The moment the explosion hit the front door, illuminating the interior in a flash, Erwin rushed to hide.
The closest place to him was behind the throne.
"Damn it. As far from the closest exit as possible."
He lifted his head a little to peek from his hiding spot. The goblin shaman and his hulking bodyguard entered inside, knocking jewelry towers and searching the surroundings as they did.
"Show up, and The Mighty Chief-Shaman Tun Red-Eye will kill you fast." The goblin shaman repeated, his voice getting louder and louder.
"So, they don't know where exactly I am."
But one answer opened a path to many questions.
"Did he become aware of my existence when I entered the village? No, couldn't be, they only moved when I entered the hut."
Erwin glanced at the jewelry piles.
From what he observed, goblins had greed much like humans, and if they valued jewels, an attempt at stealing from their chief could happen.
Was there a magic of sorts?
"Beyond that, the giant, look at that thing, barely able to move, half-bent, and slow. Wait?" Erwin smiled.
That hulking body worked actively against the goblin giant as he tried to avoid damaging the hut.
And the Shaman acted confident and carefree, yet always walked behind his bodyguard, never taking the initiative in the search.
Erwin looked at his hatchet. "Can I land a decent strike if I throw it?"
For a second, his mind went back to the past.
To a loud, warm, smelly bar.
To a time of a short-lived cease-fire, where he found some time to rest.
"You got this, captain!"
"A little up, just a little up next time!"
"If you can't hit the target, aim the next one at the bastard's smug face!"
Screams of his excited colleagues filled his mind, and the specter of an axe-throwing ring appeared before him.
Next to him, a guy slightly taller than him was looking smug with a throwing axe in his hand.
"Second Lieutenant James Pechman, my right arm, and best friend."
"Oh, shut up, you assholes, you are getting your free drinks either way." Pechman turned to Erwin. "Say, captain, brought enough cash? They don't take cards here."
Erwin smiled. It was a warm memory, but it wasn't the time for it.
"After losing, I got lessons from him for two weeks. Shame war reignited before we had our rematch." Erwin spun the hatchet in his hand and peeked at the Shaman. "Distance, turns, heart, as he told me. Hope you were as good a teacher as you were an axe thrower, Pechman."
Erwin rushed out of his cover.
"There!" Shaman shouted and aimed his staff at Erwin.
The crystal at the tip began gathering power, glowing brighter by the second and drawing something from the environment.
But it was far too late. Erwin, prepared, threw the hatchet with all his might.
As the weapon flew forward, ripping the air as it did, the Shaman's staff reached the apex.
For a moment, everything stopped for Erwin.
The blue glow from the Shaman's staff, the panicked bodyguard, who just put a dent in the roof as it tried to rush forward.
And the hatchet whose blade reflected the magical light.
Would his attack land? Would the magic kill him? Could he outrun the enraged giant?
Erwin smiled, like he hadn't done in a long time.
The moment before magic was fired, the hatchet landed on the Shaman's shoulder, knocking him away.
Unbalanced and in pain, the Shaman misfired his spell. The blue glowing projectile moved past Erwin and hit the roof of his hut.
The explosion opened a hole the size of a semi-truck.
Using the smokescreen from snow fallen from the crumbling roof and dust from the rubble, Erwin rushed towards the Shaman, drawing his pocket knife on the way.
The giant braced himself, his eyes laser-focused on the smoke before him, but the moment he saw Erwin rush out, with the pocket knife aimed at the Shaman, he stopped himself, acting as if to throw the blade.
The giant quickly leaped before the Shaman; his massive size made him a wall of flesh that offered no opening.
At that moment, Erwin diverted away from them and rushed outside from the window he had entered.
"Idiot! He bluffed! Attack!" The Shaman's voice echoed from the crumbling building.
The giant struggled to move, unsure, but when the Shaman screamed a second time, it listened.
Erwin watched as the giant crashed through the hut's wall as if it were made from paper.
