Chapter 18: Hunting down goblins
"Master, I think I see them. They are all gathered in one spot, as expected."
"How many?"
"Uhm, let’s see... one... two... about seventeen in total. Oh, and I can see the hostages as well, all five of them, just as the quest listed."
"Good. You can come down now," Ash uttered, his back resting against a tree, arms folded.
High up on that very tree, Aisha had climbed its branches to spy on the goblin camp not too far from where they were.
It had taken them hours to finally find where the goblins had been keeping the hostages, mainly because they had never been to this side of the kingdom before.
As Aisha slid down from the tree, she immediately reached for the blade strapped to her waist, her attention fixed on the bushes where the goblins were supposedly camping.
"Master, there are two goblins standing guard. I say we take them out first before they can alert the others."
Ash, his back still resting against the tree, also looked toward the same spot. "Yeah, I can see them." He leaned forward, pushing himself off the tree, and then slowly began to walk.
"But... Master, you are going the wrong way. The goblins are on the left, not the right," Aisha said, confusion clouding her face as she pointed towards the bushes.
Ash just ignored her, saying nothing as he continued on his path.
Aisha stood there for a moment, her eyes darting between Ash’s retreating back and the bushes where the goblins were.
With a sigh, she decided to follow him, trusting her master’s judgment, even if it seemed odd.
They walked for a few minutes, the sounds of the forest closing in around them. Suddenly, Ash stopped, holding up a hand.
Aisha immediately froze, her senses heightened. She could hear nothing out of the ordinary, just the chirping of crickets and the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze.
"They’re not there," Ash whispered, his voice barely audible.
Aisha frowned. "Who, Master?"
"The goblins. They moved." Ash’s eyes scanned the area, his gaze sharp and focused. "They knew we were coming."
Aisha gasped. "But how? I was so careful!"
Ash turned to her, a small smirk playing on his lips.
"They’re not as dumb as you think, Aisha. They’ve been living in these woods for a long time and have been the primary target of other adventurers."
He then pointed to a barely visible disturbance in the dry leaves on the ground.
"See that? A fresh track, but they tried to cover it up."
Aisha looked where he pointed, her eyes narrowing as she tried to make out what he was seeing. It was almost imperceptible, a slight indentation that could have been made by anything, not that she expected her monster tracking to be anywhere as good as Ash’s.
But Ash was right; now that she looked closely, she could see a faint pattern.
"So, where did they go, Master?" she asked, a new sense of urgency in her voice.
Ash closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and then pointed towards a dense thicket of thorny bushes further ahead. "
They’re heading for us. We are new prey to them, after all. It is better to kill us unawares than for us to come to them."
Aisha’s eyes widened. "S-Sorry, I didn’t think of that."
Ash kept his back to her as he spoke his next words. "I dragged you along so the goblins would tail us both. The hostages are still where you saw them. You should go and get them out."
"R-Right. Please be careful, I’ll free them and come right back." Aisha took one last look at her surroundings before she sprinted away.
As her footsteps faded, Ash clenched his fists, allowing his dark demonic aura to envelop him.
[Enemies are close by. Stay alert.]
’I don’t need you telling me that.’
Phew!
A speeding arrow shot at him from behind the bushes to his left.
Tilting his head to the side, Ash dodged it before it could damage his face, and then immediately charged forward, straight in the direction the arrow had come from.
With a single step, he crossed the bushes and was now standing face to face with a goblin holding a bow.
The goblin was obviously terrified to see Ash move that fast. It fell to the ground, getting ready to turn and run away when Ash sent a punch straight into its head.
Bam!
The impact created a powerful boom that not only imploded the goblin’s body but also left a spiderweb crack on the ground.
[You have killed a goblin.]
[14 points have been allocated.]
[The talent skill, Hulk Smash, has leveled up.]
Sighing, Ash slowly stood up straight, noticing the blue blood that had now stained his clothes. Just before he could speak his mind, he heard voices closing in on his position.
"Shakra huaka!!!"
"Yuaka hayaka."
’There they are...’
He looked to his right and saw a huge number of goblins heading towards him.
Then he looked to the left, where he could see the same number of goblins. However, something caught his eye.
’A woman?’
One of the goblins was dragging the body of a woman on the ground like a rag doll. Her head slammed against the ground a couple of times, leaving bloodstains in response.
Ash frowned slightly. ’They carried one of the hostages with them? How annoying...’
[Name: Goblins]
[Level: 12]
’Okay then, this should be easy.’ He shifted back a bit, trying to position himself for a launch.
As soon as he gathered enough momentum, he charged forward, his body a blur as he moved faster than the goblins could react.
Using his bare hands, Ash ran past them, slicing off their heads in a single sweep, their blood spraying on the ground like raindrops.
At the same time, he had caught the girl before she could touch the ground and gently placed her next to a tree.
Then, he focused his attention on the other group of goblins headed towards him.
..
[A/N]
I am trying to keep up with this story while writing my other, so please, let me know what you think so far.