10. The Plan

The skeletons went further through the tunnel, eventually encountering three goblins, sent clearly as a reconnaissance group. The two could hear them in the darkness and even see with their eyes, despite the light source, in the form of a torch, held by Akichi, being too far away.

Vincenzo just bolted straight at them, causing the whole tunnel to get filled with the sound of his bones hitting the stone floor, before the screams of goblins joined.

- Grawka! Grawka! - they started yelling and immediately retreated.

Akichi raced right after his companion.

Unfortunately for them, the undead was faster thanks to his long legs, and the magic filling his body. Before they even reached the cave ahead, the one with the weird wooden constructions, he caught up, then with three swings killed them all.

[You received +3 soul fragments]

[You received +1 soul fragments]

[You received +4 soul fragments]

Flashed before his eyes, when each of them fell. The screams, though, were already echoing through the rest of the tuner, inevitably reaching the green horde.

- Good job – Akichi praised him.

- Thanks - Vincenzo said in response. - They looked confused, though. Damir really has some magic working here, protecting his part of the caves.

the first skeleton shrugged his shoulders.

- The rest of them knows we are coming back – Vincenzo continued. - They will probably prepare for us in the cave ahead.

- Let's go then, and lure some back in the tunnel. They are stupid, so we should be able to do this – the wannabee samurai said.

- I hope so. I don't want to get another arrow to the head. The last one almost killed me – the second skeleton pointed out.

- Then stay in the tunnel, I'll go in, and lure some of them out – Akichi proposed.

Vincenzo didn't argue, he just started walking.

Soon they reached the point where not only they could see the entrance to the cave, but also a glimpse of the rows of goblins, readying themselves for the battle.

There were at least three dozen of them ahead. This number didn't include the archers, definitely present on the wooden constructions on both, the right, and left sides of the chamber.

Akichi dropped the torch, then he stepped on it, killing the fire.

- Aj! - he hissed. - I just lost one HP.

- You should have thrown it behind us – Vincenzo pointed out.

His comrade didn't say anything to that comment, instead started walking with the sword at the ready. His steps could easily be heard thanks to the sound bouncing off the tunnel walls, so the green skins knew he was coming, even when they couldn't see him properly.

That was only at first though. When he came out of the pitch blackness, reaching the part of the tunnel illuminated by the dim light of the bonfires. The goblins' eyes, used to the dark, were enough for them to spot the intruder clearly.

It immediately caused a few to scream loudly, mostly out of excitement for the upcoming fight, but they were quickly put in their places by a few others, who understood that they should hold their position.

Akichi didn't even reach the cave, when the first arrows came his way, missing by a lot, since the angle was still not right, but he used the fact that at least some of the archers decided to take the premature shot. He rushed forward, quickly emerging from the tunnel. Even before he reached the goblins, who already went crazy, he swung his sword, then bolted right back to where he came from.

- AAAAAA! - he screamed.

A bunch of monsters couldn't take it, and despite some of them screaming orders, a group still went after the skeleton.

A few meters in, Akichi turned around, then started swinging. Those who were too invested in chasing him didn't manage to stop so they were immediately cut down. Seven did. They raised their weapons, ready to fight, but they failed to notice something else that was going on in the tunnel.

A loud clicking sound of bones still hitting the stone. It was Vincenzo, who, at the same moment as Akichi engaged himself in a fight, came leaping forward with his greatsword.

He immediately cut down two, making enough room for his friend, to strike another two.

[You received +2 soul fragments]

[You received +4 soul fragments]

The remaining three tried to retreat, just to get cut down before reaching the cave. Their screams resonated, bouncing off of the stone walls, and reached the larger group, fortified inside the chamber ahead.

[You received +3 soul fragments]

[You received +4 soul fragments]

- See? It worked. We got them – Akichi said as he pulled his sword out of one of the bodies, then he began walking towards the cave once again.

- Wait – Vincenzo grabbed him by the shoulder. - It won't work again. They saw what we did, so they won't follow you anymore. We should just kill them. We have bigger chances when there are fewer of them. I actually have an idea…

- What idea? - the first skeleton asked driven by curiosity.

- I'll jump right into them, then start swinging. I'll create chaos among them. You use it to get to the archers on those wooden constructions. You can actually climb with that sword of yours. Mine is too heavy for a single hand – the second skeleton explained.

