The sounds of stone grating against stone woke Elin up with a start. She wasn't sure what had happened, only that she was still surrounded by darkness, and there had been a loud noise a moment ago.
She felt her heart hammering in her chest, unsure if she should do anything. She wanted to run, but couldn't remember the curvature of the stairs, and so couldn't be sure she wouldn't fall off. She also couldn't be sure what had caused the loud noise and couldn't see enough to adequately do anything about it.
Yet, as she did her best to calm her heart down, she started to hear other noises. Not anything she'd come to associate with the dungeon or that was similar to the noise she'd heard a moment ago, but rather like someone was whispering. She couldn't say what was being said, largely because the small amount she could catch clearly weren't in a language that she knew.
While she suspected it was goblins, she couldn't be sure and she also couldn't be sure if they were aware of her presence or not. Maybe if she understood what was being said she'd know, but it wasn't like she'd be able to do anything about it if she could understand them.
Yet, a light appeared nearby, silhouetting the stairs as well as figures down below her. As she found herself able to see now, she realized she was around two thirds of the way down the stairs, apparently too high for whoever had lit the light to be aware of her presence, but close enough that she could see them with the light they had going.
She watched them as they walked towards a hole in the ground, that she didn't remember being in the room before. Yet, she didn't try to get closer to the goblins at the moment. If nothing else, she wanted to be sure how many there were. She didn't know what was going on, but didn't want to do anything if it meant she was putting herself in more danger than she realized.
She watched, trying to keep her breathing as quiet as possible as she watched the goblins approach the hole. When they stopped to gaze down into it, she could only see five goblins. Four who were by the hole and one who seemed to be the leader, in that he seemed to be barking orders while standing away from the hole himself. She also couldn't help but notice he was the one holding the torch that gave her enough light to see.
She was happy that there didn't seem to be a bugbear around, and so was relieved at the situation. She might be able to stand a chance against them. At the very least, she suspected she need to act quickly, while they were still around the hole.
She didn't know how deep it was, but thought if she could knock some of the goblins into it, then she might be able to improve the odds against her significantly. Yet, the only way she could think of would be to use her magic and she'd have to say something verbal to cast any spell.
Elin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to make her spells count. Even if she couldn't do anything, she knew she had to at least try. She didn't know what was important about that hole, but knew that there had to be something.
"Sacred Shot," Elin whispered, focusing on the goblin currently leaning over the hole the most, hoping to make it fall into the hole. While she didn't know how deep it was, she couldn't deny there was a chance the goblin wouldn't be able to get out very quickly, if at all.
The magical energy shot towards the goblin, doing what Elin had hoped would happen and knocking the goblin into the hole. The other goblins were at a loss for what just happened. They were looking around, clearly uneasy about their friend, or at least accomplice, and hadn't noticed her.
"Sacred Shot," Elin whispered again, aiming for the one that was the next closest to the hole. They weren't still leaning over the hole looking into it, but they were still right by it. She wasn't sure if that would be good or not, but at the same time, she didn't really have much of a choice. She had to take the shot before they noticed her up there.
When the magical energy struck the goblin, it stumbled backwards and looked like it was about to catch balance, but it ran out of room and fell backwards into the hole. Which meant she had three to go. Especially since she didn't see any sign the goblins were in the hole from her angle, which meant it was either deep or they weren't in a condition to try at the moment. Either way, she was going to take it. Although, the downside was that one of them had seen where the energy had come from and turned in her direction, calling out something to the others, who suddenly all looked up at her before starting to run towards the stairs.
Elin wasn't sure what she should do, so she first cast another volley of her Sacred Shot, hoping to at least do some damage before they reached her. She couldn't be sure how much damage she was able to inflict as they approached her.
She was able to shoot of a total of four sacred shots that all hit the lead goblin, yet it didn't seem to slow it down any, it merely left red marks that she couldn't really tell what they meant. Only that it was looking at her in a way that made her dread if it actually got close enough to touch her.
Elin gripped her staff when she could tell that the goblin was too close to waste another sacred shot on. So, she swung her staff as hard as she could, completely catching the goblin off guard.
Apparently he didn't think I was any danger, Elin thought to herself as the goblin crumpled to the steps from her blow to its temple, the torch it was holding now resting on the steps, still burning just as brightly. Yet, when she looked at the other goblins, it was clear that they weren't that concerned with their companion being knocked down, maybe even possibly killed. Although, their approach did slow to a more cautious pace.
Part of it disgusted her while part of it felt dread at what she saw coming. She couldn't help but wonder if she should have spent time during the past couple weeks expending her MP to build her skills on the chance she might have been able to get a stronger spell to attack with.
Pushing all of the thoughts that were suddenly coursing through her mind, she made herself focus on the goblins in front of her. Right now she knew she couldn't let herself get distracted by what she could have done in the past. Right now was all that mattered right now.
"SacredShotSacredShotSacredShot!" Elin screamed as fast as she could, holding her hand out to the next goblin, the magical energy from all three spells hitting in rapid succession, clearly having more of an impact than they did when they were spaced out just a little more.
The goblin at first seemed like it was going to continue it's cautious approach of her, but after a minute, it merely crumpled to the steps, rolling off the side from the momentum of it collapsing.
Elin then faced the remaining goblin, hope starting to sprout within her. Her last spells had been out of desperation, yet somehow she was prevailing against the goblins. She could only hope that she didn't make a misstep here and become captured by the goblin. She didn't even want to think about what the goblin would do to her if that happened.
Yet, it was too close for her to think of using her magic again, so she readied her staff again, noting it seemed to be readying itself for her to strike its head, like she'd done with the leader. So, she swung where Kim had told her a while back where she should strike a man if he ever tried to do something to her that she didn't want him to do.
While her abrupt swing into the goblin's groin didn't make a cracking sound like it did when it had hit the other goblin's head, the look of pain on the goblin let Elin know he felt the strike. In fact, she realized a moment later that he didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings at the moment, so she swung her staff into the side of his head.
The goblin didn't crumple to the steps like the others had, but rather stumbled to the side, clearly thrown off balance before it fell down into the darkness. Elin couldn't be sure it had died, but didn't want to take the time to figure out if it had or not. She needed to first see what it was that the goblins had been looking at in the hole before.
Maybe that would let her know what might occur later as she continued down to try and catch up to the rest of the group. At least now that she had light to see with. The torch was still burning brightly in front of her.
While she wanted to see if that last goblin was still alive, she didn't want to waste the time. She couldn't say if the others in her group had stopped to rest or not, but she was determined to catch up with them.