As more goblins came into view, Alfred saw their forms and equipment. They were a little bit smaller than Liz, they also had pointy ears, large teeth sticking out of their mouths and an overall greenish looking body. Their equipment didn't seem that good.
One had a broken shortsword, two had slings and the other nine of them had wooden clubs. Only the shortsword wielding goblin had some sort of armor, all it was some leather that covered his head and torso. All of the other goblins only wore loincloths and some had large leaves over their chests.
˝They don't look that well equipped, but we should still be wary of their numbers.˝ Alfred said shocking Jill, but he didn't care about keeping his sentience hidden in this life or death situation.
˝I agree, but afterwards Liz and Alfred you've got some explaining to do.˝ Said Rora while Jill only nodded in the back. Paulus on the other hand thought to himself. ´So what I saw indeed correct.´
3 points of damage sustained [197 HP remaining]
Alfred got hit in the head by a rock thrown by one of the slingers, leaving a slight dent on his forehead. Rora saw that and started shooting her bow at the slingers. Alfred then moving towards the goblins with Liz.
˝Gigigigi!˝ One of the club wielding goblins rushed forward, the armored goblin yelled at it but he was ignored. It seemed to not listen to his orders.
˝Let's go Liz, just like last time.˝ Alfred said as he prepared to strike the goblin. Only to receive another rock to his chest.
2 points of damage sustained [195 HP remaining]
˝Sounds like a good plan, are you alright taking those hits?˝ Liz said as she saw one of the slingers get an arrow in their eye. It dropped to the ground dead.
˝Yes, it's barely damaging me because of my plating.˝ Alfred said as he tried stabbing the goblin, but it barely dodged.
Overconfident the goblin started to close, in only to be hit by Alfred's spear's shaft. Right on the goblins chin, this made it stumble back in pain only to get stabbed in the throat by Liz's dagger. He fell over gurgling blood.
˝Good job Liz.˝ ˝Likewise.˝ They said to each other only to see the remaining eight of the goblins charging in rage. One of them got shot in the leg and fell over.
˝I got the slingers, I'll try to take a few the other ones out as well.˝ Rora said as she nocked another arrow. Shooting another goblin in the chest making it squirm on the ground, before going limp.
˝Let's go on the offensive!˝ Alfred said as he charged forward. The goblins tried surrounding him, but were not expecting him to charge in. One of the goblins was caught by surprise when he got stabbed in the stomach by Alfred.
He did manage to hit back, he struck Alfred's side with his club.
15 points of damage sustained [180 HP remaining]
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It seemed the goblins weren't as physically weak as they appeared. Alfred staggered back in pain, while the goblin fell back and tried to cover his wound but was bleeding too much.
Another one tried to hit Alfred with his club only to get stabbed in his hand by Liz, dropping his club he then clawed at Liz. He scratched her face right over her left eye, with his long and sharp nails. Liz backed off holding her eye while Alfred recovered and stabbed the goblin in the chest.
The armored goblin got even more enraged as he saw another one of his goblins shot by an arrow. He was now only accompanied by three other goblins. He figured out that the archer was a major problem so he sent of the other three to attack her while he'll take the shiny one.
˝Liz you alright?˝ Alfred said as he saw Liz still holding her head.
˝Yes I'll be fine, my vision is a bit blurry and it hurts like hell, but I'll manage.˝ Liz said trying to smile.
˝We'll take a look at it after the battle, now please go and support Rora. The other goblins are charging at her. I'll take care of this one.˝ Alfred said as he prepared to duel the armored goblin.
Liz then ran back towards Rora. The goblin didn't charge in like the others, he was looking for an opening. ´Hm, looks like this one is smarter than the rest.´ Alfred thought.
The goblin then started to slowly shorten the distance, and then lunged to the side and used his sword to knock Alfred's spear to the side. This shocked Alfred and he tried to increase the distance between them only to get hit by the sword in his arm that held the spear.
25 points of damage sustained [155 HP remaining]
˝Argh!˝ He dropped his spear as the broken sword barely cut into the arm. Even if the sword barely made it through his plating the goblin was clearly used to fighting humanoids, as he aimed it right at Alfred's wrist, intent on making him drop his weapon.
Meanwhile Liz reached Rora and stabbed one of the goblins in the back. Liz kept the goblins at bay while Rora shot her remaining arrow at one of the other two goblins, hitting it in the shoulder. only wounding it. She then dropped her bow and unsheathed her hunting knife and ran towards the goblin trying to pull out the arrow.
The other goblin tried to protect it by smacking Rora with it's club, but Rora dodged and knocked it over by kicking it's leg. She then stabbed it a few times in the chest, getting hit once on the shoulder in retaliation.
The wounded goblin finally pulled out the arrow to see Liz and Rora standing there with their weapons, they both stabbed it in the chest and it fell over. They were happy until they heard Alfred scream, then they were horrified.
˝Aaaaahhhh˝ ˝Gigigigigigi!˝ Alfred screamed and the armored goblin was laughing, he managed to stab into Alfred's stomach area with his sword, blue coolant leaking onto the sword. He managed to do this by running and jumping at Alfred with all his might. It didn't seem to go all the way through Alfred, but a significant amount of damage was dealt.
55 points of damage sustained [100 HP remaining]
˝Alfred! NOOOO!˝ Liz yelled as she started running towards him.
˝No! Go and help Paulus and Jill!˝ Alfred yelled. Liz then turned around and saw that the goblin that got hit in the leg managed to sneak around and started attacking Jill and Paulus.
˝Fine! Just stay alive!˝ Liz said.
˝Gigigi! Gi?˝ The goblin laughed until he figured out he can't pull out his sword, it was stuck on the plating. He looked up to see Alfred's glowing red eyes looking increadibly menacing.
˝Is that it! You green vermin!˝ Alfred said as he used his good hand to grab the goblin's neck. He lifted the goblin up and started squeezing. The goblin tried to escape, but Alfred's steel grip was too strong.
He then resorted to grabbing a small dagger made from a wolf fang from a strap on his leather armor and started stabbing into Alfred's shoulder. Sadly he didn't possess the strength of a wolf's yaw so he couldn't pierce Alfred's plating only doing minor damage.
2 points of damage sustained [98 HP remaining]
3 points of damage sustained [95 HP remaining]
3 points of damage sustained [92 HP remaining]
2 points of damage sustained [90 HP remaining]
2 points of damage sustained [88 HP remaining]
2 points of damage sustained [86 HP remaining]
Finally the stabbing stopped and the goblins neck snapped, Alfred ignored the system messages about experience, since he had more pressing matters to attend. He turned around still holding the goblin and saw the other members of the caravan running towards him.
When they got to him, he saw that Paulus had a few wounds on his arms but nothing serious and that Jill was hiding behind Rora. He thought she was trembling because of the attack. Liz then asked Alfred:
˝Are you alright? Also how about you drop the goblin, you're scaring Jill.˝
To them Alfred looked like a very dangerous being, he was covered in green goblin blood and blue coolant and holding a dead goblin with a snapped neck. What made it even worse was the illumination from the fire.
˝I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. And I'll be fine.˝ Alfred said as he dropped the goblin and started walking towards the group. He made a few steps before he fell forward unresponsive, coolant staining the ground around him.