Goblin Elites

Blades of wind sliced through the air, bisecting every spectating goblin cleanly.

Their bodies split open and fell forward with a wet ripping sound, blood and viscera pouring out from the slice point in a messy heap as torsos collapsed onto the ground and roofs. Their innards were exposed for all to see, the blood glossing and shining under the radiant afternoon sun.

The shaman screeched in anger and slammed his staff onto the ground.

Vines erupted from the ground, forming a thick wall in front of it and the hobgoblin.

Lines were drawn onto the plant wall as wind blades crashed into the thick bark, grinding and serrating with high frequency.

But it was not enough.

The walls proved too thick for the sharp wind to slice through, weakening into weak gusts before fading.

“Tch,” Joy grunted. “Those vines are super irritating.”

The vine wall dissolved back into the ground, revealing the sniggering shaman behind.

“Human. Weak.”

The shaman cackled loudly, revelling at Joy’s failure. It ignored the deaths of its brethren all around, as if they were nothing but disposables that served no purpose other than procreation vessels for its lineage.

“Die.”

Purplish miasma erupted from behind the shaman as it pointed its staff forward, surging towards Voidborn and Chaewon.

Seeing that the surrounding goblins had been massacred and that it was safe, both Voidborn and Chaewon jumped up, retreating back towards where Joy was.

“Robert,” Joy said, passing red vials to the approaching two.

Robert nodded.

With a wave of his hand, a gust blew from behind the quintet.

“Gust.”

A strong wall of wind blasted into the approaching miasma, pushing the purplish fog to the sides.

“You keep the miasma at bay,” Joy ordered. “We’ll deal with the rest.”

“What’s the plan?” Chaewon asked, throwing the empty vial behind her as her wounds healed.

“I’ll handle the shaman. You guys deal with the rest.”

“What?” Chaewon shouted. “That shaman is mine! You promised me.”

“I promised you nothing,” Joy said, her gaze fixed on the shaman. “You couldn’t even handle the onslaught of a goblin horde. What makes you think you can handle the shaman? Even I am not confident of killing it alone.”

“You don’t understand,” Chaewon said, gritting her teeth. “I need to have my revenge.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t understand,” Rei snapped. “Are you going to waste the life that you barely managed to get back?”

“I'm going to fight for the lives that bastard wasted,” Chaewon grunted.

“Get ready. They’re moving.”

“Focus,” Voidborn said, turning to look at Chaewon. “You're with me.”

He bent his legs and readied his posture.

“Listen. Nothing matters when you’re dead. So make the right choices.”

“I—”

But he was already gone.

A loud clash sounded in the air as Voidborn met blades with the hobgoblin ahead.

“You. Weak.”

Voidborn leapt back to create distance, then shifted smoothly into a classic swordsman stance. Knees slightly bent and feet planted firmly, he raised his invisible blade into a high guard, the point levelled straight at the grinning hobgoblin’s throat, ready to strike or defend in an instant.

“I don't need to be strong to kill you.”

“Human. Die.”

The hobgoblin charged forward, swinging his jagged sword downwards for an overhead cleave.

Focusing his eyes, Voidborn stepped gently to his right, letting the blade splice the air apart with a deafening swoosh.

He retracted his blade and prepared for a thrust, but frowned mid-movement.

Red flowed from the hobgoblin’s heart throughout its upper torso, condensing strongly in its biceps and upper back.

Voidborn twisted his thrust and raised the flat of his invisible blade right in front of him, supporting the long end with his other palm.

Clang.

The hobgoblin had clenched its muscles right after the missed strike, twisting its body into a wide swing that followed the human which had dodged to the side.

The impact from the block sent Voidborn’s ears ringing.

His hands trembled from the tremendous force, and he hopped slightly backwards to regain his footing.

That single exchange was enough.

Voidborn recovered into his stance again and glanced at the hobgoblin.

“You consumed the tier 3 Rebirth Stone?”

He was answered with a diagonal slash.

