Rise of the Horde

"After them! Keep them withinn striking distance!" Xiao Chen below as he shatter the bodies of any foe that was unlucky enough to catch up by him. Like a wolf unleashed upon a flock of sheep, he went on a path of slaughter and leaving behind mangled corpses. Goblin or Hobgoblin, none survive a full powered swing of his weapon, they all had their bodies shattered to pieces all those who attempted to block his strikes while those who were smart enough were quick to evade after seeing the result of each of his strike.

The chase went on for almost half an hour until Xiao Chen and his troops reached the mouth of a cave among the gigantic roots of a tree. And right on cue, the trolls arrived while chasing after the goblins. Trolls are adept hunters of the forest and unlucky for the Bloodpool Goblins. There are many of them who were with the orcs. Xiao Chen had them divided in different smaller groups that took the other routes leading to the Bloodpool Goblins\' Tribe and, being great proficient hunters of the woods, they cleared off all the goblins who were waiting in ambush for them with a counter-ambush.

Xiao Chen made himself look bigger as he stood right in front of the cave\'s entrance. His crescent-moon spear by his side that was dripping fresh blood and littered with bits of flesh. He was blocking the path of retreat of their foes. Patiently waiting for them to come within his range, Xiao Chen swung his weapon hard and demolished the bodies of anyone who came close. Many of the goblins took detours only to be met by the Rakshas and Yurakks who were waiting for them..

For some time, Xiao Chen stood his ground in front of the cave\'s entrance while the trolls went around and herded the goblins towards him. Adhalia and Draegh\'ana stayed close to their chieftain while keeping an eye out for anyone who would come out of the cave.

"That\'s the last one..." Xiao Chen muttered as he raised his weapon up and revealing the meat-paste remains of a goblin that was smeared on the ground after he brought his weapon down like a hammer on top of his head. Galum\'nor was leaning against one of the huge roots as he was bored with nothing to do since his chieftain hugged all the limelight and occupying the best position to slaughter the goblins.

After ensuring that they didn\'t miss any of their foes, Xiao Chen turned around and face the entrance of the cave. "Trolls and Yurakks stay on guard. The Rakshas with me. Galum\'nor, Adhalia and Draegh\'ana let\'s go." He ordered as he entered first and slammed his weapon against the two goblins, who were waiting by the entrance of the cave. The two goblins had their backs against the walls and remained still, but Xiao Chen wasn\'t going to miss the opportunity and swung his weapon against them, embedding the two into the walls of the cave.

It\'s not like he would just leave the two goblins alone. He can\'t leave their base alone. His mission was to eradicate their entire tribe, and he was not going to let any of them survive. Cautiously moving forward, Xiao Chen led the way as he kept his guard up.

"Move in a tight formation. Don\'t wander away from your comrades." Xiao Chen glanced behind him and ordered those who were to follow him.

"Where are they? We just raised a big commotion outside their dwelling place. It\'s not possible for them to not notice our presence." Adhalia muttered, as the lack of response confused her from their enemies. They met only a few of their foes along the way in small groups, probably guards who were keeping an eye out, but they were all mercilessly slaughtered by Xiao Chen.

"They must be busy multiplying inside somewhere deep, that\'s why they didn\'t notice us." Draegh\'ana answered as she snorted in annoyance at the scent that she was picking up. It was the scent of procreation released by males while doing the deed.

"That\'s probably the case. I see no signs of digging along the path that we took, so this place must be one big natural cave that they discovered and settled in." Xiao Chen muttered as he moved forward.

Xiao Chen was being annoyed by the scent that he was smelling. Along the way, he had smashed many goblins to pieces and the odor from their bodies was very unpleasant. They smell like loss and semen mixed with each other. Their feces might even be included. "Hays... I should have let them deal with it, but I can\'t risk them going in without me." he uttered softly.

The cave was large and deep, but its structure was simple and fairly straightforward to navigate. A few meters ahead, the path split into two. One was bigger than the other and observing the smaller path, Xiao Chen surmised that only one or two of them could walk side by side along it.

