Suddenly Rurika’s eyes became sharp as knives. Her ears twitched slightly, as if they were trying their best to catch the faintest sounds. “Be as quiet as possible, there is a group of gobins headed towards us from the tunnel we came from. At least five,” she whispered.

I got into a ready stance with spear in hand. In order to make a clean getaway, we needed to make sure no one knew where we were going. Since this particular bunch came to this place the on the same path we had, there was an undeniable chance that they excelled at tracking.

“Wait. There is one more set of footsteps, maybe more.”

“Shit," I curse under my breath. We had been lucky to have only fought against small groups of goblins. This would be the largest group we have encountered so far. To deal with a large amount of those things, it is impossible for just the two of us. “Should we make a run for it? Are you confident in being able to handle most of them?”

I felt as pathetic as I sounded, but facts are facts. I was more of a liability than an asset. So far my only kill was against an opponent that was so afraid of Rurika it stood frozen in fear as I killed it. I had no confidence that I had the skills to fend off numerous assailants. In order to stand a chance, Rurika needed to be comfortable confronting at least four of them.

“It’s too late to make plans. Damn, there is a greater goblin in that group,” said Rurika with gritted teeth.

My eyebrows rose and I uncomfortably shifted the weight of my feet from side to side. This was the first time hearing so much emotion from Rurika. An invisible pressure pressed on my shoulders and my chest tightened like my lungs were being stretched out and tied in a knot.

I didn’t even get a chance to gawk at hearing her swear, because I could already smell the foul body oder of our enemies. An almost nauseating mixture of sweat and rotten meat. A group of five ordinary goblins emerged from the shadows. Behind them was a green muscled figure in a suit of rusty armor. It had to at least be my height. Standing next to the normal goblins, he was a giant compared to his companions. I was almost positive it was a ‘he,’ because there is no way something with a bulge that indiscreet could be female. To top it off, it carried a large axe that was bigger than he was.

The greater goblin rested the behemoth of a weapon on his shoulder, and revealed a row of pointy teeth in a wicked smile. “Looks like we finally caught up! You little monkeys sure know how to run around. I was getting really annoyed chasing you all over the place.”

No way! That goblin just spoke. Apparently being tall wasn't this goblin’s only quality. Compared to the others, this particular goblin had similar qualities as humans. His posture oozed arrogance; while his muscles and scar ridden arms proved that he was a veteran fighter. Only one word popped into my mind when I laid my eyes on him, ‘Powerful.’

“Yuta, keep calm. You handle at least three of the normal ones. Leave that pesky greater goblin to me,” said Rurika as she began to bend her knees in preparation to charge forward. “Fire Lotus!”

Two fist sized lotuses made from flames shot out of Rurika’s palms, and collided into two of the ordinary goblins. Like with past kills, the goblins were goners as soon as they let the attack touch their bodies.

“GRAHHH!”

“YAAAAA! AHHHH!”

Pain filled shrieks shattered the tense atmosphere of the cavern, and two forms collapsed to the ground. Perfect, if she can keep up this sort of momentum, than winning this battle was going to be easy.

Wait… Me deal with three of them?

Since when did she start believing in me so much? A day ago she was mocking me for being incompetent. Damn it, how could she suddenly dump such a heavy task on me? My knees began to buckle at the mere thought of having to take on three goblins at the same time.

“There is no way I can take them on by myself.”

“You have to! If you can't, we may both end up dying here.” She responded, not taking her eyes off of the greater goblin. “At least hold out until I can take out their leader.”

“GRAHHH! How dare you torch my men!”

In a fit of rage, the greater goblin dashed towards us. His disproportionately long legs arched widely with each step, reaching an unbelievable speed. It was more than enough to put an olympic sprinter to shame. The distance between us was covered in a blink of an eye.

“Fire Breath!” shouted Rurika as she spewed a steady stream of fire at her opponent.

