Chapter 5 - Midnight Attack

"W...Up...Ia...Wa...Up...IAN WAKE UP!"

I felt a burning sensation on my face when I opened my eyes. I could barely see anything in front of me and I felt so sluggish. It was still dark with the only light being the stars, the moon, and the fire we made before we slept.

"IAN COME OVER HERE!"

I finally snap back to reality and see Lucina and Howard to the side looking anxiously at the path we walked on before sunset. I pushed myself up using my hand and walked over curious at what they were looking at but it was more terrifying than I thought.

I see tens of yellow dots in the dark moving around quickly and slowly. My body shivers and goosebumps form along my arm when I hear the constant chattering and snarling in the distance. I could visibly see Howard swallow his spit nervously in the corner of my eye.

Luke and old man Hus were behind us piling up different sizes of rocks and stones. At the same time, I see Howard pick up a spear while passing another to me.

"Be careful."

He tells me as he gives me the spear.

"What's the game plan?"

"Survive no matter what."

I smiled at Howard hoping to ease his mind a bit but my shaking body did not help. It was terrifying to see who knows how many goblins just crowding around the bottom of the path, scurrying left and right.

All of a sudden, I hear the hurried footsteps in front of me. The goblins were on the move and I could see them running towards us.

Luckily for us the place where we stayed the night only had one path that fit at most 2 people side by side. Since goblins were smaller than average humans it 3 goblins side by side. As they got closer I could finally see what they looked like. Hideous green toddlers with pointy ears and an elongated nose. They carried stone knives and wooden clubs with their only clothing being a loose brown dirty animal skin covering their nether regions. Their mouths were constantly open and I could see their short canines covered in saliva. The constant shouting, cheering and snarling filled the surroundings as they made their way up towards us.

"Howard! Stay on my right, we can use the fact that we are situated on a cliff to push them down so we don't need to kill each and every goblin. I'll do my best to cover you when you go for a wide swing to push them down. Lucina, you need to hold the ax. You need to help us if they move past either me or Howard. Luke and old man Hus throw stones when we look like we are in a precarious situation, do not waste them but do not be stingy either. We can do this. We can survive and see tomorrow."

Just as I finish telling everyone what to do the first goblin has gotten in range of me. I knew in order to raise our morale I needed to act first and show them that we can do this.

I breathe out slowly and step forward, thrusting my spear towards the closest goblin copying the spearmen in movies and games. The tip of my spear hits the body of the goblin and easily pierces its skin embedding itself inside. I pull my spear back hurriedly and green blood sprays out covering the ground and staining my weapon. Quickly, I thrust forward again aiming for the goblin standing next to the goblin I just stabbed. However, it moved to the side pushing the goblin behind it down the cliff and dodging my spear.

Realizing I was in danger Howard finally moves forward and thrusts his own spear towards the goblin I was currently aiming for. The spear pierces through the body of the goblin and lightly grazes the goblin behind it before Howard pulls back his spear. He constantly stabs and swings his pear forward and to the side frantically, sometimes stabbing the body of a goblin two or three times before attacking another one.

I follow his example by stabbing and thrusting my own spear but it seemed like my earlier success was by pure luck. After killing the first goblin, each and every other thrust I did only gazed or scratched the goblins in front of me. The only advantage I had over them was the range of my spear was greater than their knives and clubs allowing me to hit them first and push them back slightly before they could hit me. Even that advantage had its limits as a sneaky goblin used its own kind as a springboard. After I stabbed a goblin in its eye it fell down on its back and another goblin jumped on its stomach, launching itself towards me with its knife aimed for my stomach. I awkwardly moved to the side quickly hitting my back against the wall of the mountain dodging the attack by a hair but now there was a goblin that breached our defense.

