I remained sharp and watched my surrounds, I noticed Daigo staring at me with a puzzled expression sometimes but both of us know better than to engage in any sort of conversation here.

  I do not have a watch but I could sense that we have spent at least 3 hours here, some of Taiko already started grumbling and pestering Taiko on when we could get this mission over with.

  After sometime, Taiko put his finger back on his earpiece and was focused on what the person at the other end said.

  “Ok, we head north and keep heading that way even if encounter multiple bogies.

  Control says that there seems to be a small sort of settlement down North and we are ordered to take down every single Aggressor there” Taiko announced.

  “I thought they said it wasn’t a Fort” One of his men complained.

  “Do you want to go back outside and bitch about it to them?” Taiko asked coldly, which the man responded with silence.

  “Good, let’s move out” He ordered and we all followed.

  We moved back North but didn’t encounter any Zipper-Spines or Goblins as we walked through the jungle.

  After about 2 hours of following Tiako, he halted us and some hand gestures to one of his men to check things out in front of us.

  The Guard went ahead and came back after few minutes, and moved close to Taiko before reporting what he saw.

  “It is an Arrow-nose Goblin settlement with a lot of them there. They are at least 150 in number and they are having some kind of gathering” The man reported quietly.

  “Alright guys, we will go for a frontal assault in a C-cover formation and you Gutter-Guards will cover the gaps between us to avoid any of them from coming to close.” Taiko ordered everyone.

  “Gutter-Guards don’t get tricky fingers; you do not shoot or attack without me giving the order” He moved his head around and address us - The Mercenary-Guards, before telling all of us to move out.

  I don’t know what the ‘C-cover formation’ is and I guess the other don’t know or care either but he said we will fill in the gaps between them, that part of the plan was clear to us.

  The 13 Tower Guards spread themselves out in an inward-curved formation (which is probably C-cover formation), I stationed myself between Taiko and another Guard from his Tower.

  We hid in the bushes and watched the gathering of goblins tens of meters from us, as some taller ones covered in black markings sat in a circle and seemed to be in a discussion.

  I always heard some breed of goblins were actually intelligent enough to have a language, make tools, native arcane-weapons and other sophisticated things.

  It was my first time actually seeing this kind of goblins. I also heard they are mostly in Fort-Gates, and seeing them here made me a bit scare but very happy at the same time.

  Elixirs seems to increase whenever I kill Aggressors, which meant killing these goblins will grant me more Elixirs to Level Up.

  Taiko took out something from his waist pouch and threw it close to where the tattooed goblins sat. The sound of the block-like material landing drew the attention of the goblin around it.

  Taiko immediately pressed a small remote on his palm and…

  Boom!

  The block-like material which I guess was a C4 exploded.

  “Fire and advance!” Taiko shouted immediately after the explosion.

  The 13 Guards began shooting the surprised goblins that were out of the range of the explosion.

  Some recovered fast from the shock and retaliated almost immediately; picking whatever they could use as weapons or bare fists.

  Even with the surprise attack and coordinated follow-up attack, we were still against at least 200 goblins in their own territory.

  Soon, some already found weapons and violently rushed at us but Taiko and his men shot with fuckin' speed and accuracy like machines.

  As I shoot the goblins that got too close to us, I noticed the smoke of the C4 explosion began to clear and what I saw behind the smoke was a bit intimidating.

  The tall tattooed goblins were still alive, they had bit of their body blow off but they were regenerating every bit in front of my eyes, even some with missing limbs or some parts of their head missing were regenerating those parts back.

  “Don’t be dazed, they are fuckin' Hobgoblins… We can kill them faster with arcane weapons” Taiko yelled to not only me but other Mercenary-Guards that were a taken aback with what they just saw.

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  One Hobgoblin hands went lit with blue flame, then ran towards a Mercenary guard very close to it with an insane speed that made my reaction speed too slow to attack if I was its target.

  The Hobgoblin fell flat beside the Mercenary Guard with a clear hole in its head, forming a pool of blood underneath it.

  I quickly looked around to see who shot the Hobgoblin; it was one of Taiko’s men who still pointed his arcane-rifle to the direction of the Mercenary-Guard that was almost diced by the Hobgoblin.

  The Guard shot some goblins including another Hobgoblin, but the Hobgoblin’s shoulder took the shot and the Hobgoblin pulled out its hand from neck of one Mercenary-Guard it just killed.

  The moment the Hobgoblin dashed to the Guard that shot, I heard someone yell my name with a tone of urgency.

  I turned my face forward and saw a goblin in mid-air; jumping at me with a crude sharp object in its hand.

  I quickly grabbed the goblin by the arm that held the weapon, as it descended, then turn to my back and slammed it hard to the ground behind me.

  I heard a crack sound as the goblin’s back touched the ground, it didn’t or couldn’t stand back up, so I lift up my right foot and slammed it into its throat, causing my foot to be soaked with blood and the goblin’s head to almost get detached from its body.

