.
Goblin “Enforcer [4]” slain. 20 shared XP gained.
Goblin “Brawler [4]” slain. 20 shared XP gained.
Lucas grunted as a stone axe took him in the ribs from the side. The blow was strong enough to knock him to the side, but he had tightened up and allowed the momentum to turn into a roll. Adam swung is hammer sideways, hitting a brawler and knocking it away before its club landed on him. Before he could pull back from the swing, Carlos and Nick once again stepped underneath him and stabbed the knees of both goblins.
The goblins dropped to the ground and Adam stepped back once again instead of pushing the attack. Lucas was already up, though clenching his hurt side, struggling to walk. Looking at Lucas allowed Adam to see the other group. They were holding on but having a rough time. The lantern was turned on so they could see but most of the light was blocked by their bodies and pointed upwards. That allowed Adam to see a hint of movement above the group on the roof.
“Damnit!” Adam swore as he pulled Lucas’s machete from its belt and ran. The other two goblins were on the ground, so Nick, Carlos, and Lucas should be able to take them. However, the stairs group wasn’t even aware that more were dropping on them from the roof, led by an assassin.
It was a race as Adam pushed himself, seeing the goblin knife falling straight to Abbey who was healing Randall against the building wall. There was no place for them to move. The second group of eight goblins were surrounding the stairs.