Chapter 45: Easy Pickings

The darkness was also a benefit to Karl, as he could hear the Goblins running into various things around town, where the lights in the houses had been broken or turned off. They might have a sneaky dart gun, but if they couldn't see him, then it wouldn't really matter what sort of weapons they had, they wouldn't be able to hit him. With that in mind, Karl shifted into the shadows of an alcove and waited for more Goblins to be attracted by the noise and the smell of blood. He could hear Hawk hunting in the distance, the short shrieks of Goblins as they were assaulted from above, cut off before they could get a full word out, but Hawk's narration said that he was still high in the sky, using the dark to his advantage while attacking down into the fog. The Goblin tribe didn't stand a chance tonight, and they were so easy for him to kill that Hawk was barely trying, just using multiples of very low powered attacks to eliminate the pests without tiring himself. Bird type monsters were the reason that Goblins lived in caves, and they had no real way to deal with an irate bird whose territory they had invaded. They could only wait for it to swoop, or run and hide until it calmed down. Another pair of magic missiles from Dana took out two more Goblins on the edge of the central square, while Karl saw another scurry into the corner by a set of stairs. It had seen its comrades fall, but couldn't see the attacker, so it was hiding and waiting for its chance. He couldn't afford to let it warn the others, so Karl crept up to the stairs and then tossed himself into the air using the railing so he could see down at the hiding Goblin. The height shocked him. Karl wasn't really used to the additional strength of his body, and he had thrown himself nearly three metres in the air, but it gave him a good view of the target, and his [Rend] took it out with ease. Then Karl caught the edge of the roof beside him to slow his fall, and carefully dropped to the ground, limiting the noise he made on the sidewalk. The soft thump didn't seem like it would carry far, and Karl returned to the shadows in front of the government building to wait for more Goblins to approach. Their eyesight might be terrible, but their hearing and sense of smell weren't, so they had to know something was up by now. The stench of Goblin blood was all that Karl could smell, and he didn't even have any on him. Then, the sound of bare feet slapping on the concrete as they ran in his direction caught Karl's attention. There was a larger group coming for them, and as they reached the square, they started to shout, calling for reinforcements as they searched for the culprit. Karl stepped out into the street and cut down two of the closest Goblins from a block away, where they were barely visible through the fog, even to his eyes. Dana hadn't started firing magic missiles yet, so she probably couldn't see them, but the Goblins understood which direction they were under attack from and turned to run toward Karl, waving rusty blades and clubs as they screamed. Swinging his arm in a wide arc, Karl sent out a three-metre wide quartet of attacks which scattered the Goblins, with some leaping to the side, some dropping to the ground, and an unfortunate few being torn to shreds. That made them stationary targets as the first Magic Missiles hit them, and Karl picked off a few more with smaller attacks that would be harder to see in the dark. More bare feet were running toward them in the fog, and a shrill screech of Hawk hunting came from overhead as he followed his targets back toward Karl. It took a moment to activate Rend, and Karl couldn't do it as fast as Hawk could, but for a moment, the Goblins were held at bay, creating a mess of bodies in the middle of town, and covering the blood in black blood that stunk of rot and metal. Then, the Goblins were too close for Karl to keep them away with Rend, and he decided to switch tactics. He drew his blade and chopped at the closest one, breaking its arm and knocking its crude wooden shield aside before the blade cut deep into its neck. Dana focused on the Goblins closest to him, keeping them from surrounding or bypassing Karl and heading for her, while Hawk worked his way in from the back. It was impossible to tell how many were left in the fog as Karl traded blows with three more Goblins, trying to get an attack in without leaving himself open. They were surprisingly strong for their size, but not strong enough to be called Awakened Monsters, as they were learning as they failed to stop Karl's counterattack. A wave of sword light in the form of [Rend] sliced through the Goblins in front of him, giving Karl some breathing space, but the larger attacks were hard on his stamina, and he wouldn't be able to do that too many more times. Instead, he retreated toward the government building, using smaller Rend attacks as he went, and the Goblin pack began to falter. "I can't keep this up." Dana warned from the window above him as Karl reached the door to the building. "That's fine, you don't need to. Lock the window and take a break, I will defend the doorway while Hawk works outside. I think he has a bit more in him." Karl wheezed, winded from the exertion of fighting a larger Goblin pack. [I have been going easy on them, small attacks is all it takes, and they're too dumb to fight back.] Hawk gloated. [Just keep it up and get rid of the rest. Don't let them find a way into this building.]