The goblins spilled from the cave in a flood of yellow eyes and crooked blades. They didn't rush all at once. They guttered and barked, voices sharp, splitting into groups like a pack of wolves testing the wind.
Four here, six there, ten peeling off into the brush. They spread wide through the forest, hunting lines forming, each knot of bodies led by warriors with jagged iron, sometimes shadowed by an archer crouched low with bowstring taut.
Nearly a hundred of them.
Selvara crouched in the treeline, silver gaze cold, her body poised forward.
Break them apart. Kill them faster than they can regroup.
The nearest pack was six strong. One warrior with a rusted axe, four ordinary goblins, and at the rear, an archer. The bow was crude, but the goblin's draw was fast. Faster than most men she had cut down.
Selvara's lips parted the faintest breath.
She moved.
She exploded forward, each stride storing energy, each release snapping her into zig-zag dashes that blurred her outline. Momentum Shift made her a phantom cutting through the brush.
The archer's eyes widened. It loosed an arrow, the hiss slicing the air where she had been but it's too late. Selvara veered right, then left, the zig-zag killing its aim.
Her sword severed the bowstring with a flash of steel. Before the goblin could blink, her second blade opened its throat. Blood sprayed across the leaves. The body collapsed in silence.
The warriors roared. The axe came down in a heavy arc meant to split her in two. Selvara slid under it, her speed carrying her between the warrior's legs. Both blades crossed in a rising slash that flayed muscle open.
The beast staggered, clutching its spilling guts. She pivoted behind it and jammed a sword through its spine. It dropped like felled timber.
The other goblins shrieked, claws and blades flashing. Selvara was already among them. One sword punched through an eye, another cut a belly wide. She spun, speed twisting her body, cutting the third in half at the ribs.
The last tried to run. She dashed past, leaving a headless corpse still taking steps before it fell.
Six bodies. The fight lasted less than ten breaths.
Selvara wiped her blades once on the grass and melted back into the trees. Her heart was steady.
One group gone. Many more.
---
Voices ahead. A larger group. Nine this time, two warriors, six common, one archer perched on a log.
She did not wait.
Momentum Shift cracked the ground under her boots as she burst into their midst.
The archer spotted her first, loosing a shot. She blurred left, the arrow slicing her sleeve instead of flesh. Another dash, another blur, she was already there. Her blade slashed its arm clean from the shoulder. The second blade drove through its open mouth, splitting skull in two.
The warriors bellowed. Both came at once, blades heavy, coordinated in a way common goblins never managed.
Selvara gritted her teeth, storing each step. She feinted left, then veered right, Momentum Shift cracking like thunder as she launched herself between them.
One blade stabbed up beneath a chin, tearing through jaw and skull. The second warrior's strike grazed her shoulder, hot pain slicing skin. She twisted with it, teeth bared, then carved across its throat. The spray painted her face.
The ordinary goblins faltered.
She cut them down without thought, one head rolling, one chest caved by twin blades, one skewered through belly and throat in a single thrust. The last three tried to swarm her. She leapt back, then shot forward, carving them apart with clean, surgical cuts.
The forest floor was littered with twitching corpses.
Her shoulder bled, but her breathing stayed even. She bound it quickly with a strip torn from a dead goblin's rags.
"Two groups," she murmured to herself. Her voice was flat, almost bored.
---
Seven goblins this time. One warrior, no archer. Easy.
She toyed with them.
She let them see her dart past, silver hair flashing, blades catching the moonlight. They snarled, swiping at empty air. She slashed ankles, hamstrings, backs of knees, crippling them one by one.
The warrior tried to herd them, roaring commands. It didn't matter.
She flickered around him, every cut shallow but cruel, until its body was crosshatched with blood. It collapsed in its own rage, twitching. She ended it with a clean thrust.
The others crawled and begged in their guttering tongue. She cut their throats without slowing.
The hunt was a rhythm now. Step. Store. Release. Kill. Repeat.
---
Ten this time. Two warriors. One archer.
The archer loosed before she even broke the cover of the trees. The arrow whistled close enough that she felt wind across her cheek.
Her eyes narrowed.
Momentum Shift detonated beneath her, her dash breaking into sharp zig-zags, left, right, left. The second arrow missed. The third was never loosed, her blade took the goblin's fingers, the other sword its head.
The warriors struck together, blades whistling. She ducked one, parried the other, sparks flying. The weight drove her back.
For a heartbeat, she was pinned.
Then she released all stored force. Momentum Shift erupted through her muscles, blasting her between them. Her blades cut both throats in passing, blood spraying in mirrored arcs.
The ordinary goblins screamed. She ripped through them like dry stalks.
Ten bodies fell silent.
---
Her chest burned now, her breath heavier. Endurance kept her moving, but each clash took its toll. Sweat stung her eyes.
Still, she hunted.
This group was eight. Two warriors.
She didn't waste time. She went for the warriors first, zig-zagging between their swings. Her blades flashed silver, cutting tendons, throats, stomachs. Their bodies crashed into the brush.
The others tried to run. She let them, cutting them down one by one, faster than they could scream.
Blood soaked her arms to the elbows. Her silver eyes shone cold.
---
Twelve goblins. Three warriors. One archer.
Her body screamed fatigue, but her mind was razor-sharp. She went for the archer first, always the archer.
It loosed two shots, one grazing her leg, the other shattering against a tree. She blurred past, severing bow and neck in one motion.
The warriors closed in, surrounding her.
She ducked, weaving between them, Momentum Shift bursting in sudden dashes that let her carve wounds before they could follow. One warrior's arm fell to the dirt. Another's knee was split.
They bellowed, still pressing.
Selvara's teeth clenched. She stored everything in one stride, then released. She shot up the trunk of a tree, rebounded off it, and came down like a silver storm. Both blades sank into one warrior's skull. She twisted free as the corpse collapsed.
The other two faltered. She carved their throats in mirrored cuts, fast and cruel.
The ordinary goblins shrieked. She ended them in less than a breath.
---
The forest grew still between each slaughter. Corpses littered the brush, their stink thick in the air. Blood soaked her boots.
Selvara stood among the dead, chest heaving, eyes scanning. Her blades dripped.
She counted. Forty, maybe fifty killed. Half the spread-out force. Her body ached, cuts stung, but she stood straight.
And then she heard it, drums.
Her head turned.
The cave mouth vomited more goblins. Dozens more, their chatter rising, warriors at the front, archers shadowed in the back.
A fresh wave.
Selvara lifted her blades, silver eyes narrowing.
The hunt was not finished.