Natural Enemies

(A/N: The first two chapters were short (800ish words) as I was busy with some school stuff but they'll now average at around 1500-2000 ish words. Also once I finish this semesters school work I'll upload more chapters a week.)

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Lilith felt the cold rain soaking her fur. Her paws digging into the slick and easily molded mud. She felt the tense air whip around from the violent storm overhead.

*Crack*

A violent stray thunderbolt impacted one of the nearby trees providing false daylight. Lilith's breath turned erratic as she released a sigh she didn't knew she was holding.

Lilith watched as two goblin sentries traded spots with two incoming goblins. Deciding that now was her best opportunity, Lilith casted a basic illusion over the two newcomers causing them to turn into kobolds.

Much to Lilith's joy, the previously friendly attitude that the four exchanged quickly turned to that of anger and hatred. The two still normal goblins attacked the two 'kobolds' causing a fight to break out. Once the fight was over and the two still normal goblins won, ice spikes were imbedded into their skulls.

Lilith used this opportunity to sneak past the fight and get a read on their numbers inside of the camp. Entering the camp, the goblins looked scared as the trembled at each thunderbolt raining from the sky.

'An unforeseen advantage,' Lilith thought to herself. Fear clouds one's judgement and goblin's already have horrible decision making skills, getting them to fight one-another with illusions became a whole lot easier for her.

Shaking her head out of her haze, Lilith carefully trotted behind a row of 6 'houses' shaped like a U with a larger building sitting in the middle. Lilith carefully counted all visible enemies within her eyesight as she traversed the muddy soil 'That's about... 8 outside the houses. There must be more inside as it's well.. night,' Lilith thought.

After examining the poorly built houses made by, what she assumes was the goblins, there were multiple deny flaws that would let those of a small, canine stature like herself able to slip through. Slipping through the closest shack, three goblins were peacefully snoring.. completely unaware of any threat.

Lilith dispatched them as silently as possible with either small ice needles or her claws. Continuing her routine, she was currently on the third shack before she heard screeches and growls coming from the shacks she 'visited' before.

'Fuck,' She thought as she quickly killed the 2 goblins laying down in the house before hiding in a basket while ice needles formed around the doorway. A group of three lightly armored goblins slammed open the door. Their scrawny frames had a miniscule amount of animal hide covering their back and chest.

The three scrawny, ugly beasts glided across the muddy ground of the shack and screeched loudly once the saw two of their dead brethren. Taking it as a good opportunity, Lilith launched the ice needles into the back of their necks.

The three crumpled instantly causing Lilith to sigh lightly in relief as she exited the basket and moved onto another house. Peaking inside, instead of seeing asleep goblins the house was completely empty. Most likely due to another goblin waking them to help look for the killer.

'I think I already said this before but.. Fuck. Why can't it ever be easy,' she whined as she moved onto another house. As she expected, it was also empty. Focusing on her sense of hearing, she heard some random garbling and frantic screeches coming from the largest shack.

Slowly peaking towards the path to the house, the previous guards standing outside of the houses were gone. Lilith assumed they were in the main house where all the noise came from.

Stalking towards the back part of the main house she spotted some scaffolding leading to the roof. 'Am I lucky or what?' She thought as she carefully climbed, trying her best not to make too much noise or slip.

Standing on the hay-like roof, she saw a large enough hole for her to see through and sat next to it while attempting not to slide off the slick surface. Looking inside, a group of 17 goblins flanked an even larger goblin wielding a club the size of the small goblins. Unlike the scrawny goblins however the larger goblin had a more muscular build, yet still scrawny. He had red tribal tattoos in spiraling patterns decorating his body.

Once she saw the eighteen figures all discussing in what she dubbed 'goblin language' she groaned internally. 'Fuck my life,' she thought as she looked down at them.

'Too late to back down now. Guess it's back to illusions then,' She said as her magic flared. Deciding that the best target was the big goblin, she cast an illusion that turned it into a larger-than-average kobold.

Lilith's brain felt like it was lit on fire once she finished as she pressed down the bile rising in her throat. She unconsciously started to absorb nearby mana to refill her reserves which only somewhat numbed her pain.

'Note to self, if it looks stronger than me.. it's harder to cast an illusion on it,' she thought as she fought back the need to empty her bowels on the roof.

While Lilith was busy dealing with the drawback of her spell, the 17 normal goblins freaked out. Instantly charging the head-hancho goblin without a second thought they began to put up a awful but somewhat decent, fight.

Club met spears, swords, and smaller variant clubs as they were crushed by the superior might of the hobgoblin. Bruises turned into crushed limbs, turning even further into paste beneath the hobgoblin's clearly superior strength.

However, even though the normal goblins lacked in well.. everything. They made up for it in in sheer numbers. Having nigh-zero self-preservation instincts they relentlessly threw themselves at what seemed to them a high-kobold.

Lilith's pain subsided enough for her to be able to focus again as she watched the fight with morbid curiosity. 10 goblins have fell, leaving 7 left bloody and bruised. The hobgoblin was visibly tired and the illusion was beginning to show signs of flickering.

Preparing herself for a fight if needed, Lilith adopted a tense stance. The hobgoblin swung its over-sized club at one of it's previous subordinates. Leaving the previously uninjured goblin a pile of gore and bone in the corner.

The cycle continued as the goblins threw themselves at their perceived 'enemy' while the hobgoblin killed them while sustaining it's own injuries. Lilith continued to attentively observe as she prepared to finish off any remaining enemies.

The illusion finally shattered revealing a haggard looking hobgoblin with cuts scattered across it's skin. The last two normal goblins looked at the situation with shock before their bodies fell to the ground. Ice needles imbedded into the back of their necks, stabbing and freezing into their spinal cord.

The beaten and bruised hobgoblin payed no attention to the two that have fallen and passed out. A fox-ish grin spread across Lilith's face, displaying her small canines. 'Finally.. I can go back home now. No more goblin scout parties messin' with me!' Lilith thought as an spike made of hardened ice ended the life of the unconscious hobgoblin.

Steadily climbing down from the slippery roof, Lilith was happy with how her day went. Standing outside of her cave-home she walked inside and immediately fell asleep.

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[Name: Lilith Frostfall]

[Race: Kitsune (One-Tail)]

[Level: 0]

[Strength: I-50 --> H-114]

[Endurance: H-100 --> H-197]

[Dexterity: G-245 --> E-415]

[Agility: G-260 --> F-354]

[Magic: F-300 --> B-854]

[Skills]

[Illusion Magic (I -> G)] [Kōri no Kitsune (G -> F)] [Energy Absorption (EX)] [{*NEW*} Stealth (H)]

[Stealth (H): Due to certain requirements being fulfilled, user has unlocked [Stealth]. Allows for one to blend in with darker areas easier and, with some magic, change the color of body parts or fur to match the surroundings.. like a chameleon. Effectiveness depends on skill level.]

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Lilith was 𝖓𝖔𝖙 having a good day. First, she wakes up to see that a portion of her cave flooded from the storm. Thankfully however her bedding area was not affected.

Second, now that the goblins were gone she made a slight lapse in judgement. The kobolds. After a few scout parties saw the empty goblin camp they immediately took over the surrounding area to raise their position in the 'forest hierarchy.'

Third, she spotted yet another group of monsters attempting to take the kobolds newly acquisitioned land. Rat people. Something she 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 doesn't remember from the snippets she actually remembers from the anime.

So yeah, not a very good time to be a fox in the wilderness.. alone.. with a flooded house.. but she'll make it through.. probably. Right? Right?!