Chapter 12: Crimson Goblin
The miniature creatures spread themselves thin across the island in search of any signs of life. Their appearance was the personification of what the party might call a Goblin; dwarfed humanoid, scrawny build, pointed ears. Except instead of green skin, theirs was a dull shade of red.
[Crimson Goblin]
There didn’t seem to be any sort of coordination amongst them except the hive mind to find and eliminate any target on sight.
But so far, the island had been silent except for the occasional sounds of twigs snapping beneath the weight of the goblins.
When one of the goblins came across an abandoned bonfire which still had its wood smoking, indicating it hadn’t been out for long.
This was the first lead they’d gotten since they stepped on the island, but instead of alerting its brethren to search the perimeter—or better still tag along with two or more of its brethren—it took the lead to continue forward along the path, and didn’t notice a shadow crawl out of a thicket of bushes and latch onto its own.
Before it could realize what was going on, the shadow expanded behind it, transforming into a person who clamped their palm over the its mouth and their dagger across its neck as they both dropped into the shadow beneath them like it was an abysmal pool and disappeared from the spot.
Joan re-emerged at her hiding spot, hidden in a ditch, with the dead goblin, which she tossed to the side where a pile of dead goblins sat. And without batting an eye, she detached her shadow from her body once more and sent it out to scout for more lone goblins.
At another location, Jack released his bowstring from atop a tree, using the skill [Silent Flight] to let his arrow fly in silence to pierce through the neck of a goblin, downing it in one shot. And before the nearby goblin who had seen this could raise an alarm, a sword beam shot out from behind it, severing its spine.
Felix quickly stepped out of his hiding spot to drag the bodies of the two goblins into the nearby bush to hide them, leaving a trail of blood in their wake, before he changed directions to find more easy picks with Jake serving as his eyes in the air.
The strategy was smooth and flawless, and they’d all managed to level up one time, including Rose, who actively buffed them from her hiding spot and wasn’t left out on this one.
Everything was going fine, and the party went from feeling nervous and being overly cautious to feeling confident and not hesitating anymore before they struck.
If they could keep this up for a bit longer to thin the enemy’s numbers, then they could risk a direct confrontation with the odds in their favour.
Rose was the only one whose movement was heavily restricted, as she could buff them from anywhere on the island for as long as they were a team.
She barely knew what was going on out there and could only rely on the sporadic EXP points she received to know everything was going as planned.
When suddenly, a rustling sound came from the bushes behind her, and she quickly snapped her head in its direction, clamping down at her mouth to prevent herself from screaming in fear.
She froze in place as she stared at the spot, her heartbeat getting louder with every passing second.
Something—or someone—was there. She could make out the silhouette of a person through the bush, but couldn’t see well enough to know who or what it was.
She knew for a fact it wasn’t Joan, Jack, nor was it Felix, as she could roughly tell their locations through the buffs she placed on them.
It was then she saw the initially standing figure lower itself to a squat like it was... hiding?
Something seemed to click in Rose’s mind.
’Arc?’ she mused in surprise.
That was Arc. It had to be him. Last Jack checked with his Talent [C-rank Presence], Liz was moving away from the island for some reason. And not just that, but it wasn’t Liz’s style to be hiding around while the others were actively hunting.
"Arc?" Rose blurted as a sense of relief washed over her.
She had been scared hiding there all alone, but knowing she wasn’t alone and Arc was there, alive—even if she knew he couldn’t do much in the current situation—regardless, Rose was excited, and not wanting to alert the attention of any nearby goblin, she decisively crawled towards the silhouette. She quickly parted the bush separating them both with her hands and called out his name with a smile before she could even see him, "Arc!"
But what her eyes met wasn’t the person she’d thought it was, and neither were they doing what she’d thought as well.
Right before her eyes was the miniature reddish creature, which had its back to her and its loincloth dropped to its ankles, and, to her horror, she watched a log drop from it.
The goblin which had been startled by her voice, snapped its head in her direction as they entered a deadlock. Staring at each other with a similar expression; shock and panic.
When Rose recovered from the initial shock and screamed as she stumbled back in terror. The goblin on the other hand, without bothering to lift its loincloth, screamed in return as it grabbed its rusty sword laying by the side and charged at her.
An arrow suddenly appeared and struck the goblin on its shoulder, before a second followed and took its head. But not before it screamed and shrieked a second time, alerting every goblin within hearing range and exposing her location.
Jake quickly leaped down from the tree to run over to Rose who was frozen in fear. He grabbed her arm, pulling her up and quickly bolted just as goblins began appearing one after the other in their numbers and quickly gave a chase.
"Run! To the clearing!" Jack yelled, his voice strained as he notched another arrow while moving.
Felix and Joan emerged from the treeline, their faces pale as they saw the red tide of goblins converging on their position. The "smooth and flawless" strategy had evaporated in a single moment. The confidence they had built up just moments ago shattered.
***
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the island, Liz stood frozen.
Before her knelt a gigantic goblin, its head not just severed, but completely obliterated from the neck up.
Beyond the corpse stood a slightly ajar behemoth door. From the crack in the stone, sounds that one might only hear at the peak of a mountain during a thunderstorm seeped through—sounds of battle.