Voidborn calmly tilted his body, avoiding the strike entirely. Strikes and slashes continued to rain down upon him, but he watched every single intent closely, dodging everything with ease.

Voidborn’s eyes shifted to the corner of his eyes.
Incoming upper swing.
He jumped to the back.

He looked at Robert and Rei. Rei shot a fireball at an incoming explosive arrow aiming for Robert.
Incoming right punch.
He ducked downwards.

He glanced at Joy. She was burning away an incoming volley of sharp vines.
Shoulder check.
He rolled to the left.

“Chaewon!”

Voidborn shouted at her, parrying the hobgoblin’s incoming sword slam with a hit to its wrist using the end of his sword’s handle.

“Switch!”

Chaewon lunged towards the hobgoblin, zipping past Voidborn as he retreated.

“Pesky. Human.”

The hobgoblin grunted and grabbed its sword with both hands, swinging it back like it was readying for a baseball smash.

With a roar, it spun its entire body with an enormous amount of force, turning itself into a spinning blade whirlwind.

Chaewon grunted and jumped high into the air, hopping over the hobgoblin as it tornadoed towards her.

“Chaewon!”

Voidborn shouted as he ran towards Robert.

“A tier 3 Savage Rebirth stone exists inside the hobgoblin’s belly!”

Right as the words left his mouth, Voidborn swung his sword and hit another incoming arrow with the flat of his sword, letting it fall harmlessly to the ground.

“You bastard! Spit my leader’s stone out!”

Chaewon’s eyes burned with rage at Voidborn’s words. She screamed and jumped up high, landing atop the spinning hobgoblin.

Raising her hands, she clenched it into a fist and slammed it down hard, bashing the hobgoblin’s head as hard as she could.

With a loud roar of pain, the hobgoblin’s spinning faltered, but it did not stop. It let go of one hand gripping the blade and grabbed her ankle, yanking her off.

With a deafening bestial roar, the hobgoblin used the remaining of its spin to hurl Chaewon away, sending her crashing into the roof of a hut nearby.

“No!”

Rei screamed, watching Chaewon fly away as Voidborn deflected another arrow.

“Irritating. Human.”

The archer goblin screeched in impatience at the annoyance. Tens of its arrows had been wasted and gathered to the side.

It had been trying to kill the wind human maintaining the barrier, but another human kept intercepting every shot with an invisible weapon.

It felt mocked.

It raised its crossbow and loaded two arrows.

“Rei. Snipe it after the next shot. It’s preparing to do a double shot, but I will handle both.”

“I was waiting for you to say it.”

“Kill it in a single strike.”

Rei nodded and closed her eyes and her tome opened, glowing red as the pages flipped.

The stone on the goblin’s crossbow glowed red as it nocked the arrow firmly in place.

The goblin pressed the trigger.

Two explosive arrows were shot through the air, flying straight towards Robert once again. One towards his feet, the other towards its head.

The goblin cackled and nocked another arrow. The human would definitely deflect the arrow going after the head. Its aim was simple, it just needed to disrupt the human’s wind spell, which will create an opening for chaos, and it can take down the three humans easily.

Voidborn’s sword was already raised.

Focusing his eyes, he swung the invisible sword, deflecting the arrow coming for Robert’s head.

The arrow flew to the side with a soft clang, landing in the pile of deflected arrows.

The goblin sniggered.

All according to plan.

It readied itself for the explosion of the second arrow.

But nothing came.

“Skree?”

The goblin screeched in confusion, leading slightly forward to take a closer look.

The man had kicked the shaft of the arrow flying towards the wind human’s feet right as he deflected the other arrow aiming for the head, both arrows falling uselessly to the ground.

But it seemed to have leaned forward a bit too much. It pressed its hands forward, trying to push itself upright, but the hand touched nothing but air.

“Skree??”

The humans disappeared from its sight, replaced by the view of the flat ground.

The goblin smiled in sudden realisation as it watched its lower half crash into the ground below, innards splattering all around.

