The Goblins watched with boiling rage as the man, in their wicked minds, mocked them. They asked between themselves in their twisted language what to do, now that the human killed their champion. Normally, against those feeble humans, the result of any attempt of resistance was a swift victory to the Goblins, as the weaklings couldn't use even the simplest of Magics. But this one was different: not only did he strengthen himself, but he was also a strong and respectable warrior, preferring to use a melee weapon instead of the accursed boom sticks. But they craved the meat, his meat. They also wanted to sleep the daylight away, as the pursuit of the humans dragged the entire night. It was decided: the human would kill some of them, sure, but they cared very little for those who fell, as they would also become meat for the horde, but, in the end, the result was decided the moment the human faced them alone: they would simply drown him with bodies and tear him limb from limb while he was still alive. They showed their teeth, relishing the thought, and got ready to charge.

  Tomás opened his mouth in a long yawn, exposing his accumulated lack of sleep. He wished for a soft bed to lay onto and some warm, fresh food in his belly, but all he got was a battle to fight and Goblins to kill. He was worried for his life, for he didn't like his chances of winning the fight against this many goblins. He counted, just in front of him, sixty-six, minus the one he already killed, and they also saw more moving to the side entrances of the school before he threw himself in the fray. But Gustavo had a plan, a good one, in fact, except for the fact that Tomás would serve as bait while he, Silva and Olivia waited to pincer the monsters and shower them with Magic. Very simple, straightforward and suicidal.

  The group had a double signal: if Tomás drew his pistol and started firing, the others should abort the pincer maneuver and aid him even if the conditions were not favorable. And, if the group found the conditions unfavorable, they would enact covering fire for Tomás’ escape and retreat. A third and more straightforward signal was a Fireball to the Goblins’ line if the conditions for attack were met, and Tomás hoped for this one.

  To avoid any horrible fate, Tomás began his preparations even before getting here. He, evenly spreading his Aura around his body, was gathering even more of the energy from his body, applying a new discovery he made: his body naturally produced the energy, mainly in the heart and head, but it didn’t send the Aura evenly throughout the body, focusing primarily in the vital organs and the brain. So, if he slowly removed the energy produced from these places and moved it elsewhere, he could stimulate the body in producing more Aura that he could also manipulate freely. But that had its risks: remembering his experiment of focusing Aura only in his arms, Tomás controlled the color of the Aura on his body to only orange, never going too close to the red as he remembered of the occasion. He was now sitting comfortably in a nice pool of Aura he could use in the fight.

  Tomás looked at the Goblins, noticing they preparing too. In their midst, he noticed the normal Goblin Fighter and a new type of Goblin: A Goblin Infantry, as he called them, Goblins that were more fit than the rest, taller and bore armor and shields. The champion that Tomás fought was of this type, and he noticed the monster was just slightly weaker than the Goblin Leader he faced before, even with his one-sided victory.

  Getting bored of the waiting, Tomás decided to step forward. This was all the Goblins needed to start their attack, moving in a wave towards the Corporal and spreading themselves in a circle around him in quick dashes throughout the front of the school and the street that led to it. Tomás steeled himself for what was about to come.

  Tomás, surprising the Goblins, kept walking towards them, getting close to the right side of the circle. The Goblins on that side charged him: eight Fighters and three Infantry, with five right ahead and three to either side. The Corporal picked up his pace and met the first one head on, using the foe as an obstacle to block the attack of the others. Bringing his axe up to cut the Fighter, he fell the monster with a swing to the left, severing an arm and crushing the ribs, quickly following up with one to the right as the Goblin behind approached. The Goblin, surprised, took the blow in the legs, tumbling forward, and being unable to move. Tomás ignored it as he danced, using his momentum to the side to dodge the attack of one of the Infantries who yielded a rusted short sword. He then drove the axe head in a trust at the attacking Goblin’s head, crushing its face and killing it instantly.

