A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 45: Battle With The Goblins - Part 11

Beam's movements were beginning to feel right. He was beginning to feel an electricity burning through his veins, a nervous excitement coupled with his fear, as though one side of him relished the chaos, whilst another side of him merely acknowledged it as necessary.

But Beam was ready for it this time. As its face came close, he buried his knife through its eye.

There was another sharp squeal, that droned on longer than the last one, ending in a gradual gurgle as green blood spewed and the Goblin spasmed. Its limbs thrashed and its jaw gnashed, as though trying to at least get a wound on Beam before it died, even though its brain was no longer functional.

A few moments later, it was well and truly dead. Beam stood over it, breathing heavily, his knife still buried deep within its skull, its handle slick with the creature's blood.

"Hah… Hah…" Beam breathed, unable to calm his adrenaline, hardly even able to process his victory. He'd thought killing something that had such human characteristics… he'd thought that would be hard. He still hesitated to butcher animals after all, feeling immense guilt at taking advantage of their innocence.

But with the Goblin, as soon as he'd overcome his fear, there had been no hesitation. No guilt. Just like how people flinched in disgust when they saw a mosquito land on their skin to suck their blood, Beam too felt the same instinct. Perhaps even more strongly. Every fibre of his being had screamed out their overwhelming urge to see the creature dead, and once it was done, it was done.

Beam dared to pull his knife out, wiping off the blood on the Goblin's bloodstained rags. His mind was far calmer than it had been earlier. The chaos of the unknown no longer inflicted its weight onto him. He knew what he was up against now – and he knew that he had the skill to stop it.

A scream sounded deep within the forest, followed by a roar. Beam assumed that the first belonged to the Goblins that the one he'd killed had been hunting with, but he couldn't identify the second. It was the deep bellow of a large creature. All he knew was that it was dangerous.

He could hear them stampeding through the forest from two different directions. One from the northeast, deeper in the mountains and another from the southeast. If he wasn't careful, he'd get pincered - even Beam knew that, as inexperienced as he was.

Dominus watched on with narrowed eyes from a distance away. "I still can't see it," he murmured. "There's something there. The boy is tapping into something I don't understand. But what? What's his state of being? How can he remain so balanced whilst having two Gods raging inside of him?"

Beam forced in deep breaths, deciding on his next course of action. Even if the fear was reduced, it was still there, and it clouded his ability to think. All he could do was stay settled on the plan that he'd arrived on beforehand.

He put himself in the best position to flee towards the mountain river, taking a quick glance in that direction to make sure his path wasn't obstructed for at least as far as he could see – which didn't happen to be very far in the dense pine forest – and then he readied his knife in reverse grip preparing for the assault.

They grew louder as they grew closer, with more screams being thrown into the air.

"RAHHHH! RAH! RAH! RAHHHH!" They chorused. Beam thought he caught four distinct sounds, along with the occasional roar of whatever mighty beast it was that was amongst them.

"Mighty beast?" Beam dared to mutter to himself, noticing his own thoughts. "What the hell am I doing standing here when I reckon a mighty beast is about to come along?" He joked quietly, seeing if humour could help calm his electrified nerves, if only a little.

The branches snapped as the creatures sped closer. Whatever massive being it was that the roar belonged to, it was heavy and the ground thundered from its approach.

"Oh shit—" Beam cursed, catching a flash of brown fur between the trees. He didn't wait to see the creature fully. His instincts were screaming at him to run now that it had come this close.

He scarpered through the trees, heading higher up into the mountains towards the river. He dared to look over his shoulder as he ran, just in time to see two Goblins burst into the area where he just was, spears in their hands, running erratically – never quite in a straight line – as they shrieked all the while.

And, just after it, gradually gaining on them, was the enormous frame of a brown bear, roaring in fury.

Upon spotting the corpse of her child, the bear roared even louder, her fury doubling and her attacks becoming more vicious. She reared on her hind legs, slapping at one of the Goblins with her massive forepaws, bladed with claws.

The Goblin dodged it nimbly, sounding as though it was laughing as it did. A thoroughly unsettling noise, a cross between a cricket's chirping and the high-pitched squealing that it had been letting loose earlier.

As it dodged, it lashed out with its spear, managing to get a shallow wound into the bear's side. But it did nothing to slow it. With its thick fur and blubber as armour, the mother bear roared in irritation, as it instead lunged with her jaws at the other Goblin nearest it.

This one managed to roll out the way too, before leaping onto the brown bear's back for a moment and stabbing it with its spear, then, in a moment of madness, trying to bite it with its wide jaws.