The alley that Norse had chosen actually led to a dead end. He stifled a curse and went back where he came from. Emerging from the alley, Norse was hit by the air infested with smoke. The scent of blood was even thicker than before.
And the goblins…more had emerged.
The moment he stepped out. Six greeted him with murderous eyes. They cackled in delight at the sight of prey.
Norse felt his heart drop to his stomach. Why did it seem as if every single thing was going wrong?
He looked at the little girl in his arms and said:
"You see that pole over there?"
The pole Norse was pointing to was just a small distance beyond the stretch of the building after the alley. It was relatively farther from all the chaos that was happening and undoubtedly the safest route now.
Norse hadn't wanted to use it because it had been too open but now…he didn't really have a choice.
The little girl nodded.
"I'm going to put you down and the moment I do I want you to run towards it as fast as you can you hear me?"
She nodded once more.
"Good" Norse slowly lowered the little girl to the ground.
The entire time the goblins hadn't moved. They merely watched with curious eyes wondering just how such cornered prey would act. They wanted to see despair in their eyes.
Norse who was an experienced officer of the law had run into such individuals before so he was familiar with the little goblins' thoughts. It disgusted him.
'You want to see me squirm, do you?'
The moment he placed the girl down his gun pointed forward. He fired a single shot. A goblin fell to the ground, blood leaking from the space between its eyes.
The other goblins reeled back. Shock coloring their faces. A few even let out horrified shrieks. But Norse didn't let up. He shifted to a solid stance. Holding the gun in a two-handed grip he took aim and fired.
He gave the little girl a nod and said:
"Go"
The little girl listened. With as much speed as her little legs could carry her, she ran towards the agreed location. By then Norse had fired off two more shots. It wasn't until four of the six goblins had fallen that the other two finally reacted, realizing that the strange contraption in Norse's hands was the one reaping their lives.
"Kiiiiii!" a goblin lunged, swinging a bone club from above. Given the height of the goblin the blow would have raptured his guts instead of cracking his skull.
Norse leapt to the side, the swing catching just the helm of his shirt. The material tore.
He twisted his torso, taking aim and pulling the trigger once more.
The goblin released a terrified squeak but the loud sound akin to the clap of thunder never came. Instead a harmless clicking sound echoed about. A sound Norse was all too familiar with.
'Damnit why now?'
He cursed.
The two goblins, realizing that the tool that brought death no longer did so, were emboldened. They attacked with much more ferocity and rage. One goblin had a rusted short sword. It slashed at his stomach. While the other one struck at his knees.
Adrenaline rushed through his blood as managed lunge back, preventing his gut from being ripped open. But he had no such luck with evading the club that slapped hard against his thigh. The blow was strong enough to numb his leg. Hot pain rushing up his body.
Even though his leg was covered by jeans, he could already picture the grotesque bruise coloring his thigh right now.
The goblins didn't let up on their attack. Sword and club fell upon his body again and again. Norse had to fight not just against these ruthless monsters but also the pain just to be able to move the way he wanted to and even then, with this leg the way it was his movements were highly limited.
He held his gun by the barrel and swung it like a club of its own. The goblin with the sword came at his side only to receive a vicious blood from the butt of the gun. The little creature's slit eyes lost focus and faltered for a moment only for Norse to bash its head in once again.
By now Norse's body was a canvas of bruises and littered in cuts. His arms, chest, legs and even on the right side of his head a long cut appeared from his temple all the way to his jaw.
The goblin with a bone club struck at his back but Norse tanked it. The blow hurt yes but he had long decided to ignore the other goblin only avoiding the truly terrible attacks like the one aimed at his head or the ones aimed to immobilize.
If there was a more dangerous beast of the two, then it would undoubtably be the one with the sword.
Norse struck down again and again until the goblin let out moanful wail and went limp, the sword slipping from its fingers. Finally having some leeway, he spun towards the remaining goblin. Bone club already swinging his way.
He stretched out with an open palm. The club landed, the bones in his arm creaked and whined threatening to break. The pain almost made him falter…almost.
With a step forward, he pulled it to the side and held it there, then he brought up his gun, its butt now dripping with purplish liquid, the sword goblin's blood. The gun fell.
It only took six strikes to kill the goblin and by then he was gasping for breath. His entire body felt sore and abused.
'Not out of the woods yet'
His left arm trembled as he reached inside his jacket…what was left of it now. Then he proceeded to replace the empty magazine of the handgun. It wasn't an easy thing to do. Not with how much his arm throbbed but he managed to get it done somehow.
He felt like dying right now but the goal still hadn't changed. Rescue the little girl, get away from the portal, establish a line of communication and most importantly survive.
'I've got my work cut out for me then' with those lingering thoughts he limped towards the direction the little girl had run off to.