Edwin only had a short moment of clear focus to take in the situation. The closest goblins were coming at him from the left. There were more than he could count in the fraction of a second he had, but it was probably around ten of them. Then, the adrenaline hit and turned his blood into liquid lightning. His senses were muted, the sounds of the surroundings fell away and his vision narrowed to what was immediately in front of him.

The first goblin was less than two steps away, coming at Edwin with a knife. Edwin turned towards him, lowered his center and swung outwards with his shield. The wood impacted the goblin will a dull thump and the gangly creature took to the air and disappeared into the distance.

The second one was close behind it, wielding a spear. Edwin continued the swing of his body while taking a quick step, then his mace flew outwards. The goblin, relying on the ambush providing the element of surprise, hadn’t expected this quick a response and failed to dodge. The steel mace met the charging creature’s face and continued through it without slowing.

Something whizzed by Edwin’s face.

With the closest two gone, the next enemies in front of Edwin were a pack of four, with one further back, hiding behind a tree. The latter one held a bow.

Edwin’s first instinct was to charge straight through the gaggle in front of him and smash the archer’s head in, but two steps in he realized that the brush concealed thorny vines low to the ground that prevented him from building up enough speed. He reached the goblins at a jog, not a run, and several spears shot out towards him.

Edwin stopped his failed charge to evade the stabs, then lowered his center and set his shield in front. Goblins weren’t exactly weak compared to humans, but they weren’t particularly strong either. Compared to Edwin, they were like children. The spears, some simple wooden sticks, others roughly reinforced with metal, thudded against his shield without effect. Edwin grimaced and advanced into the stabs. Two of the four monsters scrambled backwards out of his reach. Two didn’t.

Edwin’s mace swung out from behind his shield, catching a goblin in the chest. His ribs cracked like dry sticks, and the newly made corpse was thrown backwards. Edwin turned to the second one, blocking its hasty thrust with his shield, and stepped towards it. Its eyes widened as it looked from Edwin to its fallen brother, then it turned to flee. One step of Edwin’s long legs carried him right behind it, and his mace flashed down to hit it square in the back with a sickening crack. It fell with a pitiful mewl.

With no time to finish the monster, Edwin stepped back and lowered his shield to block the attack of one of the two goblins that had retreated from him. There had been two, he realized, but he could only see one.

A dull pain in his lower back informed him of the other’s location. He whirled around and swung with his mace, but the monster hopped backwards, stabbing at him again. Acutely aware that he was standing right between two foes, Edwin stepped after the retreating goblin, trying to catch it while putting distance between him and the other one, when something impacted his shield. A quick look showed him a crude arrow sticking out of the wood.

Edwin hissed in frustration. He’d already forgotten the archer.

The goblin in front of him was backpedaling, trying to keep Edwin at bay with quick stabs, when its foot got caught in one of the vines, and it fell over backwards with a surprised cry. It tried to scramble away again but wasn’t fast enough on all fours. Edwin’s weapon passed through its chest and thumped onto the ground below it.

This time, he hadn’t forgotten the other one just because he couldn’t see it anymore, and Edwin whirled around – just a little bit too slow, as the spear caught him in the side. He swiped the goblin off its feet with his shield, then struck downwards with the metal-banded edge. He hit the monster’s throat, but the soft forest floor had enough give that the strike wasn’t lethal. With a jolt, Edwin remembered the archer and looked to his side.

The goblin had just nocked another arrow and was aiming at him. Edwin’s shield was on the wrong side of his body, so he dropped to the ground instead, falling on top of the downed creature and rolling to bring his shield between him and the archer. Before he finished the movement, the arrow harmlessly whizzed by above his head.

Rolling to his feet, Edwin kept his shield between him and the bow goblin, taking only enough time to finish the monster below him before he advanced towards the archer. Its eyes were widening and its movements got jittery when a second goblin jumped out from a bush and interposed itself between Edwin and his prey. It took him a second, but Edwin recognized the one he’d punted at the start of the fight. His eyes narrowed. The newcomer still only had a knife, the short weapon having laughable reach in the goblin’s hand, and Edwin was getting sick and tired of getting shot with arrows.

