Hobgoblin

Alex and his squad pushed through the northern wing with righteous fury, slaughtering all the goblins who managed to get in their way. After what they had just witnessed, they had no intention to be merciful.

It did not take long for the squad of slayers to break through the routing forces of the goblin horde. By the time they approached the entrance to the central complex, the north wing was filled with fresh goblin corpses. Many of which were mutilated by the human slayers.

In his enraged state, Alex took his time killing many of the goblins, snapping their limbs with joint locks, before pummeling their skulls into the ground. He wanted them to feel the pain of human suffering; the wrath of humanity was something that should not be underestimated.

Cassie was also in a berserk state, stabbing each goblin a dozen or so times before taking its head; the friendly competition between the two turned into a dance of death as they reaped the souls of every living goblin in their vicinity. Brandon and Derek primarily sat back and watched the show; they did not want to get involved with the two psychos who had taken the lead.

Derek was overwhelmed with disgust from the scene he had witnessed prior, and as such, had a difficult time keeping his head in the game. He was glad that his teammates were reliable enough to break the goblin horde. At the same time, he sat back and recovered mentally.

Eventually, the group stood in silence, waiting outside the entrance to the central complex. Due to their stealthy approach, they had far fewer goblins to deal with than the other teams. As such, they refused to enter the central complex without the assurance of the other teams being there for support.

After waiting a few moments, they could hear the sound of combat dying down in the other wings and thus decided to proceed to the boss's domain. Whether or not this was a true boss in the sense of an RPG had yet to be discerned, for now, the human slayers referred to the leading goblin as a boss.

It would appear the Captain's plan went without a hitch; the three slayer teams converged on the location of the goblin boss at roughly the same time. The horrified and enraged expressions of the other teams lead Alex to believe they had witnessed a similar scene to what his squad had.

Without saying a word, the three squads proceeded onto their objective; when they entered the location believed to be the residence of the goblin boss, they were astounded by what they saw. The room was a large atrium, in the center of which a huge goblin sat upon a throne of human bones. The goblin was taller than most grown men and had an extremely thick frame. It was covered in muscles, so much so that it was grotesque.

Surrounding the boss were dozens of goblins who had escaped the slaughter and rallied to their boss. The once cowering wretches now gazed upon the slayers with intense bloodlust; they had seen too many of their comrades butchered by the human invaders. Now with their boss backing them, they would have their vengeance.

The creature stood up from its throne upon witnessing the invaders and grabbed a giant stone club which its handle appeared to be carved out of a tree trunk. It roared menacingly as if ordering the surrounding goblins to charge at the humans.

Before the goblins could react to their boss's orders, Alex and Cassie swiftly rushed towards the boss, slaughtering the goblins that got in their way. Though Cassie had not been using daggers for long, she quickly became adept in their use.

On the other hand, Alex was reveling in the brute force of his fists, which collided with goblin skulls with every swing, crushing them upon impact. The goblin boss quickly took notice of the two and charged out to meet them.

Alex and Cassie quickly retreated, pulling the boss back to the group of slayers, who had already begun to slaughter the goblin minions. Though the boss was large, he was not exceptionally intelligent; thus, he quickly found himself surrounded by some of the more elite slayers who began their combined assault on the massive goblin.

Derek and Brandon were busy taking on the minions, along with several other hunters; they would leave the boss to the most capable of their party. They truly hoped one of their own would land the killing blow, thus awarding their party with the XP.

Several minutes had passed, and the casualties on both sides were tremendous; most of the goblin minions lie dead in a pool of their own blood, while several human slayers were incapacitated, plagued with injuries they could no longer continue the fight.

Though the slayers had encircled the goblin boss, a few of them had already met their demise by the horrific creature; its strength was beyond their comprehension. A single blow from the massive club it wielded would kill the average slayer on the spot. Clearly, this monster was beyond their capability.

Alex had discovered that despite having the skill [Iron Limbs], he dealt very little damage to the creature; what's worse is he could barely protect himself from the blows the boss rained down upon him. He had already begun to spit blood; if not for his skill [Suffer Agony] he was consistently using, he would have been turned into meat paste already.

Cassie was faring no better, though her daggers could pierce the skin of the creature; they were superficial cuts at best; the longer this fight went on, the worse the condition the slayers would be in. If not for Alex tanking the blows, she too would be little more than a corpse right now.

Alex saw no other option; he would attempt to bring the opponent to the ground; if he could gain a dominant position, they would finish off the opponent far easier. Alex blocked another blow of the stone club with his fists; he could feel his iron-like bones starting to crack from the impact. Still, he endured the pain.

After absorbing the impact, Alex grabbed hold of the goblin and turned it into a hip throw, slamming the boss onto the tile flooring as hard as he could. After successfully throwing the monster onto the ground, he got on top of it and pinned him in place, raining blows down upon its head.

While the other slayers were panting with exhaustion, Cassie quickly took advantage of the situation and got into a position to thrust her daggers through the horrific creature's eyes. After doing so, the creature roared in pain, but it was not dead yet; Alex decided to pound the daggers further into its skull with hammer fists.

After a brief struggle, the goblin boss went. Still, its life had faded. Curiously Alex gazed at the new message that had appeared.

[You have slain a Hobgoblin and gain 300 XP!]

Alex was astonished; this was not even a goblin boss; it was merely a hobgoblin and had already dealt such damage to their numbers. While Alex and his party were pondering about the level of such a normal creature, they could hear the cheers of their comrades.

Very few of the slayers were left standing after such a vicious battle; though their victory was well earned, it came at great cost. They had lost a total of three slayers, and the rest were all suffering from various injuries. The security of the compound would take a great hit from this pyrrhic victory.

Unfortunately, they had no time to rest; they had to regroup with the Captain and leave him to figure out what to do with the women they had come across, along with whatever loot remained in the area. There truly is no rest for the weary...