Locke moved to the other side of the rooftop away from the cage. This would hopefully hide his presence enough to where the worgs wouldn't focus on him. It was a long shot at best, but options were limited. He could see at a distance a large force heading this way. At this distance it was too far to tell if the sergeant was among them but he just had to assume that it was. If they had any sort of intelligence at all they should know by now how strong their enemy was.

He quickly switched his enhancement bringing him from 20 to 45 agility, but his strength went down to 5. There was no longer any need to have his inventory carry weight increased to hold the makeshift log ladders. Also Locke had absolutely no intention of engaging the sergeant in a contest of strength. Like mentioned before there was no way for him to know how strong it was, but if he had to guess it should have much more than 30 strength. The other reason he didn't want to fight in close combat with the monster was due to the fact these hobgoblin's had active skills. If the weaker hobgoblin skills were hard to deal with, the sergeants will be even worse. Thus Locke's plan was to kite the enemy at range and launch spells at them, there was plenty of room to do so.

It felt like a calm before the storm was present for what seemed like eternity as Locke waited and observed the area. Two worgs seemed to be tracking his scent and following to his side of the building. He wasn't sure where the other four went, but they were most likely close by. The defence party of goblins were closing in and inside Locke's attack range but he held off. He was relatively hidden right now which meant they most likely don't know his position yet. Well unless they use their brains and figure out why the two worgs were sniffing around where they are.

The goblins finally reached the cage area and the smaller ones started to look around nervously. The sergeant was paying attention to the two worgs that were sniffing the building and pacing about. Half wondering what they were doing, half preparing in case they attacked. While this was happening Locke's mind was running a mile a minute.

Shit what are these dogs doing, were they tame after all? Should I run? Can I even outrun the worgs? Did I rush this plan? Stupid stupid, why didn't I just wait it out, now I am going to die and have to start this all over again. Hell even just trying to fight the sergeant with my current stats would have been better than this situation. Why did I think letting them out was a good idea. Ahhhhhhhhh!

What happened next shattered these doubts completely. The two worgs suddenly charged towards the goblins and at the same time the other four missing beasts begun their ambush. Locke stuck his head up to observe the situation. What looked to be five goblins, two hobgoblins, and the sergeant was quickly cut down by four goblins and one hobgoblin almost immediately. There was a slight tinge of regret when he saw the potential experience points being mauled by a third party but he was in no position to complain.

The sergeant took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar, so loud that it felt like it shook the building Locke was crouched on. This caused all the creatures below to face the sergeant and appeared to be completely frozen in fear, friend and foe alike. Locke did feel a small tinge of fright when the roar occurred, not a jump scare, actual surfacing fear that quickly dissipated.

That roar seemed to have a fear effect? Did my high wisdom prevent it?

Once the fear effect was applied the boss monster started his rampage attack dogs. It dashed forward and used it's giant great sword to cleaved off a worgs head in one swing. Before the body even hit the ground the sergeant tossed two large daggers into the eyes of another one. Noticing that it was still alive but howling in pain it moved next to it and finished it off with a downward swing of its sword.

Wow, it's a good thing I am not down there. That monster is no joke. Oh, looks like the fear effect might be wearing off.

The goblin started to straight up bolt away towards the center of the fort where as the hobgoblin's decided to stay and fight with his leader. The sergeant yelled towards the running goblin and then threw a dagger into it's back immediately killing the goblin. Turning to face the worgs the boss took a defensive stance. It looked as thought the beasts were waiting for an opening to strike as they slowly walked about eyeing their prey.

Well, time to start this off.

Locke cast his highest mana ice spear towards the chest area of the sergeant. It was not a weak spot, but he just needed it to land. The sergeant didn't react in time and the spell connected without issue causing the boss to recoil slightly. This moment sparked the conflict as the worgs begun their attack. The last remaining hobgoblin didn't fair and was currently being mauled but the sergeant didn't seem to struggle to fend them off. One worg jumped to tackle the sergeant but was blocked and tossed aside with ease. Then with a wide horizontal swing he pushed the others back before they could follow up. The amount of time that swing gave it was very little as the beasts were not backing down.

Locke stood up for a better angle and continued his spell casting to harass the boss until it finally got a small break. It grabbed the nearby dead hobgoblin's javelin and hurled the weapon towards the sniper.

Oh fuck!

The javelin was sent flying at such speed that Locke couldn't possibly dodge it as he wasn't prepared for it. He was able to avoid it hitting a vital spot, but the force caused him to fly backwards off the building slamming into the ground several meters away. The damage he received at once was high enough to cause him to receive a stunning status effect, making him unable to move. The actual pain feeling went by quick, but this stunning effect seemed to be there to mimic someone being in too much pain to move right away.

That fucking hurt......what was that throw. What is my HP at.......42! Come on body move....I need to move!

Luckily sounds of battle could be heard on the other side of the building. Roars of pain from the sergeant and yelps from the worgs could be heard almost simultaneously.

The battle sounds intense over there, it should finish soon. Good I can move now it was only temporary as expected.

With the stunning no longer effecting him Locke removed the javelin and began to use all his mana to heal. The actual amount of healing you receive per mana is garbage, it was less than 1 HP per 1 MP but he didn't have the exact number. This meant it was going to take some time to recover, Locke knew he needed to make the most of the little time he had. It was almost a given that the worgs were going to lose that fight, but the boss won't come out unscathed either. This meant Locke needed to recover quickly and re-engage the sergeant before it had time to recover.

Locke temporarily turned off his agility boost so he could regenerate mana faster and begun to reposition to a different location. The goal didn't change, he needed to fight the boss at range and avoid any range attacks unlike before. Locke understood that in the previous engagement he got a bit cocky, standing up like that was a stupid move even if he wanted to target the sergeants legs. At the time it seemed like a good idea to lower the mobility of the boss while it was distracted; but obviously in hindsight that wasn't the best choice.

He was able to recover back to full HP and over half mana before repositioning to a new spot. Turning his agility enhancement on he decided it was time to take a look at the scene. The spot he found was behind a different building on the other side. Peaking around the corner he surveyed the scene. There was blood everywhere and all the worg carcasses were accounted for, this meant the sergeant was still alive. Which was a good thing, he most likely needed to be the one to land the killing blow on the boss to receive the rewards. Was it injured enough for him to win though that was the main question. Locke continued to scan the area, and couldn't find any trace of where the boss could be. He would have to get closer to inspect the blood to see if there was a trail to follow.

Not good, it could be recovering right now....should I show myself to flush it out or just track it down and hopefully get the jump on it.

Just as those thoughts finished Locke heard dripping behind him.