After him, the Shaman followed, pouring a green liquid into his wound from a vial.
Shocked goblins stopped what they were doing.
An intruder, their chief Shaman wounded, and the beast enraged.
Should they intervene, or keep doing what they were doing? Confused as much as angered, goblins looked for an order.
"Idiots! Leave him to us, go, kill fire! Kill fire before the demon comes!"
With the order, goblins rushed back to their jobs.
"Good. I can win in these conditions."
Hobgoblins and goblins were busy with fire, and the Shaman was wounded.
Still, he had a huge, raging problem.
A problem now unrestrained by the closed space.
"Time to see which one of us has better endurance."
Erwin rushed to the maze of smaller huts where other tribe residents stayed.
Dozens of them stood irregularly, giving him enough cover and a playground.
But they mattered not to the giant, as it bulldozed through them, trying to find and reach Erwin as fast as it could.
That came with its problems for the raging beast.
He frequently fell into the holes where goblins lived and had to pull himself out.
But it didn't mean things were easy for Erwin.
"Almost twice as fast as me." He quickly ducked as a chunk of debris the size of his chest flew over his head. "And that thing knows how to throw things around."
It wasn't an easy chase for either of them.
Erwin used huts to put distance between them, but as the giant kept destroying them, his options grew thin.
And every projectile the giant threw was a centimeter closer to Erwin.
Erwin was panting. "Damn it." He took another breath, wiping sweat off his forehead. "I am not as athletic as I used to be." He then turned around and glanced at his pursuer.
The giant's legs were bleeding from sharp objects stuck on them, and cuts from debris; his movements were becoming irregular, as the pain made it hard for him to move, but he wasn't stopping.
"Barely slowed down. One tough bastard you are!" Erwin increased his speed.
His lungs burned from the cold air, and his heart beat as it tried to rip itself from his chest.
But he was determined to be the victor of this contest of endurance.
So he hoped.
But his luck ran out.
The enraged giant swung his arms forward once more, sending a wave of debris flying at Erwin.
Erwin kept his cool, trying to dodge and hide from the attack. Yet there was nowhere left to run.
"Shit, dozens of huts, already all demolished."
He accepted the situation and lunged down, covering his head.
The rubble flew past him, but that was the last of his concern.
Erwin got up, only to see the charging beast right next to him. With no chance to escape, he braced himself.
"Come!" He shouted as the giant grabbed him with both hands.
The giant replied with a roar of his own as he began crushing Erwin.
"Can't breathe, my ribs…" Erwin quickly drew his pocket knife and stabbed the giant's arm, aiming at a bulging vein.
The giant screamed in pain as he pulled his wounded hand away.
In a fit of rage, he threw Erwin towards the wooden walls.
"Need to brace for the impact."
Flying, Erwin had a moment to catch his breath and look at his surroundings. He heard the goblin giant's roar, the screams of the town's residents, saw the settlement completely flattened, and finally heard a loud screech right before impact.
When he hit the wooden wall, all the air left his lungs, leaving Erwin gasping for breath, his ears ringing and his vision blurred.
Struggling, he tried to get up.
He slipped and fell.
He tried again.
His arms gave up, and he fell again.
"Damn me for forgetting this body can't function as it once did. I lost."
But despite cries in his mind, he tried again, stumbling, taking support from the wall behind, all while trying to catch his breath.
All the while, the giant approached him. He, too, was tired, and for some reason, his eyes kept drifting from him to the sky, but overall, he was in much better condition.
Erwin felt warmth on his lips, wiped it with his hand, and looked down to see fresh red stains.
He chuckled. "Not good news."
He then glanced at the wall behind him.
"Don't think I can climb it now."
He had no weapons, and the monstrous brute approached him fast.
Erwin stepped forward and roared. "Come, let's end this now!"
The goblin replied with a roar of his own.
But a deafening screech suppressed it all.
