Boots crunched against mulch and fallen twigs. Rayne cast his eyes on the thick trees all around them as they headed deeper into the never-ending forest. He saw no birds on the branches, and everything felt quiet. Too quiet for his own good.
Until Kesh spoke the same words for the third time.
"How did I end up offending Axel for him to send me to die here?"
Nate adjusted the fit of his cloak before shrugging. "Maybe you drank his beer."
"I haven't tasted a sip of beer after entering his squad," Kesh replied, a perpetual frown covering his face. "Maybe the troll cursed me."
"I would be dead if that was the case," Rayne replied, grinning at him. "You should just relax. We are just on a scouting mission. If anything happens, we can always run."
"What if we got chased by a nightwolf—"
"If one came, I would throw you to him for the others to escape," said Bran, scowling at Kesh. "You not being able to keep silent would be the reason one would get attracted to us."
Kesh opened his mouth to retaliate before closing it, probably not wanting to go against the man that was the de facto leader of their small party.
Other than Kesh, there were four others from the squad that had been assigned to this mission. All of them were also newbies. But they simply walked in silence, occasionally glancing toward the trees.
Axel's new orders weren't just to go deeper into the forests to find more goblin nests but also to burn them down. Hence, more firepower.
Even newbies would be able to deal with goblins. Rayne knew that much after his two encounters with them.
The problem was the other monsters that might live here.
"I found something," Bran's voice took his attention, and he saw the veteran crouch down, inspecting something.
Rayne walked closer, as did the others, and saw it was footprints. Of a four-legged beast. By the size of them, it was a high-level creature.
"What do you think passed through here?" Nate asked, fingers trailing the claw part of the print. "Should we head back?"
"No." Bran shook his head and pointed at the ground around the footprint. "There's only one footprint here. The creature simply jumped through here and headed in that direction." He moved his fingers to the left, toward the underbrush and more trees. "And you all should know what creature it is if you had bothered to listen to my briefing on the way here."
Kesh flinched under his gaze while Nate squinted his eyes at the footprint. The others looked similarly confused. Half of them had been yawning during the briefing, after all.
Rayne crouched down, fingers trailing the print, mind moving through each monster that had their nests and caves around here. Bran had mentioned each of them on the way here.
Finally, it struck. "It's a duskstalker."
Bran looked at him. "Why do you think so?"
"The footprint isn't fresh. At least twelve hours old. Duskstalkers hunt at night and often leap at their prey. That's the reason we don't have to head back. The threat is probably sleeping after a fat meal."
Rayne stood up, dusting his cloak, and Bran nodded—not looking impressed, but his eyes softened at him.
"At least you listen and remember. Good qualities for a scout."
With that, Bran simply moved forward, and they kept up pace with him. It had already been a few hours since they had been walking, but all they had were false trails. They had followed two of them only to find the goblins killed by other monsters before the trail could lead up to their nests.
Still, Rayne was glad of one thing. This deep into the forest, sunrays barely slipped through the canopy and the wild was cool, making it a far more pleasant walk.
Also, Fredrick and the others weren't here, probably dealing with the nest around the redwoods.
He had to say he preferred Bran far more as a leader. The old man was rude, but unlike Fredrick, he would occasionally stop to point out different types of flora and fauna. Rayne's knowledge of the wilderness was becoming better by the hour thanks to him.
Taking the opportunity, he moved ahead and walked next to Bran, his eyes catching sight of his bow.
"Can I ask you something?"
Bran grunted at him. "Go on. Keep your voice to a whisper."
"How do you know so much about monsters and plant life? Are there books on it in the camp?"
"There might be some in Captain Edran's quarters, but no, my knowledge has grown with experience. I've been serving for the last twenty years and you hear a lot of things if you manage to keep your head on your torso."
Rayne widened his eyes. He was truly a veteran. Twenty years was a long time. But it only made Bran working under Fredrick more strange. Such a person with experience should at least be the scouting party leader.
As if reading the thoughts in his mind, Bran grimaced. "I messed up. Offended someone. So, Axel can't promote me."
"Was it a noble?" Rayne asked.
"Yeah," said Bran. "But it's been long and I can't do anything about it. I would still get a pension once I retire in five years."
His words about nobles from last night rang in Rayne's mind, and he couldn't help but see him in a different light. Will Fredrick try something similar with him? He doubted it since, in standing, Rayne was the farthest behind already.
But he knew nobles could do a lot more.
He wondered if Bran would know more about Fredrick and his family, but before he could ask, he froze, a smell wafting through the air to assault his nose.
"Bran," he said, voice low. "Smell that?"
Bran stopped, nostrils flaring. The others paused behind them.
Kesh whispered, "Smells like... rot."
"Piss and rot," Nate muttered.
Bran held up a fist. Everyone froze. He tilted his head, eyes scanning the ground before he looked up at the rest.
"Crouch and follow me. Make no noises. We are upon a nest."
In an instant, the atmosphere of the party changed, and pressure suddenly rolled onto them. Despite him knowing it was only goblins, Rayne couldn't help but feel both excited and nervous. Goblins might be easy to kill, but they were still monsters.
