"Mmhaha!" The orc broke out into a low chuckle, "What will you do, human?" The orc grinned.
"Yemo..." Midas said, "Defense formation."
Yemo instantly raised four fingers in the air. At once, all the goblins formed a large group with their backs to each other.
It was a circle of goblins. The outside barrier of goblins held their daggers out while the second layer behind them poked daggers out of all open slits in the formation.
"But my lord," Yemo said, "Shouldn't we all face the two orcs in an attack formation? There are only two of them... we have a chance." He sounded a bit worried.
"No..." Midas said, "There's more than two." He had already guessed this based on the orc's last words.
'Six under one... he wouldn't have said that if there weren't more than two. Still... why give that detail away?' Midas thought warily.
Yemo furrowed his eyebrows with slight confusion. Where was Midas seeing more than two?
Still, he trusted Midas and didn't say any more.
"What will I do?" Midas stepped forward, "I will chop your heads off." He said, his daggers brandished to his sides as he walked with a confident strut.
The orcs seemed confused. At first, they doubted Midas's ability. However, caution got the better of them as they both pulled their weapons out.
The one on the left swung a massive sword through the air, the other one slashing down with a spear.
Midas furrowed his eyebrows with slight confusion. 'The same weapons I've been facing for months, huh...' A slight smirk of excitement tugged on his lips.
As soon as the two took out their weapons, a sharp noise pierced from the opposite direction of the orcs.
Gool turned, noticing two more orcs in the distance. Both were on separate tree branches a few dozen meters away, only now showing themselves.
Two arrows tore through the air, narrowly gliding through the goblin pack and missing their targets before lodging into trees.
One of the orcs held a massive bow with a large and thick handle made of twisted wood. The other, a similarly giant crossbow fitted for an orc.
They both had quivers holstered on their backs filled with long, thick arrows.
"Backside, switch to long range!" Yemo ordered, quickly rushing to the rear of the squad. "I'll cover the back, lord Midas! You take care of those two."
As Yemo said this, the goblins quickly sheathed their daggers and began pulling out blow guns. They were simple, thin bamboo shoots that unleashed darts tipped with sharp stone and bone.
On Yemo's signal, the goblins shot out a barrage of darts that spun through the air.
The archer orcs were also heavily armored, so most darts did not pass through and hit their mark. However, a few odd darts here and there made contact with skin.
The darts lodged themselves one to three inches into the arms and legs of the orcs, but it didn't seem to do much damage.
Other than being an annoyance and causing slight bleeding, the orcs weren't affected by them. They tore the darts out of their body, dashing them before reloading their weapons.
The goblins also began to reload.
As all of this happened, Gool was quickly calculating all the things that had led up to this moment.
'We've been getting followed...' He said to himself, now realizing. 'And from what that orc said a second ago, it seems my suspicions are true. No average beast can follow me for this long and go unnoticed... not an average orc.'
Gool quickly ran to the nearest tree and swung up into the branches to get a better look out.
'We have been tracked by the six high orcs under Dorhal, the commander of all white orcs in the northern mountains.' He dreadfully mused as he climbed the tree.
Within seconds, he noticed two black figures rushing from either side and closing in on the goblin group in the middle.
"Everyone! Watch out for the sides! Split up into two formations!" Gool shouted from the tree top.
Yemo glanced over as soon as he heard this, signaling for the goblin group to quickly follow Gool's orders.
At that, two large orcs sandwiched the goblins. One stormed in with a massive axe, the other a brutish hammer.
Gool jumped out from the tree and straight into battle, but by then, the damage was done.
The orcs had reached the group, swinging their weapons and slamming goblins into the air.
Gool slid under the legs of the hammer-wielding orc, slashing its ankles.
Other goblins nearby quickly jumped on it, tearing through its body with their daggers while jumping in and out of combat.
'It's looking rough...' Midas said to himself as he saw the chaos unfolding behind him, 'But I have to do my role. I can't worry about saving everyone, or I won't be able to save anyone at all.'
He lunged forward into an all-out sprint, slightly catching the two orcs ahead of him off guard.
The spearman ran forward and slashed at Midas from the side.
"I got him!" The orc yelled, almost certain that he had hit his mark. His spearhead was mere inches from the human in front of him, and yet, Midas hadn't even tried to dodge!
When the orc's spear slashed across, however, it only swung past air.
Midas had disappeared from sight.
The orc looked left and right, slowly walking backward as he furrowed his brows with confusion.
"What the... where did he go?" The orc said.
"Argh!" A loud grunt sounded from behind.
Midas had already reached the swordsman, slashing its left arm clean off in one swift attack.
The spearman turned, shock plastered on his face as he froze for a second.
"You runt!" The swordsman orc roared, still wielding its sword.
Midas stopped and turned, a smile on his face.
"You..." He said, "You're a fucking joke compared to those skeletons." He raised his chin, looking down at the swordsman with a condescending gaze.
"Skeletons!? You speak nonsense!" The swordsman struck his blade forward like a lance.
Midas calmly stepped to the side, the blade of the sword thrusting by him with a woosh of wind. The attack caused his hair to lift in the air for a second.
The swordsman looked down with fear, clutching his pupils as Midas swiftly entered attack distance.
He slashed across the orc's torso with his blades in an X formation, slicing open the beast's inner organs.
At once, the orc's eyes rolled into the back of his head. He fell forward, dropping with a low thud.
'The skin of these orcs was extremely tough when I first met one... but now, it's much easier to slice through them. It seems putting points into the strength stat is well worth it!' Midas thought, amused.
*Ding*