While chasing the archer, Edwin had crossed through the worst of the underbrush, and could finally put his legs to use. A few steps built up a good amount of speed, and suddenly he was bearing down on the two goblins like a boulder in a landslide. He didn’t stop for the first one, instead turning his momentum into a savage kick. For the second time, the goblin took flight, this time with even more speed. A second arrow thudded into Edwin’s shield, joining the first one only a second before he reached the archer and ended its miserable life. There were no more enemies he could see.

Edwin emerged from his killing trance like a diver breaking the water’s surface. Coming to his senses he realized that once again, he had forgotten his party.

Looking around frantically he spotted them where he’d left them, back on the trail. They were all still standing. Bordan was using his spear to good effect, the long weapon keeping several of the monsters at bay. Behind him, Salissa and Leodin were huddled together back-to-back, the latter swinging his shortsword to keep two more goblins away. There was a burnt patch of brush in front of Salissa, and the girl was levitating arrows at something Edwin couldn’t see.

He'd left them alone.

Cursing, Edwin started running. Within a few steps, the brush slowed him down again. As he made his way through, the seconds ticked by both agonizingly slowly and much too quickly. Edwin could only watch as a spear thrust got past Leodin’s defense, wounding him. The young man cried out, and Salissa whirled around. Before Leodin’s foes could do any more damage, a dull-orange flame roared to life, washing over the two creatures. Almost immediately, the fire petered out. The mage was running on fumes, but it had been enough. The goblins were screaming in pain, one dropping to the ground and rolling around to extinguish the flames that had licked across its body. Leodin jumped forwards and stabbed the one that was still standing, the tip of his sword emerging from the monster’s back.

Finally, Edwin arrived. He didn’t bother with his mace, instead stomping his foot into the downed one, bones breaking under his heel. With Salissa and Leodin out of danger, he turned towards Bordan.

The goblins had surrounded him as well as they could, forming a half-circle to try and attack from a blind spot. Judging by the dead monsters on the ground, it hadn’t worked too well for them. The former soldier was like a whirlwind, constantly turning to keep his foes in sight, lightning-fast thrusts warning off any that thought about closing in and meting out deadly punishment to those that dared to.

Edwin was just about to run towards the fight, when Salissa screamed, and he stopped in his tracks. Looking over, he followed her gaze and his blood froze. Just past the burnt patch of ground three figures were emerging. Two of them were goblins, carrying shields and wearing crude armor. The third was something else entirely.

The hobgoblin had green skin the same tone as its smaller cousins, but everything else was different. It was a head taller than even Edwin, short legs carrying a freakishly elongated torso and a large, bald head with long, floppy ears. Its pointy teeth were so long that they protruded from its mouth, but the biggest difference were the eyes. Where goblins were feral beasts, barely smart enough to use tools, this creature’s eyes shone with calculating intelligence. Its long arms reached almost to the ground, and it carried a large woodcutter’s axe over its shoulder.

Edwin cursed.

“Help Bordan!” he grunted, shouldering past his stunned marksmen. “I’ve got these.”

He took a few steps onto the blackened soil, then planted his feet and set his shield.

The hobgoblin gargled a few words at its companions, then effortlessly lifted the axe from its shoulder and swung it, the blade whistling through the air. The two goblins fanned out to the sides, flanking Edwin.

The hobgoblin met Edwin’s eyes and grinned, exposing more of its freakish teeth. Then it laughed, a monstrous sound that made his blood freeze.

Where before he had been scared, this display that was clearly meant to intimidate him calmed Edwin down. He smiled, then he laughed.

“So you’re a big, freakish monster, huh?” he taunted the hob. “Come over here and let’s find out which of us should be scared!”

The creature stopped laughing, its eyes narrowing, and it hissed. Along with its two minions, it advanced.