The goblins did not retreat after the first wave fell. Instead, their movement only became more aggressive as more of them poured out from between the trees, filling the gaps left by the ones Nightwalker had already cut down. The forest around the group stopped being half empty, and every direction now carried faint sounds of shifting bodies and broken branches.
Leo quickly realized this was not a simple encounter but a sustained pressure meant to wear them down rather than overwhelm them immediately.
Nightwalker stayed at the front without hesitation, his sword moving in clean arcs that carved through the advancing goblins and the larger creatures behind them. Even while still recovering from injuries, his presence on the battlefield forced a natural opening wherever he moved, as if the space itself reacted to his momentum. The heavier enemies that tried to push through the center were met with precise strikes that broke their formation before they could even coordinate properly.
