Not even a minute passed since the chase began. Gerald kept hearing the Goblins screaming, but they weren't coming any closer. In fact, they were going further away. He slightly turned his head backward while running forward, to take a quick look behind him.
He exclaimed in surprise, "Ah? They are actually so slow? Hahaha, look at them, struggling to run. How could they be such a big threat if you can just run away and leave them in the dust?" He said that but he also started to slow down a bit at the same time.
"Keep running! Don't you dare to slow down! You might think we can outrun them, but Goblins can run for hours, albeit not really fast. Can you do the same?"
"Oh shit!" Gerald became slightly pale.
"That's right. Also, now that we are their target, they are not just going to stop. Goblins fear nothing and their sense of smell is incredible! Even if we leave them far behind they will catch up sooner or later," Sera yelled at him while also trying to speed up.
Gerald was horrified, "I can't run that long! I used to sit all day every day for years! I can run for maybe five to ten minutes tops!" He was already getting tired after only about a minute of running.
Sera just glanced back with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm so sorry. I will miss you. If there was another chance I would love to be with-"
"Hey! Don't write me off just yet! I'm not dying in this place, all exhausted and shit! Screw that! I've had enough of being bullied!" Gerald angrily roared.
He quickly gathered his Mana and cast a spell, "Stone Bolt!"
The rocks on the ground split and cracked apart and seven Stone Bolts flew out and hovered around him. While still running he grabbed the closest one and broke it into pieces to get a few fist-sized chunks.
With determination in his eyes, he imbued the stones with Mana and then threw them back with a scream. As the stones left his hand they actually continued to accelerate and they even slightly changed the trajectory according to his will. He was aiming for the knees and heads of the running Goblins.
Paf! Paf!
Two of the stones hit their mark. One Gobling took a stone to the knee and tumbled on the ground before stopping, while the other got hit in the face and fell backward. The other Goblins didn't even bat an eye and just jumped over them.
Gerald didn't waste any time and fired the rest of the Stone Bolts backward. Unfortunately, they were going too slow and the Goblins easily dodged them. Those two on the ground, however, weren't as lucky. They got blasted in the face and torso, just as they were trying to get back up, dying on the spot.
"Stone bolt! Stone Bolt!"
Gerald quickly summoned another two batches of Stone Bolts and fired them backward. Once again the Goblins quickly dodged to the side and avoided most of the danger. Just one of them got hit, as the Bolt came from a blind spot, that was covered by a fellow in front.
"God damn it! Three spells and only three dead. I can't go on like this for much longer…" Gerald felt depressed. Once again he experienced the difficulty of running low on Mana. Now he really cursed his bad luck that brought him trouble no matter where he went.
Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on the back of his shoulder and a flying knife entered his field of vision as it flew past him. He gritted his teeth in pain and quickly turned his head around with a furious expression. The closest Goblin, the leader, was preparing to throw another rusty knife at him.
"You son of a bitch! Die! Stone Bolt! Fireball!" Gerald yelled in anger. He split the group of Stone Bolts and sent them to either side of the Goblin leader, and at the same time, he also fired a Fireball straight at his face. He didn't even care if the fire would spread, he just did it in frustration.
The leader was shocked and attempted to dodge, but it was too late. All of his escape routes were covered.
In a last-second attempt to save himself, the Goblin leader dived towards the ground, barely avoiding the Fireball. Although he escaped with just burnt hairs on his back, his underlings behind him weren't so lucky.
Boom!
A giant flame exploded in the middle of the group and one Goblin immediately burst into flames. The other Goblins went into panic mode and tried to escape the flames. With this distraction, the Goblins stopped the chase for a while.
Gerald and Sera used this opportunity to run even faster. If they quickly left the forest there was a big chance to find help on the road and they would be safe.
Woosh!
Suddenly, an arrow came flying from somewhere in front of them and flew past them. It elegantly traveled through the air and pierced a leg of a Goblin that was preparing to once again give chase to their prey.
"Charge!" It was Kerius and his Iron Hawk gang that came running at them with a loud battle cry. The two big guys with shields were in the front, running, and it didn't look like they were going to stop.
"Unmoving Boulder!" they spoke at the same time and then just bashed the closest Goblin with their shields before stabbing him through the stomach with the long spears.
The real and messy fight started.
"Nieaah!" In a moment of confusion, a Goblin screamed and ran behind one of the two guys, swinging a wooden cudgel. He jumped in the air and swung the cudgel at the back of the warrior's neck right below the helmet.
Pang!
The impact came fast and from the loud sound of the collision, it could be determined how strong the hit was. Weirdly enough, the guy didn't get knocked out or even really reacted much. He just quickly turned around and scoffed at the confused Goblin.
"Better luck next time you little bastard!" After these few words, he took a quick step forward and smashed the Goblin with all of his body weight behind the shield. The Goblin flew across the air and broke a few bones when he landed.
Just as he was about to get up, a strong foot landed on his chest and broke a few more of his ribs. "Get into formation! Prepare the magic spell!" it was Kerius that roared the orders just as he was cutting off the Goblin's head.
One-third of the Goblins already died, but the leader was still alive and well. Although the little monsters were scattered around, they still represented a certain amount of danger.
The two front-liners gathered around Kerius and with spears in hand proceeded to march forward. Any Goblin that came close got smacked in the face by the giant shields and then stabbed by either sword or spear.
Behind them, up in the trees, the Archer was hiding and shooting at the goblins, making them unable to retreat. To the side, the Spellcaster was preparing a spell. Gerald glanced at him and saw him murmuring some words while holding his staff in front of himself.
He was expecting to see some amazing magic but was sadly severely disappointed.