A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 72  Blades and Blood - Part 3

There was something different about these ones that Beam couldn't quite put his finger on. They almost seemed more intelligent. Or at the very least, more restrained. The last party that he'd met would have thrown themselves at him by now, yet these seven just slowly advanced, screaming their horrific battle cries.

"Nila. Can you fire an arrow? It doesn't matter if you miss or not," Beam said, getting an ominous sense from their slow advance. At this rate, they would simply be smothered before they had a chance to counterattack.

Beam didn't get a reply, and just as he turned to find out why, he felt an arrow rush past his ear and fly through the trees.

"HYGAH!" There was a shrill scream as the arrow buried itself in a Goblin's eye. The creature tore it out of its skull, bringing its eyeball with it, its rage monstrous. But its legs went from under it a moment later and it collapsed to the floor, dead.

That was enough. It was the waving of the flag that gave the Goblins the signal to charge. Even if they were more patient than the last party of Goblins, their anger was still very much the same, and all their good sense was immediately cast aside as they rushed forward, leaping off trees, intent on making their prey pay.

Nila shuddered, feeling their killing intent bearing down on her. The Goblins fanned out in front of them, covering 180 degrees of their vision. To her, it was as though the very gates of hell had opened. They didn't stand a chance. She hurriedly notched another arrow into her bow, but the creatures were moving so rapidly now, ducking behind the trees. She couldn't line up the shot as she wanted to, and she groaned in frustration.

The only thing that stood between her and certain death was a single small back and the shining edge of an old knife.

She trembled in fear, as the first of the Goblins broke away from the trees and launched itself through the air, jabbing towards Beam with its spear.

'Heh, so they're finally using their weapons properly, huh?' Beam thought, seeing it. He felt his lips curl into a smile as his body ached with anticipation, desperate to show off everything it had learned in this past week's training with Dominus. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Beam began with the new move that he'd begun to perfect – misdirection. He stutter-stepped, shifting his weight to his right leg, then left leg, back and forth at rapid speed. Then he lunged, feigning a kick to the leaping Goblin's midsection. The creature reacted on instinct and twisted to avoid where it knew Beam's outstretched leg would land.

But that too was a feint. He turned his feigned kick into a downward step that leant him momentum and he brought his knife down in a vicious arc towards the creature's neck.

SHING!

The sound of perfectly placed steel rushing through even bone. And then the creature's head fell to the floor with a dull thump.

It was a display that even made the Goblins go quiet for a moment.

Nila's mouth hung open in a gasp, shocked at such a display of skill.

But Beam's body felt like it was on fire. The sense of combat flow that Dominus had fought to instil in him – it raged at him then, urging him to conserve the energy of each movement. Pointing to where the Goblins were weak. And weak the creatures were. Now that he had just one move of his own – albeit a as of yet poorly developed one – his choices of attack were infinitely more than he'd had before. Misdirection was his weapon.

He spied another Goblin clinging to a tree to his right, then another to his left. The two creatures leapt at the same time. The first threw its spear as it flew, whilst the second held onto it.

Nila's eyes glinted, recognizing the deadly point as it sped towards her, but her body wouldn't react in time to move out of the way. She'd trained as a hunter, after all – she knew nothing of true combat.

But a hand sped through the air and snatched the weapon by the handle before it could land.

With the short Goblin spear in one hand and his knife clutched in the other, Beam kept his eyes open wide as he tracked the two Goblins flying through the air towards him. One with a mouth stretched wide and another with a spear ready to pierce him.

Beam thrust with the short spear, catching the unarmed Goblin through the chest with its own weapon. It was a simple attack, but it was performed with such vicious precision and grace, that it was as though the movement had happened in a single flash. The creature's body shook from the impact and Beam let go of the weapon to allow it to fall to the ground.

He then spun on the other Goblin with such contempt, that he almost saw fear in the creature's eyes.

"WEAK!" Beam couldn't help but roar, surprising even himself as he brushed the outstretched point of the Goblins spear aside and hit the creature in the head with the flat end of his knife, shattering its skull and sending it pummelling to the floor.

The adrenaline flowed through him now. A feeling of all-powerfulness, as it tempted him to grow complacent. But even with the slaying of those few Goblins being so easy, the tide of battle was still in the Goblins' favour, for there were three more of them scurrying through the undergrowth, taking advantage of his attention that had been elsewhere, putting themselves into a better position from attack.

With such simple foes, Beam found he could sense the tide of battle now. He made a split-second decision and turned on his heel to run, hefting Nila up on his shoulder as he went.

She gasped in surprise, but didn't say anything. Beam liked her for that. She was keeping her head far better than anyone else might in her position.

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