Lucina froze as she saw the goblin fly past me and land on the ground. Her throat was dry and her hands were sweaty as the goblin slowly got back up. It smiled at her revealing its yellow canines and started to run at her holding the knife above its head ready to slash down. Her heart raced, she panicked and closed her eyes waiting for her death when suddenly she felt someone push her to the side. Luke ran up to Lucina and shoved her away from danger while tossing a rock at the goblin. The rock hit the goblin in its eye, blinding it and staggering it for a second. Luke grabs the ax from Lucina's hand and swings it towards the goblin. The ax hits the goblin's neck cutting into the side a bit before pushing the body away. Old man Hus then smashes a rock into the goblin once it lands on the ground crushing its head until it was a pile of green blood and brain matter.

I sigh in relief, seeing the decisiveness of Luke and old man Hus made me relaxed knowing that I had support behind me. I continued helping Howard defend the path until suddenly the goblins stopped their advance. They stood in front of us jeering and shouting, swinging their weapons in front of them taunting us to face them. I put a hand in front of Howard stopping him from moving forward. I could hear him breathing heavily, the battle had already taken a toll on him and it didn't even seem like we were halfway to finishing.

"Calm your breathing Howard, take deep breaths when you can. We have a long night ahead of us."

"Yeah...Yeah...I will."

I looked towards Howard worried about his condition only to see that he had various small cuts and bruises on his legs and arms. I can't see his health points but I can tell that it would be in the red.

"Fall back a bit slowly. Let me handle this while you recover your breath. The goblins aren't moving right now, they must be afraid since we killed a number of them already. They aren't stupid they know that if they rush at us they will die."

I slowly step back, one foot at a time while Howard does the same thing until there is a bit of distance between us and the goblins. I could see his knuckles white as a ghost from how hard he was holding onto the spear.

The stalemate lasts for a while longer with the goblins staring at us making various noises but ultimately they could not handle waiting any longer. The first goblin stepping forward created a wave of goblins rushing towards us like a tsunami. They came more frantically than before, angered about the deaths of their kin and hungry for our flesh.

I held my spear tightly and pushed forward stabbing, scratching and sometimes pushing goblins off the side. Howard recovered a little bit during the break and with a loud yell, he grabs the ax Luke was holding and drops the spear at his feet and runs towards the goblins swinging down the ax on the closest goblin and then with a surge of strength pushes the goblin behind it backward knocking a couple of goblins down behind. He yell dazed the goblins a bit and I took advantage of their immobility and stabbed a couple in the head with my spear. If what Howard just did was a skill it would be some sort of CC ( crowd control) skill.

It was not long until I could see the night sky turning a little bit orange, hinting that night was almost over but it did not mean that the goblin's attack lessened. They got more aggressive and some were even able to scratch me with their knife or hit me with their club and I slowly lost 1HP each time.

All of a sudden I hear a loud screeching sound from the back of the goblin wave and the goblins at the front move to the side frantically, some even falling off the edge because they accidentally moved too far. A path between the goblins was born and at the end was a taller goblin with a shield, a helmet with horns on its side and a larger club. The night was ending with each second and the event was almost over but it seemed like hours away when the new kind of goblin showed its face. With a yell it started to charge, I positioned myself next to Howard ready to face the new enemy.

Without a second thought, I thrust the spear towards the goblin, hoping to slow down the charge. Blocking the strike with its spear it started to swing its club towards my body. I let go of the spear and dodged back while Howard brought down his ax smashing it against the shield. I picked up the second spear and saw Luke tossing different-sized rocks at the goblin hitting it in the face and body. I quickly rushed back, thrusting the spear forward again, this time aiming for the face. The goblin ducked down and tossed his shield at Howard, making him stop his swing mid-motion while swinging its club upwards towards my face. I block the blow with my spear but in the process, the goblin breaks the spear in half and as it was about to swing again old man Hus pulled me back. We both landed on our backs and were in a vulnerable position but it was as if time stopped. The goblin just looks at us and spits on the ground near our feet and walks back. With a yell, the rest of the goblins retreated and as quickly as they came they were gone.

We survived and the sun's golden rays washed over our bodies and I looked at everyone one by one.

"I told you, we got this."