Goblin Bound: The First of Many

A figure crashed heavily into the earthen walls of the cave with terrifying momentum, spraying rock and dust on impact. The plume of dust slightly obscured the deep cracks resulting from the impact, cracks that quickly spread across the length of the wall. Gritting his teeth to stifle the pain but failing, the figure slowly and painfully pushed off the wall. He spat out a mouthful of blood, nearly choking as he gasped for breath. His deep heavy breaths burrowed gaps into the plume of dust around him, forcefully clearing a dust-free zone around his face. Sinister chuckles sounded afar from nearly a dozen tiny green-skinned goblins garbed in dirty loin clothes and wielding rudimentary stone knives, rusty looking bows and thin wooden spears. A particularly large one stood at the center of the mob. Wielding a large wooden club, it similarly wore a loin cloth - of a clearly better material- but just as dirty. It stood nearly seven feet tall with a bulky and powerful physique. Muscles flexed with minor exertions of its arms and a pair of short tusks peaked from the side of its lips. His exhausted but hate-filled eyes swept across the chuckling goblins, pausing to glare at the large green-skinned monster at the center. Drawing in deep breaths to regain energy, the figure slowly pushed off the wall, exertion and weakness evident in his stance. His aura radiated defiance and strength in spite of the harrowing condition and chances of survival. They won’t kill him. He knew that at least, they were enjoying this too much. They thought him weak, so weak they couldn’t help but make him an object of amusement in their otherwise dull lifestyle. They weren’t wrong. He was indeed weak…but they far underestimated his hate. His eyes darted around seemingly without purpose, noting briefly his dented chest-piece armour and his rusty sword a few feet from him. Spitting out the remnant blood in his mouth, he trudged slowly to his weapon. His mind briefly replaying the hit that sent him barreling into the wall. He was careless and got caught with a full-on swing in the chest from the freakishly strong green monster…he won’t let that happen again. One more hit and it would be game over…again. Letting out a deep sigh he tightened the buckler on his left arm, the strap digging painfully into his bruised arm. It wasn’t his first memento from these critters and it definitely won’t be the last. His fingers tightened on his only available chance to survive, a long blade of rusted steel that did only a little more good than a sharpened rock. The goblin squad leader gazed at him in mock satisfaction, unwilling to end the fun so soon. It lazily stretched out a finger, beckoning in a universally understood taunt. “Come!” It grunted in its own language. A language that had once sounded like intelligible mutters and jarring metal. It still bothered him how he could understand them…but it bothered him more that they weren’t all dead. This part of the complicated maze-like cave wasn’t the largest he’d come across with it being nearly a hundred meters wide but it offered him enough space to maneuver his way around…somewhat. Slowly closing the distance, he guarded with the buckler on his left arm, still very wary of another hit. He was a few meters from the hulking goblin when his figure blurred from his frenzied charge. He’d learned the painful way he couldn’t match the goblin squad leader in strength or speed but its flaw and coming downfall was its arrogance. Sidestepping to dodge a lazy swing, he rapidly swung his sword at its side before swiftly retreating a few steps back to avoid its huge palm sweeping toward his head. He couldn’t help but let out a grunt seeing his strikes leaving only shallow cuts, that barely bled, on its body. A flash of mirth appeared in its eyes, its confidence at an all time high and wariness a soon satisfying low, as it could tell the rusty sword could do it little harm. Things were going according to plan, a plan with a quickly decreasing window. They’d only continue to indulge him in this farce for as long as they were excited and he could tell they already didn’t have high hopes for his chances. Tightly gripping his sword with a trembling hand, he once again charged in to engage the goblin in close quarters. His feet trembled but remained steady as he rapidly closed the distance, his sword poised to impale the goblin’s gut. The goblin let out something akin to a chuckle as it brandished its large club and with a quick jerk of its arm, the club drew an arc to intercept the coming metal. Despite swinging later in defense, its attack was noticeably faster. The incoming sword snaked its way around the approaching club with a skillful twist to strike beneath it. The momentum of the club was forcefully directed upward and the goblin found its arm uncontrollably flying upward, leaving its upper body entirely open. Viciousness flashed in his eyes and without a moment hesitation, he struck out his sword at the open gut of the goblin squad leader. *Whoosh* *Clang* An ugly arrow whooshed through the air to strike the sword off its initial path. The sword ended up brushing the side of the goblin squad leader, tearing open hideous green skin in its path. *Rawwwrrr* The enraged squad leader lashed out with its free arm, with a speed he could barely follow, and struck him heavily in his side. A mouthful of blood escaped his mouth as the huge green arm sent him flying right back into the wall he just crawled out from, his sword twirling out of his grasp. *Thud* His figure collapsed onto the cave floor, his vision near black. Pain coursed through all parts of his body, revisiting both