  Tomás, now close to the Goblins on the right side, met the two approaching with an overhead strike on one of them, using one hand o grip the axe and cleaving the monster in a wicked cut down to the middle of the chest, sticking the weapon in the bones. Now, both Goblins that remained on this side went to attack, both wielding long knives. The one on the left, closest to Tomás, motioned to stab the Corporal’s ribs. With his weapon stuck, he gathered Aura on his left hand and blocked the strike by simply holding the monster’s weapon and twisting it, disarming it. Tomás then stabbed the monster in the eye with its own knife and pushed it away. As he did it, he finally freed his weapon from the cleaved Goblin, meeting the third assailant with a side slash that stopped it dead on the spot.

  Noticing more Goblins to his right, Tomás decided to meet the rest of the Goblins closest to him. But, as he was about to turn, he felt a searing pain in his left calf. The two that remained in the middle, seizing an opportunity, reached the man from behind, lurking him while he killed the others. The Goblin rejoiced the fact, showing its teeth in a display of pride. Tomás, even after protecting his body with Aura, watched as the tip of the Goblin’s knife pierced his skin. Brushing the pain aside, he spun his axe to the left, chopping the smirking Goblin’s head off. The other approaching Goblin tried to strike at Tomás by taking a low stance and raising its knife, trusting it from below, aiming for his neck. Tomás simply punched the creature in the chest when it lifted itself from the ground, sending it crashing away.

  By now, the three remaining Goblins were approaching Tomás from the left. Trying to keep the distance from the other Goblins behind him, Tomás went in to meet them. The two Infantries and one Fighter carefully approached the man, buying as much time as possible for the other Goblins to reach the Corporal. Tomás was not having it, charging at one of the Infantries despite his leg injury. The creature, wielding a shield and club, readied itself to meet the soldier, applying a wicked red Aura to its weapons. Tomás, sensing the danger, applied even more Aura to his axe and arms, bringing strength to them. As the two met, trading reciprocal blows, Tomás’ axe cleaved the Infantry shield, reaching the Goblin below with ease and killing it, but the Goblin’s club, even though blocked by the soldier’s forearm, cracked the bone beneath.

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  Tomás, finally realizing the danger the Infantries posed, focused in the other one in front of him, who was brandishing a sword coated in red Aura two handed to strike at the soldier. But, when he moved his weapon to attack the closing monster, he realized that the axe was stuck again in the corpse of a Goblin. Letting go of the axe, Tomás met the attack with strengthened hands, dodging to the side and seizing the Goblin's gripping hands to capture the monster's weapon. Twisting the sword out of the Goblin's control, Tomás pulled the monster closer and threw it in the floor with a loud thud. Now meeting the approaching Fighter with his new weapon, Tomás used his superior range to pierce the monster head and killing it before it even reached him.

  Turning to retrieve his weapon, Tomás gripped the axe close to the head and pulled, freeing the weapon. Now with Goblins ahead and behind him, Tomás advanced to the ten just ahead of him: another eight Fighters and two Infantries. Passing the fallen Infantry on his way, Tomás kicked it hard in the head with a football kick, making the monster go still. Moving towards the monsters, the wound in the Corporal's calf was beginning to hurt more and more, making his running difficult. With that, Tomás wondered why the creatures didn't simply rush him all at once, as that would be a much more effective way to kill him, but now he thought he had the answer: they didn't care one bit for their fellows and appeared to enjoy causing pain slowly. Tomás decided to pay them the other way around, with overwhelming force.

