11 - In the end, we will not succeed.

In the end, we will not succeed.

The group led by Larissa had finally achieved stability. It was difficult, they were at their limit against so many goblins in a short period of time, but there was no other option. Even if they were stronger, the point is that awakened always fight on the edge. It is as if they are in constant war. In fact, they really were, but they avoided that thought at all costs. As long as they managed to live for another day, there would be no problem. Although that is not Gabriel's thought. He had no reason to live another day, he was looking for a reason. But so far it has failed miserably.

— Why did you talk about my eyes? That day ... Is there a problem with them? Gabriel asked Zoe as they ran. He was upset, but he didn't let on, he looked at her and looked away at the same time several times.

What is she? A watchdog of look?

Wait ... is she looking into my eyes?

— huh? — She looked at him without understanding. — Oh! none, it's just... it's kind of... oh, forget it, I don't even know what I mean. There's something on the tip of my tongue, but I don't know what, really.

— Heh ... if you say so.

What was this? Damn it...

I really wanted to know. First my smile, then my eyes, what are you? My mother?

— I didn't even remember that anymore, haha. Anyway, are you already used to the place? It's been what ...? About four days we're going. — She changed the subject.

But i obviously wouldn't forget, I was thinking about it all this time.

My eyes.

I'm a little paranoid about myself.

— A little bit, we are already much better than the first day and money is no longer a major problem.

However, we are not rich.

We are not middle class either.

Perhaps we are a little worse than the poor. But we have enough to survive decently.

In those four days, they took the opportunity to buy something other than bread, otherwise everyone has their little money and decides how to spend it. His profit, in addition to basic necessities, was generally less than 30 bronze coins, so it was quite difficult to collect for something.

There isn't even so much to buy in this damn world.

I miss my smartphone and computer ...

— The first day was tough, especially that first battle. I think we were rusty after just those three days. — She gave a forced smile.

Gabriel looked at her quickly and turned his vision forward without reply.

Rusty? No. It wasn't that. We really improved, but it was not at all considerable, it was a minimal improvement, just to say that it has improved.

Rusty you say, but if it were that way after all the training we'd be screwed. We are weak, that is the reason, I do not know to what extent, I do not know if there is a problem as long as we reach the goal of survival. But we are.

It was still morning, everyone gathered as usual to hunt. The five awakened were walking normally from their quarters. Laura and Larissa were talking with small laughs from time to time. Miguel and Zoe just had a slight smile on their face, not saying anything or looking at anyone. Gabriel had his normal face, without much expression. Normal. Normal? Since when was expressionless normal? Gabriel who used to interact a lot with his group of friends at school, now expressionless? He preferred to avoid that kind of thinking, but it was inevitable at times. He was just looking around as if he hadn't been there dozens of times.

The path to the sewer was not that long. They would pass through the city center until they reached the border with the outside, then, they would pass through the forest, they would hardly find goblins there, if it were the case, they would kill them. After following a specific path through the forest, they arrived at the river and from there they spent a little more than half an hour to reach the sewer. That is, walking slowly. If they ran, they would arrive in about ten or fifteen minutes, but it is obvious that they would not get tired of that before fighting.

Things don't really get out of hand.

Since I got here, I can only think about how the routine became more monotonous than it was with technology. So far we haven't had too many problems, but I can't say if this is normal or not. We are very cautious, after all, so we hardly look for anything abnormal.

The entire group was the same. They didn't aim for the top, they didn't want to be rich. As long as I could have their conversations on the way to the hunt and sleep for a new day, they were fine. But of course, Gabriel was an exception to that.

Everyone was watching Gabriel, they had already killed their goblins, except him. That was the first battle of the day, it was all very fast, this time Larissa and Laura fought in a two-on-two, but it was not necessary for Laura to use any skills, Larissa won two against one practically, Miguel stayed with Zoe of the same way. Gabriel, on the other hand, was on the other side with only one, apparently the leader of this small group.

Damn, I have to win soon, I can't depend on others. - With that thought, Gabriel had told the others to let him deal with that goblin alone. He breathed through his mouth, panting, the two were facing each other. The goblin had only one cut on his left arm but it was not serious. With one foot in front and one behind Gabriel, he was attentive to the movements of the goblin, who was surrounded and looked around the whole time trying to find a breach. When he gave up on the idea, he focused on Gabriel and advanced against him with a leap forward, Gabriel deflected to the side, falling with a roll and before the goblin could react, hit him in the back of the head.

— That! — Gabriel made a victory fist, despite that, he was not euphoric.

— It was about time, right? — Laura let go.

— Shut up.

— But, man, I thought I would finally see your smile. — Zoe put her hand on Gabriel's shoulder.

