"Let's do what we need to do faster."
Link didn't think too much about what happened as he felt the pressing of time and he also leaves his niece in the hands of others in a situation that who knows what will happen in the next minutes, even seconds, which makes him extremely uneasy.
Additionally, Mishca almost finishes gathering all of any possible weapons he sees, from chisels to hammers.
"Guys, get ready, knee height monsters just come out of the ground."
Both of them leave whatever they are doing and headed towards Alex.
Link takes a hatchet and equipped it instead of the shabby fruit knife. There is no system notice like you successfully equip a weapon and get a bonus and stuff, just the plain old, ancient way.
"Did you know your abilities?" asked Link.
"Nope," Mishca replied shortly.
"I don't think exploring that is the priority right now. They seem to target us already."
As Alex is the one who watched the monsters crawling from the ground, he is agitated like Link's seeing the phenomenon for the first time. The way they appear looks different, but it will give a feeling way beyond uneasy for those who witness it.
Was it some kind of mental attack? Or was it because the perceiver trying to see a higher form of dimension so their brain just gives up on interpreting the said phenomenon? No one knew until they find more in-field data or someone that could answer the question.
'Is this the legendary Goblin?' Link's thought while gripping the wooden handle of the hatchet so tightly the knuckles on his fingers turned white.
The closer the monster gets to them, the more they could make out their basic appearances. The monster has large wide ears, a wide mouth, big eyeballs, and long arms reaching below its knees and runs with its legs supported by its long arms. It's not like they can't see the appearances of the monsters and they are not that far away from the garage entrance, it's 15-ish metres away from where they stood their grounds for the upcoming monster attack.
"Gaaaa!"
The monsters shrill when they get closer to them. They're small monsters that may not seem threatening if they appear alone but they come in with their friends.
Without any structure to their group charging position, the faster one in the front leap towards Alex and swings its arm at Alex's face. Alex move back and kick its body to the side showcasing his excellent reaction and the target of the said kick could only reply with a long shriek.
The midget monsters weren't even flattered seeing their midget comrade getting kicked with quite a big wet- `Thum` to the side. They begin their continuous attack against Alex as he is the one closest to them.
Their form of attacks so far has been leaping to their target face then it turns into a free-for-all onslaught for the pack members.
Link and Mishca also begin their attacks.
The one that targets Link also leaps into his face with its wide mouth full of sharp and weirdly shaped teeth. He already moves his body back a little and brings his hatchet over his head then he follows with a downward swing of his hatchet aiming dead straight at the head of the midget monster.
`Pluck!`
The hatchet sticks to its target while giving a sound like chopping a hard wet block of wood. Link's hatchet stuck into its target and he lose his balance momentarily because of his close-to-full-force swing but the target is not as steady as he imagines it to be.
It was like a small shock you get when you stepped into a platform of sorts but the said platform is not at the height your brain perceived. Yes, that kind of jolt. Mostly harmless if you're in a safe place.
Link almost lose his right footing but he could still balance himself up just in time. The other midget monsters seeing a chance, sprint towards him. From one versus one, it turns into one versus two or three if the one near Alex also decide to change its target to his back.
The one on his left jumps and swing its arm for Link's shoulder. He tried to pull out the hatchet from the wet block of the head. Apparently, the gap of the hatchet blade slides in and clamps into its cranium. Clearly, it has a thick head, literally. As his only weapon is stuck, Link just swings what is in his hand with its previous victim.
`Bam!`
The force is enough to make it fly a good two metres away from him straight inside the workshop. Link almost lost his weapon because of his swing, and his grasp was no longer stable when he starts.
The smooth wooden handle that usually won't be a problem now becomes a hazard for its user. The smooth surface did not supplement positively in response to the tight grips from Link's sweaty palm and it began to slip from his grip. He did not have any leeway to wipe his palm as the other one would attack him soon, so he uses his nails as an anchor to make it firmer and prevent it from slipping out of his hand.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the other one seemingly noticing the thing on Link's right hand is dangerous for it, decides to just go straight into biting his hand. As within that small midget brain must have thought without that hand it would win for sure.
Link's thought process already registered his other target as he always keep his eyes on the ugly monster.
