'What is their problem? We nearly died and they still want to fight,' with the adrenaline fading from his body Kyle limps away watching the fight unfold and moving towards the nearby tree to rest.
The blood and gore painting the land the least of his concerns after struggling tooth and nail to survive the wild arachnid.
With a dulled roar the hobgoblin raises with his broken arm from behind the kobolds. Grabbing at a wooden club on the ground and swiping upon the closest hyena face.
Rallying the last of the goblins they mope towards the kobolds, a fight moving in slow motion.
The kobold mage dawdles backwards with difficulty, spells slowing. A fireball bursting early turning into a flamethrower, burning his hands. Being blasted the spell misses the hobgoblin, burning a pair of kobold and goblins.
Whacking the staff out of the mage's blistering hands, the hobgoblin roars towards the last two goblins.
One is struggling against the last kobold, the other trudging along the bodies towards the owls guarding Kyle.
"Why are you coming towards us, we have no business fighting you!"
Ignoring the weak defence of Kyle's words the goblin continues forward to repay him for attempting to assassinate their boss.
Not letting the aggressive goblin approach closer the largest owl flanked by one eye flare their wings while squawking upon the small goblin.
Not feeling deterred in the slightest, or already having given up on life, the tiny goblin weakly swing his rusted sword upon the owls.
The tetanus prone stick collides with the owl, claiming nothing but feathers missing the main body of the him completely.
A counter attack from the one-eyed owl comes from his left in the form of his talons cleaving into the goblins chest and dragging across his torso to his hip.
Receiving a counter attack the goblin bellows out in pain, before having his throat gouged out by the alpha owl's beak.
Hearing the deathly hoarse scream turned gurgle the hobgoblin turns his attention towards the bird leading man.
Knocking the mage down once more with a clean strike to the head he makes his way towards the small pack.
Knowing that this fight isn't ending until one dies Kyle stands up searching for a weapon around him, only to see his old stick broken next to him.
'Fate huh, well let's finish this damn trial,' feeling funny at how things played out he picks it up before moving towards the green man. 'Well can you birds hear my thoughts or not? You two go kills those two over there, little white come help me kills this bastard.'
Waiting to see if his birds move Kyle is surprised, even if he isn't, at the fact that they can hear his thoughts.
In a forest of red a daunting stand off occurs. One man and one hobgoblin, neither breaking eye contact as their battered bodies slowly approach each other.
Picking up speed Kyle lets his white owls swoop the monster from behind before slashing at his torso.
'Not good, it doesn't cut at all,' disheartened by the lack of damage from the stick he switches up his tactic and stumbles away from the rusty blade.
Getting desperate the hobgoblin dives forward in an attempt to pin down the large man, missing him and stumbling to the floor.
Seeing his opportunity and not wanting to make the same mistake as the spider Kyle stabs his makeshift spear downwards as hard as he can, piercing the hobgoblin's heart.
With the final throes of a desperate man the goblin leader falls, not to rise again.
The kobold mage rises in triumph seeing the hobgoblin impaled celebrating the end of the skirmish. Glancing around the field to see his subordinates lifeless and cold, some not having complete corpses.
Seeing his last alive soldier fighting for his life the mage prepares to help before noticing something, concerning.
He isn't fighting the goblin close by but the owls plaguing him from above.
Feeling a chill down his spine he turns to face the man and final owl, only to see them approaching him step by step.
Knowing what is coming the mage scrambles to the floor to look for his staff, to see it half way between himself and the man.
Unwilling to die without a fight the mage rises to his feet running as fast as he can, tripping along the way to get to his staff.
Diving to reach it the mage sees it getting closer and closer. Gripping his staff he tries to fire a spell, only for his staff to be pushed back down by the man's foot.
In an attempt to free it the mage tackles the man, failing to even move him from his position. The stature of the two stopping him from overpowering the man.
Pushing the mage down Kyle lunges on top of him smashing his fists down like hammers into the mages skull. His legs being shredded by the owl's talons.
Feeling betrayed by his so called ally the mage stops breathing, soaking in the blood of his friends and foes.
Ordering little white to make sure he is dead Kyle stands up to see the last of the kobolds and goblins have been killed by his owls.
"Ahhhh, finally they're all done for, yet a minute still remains for this fricken trial. If only I got the damn spiders I wouldn't have fucking nearly died," sighs the exhausted man.
Walking back towards his safe tree Kyle wishes to rest, but knows it's not safe here, much less with all the blood permeating the air.
Using the alpha owl as an aid Kyle marches away from the battle at his back, his remaining two owls following closely on his flanks.
While praying for a quiet few minutes for all this mess to be over a forgotten chime rings in his head.
[Congratulations Candidate Kyle for surviving the Gifted culling trial.]
[Achievements recorded, bonus rewards being calculated.]
[Rewards being distributed…]