Without so much as batting an eyelash, the greater goblin dived to the side, and rolling back into a fighting stance. I gulped at the sight of its fast movements. To be able to evade an attack at almost point blank while moving at top speed, it should have been an impossible feat.

Not slowing down her assault, Rurika craned her neck to redirect the spell. However, the greater goblin kept dodging. The only real positive was that he was continuously moving back away from us. From the looks of it, they were in a stalemate.

Now I understand, it wasn't that Rurika trusted my fighting abilities. She herself wasn't confident in taking down that big guy. I guess the “greater” in greater goblin refers to more than just their height. I couldn't let the remaining goblins disrupt her battle.

“Drunkard’s Breath!” I yelled in aggravation as three goblins bum rushed me.

These three were smarter than average for their kind. All of them began to immediately backpedal at the sight of the purple haze advancing towards them. I used the spell too early. I should have waited for them to get closer. In the end, only one of them breathed in the toxin, and began to stumble around aimlessly.

Protected by the surrounding haze, I ran up to the drunk goblin and impaled it in the neck. For good measure I jabbed it in the chest, but my strength was insufficient as bone prevented the spear tip from advancing. So instead, I did several quick stabs into the goblin's gut.

I guess the other two were not so keen on watching their comrade die, because they rushed forward as soon as the haze finished dispersing. A savage gleam radiated from their small beady eyes and white foam frothed around the edges of their mouths. If looks could kill, I’d have to kiss my life goodbye. This was the first time I had seen such raw hatred.

This was exactly what I had been waiting for. Based on my observations from confronting this race several times, I had a general understanding of them. They strongly resembled soldiers in both lifestyle and mentality. If there is one thing that war movies taught me, it was that no man gets left behind. That’s right, no tried and true soldier would abandon someone who shed tears and blood alongside them. Although it was the opposite of the lore I knew about goblins, I was betting on that strong sense of comradery to cloud their judgement.

“Drunkard’s Breath!”

I waited until the remaining goblins walked so deep into my range that retreat was impossible. Now it was my turn to backpedal. With how fast they were closing in, I was worried that their swords might find their target before the spell took effect.

Sure enough, the unexpected happened. The goblins held their breaths. My eyes widened in shock. my lack of battle experience was finally costing me. I had only learned Drunkard’s Breath recently, and I had no knowledge at what the spell was fully capable of. My eyes squinted as rusted blades came slashing at my stomach and chest.

Although it was risky, I kept using my mana to increase the duration of the spell. This was costing me a ton of mana, but it was all or nothing. Confusion Palm wasn't going to help me in a two versus one situation with my inexperience. The battle turned into a competition to see which would run out first, my mana or the air in the goblin’s lungs.

If a random bystander were to spectate my battle, they would see a pathetic sight. A teenage boy running backwards as fast as his flabby legs would take him, and two green midgets chasing after him while being blsted with purple gas. Talk about sad.

However, it was impossible to keep up. The goblins were gaining on me, and I had no idea how I should fight them. I ended the spell and stopped running; while keeping the point of my spear fixed in the goblins' general direction. Whenever either of them got too close, I did a wide swing to force them away. Peaking to the other side of the cavern I checked to see how Rurika was doing.

At some point, she stopped using Fire Breath, and was keeping a distance as wisps of flames in the shape of birds chased down her opponent. The birds looked so life like it was scary. I could even clearly make out the feathers as they occasionally paused before zooming towards their prey.

When it came to speed, those fire birds matched the real thing. Yet they failed to catch the greater goblin who managed to evade them at the last second each time again. What a monster, there had to be a limit to how skilled that green freak can be. Weren’t goblins supposed to be one of the weakest creatures? This guy is totally broken! The only positive was that he could not wield magic.

I instantly wanted to kick myself for thinking about it. Sure enough, I jinxed it, because right after the already overpowered goblin did something unexpected.

“Acid Orb!”

