A Worthy Leader

Dreue was focusing all of his attention on the north said, his eyes were wide open never blinking, bulging out, in his vision two monsters appeared, the nuclei he saw inside them were comparable to the Hobgoblin they just killed.

For another two Hobgoblins to appear inside this area of the forest was something unusual, although they were still far away, Dreue was able to tell they were heading in this direction.

"Everyone! I sense another two Hobgoblins, they are still far away, but there are coming towards this direction!!" Dreue stood up suddenly, his words shocked them as if they were struck by a bolt of lightning from the sky, all of sudden the laughs disappeared and the mood become heavy.

"Dreue, your joke is not funny at all, can't you find a better one?" Gallien said in an annoyed tone, hoping to hear another rude narcissist from Dreue about how great he is, how everyone else couldn't hold a candle to him followed by a loud laugh, but the serious expression on Dreue's betrayed his exceptions.

"Captain! I am dead serious, if they continued at the same pace, they would reach us soon!" Dreue ignored Gallien, directing his speech to John, while his eyes never left the Hobgoblins for even a second, watching them carefully.

"Gallien, give me the explosive arrows" John grabbed the arrows, they were similar to regular arrows but instead of a metal arrowhead, they had a small round black ball at the tip.

These balls fine a black powder mixed with some other materials, they would result in a small explosion upon collision with hard objects, but they have a huge downside, they deal only little damage.

He broke the black balls from the shaft, giving them to Dreue.

"Hold on to these, for now, they explode upon hitting the target, and you are the one who will be throwing them, you can do that much at least, right?"

"I will draw the attention of one Hobgoblin, engaging in close combat with him. Dreue, prepare yourself to throw all the balls when I give you the signal, it doesn't have to be a strong hit, we don't want them to explode directly in the first place, I will be holding down the Hobgoblin that would make it easier for you"

"At the time you, Hazel, prepare to cast the strongest fireball you can throw it at the Hobgoblin directly after Dreue throw the balls at him!"

"Gallien, you must draw the attention of the other Hobgoblin at all costs, lure him away for us, we must separate them if we wanted to have a chance of winning, we will take down the first one as soon as possible then we will join!"

"Your job is the hardest! You must hold on! And at all costs, do not engage in a direct fight with it!"

John was worthy of being a leader, he came up with a plan in a short time, taking into consideration the current circumstance, he kept his calm while assigning roles to everyone according to their abilities in an organized way without leaving the chance for panic to take over as if it wasn't death who was knocking on the door.

He never gave them a chance to speak even a word, it wasn't time for discussion! He said all was there to be said in the first place.

Everyone nodded their heads, preparing to start the plan.

"VICTORY OR DEATH!" John shouted rising his fist in the air while running toward the Hobgoblins.

"VICTORY OR DEATH!" everyone else followed his action.

Gallien nocked the last black metal arrow in his bow following closely behind John.

"AHHHHHHHH" as soon as the two Hobgoblins appeared, John rushed to the one on the right, his speed was remarkably slower, he exhausted most of his strength in the first fight, and he was the one who suffered the most injuries, as he had to hold the Hobgoblin down waiting for everyone to take care of the Goblins.

"I DID IT ONCE AND I WILL DO IT AGAIN"

The Hobgoblins were taken by surprise, but it only lasted for a second.

*CLASH*

The long sword clashed against the great axe. John's hand holding the sword was trembling.

"It seems I will not be able to handle a direct faceoff now"

John jumped a step towards the back, he then dashed again swinging his sword towards the Hobgoblin.

*CLASH*

He retreated again, he started to follow a hit-and-run strategy, even though it consumed more stamina but he had no choice as he will not be able to block any single hit from the Hobgoblin in his current condition.

Gallien drew the bowstring to the fullest, he activated his aura to the fullest, it covered his body extending to the bow in his hand. The black metal arrow started to turn red slowly, its temperature started to increase almost causing it to melt down.

"Even though the bow and the string are covered with aura, they will not be able to handle any more heat, it seems this the limit"

"MOLTEN ARROW!!"

The black arrow flew throw the air toward the other Hobgoblin. Gallien's job was only to distract the other Hobgoblin while the rest of the party took down the first one.

*WOOSH*

The arrow hit the Hobgoblin in his left thigh, it was a smart thing of Gallien to aim at the thigh, even though it was less fatal than hitting him in the chest, for example, it would greatly affect his movement.

The Hobgoblin roared angrily. He took the arrow out of his thigh, his blood gushed out, then he started running toward Gallien.

Gallien ran in the opposite direction of the rest of the party, followed by the enraged Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin's stamina was much higher than Gallien's, it was only a matter of time before he catches up with him. Hopefully, by that time, his teammates would have killed the first Hobgoblin, coming to help him.

Dreue approached John and the Hobgoblin carrying all the black balls with him, Hazel was waiting from a distance, she had cast a huge fireball already, it was the size of a large wooden barrel, its diameter was about one foot, she had a hard time hold the fireball in front of her. She was used to firing spells as soon as she cast them, so she didn't have any experience doing such a thing, and on top of that it was not just any normal fireball she had to hold, it was a high-level huge one!

"Dreue! I will not be able to hold him down for more than ten seconds!! So be quick when I give you the signal!! You too Hazel!!" John shouted then he stopped running the Hobgoblin directly facing him.

"NOW!" John held the sword horizontally with both hands, one hand at the grip, the other hand holding the sword by its tip.

Dreue threw all the black balls at the Hobgoblin. None of them exploded but it was according to the plan, they wanted them to augment the explosion of Hazel's fireball by exploding all together at the same time.

"Eyyyaa"

The fireball shot toward the Hobgoblin, but its speed was a lot slower than expected!

It was not that slow, but they had a limited time window for performing the plan, so every second matters, at this rate John would need to hold the Hobgoblin for more than ten seconds, which was his limit, for the plan to work.

The Hobgoblin noticed the fireball, he turned his head toward it ignoring John, it was slow so he will be able to dodge it if he jumped now!

John took advantage of that, mastering what was left of his strength, thrusting his sword upward causing the Hobgoblin to lose balance.

He threw away his sword, hugging the Hobgoblin with his body, holding him in place.

*BOOOOOOOM*

The fireball hit both of them.