It was a desperate situation but still, Ash did not break. Though the slicing capabilities of her machete were still heavily hampered by the static motions in which she applied it, the prone huntress still caught the goblin’s wrist by the bone. He hissed in rage, spittle spraying on her face, but no matter how powerful his initial strike was, the tip of the knife only pierced her skin, a pinpoint of blood rising out from the puncture wound rather than a bloody stream. Reeling back, his own wrists red but not heavily injured, the goblin snarled and grabbed the blade with one hand, holding it back as he reached forth to aim another stab into her eye.
But Ash’s friends didn’t fail her this time.

[i]“Always aim for the gut, Matt.” He slapped the retching boy on the back, the warmth of an older brother translated in that comfortable roughness. “And always commit.”[/i]

Screaming without even knowing he was, Matteo pushed through his pain once again, his uninjured legs propelling him with frenetic speed before he shoulder-tackled the much smaller creature, His bloodied arm banged painfully against the machete that Ash had held up to thwart the creature’s first stab, but it was just another momentary burst of pain on a pile of agony that didn’t seem to matter too much. With superior mass, he propelled the goblin away from Ash, the two of them sliding into the muddy stream. In delicious irony, it was Matteo who was on top this time, his arm stubbornly wrapped around the monster’s waist.

The goblin howled and raged, but he had dropped the knife somewhere during that surprise tackle as well, and swung at the thief’s face instead, a desperate, frenzied pummelling that caused Matteo’s brain to tremble each time a blow came near the bleeding bruise on his skull.

The club-wielder too soon found himself occupied. Muu’s hadn’t come off well from smacking away a flying knife, a deep cut seeping out that precious crimson ichor, but the adrenaline was pumping through her veins now. Even one handed, she was strong. Even one handed, she was fast. Even one handed, she wasn’t at a disadvantage, and the short sword cracked with a powerful strike, almost cleaving the goblin’s club in half as he raised up to block.

But the slash was stopped regardless, and that was what mattered.

Releasing the handful of Ash’s hair he had in his hand, the goblin dropped his damaged club immediately, leaving it stuck on Muu’s short sword, before lunging straight for Muu herself. One claw grasped her dangling red scarf, instantly tightening it around her neck, while the other limbs clawed at her body, trying to find purchase so he could grapple at a range close enough that her short sword would be all too unwieldy.