When the greater goblin had its weight on its front foot to leap away, one of the fire birds changed angles to try and block his way of escape. If nothing went wrong, that fire bird would have burned some rusty armor and green flesh into a mess.

However, to my and Rurika’s surprise, the goblin leader cast a spell. Like the name suggests, a glob of bubbling purple liquid materialized in the air. Once it was completely formed, it shot forward and intercepted the fire bird. There was a sharp sizzling sound as both spells collided into each other. At first the fire bird was burning away the orb, but soon the bird was overwhelmed by the size of the acid orb and was swallowed up as it kept burning the liquid. In the end, both spells ended up neutralizing the other.

The two of them paused after the sudden development. Rurikas was breathing raggedly from the large amount of mana she had used. In contrast, the greater goblin was barely even sweating. This was a bad sign, was he toying with her this entire time?

“Hehe, I must say that you are quite skilled human girl. I have not run into many of your kind that have been able to pressure me like this.”

“You’re a confident one, how do you explain those scars?” retorted Rurika.

On the skin that was not covered in armor, there were various scars of all shapes and sizes. There were even a few old burn marks. It was clear that this guy was wounded by quite a few enemies.

“Curious? Most of them are from battling my own kind. The only scar I received from a human is right here.” Said the greater goblin as he pointed to a tiny scar on the back of his left hand.

A chill ran down my spine. This goblin was a veteran who survived many battles. Those scars were proof of his abilities and trophies of his many victories. How were we supposed to win against something like that? Up until now, Rurika had been unable to even force him to use his magic.

“Now that I can get a better look at you, you are quite the pretty one ain’t ya?” said the greater goblin as he lecherously licked his lips. “If you surrender and become my pet, I will consider letting you live after I've had my fun.”

Anger warped Rurika’s face as her brows knitted together tightly. “Scum!” she shouted as she seemed to be preparing to cast another spell.

“Hmmm, I like hot tempered ones like yourself. I love that look you girls make when you finally mentally break! I’ve decided! You will be my cute little pet, I’m willing to disobey orders for you. Be grateful.”

This was bad, I could see veins bulging from Rurika’s forehead all the way from where I was standing. To top it all off, she was shaking with clenched fists. It seemed that one more word from him, and she would charge him like a mad bull. I wanted to say something to her in order to calm her down, but I was still in the middle of combat myself.

“A scar ridden goblin that can use magic, and a sadistic habit of turning human girls into pets, you are Iftra aren’t you?” asked Rurika in a steely tone.

Iftra? Is that his name? Wait, more importantly, he sounds pretty infamous. Don’t tell me we ran into a super dangerous character! Things kept getting worse and worse.

“Oh? So you have heard of me.” said Iftra with a proud smile.

“Wanted dead or alive for the confirmed murders of thirty two magicians and the disappearances of seventeen young women. You have accrued quite the bounty on your head.” responded Rurika as she changed her fighting stance.

Shit! Why the hell did we have to meet someone like this! This guy is basically a serial killer.

“Why’re you spouting outdated information. The correct numbers are thirty three murdered and eighteen missing. The moment I set my sights on you, your fate was sealed.” mocked Iftra.

It took everything in me not to drop my spear. listening to the greater goblin's words, I could feel my fighting spirit waning. We were in a completely hopeless situation. Something would have to be wrong with my head if I thought we could win this fight. Escaping was our only hope for survival.

Turning my attention back to the goblins, I saw that they were both staring at me in caution. They seemed content in waiting for their leader to come and finish the job. I could not afford to dally, Rurika needs back up if we want even a fraction of a chance. Close combat seemed to be the only solution.

Lunging forward, I managed to graze the gut of one of the goblins with a surprise attack. They were not expecting the cowardly human to suddenly grow a spine. After inflicting some minor damage, I quickly continued to backpedal before the other goblin could reach me.

My goal had been accomplished. The goblin that I had stabbed had unconsciously started to breathe again from the shock of being stabbed. Pain is a phenomenal way to cause a lapse in judgement. So despite the wound not being immediately fatal, the lingering gas from my spell would take care of the rest. Now I only had to deal with one goblin.