— Eh? Gabriel's smile? Larissa asked.

— Yeah, have you seen him smiling since they met after all?

— Now that you spoke ... — Miguel opened his eyes wide.

Shut up, shut up!

Take care of your life, damn it!

I am perfectly capable of smiling, I just see no reason to. - Gabriel's face, which was only with a certain expression of pride, now closed, angrily

— Yeah, yeah, let's move on, we don't have time to waste.

— WRUAAAAAHN! The goblin growled loudly, perhaps too loudly. Definitely very loud.

— Shut up, okay? — Gabriel went to him and stabbed him a few more times, taking the opportunity to get what was good.

Wait, that scream wasn't loud enough for others to hear, was it?

Bah, it's probably in my head. But what if it isn't? We can continue? Aren't we taking too many risks? Perhaps we have settled down, unforeseen events happen. Was this one of them?

It is better if I keep quiet, I don't want to have a fight but no fight, if it were dangerous even the others would know.

What am I thinking ...? I am very paranoid. - he stopped after taking the goblin's things thinking about it.

— Let's go? Zoe called out to him in a calm, quiet voice that almost made him forget his current fear by putting her hand on his shoulder.

He studied her for a moment. Her thin face with a sharp nose and long brown hair made it look like his face shone, even in that place.

— You touching my shoulder are getting more and more normal. — he got up.

— Yeah, maybe, you seem to have one's head in the clouds many times. That way I wake you up.— there was a pause.— I'm almost a psychologist, I would say.— She continued in a voice of irony, pointing to her chest.

— hnf.

— Come on, smile! — She shook him, with her brows furrowed.

— Well, let's continue, we can talk about it later ... — He scratched the side of his mouth in shame. — I guess...

Her eyes lit up in surprise, and then she answered with a simple:

— Hm!

They continued to take an alley to the left, none of them had been seriously injured. Miguel had no scratches, Zoe and Larissa had some and Gabriel had only the one on his arm. So, Laura didn't heal anyone. She had used only one skill, and could still use three

In a short time, there was another alley on the right or they could go on, but they chose to move on. If they turned around too much they could end up going back to the beginning, even though they had been there for a few weeks, the map Zoe had been making was far from over and would not always avoid things like that. They were there to hunt, not to make maps, so turning into the alley just to increase their "field of view" was out of the question as well.

And in less than five minutes walking forward, they found a group. There were 7. Rarely did goblins walk in groups as large as seven, this was the first time Larissa and company had seen them.

— Seven? Should we retreat? Or do we do it? But if we retreat, do we really manage to retreat? — Larissa was murmuring, her hand on her face lowered.

— Larissa. — Laura called her, touching her shoulder.

— Huh?

— I ... we want to go with everything. — She looked back as if pointing to the rest of the staff.

Zoe was smiling and made a pose with one hand on her waist and another waving a fine, Miguel just waved a little embarrassed, while Gabriel had his two daggers in his hand and his knees slightly bent, ready to attack.

Kill. Survive. - That thought moved Gabriel, but it wasn't enough, it wasn't what he wanted. What was missing? He did not know. He really wanted to know, it was on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't know. For even with thoughts like that, his expression was not one of anger, much less fear.

— Well, then I count on you once again. — she turned to the goblins.

They, who in turn were prepared, like Gabriel, but seemed to talk in some way too. His unrecognizable grunts were frequent and calm, they seemed to have a pattern. If they are really capable of that.

— Gabriel, Zoe, go to the other side of the sewer, you will stay with the three of them. Me, Laura and Miguel will stay with the four of us.

— OK! — the two agreed, crossing the river as soon as possible.

— Laura, prepare the projectiles! Miguel, if you can hold three, hold on, I try to end one quickly and Laura's magic goes to support you.

— Okay!

Everyone positioned themselves. Larissa was face to face with the 1st goblin, while Miguel had his shield ready to defend himself from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th goblin.

Larissa stared at the enemy and when she finally went upward an arrow fell in front of her foot, making her stop.

— What?!

It was the 4th goblin, he was further away and pulled an arch from his back, they couldn't see before because that area was darker than normal.

— Miguel! There's a bow and arrow, watch out! You too Laura! And use the projectile on him, the priority is him!

— Understood! — Laura replied

She looked the other way, analyzing whether he could use the arrows there, but dismissed the idea. However, while Larissa thought about all the conditions of the fight, the 1st goblin advanced against her, hitting a blow to the side of the belly, but it was not deep enough to cut it. She knew she couldn't waver, it couldn't have happened, luckily, there weren't too many injuries, but what can't happen once, definitely can't happen again. With the 4th and 1st goblin always in danger, she couldn't think much more, so she decided to focus only on her fight now, and leave the rest to her teammates.

