Pran's reason to deal with the hobgoblins first was because low-level goblins would rarely possess any skills, and even if they did they would be passive ones, which would help them fight better or for longer or use specific weapons more accurately. But hobgoblins were different, in general, 9 out of 10 hobgoblins would possess some kind of passive skills, and amongst ones that possess skills, every 4th would have an active skill, as was evident from the hobgoblin that attacked him some time ago.
In this current situation apart from the shadow goblin only the goblin mages would be difficult to deal with along with the hobgoblins, because if the blood troll had any skill it would have used it by now.
As Pran could dodge the goblins and the blood troll's attack if he focused on them, and in time will be able to deal with them, but for that to happen he had to at the very least take out the hobgoblin and the goblin mages.
Pran would have ideally liked to take out the goblin mages first, but, they were still far and if he tried to rush toward them then he would have to clash with the blood troll and the goblins head-on, which will leave him open to attacks from the shadow goblin who was already lurking nearby and waiting for an opportunity to pounce on him. This led him to his current course of action.
As Pran closed in on the hobgoblins he dodged another arrow fired by the blood troll and noticed that the goblin mages has conjured their spell, this time all three of them had fireballs but were hesitating to launch them at him because he was too close the hobgoblins and they would be in the blast radius if it exploded.
Pran smirked lightly and thrust his sword toward the hobgoblin who was wielding a spear and a shield. As the hobgoblin brought its shield up to defend against the sword thrust, it faintly started to glow indicating that it used a defensive skill, but because of the shield, it failed to notice the glint in Pran's eyes.
From the moment Pran changed towards the hobgoblin he knew that his straightforward attack would be either defended or dodged, which is why it was never his plan to directly attack the hobgoblin. The trajectory of his thrust changed to his main target, the giant wolf's head which the hobgoblin was riding.
As the wolf saw this happening, it knew that it was already too late to stop its charge, and if it changed direction and went sideways, it would make it lose its balance and it would be in an awakened position if not outright losing its balance and falling to the ground and scraping on it. So it took the only option left and tried to jump over Pran's head to dodge the incoming attack.
The glint in Pran's eyes did not diminish, and he calmly moved his sword at an angle toward the ceiling and jumped lightly. The sword tip made contact with the giant wolf's belly and easily penetrated it. Pran exerted a little strength in his hand and swung the sword in a downward arc and easily ripped the giant wolf's stomach. This all takes some time to narrate but in reality, happened in an instant.
Before the stomach's content even had the chance to spill over Pran the giant wolf was already behind him on the ground. And before it could take even two steps, it howled in misery and collapsed and slid on the ground while its innards were spilling out of its stomach and the stench of bile and half-digested meat started to spread.
The hobgoblin was slightly late to notice what was happening and was caught off-guard and was thrown on the ground with a loud thud and slid, but luckily it was wearing some leather armor as well as had a defensive skill active, so was not particularly injured but its spear and shield were now out of its grip and had flown away.
Pran grabbed on to this opportunity and instantly rushed towards the hobgoblin which was still skidding on the rough ground, and before it came to halt he rushed over towards it to kill it. As he moved forward as he dodged another arrow fired by the blood troll as well as the fireballs released by the goblin mages and arrived beside the hobgoblin who was still staggered from what had happened and didn't know what was going around.
Pran raised his sword but before he brought it down he changed its movement to deflect another arrow while he lifted his right foot and stomped on the neck of the hobgoblin with all his might
Crunch!
With a loud noise, the hobgoblin's neck was crushed with its bones, while Pran used the stomp and launched himself in the air and completely dodged the shadow goblin's swipe. In the air, he spun around and threw his shield with all the strength he could muster towards the outstretched left arm of the shadow goblin, just like he did before when he threw it towards the hobgoblin who was shooting arrows at him.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
Thud!
Thud-crunch!
Before the shadow goblin could even react to the fact that Pran had managed to dodge its attack this time, but with much ease, and retract its outstretched left arm and move back once more, its left arm was severed and fell to the ground while the shield got embedded in the ground with a loud bang, and all of this happened in just the blink of an eye.
The shadow goblin screeched in pain and lifted its head to look at Pran, but this time its eyes were filled with pain and hatred towards this human that had somehow arrived in the lair and had killed almost all the troops under its command as well as severed its dominant arm.
The shadow goblin had worked very hard in his life. He was a low-level goblin but with hard work and determination developed his skill and evolved into a shadow goblin, one of the most feared beings to exist. One of the goblin generals noticed his potential and promoted him to lieutenant, directly under her command.
Even the goblin king noticed and complimented him, stating that if he kept on going like this then one day he had the chance to become one of the generals.
But now this fucking bastard human cut his dominant arm and crippled him, severing his chance to rise in the hierarchy and crushing his dreams. Suddenly its golden eyes started to turn red with anger, while the pain and anger that he was feeling started to cloud his judgment and cool-headed temperament which he had displayed till now.
In its anger, the shadow goblin disregarded everything and lunged toward the falling human with the sole intent of plunging its claw into its heart and tearing him limb from limb. It didn't even notice that the human was already focused on its movement.
At first, Pran thought the shadow goblin would be able to avoid his counterattack and retreat back to the shadows, but his expectations changed abruptly when the shadow goblin failed to dodge his attack and even lost its left arm.
Even then Pran thought that the shadow goblin will move back and continue to be a lingering headache. But to his delight, instead of retreating, the shadow goblin lunged toward him. The twisted expression and the ferocious and feral glint in its golden eyes indicated that it had lost all rationality.
No way in hell Pran was going to miss this massive opportunity to get rid of a strong as well as a troublesome enemy.
As the shadow goblin lunged toward Pran, the blood troll and goblin mages halted their attacks to avoid accidentally hitting their leader. They believed that the shadow goblin was strong enough to easily kill Pran, even with a missing arm.
Pran quickly deduced the situation and understood why no more attacks were coming his way. He couldn't help but smirk.
Knowing that he couldn't afford to miss this opportunity either, Pran quickly came up with a plan to get rid of the shadow goblin. He knew that if he didn't act now, the shadow goblin would likely retreat and become a lingering headache once again.
Pran switched the sword from his right hand to his left hand, withdrew the dagger from the sheath on his back, and threw it at the shadow goblin's head as soon as he landed on the ground. He once more switched the sword back in his right hand and drew the other dagger.
Swoosh!
The thrown dagger flew like a bullet but the shadow goblin was also fast and easily avoided it by moving its head to the left side slightly.
As the shadow goblin did that, he noticed that something was not right. There was a light smirk on the human's calmly annoying face as if it was mocking him. He instinctively turned his head slightly to the back and from the corner of his eye he saw that one of the goblin mages had collapsed with a dagger protruding from its temple.
Goblin mages were a strategic resource, even if they were of the lowest level, and at most 1 or 2 will be given to a lieutenant. But he was given 3 right from the start, and not only that he was even given 2 goblin magicians to see how he would develop them.
And if he was successful, his status would have risen even higher and there was a chance that soon he would have been promoted to captain. But, everything has changed now.
Not only were both of the goblin magicians dead, but even a goblin mage had also fallen. If he didn't kill this intruding human quickly, he too might be in a dangerous situation.
From the start, the shadow goblin didn't take Pran seriously or even as a big threat. For him, Pran was just a single human intruder and with some shitty luck was able to cut his arm.
What the shadow goblin was more worried about was that if he didn't kill the human the other 2 goblin mages also might die, then everything he worked for will be over.
In his rage, the shadow goblin didn't notice that the human was still calm and even had a light smirk on his lips.