Liam had already given Noah the locations of the archers, they had run through the plan half a dozen times just to make sure he had it memorized, because they would have to be quick about it. This was a stealth mission, even the slightest misstep could place Noah in grave danger.

Circling around the very outskirts of the dense perimeter, Noah slowly inched towards where he had gotten a glimpse of his first target. He moved gently, yet steadily, trying not to disturb an errant branch or the occasional patch of dead leaves from crunching under his shoes, he finally saw his first target- a green skinned goblin with a longbow held in his hands, scanning outward for any threats. It wasn’t facing towards the Goblin Lord, but in fact the exact opposite directions- making its job preventing threats that could reach the Goblin Lord instead of mitigating them.

Having expected this, Noah had already dropped to a very low, stooping crouch that brought him great discomfort. 10 long meters separated him from his target, and worse, the target had his attention aimed in his general vicinity.

Noah had deposited his gladius and kite shield in his inventory, holding only two inferior daggers- one in his left, and the other in his right, while his Assassin’s dagger lay safely holstered at his waist. He aimed and tossed the first dagger in an upward arc, hitting a tree from an angle that the goblin couldn’t see- but the resultant sound was enough to lure its attention away rightwards, arrow string pulled taut and ready to fire.

Noah used that small timeframe to cover another 5 meters, but this was all the cover the nearby flora could offer him, if he wanted to get any closer he’d have to leave cover. Aiming his inferior knife, one eye closed, Noah focused on the goblin’s eyeballs. Could he have hit such a ridiculous shot back on Earth? No way. Now though? It was worth a try. Noah held the dagger by it’s pointed tip, and powerfully lobbed it towards the goblin’s eye. Without pausing to see if his shot was on target, Noah sprinted for the Goblin Archer while drawing his Assassin’s dagger.

Roughly 2 meters away, Noah saw his dagger meet the Goblin Archer right in it’s eye, causing it to yell out in the beginn0ing of a shrill scream. Before it could complete it, however, Noah dug his Assassin’s dagger right into its gullet, the force driving the Archer down. Guess that was one question about goblin anatomy answered- they couldn’t scream without an intact thorax.

Noah looted the goblin, receiving one common longbow and finally,

Infinity Quiver, Support type Common Grade Ranged Equipment

Automatically generates 50 Common Grade Iron tipped arrows daily.

Lucky Draw: Exchange 50 Common Grade arrows generated by the Infinity Quiver for 1 Uncommon grade arrow generated at random. Note: Arrows exchanged must be generated by the Infinity Quiver.

Withdrawing his longbow and quiver, from his inventory and equipping them, Noah moved to the second stage of the plan.

Noah was some 30 odd meters away from the enemy, who was comfortably perched on top of a tree, scanning the nearby vicinity for enemies. His longbow was tensioned, infinity quiver supplying him with common grade iron arrows. It had a fairly ok perk, Quick Shooter- Arrows loosened are 15% faster, but was nothing to write home about.

Noah had never really used a bow before, but his dexterity stat gave him some guidance with tensioning. His hand swayed, but far less than a beginners would, and Noah could control the radius within which it swayed. He had one shot, or the archer would raise the alarm and the gates of hell would break loose.

A gambling man would have gone for the head, but this wasn’t a distance of five meters anymore. Noah waited for his hand to naturally sway into position, and then loosened the arrow near the left part of the goblin’s chest. What surprised Noah was how quickly the transition was, one moment he had the arrow tensioned in his hand and the next moment it was impaled near or at the goblin’s heart, causing it to plummet from its perch and fall to the ground with a surprised yelp.

Now, Noah would go for the head- pulling another arrow from his quiver and letting it loose at the goblin who lay flat on its chest, still showing signs of breathing.

2 down. 6 left.

And so Noah went, methodologically, calmly, swiftly eliminating one Goblin Archer after the next, thanks to Liam’s keen eyesight and future knowledge, coupled with his own surprising proficiency at stealthing goblins.

Only 15 minutes later, each and every last Goblin Archer was hunted down, Noah moving from target to target like a vengeful specter out for blood. Panting over the carcass of the last one, which had been a close- Noah had been forced to finish the archer by hand, Noah exhaled a sigh of relief.

He had amassed a collection of common short bows and longbows in his inventory, along with 7 full infinity quivers and one with a few missing arrows.

“Alright lad, you know what to do now,” Liam said with an excited grin on his face, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

Noah nodded, and begun the process.

Lucky Draw has been activated!

50 common arrows have been sacrificed!

You have received x2 Poisonous Cloud Arrow (Uncommon)

Lucky Draw has been activated!

