Eliron and his group stormed towards the stone building, slicing and stabbing at the horde that had encompassed them.
Some goblins held long spears and struck them from a distance, some threw small rocks aiming to blind them, while a few of them used their rusty blades to charge.
They were a nasty bunch.
As they got closer to the building, a shadow suddenly washed over Eliron. He raised his head just in time to see a goblin sailing through the air, like a man over-dosed on motivational speeches.
Apparently, this goblin felt it could fly.
But Eliron's blade acted as the strong rod of correction, correcting it from its wayward path.
He lashed out at it, splitting the goblin in two before it even had the opportunity to do anything of note.
Then three others barred his path, each of holding old rusty, but undoubtedly sharp blades.
The first one lunged with a guttural shout, striking with a forward strike.
Eliorn parried the strike, twisting the blade to the side, he drove his foot into the goblin's knee, causing it to stumble back...
Then his sword moved, lashing out like a ghost and slicing its neck open, spilling blood.
The goblin let out a blood curdled shriek, but the other goblins shoved it to the side then raced at him, this time attacking from his flanks.
Swish!
Ash cleaved the first one from head down, and the second one was dropped by a heavy blast from Yennefer's crossbow.
They didn't even give them the chance to come close...
Finally, their travails bore fruit as they finally made it to the building.
Without wasting a second, Eliron pushed the door open to inspect it, when he saw a goblin rousing from sleep.
Before it could even sit up straight, its body was bathed in his own blood.
"Get it!" Eliron shouted his command to the girls, placing the one on his shoulder on the floor.
The girl stood on shaky legs, breathing heavily, her hand placed over her mouth in a silent scream.
"This is all my fault…" she said, staring at the floor as tears rolled down her eyes.
The girls rushed into the room, avoiding the dead goblin in the center of the space.
Eliron stared at the girl and sighed. "It sure as hell is."
Then he grabbed the dead goblin by the door and said, "But don't worry about it… everything will be fine."
She fell to her knees, sobbing softly, a few of the girls moving to comfort her while Eliron got outside, dragging the goblin like a bag of trash.
The outside was just as chaotic as it had been a few seconds ago. Goblins were lunging at his group, weapons cutting through the air accompanied by waves of blood.
Artie looked angry about the entire fight, but still managed to keep her composure.
Because she had been protecting the girls from the rear, she had multiple stab wounds all around her body, seeping blood.
Sweat had caused her red hair to stick to her face and the way she favoured a side of her body told Eliron that she was far from a hundred percent.
Ash had his fair share of injuries as well, even more so that Artie. But a few seconds later, both their injuries were completely healed.
Yennefer bent down to suck in a large gulp of air, sweat rushing down her face.
She had been healing them consistently through the fight, and flying as well, both of which were extremely draining.
But when she caught Eliron's gaze, she smirked and gave him a thumbs up.
Just in that moment, two goblins leaped at her, using her momentary lag to attempt to grab her.
Bang!
Eliron smashed the goblin corpse right into their faces, accompanying it with his cold unforgiving steel.
They died before ever knowing what had killed them.
He swiped his blade in the air, sending the blood flying away from it.
Eliron smirked.
Now that the girls were safe in the building, they could go all out without bothering about protecting anyone.
"Alright, let's show them hell!"
"Ash, take point along the base, Yennefer, keep doing what you are doing. Artie and I will cut through their formation!"
•••
Keeping the girls safe was all it took to change the tides of battle.
Although a regular wood elf would have struggled against so many goblins, Eliron had been specific about the group he had with him for a reason.
Artie was an exceptionally talented noble in comparison to other elves, Ash was one of the best swordsmen in the village, and Yennefer was an amazing healer.
It was no wonder that the goblins were falling like flies.
Eliron and Artie had gone deeper into the heat of the battle, slaying goblins side by side, covering for each other's insufficiencies.
"It looks like you were right… adding these goblins to those we slayed on our way here, it won't be far off to say they are up to a hundred right?"
Eliron asked as he drove his blade into a goblins gut.
Artie vanished from beside him, her body a blur of golden energy as she appeared right in the center of five goblins.
She twisted her body as she did a flip, delivering a devastating kick to two of them, then she pivoted, slashing a goblin's eyes just before beheading it.
Yet she was not done.
One of the goblins raised its club trying to slam it in her back, but Artie turned just in time and cleaved both the club and goblin into two— moving her sword in a 360° angle to put the other goblins under.
Artie huffed and glared at Eliron. "I also remember saying this was stupid…"
All around them were countless goblin corpses with differing injuries telling a tale of their demise.
Eliron shrugged. "Theres just a few left, I call this a win win—"
Step—Step!
The sound of loud footsteps reached Eliron's ears. He quickly turned to see the source of the sound, then frowned.
"I just had to jinx it didn't I?"
Two large hobo goblins stood just a some distance away from them, their faces twisted in a nasty snarl.
Each one was taller than Eliron was, and their thick muscles were fraught with an inhuman degree of strength.
Both of them had large spiked clubs in their hands, stained with dried blood…