  I sensed a few more goblin approaching with the corner of my eye and squeezed the arcane-rifle trigger, sending bullets flying to the ground and air aimlessly, then swung the gun with my left hand to the direction of three goblins that tried to attack me from behind, and another two approaching from my right hand side; filling all of them up with arcane-infused lead bullets.

  I quickly noticed a Hobgoblin walking calmly towards me with a human head in its left hand, I aimed for its upper body and fired but the Hobgoblin quickly raised the palm of its other hand to me.

  A kind of water-like shield formed in front of its palm; protecting it from the bullets. I walked towards it as I fired several shots, soon I ran out of ammo and almost immediately the Hobgoblin dropped the shield and threw its hand at me to strike my face.

  I quickly used the arcane-rifle to smack its face like a club, forcing the Hobgoblin to step back then I threw the gun into the air and caught the muzzle-area as it rotated vertically in mid-air.

  I continued smacking the living-shit out of the Hobgoblin with the bottom-end of the rifle, until it fell flat on its side. I then stood over the fallen Hobgoblin and bashed its head with the arcane-rifle; I felt it will soon start heal all the cuts and swellings from the beating.

  I quickly threw the assault away and drew out an axe out from the holster with my right hand and swing down the axe to the Hobgoblin’s face.

  I repeated the Hobgoblins head, until I felt something hit the left side of my belly.

  I moved sideways and gritted teeth in pain from the sudden pain on my belly, and look at what just attacked me.

  It was a goblin with a rock-club, the goblin attempted to land another one on my belly again but I parried it with the axe on my right hand, then pulled my other axe with my other hand and swung it upward.

  The blade of the axe entered straight through the chin of the goblin, almost divided its head into half from the chin.

  Then drove the axe on my right hand into the goblin’s neck, then dragged its head with the axes, along with its puny body and threw the dead goblin to some goblins that faced other Guards.

  The battle continued for at least 25 minutes, many goblins ran away when they noticed their leader; the Hobgoblins were being killed one by one.

  The battlefield was already scarce of goblins; I took on top of one Hobgoblins as it struggled to crawl away.

  Immediately I drove my axe into the Hobgoblin’s back, my legs felt seriously weak and I fell to my knees.

  I tried getting back up but I suddenly felt too weak to do even hold my axes, causing me to let go of my axes.

  I have fought in Gates for hours, but after minutes fight this battle, I was more tired and exhausted than I have ever been in my life.

  Soon I fell to my side, not even having the energy to kneel down, then I noticed a severely wounded goblin crawling towards me with a knife-like crude weapon.

  It seems the goblin has given up on trying to escape and plans on taking me down with the last inch of its life.

  The more the goblin got closer the more terrified I felt.

  ‘Fuck, I do not want to die now… I can’t leave my family behind’

  ‘Not now… Not when I finally have the ability to live a better life’

  ‘What will happen to my mother, Kenzo, Eiji and Ayaka’

  My head was flooded with regrets and fear, as I laid helplessly and groaning.

  When the Goblin reached like three feet away from, I just groaned louder as I still struggled to even move a finger.

  A shadow sudden appeared over us, then a blade suddenly pierced the goblin’s head.

  As I watched the gushing of blood as the blade was being pulled out, I didn’t know if I should feel relief or more fear; I did not know who just killed the goblin and whether it was done for my benefit or to just kill me themselves.

  I then felt someone grabbing my shoulder and pulling me up to sit, when the person finally rested my back on a wooden pillar that’s when I saw who my saviour is – Daigo.

  “Fuck, are you alright Haiji?” Daigo asked with concern as he tried to place my head well as I couldn’t even hold up my head.

  “What did fuck happened to you?” He asked, as he roughly checked my body for injuries or something.

  “Ti-Tired” That was all I could said to explain how exhausted I am.

  “Tired?” Daigo asked with a confused expression.

  “Hey, we are chasing after the ones that escaped.” Taiko called out to Daigo, then he noticed me and asked “What is wrong with him?”

  “I think the goblins did something to him” Daigo answered.

  “If he can’t move, leave him and follow us” Taiko said without any interest in my condition.

  “I can’t abandon him; he is my brother” Daigo stated with a bit of annoyance in his tone.

  “We will take care of the rest and leave this place, with or without you. So good luck” Taiko said as he walked away and told the rest to follow him.

  They all ran after the goblins without looking back at us, leaving me and Daigo in the rumbles of the Arrow-nose goblin settlement.

  “Can you stand?” Daigo asked me, but I could not shake my head or say no.

  “What the fuck did they do to you?” Daigo couldn’t help but sake rhetorically.

  Soon, we began to gun shots and explosions in the jungle, making Daigo to devise the only solution he had.

  “I can’t carry your out there now, we will wait until we do not hear any sign of fighting, then I will carry you outside” Daigo informed me but I could not voice my opinion or agree with his decision.

  Daigo carried me into one of the goblin partially destroyed shelter, he made me rest against the wall then sat beside me.

  After hours, Daigo stood up and said he wanted to go and check if they were still fighting.

  He made sure to something heavy to block the entrance into the shelter, in case some goblins happen to show up while he was gone.

  I just sat there with complete lack of energy and before I knew it I dozed off.