Eldrin looked up suddenly.
"Follow me."
They followed Eldrin into a denser part of the forest where the ground reeked of blood.
Below, in a ruined village, a full goblin settlement sprawled.
Eldrin pointed.
"All of you. Team up. Defeat every goblin."
Everyone stared in disbelief.
"There are too many!"
"Arin's exhausted after the Orc Leader fight—!"
Eldrin smacked all of them on the head.
"If you can't defeat these, you'll never survive the real thing"
Go."
The first wave fell easily.
Arin shrugged. "This wasn't even a warm-up."
A massive shadow fell over them.
A Hobgoblin emerged.
"Just a bigger goblin," Sharo said.
"Nothing we can't handle"
A single massive hand crushed the Hobgoblin.
Everyone felt the blood drain from their faces.
Because behind it…
A goblin twice its size, with a crown of bone and muscle, stepped out.
A Goblin King.
They froze.
Sharo clenched his jaw.
Seeing no way to win head-on, he raised his staff
"Sand Storm!"
The Goblin King roared as swirling dust blinded him.
"RUN!" he screamed.
They ran.
And kept running.
Hours passed.
Their lungs burned.
Their legs felt like stone.
At last, the Goblin King's steps slowed.
Its breath grew heavy.
"Now!" Arin shouted.
They struck together—
slashes, spells, blades, and arrows pouring into its weakened body—
until the massive beast fell.
They collapsed in exhaustion.
Eldrin walked up slowly, unimpressed.
"Dinner revoked."
They groaned in despair.
For the first time in a long while, Eldrin allowed himself to relax. They ate, danced, and joked through the entire night, letting the flames of the bonfire chase away the memories of blood and death.
But dawn came too quickly.
After waking, the group packed their belongings. They loaded the fallen warriors onto the carriage along with their gear, preparing for the journey back to Klorade. The morning felt peaceful.
Too peaceful.
That was when it hit.
A suffocating aura spread across the camp like a dark wave.
An invisible pressure crashed onto them—so heavy that Arin and the others couldn't even lift a finger. Their knees buckled. Their breaths trembled.