Remnant of Malachus

Chapter 3

They say to always keep calm in a situation like this, easier said than done I suppose. Because there's no way I can be calm. These are the times where it makes you ask yourself why couldn't you just stay home.

I took in a deep breath and poke my head out again, 2 goblins and 1 Hobgoblin, they seem to be staring at the corpses of the goblins I killed back then. They seem to be distracted by their comrade's corpses. The hobgoblin's yellow, and hollow eyes really creep me out, actually, not only the eyes, but everything about it sends shivers down my spine. I really just want to get out of here, if I try to fight that thing, I'm not sure if I'm going to win or not, I'm not in perfect condition, my arm is injured and I've already spent a lot of energy running around.

I should just create a distraction and try to outrun them, this is for the best.

I should push a loose crystal down, I think it'll cause some confusion. I place my hands on a piece of crystal next to me, then start pushing it, trying to loosen it up from the ground, it definitely is budging. I prepare myself one last time, the moment they get distracted, I'll try to run and hopefully, they won't notice or they won't be able to catch up to me. I scan across the room one last time, preparing to run my ass off.

I scan across the room one more time to make sure they're still there, I peak my head up, 1 goblin, 1 hobgoblin. Eh.

There were 2 goblins though... I return to my crouching position behind the cluster of glowing, mana-crystals. Then I heard a small growl behind me, I turned quickly, that's when my eyes met with the goblin's, it lets out a loud screech as if to alert that I am here.

At that moment, a shadow looms over me, I gust of wind came down and blew my hair, it was accompanied by a loud hmph. I look up, I was welcomed by 2 pairs of yellow eyes, hollowingly staring at me...There was no time to be indecisive, I knew I had to fight.

I took care of the first goblin by swiftly stabbing its chest, then I dash out to my left. The second was not so far away, to my right, in front of the cluster, with a strong s***h, I killed.  Alarmed by the sound, the hobgoblin quickly turns its head towards me, it seems angry that I killed some more of its kind, it furiously pulls out a chunk of crystal from the cluster, holding it like a cub a. It's strong...overwhelmingly strong, I shouldn't try to fight this thing, unlike the other goblins, hobgoblins possess higher intelligence from what I've heard, they could skin their prey, or even set up traps.

It came closer and swung the mana crystal with incredible force at me from the left. Too fast. I leap backward, escaping the impact just in time but I wasn't able to land properly, my body hits the floor and slid across the floor, as my body slide along the ground, dust flies up in the air. I quickly stood back up again, that's when I noticed something, the hobgoblin had a hard time picking the crystal up again, there's a small window of time I could use to attack. Assuming the attack recoils every time it hits the ground, I only have to evade everything then I could use that chance to attack it. Considering its size it won't die in one hit, first, I'll go for the legs, incapacitate it, and land a finishing blow. The hobgoblin was about a solid 5 meters away from me, we had a decent distance between us.

....

We stare right at each other, its face void of emotion, gaze right into my eyes, I hold the hilt of my sword with both of my hands, the wound on my right arm started bleeding again, the bandage on my sleeveless shirt was covered in blood, I try to endure the pain. I could already tell, this will be a fight to the death, either I die, or it dies. Well, I'm not prepared to die just yet.

We both stood still, looking at each other awkwardly, frankly, it's very uncomfortable. The tense atmosphere got to me, and I dash forward, the hobgoblin raises the crystal chuck and prepares to smash me. It's going to swing from my left, it brought down its weapon swinging it at me, I dash to evade the strike. The attack recoil, the hobgoblin needed time to lift up the crystal c***k, I run and s***h its thighs, then quickly move to behind it. The s***h was rather shallow and the hobgoblin was unfazed by my attack, it recovered and turned around to give me a back-hand swing. The attack came from the right, I skip backward to avoid it, its side is completely wide open, I lunged forward and stab my sword into the hobgoblin's belly side. About one-fourth of my blade successfully penetrated, its skin is really thick, this seems to bother the hobgoblin quite a bit as it flinches as my blade pierce its belly. It prepared to swing upwards, I could read its movements easily but reacting to it is a different story. I only manage to jump backward at the very last moment, using my sword I guard against the attack a little, I could feel the strength behind that upward strike as it grazes my sword, I was launched back quite far, luckily I managed to not fall and keep my blocking stance. The hobgoblin continued with a slam from above, holding the crystal chunk with both of its hands, it slams it down as it towers over me. I evaded by sliding to my right. Dodging like this really makes you exhausted real fast, but I have to use this opportunity to attack it while it's still trying to recover from the recoil. I got up and s***h the hobgoblin's kneecap, I continued with a slide and got behind it, I thrust my blade into its knee pit, my blade penetrates through its skin and I manage to do some damage to it, it growls in pain as a response.