- That's risky. Are you sure about this? - Akichi asked, with a tone of voice indicating, that he was worried.

- I don't see another option. Besides… If I get any damage, I'm running back to the tunnel – Vincenzo announced.

It made his friend sigh heavily.

- Ok. If you think it's a good idea, we can try… But I'm worried that you will get hit, then block the escape route for me, with all the goblins following you, and I'll be screwed – he pointed out.

- If it comes to that, you can get them all from behind, while I'm luring them deeper into the tunnel. It's actually a win for you. You will get free soul fragments – Vincenzo argued.

- First of all, getting them from behind sounds inappropriate, especially if we are talking about goblins. I don't swing this way. I don't think anybody does, even goblins themselves. Second of all, I'm not really convinced, but I'll trust you this time – Akichi finished his speech.

- Let's go – The second skeleton said, deciding to ignore most of it.

The two once again approached the entrance to the cavern. This time the goblins remained calmer. They didn't even scream, just kept nervously stepping from one leg to another, constantly fixing their grips on their weapons, waiting for the fight to start at any point.

- Now! - Vincenzo yelled pushing forward.

Akichi followed him, although didn't yell a thing. The second skeleton jumped at the group of monsters as soon as he reached the proper distance, landing heavily in front of the first line, while several arrows bounced off of him, then started swinging. His attack made a few fall on their backs, while the others tried desperately to protect themselves from his sword.

Meanwhile, the first skeleton bolted right by them, ignoring those few, who swung their weapons his way, completely missing due to a poor judgment of the distance. He actually didn't follow his companion's idea and didn't climb at all. Instead, he just cut the ropes, tying up the construction in a few places, making it start collapsing on its own.

At first, he was worried it might need more work, but the construction proved to be barely standing even in its original form. After being damaged, it all quickly went down.

The arrows were flying at both of them, but as soon as the archers on the right side understood that their advantage point is falling apart, they chose to jump down. Their screams filled the whole cavern.

At the same time, Vincenzo was swinging, and swinging some more, causing the group to spread further away from him, to avoid his deathly blade. A few fell to his sword, but much less than he anticipated. They actually chose to stay away from his reach, clearly hoping for him to lose his strength. They failed to understand that he was undead, and was not gonna run out of stamina.

They also failed to understand that it was part of his plan, to keep them occupied. And due to that reason, he didn't finish off the few that fell down, allowing them to crawl away. He couldn't switch his focus from keeping the rest at a distance, without making room to be attacked by those still standing on their feet.

Akichi didn't waste any time. He ran straight to the other construction, on the opposite side. A few more arrows flew his way. A couple even hit him but didn't do much. Most went right through, barely even touching the bones. The couple who did, bounced off to the side because they didn't get him at the perfect angle, to pierce the bones. That was enough for him to reach the other construction without issues.

The goblins started jumping off it before he even swung his sword. At first, they decided to properly retreat, but when his blade cut off the first rope, and the wobbly construction began moving way stronger than it was before, some decided to straight up jump directly to the ground. It was a risky move, but at least they wouldn't get buried underneath the pile of wood, which they could see was happening to their pals on the other side of the cavern.

The wannabee samurai got blinded for a second by all the pop-ups showing him how many soul fragments he received. He ignored them all, heading straight to help Vincenzo, who somehow still held the whole other group. The goblins started to surround him, though.

The help from the outside broke their ranks, making the battle turn into a bloodbath. The monsters didn't have any chance with taller and physically stronger opponents who were not running out of stamina.

The archers, who didn't get buried underneath the wood, broke their legs while landing, just to get finished off a bit later.

In a couple of minutes, the only thing left of them, were the corpses, their terrible weapons, and the haphazardly put-together pieces of armor.

- I would say huff, puff, and all of that, but I'm not really tired – Vincenzo shrugged his shoulders.

- Did you get any damage? - Akichi asked.

- No. I actually didn't. They hit me a few times, but they were too scared to attack properly, so the hits didn't deal any damage. You? - he asked.

- Got hit by some arrows, but lost only two HP points, including the one from that damn torch – the first skeleton said.

- Good. Let's go further then – Vincenzo proposed.

Akichi nodded, agreeing. This made the two head towards the dark tunnel on the other side. This time, though, they didn't have a torch to light the path for themselves.