They crept through the underbrush, keeping track of where they were putting their feet. With each step, the smell got stronger, making him groan. It felt like the goblins had pissed on all the trees in the surroundings.
But despite the discomfort, the party moved until finally, the first sight of the nests came into view. Rayne watched it through the gap in the underbrush.
It was nestled in a hollow under a cliff, surrounded by thorns and rocks. The goblins were out of it, sitting on boulders as they roasted rabbits on a small fire they had created. There were at least ten of them, and he saw two of them pissing on a rock—probably the reason for the strong smell.
But what surprised Rayne wasn't their numbers. But their skin.
They were red goblins, their skin looking blistered and a foot taller than the grey ones he had come across. Each of them held weapons—makeshift spears and daggers.
"Red goblins," whispered Nate. "What are we going to do? Ten is a lot to take on."
"There might be more in the nest," Kesh replied, hands clutching his sword.
The others looked similarly uneasy and looked at Bran, who watched the goblins with an intensity.
Finally, he grunted. "We take them on."
"We will die," said Kesh, frowning. "Do you even know their levels?"
"Red goblins are around Level 7–10. Their bodies are tougher than the ones you have faced, but they are slower. It's easy to take them on in an ambush, and we can have someone standing guard near the nest in case more come out. Do you all really want to turn back and go back with no kills?"
No one said anything, but Rayne could see their eyes moving from Bran to the goblins. No one wanted goblins at their back, and there were a lot of hours in the day remaining.
They couldn't move back right now.
So, the decision was made. Like before, Bran moved through the underbrush to get a good spot for using his bow while they spread out all around the clearing. No goblin seemed to have noticed them yet, but that wouldn't be for long.
Rayne kept up with Nate and Kesh, the two people he was the closest within the party, as he took breaths, clearing away his mind for the eventual battle.
"At least this time there's no troll for you to rush at," Kesh said, grinning at him.
Rayne could tell that he was trying to take his mind off the eventual battle. "But enough goblins," he said. "I bet they would give good levels."
"You talk about levels like I do with women," said Nate, and Kesh snickered.
While the conversation steered towards that, Rayne took the opportunity to do a final check of his gear. He took out his shield from the back and adjusted his visor. Then gripped his sword, recalling his first battle with the goblins. How they had come like wild animals at him. He didn't know if the red ones would be the same, but he wouldn't take a chance.
Though, the worst part was that even if they managed to burn down the nest, he wouldn't have a chance to talk to a goblin and get information on more nests. The last time was a lucky break. He wouldn't always get them.
He frowned, wondering if he should just reveal his ability. And just then, something caught his eye. It was only for a moment, but he saw one goblin raise his head from chewing on the rabbit meat and look toward him.
Was it real? He glanced toward Bran, who crept toward a rocky outcrop at the edge of the goblin camp.
He heard it then.
A rustle through the air. His instincts screamed, and he put up his shield just in time. An arrow bounced off it.
Rayne turned his eyes toward the stunned Kesh and Nate. "Get in line! Goblins know we are here!"
He stood up and lifted his shield, getting out of the underbrush. Nate and Kesh followed him, bracing to join him in the shield formation as more arrows bounced off their shields.
There was more than one archer. The goblins had long been aware of them.
"What should we do now?" Kesh muttered, his sword shaking in his grip.
"Keep up the formation and move through the bastards and join with the others."
As soon as he said that, he saw the goblins charging at them. Three of them charged with spears, scowling and letting out their usual guttural sounds.
Rayne braced for the impact as the spears hit the shields, then moved to hit them with an overhead strike. His sword bounced off a goblin's spear.
But he was already moving again, bashing the goblin with his shield.
Like the rest, these ones were similarly easy to cut through, and he drove his sword through its head. To his right, Nate held the shield line while Kesh battled with two goblins as they tried to push him back.
Rayne took the opportunity of distraction. His sword hacked at the goblin's leg and he crushed it with his foot as it fell.
Nate took the last kill, slashing with his sword. Blood sprayed everywhere on their shields and helmets, and Rayne saw the goblin camp descending into madness.
The goblins were all around, and more had climbed up through their nests. Unlike the three of them, the others weren't in formation, and even Bran shooting arrows didn't curb the goblin numbers.
Every time one downed, another would take its place.
"Let's move. We need to get the others in a formation. That's the only way out of it," he muttered, looking at the both of them who promptly nodded.
He gritted his teeth and moved forward. The goblins kept coming at him and he kept cutting them in half.
His sword slashed and hacked through one while another jumped at his shield, snarling and cursing him, but he simply bashed its head with his shield. Then finished it with a stab.
Additional stat points were certainly adding up as he made short work of the red goblins.
The same couldn't be said for the others.
Rayne saw one of the men lose his shield as a goblin pierced him with a dagger right in his arm. The man cried out and he rushed toward him, breaking formation.
His boot slammed down on the goblin, but it moved out just in time and turned back. It jumped, dagger pointed at Rayne's throat.
But an arrow took it in the head long before Rayne could raise his shield. He quickly finished the goblin with a stab in the throat and turned toward the fallen man.
