Point was, we could lead them off, and take as many with us as we could before dying, while the elves escaped death. All of them were quiet and quick in the wilderness.
Wynn shook his head, “None of that. We’re a team. I happen to agree it’s worth the chance, we need to know what’s inside this hill, and what the goblins are up to. They’ve never done this before.”
We started to set up fortifications. We didn’t have the time for anything too elaborate. The walls Anlyth created were higher, four feet high, and they surrounded us in a U shape. We were partially up a steep slope on the south western side of the northern hill, which meant it was virtually impossible for us to be attacked from behind. We had spikes and thorn bushes in the front, and anyone charging would be charging uphill giving us the height advantage.
It was more than good enough to hold off and end fourteen goblins, but it was the two shamans among them that were truly the wild card in the coming fight…
There was no way to hide our presence on the side of the hill, and the goblins stopped for a moment when they came into view down below on the trail. The two shamans conversed for a moment. When they broke up, one group of seven came up the middle with the other shaman as well. They were standing far apart, and the two shamans were way in the back. Far too separated for the area of attack spell to be a benefit.
Well, except for the shamans themselves, but that would still be a waste. It would do far more damage to hit them back and forth, and do damage over time. Hmm, or I could do both.
The other six goblins split up into three-man… three-goblin teams, and one moved back up the trail, while the other three forged ahead while pulling their bows. They were obviously going to try to flank us with arrow fire from both sides, probably at an angle so they didn’t accidentally shoot at each other. Even goblins weren’t that stupid.
We’d taken far larger numbers from a fortified position, but this setup wasn’t nearly as good as our last one, and we hadn’t been facing two shamans.
“I’m going to do something stupid.”
Gwen smirked over at me and winked, but the obvious sally never left her tongue.
I shrugged, “It’s either going to be stupendous, or a horrific waste of mana.”
When the enemy got into range, both shamans opened it up with two fire blasts. We all ducked down to the sound of the six goblin’s war cries as they raced in our direction. Arrows crisscrossed over our heads, right before the two fire blasts exploded. I immediately took eighty-two damage. If they did that again I’d be dead.
I stood up and shot my Fire Blast in response. Fifteen mana for base damage and area of effect, ten more mana for two control fires to double the damage over five seconds, five for each shaman. Then came the stupid part, I dumped another hundred and twenty mana into the spell. That was one hundred forty-five mana in total, in one spell, which left me with a measly twenty-four mana.
The fire blast hit the ground between then, both within a three-foot radius, dumb asses.
Thirty-four base damage from initial five mana of the spell, plus twenty-three intelligence, and six more for initiate level six Fire sphere. Plus, a hundred and twenty more made the possible max damage one hundred fifty-four immediate, and three hundred eight over the five seconds.
The explosion was blinding, and I held my breath as it started to clear. What made it stupid, was if either of those shamans had the Light sphere and had protected from fire, it will have been nothing but a spectacular waste of mana. Still, it was worth the risk, we were all dead if they got the opportunity to cast another two fire blasts.
Well, I would be, the others had more hit points than me, but even if they lived they’d be very close to death after taking a hundred sixty points of damage.
The flames cleared, and there was nothing left but charred bodies. I felt a surge of relief as the gamble had paid off, but we were hardly out of the woods yet. There were twelve more goblins left, and all of them a higher level, and we were all at about half hit points.
Gwen said, “Damn,” in a way that told me I’d just turned her on, but this was hardly the time for that, or even just thoughts like that.
I dropped down behind the wall to regen a little mana while the rest of the party opened up on the six chargers. This time they’d aimed all at the same goblin, and without the need to deaden sound in the area Lyre’s arrow was lit with a fire spell.
The six charging goblins were down to five, as the target managed to walk a few steps before the spell overcame him and he fell to the ground dead.
I had to pace myself with less than thirty mana left, but I was also regenerating mana at two point three percent a second, which at my max mana was almost four a second, closer to three point nine.
I popped back up after the arrows passed overhead again, and shot a twenty mana spell to entangle the three archers to our south east, and ducked back down.
The rest of the group took out another charger, leaving four, then Gwen and Wynn dropped their bows and drew swords, as the four chargers approached the wall. They were fairly clumped up, and Lyre hit them with an area of effect fire spell. I couldn’t be sure, but it hit the four for at least thirty points of damage.
I rose up again, and entangled the second set of archers, and dropped back down. It was important to get all six of them, none could escape. We were only a mile north of the main goblin cave, and if one escaped they’d rally who knows how many goblins and be back within an hour. We needed to preserve secrecy long enough to investigate that cave.
