Chapter 3: Human Weakness

Inexperienced, the 'he' thought. In that forest everything could kill, even many of the plants had life making it necessary to differentiate which were very deadly, which were just mortal and which were a little deadly.

Six of the humans were left, two men wearing red robes and holding long pieces of wood. These the goblin knew would be the ones with the ability to cast the red flower that warms.

A woman, the most distant one of all, wore leather skins and carried in her hands a long curved stick whose ends were connected by what 'he' could only recognize as a strange and thin vine. On the woman's back was a wooden jar with several thin sticks inside, objects with piercing stone points.

The remaining two were men covered in metal plates. The first was of medium height and held a large, flat, sharp piece of metal in both hands. The second had an impressive stature for a human, with his left arm he carried a gigantic piece of flat iron and with his right hand he held an ax that had a handle almost as long as its owner.

"Bad idea, bad idea Leomio." The woman spoke using her tool to launch three of her pointed sticks at the monster.

"You agreed, everyone agreed." The big man spoke as he saw a huge wooden arm reaching towards her.

"Oh God Hephaestus to whom all flames belong, I pray that..."

"By heavens!! Don't do that." The second man in armor spoke running towards the creature and attacking one of the monster's legs "It would start a fire in the forest"

"Then what do we do!?" asked one of the cloaked warriors.

"Try not to get killed." The woman responded by throwing more of her piercing items at the creature that didn't even feel them touching her body.

"But of course ma'am obvious!!"

With its right arm the creature lashed out at the larger man. He in a quick thought planted his legs open on the ground, with his left limb he positioned the shield to receive the attack and using his left arm he kept the ax straight in opposition to his body.

When the huge wooden fist hit the shield, the man used the instrument and all his strength to deflect the direction of the blow, thus making the living plant's arm straight. It was at this moment that he raised his mighty war ax high and brought it down in a swift attack.

"What!?" He almost stammered his question in disbelief at what he saw in front of him.

The ax managed to split part of the target, but it was stuck in its wood now. As much as the warrior pulled his weapon, his strength was insufficient to perform this action. Powerless, he abandoned his work tool and walked away from the enemy who roared in rage.

Taking advantage of this momentary distraction, the second armored warrior, in precise movements, repeatedly slashed horizontally at one of the monster's legs to somehow unbalance it.

"Should it be so tough?! Our weapons barely scratch your wood!" The smaller warrior questioned, crouching and by inches dodging a blow from the tree that tried to bite him.

"No, it shouldn't... ah unless it's close to an evolution!" One of the robed men spoke in fear at that thought.

"What is she doing?!" one of the cloaked men asked when the creature started a strange movement.

The monster squirmed, squeezing in almost as if it were hugging itself, shrinking so deeply that its wood cracked as it continued to perform this seemingly meaningless action.

The way pieces of it, being too firm, didn't shrink and just broke, thus projecting pointed shapes out of it, was what gave away their plan to the big man in armor. Someone who by this point had already proven to be the most centered and intelligent of that group.

"Duck down, take cover immediately"

However, it was already too late. The monster quickly rose again, its movement sent those sharp fragments of its body flying at high speed in all possible directions. Many of its chips were thrown upwards, some stuck in the ground and some even pierced some trees in the distance.

What really mattered were the ones that hit human bodies. One robed man had his throat ripped open while the other fell to the ground still alive with his stomach bleeding. The woman didn't have time to say anything before one of the projectiles entered her mouth and exited through the back of her skull.

The big man in armor defended himself from many of those shots with his shield that now had several punctures, however he couldn't stop those that came from below and rendered his legs useless.

The second man in armor, in a second of distraction in which he allowed himself to look at his companions, had his head ripped from his body by one of the branches that wrapped around his neck.

The goblin observed everything from a safe distance. Watching that battle wasn't completely useless, he had learned some things and even if he already knew others, it was good to always remember them.

Mainly the one about power and the lack thereof, about survival and the inevitable death that would come to those who were unable. 'He' didn't know what it was like in the lands beyond the forest, but he knew that there in that place where he was born.

Weakness is a sin.