new and old wounds. He could vaguely see the pissed off goblin captain gingerly feeling its slightly bleeding side with a murderous expression on its face. The fight was only fun for it as long as it didn’t bleed much and it maintained its strong image before its runts, but he’d nearly cut it open and it didn’t seem to like that very much. All that didn’t matter much to him right now, all that mattered was to muster whatever strength he had left to finish this farce of a fight. The goblins weren’t ones to fight fair, with honour, or shame. They far outnumbered him and derived sadistic pleasure in reminding him this wasn’t a solo fight. Grunting weakly and with blood trailing out of his mouth, he pushed himself into a squat. His eyes, still swimming from the impact, glared at the grunting captain of this band of green miscreants. The goblin squad leader seeing him force himself up grunted in anger, its eyes now lacking the earlier mirth and replaced with a tinge of growing rage. It hatefully kicked his sword toward him, it slid through the earth and stopped just short of cutting his fingers. The earlier hit felt akin to being rammed by a car and he could feel the pain acutely all over his body, numbing and erratic. Through sheer force of will, he clutched the hilt of his sword with every ounce of strength he could muster. His feet trembled unsteadily as he slowly got to his feet, his figure swaying like a leaf in a breeze. The pain faded slowly with each passing moment, becoming less prominent and easier to handle. He’d noticed this unusual trait early on, and while he was mighty confused by it he was even more thankful. It was the only reason he’d managed to last this long against the near endless fights with the goblins. He stood, stalling, his body trembling lesser with the passing jerk of time. He waited long enough to regain proper mobility and for the goblin captain to lose its patience. Seeing him stupidly standing there enraged the already hot-blooded goblin captain even more. It let out a low roar of impatience and slowly closed in on him, its large club trailing in the earth behind him. Gripping his sword tightly, feeling the sensation of torn muscles slowly fade into a dull ache, he coldly watched the approaching goblin. The other tinier goblins let out snickers of mockery and delight knowing the fight was about to end and they would finally beat him up. The hulking goblin closed the distance in moments, its large club now resting on its shoulder as it towered over the human before it. It gazed scornfully at the worm, it could sense no fight left in it and it was high time it finished him off for good. It slowly raised its club in the air, casting a large shadow promising a finality in its descent. The air let out a soft groan, accompanying the heavy club as it furiously crashed down into the earth with a terrifying boom, sending dust and rock flying. He waited until the very last moment before shifting his entire body off the path of the crashing club, the wind from its descent brushing his cheek. The club crashed with a heavy bang that left no doubt it would have been his end. Dust and smoke erupted on impact but he was now already behind the huge goblin, using its large body as a shield. Clenching his sword with months worth of pain and hatred, he slashed several times at the goblin’s ankle, savagely slicing skin and tendons. The goblin captain roared in pain, quickly turning to retaliate in blinded rage. That turned out to be a mistake. Muscles and tendons ripped further from the abrupt movement and the goblin uncontrollably fell forward on its knees. Two eyes glared at each other for the first time at eye level, one filled with hate and the other with blind rage. Even kneeling, the goblin leader was still level height with him but that seemed to matter little now. “Dieeeeeeee!!!!!” He spat hatefully, his first word in weeks, as he viciously thrust his sword upward, a sword conveniently placed beneath the head of the kneeling goblin leader. A pair of savage eyes bulged in disbelief, mouth frozen in a roar following the sword that dug beneath its chin to emerge from the top of its head amidst spurts of green blood. Hate-filled eyes glared at the impaled head before him, satisfaction suffusing his face as he watched the light and rage fade from the goblin’s eyes. Unsatisfied with the fleeting feeling, the sword drew back along its path with a vicious yank, tearing flesh and brain bits in its exit. “Arrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!” A barely humane yell echoed from his throat as he hatefully stabbed at the goblins eyes, nose, and mouth. Each stab drew blood and each release drew even more blood. Feeling unsatisfied still, he switched to violently slashing across the face, neck and arms of the long dead goblin. Blood spurted violently from each cut, accompanied by torn skin. *Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh* Arrow upon arrow pierced into his flesh from the moment he impaled the head of the goblin leader, but he paid no heed, his movements not slowing a beat as he let out months worth of frustration. He heaved in exhaustion soon after, his rage-filled frenzy beginning to fade. Over a dozen arrows embedded in his back heaved along his tired figure. Greenish blood trickled down his face to the hand gripping the sword to join a much larger stream dripping onto the ground. With a huff he took a couple steps back, the hate receding from his eyes. Slightly turning his body, cold emotionless eyes stared at the now terrified tinier goblins in the cave. His grip tightened, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. There were others to kill.