  To this side, the two Infantries took a different approach: instead of charging Tomás with the other Goblins, they barked orders to the eight Fighters, commanding them to charge ahead. Using this moment of strategic coordination to his advantage, Tomás aimed at one of the Infantries and threw his axe while he ran. The Goblin, not even noticing the weapon revolving on itself towards it, was hit square in the chest, surprising the other monsters with its dying shriek. The other Infantry, enraged, aimed its hatched at Tomás, compelling the Fighters to charge. The monsters moved together, forming a half circle in front of the soldier. Without breaking stride, Tomás began a series of attacks using the sword: pressing Aura into it, he cut the one ahead of him with a downwards slash, quickly moving the tip of the blade to pierce the neck of the one beside it. With three Goblins to each remaining side of him, Tomás retracted his weapon from the neck of the gagging Goblin and struck the face of the one beside him with the pommel of the sword, staggering the monster. Making a wide slash with the blade to the right and fully turning himself, the soldier struck the chest of the other Goblin, cutting and exposing the ribs beneath. Now the remaining five Goblins were dangerously close to Tomás and the man was not having that. 'No, not five. Six', he thought, reminding himself of the Infantry.

  Searching for the Infantry, Tomás turned to meet the Goblins on his left side. One of them was preparing a low stab with its knife, aiming at Tomás' left leg. The Corporal stepped behind, dodging the strike, and, as he did it, raising his sword, cutting the attacker's face from its chin to the top of the head in a vertical line.

  Following up, he brought his blade to block a strike from another Goblin, and, as the two struggled momentarily, he kicked the balance out of the Goblin with low sweep of his leg. Gaining space, he turned to see the staggered Goblin, with a bloodied nose, back on its feet closing in with the other two as they picked up their recently knocked fellow.

  'Where is the-' Tomás' thought was cut short by an impact on his back, bringing him to his knees. Answering his unfinished question, the Infantry had sneaked from behind Tomás and struck a blow on the man's right kidney region, causing him to grunt with the pain. Although strengthened, the blow wasn't able to cut through Tomás' vest and was stopped short of meeting his skin. Bringing his left elbow to meet his assailant, the Corporal hit the Goblin squarely in the face, staggering it, and, struggling to stand up, turned and pierced his sword in the Goblin's unguarded heart.

  Pulling his weapon and turning again towards the quartet of Fighters, Tomás noticed their uneasy approach, as they were looking at each other for guidance. Taking another painful step forward, he charged the Fighters and motioned to attack: with a low stance, he readied his sword to pierce the first Goblin he reached, that being the one with the broken nose. The monster, confused by the lack of plan, took the sword tip in his ribs, getting a pierced lung as a gift. Pulling his sword rapidly, Tomás swinged it towards the next one neck, cutting it from above. Tomás, now wounded and tired, couldn't stop the other two from striking both his left knee and waist with clubs, bringing him down to his knee again. The Corporal then pierced the chest of the one on the left with his sword, then tossing both the Goblin and the weapon to the side, turning to grab the other one by the neck. The Goblin tried to break free but Tomás simply squeezed and broke the thing's spine.

  Standing up and retrieving the sword from the body of the fallen monster, Tomás started looking for his axe. To his demise, it was very far away, still stuck in the Infantry dead body, and, if he went to its direction, he would meet a very angry and big mob of Goblins that he was sure of not beating. Defeated, Tomás picked up the hatched from the backstabbing Infantry and quickly made his way towards a less numerous mob of Goblin to his left.

  Breathing hard to regain his energies, Tomás was battered, beaten and stabbed. His Aura had already dimmed to a very light orange and he doubted he could take a serious strike again, and he hoped for Gustavo's group to reach position and help him as soon as they could.

  Tomás, now fully unable to run, limped rapidly towards his target, looking around for the rest of the Goblin's mass. They were slowly closing their ground, waiting for the weaklings to soften the prey and make the meat tender. But, as rage was filling Tomás' mind, he noticed Silva behind the farthest group of Goblins. The Sergeant noticed Tomás' stare and made a thumbs up gesture and pointed to the right side of Tomás' vison: there, behind the cover of one of the school's side walls, was Gustavo, who also made a thumbs up towards the Corporal.

  With refreshed hopes, Tomás sneakily tapped the holster of his pistol, hoping for them to understand that they should wait for his signal this time.

  With that, Tomás steeled himself and resumed limping.