A couple of minutes after Syl exited the Chief's hut,
[
-State: Famished, Severely Dehydrated.
-Current Stats:
Strength: 5
Agility: 9
Perception: 25
Endurance: 3
Vigor: 4
]
'Her Stats are this high despite being Famished and Severely Dehydrated. She will be useful.'
Having realized the Fox girl's potential strength, Amon had decided, instead of freeing her, to feed her.
Her ears twitched at the sound of his steps.
Sniff- Sniff-
She raised an eyebrow.
"You're here." She whispered.
"I am." The Beastly Goblin answered. "Here."
Just beyond the cage, a plate of cooked rabbit meat was placed, alongside a jug of water.
"How are you doing that?" She asked with her gaze stuck on the plate.
"Eat. I'll find a way to get you out soon."
She stared at him for a moment, before nodding.
There was something oddly comforting about him. It wasn't in his voice or tone. It wasn't in his appearance. She couldn't see him after all.
His scent was comforting.
"What are you going to do?"
"Focus on getting some strength back." Amon said, ignoring her question. "And throw that away." He added, glancing at the knife she was desperately trying to hide. "You won't need it."
Following his words, the Fox girl's facial expression twisted. She was clearly ashamed.
"Anyways," Amon scratched his head. He feared having spent a bit too long staring at her.
Despite everything, the Fox girl was absolutely stunning.
The fact that she only had torn, dirty rags to cover herself with made the scene both a bit hotter and a lot sadder for Amon.
"You got a name?"
She blinked, and her eyes opened wide.
The Fox girl could tell his general location through his voice, the sounds emitted by his body, and his scent. Still, she kept her gaze lowered.
Her hair was long and bright. Brown, almost orange.
She didn't have any fur over her body, apart from the fur covering the long, pointy ears over her head
"A…" It had been a long time since she was asked her name. "Akane."
"That's a nice name." Amon nodded. "Anyways," He turned around. "Eat, and drink."
"But how are you going to-"
"Let me worry about that." He interrupted, and exited the chief's hut.
Amon raised his gaze and closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing.
'Not much time left.'
Five minutes passed.
Amon crouched low, torch in hand.
The village lay silent, unaware.
'It's time.' Amon thought, eyes narrowing on the hut right in front of him.
It was at the edge of the village, which made it a good distance away from Syl and Akane. More importantly, it was the closest hut to the forest. To the side of the forest from which they would come.
Amon took a deep breath before shoving the torch into its straw-thatched wall. Flames caught quickly, spreading like wildfire up its side. The wood crackled, dry hay shrieked, and soon the blaze climbed.
"F-F-Fire!" A Goblin suddenly shouted.
'Took a while.' Amon chuckled, watching from afar. 'You're supposed to wake up sooner than that when your house catches fire!'
Confusion rippled through the tribe as more huts began to ignite.
Four of them were set on fire. The four closest to the direction from which the village was going to be attacked.
Woken up by the flames, smoke, and shouts, all soon exited their huts.
Even the Hobgoblins burst out of their lodgings, weapons drawn.
"What's going on?" A Hobgoblin asked another.
The Hobgoblins, in general, were much calmer than the Goblins.
Amon thought this was a fortunate thing to witness. With the Goblins having lost their Chief, they would need orders from someone. Otherwise, they could act the way they did in the forest, killing and betraying one another.
'It's fairly certain that they'll obey orders. Just needed someone to give them orders.'
The Hobgoblins didn't take this seriously just yet.
"Looks like they set their own huts on fire."
"Heh. Stupid Goblins-"
Suddenly, they directed their gaze in that direction. Birds of all kinds were flying away, their incessant screeching and cawing echoing.
The ground trembled. Branches cracked in the distance. The forest beyond the village line shook.
"We're being attacked." The Hobgoblins quickly realized.
Amon's lips curled.
'Here they are.'
Moments later, the first wave hit.
From the tree line, beasts poured out. Wolves with matted fur, deers with broken antlers and glazed eyes, rodents swollen with disease. Their bodies moved strangely, with joints bent the wrong way, muscles twitching with unnatural spasms. Their wounds were stitched together by black flesh that wasn't theirs.