Gabriel was in charge of the 5th goblin and Zoe the 6th and 7th goblin. They were practically side by side, Zoe just defensively held the attacks on the 6th and 7th, while Gabriel went on top of the 5th. This was a battle of speed. Who could take it the most? The 5th goblin or Zoe. Gabriel had no space to think about it, right at the beginning he tried to hit the goblin's neck with a cut from the side, but the monster reflected with his dagger, punching him in the belly, which was not very effective. Zoe in turn, even in defense, tried to find a loophole. the two goblins tried to hit her in the folds of their armor, especially one in the middle of the belly, at the level of the navel. With her sword she was able to hold some and dodge others, sometimes giving a cut in the air or kick that the goblins deflected easily. It was to be expected, however, even if the chance is small, she had to try to fight back. Gabriel had hit the 5th goblin's arm. He wasn't sure why, but the creature tried to fight back and suddenly stood looking behind him, he even looked quickly but there was nothing, so he hit the goblin's arm that was stretched from the hit attempt.

We will make it? I don't think a seven against five is a good one for us. We are not that strong.

I know I've been rushing things a lot. Tried to prove it to me.

Honestly so far I haven't done anything. Nothing incredible, nothing memorable, I just existed. I am not amazing, but I am not bad. Every time I tried to prove myself I ended up screwing it up.

I am aware of that.

But I'm starting to think it looks good this way.

But is it really?

I have been... - he failed to complete the thought.

The 5th goblin suddenly jumped on his back while he was distracted.

— Damn it! Get out, you plague!

he was swinging and looking for a wall to play the goblin against but he couldn't. It was all very fast and the goblin's hands were on his face. Then, finally, he managed to grab it and threw it on the ground, stabbing him in the face and chest several times.

— tsch! Trash.

Red blood.

It is strange, even though they are horrifying and mythical creatures, their blood looks like that of humans.

— A help would be nice. — Zoe called him, hitting the 7th goblin

— haah! — agreed.

Miguel had no difficulty defending himself, hardly an arrow would hit him or swords would go through his armor. But he was also unable to fight back, the 2nd and 3rd goblin were making him a beast, whenever he tried to hit them they dodged making faces and laughing at him, it was a little macabre. This moved Miguel's head a little, which is usually calm, he started to attack more, even though he should focus on defense. Apparently it was their plan, because when Miguel hit hard from top to bottom, he could see an arrow passing over him, towards Laura.

— Damn it!

Luckily, Larissa managed to dodge with her sword the arrow in front of Laura, who just blinked in fright. But because of that, the 1st goblin managed to hit Larissa's belly, it was in the same place as the other, she just let out a slight groan of pain and put her hand on the wound.

— Control yourself, Miguel, don't let these goblins set the pace!

— Sorry!

— Larissa, it's almost ready!

— OK!

Larissa had one hand on the wound, on the left side of the belly, while the other was holding the sword in front of the 1st goblin.

— C'mon.

— Brlhuaaa!

The goblin ran straight with the dagger forward and Larissa simply stepped aside, kicking him in the back and making him fall.

— Now, Laura!

The whispers were different. No. It was the same thing. But there were additional things, in the middle of all those words it was possible to notice that there was something more. Probably the result of the strengthening of skills.

— Ash Ush!

And then, the wind was cut as if something was speeding there, twice. One towards the 4th goblin, who had an arrow ready to go and ended up taking the projectile right in the neck. While the other went to the 1st goblin, he felt and managed to deflect, even on the ground.

— Oh, you won't!

Before she could get up, Larissa plunged her short sword into the monster's skull.

Now it's a two against two here and it looks like Larissa is getting along too.

We did it. We will make it.

I don't need to prove myself. We are strong. In total, it is already a 5 against 4. - with that thought, Gabriel calmed down.

But there was no room to calm down. Just when he, Larissa and Laura had shot down a goblin each, one of the four screamed.

— WRUAAAAAHN!

Shit, it sounds like the other's scream. But much worse.

What's up with them today? Screaming like that.

All the other goblins moved away, which made the entire group astonished, and then, without delay, there was an even greater roar behind:

— WHRoAAAAAAAH!

Something huge appeared behind them, in the middle of the rotten water.

What is it?

I was not told about something like that.

What? What? How are we going to defeat something this big?

It was a giant goblin. He was holding the head of a smaller goblin in one hand, a sword proportional to his height in the other, and he wore an old helmet. His bloodlust was huge, his eyes through the helmet were red, there didn't seem to be much more than pure hatred there.