Hobo goblins were on the next evolutionary line just before a goblin king.
Each one was strong enough to fight a trained knight, their destructive force more than enough to power through the toughest situations.
That was just how dangerous their current situation was. But thankfully, Ash and Yennefer were still handling goblins at the back pretty well, and they were only two for now…
'Ash might be able to beat one if he's a 100%.' Eliron thought.
But he would rather not test what the outcome would be in his current state.
Eliron grabbed a tarp from one of the huts and tied the edge of the material on his left arm, all while keeping his eyes on the hobs.
"Be careful."
"I know." Artie replied, her voice slightly strained.
One of the Hob's slammed its club against the earth, creating a loud boom just before it let out a guttural roar.
And then they both charged towards them.
Eliron did not wait for them to reach him, he charged foreard, his body cutting through the wind as he approached the hulking hob.
Vwooosh!
Immediately he was in striking range, the hob swung its mace with as much force as it could muster, thick wood laced with metal spikes flying right at his face.
Clang!
The weapons screeched as sparks erupted on contact, wood chippings flying in the air.
Eliron took a step back, moving like a battle hardened veteran.
With the hand bearing the tarp occasionally flying forward to blind the hob, he moved with fluent, but destructive efficiency, lashing out at the monster.
Their weapons bounced against each other as they crashed. Eliron rotated his sword stylishly, striking into the goblins guard.
He paused for a few seconds, before dashing to the side to evade a strike, then seeing an opening, he sunk his sword into the hob's flesh.
The hob grunted in pain and slammed its club down, hoping to split Eliron's head like a melon.
But like a ghost, Eliron was already at its other side, leaving another deep cut, this time in its thigh.
"Ahhhhh!"
Crash!
In a fit of rage, the hob drove its club into the earth, cracking the floor and shrouding it with dust.
And then it lunged out of the dust, eyes wide in rage, muscles tensed as it reached for him.
Eliron went for a forward slash, but the monsters club caught it mid air, so he changed his aim, going for its lower legs.
The goblin defended well, slowly adapting to the flow of battle. It struck with a deafening force, one of the spikes managing to scratch his shoulder.
Eliron parried the next blow to the right while he darted to the goblin's left side—then ducked underneath its arm, just before slicing cleanly through its knee.
Cool elven steel went through goblin flesh and bones fluidly, the cut too clean to have left room for error.
Skrrrrrr!!!
A scream tore through the goblin's throat as cold sweat formed on its body, the monster trying to stand erect only to fail.
As silent as a sentinel, but with tranquil blue eyes that only saw blood…
Eliron closed the distance between them with a step, pushing his blade right through its heart.
The fight was over the moment his sword went through.
The hob stared at him, his eyes permanently opened wide in shock as it slipped out of his blade and onto the floor.
"So that is how strong they are… not bad.'
So far, Eliron had managed to survive without using any of his other SSS ranked swordsmanship skill and he was inclined to see just how far he could go…
There was no time to rest though. Because just as one hob fell, two more had come to join the party.
Artie was still busy with the first, so Eliron would have to handle them alone.
•••
Artie flipped above a wide swing of the hob's spiked mace, ducked underneath the next attack— then narrowly leaned back as the goblin swiped at her, trying to grab her by her hair.
Swish!
She stuck at its tendons, her short sword curving around its arm like a serpent, splitting flesh apart and drawing blood.
The arm fell loosely by its side.
The goblin yelled out a curse in its language and drove its mace at her chest, but right before the mace could connect, Artie disappeared, gold sparks fizzling into the air—
Then she appeared right behind the hob.
[Light Distortion Magic]
The goblin stared at the space in front of it in sheer disbelief.
And before it could make sense of what it had seen, Artie was already atop its back, wrapping her leg around its neck as she drove her sword repeatedly into its neck.
Slash slash slash!
There was a fizzing sound as hot blood splurted high up into the air, splashing against her face and body, yet she did not stop.
The hob flailed its arms weakly, shrieking as life fled its hollow eyes and it fell face first to the earth.
Only then did Artie stop striking.
She took in a long breath, her blood-slick body felt disgusting, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Especially considering the fact that two more hobs had joined the fight.
Right now, Eliron was engaging them after already taking one hob down, and was doing well, but still, she could not let him take it alone.
She reached for her bow, stringing an arrow and aiming at one of the hob goblins, her entire focus placed on it.
"Bingo—ack!"
Bang!
Artie was about to release the arrow when suddenly, a large rock slammed into her head, knocking her off balance.
The arrow had fired, but she had missed its head, only managing to sink it into its arm.
But Artie was in no condition to be worrying about her lousy shot.
Her ears were ringing, her vision dazed as she tried to blink away the stars from her eyes.
"W-what the hell was that?" She seethed through strained gasps.
She turned around, blood running down her head and following a path to drip down her nose, just in time to see a hob in the distance, a lot of large rocks at its feet.
It had already lifted another rock and was about to hurl it at her.
Whoosh!
Artie desperately jumped to the side, not having fully recovered from the first blow.
Bang!
This time, the rock exploded against her gut, knocking out all the air from her lungs.
She doubled over as excruciating pain tore through her, causing her limbs to quake.
And as if her situation was not bad enough, she had apparently caught the attention of the hob she failed to kill.
Artie raised her gaze to see that it was now right in front of her, fixing a nasty glare on her bleeding body.
More than twenty goblins had died by her hands today, a feat no other elf, including Ash could boast of.
Only Eliron had killed more goblins than her.
She had even killed a hob, and could have killed more…
But that was the very reason why she had been severely drained of mana, which caused her body to naturally weaken.
The sneak attack had been the final nail in her coffin.
The hob grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up to the sky, a nasty grin on its face as it began to apply pressure.
"Keh—!"
As coarse calloused fingers dug into her neck, Artie could see black spots beginning to form in her vision, her mind fading in and out of consciousness.
'Damn it!' She cursed inwardly.
'Is this how I die? In a run down goblin camp?'
Fifty years of her life flashed before her eyes like a lucid dream. All her experiences, all her joys, all her merriment.
But it was all drowned out by the visions of her pain….
Artie had sworn to herself to get revenge no matter what it took, no matter how much she had to sacrifice.
She had claimed that it didn't matter who she had to let go of to reach her goals, and yet here he was.
Dying when she hadn't even gotten half way there…
Artie gritted her blood stained teeth and grabbed the hob's muscular arm.
'I can't die here! No matter the cost!'
Suddenly, her hand began to glow bright yellow, as she squeezed the last ounce of mana she had out of her very cells.
A mages mana was said to be idle emissions from the soul.
And that deep connection was why all mages had been warned…
"Don't ever run out of mana."
You could go low, but never zero…
Because the day you did, then a new type of energy would seep in.
Dark mana!
But lost in the moment, Artie had forgotten all about her teaching.
Right now her mind was lost to reason, only one thought racing through her head.
'I must survive!'