Goblins

Countless howls could be heard as the Goblins searched the area, they not only had to face the bear once they found it but it was also highly likely that other monsters would assault them during the fight. All in all this meant that every single Goblin was on edge right now… Perhaps Raraak’s speech had inspired them in the cave but it did very little when countless, unnerving roars rang in their ears.

Damon ran alongside one of the warriors that followed Withil, though ran was more of an exaggeration as it was more of a slow scout. Due to Withil’s injuries, it had already put him below Raraak in terms of winning leadership. Therefore he had decided he would let Raraak make first contact with the bear in order to wear his forces down a bit before Withil jumped in, and so Withil had just told his men to scout slowly as they let Raraak have the “advantage” in terms of making contact with the target. Damon understood this, but he didn’t truly in his heart; it made logical sense why Withil would do this but Damon was still confused as to why Withil would commit pseudo-betrayal in a mission for the tribe.

But that mattered not as he ignored his own conscience and went with the others, after all he had just made it to the top of the social hierarchy in the tribe. Why would he get rid of that for a little thing like this?

The Great forest became a sinister entity at night, but those who were experienced could still navigate the Great forest through the dark. And all of the Goblins had been living here for their entire lives! They kept their bodies low as they moved, careful not to trigger any hungry monsters’ sensors, while also focusing on their hearing as much as possible. Sight was not very useful at night, the moonlight which would have provided sufficient light was instead blocked by the thick crowns of the largest trees, which in turn cast looming shadows over the rest of the forest.

A fair distance away from Damon and his low-key chaperone was Withil and Roger, his right hand Goblin. It had been Withil’s luck that he had brought along the Goblin with skills in herbs in case someone had gotten injured as he had turned out to be first in line. Presently his body was a lot better than a few hours back as he could fully move his body, although even the herbs and salves couldn’t take away the excruciating pain which now restricted his strength. On the other hand it allowed him to “stab Raraak in the back” in order to equal out the playing grounds, otherwise he knew acting manipulative in front of his men would come back to bite him in the far future.

In his hands he held a long and slim spear which was in truth more of a long needle than a spear. This was to his advantage though as it made sure that his spear could pierce through anything, even the toughest of materials in the Great forest. It had a silver sheen to it which would have glowed in conjunction with the moonlight, although that wouldn’t happen this night as he and Roger were trying their utmost to stick to the huge overcast shadows. Roger on the other hand held a cumbersome hammer which had an amazing rate of mangling up its prey into pulp, when it hit that was anyway. Although that shouldn’t be much of a problem against the bear.

Both of them were variant Goblins since Goblins were originally low tier 1 monsters whereas all the warriors had undergone growth and training to reach high tier 1. This also gave them a slight increase in sensing mana, which was an almost air like substance that gave endless power according to the chieftain. This slight increase in perception wouldn’t do much in finding the bear but it would help them know when they got close, and they were close!

Both Damon and Roger could feel almost a loss in the taste of air as they walked a bit further, it was obvious something major was happening near them which was causing the loss of mana in the area. Although the ultimate clue was given by the fact that a few meters in front of them was a small clearing without any large trees near it, meaning a large amount of moonlight got through to the ground floor; the silverback bear evolved naturally at peak size by absorbing the moonlight when the moon was full.

With all the clues in place, Withil and Roger creeped towards the side as they tried to sneak a glance at the bear. As the sight entered their eyes, all they could think of was how idyllic it looked… and also how terrifying that was….

Close to the centre of the clearing sat the bear on all fours as it showered its whole back in the moonlight. The bear itself was 2.5m long and around 1.6m tall, meaning it was colossal compared to the Goblins. As for in terms of weight, all the Goblins needed to know was that if the bear fell on them, they would be crushed to death just by the weight… The scene was truly beautiful due to how heavenly it looked as the moonlight rushed towards the bear as its body rapidly absorbed both the mana and the moonlight. It was divine!

However this did not cause beatific feelings within their hearts, rather they felt damned as they met eyes with the bright eyed bear. Even as they slowly edged away, they could feel the stare boring into them. Sweat oozed out of their backs as their slow walks turn into a ferocious sprints, before finding a small cave to camp in about 100m away from the bear.

They had known the bear would be more conscious of its surroundings due to fear and anticipation but not that much… Perhaps they would have been relaxed if they hadn’t been caught by the bear but such event had fully put them into battle mode as adrenaline surged through their bodies, the fight or flight system working at its max.

“We are going to have to use it Roger…”

“Are you sure Withil? You know we will be fucked afterwards! Especially if Raraak survives this battle, you will be hard-worn to win a fight with him afterwards.”

“I’ll be fucked now by the bear if I don’t use it. Just hand it over…”

Roger couldn’t argue with that logic as he opened up his waist bag, before taking out a wooden container which within held a bluish paste. Withil took out a small amount, about a fingers worth, before grimacing as he swallowed it down. Afterwards Roger did the same before putting it back into his bag.

Feeling the mood suddenly tense up due to his decision, Withil tried to crack a joke.

“Hargh Hargh. That girl Absinthe put effort into this Roger. As her elders we couldn’t not use it, could we now?”

In response Roger weakly laughed before genuinely smiling, he had decided to follow Withil due to many reasons but the biggest was due to the potential he saw within him. And he was even willing to swallow down this destructive poison as long as that potential stayed.

It wasn’t until a few minutes that another Goblin found his way to the bear. The second he saw the colossal lying on the floor, he made some distance between them before taking out the pocket horn in his waist bag.