It had been outplayed.

Rei watched as her Condensed Flame Ray sliced through the goblin like a heated blade through cloth, falling down the vine tower.

“What the hell are those reflexes?” Robert asked, watching as a page from Rei’s tome tore free, turning to dust.

“I’m a Savage,” Voidborn answered, watching as Rei ran forward to retrieve the crossbow.

“R-Right,” Robert answered, closing his eyes as he got back to focusing on keeping the miasma at bay.

Voidborn surveyed the area and frowned.

Joy was keeping the shaman busy, seven luminous blue flaming orbs floating around her that homed after piercing vines lunging towards her from every angle, burning them to blackened crisp.

Chaewon was in a similar state, holding her own against the hobgoblin, but it was clear that she was not making any progress.

She had managed to smash the hobgoblin’s blade into pieces, but its hands now held a red translucent greatsword. An armour plate of the same reddish hue covered its body.

“You fucking bastard!” Chaewon yelled, dodging a greatsword swing with a weaving step and jabbed towards its waist. “How dare you use my leader’s powers!”

Her attack bounced off with a clank.

“Rei.”

Voidborn took the crossbow from Rei as she ran towards him.

“Help Chaewon. I’ll handle the shaman with Joy. We're only left with two enemies.”

“Got it,” Rei ran forward, flaming orbs already flying out as her tome glowed.

Voidborn clenched his sword and readied his legs.

Two more enemies and they’d be done.

Wait. Two more?

Voidborn frowned.

There were supposed to be four elites.

Where was the last one?

Then—

A shadow flashed from behind Robert.

Clang.

“What the fuck?” Robert exclaimed, eyes snapping open in shock. The wind wall holding apart the miasma wavered a little before calming down.

Voidborn watched as a shadowy figure tumbled to the side, its red eyes glaring at the two with a snarl as its surprise attack failed.

“Its a scout that has consumed a tier 2 Shadow Rebirth stone!” Joy yelled.

The goblin was hunched on the ground, its tongue slobbering all over its serrated dagger as it sniggered evilly.

Then, its entire body sank into the ground, disappearing into the faint shadows under the dimming afternoon sun.

“Where did it go?!” Robert panicked. “I can't cast both light and wind spells at the same time!”

“Silence.”

Voidborn focused, his eyeballs darting around.

“Let me handle it.”

The goblin appeared and disappeared around Robert rapidly, his eyes barely catching up as it blinked in and out of existence.

Sweat rolled down Robert's forehead.

“Voidborn?!” Robert pleaded, fidgeting nervously. “I don't want to die! I'm still a virgin…”

The scout was toying with them, playing with the two humans’ inability to determine where it came out from.

I’ll come out at where and when you least expect, plunging my blade deep into your delicious brains.

The goblin sniggered in its heart.

Voidborn ignored Robert’s pleas and gazed at the shadows intensely.

A dark, scarlet red figure could be seen through his eyes, swimming across the ground rapidly as the goblin travelled from one location to another before surfacing.

Everything was crisp and clear to his eyes.

Not yet. Voidborn thought.

Not yet.

The goblin sneered.

The human's eyes kept shifting from shadow to shadow, unable to lock onto its location.

Fool.

It had already decided where it would emerge.

The moment the human’s eyes looked at a random location, the goblin grinned.

A shadow flashed from behind Robert.

Voidborn swung his sword.

Something split into two.

With a swing of his leg, Voidborn kicked a lifeless body to the side, preventing it from crashing into Robert.

Then a head dropped onto the ground, rolling by Robert’s feet.

“Holy shit!”

Robert jumped in shock, glancing down at the goblin’s head with its eyes wide open.

“How the hell? What the fuck are those reflexes?!”

Voidborn looked at him and said with a flat tone.

“I'm a Savage.”

Then he picked up the black rebirth stone from the goblin scout’s corpse and looked at the shaman.

It was time to take care of it.

INFOGRAPHIC