"Galum\'nor, lead the Rakshas on the path to the right. Adhalia and Draegh\'ana will be coming with me to check on the left path." Xiao Chen ordered as he entered the smaller path and squeezing himself through the opening. Adhalia and Draegh\'ana followed after their chieftain and their bodies\' having a smaller frame, they just walk through the narrow path without the need of adjusting as they just entered normally. Galum\'nor tried to squeeze inside the narrow path but his body wasn\'t able to fit through the narrow path. Shaking his head, he headed towards the wider path and the Raksha silently followed after him.

*****

Xiao Chen and the two ladies arrived at a wide opening and there they were, a bunch of goblins idling around. "Roughly... a hundred of them huh..." he muttered as he looked around and counted the numbers of the goblins who were surprised by their presence. Xiao Chen noticed that it seemed like their foes were waiting for something, but it surely wasn\'t them.

"Kiek!"

"Ki"

"Kik"

The goblins grabbed their weapons and charged towards them. Adhalia looked somewhat overwhelmed by the number of their foes who were sprinting towards them while waving their weapons in the air. The noisy shrieks of the goblins echoed in the cave, which was unpleasant to hear as their shrieks bounced off the cave walls.

Adhalia stood right beside Xiao Chen with her blade right in front of her chest. \'The more the merrier\' Xiao Chen thought as he thrusted his spear forward and shattered three or more goblins with his bulky weapon. He can\'t swing his weapon around since he can\'t risk hitting the lady by her side and the walls of the cave won\'t allow him to. The battle went on with Adhalia and Xiao Chen just simply stabbing forward while waiting for their foes to come to them. Draegh\'ana in the rear didn\'t just stand and watch, but unleashed a few of her small fire spells.

Xiao Chen was getting bored at the progress of the battle since the number of goblins charging towards them thinned out after seeing their kin get slaughtered by the orcs and humans who suddenly showed up. "Adhalia, stand back and protect Draegh\'ana. Don\'t let anyone come close to her." Xiao Chen muttered as he gripped his weapon and charged forward.

He was estimating the height of the cave\'s ceiling and after a few tests; he estimated that his weapon would not scrape against it. Loud crashing sounds echoed as Xiao Chen went on a demolition job, shattering both rocks and goblins with his downward strikes.

Looking left and right, Xiao Chen adjusted his grip on his weapon and positioned his hands more than halfway down his weapon\'s length before swinging it forward with all his might. Six goblins were sent flying as they crashed against the walls.

Xiao Chen charged forward once again while swinging his weapon around and went on a rampage amidst the ranks of the goblins. He spun around and slammed the shaft of his weapon against the goblins, who were clumped together after taking many steps backwards to evade his attacks. Xiao Chen sent more than ten of them flying. After spinning around, a goblin jumped towards his chest, thinking that it was an opening only to be met by the orc\'s huge foot and sent away. His head snapped back as the force contained within Xiao Chen\'s kick broke his neck.

There were more than a hundred goblins mobbing around Xiao Chen. They aren\'t powerful, but their huge numbers was a threat. Reaching for his back, he unsheathed one of his blades with his left hand, then planted his spear on the ground. Xiao Chen had his blades out as he spun around like a tornado and slashed the goblins that were within his reach to pieces. Limbs went flying everywhere as Xiao Chen went on a slashings frenzy.

"Kik!"

A sound came from behind Xiao Chen, which prompted him to twist his body and, as he had expected, a goblin jumped at him with a rusty blade on his hands. He evaded the strike of his opponent by just a thread of hair. Xiao Chen smiled at his opponent after their faces passed by each other. He wasn\'t in a good posture to swing his blades, which is why, he just brought down his elbow and knocked the goblin down to the ground before kicking it away towards the walls of the cave.

"Kik...ki..." a muffled shriek came from Xiao Chen\'s foot and upon looking down, he saw his right foot stepping on the face of a goblin who was thrashing around since it couldn\'t breathe. "Oops... Sorry... Let me help..." Xiao Chen muttered as he put more weight on his right foot. The goblin\'s head exploded with a sickening crush as Xiao Chen\'s foots was covered with blood and brain juice, or if that what that white gooey stuff is.