Everyone, from goblins to Erwin, all looked at the sky.
A black patch was flying above the village, blocking the moonlight and stars.
"What…"
Before Erwin finished his sentence, the Shaman shouted. "Demon-Bird! Kill! Kill!" Without hesitation or aiming, he lifted his staff and fired it to the sky.
When blue light moved past the black patch, it momentarily illuminated the beast flying above.
Gray feathers shaped like long blades, a beak like a crab's crushing claw, and glossy, silver claws the size of a man's arm.
"So, that's what they were so scared of." Erwin looked at the giant, who had left him, and rushed towards the Shaman, grabbing a piece of debris from the ground and launching it into the sky, on his way.
Erwin watched the panic in the goblins' eyes. They left the fire alone, rushing to the nearest cover, some to the holes of their huts, some directly to the forest.
The giant, left alone to protect his master, prepared to fend off the flying monster as it descended, roaring and drumming his chest.
"Now, or never."
He looked around till he spotted a shed with, now mostly broken, tools.
He made his way there, stumbling and stopping for a breath.
Once there, he searched through the rubble till he found a hoe. "Enough for the job." He mumbled, looking at the occupied Shaman.
The duo was desperate to stop the bird, but the beast cared not.
The so-called Demon-bird shrugged off the rubble thrown by the giant and avoided the magic attacks from the Shaman.
Once close enough, it charged at the giant.
The giant, scared but ever loyal, stood his guard and waited for the Demon-bird to approach before punching it in the head.
Despite his shaky posture and tiredness, his log-like arms dealt a blow strong enough to throw the bird away.
But the monster, once it got back on its feet, shrugged it off like it didn't happen and charged in once more.
This time, it kicked the giant with its massive claws, easily piercing its target's skin and pinning it down.
Even on the ground, the giant roared and struggled. Desperately, it even managed to land another punch.
But the Demon-bird just took the punch head-on before biting the giant.
Its massive beak quickly pierced the flesh, shattered the bones, and with one head movement, it ripped the giant's upper torso away from his body.
The Shaman, in fear, was preparing one last spell, its staff charging.
"I will kill it. Yes, kill it, then make a bigger tribe from eating its flesh!"
He mumbled, trying to be confident.
But his body said the reverse: limp legs, shaking hands, eyes barely able to stay open. Even the speed he gathered energy to his staff slowed.
"No, this is the end," Erwin said, lunging forward, smashing the hoe down on the Shaman's head, splitting his skull.
And when the Shaman fell to the ground, eyes trembling, blood bursting from his forehead, Erwin locked eyes with the goblin for a moment.
With shaky hands, he pulled the hoe out and slammed it once more to finally end the life of the Shaman, quickly moving to grab his staff before it fired its stored energy.
Erwin aimed the magical tool at the bird, the Shaman's hand still grabbing on its handle.
A second later, the magic attack was fired.
The blue projectile landed on the Demon-bird's face, creating a blinding explosion.
Before any reaction arrived, Erwin pried the Shaman's hand off the staff and rushed into the half-destroyed central hut.
On his way, he managed to get a single glance at the bird.
Half its face was fried, its eye charred, and the skin around it gone, revealing the muscle underneath; its beak was covered in cracks, with some parts destroyed.
Erwin quickly fled the scene, taking cover behind rubble.
He didn't even peek at the monstrous bird.
The loud stomps and shaking of the ground, as well as the deafening screeches, were good enough indicators of what it was up to.
"I need to find somewhere to hide before that thing manages to recover."
Half the building was already under the rubble.
But what remained offered better protection than the flattened village.
Yet there was one secure location. Hidden under the carpets, a personal burrow for the Shaman, its core design nearly the same as the ones of regular goblins, just reinforced with wood planks, and even boasting a pillow for comfort.
"Of course, he has a luxury bunker."
Erwin rushed to the burrow. He barely fit, but didn't complain.
It was better than getting exposed to whatever was happening outside.