Chương 19: Chapter 18

Underhanded tactics needed to be expected when it came to fighting goblins. These lesser humanoids fought worse than a woman with a grudge. Despite being often compared to children, goblins were so incredibly petty that no child could possibly beat them when it came down to it. A goblin was dirty in every measure. Which shouldn't come as a surprise, really.

Stories of these things spoke of little green men who'd burn down fields and starve towns, or how they'd kill livestock for no reason other than they believed it to be fun. Or in other words, they had no self control and were very susceptible to anger. Sobelle found it easier to dodge the more she avoided the goblins' thrown rocks. The greenskins would yell in frustration every time she succeeded and the quality of their aim would then plummet.

And this constant downward spiral in terms of accuracy seemed to have no limit. Or rather, Sobelle hadn't found it yet. A rock moved so far above her head that it struck the branch of a distant tree. The next one that followed aimed at her chest and completely missed even though it had a bigger target in theory. This continued on for quite some time, Sobelle kept dodging and the goblins did not relent. Either side wanted to tire the other out.

But there's one tiny problem with that plan: Sobelle wouldn't be tired for quite some time. She was confident that she'd win the ensuing battle of attrition, so much so that she wasn't worried at all. Her mind was calm and she kept dodging rocks like it was nobody's business. Before long, she decided that it was time for her to move in and start her attack. She held her knife and waited for one goblin to throw, she moved once she became aware of its general location.

A rock arrowed past her head, she didn't even need to dodge, she knew it wouldn't hit. Another came from behind her and she moved her head slightly to the right to avoid it, it struck the bushes and caused a stationary goblin to flinch. It yelled in anger and that? It was a mistake. Sobelle lunged forward and stabbed the greenskin on the neck. She pulled the knife away just as quickly as she buried it. Sobelle flicked the excess blood off the blade then pointed it downward.

This lowered her chances of contracting a disease. Another rock was thrown and she hadn't bothered to walk slowly this time. She ran for the direction of the thrown object, her senses sharpened and her body corrected her stride all on its own: her legs strengthened and her runs were closer to a leap than a sprint, she quite literally pushed off of the ground. This series of miniature jumps made the panicking goblins miss her several times, and not a single one hit her because of their bad aim.

Screw the fact that they were irritated and thus couldn't angle their shots properly, the fact of the matter is; she was simply too fast for them to target easily. Sobelle reached the goblin in just five strides, she stabbed it in the head and then kept running. The knife needed to be left behind, as doing anything else would be awkward for her physically. With how fast she ran and the angle of her sprint, Sobelle would be caught off guard when her momentum bled off due to a sudden halt. So she needed to run.

That and she wanted to get away from the greenskins as soon as possible anyway, she hadn't intended to fight them, she only had to. Now that she had other options, she took them. Risking herself with diseases was not a good idea right now, the goblins were preparing a raid and she needed to be there to defend her village. She'd accept no other outcome. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Screams of fury followed her rushed footsteps and then the sound of running goblins came after her. Of course they'd give chase the moment they saw her running, these things had no survival instinct and were so stupid that they probably thought her dodging all those rocks and that killing two of them was nothing more than luck. It annoyed her, but Sobelle thought this was a good opportunity for her to fight the entire group.

If these guys came back, then they'd tell the other goblins that she was dangerous or how she killed two of them... Or how she was the perfect breeding sow. That last one was more likely to be believed by the rest of the greenskins, as they viewed women as cattle who couldn't fight back. In most cases, they would be right. Unfortunately for them, this was that small percentage where they needed to be more careful. Sobelle changed directions and ran for her alcove.

Her intense focus allowed her to weave past tree trunks and dodge anything that she might stumble over, but this gave her speed. And going fast in a forest only got you cut. Plant stalks whipped her as she fast, some of the ones who had spikes made her bleed. But Sobelle pushed through it all, actually, she couldn't think of anything but moving right now. The number of wounds that constantly grew on her skin was nothing more than a mild distraction that she'd take care of after she dealt with the goblins.

Every bit of blood she left behind her made the goblins eager for the kill, they believed that she was going weak. Couple this with the greenskins' frustration of being unable to outrun what should have been easy prey and it meant that Sobelle's pursuers had lost their minds. They foamed at the mouth as they gave chase, their bodies moved without thought and it caused them to bump into anything constantly. This further fueled their anger, which resulted in them losing their sanity even more.

Usually, one counted a Goblins' insatiable lust when they rampaged but it was unnecessary for this specific scenario. Sobelle slowed down as she neared her destination. This was something she could only afford to do because of the gap between herself and the greenskins. She grabbed her primitive knife and pointed the sharpened stone towards the area where she knew the goblins roughly were. Her breathing evened out as [Flow State] turned off and she could hear her racing heart.

The sides of her head throbbed from her increased blood flow, it made focusing slightly difficult. Sobelle inhaled and found it hard to do so. She wasn't tired but she could feel her body giving up. Measured breaths worked so that was what she did while she waited for the greenskins to come out. Eventually, one did and Sobelle did not hesitate for even a second; she roared and stabbed it straight to the head. She missed the spot that she aimed for but with how big the Goblins' noggin was, it didn't matter anyway.

She still hit the creature's head and that guaranteed its death. Sobelle pulled out her knife and walked back to prepare for another goblin. It didn't take long for it to appear and much like the last one, Sobelle killed it as quickly as she could and ensured that she wouldn't get ganged up by two goblins. She needed to focus on only one, as splitting her focus left her vulnerable to being attacked. And while that did not matter in most cases, a single attack from a goblin was bad. Especially if it was a bite.

The last goblin appeared just as Sobelle pulled out her knife. She flicked the primitive weapon, removing a lot of blood from its blade. Goblins were ravenous, they were rabid, and they did not care about anyone other than themselves. But sometimes, there comes a time when a greenskin would hesitate and what was left of their self-preservation instinct comes back to tell them that something wasn't right.

Sobelle recognized that the Goblin wanted to run away, the Goblin was slow on that however and it just stared at Sobelle. Frozen and unsure of what to do. It needed just one push for it to attack and as much as Sobelle hated to do this, she knew what needed to be done. Her fingers curled around the edge of her shirt and she slowly lifted it up. Goblins were known to be lustful, people whispered of things they did to the women they caught, that they wanted nothing more than to breed any female they saw.

Sometimes it wasn't even limited to just females. This on top of this goblin's manic state led to it forgetting its dead brethren and it charged at Sobelle without a care in the world. It just wanted to pin her down, and breed her. Sobelle swung her arm sideways and struck the goblin on the temple, it fell down unconscious and then Sobelle killed it while it was in its most vulnerable state. She could have stabbed it, but with how eager the greenskin was, she felt that would have led to her missing.

So she just struck it on the head with her fists and the wooden handle of her blade. She turned away, tired but victorious. The village needed to know about this.