"Get up and pick a shield. We need to get the formation back."
The man nodded, scrambling to get the shield as Rayne turned back. He charged up at two goblins who saw him and moved to intercept.
One charged with his spear. Rayne simply moved aside, letting the goblin crash on a tree while he swept down on the second one with a short sword. Their blades clashed, but he easily overpowered the little demon and cut off its head precisely.
Turning back, he saw the first goblin trying to get its spear out of the tree and bashed it with his shield before finishing it in the stomach.
How many was it? Four? Five? Rayne didn't know, but by the feeling of notifications at the back of his mind, he knew he was doing well.
Fortunately, others had listened to him. Nate and Kesh had gathered up the others in a tight formation and more soldiers were joining in, making it harder for the goblins.
He moved to join them, charging through the swarm of goblins still coming out of their nest.
He cut one of them in his path who managed to slash through his legs. Rayne winced at the strike, but knew it would heal as he joined the formation.
"What are we going to do? There's too many of them. At least a dozen are left," shouted Kesh, slashing down on the goblins that had started to jump around to keep their lives.
"Just keep yourself together. The goblins can't break our formation," Rayne shouted, his sword dripping ichor as he swung.
"We can't go on forever. I'm injured," another said.
More voices rose and Rayne grimaced. He knew things hadn't gone according to plan, but he sure didn't want to die. They had killed a lot already, and only a few were left.
As if listening to their worries, arrows moved through the air, hitting the goblins trying to break through the formation. One fell right in front of Rayne and he crushed it with his foot before slashing at another.
One of them swung a sword right in the narrow gap between their shields, and Rayne grimaced before stepping back and letting the sword fall on the bloodied ground.
The goblin hastily tried to pick up its sword. Rayne took the opportunity to gouge out its eyes. And moved on to the next.
More arrows whistled through the air, taking out goblins one after another until finally, only three remained.
"Kill those bastards!" Kesh shouted over the others and rushed to strike one in the leg. As the goblin fell, he crushed its head with a stomp.
Bran's arrow took the second one, and as the last one moved to run away, letting out a screech, Nate charged at it. One downward slash cleaved its head in two as blood sprayed everywhere.
But as the last goblin fell to the ground, only one thought simmered in his mind.
It was over. Fucking over.
His legs gave way, and he went down. So did the rest, as everyone felt the exhaustion and pain coming back at them. Up ahead, he saw Kesh on his knees, a nasty slash across his arm, while Nate simply stared at the corpses, kicking one of them in anger.
He turned his eyes to look at the rest and realized that even if there weren't any deaths, there were injuries.
Two men had nasty gashes on their legs, while all the others had minor injuries. He hoped they had brought their potions, or it wouldn't be an easy way back.
He looked down at his own injury—the cut on his leg that had gone through his pants. Blood still oozed out, and he took out a piece of cloth from his pocket to bind it up.
As he finished doing so, he heard the rustle of leaves and saw Bran coming back from wherever he was shooting the arrows from.
He looked less exhausted than the others, with no injuries, but only he knew what was going through his head. This was a big failed ambush.
Bran looked around the camp, hard lines forming on his face. "I'm sorry. It took too much time to find where the goblin archers were hiding," he said in a low voice.
Nate grunted. "We nearly died. How the fuck did the goblins know?"
"They probably heard us coming. All the piss was for us to not miss them, and they had archers ready for a reason. Red goblins are smarter than the grey ones, but I have never heard of them setting up a trap before. I didn't expect this at all," said Bran, looking apologetic and much less like a strict veteran.
He had decided to go ahead with the ambush, and as a result of that, he had endangered everyone's life. He seemed to realize that.
"It doesn't change that we nearly died." Kesh spat on a goblin corpse. "And if goblins have really started to set traps, we are fucked. Royally fucked."
Others seemed to agree with him, and a few people voiced their opinions. Rayne simply sat there, listening, but when he was about to speak, he saw movement to his left.
A boulder lay there, but his eyes weren't on that—rather, on the goblin that had miraculously survived the battle and had been trying to crawl away. He could see blood seeping out of its legs, so it wasn't uninjured—but it was alive.
Its act of playing dead was enough of a statement for the creature's intelligence.
Rayne stood up, earning glances, but he simply stepped toward the crawling goblin. Taking out his dagger, he leapt at it.
It was too late before the goblin could react to his footsteps. Rayne grabbed it by its throat and pulled it up in the air.
The goblin let out a screech, arms flailing in an attempt to escape, but Rayne held tight.
"It was playing dead and trying to escape," he said as eyes gathered on him.
"Kill it and get it over with, Rayne," said Bran. "We should check if the others are dead as well and burn the nest before heading back. I believe that would be the best for us. Axel needs to hear about the ambush."
Rayne nodded, his dagger moving to end the screeching, flailing goblin in his hand, but as the edge of his dagger touched its neck, an idea struck him.
He looked down at the goblin and then at the others.
"What happened?" Kesh asked. "Just finish it off. I want to get away from this place as fast as we can."
"No," said Rayne, earning confused glances. "We need to keep this one alive."
Bran frowned. "For what?"
"Answers."