“Die!” I screamed as I charged the last goblin.

My spear had a longer range than the sword, and I was betting on this reach advantage. Adding the difference in arm length due to size, I had a great advantage. The only thing I was concerned about was if I could hit a moving target that was not inebriated.

Blood trickled down the shaft of my spear as I stabbed the shoulder of the goblin. In reality I was aiming for the chest, but it dodged at the last second. Luckily it was the shoulder of the arm that was holding onto the sword.

With a clang, the rusty sword slipped out of the goblin’s grip. Fear and panic flooded the face of the short creature. It let out several screeches in desperation. If I had to guess, it was begging for mercy. I recalled the memory of my first kill and hesitated slightly.

Should I let him go? I thought to myself. Maybe I can let him off if I injure his legs.

No, I need to be strong! Mercy was a luxury I could not afford. For whatever reason we were being targeted. To save an enemy was asking for future troubles.

Gripping my spear tighter, I pulled the weapon back in preparation to deal another blow. This time, I aimed for my standard neck stab. To my surprise, the goblin used its bare hand to take the spear point and redirect the blow with a shake of its arms. I guess that that this guy was willing to risk it all for a chance at victory.

I tried to retract the spear and go for another attack, but the bloody grip of the goblin was too strong. Seriously, how can the weakest monsters be stronger than me? Our fight turned into a battle of tug of war. I was glad that no one was around to watch my sorry excuse of a life or death battle. Rurika was too busy trying to gain the upper hand against Iftra to notice how I was doing.

“GRAAAAH!”

With a loud shout, the goblin released the spear as I was tugging. The sudden development caught me off guard, and I began to stumble backwards. As I was falling, the goblin jumped at me with its jaws open wide, revealing sharp and jagged teeth.

This was taking the meaning of fighting tooth and nail a little too literally. The sheer determination to come out on top and live to see another day; as a teenage boy living in Japan I knew nothing about that. However, staring at this monster doing everything and anything possible to win, I was stunned. Never in my seventeen years of life did I witness a scene such as this. Not even all the movies, animes, manga, and books combined had taught me more than this single moment in time. Time seemed to slow down as those two rows of disgusting yellow teeth made their way towards my neck.

I wanted to live. I did not want to die in a place like this. Even if it meant getting my hands dirty.

“Confusion Palm!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs.

I felt my left hand make contact with the soft gut of the goblin. I’m not sure if the spell increased my strength, or the sudden rush of adrenaline, but I actually forced the goblin back. It was like one of those shonen animes where the protagonist launches the bad guy into a wall which shatters on impact. Well that might be a slight exaggeration, but I did force back the goblin that was mere inches from my skin.

Up until this point, I had no hard knowledge of what Confusion Palm did. Looking at the goblin that was doing its best moments ago to kill me, it seemed dazed. There was no clarity in its eyes, and it kept aimlessly looking around, as if trying to figure out who and where he was.

Not passing up this chance, I picked up the spear that I dropped and shoved it into the open mouth of the goblin and jerked up in order to skewer the brain. Blood fell onto my face as I glared angrily at the green body dangling lifelessly like a flag on the end o my spear.

I felt numb to the horrid sight of a corpse near my face. Lowering the spear, I let the clump of meat slide right off. There was a depressing sound as the body made contact with the cold cavern floor, but I couldn't care less.

Without hesitation, I bolted towards the final goblin that was still affected from Drunkard’s Breath. My actions were smooth and fluid, like a well practiced action. The act of driving the spear into the enemy’s throat felt so natural. Shortly after, one more dead goblin slumped down to the ground with a baffled look, still unsure of how it died.

It felt like the fight took forever, but in reality it was not even a five minute fight. In just five minutes I knew I lost something. Whether or not it was important was a question for another day. Right now, Rurika needed my help.