Ahead of them, four goblins stood blocking their path, their beady eyes gleaming with malice. Each goblin held a different weapon—one gripped a blood-stained hammer, another brandished a jagged piece of metal, and the last swung a rusty, nail-ridden club.
Despite their crude tools, there was a common thread: all were smeared with fresh, dark-red blood
Enri, Rackan, and Wanton eyed the goblins cautiously, their breaths steady but tense. The goblins, sensing the humans' hesitation, crept forward, slowly beginning to surround them.
The waiting match is on a standstill, until one of the goblins had enough and decided to break the ice.
With a guttural snarl, it leaped forward, swinging the heavy gear it held toward Rackan, aiming to crush his skull.
Rackan narrowly avoided the blow by leaning hard to the right, feeling the rush of air as the weapon whistled past his ear.
Enri then punished the charging goblin from the side and swung his iron pipe with all his might. The pipe connected with a sickening crunch against the goblin's jaw, shattering it and leaving the creature with nothing but an upper mouth.
The pain that come as he was swinging, made him miss the mark he was aiming for which was the head. But that didn't matter.
Without missing a beat, Rackan darted around and rammed his crowbar into the goblin's skull, driving the metal deep with a forceful twist. The goblin's eyes rolled back as its body went limp, hanging like a rag doll from the crowbar.
Rackan flung the goblin's corpse aside and looked ahead, narrowing his eyes at the two remaining goblins as if He was saying You're next.
The goblins flinched and after seeing its now dead comrade was easily handled, the goblins realizes the gravity of this situation and starts taking the matters seriously.
they gripped their weapons tighter and snarled in unison, their eyes burning with anger and fear.
"Be careful!! Enri! Rackan! Split up and take one Goblin each!" Wanton commanded, his voice edged with urgency after seeing the goblin gathering together.
Although Enri aren't too sure about this strategy, but know now is not the time to dawdle. He can only nod and tries to kill the goblin as fasts as He can to help the others.
With the change of the situations, Now it's the human turn to attack first.
With a swift swing of his chain, Wanton aimed at the left goblin. forcing it to leap back, separating it from its comrades.
And with the goblin attention locked on to him, Enri and Rackan quickly moved forward and attacked the two goblins on the right side.
When the left side goblin tried to help, Wanton used his chains like a whip, releasing a relentless barrage of chain strikes which held the goblin back and keeping it at bay.
"Come on, you little brat! You think you're tough? I've handled worse at home. COME TO PAPA!"
Wanton smiled mockingly, pulling his chains back and swinging it hard to the ground.
----
On the other side, it's a stalemate out of the two parties.
The goblins hasn't managed to land a clean hit on the humans since their attacks are simple and can be avoided with ease. On the other hand, the humans are exhausted and can't seemingly blow a critical hit to the goblins
'it's weird, why are they much stronger than the last two?' Enri wondered as he dodged another wild swing. The force behind the attacks was noticeably greater, and their movements seemed more lively, more rapid than the first one.
not only that, the durability they had is also much tougher than the second one which his jaw had obliterated.
Enri questioned the strength of the goblin he currently fought and compared it to the two he met before. There's a clear difference between them, yet their appearance is the same.
'that means they're clearly not from a different species.'
'The goblin on Rackan's side is also much stronger as it was able to overwhelm him a bit.'
Remembering Rackan's unnatural speed and reaction from before, it was quite surprising how the goblin He was facing had evenly matched him.
As Enri is focusing more and more on the creature in front of him, before all of a sudden, Something appeared above the said creature.
'?!'
Enri then saw out of the corner of his eye, the same thing also happened to the goblin that rackan currently facing.
'I can see their status window?!'
Enri then continuously looked to the front and right while blocking, evading and counterattacking, His eyes locked onto one detail.
'The levels are different?!'
The level of the goblin Rackan faced is one higher than the one Enri's facing, but the difference between Enri and the one in front of him is 2 levels apart.
And by that logic, the stats they had is naturally different, or to put it in simple terms. The power they has is different.
And by looking at their stats Enri's mind raced, He finally deduced their weak point. The one thing the two goblins had in common.
"AHHH! LOOK AT THAT THERE!!! A LITTLE BABY HUMAN IS FLYING!!!"
Enri exaggeratedly points and put up a face in the middle of the battle, The creature, predictably gullible, glanced back in confusion, scratching its head..
In that split second of distraction, Enri moved in. He swung his pipe hard against the goblin's exposed neck, snapping it with a loud, sickening crack.
Enri didn't let up after just that one attack, even after It was down. He bashes the goblin's neck over and over until anything that connects the head to the body are turned into paste.
"Ha- Ha- Ha… To think that I would forgot how stupid goblins were." he muttered, catching his breath.
Not wanting to waste another moment, Enri spotted Rackan struggling with his opponent.
Silently moving out of the goblins sight, Enri's eye catch on to Rackan's and gave a nod.
Rackan starts swinging his Crowbar wildly and with more power, making the goblin more focused on dodging and blocking rather than its surrounding.
After seeing an opening in Rackan's attack, The goblin tried to take advantage of it but wasn't able to.
It was hit by Enri's pipe first and thrown off to the side, to which Enri and Rackan spare no time, bashing the goblin on the ground repeatedly until it was dead.
"Nice assist!" Rackan grinned, offering a fist bump
"Yeah." Enri replied, returning the gesture with a tired smile.
following some quick exchanges, The sound of metal breaking nearby caught their attention. They sprinted toward the source.
And at their sight is a man weakly keeping his distance from a goblin while all of a sudden another goblin is lying on the ground next to him, with its legs and eyeball broken.
Without hesitation, they charged in, attacking the goblin with renewed vigor, breaking bones and crushing skulls until it was reduced to nothing but broken remains.
*Druing*
"Are you okay Sir Wanton?!" Enri asked with a quite of agitation in his voice.
"haha, Yeah, I'm good." he grunted. "It's just my left arm is kinda hard to move right now. It turns out there's another bastard still lurking around. Damned thing catch me off guard."
It doesn't need explanation what's the bastards he's talking about.
"Well, don't worry about me, let's get to the front faster. I had a bad feeling about what might happen."
Wanton waved his hand, making light of the condition he's in and turned to the front as if hiding something. But Enri and Rackan managed to catch a glimpse of those injuries.
His left hand is swollen purple, his palm are torn apart, and from the way he walks, he must've suffered another injury on his legs.
Enri felt a pang of guilt. If only he had figured things out faster…
Suddenly, Rackan gave Enri a firm push on the back, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Let's go, we can feel sad whenever we want. But before that, we have to survive first."
Rackan moved forward going ahead of Wanton, leading the way with caution.
The word "survive" echoed in Enri's mind, and he was reminded of the ominous announcement that had started it all. The first objective of this chaotic situation they were in.
It was to Survive.
Enri took a second to breath deeply as he could and let it all out.
For now He doesn't know what kind of beings are doing this, it could be gods, entities, or even something much more sinister than that. but he knew one thing.
He has to Survive.
And with a new resolve, Enri took a step forward. He ran to the front of Wanton just like Rackan, keeping his hand tightly on the weapon he held.