Dodak was prepared. He had made a temporary belt using cloth from the bedsheets of the wards, allowing quick access to his daggers which were stashed around his waist. He had also fashioned new equipment using the metal trays for carrying medicines and tourniquets, creating makeshift armour for his arms that could also double up as a shield. With this, Dodak was ready to hunt down and capture some goblins.
Dodak ventured towards the third floor, where Kim Harin had advised that there would be a few rogue goblins. As he climbed up the stairs, he noted areas where he could run and avoid the goblins if needed. The upper levels of the medical faculty were like a maze, with many twists and turns and doors and forks. It was confusing, even for Dodak.
He unsheathed one of his daggers and carved an incision on the wall, hoping that it would help him find his way back in the event that he got lost.
Advancing further in, he noted to himself to make as little noise as possible. He was going on the offensive this time, not the defensive. He needed to be stealthy to make the first move matter. As he silently crept forward, he heard commotions coming from a room on his left. Advancing nearer to the door, he eavesdropped on the commotion.
"Argh, argh argh."
"Argh! Argh!"
"Argh?"
Obviously, he did not understand a single thing the goblins were talking about. Peeking in, he tried to count the number of goblins inside. He saw three of them in a circle, with two of them listening to the one with a more aggressive tone. One of the goblins was crying as it rubbed its eyes, like a human child but significantly uglier. In the back, a goblin mage and another goblin were sorting items. They were packing watches, jewelry and coins. They were just like what fiction described them - shiny object lovers. Straining his eyes, Dodak realised that the mage was constantly wiping his nose, presumably from mucus dripping out.
Spotting a stray coin on the floor, likely from a murdered person, Dodak hatched an idea. Going straight into the room would be suicide. There was no way he would be able to take on 4 goblins and a mage in an enclosed space. However, there was a slight chance a mage might be easier to deal with in smaller spaces. If it was smart enough to care about its teammates, the range of its blasts would be significantly reduced. There was also the possibility that the mage did not care about its teammates at all, releasing a blast that would incinerate everyone in the room. Dodak had to take the chance that the goblin mage had a slight bit of empathy.
He coated the coin with poison, hoping that the goblins would pick it up. Hiding in a corner, he threw the coin, loud enough to make a rattle but gentle enough so that they would not take it as a threat.
The commotion within the room stopped as the coin landed on the ground, rattling and shaking as it came to a stop.
"Argh?"
"Argh."
Like a dog to a bone, a goblin, and Dodak recognised it to be the one that was crying, went out of the room timidly and picked up the coin. It looked around the hallway, scanning for any signs of foul play before it started inspecting the coin. Sniffing as he rubbed his crooked nose and bulgy eyes, it returned back into the room.
"Argh, argh."
With any luck, the timid goblin would have passed the poisoned coin to the mage and the packer goblin. Hoping that the mage goblin would clean its nose again, the poison could enter its respiratory tract and kill it. Now that the plan had been set in motion, all Dodak had to do was wait. He could not act rashly and ruin his plan.
As Dodak advanced back to his original spot beside the door, he heard the goblins arguing once again. Guess some stuff never changes, even if you are an ugly goblin. As Dodak was peeking in, he could swear that he saw a figure rush across the hallway from an area further up ahead.
Dodak shook his head and rolled his eyes. He needed to focus, it was about time that the goblins would show signs of being poisoned. He could not let anything distract him.
Coughs started erupting from inside the room. Dodak unsheathed two daggers, coating one with poison while he left the other untouched. He needed to capture the goblin alive, and the poison would probably kill it. Still, he wanted to try to learn to control his poison density. That was one of the main reasons he agreed to help Kim Harin after all.
When Dodak heard a loud thud, he knew it was about time to strike. He steadied his breathing and readied his dagger. All he needed to hear was a second thud.
BOOM
As the second body fell to the floor, Dodak stood up and dashed into the room. The cowardly goblin was on the floor, foam spewing out of its mouth. At the back of the room, one of the goblins had fallen, but Dodak did not have the time to check.
Alarmed, the two goblins charged at him. However, they were unarmed due to being caught off guard. Dodak used the poisoned dagger to stab the more aggressive goblin in the mouth while he kicked the other one down. He leaped forward and straddled the goblin, using his armour to hit the goblin in the face. Seeing as it was still conscious, he whacked it across its face another time, hoping the blunt force would knock it out without killing it.
As Dodak got up to deal with the last goblin, he panicked when he realised that luck was not on his side. The timid goblin had passed the coin to the normal goblin, not the mage.
The mage, angered by the intrusion, charged up a fireball. Dodak hurriedly leaped over a table and used the second row tables as cover. When the blast was over, he shot a dagger at the mage's shoulder, distracting it from its next spell. He then charged forward, knocking the mage off its balance and onto the floor. Grabbing the hands of the mage, Dodak pinned it to the floor.
Seeing that it could not conjure any spells when its hands were bound, Dodak closed his eyes and concentrated. He had to control the amount of poison he was going to release. But how?
His mind went back to what he was best at. Logic and mathematics. Call him lame, but he did not care. If that was what it took for him to master his powers, he would gladly do it. And so, he began doing mathematics in his head.
"Let's say I want to knock him out and I need a dose of 21mg of poison. I'll puff out approximately 500ml. So I need a concentration of 42mg/l of air. But my usual puff of air is-"
"Argh!"
"You screwed my math up! You bitch."
Dodak got fed up and decided to just try his best to YOLO it. He decided to release a small puff of air, watching as the green mist entered into the airways of the goblin. It screeched and squirmed, trying to escape the gas but to no avail. Seeing as the thrashing did not seem to die down, nor did the goblin grow tired, Dodak guessed he needed to increase his concentration.
He took a deep breath in and tried a different approach, releasing the mist out through a diffused spray method as he slowly shook his head.
The goblin, seeing that more poison was coming, started thrashing even more violently. Dodak reciprocated by squeezing its wrists even tighter. This time, it seemed to work. The goblin slowly started to thrash less as its eyelids started to droop. Its eyes lost its focus on Dodak and started to space out. Its mouth stopped moving and the screeches came to a stop. Soon, the goblin was fast asleep.
Dodak could not believe that he had done it. He understood that while trying to break one's limits was arguably the most important, being able to control it was also second to none. What was the point of being strong if you could not control it?
He stood up, satisfied with his work as he glanced around the room, looking back at the other two goblins in the front. The more aggressive goblin was releasing a mixture of black and white from its broken mouth, while the other goblin was sound asleep as well, with a few rectangular bruises on its cheek.
Dodak picked the goblin mage up and carried it over his shoulder. Looks could be deceiving, for the mage was extremely heavy, contrary to what Dodak believed. He could barely carry the sleeping goblin back down to Kim Harin's hideout. He would have to make two round trips to bring the other goblin to her.
Panting under the weight of the sleeping mage, he retrieved his dagger from the foaming goblin and made his way back to her hideout.