"Huh.... It makes sense I guess" muttered Will, in an uncertain tone, as if he were deliberating Noah's claims in his mind.

"So... " said Noah, as he slowly got up and picked up a detached branch that was only a meter away from him. With the unnatural size of the trees, even a broken branch required the entirety of his left hand to wrap around its circumference. Dipping it into the campfire, Noah watched as it's tip quickly started to burn.

"... As long as I have a light source, the archers shouldn't be able to accurately land their shots," Noah concluded with delight at finally having found a counter for the damn archers.

"Wouldn't that expose your location to any people that are hiding nearby?" asked Natalie with skepticism, not too impressed with Noah's deductions.

"Erm... well that's better than being shot at from a distance, wouldn't you agree?" Noah answered with an awkward smile.

"No," responded Will, in an uncharacteristically cold tone.

"Uh, excuse me?" asked Noah, taken aback by this sudden change in mood and tightening the grip around his spear.

"No, no, no... It doesn't make sense. Let's say I believe your theory for now, about goblins being nocturnal creatures. Why would they run?" asked Will, with a sense of urgency building up in his voice.

"Uh, because they don't like bright light being shined in their face?" blurted out Noah, but his answer didn't seem that convincing even to himself.

"They could have just chosen to wait until we moved away from the campfire. Think about it, they had no reason to run after chasing you all this while, and goblins don't seem to fear death the same way we humans do," said Will, his tone growing darker with each word that came out of his mouth.

"So... why?" asked Noah, not understanding what Will was trying to get at.

Will quickly got up and grabbed his weapon, startling Noah. "Natalie, they're coming." he softly whispered, prompting her to look around as she prepared for combat.

"Who's coming? I don't get it!?" Noah asked, his voice louder coming out louder than he had expected.

"You said that the first time you encountered an archer, had two skirmishers hiding nearby in ambush. This is my fault, I should've believed you earlier. FUCK!" exclaimed Will in anger.

Noah's eyes widened in horror, as he realized the enormity of his mistake. "Reinforcements" he lightly whispered to himself, just as multiple rustling sounds came from the west, headed in their direction.

Dropping the spear, Noah quickly accessed his inventory and pulled out the one-handed sword. He refused to let go of the portable light source in his hand- if the campfire was snuffed out he would once again be plunged into the darkness, reverting him back to square one.

Will took point, his longsword hefted into the air and ready to strike, while Natalie stood at his side, slightly behind him as she waited for an opportunity to join the fray. Noah walked up to the very edge of the campfire, but maintained a sizable distance from will so that he wouldn't be caught up in Will's swing radius.

Two large wooden shields that were easily five feet tall burst out from behind the thicket, with small rectangular cutouts made at around the 3.5 feet mark from which a pair of luminescent green eyes peeked out- charging right towards Will and Natalie without the slightest of hesitation.

"What is that!?" asked Natalie as she witnessed the bizarre sight, while Will hurriedly shifted his grip on his longsword so that the flat of the blade pointed towards the oncoming goblins. "GO TO 'ELL, FECKERS!" he roared again, letting his blade explode with all the strength his arms could channel as if he had just executed a masterful cricket stroke. Moments later the sound of splintering wood echoed out as the two goblins lost control of the shield and went tumbling backward into the darkness.

Natalie was just about to move forward and land the finishing blow, but four silhouettes burst out the moment the shield bearers were dispatched. Instead of taking the same route as the shield bearers, they split up into groups of two and went in polar opposite directions- flanking the trio from their left and right.

Noah got a bad feeling after seeing the coordinated attack, and resolved to deal with the two on his side as soon as he could. The one in front held a shortsword in its hand, while the one behind it hand a small dagger held in its right hand. Noah took a few seconds to visualize the battle plan in his mind, after which he charged without care for the consequences.

Covering the distance in a few moments, Noah watched as the first goblin slashed in his direction- a blow which Noah countered with a far more ferocious slash, resulting in a resounding clang echoing out as both the blades clashed. The goblin reeled from the impact as its sword hand was pushed away, while Noah experienced the same, but to a lesser extent.

Extending his left arm, Noah pushed the flaming branch right into the goblins' eyes- which prompted an agonizing howl moments later and it tightly shut its eyes. Noah brought back his sword arm and let it explode in a flash of speed, and a decapitated head accompanied with a fountain of blue blood hit the ground as a result of his swing.

The second goblin burst out from behind the first goblin's silhouette, having used it to act as a shield when the light was thrust into its face. But Noah had already noticed this deviation from his original plan, and let go of his sword the instant he was done decapitating the first. Hurriedly pulling out his assassin's dagger, Noah stretched the limits of his dexterity as he plunged it downwards with frightening speed and accuracy.

Roughly panting, Noah looked down to see the goblin's dagger only separated by a mere inch from piercing his abdomen... and his own dagger that had embedded itself deep into its spindly arm. A very painful lesson that he had learned not too long ago had come in handy, as the goblin screamed in agony much as he had suffered.

Not wanting to extend its misery, Noah kicked it to the side and picked up his sword- ending its life by plunging his blade into its heart.

Noah turned around to look at Will and Natalie, who had seemingly dispatched their opponents slightly earlier than he did, judging from the two carcasses that lay on their side.

"Hey Wi-"

"KEKEKEKEKE" a peal of maniacal, wheezing laughter interrupted Noah, and moments later the world plunged into darkness.