Luke knew that they couldn’t go on with the same method. If the goblins discovered the killing of the first three groups, they should have discovered the fourth squad. That meant that from now on it will get harder and harder to suppress every individual in a group. Most probably there will be more goblins per group or higher leveled ones. Luke checked the quest information, which revealed that he didn’t actually had to kill every goblin, just protect the forest from them. The unlucky part was that he wasn’t sure what area the quest referred with the forest. The lands arounds the Thorn’s propriety were heavily wooded and could be considered part of the same forest. After pondering some more, he decided to rout this group and then see if the quest was completed. If it was, nice. If not, he will decided at that moment.

The only remaining issue was how to annihilate this tribe. Evidently the progressive way he have been doing was not working. The thing is that he couldn’t come up with another way in which he and Steve could kill every goblin without being overwhelmed by numbers.

Later, he realized a way although dangerous. He considered if it was worth the risk, but he couldn’t come to a clear conclusion. However he believed that he didn’t have another choice: if he didn’t take care of the goblins today, they would be a lot better prepared the next time.

The plan was simple: attack a group causing a ruckus and slip off before reinforcements arrive. Luke believed that the ability to sense tribesmen death shouldn't be too common or he wouldn’t have had time to retreat after each kill. It should be a special ability of the boss or one of its close subordinates. So if he could to eliminate the porter of such a skill, he will be able to take his time with the rest of the goblins.

Remembering the fighting prowess of goblins leaders, he decided to put himself in a hard to reach place to have more time to fire Magic Bolt. Steve was pretty silent. They have agreed (after much discussion, or what passes as one when you can’t speak) that the young wolf wouldn’t be part of the fight. The reasons were simple, they needed at least one goblin to escape to tell the tale and no tactical mind would deliver information about his full strength in a silver platter. So they had to keep something to themselves. They couldn’t hide Luke nor his primary way of fighting (he had no chance against a squad of goblin soldiers without Magic Bolt) so the only way was to hide Steve.

Before the goblins arrived, Luke made sure to connect with the tree he climbed. It wasn't probable that this tree would help, but the notification said that the amount of conscience depended on how long ago the being was awakened not when the user connected to them. So Luke could only hope for the best.

Soon, a new challenger showed up. It was formed by two normal soldiers, one archer, one shaman and two captains. The extra enhanced goblin suggested that they were getting more troops involved. This was good and bad for the invading duo. Good because there should be less soldiers near the boss. The bad was obvious, more goblins chasing them meant more chances of being discovered and more danger.

Luke was ready, when the group was some ten meters away he fired the five shots he could with a similar configuration than the last encounter: two to the shaman (the trial he did before proved that it was enough), one to the archer and the last two to the same improved goblin. Then he went around the trunk of the tree to wait the cooldown of magic bolt renewing the camouflage enchantment when the goblins lost sight of him for a few seconds. Ten seconds later, with two shots prepared, he went back around and found the leaders searching for him (at least the healthy one was, the other looked pretty pale, barely able to move), just below his branch. The other two goblins had run off toward the center of their base. He signaled to Steve that he could now take part (the leaders shouldn't survive and the normals had already left). Then he killed the uninjured captain by firing the two Magic Bolts, finishing by jumping down the tree and landing on its head. The one on death's door was easily disposed by blackie with his now normal method: sneak attacking directly towards the enemy throat with bloody but effective results.

After the win they took off in a prearranged direction. They didn't go forward to enter the settlement, they first went a hundred meters or so to the side. The objective was avoiding as many patrols as possible.

Unfortunately it didn't work out. Just after the first step toward the goblin’s encampment, they collided with three goblins. Two taller goblins and shaman widened their eyes when the camouflage wore off due to the physical contact. Luke was only able to fired once, a wild shot that barely grazed the shaman but seemed to do more damage than the wound would suggest. This time, Steve wasn't able to wait for the perfect occasion, he had to deliver a fast first strike. If they had any saving grace was that their reaction speed was considerably faster that the grey skinned monster. Steve couldn't make the perfect strike, but he did attack the correct spot: he tore into the calf of one of the leaders before running into some nearby bushes to sneak around.

The goblins took a moment longer than the duo but weren't slow. Both captains tried to advance in Luke’s direction and attack, however only one could reach before Luke could retreat. The other had been severely crippled by the wolf bite. That goblin couldn't stand up and was resting the injured leg on its knee. The shaman appeared to put itself together and started chanting while making hand gestures.

Luke was having a hard time in the melee again. Nonetheless this time he was noticeably less flustered. He had studied what he could have done on the previous battle realizing his mistake. He was no warrior, his ‘build' was almost exclusively oriented toward mage. He did have high stats all across the board but his primary attribute was Intelligence not Strength. So this time he adopted a more defensive approach, trying to keep some distance with his staff while looked for an opportunity to cast Magic Bolt. He also checked periodically what was the shaman doing. The fact that the spell took so long to cast was worrying Luke.

He’s effort paid off as the enhanced goblin put too much strength into a sword strike allowing Luke to destabilize the goblin and fire his skill once through the enemy right eye. Enjoying the victory, he forgot about the wounded goblin, who tackle Luke to the ground. He found it strange (the goblin wasn't holding anything that could be used as a weapon). It seemed that it only wanted to keep him in place. Suddenly, he realized that the shaman was slowing its movements like he was finishing casting. Finally Luke understood: the captain was sacrificing its life to give the magic user the chance to kill Luke.

He tried to cast Magic Bolt but the goblin on top of him didn't let him concentrate long enough for that. Again, Luke was saved by his companion, Steve hadn't run too far. He saw that his human was coping fairly well with the healthy goblin and decided to sneak to the shaman. He knew that he wouldn't be allowed to stealthily attack the enemy mage again, so he waited until the goblin’s full attention was on the spell and Luke. Then, he bit viciously into its thigh, disrupting it's concentrating and creating a backlash that paralyzed the creature for several seconds. Afterwards, Steve calmly took its life.

With the shaman not being a issue anymore, Luke recovered his wit, freed himself from the goblin clutches and killed it with his staff.

Looking around he didn't spot any clue of more goblin and moved in the direction of the goblin’s base (not before rubbing Steve head for a job well done).