Her happiness halted by the ear piercing sound of a moving hinge. It was worse than nails on a chalkboard. If the gate needed to be moved for this long, then it was clear to both Alyssia and I that the Hobgoblin was on the other side of the makeshift tarp. I readied myself by grabbing the handle to my sword, gripping it tightly as the tension of the situation built up. The elves watched in suspense while they stared at us, placing their hope in Alyssia and myself. The two of us made brief eye contact to see if either of us were prepared or what came next.
While we conversed earlier, we came up with a small plan to kill the Hobgoblin.
The plan was simple. As soon as I opened the tarp, I had to run out as fast as I could so that the Hobgoblin would lose sight of me while his attention stuck to Alyssia who would follow the instant I ran out. She had to aim her arrows at it as a diversion so that I may attack it from behind.
Of course, I'd have to pull back to put some distance between myself and the monster. But Alyssia would remain firing off arrows as covering fire.
The plan itself had many holes in it, no doubt. But, it was the best we could come up with on such short notice and because of our lack of proper supplies. If I had another piece of armor, I was sure that I would be fine. Because Alyssia had nothing but her ragged clothing, I had to keep her safe in case the Hobgoblin made its way toward her.
I was also putting my life on my skills and item buffs to keep me alive. Sword Proficiency and Fighting Instinct should be helpful during the battle along with my necklace. The defense and attack boost should help dampen the blows I take and enhance the damage output of my attacks. I'm actually really glad I made it now.
I knew that if the plan went wrong, then I'd have to improvise.
"Are you prepared for this?" I asked her.
She nodded without a second to waste. Her mind was made up already.
I exhaled. Steam puffed out and into the air.
It was time.
As soon as I rushed out of the tent, my eyes opened wide upon seeing the Hobgoblin in mid throw of something. It was aimed for me as its red eyes stared with murderous intent toward me. It's arm came out from over its shoulder.
I gotta move!
Wait, no, I can't. If I do then whatever is being thrown will get sent into the tent and hurt someone inside. With only a split second to think, I activated Fighting Instinct.
As soon as I did, my body pulled out the mace I had by my waist. After it released its hold on the throwing weapon, it was hard to track it due to how fast it was going. Those bulging muscles really put some power into that throw. Despite me being unable to see the weapon, my body reacted by swinging the mace downward, sending it into the ground rather than the body of an elf.
It was a sword. One that was bigger than myself.
I was hit in the side by its massive fist, sending me a few feet across the ground, my back slamming into the gate and into the wall behind it. I coughed as the wind got knocked out of me in an instant. I looked up at the Hobgoblin, who was in the process of picking up the sword it threw at me.
A pop up appeared in front of me.
Apparently, the attack speed of the Hobgoblin exceeded the limits that my skill can process. That must mean that every attack from it is much faster than the throw from just a few seconds ago.
While I was thinking of what to do, it slowly made its way for me.
It was taunting me.
At least it didn't see the people inside the tent when it hit me. I don't know how my health looks right now, but it's probably super low just from taking that one hit. The necklace is definitely what kept me alive after that attack. Even after all the planning, it meant nothing. We didn't have any information on the Hobgoblin. It probably dealt with this sort of thing on the daily. This must be how it got that human skull it has on its desk.
I spit out some blood onto the ground and stood up shakily.
I can still fight. I'm not going down until that head is on the ground. I can't die here without doing more to help the elves.
◇◇◇
From the small opening in the tent, Alyssia saw Soma's body fly across the camp and into a wall. Her eyes widened as she saw how fast the monster moved despite its massive build. Fear began to break her down along with the rest of the elves.
From her reaction, the elves' morale plummeted to almost nothing.
They had no idea what happened beyond the tent, but they knew the sound of broken bones and what it meant. Alyssia became angry, knowing that she should have gone out there with him at the same time so that maybe something like this didn't happen. Secretly, she was scared. She wanted to get her revenge on the Hobgoblin, but on the inside she was terrified. The events that followed Soma leaving the tent merely amplified that to a further degree.
Soma was in pain that's worse than anything he could have imagined. He continued to cough up and spit out blood from his mouth. He was sure that a few of his ribs were broken along with a few in his arms.
