Upon hearing the voice, Lucious was quick to stand his ground, despite the fear that gripped him at that very moment.
The voice sounded harsh and rough, definitely not the kind of tone that could leave the mouth of a regular person.
Dori herself immediately paused, reaching for the stick that she had strapped inside her clothes in case of combat.
Lucious still had his back hidden behind the trees, listening as the multiple footsteps began to echo one by one.
Regardless of who made the noise, if the person were to step up, he would not hesitate to attack, using them as a meat shield against the goblins.
However, things took another turn rather quickly.
"Arrgh!!! Master, ruN!!!" Dori yelled at the top of her voice.
She reached for her stick, pulled it out, and immediately charged outside before Lucious could stop her.
Stepping out into the open, Dori held her stick forward in a battle position, more than ready to fight whoever was on the other side, including the goblins, long enough for her master to run at least.
But just as she arrived there, she noticed there was no one else, other than the multiple goblins that had surrounded her, creepy smiles on their faces.
She froze in fear, her heart nearly beating out of her chest.
They were incredibly short creatures, barely reaching a grown human’s waist, but their dark green skin was packed with so much bulging, twisted muscle that it did not take much to tell they could easily rip a normal person’s arm entirely off.
Their cheeky, high-pitched laughs echoed from every direction, blending with the popping sounds of their roaring campfire.
Dori felt her heart nearly beat right out of her chest. The feral courage that had driven her to step into the clearing evaporated instantly, replaced by a cold, primal terror.
The foul stench of unwashed goblin bodies and roasting meat filled her nose, making her stomach churn violently.
She gripped her wooden stick with trembling hands, unable to take a single step forward or backward.
From his hiding spot right behind the massive, mossy tree, Lucious watched the chaotic scene unfold.
His original plan had been highly calculated. He wanted to use the shadows to his absolute advantage, taking the ten goblins out one by one so he would not be overwhelmed by their numbers and crude blades.
But that tactical approach was instantly ruined the moment Dori exposed herself.
One of the goblins, bearing a sadistic grin filled with yellow, rotting teeth, let out a guttural screech. It lunged forward with explosive speed, a jagged, roughly sharpened stick aimed directly at Dori’s stomach.
’Dammit!’ Lucious cursed in his mind, his predatory calmness shattering for a fraction of a second.
He had absolutely no choice. He could not just stay hidden and watch his first willing blood kin get skewered to death before his very eyes.
Relying entirely on his unnaturally high agility, Lucious exploded from the underbrush. He moved with a fluid, terrifying grace, his boots barely making a sound against the wet dirt as he closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
He did not have the time to draw a weapon or formulate a counterattack. He simply threw his tall frame directly between the paralyzed girl and the charging monster.
The heavy, physical impact was sickening. The goblin’s crude, jagged stick tore violently through the ruined fabric of Lucious’s shirt and plunged deeply into the flesh of his side.
A sharp, burning agony flared through Lucious’s nervous system.
He grunted heavily, his jaw clenching as he used his bare hands to violently shove the grotesque green creature backward, forcing the bloody stick to slide out of his body with a wet tear.
Warm, crimson blood instantly began to spill from the open wound, soaking his clothes and dripping steadily onto the damp forest floor.
The scent of his own blood hit the air.
Dori gasped loudly, the terrifying trance she had been locked in finally breaking at the sight of the crimson liquid.
Her feral eyes widened to an impossible degree, the pupils shrinking into thin slits as pure, unadulterated panic completely consumed her.
"Master!" she screamed, her raspy voice tearing through the quiet night. She dropped her defensive stick entirely and reached out with shaking hands, pressing her pale fingers against his bleeding side. "Master, you are bleeding! Master, you are bleeding!"
She repeated the words over and over again, her voice cracking with absolute desperation.
Tears immediately welled up in her glowing red eyes. The thought of the man who had just saved her from a life of loneliness dying because of her foolish mistake was far more terrifying than any monster in the woods.
"I am fine, Dori, quiet down," Lucious ordered through gritted teeth, ignoring the stinging pain radiating from his waist.
He quickly scanned the perimeter.
The rest of the goblins had stopped laughing. Their dark, beady eyes were now entirely focused on the bleeding vampire in the center of their camp, their rusted weapons raised and ready to strike.
Fighting ten heavily muscled monsters out in the open, especially while injured and trying to protect a panicking girl, was a guaranteed death sentence.
Without wasting another second, Lucious reached out and grabbed Dori tightly by the wrist.
"Run," he commanded softly.
He pulled her forcefully along with him, completely abandoning the glowing warmth of the campfire and plunging directly into the suffocating darkness of the thick woods.
The goblins let out a collective, furious roar behind them, their heavy, thudding footsteps immediately giving chase.
Lucious ignored the pain in his side, forcing his legs to carry them faster.
For most people, running blindly through a dense forest at night would result in tripping over exposed roots or smashing into tree trunks. But because of their undead nature, the darkness did not hinder them in any way.
Once the night came, their glowing red eyes pierced through the shadows, allowing them to see their path just fine.
Branches whipped against their faces and the wet mud squelched beneath their boots as they sprinted through the underbrush. Dori kept entirely silent now, her fingers tightly intertwined with his as she matched his desperate pace, though her eyes constantly darted toward the blood staining his side.
They weaved through the labyrinth of ancient trees for a long while, trying to lose their pursuers in the winding natural paths. But the goblins were relentless, their high-pitched screeches echoing from every single direction, slowly corralling them like wild animals.
Suddenly, Lucious felt the rough, unforgiving bark of a massive tree trunk hit his back.
He stopped abruptly, pulling Dori behind his broad shoulders to shield her. He looked around, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
They had been completely backed into a natural dead end, surrounded by thick, impassable thorny vines and the towering tree.
The rustling of leaves grew deafening.
One by one, the dark, muscular figures of the goblins stepped out from the shadows of the surrounding bushes, forming a tight, inescapable semicircle around them. They dragged their rusted swords and crude spears against the dirt, their yellow eyes gleaming with malicious intent.
Dori pressed her back firmly against Lucious, her body trembling uncontrollably as she bared her fangs at the encroaching monsters.
The largest goblin of the group, bearing several jagged scars across its dark green chest, took a heavy step forward. It did not immediately attack. Instead, its jaw unhinged slightly, and a raspy, broken string of words tore from its throat, proving that these monsters possessed a crude form of intelligence.
"We take the female," the scarred goblin spoke, its guttural voice sounding like two stones grinding together. It pointed a filthy, clawed finger directly at Dori, who flinched at the gesture. "We have much fun with her. Soft skin. Good meat."
The other goblins chuckled darkly, licking their lips as they tightened the circle.
Then, the scarred leader turned its beady eyes toward Lucious. It tilted its head, flaring its wide nostrils as it took a deep, exaggerated sniff of the ambient air.
Its twisted smile instantly vanished, replaced by an ugly scowl of pure disgust.
"But you..." the goblin hissed, pointing its rusted blade at Lucious’s bleeding side. "You risk of evil. You smell of deep death and bad magic. Worse than the shadows. You die right away."
Lucious stared back at the creature, his pale face devoid of any human emotion. The pain in his side was slowly dulling, replaced by a cold, familiar predatory wrath.
The kingdom had called him a demon, and now even the lowest, filthiest monsters of the forest were claiming he reeked of evil.
He gently pried Dori’s trembling fingers from his shirt and took a single, slow step forward, away from the safety of the tree. His crimson eyes began to glow with a blinding, violent intensity in the dark.