It was frantic. It was way too frantic to tell what will happen. Gob stood alone with his fist in the air. The goblins were restless.

“He beat him!”

“Spinecrack dead!”

The Elder didn’t care about the outcome anymore. He knew Shadowstep well enough. He didn’t take any risks. Never. Which in turn meant that the girl was alive. He will get this chip first.

Nozgu has failed. Gob will learn about the pit and so he will become dangerous. The only barrier keeping the tribe's secrets were the foolish gobs and meathead hobs. Gob will need to die or adapt.

He looked at the goblin in question while he himself hurried towards the nearest exit. This fool will not stop here. He will go and see just how much power he can gather. The Elder didn’t need them both.

It was either Gob or Nozgu. Both bad in their own respective way. With this thoughts Elder goblin rushed the exit. There were no guards at the post. Everyone must have gathered to see the fight. Fools.

He will take the girl and force the outcome of an upcoming fight.

Neither Nozgu nor Gob would win. He would. As he ran towards the barricade an unpleasant feeling stopped him in his tracks. It was the feeling of his body being cleanly cut in half by the sword.

The paladin walked over the corpse of the Elder and entered the tribe. His armor was sprayed with the blood of the barricade sentries.

It didn’t matter if he will find Hestia or her corpse. He already chose to slay them all. He was about to enter the caverns when he heard the goblin commotion deeper in the pit.

 

~

 

Nozgu was furious. His plan failed. Gob was alive. His right arm was crushed, but it was it. He won against all odds. Nozgu wasn’t sure what Gob did in the end, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was the outcome.

Frustrated he looked around, but he didn’t see the Elder anywhere. Where did this fool go? He was supposed to help kill the nuisance. Gob was on the path of becoming an important leader of the goblins.

They would follow him rather than hobgoblins that barely worked and took all their stuff. Gob was smart. He would never openly go against the Hob war chief they created. They needed the goblins. Namely they needed the bodies.

The pit was restless. Its miazma was slowly converting to the poison they gathered. They wouldn’t survive without this poison. They needed to give other tribes something of use.

Goblins couldn’t craft. They barely could hunt for their own food. They needed more women. They needed the humans to give them women.

And humans only wanted the tar. They taught the Old Shaman the ceremony. They gave the Elder the means of captivating hobs. They gave them power. The power Nozgu craved for.

He jumped down from his throne. He will do it himself.

Gob looked at Nozgu walking towards him. He will leave them all behind to rot. All those goblins and hobs. He didn’t need them. Neither the Elder, nor the Shaman. He was strong. It was all he needed to prove. He was smart. It was all he wanted to be.

Approaching Shaman raised his staff and focused on Gob. He felt the pain in his body, but he didn’t fall down like Nozgu would expect. He instead slowly licked hobgoblins blood of his dagger taunting him.

“Why are you mad? Was I supposed to die?!”

The feeling of pain continued yet Gob didn’t bother to move. He could see the truth. Nozgu was a goblin chosen by the embers. He was a sick little goblin before, and he certainly wasn’t better now.

Gob could feel the power that Nozgu kept throwing at him. He was simply pushing his mana at Gob, which was harmful to them both. He did use the staff…

“All magical equipment would either be covered in the runes or have a strong catalyst in its core, like a crystal or a rare mineral.”

...Nozgu’s staff had neither. As Gob was focusing on the mana in his own body Nozgu’s face kept turning more and more pale.

It took a few seconds to determine the victor. As Nozgu’s attack dispelled into Ether Gob took a step back. He was breathing hard, yet he didn’t fall down. He wouldn’t give Nozgu any satisfaction.

“It seems...”

He started to taunt the Shaman, but a loud noise turned their attention. Nozgu somehow became even more pale. Gob stopped breathing. As the army of goblins rushed towards the intruder a slight pale light entered their vision.

Nozgu was the one to get hit first. He flew into the air and then deep into the abyss of the pit.

Gob rolled onto the ground. His dagger in his left hand. Terrible pain moved through his crushed arm, but it was nothing compared to the horror he saw.

The human in a shiny white armor, ornamented with gold and silver, went through the tribe’s arena. Each goblin that was near him was obliterated in a blink. Gob only saw the faint light of the blade and a staggering amounts of goblin corpses.

Over the years Gob saw many gruesome deaths of his kin, but it was never like this.

Goblin bodies were decimated. They were cut like leaves falling from the tree. Their weapons. Their meat and bones. Nothing except for the blood could reach the human.

 

What was it? Why?

 

He killed everyone by himself? How?

 

Was he not damaged? Was he not tired?

 

What was this?

 

Suddenly he felt that he was shaking. The human looked at him and slowly made his way towards him. Most goblins escaped. All the hobs escaped. Unlucky few were hacked just like the rest.

The human swung his sword when he was a few meters away. A strip of pale white light, the same that pushed Nozgu to his doom engulfed Gob, but only for a second. Then it went away with a slight smell of something that wasn’t quite the Ether.

“Surprising.”

The human muttered as he reached the trembling goblin and raised his sword.

Gob didn’t know what to do. In his panicked state he turned towards his dumb luck and shouted atop of his lungs.

 

“Hestia!!!”

 

The sword never came down. Gob looked at the human searching for any sign of mercy. The paladin slowly removed his helmet. His face was twisted. His eyes were cold. The mask of pain and anger welcomed Gob’s shout.

 

“Where?”

 

He asked while violently stepping on Gobs left hand, instantly breaking it. He looked at the goblin wriggling in pain on the ground. He could barely hear the voice of the creature as he made sure to painfully break all of his finger bones.

Through the tears and cries Gob conveyed the location of Hestia. His reward ended up being a devastating kick in the ribcage.

Oliver, Paladin of the highest order of the Dawn slowly approached the goblin who flew quite the distance away.

“Wonderfully. Guide me then my child. She surely is waiting for me.”