The three goblins were shrieking as they entered the village. They were walking while at ease with creepy smiles on their faces as they played with their weapons. While they were passing next to the stables one of them stopped as it heard something; the smile that was plastered on its face became even creepier. It quickly signaled for the other two to follow it inside the stables.

The horses neighed with nervousness at the unwelcome visitors, while the goblins searched every stall. Just as the creatures reached the halfway mark, one of the horses galloped out of its stall accompanied by the sound of a snapping rope. The horse dashed at the three goblins, leaving them flabbergasted. Not knowing what to do, they could only split up and run in all directions.

However, the horse was not to be the end of their worries. Just as one of the goblins was able to escape the wrath of the animal, two young teens opened the door of the stall right behind it and tackled the monster. They pushed the goblin to the ground and stabbed it multiple times in the throat, chest, and stomach.

Meanwhile, the escaped horse was still rampaging. It galloped at the two remaining goblins and kicked them with its hooves. The two monsters looked pitiful as they attempted to stop the horse’s rage; their skin was bruised and swollen from all the injuries.

As the two goblins laid defeated on the ground, two figures dashed from behind the horse. The little boy, Jaime, tackled one of the goblins before stabbing it twice in the throat. He wiped the blood off his face before handing the knife to Roy, who in turn finished off his prey.

Looking at the dead goblins, the horse raised its front legs in the sky and neighed happily. Roy smiled, petted its neck, and gave it some hay to eat as a reward.

"Good work, everyone. That was clean." Roy looked at Jaimie with a proud expression. Even though the little boy was still shivering, he was able to follow the command Roy gave him perfectly.

“Ehh, it wasn’t hard at all,” Fred commented. “It feels like we’re ganging up and ambushing kids…”

“Yeah, it really doesn’t feel the best,” Alfonse added.

Looking at the two’s disgruntled expressions Roy couldn’t help but mildly chuckle. First, they were afraid of fighting the monsters, now they pity them?

“It’s better to be safe. I don’t want us to get injured against these weak goblins, just in case we find stronger monsters.”

Alfonse looked at Roy with a pensive expression. “I was thinking about that too. That voice said something about evolution or some shit, these things are probably not the only monsters we will have to fight.”

Roy gave a wry smile. “I mean, yeah… There is always that possibility.”

An awkward silence took over the room as Roy, Alfonse, Fred and Jaimie considered the possibility of facing stronger monsters. The idea of them being strong was already scary, but not knowing their strength or when they would appear made it even more foreboding.

“Eh, what is there to be afraid of?” Fred exclaimed. “Even if there are stronger monsters, we just have to kill them. But forget about that, I’m more interested in the reward when we kill ten of these goblins. What the hell is even status awakening? You think we’re gonna get magical abilities or something?”

Alfonse chuckled at Fred’s wild imagination. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll all become sword heroes that ride sky dragons and fight the demons of hell.”

Fred’s eyes shone with an excited glimmer. “I like that idea, imagine how cool that would be. Pulling up on a sky dragon? There is no girl that wouldn’t want a ride.”

Roy clicked his tongue and shook his head at Fred’s wild imagination. “Whatever status awakening is, we’re gonna know once we kill ten of these monsters, right?”

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He then went down and took the knives and daggers that the dead goblins used. He handed one of them to Jaimie who silently thanked him, before handing another one to Alfonse.

“Thank the gods, it’s just your left hand that got stabbed,” Roy couldn’t help but blurt out.

“I know, right?” Alfonse replied with a chuckle. “Would have been a real mess if it was my right.”

As they kept talking, the four made their way out of the stables. After a few minutes, Jack came back from within the village.

“It’s hell on earth out there, man.” Jack’s face was as pale as the moon. “The streets and the plaza are full of corpses, mostly people but there were a few goblins too. We also found that big pack you told us about; they’re fighting with the guards and the knights in front of the big hall.”

Roy’s expression stiffened as he heard Jack’s news. “What about Robb, where is he?”

“Ah, Robb,” Jack scratched the back of his head before continuing, “He is keeping tabs on the Roger family. They’re stuck in their house, with like a dozen goblins trying to break in.”

“We have to go help them,” Alfonse jumped in.

“Yeah, of course, we do,” Fred added. “The Rogers helped us so many times, we would be true bastards to let them die.”

Roy looked at his two friends before his eyes rested on young Jaimie. While the latter didn’t speak out, his eyes told Roy everything he needed to know.

“Okay, let’s do that then. It was already getting boring just fighting three of them at a time, let’s spice it up a little bit.”

The four young men walked into the village under the guidance of Jack. Soon, their faces resembled that of Jack. The smell of blood filled their noses, and the sight of men, women, and children’s corpses in the middle and sides of the road was vomit-inducing. Their blood flowed like rivers through the streets while their stomachs and intestines protruded from their ripped open bellies.

The group of boys quickened their steps in fear for Robb and the Roger family. Soon, they reached their destination.

“It’s here…”

From a small alleyway Robb signaled to them to come over. Once they reached him, he pointed at a small little house facing the other side of the alley. There were about twelve goblins surrounding it, three of which were restlessly gnashing and stabbing at the door.

“We’ll have to bait them here,” Robb remarked and Roy nodded.

“I’ll do it.” Surprisingly, it was young Jaimie who volunteered first.

“No, you won’t. I’ll be doing it.” Alfonse immediately shut down Jaimie and got up before he too was silenced.

“No, you’re injured. What kind of shitty bait goes around running with a stabbed hand? I’ll be the one to go.” Fred stood up and looked at Roy.

The latter thought for a moment before nodding his head. “Bait as many of them as possible, but don’t let them get too close to you. No matter what, stay safe.”

Fred nodded at Roy’s words before strolling towards the small pack of goblins. Roy and the others quickly situated themselves on both sides of the alley, ready for the opportune moment.

“Hey, motherfuckers!” Fred’s scream immediately bought him the attention of the goblins. “Come catch this ass if you can, you horny dogs!”

Fred tapped his butt at the goblins a couple of times before bolting through the alleyway. The shrieks of goblins that followed him were deafening. Ten of the monsters angrily followed suit, running towards Fred with weapons in their hands and bloodlust in their eyes. The only thing they could see was the prey in front of them.

Fred burst out of the alleyway while four of the ten goblins closely followed after him, however, Roy didn’t give the signal yet. Once Fred and the four goblins made their way into the main street, the lagging six goblins finally came close.

“Now!”

Following Roy’s orders, the group of five friends flanked the six goblins, each of them taking care of one. Roy made quick work of his goblin with a slash to the throat before turning and finding another monster who was confused at the turn of the events. Not giving it any time to react, Roy grabbed its arm and stabbed it in the chest multiple times, killing it.

Once everybody killed the goblin they fought, Roy immediately ordered, “Let’s help Fred!”

The group immediately ran towards their friend. Fred, who saw that his friends already took care of the rest of the goblins, made a huge U-turn and ran towards them, with the four goblins still closely following him.

The clash of the two groups was anticlimactic. With such a major size difference, Roy’s group made quick work of the frenzied goblins. Within a few seconds, the goblins were all killed.

Roy looked back at Roger’s place and so did everyone else. There was no need to say anything, they just nodded at each other before walking toward the big house.