Noah felt his dagger bite into the goblin's neck, followed by a spurt of blue blood that ended up drenching his hands. He couldn't help but wonder if he could be as nonchalant about killing goblins if they had the same red blood running in their veins as he did- but this was no time for questions like this.

Quickly looting the dead goblin, Noah hurried back to the location where he had abandoned his spear. Analyzing the fight so far, he had to admit that despite his numerous advantages, [Goblin Archers] were still terrifying adversaries. They could see his location clearly, while he was forced to stumble around in the darkness without even knowing where the damn arrow was coming from- what an utterly vexing way to fight.

Reaching his intended destination a few moments later, he quickly yanked his spear out and carried it out in his right hand. Instead of running for the tree immediately though, with a conflicted expression on his face he reached out for the goblin's carcass and held it to the side of his body in an underarm grip with his left. Roughly half a minute later, he was safely behind the gigantic tree's cover with the spear and carcass in tow- an action that would've only taken seconds otherwise.

If Liam hadn't already taught him a way of detecting a [Goblin Archer's] location already, he probably would have legged it by now. It was pretty obvious, really, but his sense of self-preservation automatically seemed to reject such suggestions without consulting him.

Having deposited the goblin carcass at the bottom of the tree, Noah stepped out from behind its cover with his spear loosely held in his right hand while pointing upwards. Instead of rushing towards it in a maddened frenzy, however - he just calmly stood there as if he were waiting for something. A minute passed in the eerie silence of Gridlocked's forest, and just when Noah was beginning to think that the Goblin had abandoned its companions and made a run for it- a familiar twang of bowstring echoed out.

He dived for the tree's cover and reached safety far before the arrow had any chance of posing a real threat to him, but kept maintaining a firm grip on to his spear with his right hand as his left cushioned the fall.

'Southeast... It switched locations?' thought Noah to himself. This time he had been keeping his ears open, trying to zero down on the archer's location. While diving he had caught a blurry glimpse from that direction as well, so it further solidified his theory.

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Liam had told him that if he poked out any body part out of cover, the [Goblin Archer's] would attack even if it was the most obvious bait. They were goblins, after all. Noah had intentionally chosen to completely reveal him because he was testing out a theory of his. Next, he extended out his spear-wielding arm past the tree's cover and waited. Another twang echoed out from the southeast, while Noah just casually retracted his arm with more than enough time to spare before an arrow whizzed by.

For the final test, Noah poked the spear past the tree's cover but chose not to reveal his arm. A few minutes passed, and there was no reaction from the Archer. 'It worked!' thought Noah to himself. As a final test, he poked his arm out - and sure enough, an arrow was sent to welcome him a few moments later.

"I really don't want to do this but.... Sorry buddy" whispered Noah, as he lifted the Goblin's carcass and placed it near the edge of the tree's cover. Propping it in a sitting position while leaning it against the tree, Noah raised its knees and wrapped its arms around them. Carefully propping the spear between the goblin's arms and the ground so it jutted out from behind the tree's cover, and once satisfied- he let go of its carcass.

Much to his relief, the carcass didn't collapse after Noah let go and the spear kept jutting out. He had earlier chosen to reveal himself holding the spear to give the Archer visual proof that a human was its wielder, and if the results of his experiments were to hold up- the goblin's eyes should remain trained on this location.

Taking out his [Assassin's Dagger], Noah dropped to a crouch and sneaked out of the tree's cover from the other side. He moved slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible but ready to drop into a dive if he heard the twang of a bow. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he hoped his gambit would work.

Minutes passed as he weaved forward in between the gaps between shrubbery and bushes, not willing to disturb them as he advanced. The darkness made what should have been a breeze an intimidating experience, especially when a single wrong move could give his location away. He veered to the left, in the direction where he had guessed the goblin to be firing from.

Noah steeled his nerves and kept advancing forward, even if there seemed to be no difference in the pitch-black surroundings from the location he had started. Until he abruptly lowered his head, in hopes that he wasn't noticed. Only five meters away from him, slightly to his left was a solitary goblin with his eyes trained far into the distance, looking through what looked to be a pretty heavy bow, arrow gripped but lacking tension.

'Phew' thought Noah, as he accessed his inventory and pulled out the spare one-handed sword he had just gotten. Taking advantage of his increased strength, he tossed it overhead rather casually in the far left, not really concerned with where it landed.

A few moments later the sound of something landing with a muted thud and the echo of shrubbery being disturbed sounded out, and Noah took that as a cue to carry out his assassination.