I quickly pull out my blade, and jumped out, keeping the hobgoblin at a short distance. I stopped moving to rest my body, the hobgoblin has wounds on both of its knees and one stab wound on its stomach at its right side, it seems quite exhausted, the wound on its leg must be taking a toll on it, a few more attack would incapacitate it for sure. I focus on examining the monster in front of me, it slowly lifts its weapon and is slowly turning around to face me again.

My body feels heavy, I could hear my ragged breathing and thumping heartbeat clearly now that my mind is not focused on evading the attacks. The pain of the wound on my right arm is starting to become apparent but the most concerning matters are my depleted stamina, I'm getting tired real fast.

The hobgoblin charges at me, swinging the crystal chunk with both of its hands, the swing is coming from the left, looking at it, its movement was clumsy and barbaric, it's easy to read but it's bad fighting abilities can be compensated by its physical abilities. I leap backward to avoid it and immediately charge to the left. As I dash behind the hobgoblin, I graze its knee caps with a little s***h, I was already behind the goblin and before it could react, I pushed my sword with full force through the hobgoblin's knee cap until all the blade has gone through. I could feel the penetrating sensation of my blade plowing through its flesh and stabbing right through its bones. I then free my blade with a push from the side, cutting through its knee, almost severing it.

Greatly wounded, it turned around but with only one knee it lost its balance and falls to the ground and letting out a painful scream. The moment it fell down, the battle had already been decided, I quickly ran and follow up with a stab under the chin, plunging it as deep as I could. There was no struggle at all, my sword completely dug into the hobgoblin's head. I killed it. I manage to take it down, this is pure bliss, I'm relieved.

 As stress and unrest become overcame by relief, a growing sense of pain and fatigue follows. I grovel down on the ground beside the hobgoblin, my entire body feels weak from overuse and exhaustion, the bandage on my right arm is loosened, and blood seeps out, I feel heavy and tired. I feel like I'm about to pass out, for now, let's get up. I tried but I fell down on the ground again-.

~

"Kid."

"..."

"Hey, kid!"

"HEY KID!"

I shot up from the ground and scurry along to the floor. My arm which was supporting me gave out and I slump onto the ground again.

"Chill out! Yo...ay.....ll."

I was looking up at the ceiling, I could see some silhouettes, my mind is in shambles, my visions are blurry but it became clearer. 

I slowly got up from the ground, eventually, I sat up straight and recall what has happened. My arm has been neatly bandaged up, though the hobgoblin is still lying face down to my right. I look around, several men were standing around me, the person who called out to me was a middle-aged demi-human, his beard was ginger red and he had cat ears.

"You okay?" He makes an okay sign with his fingers.

"yea, I'm fine." Neat. Someone's here to save me. They've already taken my stuff, didn't they? I think it's okay for me to be skeptical, no one helps out a stranger without ulterior motives.

"Where's your party member?" He asks me.

"I have none. I'm alone." I answered directly.

"Woah! No kidding? Really? Did you kill it by yourself?" What? He shouts out unexpectedly, I'm not sure how to react.

"yeah?"

The crowd around me began to murmur.

"Nice going! Ya one talented kid!" Another man pats me on the back. He smiled at me.

"thank you." I'm somewhat confused, waking to compliments like this is rather sudden.