*CrooooOOOOOOOO*

The sound blared through the forest, causing terror within the smaller animals while it caused excitement and anticipation to build up within the Goblins. The prey was found, now it was just the killing. It was a pity that it wasn’t just them attracted to the sound…

The Goblin who had blown the horn was elated as he took his lips away from the mouthpiece, after all he had been the one to find the bear out of all the warriors. In his glee, he didn’t notice the monstrous beast behind him as it got up before bolting though space as it charged at him.

“RAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWRRR”

His blissful imaginations were rudely broken through as a head-splitting sound exploded out from behind him, pushing him to the ground in shock. However to his luck it looked like the gods had mercy on him as his shock ended within a second, although it was with his skull smashed against the cold ground…

The silverback bear licked its paw wet with blood for a few seconds before it braced its body once more. It knew something was wrong when the Goblin warrior had released the blaring sound that still rang in its ears. It seemed its reasoning had been right as from the shrubbery shot out Raraak and the rest of the warriors that followed him.

In Raraak’s hands was a large battle axe that was half his size. He grinned as he focused on the bear, this would be the start of his path upwards. The now rage-filled silverback bear moved fast as it charged him, which created quite the nerve-racking scene as the one ton bear barrelled towards him. And yet Raraak didn’t fluster under this dangerous pressure, instead the seasoned warrior charged forwards towards the bear with his axe in front.

It was as they reached each other, around 2m apart, that Raraak stabbed the eye of his axe into the ground before violently flicking mud into the bear’s face. On the other side the bear had already leapt towards Raraak, claws extended in preparation for a strike. Instead what happened was a lump of mud splattered in its face, entering its eyes as the bear screamed in pain.

The eyes of any animal was sensitive and it showed as the bear caused carnage around where it stood as it slashed and smashed anything near it. Raraak who had foreseen such a scene had long jumped to the side as he watched the bear strike at nothing.

Giving the bear no time to recover, all the Goblin warriors rushed the bear as they struck out with their weapons. Raraak, being the biggest and strongest, used all his might as he slashed the axe into the bear’s frontal shoulder, and yet still it felt like cutting through rock as it made contact with the bear. Surrounding the bear’s body was a thick layer of fat which showed its use as only 1 or 2 of the 5 strikes made it through, and even the deepest wound which was caused by Raraak only made it to the bone.

No matter the result, the Goblins immediately retreated after their attack as they knew what would happen if they didn’t. The bear clearly was distraught with pain and anger as it bawled out several ear-piercing roars.

Instead of being put off by such a frenzy, the Goblin warriors instead smiled as they saw the golden opportunity. The bear was momentarily blinded and currently very agitated: they could end the bear very quickly if they played their cards right. And if they didn’t, it would be their chance to have fun as they would have to face off the countless beasts attracted by the roars of the dying.

Wanting to waste no time, Raraak pointed at one of the warriors before clenching his axe in preparation of a charge. The chosen Goblin began hollering out a thundering war cry as all once again charged the addled bear, only leaping backwards just before he made contact. The bear’s full attention was on the loud Goblin and failed to sense the rest who once again struck it.

This time Raraak leaped in to the sky before using the downwards force in addition to his strength to slash the bear. And the result was spectacular, well sort off…

Due to the large force, the axe slid through the bear’s fatty flesh with ease before stabbing itself deep into bone but that was a mistake. Feeling the very real danger close in, the bear began to think upon its feet as it instinctively contracted the muscles surrounding the wound, effectively closing the axe into the wound. Raraak, unaware of this, pulled the axe out only to feel like a fool as it felt as like he was trying to uproot a tree by pulling.

Although due to adrenaline Raraak felt confident as he tried once again with greater force, only to reach the same conclusion. Needless to say the bear didn’t just sit still during this and rather moved with violent vigour as it shot its razor-sharp jaws towards Raraak’s neck. However the bear’s actions didn’t go unnoticed as one of the Goblin warriors had already jumped moments ago, and the airborne Goblin shoved Raraak out of the way as it instead took his place.

“AAAAAARRRGGHHHH”

*Crack*

“AARGGHH”… “AARRRRR”… “AAaaarr…”

A cacophony of macabre sounds filled the clearing, the bear snapping its jaw with gusto as it snapped through flesh and bone alike. The dying Goblin wasn’t even able to finish his last scream as his body shut down, unable to deal with the critical damage caused upon it.

Trepidation spread through the warriors alongside debilitating fear as morale dropped as fast as it had risen.

“AWWOOOOOO”

“AWWWWWWOOOOOO”

“AWOOOOO”

Several howls followed the screams as a small wolf pack walked out of from the trees. Perhaps them being a small pack would have helped the Goblins but it didn’t matter... After all the wolves were all Nightwolves, mid-tier 2 monsters, and also the pack of the Nightwolf the Goblins had killed the night prior…

From the opposite side of the wolves came out several Goblin warriors and a few trailing pack carriers. Withil held his needle-like spear as he led the group, pride overflowing as he thought of how great a call it had been to be so magnanimous by allowing Raraak to have a head start.

Damon stood with a few knives in his hands, all of them shining bright in the moonlight.

The bear messily ate away at the dead Goblin’s body, as it used the blood that gushed out to wash the mud out of its eyes. The blood stung but not nearly as much as the mud had and the bear glared with anger as it watched the newcomers.

“SKRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

From the ground tunnelled out a large, maroon centipede-like creature. It kept screeching as the sensors above its head waved madly, ecstatic at how this place gave a strong, fresh smell of the blood. This monster was a baby death maggot, currently a low tier 3…

It was certain that this night wouldn’t be quiet.