.

.

You have received x1 Smoke Cloud Arrow (Uncommon)

You have received x1 Arrow of Duplication (Uncommon)

You have received x2 Illusion Cloud Arrow (Uncommon)

You have received x1 Arrow of Piercing (Uncommon)

“Nice haul there, lad,” Liam clapped his hands together and said, “Now, shall we announce the return of The Savage Goons to Gridlocked? Been what, 104 years?”

Noah just shook his head and started heading towards the center of the forest. It was time for phase three of the plan.

Perched on top of a tree with a direct view towards the goblin encampment, Noah prepared himself. His quiver was empty, but for seven arrows that had different colored auras radiating out of them.

An outer perimeter formed of goblin skirmishers (green), dotted with goblin avengers (red) defending the inner perimeter and goblin entrappers (yellow) waiting under the soil. If that wasn’t enough, there was the gigantic Goblin Lord waiting at the center, ready to annihilate any who came close.

It was time to even the odds.

Noah fired the Illusion Cloud arrow some 40 or 50 odd meters away from the Goblin Lord, causing a massive 16-meter-tall wild boar that had the tusks of a mammoth and carapace instead of fur, to materialized right in the center of the camp with an ear-piercing scream. For a second, silence reigned in the camp, but then came the loud, angry bellow of the Goblin Lord, followed by outraged cries of the Goblin Avengers. Noah fired another Illusion Cloud arrow near the western perimeter, this time causing a 16-meter-tall poisonous boa to materialize, with a loud hissing noise. Noah heard the screams of goblin skirmishers, followed by a hurried retreat and collapse of the perimeter.

Noah then shot a Poisonous cloud arrow on top of the Boa illusion, giving the illusory snake an actual poisonous killing field. Noah could hear more panicked screams and coughing noises, which meant everything was going to plan- it was a worthy distraction. The goblin Lord was headed towards the boar, while the Goblin Avengers were headed towards the Boa.

It was a good plan, but the illusion wouldn’t fool the goblins for long. Noah pulled out the Arrow of Duplication and shot it at the southern perimeter- which was the perimeter nearest to him. One arrow transformed into a hail of twenty-five arrows, and 8 goblins were reduced to pincushions in a matter of seconds. Before the other goblins along the perimeter could react, Noah fired his smoke cloud arrow, causing a large portion of the southern perimeter to be engulfed in a thick, grey smoke that was unlikely to be seen through.

That was his queue, and Noah dropped from his sniping spot and started sprinting towards the smoke. The world turned into a landscape of muted grays and whites, and Noah found himself stumbling over the bodies of dead goblins as he ran- but his dexterity kept him standing, and he didn’t pause to admire or loathe his handiwork.

Once he’d reached the very end of the grey fog, Noah paused, pulled out another Poisonous Cloud arrow and aimed. The Goblin Lord had reached the screaming wild boar, confusedly slicing it with his curved blade only for his slice to pass straight through. It would realize what was going on soon, and Noah couldn’t afford that. Another arrow exploded near the Goblin Lord’s feet engulfing him and the dozen Avengers that had decided to accompany their lord. Noah disappeared back into the grey fog, choosing a different exit point a few seconds later. He tossed away his longbow, there was no time to deposit it and he had spares anyway- and ran with everything he had towards the cavern while pulling out his gladius and kite shield out of the void.

In the between of a magnificent cacophony of alien screams, call to arms, panicked yells, and well, the exact definition of complete and utter chaos, Noah carefully navigated his way through the goblin ‘landmines’ at breakneck speeds, moving with such fluidity and grace that Noah would never think himself capable of.

In a matter of moments, he had traversed the landscape, reaching closer and closer to his destination. Noah realized that the two Goblin Avenger’s still hadn’t moved from their positions, not even in the midst of all this pandemonium. Liam’s original approach had been very different from Noah’s, and even he didn’t have all the micro details.

He was moving too fast to abruptly stop now, and only a few meters separated him from his destination. Noah veered to the left, barely managing to sidestep the first Avenger’s mighty hammer blow. Just as he was standing in front of the downwards sloping entrance, Noah felt a gust of wind from behind. The second guard had positioned itself for an ambush, bursting out the moment Noah was at the cusp of entering his destination. It was all Noah could do to barely manage to raise his kite shield in time. Moments later, a destructive force on level’s Noah had never felt overwhelmed him- his wooden shield burst out into a thousand shattered fragments, and a sharp, searing pain tore through Noah’s left arm. The momentum of the throw blasted Noah inside the cavern, and it was all he could do to tilt his head upward and let the health potion flow into his mouth.