The demi-human extends his hands out, I grabbed it and pull myself up.

"Thank you."

I look around, there was a crowd of around 15-16 people. They were covered in dirt and soot, some of them were wearing cheap overalls, and some were just wearing plain clothes.

"you guys aren't hunters right?"

"We're crystal miners, we found you here passed out and injured next to the hobgoblin's corpse. Sorry for the late introduction but I'm George, the team leader here, you must be quite confused."

"yeah, sure am not going to lie."

"Sorry if we startled you hehe, you were injured when we got here. Bruises all over your legs and arms and a nasty wound. Thank god you're ok."

They all seem like awfully kind people it's almost suspicious.

"thank you for taking care of me."

"No problem, we should really be thanking you. Us miners come here to mine mana-crystals every day, we've been troubled by the hobgoblin many times, it would always attack us every day, we can't even move to a different spot since they all were occupied by others, this was the only area we could gather mana-crystals."

"then what happened next?"

"We posted an extermination request for hunters at the guild but no one has excepted it because the bounty wasn't worth enough. So we tried to fight it many times, we soon realized that we could never fight this thing, each morning we come here, we live in constant fear of the hobgoblin, it killed many of our fellows. So many life has been lost already if only we had more money, maybe then hunters would help us!" He had a troubled look on his face.

"well, it's dead now. your welcome." I'm being very blunt about this but I smiled lightly at him.

"Hoho! We really should thank you properly," He had a grin on his face, you could tell by their gestures that their feeling of gratitude was sincere.

"Boys!" He shouted while turning behind.

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" All the men said it in unison.

"You've saved so many lives boy!" The leader added. I should return their thanks.

"thank you too, you've even wrapped my wounds all neat and tidy for me. I would've been in a way worse situation if you guys weren't here." 

We all laugh for a bit. You guys are wrong, I'm not a good person, I would do anything to survive, there's only one person I want to save and I can't even do it. I only survived all the hardships in my life because everyone sacrifices their lives for me. My brother, my father, they are all gone, the people I care about has died, I walk on a path made with my loved one's copses and suffering. I am truly despicable.

"Anyways, we gotta get to work now, you should go back too, you were here since yesterday right? It's already morning."

Seems like I slept here for a while, I do feel a little better. It's already morning, huh?

"Yeah. I better get going too. Thank you."

"Bye kid!" The lead miner shouted everyone else followed. They all picked up their stuff and start walking away.

I picked up my sword that was left on the ground next to me, all my things are still here including the pouch full of goblins ears, I was for sure they were going to steal something, either the sword or the ears, guess they just wanted to help after. The hobgoblin was still lying there, I don't know what to do with it, I wonder if its ear can be sold like normal goblin ears. I could ask the miners...

"Mister!" I shouted. The miners who were walking away notice my call and all turn their heads toward me. Once I knew I got their attention I ran towards them.

"Sorry but I need to ask you something. Can I sell the hobgoblin's ears like normal goblin ears?" I asked them.

The lead miner concentrates to try and find me an answer.

"Hm, I don't think so, but the teeth are quite pricey in the market, you can say it's a rare material! People use them to make decorations for weapons and equipment, blacksmiths, hunters, craftsmen, and shops would buy them for a high price."

It's a bit unexpected, I don't know much about the hunting business, I never really paid attention to it, it was more of a part-time job to me than it is an actual way to make money.

"Alright, thank you." I slightly bowed to them, they smile back and walk away.

I took out the teeth of the hobgoblin and held them in my hand, there was no space left in the small pouch. According to the miners, it's now morning, I still feel a little bit sleepy, I wouldn't describe the dungeon floor comfortable or recommend that it's suitable for sleeping. It's great that I don't have to work on Sundays, or else I'd have to work for another 11 hours with one lunch break before I can sleep, Miss Mary is rather strict about taking Sundays off, she has her reasons I guess.

After about an hour of walking and avoiding goblins later, I arrived at the exit. The dim, yet refreshing sunlight shines through the archway of the guild building. It really is refreshing.