'To think that the experience of running that damned marathon would come in handy so soon,' Theo thought, nearly laughing out loud as he continued to dash through the thick woods.
He tried his best to roughly follow the goblin tracks, only ever deviating from them when he could cut some corners or take a visible shortcut while making it clear which path he took.
Yet, for every step he took, the bloodfangs came closer.
Those oversized cats were not apex predators of the borderland outskirts for nothing. And while their toughness left a lot of room for evolutionary improvement, they more than compensated for it with their agility, maneuverability, and vicious levels of damage they could deal the moment they pounced on their target.
That's why Theo made sure never to give them a good shot at doing so, trailing between the trees, slightly changing his directions, or outright jumping over obstacles—all in a bid to either stay out of their pounce's range or to have something between himself and those vicious cats, preventing them from leaping forth to begin with.
Yet, no matter how fast Theo ran, those cats were faster than him. Their entire lineage developed in this weird place. This forest was the bloodfangs' natural habitat, not Theo's.
And given just a little bit more time, they would surely catch up to him, forcing the young man to desperately fight not for the materials he could obtain by dissecting them but to fight with his all while still putting his life on the line.
Theo, however, failed to wipe the smile off his face.
After all, everything was going according to his plan.
'If my calculations are right, then their nest should be just around…'
Before he could even finish the thought in his head, the trees around suddenly started to grow sparser and sparser, soon turning his surroundings from the thick part of the woods into one of the many clearings dotted all over this massive, overgrown forest.
And a clearing like this was just the perfect spot for goblins to develop their camp.
'Now, to lay the bait properly,' Theo thought as he suddenly turned sideways, opting to just slide on the undergrowth for the short instant it took him to throw the last of his spears in the general direction of the clearing ahead.
A throw that he then instantly followed by ending the slide only to start running again, this time not at a comfortable and efficient pace, but as if death itself was breathing down his neck.
This dash lasted only a few steps, however, allowing Theo to gain enough momentum to just… jump, grab the branch of one of the bigger trees around, and then swing on it, transferring his forward speed into an upward force that carried him just high enough to disappear from the bloodfangs' radar.
"Huff…" Theo breathed out as he grabbed onto a much higher branch of the tree he picked, hanging onto it right as he watched the pack of four bloodfangs sprint past the tree and onto the clearing, only to see his spear mere seconds after it landed.
Or, to be more precise, only to see Theo's spear dug into the ground but a few steps away from a poor goblin who—surprised by the spear falling right by its side—just happened to look towards it.
And, by extension, it looked right the way the bloodfangs came running from.
"Skreee…?"
Before the poor goblin could even make a proper sound, the leader of the pack jumped forth, stretching its nimble arms only to collapse its fangs down on the goblin's head, smashing it as if it was a watermelon rather than a living being's skull.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Theo's heart beat so loud, he couldn't help but worry whether it wouldn't alert the nearby predators.
Right now, it was all or nothing.
Either the bloodfangs would be satisfied with the kill, associating the goblin they just killed with the attacker behind the spears tossed at them, or…
"Skree?"
Just as Theo was about to sigh out and give up, sensing the bloodfangs were quite likely to just retreat, satisfied with the kill, another goblin emerged from a nearby burrow, looking around with confusion.
The bloodfangs froze, their ears pricking as they all turned their sights towards the new target.
The poor goblin froze as well, although for a much different reason than those oversized cats. And by the time the leader of the bloodfangs' pack made a single step towards its next target…
"SKREEEE!"
A loud, panicked cry escaped from the goblin's mouth.
And then, the whole clearing suddenly came alive.
Every tiny hill, every valley, even the land that appeared to be flat—all of those burst open as more and more goblins would come out, look around, zero in on the bloodfangs, and then join the ever-growing cry, soon putting the whole nest on high alert.
On the other hand, the bloodfangs had stopped their initial advance, calmly looking around to assess their situation, likely judging their odds as they were faced with the choice.
To fight or to escape.
The reasonable choice would be to escape, giving in to the overwhelming and still growing numbers of the goblins swarming out of their individual nests and burrows, not to bring up the huge boulder sitting on the face of the only bigger hill in the area now moving, only to reveal a huge, dark tunnel from which even more of those green-skinned brats came running out.
But if there was one thing that all monsters in this place lacked, it would be the ability to reason.
Or maybe their way of reasoning was different than the one humans developed?
Either way, judging by how those oversized cats gave out a low growl as their backs arched up and their heads lowered…
Whatever reasoning those bloodfangs followed, it clearly forbade them from giving way when faced with a huge number of those pesky green-skins.
Theo used the noise generated by the standoff between the two to finally pull himself up on the branch and then find a somewhat comfortable spot on it to sit at, watching how the situation continued to escalate.
On the goblins' side, they'd now properly swarmed the entire area, turning it into a sea of green. And while most of them only had their brittle nails and weak fists to defend themselves, there was also a contingent of their higher-leveled brethren that came in armed with all sorts of primitive weapons.
And if that wasn't enough, now that the simple goblins had all come out, their higher ranks quickly followed, revealing nearly a hundred hobs, a bunch of bugbears, and even several chiefs!
'Judging by their numbers, this looks like a king-sized nest,' Theo thought, casually scratching his chin as he pulled out his sheepskin and took a swig of the clear water.
Yet, even against those overwhelming numbers… the bloodfangs didn't give in.
No.
Instead, the three missing members of the pack had now rejoined the group, not a single one of them carrying even a single mark of the wounds Theo inflicted on them…
Which was one of the reasons why those relatively simple monsters could reach their apex predator rank. For what they lacked in defense, they more than compensated with a magic-based regeneration ability that could rival the biological recovery of Trolls!
Now that both sides were at the peak of their strength, the standoff continued, with goblins trying to scare the intruders off with their shouts and cries, while the bloodfangs replied with their low, guttural growls.
"Now, show me the worth of the borderlands monsters," Theo muttered to himself, lowering the sheepskin from his face, worried it would obstruct his view.
And then, as if following the instigator's command, both groups cut their cries short and charged ahead.