And now, Steal was desperately gripping onto Kor'Ak's shoulders, utterly unaware of the events that had transpired no more than a few minutes ago, and most certainly, completely confused by how any of the three managed their way out; and not knowing the dark, malignant implications of how they had escaped.

Every time Kor'Ak's plated boots hit the ground, Steal could feel his body reverberate and vibrate, bones rattling with each heavy impact on the dirt.

He could hear there screams become louder and louder, more fervent and manic with every passing second. The young goblin was certain they were gaining on the party, the goblin's frantic footsteps were louder and closer, the sound of claws scratching on treebark and tiny, misshapen bodies crashing through bushes loudened along with it.

"Mother unhappy, bad below-thing make her not kill, but we kill for mother, we do, we do!" The Wretched screeched in a grating choir as their pursuit hurried. Steal managed to peak over the Warrior's shoulder as he went low, head narrowly scraping underneath an overhanging branch that was as thick as the goblin's thigh.

Even Steal could understand time was running short, there was only so much farther the humans could run, and the goblin knew he wasn't any faster than the creatures that were fervently chasing them, perhaps even slower. They moved so quickly on there short, gnarled legs that they seemed tireless. Perhaps they were.

Another minute past and Kor'Ak's breaths slowed into dry heaves, the warrior stumbled, face and chest crashing against the ground, bringing Steal down with him.

The goblin bounced off his back as the Djaal hit the dirt, tumbling and turning in the air until he sank into a soft patch of moss. Steal clambered his way out of the damp vegetation, crooked, clawed right-hand drawing the blade at his side from its scabbard.

Kelvin weakly struggled his way out of a thorned bush that he'd snagged his foot on, the wizard snarled, then wrenched his leg free, dozens of long, thin lines of crimson formed along his calf as expensive, glittering fabric tore and shred. Still snarling, the wizard tumbled to the ground beside Kor'Ak, short, ragged breaths quickly turned to deep, weighty coughs and groans. Nevertheless, the wizard pulled himself up, resting his exhausted body against the gnarled and twisted trunk of a tree. Desperate breaths paused for a second "Oi... Goblin, just run for it, we can take 'em, ain't that right Kor'Ak?". The human's words were brave, but the tears that now trickled in thin waterfalls from his sunken, almost blank eyes betrayed his attempt at hiding his terror.

Groaning, voice muffled by the dirt that his face was planted in, the walking corpse of a man managed a chuckle "Run little one, we shall crush the ones that chase us, and find you again".

Perhaps, if Steal could understand what they were saying, he'd have listened, he'd have been persuaded, he'd have run. But no, he did not hear their words, but he saw they're torn, battered, beaten and broken bodies, he saw the frail wizards tears, his quivering lips, the life that poured from him in streams from wounds that the goblin couldn't protect them from.

He saw them, once strong, now weak, wavering, dying. He didn't know if he could save the pair from their wounds, but he could at least try and save the people that fought with him.

And that was why he stood, it was why he howled and screamed in anger, defiance, and something that wasn't quite hatred. But, as he'd heard before, his own cries were deafened beneath the chaotic choir of the Wretched.

Their choir became deafening as he could hear footsteps, scratching wood and grating teeth. The first of them burst through around a tree trunk with an angry, shrill shriek.

Then the second.

Then the third.

Then the fourth.

Then the fifth...

...

It wasn't until the seventeenth sprung into the mass of sickly green skin and brown, rusted blades that they stopped screaming.

Steal was alone.

He couldn't win against all of these cackling, giggling, vile creatures. His grip weakened, his heart pounded, his brain felt numb and empty.

Then they came, rushing forwards in unison, brandishing their bloodied, chipped blades, mottled clubs and twisted spears.

"Crystal Spray"

Then they stopped. Well, the front four of them did, torsos riddled with thin, four-inch long shards of light purple crystal that only sank even deeper as they stumbled, staggered and dropped to the damp grass, made all the wetter and slicker with their blood.

Perhaps he wasn't completely alone.

Steal's dirk drove itself into the next one that wildly rushed him, popping an already bursting blister as it slid through flesh, scraped along bone and tore through organs. The next was pushed to the ground as Steal slammed the dead Wretched's body into it's charging brethren, pushing the dead Wretched down onto the one that had fallen, and thrusting downwards, skewering both of them on his blade as he buried it down to the guard in sickly flesh.

Level Up!

Your Racial Job 'Goblin' Has Reached Level 7!

STR +1 ,DEX +2 ,AGI +1 ,FRT +1 ,INT +1 ,WIS +1

Level Up!

Your Job 'Hunter' Has Reached Level 6!

STR +1,DEX +2,AGI +2,FRT +1,INT +1,WIS +1

The goblin was busy trying to pull his blade from his fresh kills when three other's rushed towards him with wicked cackles, cut short as three arrows suddenly seemed to appear in their throats.

Perhaps they weren't completely alone.

Another arrow whizzed past him, jagged head burying itself into another wretched's throat.

Steal had seen Grak use a bow and arrow, but the hobgoblin hunter was nowhere near as accurate as this, it seemed impossible in fact, but still, the next arrow that tore through the air found its targets gullet again just the same.

With a great fountain of blood that almost bathed the goblin, he finally pulled his dagger free, just in time to parry a blow that was aimed towards his head, the goblin's grip remained firm, and he ran the Wretched through as it dropped it's weapon, both of the goblin's arms shaking from the heavy impact of their blades, though Steal was stronger and faster, the sole reason that the young goblin wasn't currently the one with the tip of a thin blade buried in his lungs.

The rest of the wretched were dispatched rather quickly, though they fought to the last, with the unseen archer's aid, they barely managed to get into range with Steal, and the few that did fell beneath his blade, dripping with the life of those that had (deservingly) lost theirs.

Kor'Ak was worryingly silent during all of this, not having moved since he dropped to the ground earlier.

A young man's shaking, raspy voice called out "Sorry, ran out of magic... Why am I even talking... You can't understand me..." Kelvin coughed weakly, unfocused eyes now narrowing onto the bodies that had thin shafts of wood sprouting from their throats. "Thanks... Whoever that was..."

The voice that came in response would have been young and feminine if it weren't spoken through a guttural snarl.

"It's too early to be thanking me, Dungol"

The young woman, no older than twenty was gripping a curved, two-foot long blade that was fastened into a hide belt at her side, with a bow strung across her back and a beautifully woven quiver besides it.

Other than the belts that ran along her body, the girl's skin was bare, proudly displaying the intricate symbols that ran from her shoulderblades to between her modest chest, stopping at her bellybutton. The symbols looked like nothing more than straight, green-painted lines, though closer inspection would reveal a number of intricate runes and miniature paintings that were tightly packed together, the same such markings were painted across her cheeks, as well as her palms.

The canvas of her body wasn't much different to the color of Kelvin's skin, though it bore a slight yellow hue to it, most prominent in the folds of her eyelids and bridge of her nose.

Long, knife-like ears sprouted upwards from a head of messy, dirty-blonde hair that curled back down to her shoulders.

She was a-

"Fucking... Elf-" the weary wizard was cut short as the young girl slammed her fist into his nose, then again, then again, until his eyes drooped shut and he stopped struggling.