Instead of using its usual arm swing attack, this one tries to grab into his arm and is successful. With how close they are Link has no room to evade. It grabs on tightly and opens its mouth so wide you would wonder if it has a flexible jaw mechanism. Seeing that without any second thought Link let go of his hatchet and use his left hand to push back that set of disgusting teeth away from his skin.
He slams the midget monster that clinging to his arm into the workshop wall. With the impact it gets from back slamming to the wall, the monster's grips momentarily weaken. Giving him a chance to set from the midget monster that wants to bite his arm. But Link didn't back off, instead he slams the monster once again to the wall.
Whilst Link left hand still grabbed its face, he put his right arm below the monster's mouth then press hard on its neck. Unsatisfied, Link grabs its large ears and pulls it to the ground. As the ugly midget monster lessens its grip more, link put his knee on the monster's body and yanks his arm out, follows by a punch to its ugly big eye.
Wasn't sure of his enemy's condition, Link pull its ear and grab its head and slam it down hard into the hard concrete. Once, twice, thrice, and when he wants to do a final full-force head slam. A shriek comes from his back. He looks back and sees the midget he had yeet'd come running towards him with its loud cries and flying saliva. Seemingly pretty angry at what just happened.
This one didn't jump around but when it get closer, Link kick its head with his sturdy working boots. The kick perfectly hit its big head then it falls to the ground and twitched.
As they said, make sure you kill your enemy before you get killed yourself.
Link steps forward and proceed to stomp on its feeble neck. Ending its suffering. It has a thin neck, despite its massive head. He took a closer look at his victim, trying to see any possible weaknesses he can exploit the next time he met another one of its kind. Even with their small and weak body, it is still considered dangerous to face them head-on. Furthermore, they come in a flock.
Standing up, Link sees that he has unnoticeably moved back deeper into the workshop and so is Mishca, while Alex is a few steps away from the workshop entrance. They successfully take their enemies down. For now, that is.
---
Meanwhile, in the building where the tenants gather, they get noticeably more restless. Maybe it is because the one left inside the building is only woman without weapons to defend themselves. Except for Betty, Alex's wife.
The two women who wait at the front door seem way calmer than the one with a bigger number inside the room. But on a closer look, you would notice their silence and eyes that have gone red because of their dry eyes. Their nervousness makes them blink less than normal giving them parched eyes and their extreme focus made them as quiet as if they were in a library.
Betty's position hasn't changed since her husband and the two other guys left the building and entrusted her with their possible escape route.
Susan, the girl who stays with Betty stands within arm's reach of the glass door while leaning on the wall. Her fingernails burrow into the walls, her finger knuckles turn white with the force she exerts on the wall, scrapping bits of paint into her nails.
---
On the other hand, Link hasn't had the time to recollect his breath before Mishca comes over and checks on him. Did he finally be able to let out a relieved breath out. He had been holding his breath unconsciously all this time when he fought against those three ugly midget monsters.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. I guess. I was just so out of breath right now."
Alex also comes over and asks a similar question or rather confirmation.
"Any wound? Injuries and stuff?"
"Just a couple of scratches and soon to become bruises." Replied Link while showing them his right hand.
"Not to brag but they can't even touch me, much less put a wound on me. It was the boost from that Trait activation. I got, Survivalist Trait. It gives me keen intuition, so I could counter and move out of their attack range easily. It was like those battle sense kinda thing you would read in a novel. Anyway, on a serious note, they aren't exactly strong, but their number would become a big problem."
"What a show-ass! Mine is Hunter. I don't feel any boost from my trait like Mishca does, then what about you Link?"
"I also don't have any physical boost from the trait. I'm not well versed in this situation, what do you reckon we should do now? My trait seems to be a support class one."
"If it's in the wood where there is a predator, having this kind of situation is like sending out a flare out in the sky. We also can't rule out if their kind would be able to smell their brethren's death and mark us. Therefore, we must throw this carcass out farther from where we stay."
Link and Alex agree with Mishca's statement, they decide to just throw them out in the streets. They aren't exactly in the state of mind to think of the aftermath of throwing the monster's carcass would implicate anyone. Preserving their life is their priority, so anything that isn't important or immediately fatal to them has been put at the back of their mind.
Link moves farther inside to get his hatchet that got stuck into his first victim's head. Grabbing the wooden handle, he felt it is still quite slippery.