"Grab your weapons! Defend yourselves!" shouted one Hobgoblin, thrusting his spear forward. The first wolf was impaled, black ooze dripping from its wounds as it growled.
A second leapt onto a Goblin, shoving it to the ground.
For a moment, the village became chaos. Goblin shrieks, Hobgoblin war cries, and the guttural growls of beasts fighting through death itself.
"Form a line!"
Amon dropped from a rooftop, hidden by the shadows. He tore through an enraged rodent, ripped the throat out of a Gray Wolf, and watched.
Slowly, the Goblins started obeying the Hobgoblins' orders. The fighting became more orderly and cohesive.
'Something is weird.' Syl thought to herself, the spear in her hand had just pierced through an Enraged Gray Wolf.
Another Hobgoblin brought down another.
"What's going on?" She asked herself, noticing the same thing happening again.
Syl looked around and became sure of it.
"Not a single Goblin's been severely wounded while the bodies of Wolves and Beasts are piling up."
She narrowed her eyes as more Beasts rushed towards her.
Syl gulped, holding her weapons defensively.
A moment later,
"They're running away." She whispered.
The Beasts had ran past her, not giving her a second of their attention.
"They're running away!" Syl shouted at the other Hobgoblins.
They froze, hearing her words.
"They're not attacking the village. They're fleeing from something!" She shouted, her voice sharp. "Something's chasing them!"
The Goblins were fighting fiercely. Syl had shouted just loud enough for the Hobgoblins around her to hear.
"Get the Wolves!" She ordered. "We need to get out of here, now!"
"Huh? Why should-"
"Because something is making dozens and dozens of Beasts run away! They're running away frantically. Can't you see? They would rather run into the tips of our spears than waste a second standing still!"
"Tsk!"
The Hobgoblins ran to the other side of the village, where their Black Wolves had been left, tied to trees and-
"They're not here…"
"What the fuck?"
The ropes had been torn, the stakes shattered. Their mounts were gone.
"What… Where… Where did they run off to?" one stammered.
"They were ours! They wouldn't just run!"
SCREECH!
The sound cut through the village. Different from the sounds made by the frenzied beasts. It was louder, heavier, and cold enough to chill the Hobgoblins' veins.
Every Goblin froze in place. The fire crackled, but no one dared move. Even the Hobgoblins' bravado faltered, eyes darting to the dark forest.
The Enraged Beasts no longer howled or growled. They ran while whimpering and crying with eyes white with terror. They trampled through the flames as if being burned alive was a better alternative.
An Enraged Horned Hare ran past the Hobgoblins, an Enraged Gray Wolf leapt into one of the blazing huts, a crow's screech resonated, and-
Silence.
Everything had suddenly become silent and still.
For a heartbeat, the entire world seemed to hold its breath.
Not one sound could be heard apart from the cracking of the hut's burning wood.
Amon's claws twitched. His chest rose and fell.
'It's here.'
Another screech echoed through the village like thunder. The huts shook, the flames bent with the sound. Goblins shrieked and fell back on their butts. Even Hobgoblins staggered, their weapons quivering in their hands.
Syl's eyes narrowed. She clenched her spear with both hands, planting her feet in the dirt.
'Did something go wrong with Ron? It's coming from the same direction that he took with the Goblin Chief. Just what the hell is going on?' The female Hobgoblin gulped. 'If something made it back here before them, then it's likely that the Goblin Chief and Ron are dead-'
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The trees in the distance were falling as it made its way through.
'The Hobgoblins will be forced to assume that Ron and the Goblin Chief woke this thing up, and that they died somewhere in the forest. This is a do-or-die mission. If they go back to their tribe empty-handed, they'll be killed, or turned into slaves.' Amon was standing over the Chief's hut with Black Stone pulsing against his ribs, watching carefully. 'The Hobgoblins have no choice but to fight as well.'Goblins, Hobgoblins, and me.' He smiled. 'Let's all work hard to kill this thing, huh?'
The trees were split.
SCREECH!