Making good use of surprise did seem like their best bet. Inflict greater wounds than they could recover from before they could react at all. And speed was among Valerie's strongest attributes. She nodded back, grateful for the squeeze on her shoulder. Even against goblins charging into battle was no easy task, but it helped when she was alongside someone she trusted.

Three on the right for her, the other four for him. It was hardly the time to squabble over numbers, and she had to admit she had more confidence in Markus than she did in herself. She studied the three, the first armed with dual daggers, the second a scimitar that a human could've wielded with one hand, but held in two here, and the last with a spear and small wooden shield. Valerie slowly closed her fingers around the hilt of her blade, and waited for Markus to give the word. "Now."

She moved ahead without hesitation, drawing her sword with a ring of steel and rushing at the goblins on the right of the group. They turned and stared in shock for a moment, and that was all Valerie needed to end the first of them, removing his head with a clean slice before she stepped forward to attack the next. They were swift to react, and the second already had his guard up for her when she made her attack. He was not a skilled opponent, though, and a few quick moves opened up his flank for Valerie to plunge her sword into, ending him.

The spear wielding goblin had enough time to line up an attack before Valerie could properly align herself after discarding the second foe. A thrust of the spear came at her, and had she been a moment slower it would have skewered her through the midsection. Instead, she managed to turn it aside just in time. The goblin was surprised at her quick reactions, and failed to get his own shield up in time for her counter. Valerie's thrust might've done the same skewering to a human opponent, but against the goblin her blade pierced through his throat. The creature slowly fell backwards off of her sword, where he lay still.