"Come on, big guy. . . let's go. I'm not going down anytime soon." He said. His false confidence was all he had left in the situation, so much so that even the Hobgoblin saw through it as it simply gave a twisted smile.
Alyssia, even with fear in her heart, jumped out of the tent, two arrows ready to be fired. She released the string, and arrows shot into the back of the Hobgoblin. It stopped. It showed no pain. All it did was turn around while pulling out the arrows. They barely tickled it.
◇◇◇
"Alyssia! Get away, now!" I shouted. After seeing it stop and grab those arrows out of its back, I knew that she was behind him without a moment to doubt myself. I was terrified, more than ever. All the Hobgoblin did was look back at me with a wicked grin on its face. I knew what its intentions were just from a quick glance at it.
No. Not after she expressed her hate for what it did to her parents.
I became furious with myself for letting myself get to this state. I can barely grab my sword without my hands shaking now.
Damn it all. I really was an idiot for thinking that I was prepared for taking down a Hobgoblin. If I don't do something quick, then Alyssia is going to meet the same fate as her parents, maybe even worse.
As I saw it slowly walk toward Alyssia while I followed it to try and stop whatever it was setting out to do, this intense ringing started blaring in my ears.
What the hell?
My vision became blurry, slowly transitioning to black.
A twisted, distorted laughter replaced the ringing. It sounded like something you'd hear from a horror movie. It was in both my ears, but it gradually came down to let silence fill whatever space I was in. It was all black, no shred of light was allowed inside, I couldn't even see myself. What is going on here? Just a moment ago, I was trying my best to stop the Hobgoblin.
"Hello?" I tried to call out to whatever was laughing, but no such luck came my way. Nothing responded to my call.
Just then, when I raised my sword to try and find some way of getting out, something did call back to me.
"Now, now. No need to be so rash. Let's talk before you start making things worse for you." A voice suddenly came out from the darkness. As it did, a figure brought itself out. He wore a white suit, had pale white hair and fair skin. A faint smile was on his face while he spun a hat on his finger.
"'Who is he? The guy who owns the place? Did he bring me here?' Those are the things you're asking yourself, am I right? Well, do you remember how you asked the Gods to help you out with your little rescue mission?" He asked me. His eyes stared at me while mine looked at the ground, or what I thought to be the ground as everything blended in with the darkness. I felt like I was floating despite the fact that my feet were planted flat on something. With a snap of his fingers, my body no longer felt like it was floating. I could finally see myself. I no longer had my armor or the sheets wrapped around me. I was in my t-shirt and jeans. He laughed. "Not what I expected under all that dirty armor. You're just a normal kid."
"How do you know about the prayer?" I asked him. He simply laughed off.
"Ah. So you do remember. . ."
"Well. Let's just say that I heard your little cry for help. I found it pretty amusing so I watched you for a little bit. And you seem to have gotten yourself into a bit of a pickle." He chuckled, his hat soon being gently placed on the top of his head.
He heard me pray? If he did, then does that mean he's a God? No. No, that can't be the case. Why would a God waste their time on someone stupid like me? It doesn't make any sense. He just looked at me with a strange look in his dark red eyes. It felt like my own soul was being stared into. But, it does make sense. The eyes are the window to the soul, as they say.
"Before you say anything. I just wanna see how this whole divine intervention thing works. You seem like the perfect candidate to try it out on. You'll see what I mean. I'll talk to you later. Bye, now." He said, first waving his hand before snapping his fingers. Before I could even say "Hold on a second," I was taken back to the real world like nothing happened. I was still in the middle of following the Hobgoblin with what little strength I had to try and stop it from getting to a frozen Alyssia. But, something about this situation felt different.
The pain from earlier went away, my bones, which were definitely broken and in shattered pieces, felt like they were healed. What surprised me most out of all of this was some red aura being produced from my sword. It had an ominous feel to it, something I haven't felt before. Just as I looked back up to the Hobgoblin, a voice echoed in my head, but it wasn't the female voice that I've been hearing, it belonged to the guy wearing white.
"Use it well, kid. It only works for a short while, so you better put it to good use."
Huh? This is because of him? Then again, the guy did have a strange vibe to him, and it could be described as ominous. I can't think for too long about this, though, as he said that the power will only be around for a little while. My attention went back to the Hobgoblin. As I took a steep forward, my body felt different.