Connor's POV
A hunter should never openly pursue prey in a forest, only when attacking and/or be certain of the chance of winning.
Therefore, what I'm doing now—openly pursuing the tattooed goblin—is utter idiocy. A big stupidity enough for Master Diem to punish me for a month if I were still in training.
Fortunately, I'm not, and this isn't an ordinary hunt, and more importantly, I'm not alone.
As I lunged and shot arrows at the nearest goblins and goblin flesh dummies, always aiming for the head, I inevitably left myself exposed without cover or a place to retreat. Obviously, several goblins focused on me and tried to attack.
Keyword: tried.
One goblin to my left had its head impaled by Anna's spear; two others a little further back were sent flying (literally) by what, I imagine, must have been a burst of compressed air. Three others to my right were run over by Max's shield, and before they could recover, they were decapitated, all at once, by Mav's disproportionately large sword.
With those four with me, and the rest of the group further behind, our advance was quick. Or it should have been if the rear support hadn't had some complications.
*Ruuuuuooooaaarrrrr*
*Gigigigigi*
*Gi giiiii*
I didn't need to look back to know what was happening, but I had to force myself not to freeze at the roar that, like the vision of the larger goblin, frequently appeared in my nightmares. Anna, Cali, Mav, and Max couldn't do the same; after all, this was the first time they had heard that thing's roar.
With them stopped, the goblins further back, who had been throwing pebbles and even pieces of their companions, took the opportunity and threw whatever they could at them. Luckily, their aim is terrible.
Most of what they threw didn't even come close to them, and those that did, I destroyed with my arrows. It was a waste considering they had Constitutions above 20?, perhaps, but better than them getting hurt before we even reached our main target.
And considering the unwanted guests behind us, we had to be quick and precise.
–EVERYONE, LET'S ATTACK EVERYTHING WE CAN!!!!
I yelled both to them and to myself. I still remember how that day went, and I know that a frontal attack is honestly a bad idea, but we've reached the point where it's the best option.
My shout helped them regain their lucidity, and in a few moments, we moved, eliminating the "few" goblins in front of us.
When we passed through the gate, the tattooed goblin, who until that moment had been standing on a rock to get a better view of where he needed to concentrate more of the dark Aether, jumped, turned arond, and ran towards the "center" of the village.
My instinct told me that letting him get there would be very bad for us, so I activated my [Sure Shot] ability, which increased the lethality, penetration capacity, and speed of an arrow. I aimed at his head and released the arrow, 100 meters in 1 second.
But before I could hit his head, a cloak of black Aether appeared around his body, slightly deflecting my arrow, causing him to lose an ear and stagger, but not stop.
–Damn, that was close.
I heard Mav curse under his breath before I could do the same. Without the skill, my arrows could still hit him, but they didn't penetrate the flesh very deeply, especially considering I was shooting while running and dodging the attacks of the flesh puppets.
Max, Cali, and Anna also tried to hit him with long-range attacks, but their aim was almost as bad as the other goblins', only grazing the tattooed goblin. And since they also had to dodge and counter the flesh puppets' attacks, the tattooed goblin managed to escape and reach the middle of the goblin village, a few meters ahead of the larger wooden and stone house.
Strangely, he didn't do anything, not even send another wave of dark Aether to "heal" the flesh puppets that could be saved.
It was only now that I realized the goblin with the cloak had disappeared at some point during our advance and hadn't tried to recreate the goblins that were actually still alive. I I thought it was strange, but there was nothing we could do about it, we didn't even realize when he had disappeared.
'I have a bad feeling about this.'
Not like last time, it was something more... different. Hard to explain.
–Hey Connor. – Max called me. –You've fought here before, haven't you?.
He asked, slightly out of breath. Considering we've been fighting for almost a few hours already (gathering materials to make the carts and "tracks," throwing the cobblestones, and finally starting to effectively fight the goblins), barely having time to even drink water, it's no wonder he's tired.
–Yeah, what's wrong with that? – I replied, also panting a little.
–Has this village always had this shape?.
–??? What do you mean?
–Exactly what I said. You said the village had 5 areas, a central one and 4 others at diagonal points forming a perfect square, right? Was it like that last time?
I paused to think for a moment (figuratively, I was still dodging the goblins' attacks).
–It wasn't the same, but it was similar. It had the central area and 3 subsequent areas, in the shape of a triangle with the gate at the bottom between the two base areas. Why?
He sent two more goblins back, whom Anna and Cali quickly eliminated, and they moved closer to hear what we were saying. Mav was right behind us, covering our rear to prevent sneak attacks, and checking on the situation further back.
–What are you doing? This isn't the time to stop and talk! – Cali almost shouted at Max, who didn't react but looked away from where we were, about 50 meters from the gate and almost 100 from the center of the village where the tattooed goblin was waiting near the central bonfire.
–the center continues... and then... there... maybe there... and then...
Max mumbled a little, moving his eyes from side to side from where we were, to the goblin huts and then to the gate further back.
I have to say I didn't understand what Max was doing, not wanting to give Cali a hard time but... between the two of us, he wasn't the type to think much before doing something. He mostly advanced with his shield, pushing or knocking down whatever was in front of him and then stabbing with his short sword.
Mav thought more before advancing, how to cut, the best time to retreat, advance while blocking, etc.
–Haaaaa, airhead now isn' huh– before Cali could finish speaking Mav, Mav, put his hand over her mouth. She, Anna, and I were stunned by the sudden change in their personalities.
–Let him finish, he might not use his head much. But when he does, the results are better than anyone can imagine.
Cali, still surprised, nodded and took Mav's hand away from her mouth. It wasn't long before more goblins started appearing again, and now we didn't have to fight them, so Max thought.
[Congratulations on leveling up, level—]
I ignored the message for now and focused on shooting arrows at the goblins throwing boulders from behind a set of huts to the right, while Cali defended the left. Anna and Mav took care of the front and back; some of the goblins causing confusion for the person behind were taking advantage to come from there. Fortunately, so far only about 3 stray goblins had managed to escape.
–Very well, I understand what to do!
Max said suddenly and darted forward, not leaving anything behind without the slightest consideration. Cali turned to Mav, who just shrugged and said.
–I said that the results when he uses his head are good, not that the way he achieves those results is good.
She rolled her eyes along with me and Anna, and we went after him after dispatching the goblins around us. By my count, there should only be about 17 goblins left now, considering that the people at the other gates didn't have many problems, and not counting the reinforcements that arrived with the shadow monster.
'One moment things get better, then they get worse... Couldn't things just get a little better now?'