Chapter 9: Survival
Abium's breath grew heavy as he stared at the Hobgoblin cautiously and took a step back.
Meanwhile, Hobgoblin made a wicked grin and sprinted in his direction at an unimaginable speed. Within a second, it almost arrived near to him.
It then clutched its club tightly and swung it towards his head.
On the other hand, Abium calmly ducked his head, evaded the club attack, and then tried to thrust his sword at the Hobgoblin while covering the sword edges with an intermediate sword aura.
But at that moment, a normal goblin came from his right side and ran towards him while holding a rusty dagger in its hand.
'Sh*t!' Abium's face stiffened as he noticed the sneak attack. He hurriedly tried to stop his momentum and swung his sword to block the dagger.
Although he blocked the dagger in time, he got slightly distracted and lost balance.
"F*ck!" Cursing loudly, he took a deep breath, stumped his right foot on the ground harder, and jumped up with all his might.
The next instant, he made a backflip and landed on the ground while evading another club attack from the Hobgoblin.
He then breathed out a sigh of relief, turned his face solemn, and slashed his sword towards that goblin's head.
The next instant, the sword vertically sliced that normal goblin's neck into two, and a second later, both its body and head fell, leaving a thudding sound.
But Hobgoblin didn't wait for Abium to regain his balance and attacked him madly.
On the other hand, Abium also realized its plan and used his sword to block Hobgoblin's large club once again.
But the impact was so high that it threw him a few feet away from where he stood before.
He crashed onto the tent with a thud and looked up at the dark sky.
"Damn!" He cursed out loud and soon noticed that Hobgoblin had already arrived in front of him.
At that moment, it looked at him with an arrogant face.
Abium had long known that winning against this monster using his weak body was nearly impossible.
'I was waiting for this opportunity.'
He suddenly curled his lips upward and smiled.
Like a snake waiting for its prey to loosen its guard, he quietly lay on the ground and panted heavily. When the Hobgoblin noticed Abium was still lying on the ground, it stopped moving the wooden club towards his direction and gave a sinister smile.
It licked its lips and roared proudly at other goblins.
"GEGEGE!" "Gege." "Gegege."
Meanwhile, goblins shouted in joy and shifted their gaze towards Abium's figure.
Soldiers and the other five servants also halted their actions when they noticed Abium was in danger and went pale. Claude even tried to move in his direction to shield him, but the remaining elite goblins got in his way and stopped his advance.
Due to the sudden distraction, the formation also broke, making everyone lose their hope of survival. All of them understood the grave situation.
If that Hobgoblin killed Abium now, everyone knew that they would also undoubtedly die in the hands of the Hobgoblin later.
Hobgoblin, too, had already ceased its attack and haughtily stood in front of him.
It was going to show off its might as how it would kill a fierce opponent to its minions!
When it saw Abium's pale face and his battered figure, the Hobgoblin thought it had already won the fight and loosened its guard.
'I got you now!' Abium seized the chance and bounced forth while aiming his sword precisely at the Hobgoblin's chest.
Simultaneously, he sent his remaining mana into his sword and smirked.
At that moment, the sword edge began to glow in yellow color, and it resembled more like sunshine!
The next instant, his sword pierced into the heart of the Hobgoblin!
Due to the sudden change, its eyes were filled with fright. It had never predicted to be stabbed here and got panicked!
"GRRRRR"
An angry and panicking growl resounded inside that dense forest while the Hobgoblin began to back away with fearful eyes.
Although it tried to escape, Abium didn't give any chance. He skillfully withdrew his sword from its chest and then slashed at the Hobgoblin's neck.
The next instant, both of its body and head fell!
At the last moment, Hobgoblin stared at Abium with a disbelieving expression and took its last breath.
This unexpected turn of the event made soldiers and goblins halt their fight for a moment.
Following that, cheers reverberated everywhere!
Meanwhile, those remaining goblins noticed their boss was already dead and quickly dispersed in all directions with panicked faces.
There was only one casualty on their side.
It was the unlucky guy who got poured by poisonous arrows initially. As for the others, there were no significant wounds, but everyone was exhausted and tired.
Abium was also exhausted and felt a slight pain in his left arm.
'Damn! That powerful impact from that club surprised me!'
"Let's get out here before the wolves come after the blood scent," Claude said with seriousness. Following that, a few soldiers picked up the unlucky soldier's dead body and began to bury him a few hundred meters away from the battlefield.
While they were burying the fallen soldier, Abium moved towards Robert's tent that was still standing on the right side and soon arrived in front of it. Then, he tore the entrance cloth and walked in.
When Johnathan and others vacated the tent in a hurry, they left so many things inside. Abium saw a few days of rations in bags, a few gold coins in a leather pouch, empty scrolls with ink bottles and quills, three sets of new linen dresses, and even a few silver armors inside.
He first picked up the leather pouch and checked how many gold coins were inside.
'Hmm, there are 12 gold coins. It should be more than enough for me to survive for the next few months.' He nodded thoughtfully and put them into his leather bag. Following that, he took the empty scrolls, ink bottles, and quills, and put them in a separate leather bag. Then, he also took one of the magic stone lamps from the tent, switched it off, and put them inside his leather bag.
'Next is about the new dresses.' After some thought, he decided to take them for himself.
Then, he walked out of the tent, called the other servants and soldiers to come here, and told them to carry the rations and silver armors.
At that moment, Claude also walked inside the luxurious tent and spoke while looking at the silver armors.
"Take the rations but leave the silver armors. There are wolf symbols engraved on them."
His words surprised everyone.
Meanwhile, Abium let out a chuckle and added.
"Don't worry. I know of a person who could forge these armors into a new one. Take them."
Claude showed a surprised look on his face and then signaled others to take them.
After a few minutes, everyone gathered their stuff and moved to the nearby area under Claude's guidance.
But before leaving, Abium picked up a few strange leaves from the woods, put them into the burning woods, and hurriedly followed the group.
...
As Abium's group left the battlefield, a messy blonde-haired warrior came from the opposite side in a black horse and soon stopped as he arrived near the fallen Hobgoblin.
Currently, he wore standard black armor, brown linen cloths, and old boots and appeared to be around 40-years-old.
His deep-set hazel eyes wandered everywhere, and his stern face looked more solemn. He had thin eyebrows, a hawk nose, and a pear-shaped face.
"He has changed." He muttered solemnly and was about to pull the reins but suddenly froze.
He noticed that a strange smoke covered the whole surroundings at that moment and soon widened his eyes.
To his shock, the black horse also started inhaling the smoke deeply and started moving towards the right side while neighing loudly.
"Sh*t!" Although the blonde-haired soldier tried to stop the horse, it ran like a berserk Minotaur and soon entered deep into the woods.