Lothar looked around the area with his eyes, the darkness making it near impossible to determine the exact number of goblins currently surrounding them.
The trio stood back-to-back, making sure that all blind spots were all gone. Lothar gripped his club tight as the goblins slowly approached step-by-step.
"Uhhh… Guys? Any plan here?" Lothar asked with a tense smile, the two elves remaining silent as their eyes scanned the area for any other threats.
"My Lady, we need some light." Millana nodded and chanted a verse so quick, Lothar didn't notice that there was a total of eight verses in that single chant.
"Sunny Illusion." A ball of light coalesced into the palm of Millana's right hand, before it quickly flew up and expanded into a giant ball of light, momentarily blinding every goblin in the area. Lothar was saved from the blinding effect due to a leaf somehow floating in the air and blocking his line of vision towards the giant ball of light.
The area, now bathed in artificial light, showed the exact number of goblins within the area.
"23 goblins… This will not be easy…" Elora frowned as she gripped her sword tighter. Millana did the same to her staff, a brief worried look coming onto her face before it returned to being her natural expressionless one.
The goblins, still blinded, shrieked as their eyes felt the sting of the sun under the dark of night. Capitalizing on this momentary weakness, Elora bolted for a nearby goblin and thrust her sword through its chest, the goblin eliciting a cry before slumping on the ground, dead.
"One." Elora counted as she continued to slash at another goblin who was still blinded, her sword cutting through the windpipe of the goblin, blood spewing out of the wound. "Two."
Lothar, not wasting the chance as well, lunged at a nearby goblin and bashed its head with his club. The goblin cried out in pain, but wasn't dead yet, so Lothar bashed its head another time, the weapon in its hands, a rusty dagger, flying out of its hands and stabbing itself to another goblin's belly.
Gulping the rising bile in his throat, Lothar lunged at the goblin who was stabbed by a dagger in the belly. Grabbing the handle, Lothar ripped it out of the goblin after twisting it, causing more pain for the goblin in question.
Lothar then bashed its head with his club, and whether due to luck or not, immediately killed the goblin, blood pouring out of the cut skin and cracked skull of the corpse.
By this time, the goblins were now recovering from their momentary stun, and scowled at the fact that some of their comrades had been killed by the humans. They growled and raised their hands in the air as they charged forward.
Elora, during the time the goblins were still blinded, managed to whittle their numbers down by five, while Lothar only killed two. Quickly regrouping at the center where Millana stood with a staff in hand, the trio watched as the goblins rushed at them with intent to kill.
"My Lady, can you still not use magic?"
"A few seconds more." Millana said, which got Elora to scowl. Lothar, being the person not acquainted with magic, had the urge to tile his head and ask a question regarding that subject, but the goblins charging at them made him think otherwise.
"Shit…" Elora took a stance as the goblins drew nearer, their snarls loud enough to annoy the trio. The first goblin arrived, and was swiftly killed due to Elora's blade handling. Those charging on Lothar's side, all had the misfortune of tumbling down into a heap because the front-most goblin tripped on the cooking pot the elves brought.
As usual, because of the shock of tripping down, some of the goblins let go of their weapons, and because of how they were let go, they flew into each other's bodies as they painfully impaled themselves on their comrades' bodies.
Meanwhile, Lothar could do nothing but deadpan the scene.
'I know my skill is busted, not that I am not thankful for it, but really?' The goblins all cried in pain on Lothar's side, their blood staining the grass red underneath the pile of bodies.
On Millana's side, however, she was finally able to chant another spell once more, and this time, it wasn't a support spell, but a totally offensive spell.
An invisible blade of wind flew from her pal and into the group of goblins in front of her, their bodies being bisected at the locations where the wind blade traveled, their blood, organs, guts, and viscera scattering all across the ground.
The stench coming from the pile of corpses was overpowering for Lothar, so he could do nothing but kneel on the ground and retch, while Elora and Millana ignored the stench in favor of defending themselves from harm.
Elora was doing a pretty solid job as she fended against the goblins gunning for her with her mastery of the sword, her blade dancing in the wind as she maneuvered all around the goblins with her masterful movements.
A stab here, a slice there, a kick in the gonads, decapitation, and amputation, all were used by the elf swordsman who valued life over honor and chivalry.
While this was going on, Lothar was still retching on the ground, but was able to recover and ignore at least some part of the stench as he approached the pile of goblins in front of him. Raising his club, he brought it down again and again and again against the goblins who were still alive.
It was ten minutes later that the trio were able to overcome a sudden ambush by goblins, and Lothar was exhausted and, once again, stinky.
"We're lucky that they were the aggressors. If we were on their home turf, things wouldn't have gone well." Elora muttered out loud as she cleaned the blade of her sword from the bloodstains. Millana was using her magic to dispose of the bodies and collect materials from the dead monsters.
One in particular, was a tiny gem the size of a marble retrieved from the chest of a dead goblin.
Lothar, being exhausted, decided to not ask questions about the gem, and decided to rest instead.
'I'll aske her tomorrow. For now… Sleeeeeeeeeeppppp…'