Edwin scrambled backwards, narrowly avoiding the axe blade that whistled past his face. He managed not to trip and fall on the scorched ground and regained his footing just in time to evade a second swipe. The fight had barely begun, and Edwin was already on the back foot.

Against the goblins, Edwin had enjoyed an advantage in reach. Against the hob with its grotesquely long arms and the woodcutting axe, the situation was reversed. Even worse, the speed with which the heavy axe head flew through the air left no hope in Edwin’s mind that his shield would survive even a single meeting with the weapon. It was the first time he was fighting a foe like this, and he had no clue how to counter the sweeping strikes before he ran out of space to fall back to. What made the situation even worse were the two shielded goblin minions that were flanking him, constantly trying to get into his blind spot. Edwin dodged another swipe of the axe and kicked out towards the goblin on his right, hitting the creature’s shield and tossing it on its back.

He had to come up with a plan, and fast.

Again, the axe whooshed towards him, and again he backpedaled, thinking furiously. The long arms gave the axe a lot of leverage, which, combined with the inhuman strength of the creature, made its attacks disturbingly powerful. On the other hand, the axe had to travel quite a distance from the beginning of the swing to the end before the hobgoblin could attack again. Its strength allowed it to do so quickly, but the movement was predictable which made it easy to evade as long as he kept backing out of its range.

The problem was that it kept Edwin too far away to close the distance before the hobgoblin would swing again.

The goblin on the left apparently interpreted Edwin’s deliberations as distraction and charged him, shield up and hatchet swinging. In its eagerness, it had moved just a little too far from the hobgoblin, however.

Edwin jumped towards it, catching the hatchet on his shield before he buried the monster under his bulk. He immediately rolled to the side, meeting the goblin’s wide eyes moments before the hob’s axe whistled through the space Edwin had just occupied in a heavy overhead swing. Not finding the adventurer’s back, it continued on through the goblin’s shield, the goblin’s wooden breastplate and the goblin, until it finally burrowed deeply into the soft earth.

Edwin didn’t lose any time admiring the halved monster. He leveraged his entire body to throw himself forwards as quickly as he could from his prone position, letting go of his mace and plunging his right hand into the bloody rift. For a moment, he thought he’d been too slow. Then, his questing fingers found the cold, straight lines of the sharpened block of steel and clamped around it like a vise.

The hobgoblin’s eyes narrowed and its muscles bulged. Instead of fighting it, Edwin simply held on for dear life as the creature tried to yank its weapon from his grip. It pulled, and both axe and adventurer skidded along the ground towards it.

Edwin let himself be hauled right up to the monster’s legs in one big pull, then let go of the axe and jumped to his feet, looking up to the hobgoblin’s ugly face. It seemed surprised by the pesky adventurer’s persistence, but the fact that an unarmed foe had reached it didn’t seem to worry the creature. Edwin intended to correct this misconception.

It stepped back and swung the axe again, but this time Edwin simple stepped after it to stay close and launched a strike with his shield arm. The edge impacted the hob’s malformed biceps, and its lower arm and axe handle harmlessly clattered against the shield, the steel blade finding only air. Edwin grabbed at his belt, intent on pulling his dagger and disemboweling the ugly creature in front of him, but the hobgoblin caught his right hand with its left. For a moment, it seemed like they were in a tie – then pain blossomed in Edwin’s back.

The second goblin had caught up with his erratic movements and had slammed its spiked club into his rear. Edwin kicked out like a mule, but only clipped the monster’s shield.

Meanwhile, the hobgoblin had given up on using its axe and dropped it. Suddenly, Edwin was in trouble again. Against the goblins, his shield had been a boon. Now, he only had one free hand while grappling with a monster, but as it was secured to his arm with two leather straps, he had no way of getting rid of it quickly. Instead, he pushed it against the hob’s right shoulder, preventing it from bringing the arm to bear against his body. That only left its other hand – or so he thought. The hob’s head flashed towards his face, and Edwin reflexively jerked his head to the side. Pain flashed through his body as the monster’s long, needle-like teeth bit into his shoulder, barely missing his throat.

Edwin screamed in pain and anger. The teeth ground against his bones as the creature tried to tear off a part of him, but it struggled with his enhanced physique. Edwin, on the other hand, was done struggling. The agony of the bite had jolted him, allowing his right hand to pull free. He pulled his dagger from its sheath and buried it in the monster’s abdomen, savagely ripping it sideways. The hobgoblin let out a muffled scream, finally pulling its fangs from his shoulder as it staggered back. It grabbed his arm again, but this time the angle was bad, and a quick turn of his elbow freed it.

To keep the hobgoblin off balance, Edwin delivered a powerful kick to its knee, the misshapen leg buckling when it couldn’t hold the weight any longer. The monster fell sideways, instinctively using its hands to break the fall. It was only distracted for a moment, but that was enough. Edwin’s dagger slammed into its eye, toppling it backwards. He had expected that to be it, but the creature was still alive, scrabbling to get back up as it moaned in pain, its single remaining eye burning with agony and malice.

An icy hatred ran through Edwin’s veins, and he placed a foot against the hobgoblin’s chest, pushing it back down. Its clawed hands tore at his leg, but Edwin calmly raised placed his right hand on the top of his shield, reinforcing it, and smashed it down at the monster’s neck. Then he raised it and did it again. And again. On the third strike he finally felt something crack, and the hobgoblin stopped moving.

Edwin staggered backwards as his rage ran out, his vision expanding. He had gotten carried away again. Remembering the second shielded goblin, he whirled around – and came face to face with his shocked companions. The goblins were all dead, the second armored minion lying face down just behind Edwin with a crossbow bolt in the back of its head.

Edwin’s teammates had stopped a few steps away from the dead hob, looking at him with trepidation.

“You okay?” Leodin finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Now I am.” Edwin replied, rolling his shoulder. His healing was already numbing the pain, which caused a tingling feeling. “How about you?”

His party was looking considerably worse for wear. Bordan didn’t seem to have any injuries, but his chest was rising and falling like bellows and sweat was dropping down his nose and chin as he leaned heavily on his spear. Salissa’s face had the ashen complexion of mana depletion, the girl barely keeping on her feet. Leodin was the least exhausted, but blood ran from several tears in his tunic, forming dark stains that slowly expanded.

“Never mind.” Edwin said, the last remnants of his battle trance evaporating like mist in the summer sun as he stepped over the downed goblin and quickly walked towards his friends. “How about you guys sit down for a minute. Leodin, come here and let me look at that.”