The four were hurt, but vaulted up the walls between the spikes.
Gwen’s sword struck out and just gave one a light wound, but that was enough for her curse to take effect, and the goblin attacked her heedlessly, which gave her openings to wound him further.
Anlyth engaged one as well, with the staff. The spikes had determined their direction, and they were stuck with their initial trajectory, which gave him a nice free hit on the goblin that landed on the wall. The goblin parried Anlyth’s next blow and dropped down to engage him.
Wynn similarly engaged the third with his sword, and the three of them were fighting fiercely. The fourth goblin was free to come after me and Lyre, neither of which could fight melee style.
Lyre must have taken my desperate action earlier to heart, because a fire blast left her hand and encompassed the fourth goblin, who fell to the ground smoking two seconds later. Lyre looked alright, but drained, she must have poured all of her mana into it.
My heart was racing, and I felt a large surge of relief. I wouldn’t have had a chance against a warrior up close, and knew it.
I’d regenerated a good twenty mana, and stood up to fire a twenty one mana fire blast. Base damage of forty-four with the extra ten mana, and the six left over to double that over five seconds with control fire. The fire blast didn’t have far to go, and the goblin Gwen was fighting staggered from it, which let Gwen lunge and run it through the heart.
There were only two left, fighting sword to sword, and sword to staff, with Wynn and Anlyth. The three of us freed up to assist them meant we took them down fast.
At that point, we opened up on the entangled archers who were sitting ducks. They fired back of course, but we had a nice wall to take cover behind, and their aiming was hampered by the entangling vines.
When it was over we collapsed with relief.
Congratulations! Fourteen goblins are dead. You have earned five thousand Experience Points!
Between all six groups, we’d just earned fifteen thousand experience. Level seven was a lot closer now, I only needed five thousand and ten experience to level.
We took the time to heal and regenerate, I also sent the fourteen bodies to the same place I’d sent the others, we’d loot on the way out. There was no point in carrying it all with us into the cave. I figured they’d be fine for a while. There were no goblins left in this area, and the goblins had hunted out any other predators in the area.
Wynn said, “That was good th
inking, keeping the archers from retreating.”
I nodded, “Thanks, I didn’t want any crashers to our cave party.”
Gwen chuckled, “That was closer than I liked.”
Lyre agreed, “If either of those shamans were protected from fire we’d have been screwed.”
I sighed, that was true. Even if they’d survived a second fire blast, and somehow managed to take them out in a concerted effort, that would have meant the six chargers would have reached the wall, not just four. And the archers wouldn’t have been entangled, because I’d have been dead. I figured it was bound to happen at some point, dying I mean, but I wasn’t in a big rush to experience it. It sounded painful.
Wynn asked, “We ready to do this?”
We all nodded.
Wynn grunted, “Enclosed spaces are different. Gwen and I will take point, Anlyth will watch the rear since he can melee or cast magic forward. Jason and Lyre in the middle. It will be considered a dungeon most likely, which means no experience until we leave it, or until it’s completely cleared. Let’s try to move quietly, if there are overwhelming forces inside we’ll withdraw, if possible.”
We got up to our feet, and headed down the hill, and back east around the hill to the south. We took the trail split south, and kept our eyes peeled for any surprises, as well as the caves which according to Rylla were a quarter way up the hill on the east facing side. Fortunately, it wasn’t hard to find at all, but there was no cover at all as we warily approached the darkened entrance of the cave.
“Light?”
Wynn nodded, “We have no choice, even if it will reveal our position.”
I cast a light spell that would let us see a good distance. It took a mana a second to maintain as it floated a couple of feet over my right shoulder, but I gained almost four times as much a second, so it wasn’t an issue at all.
We moved into the cave. The first hundred feet or so were irregular walls, and damp. It was a natural cave, but then it thinned to a hallway just six feet wide, and it was obviously carved out.
“What is that stench?” Gwen asked in a disgusted voice.
Wynn frowned, and looked around, “Undead. Zombies most likely, and not fresh ones.”
My mind flitted through the Death sphere’s magical concepts. There was a way to preserve dead, but it cost a lot of mana. Still, rotting zombies didn’t sound all that great.
“How many can there be, a person with that sphere can only maintain so many at once.”
I guessed I could do three right in that moment, at one mana a second each.
Lyre shook her head, “If the caster is an apprentice, they can enchant a gem, one for each zombie. At that point, the only cost is time and gems, and the goblins live in mountains. I’m sure they have a lot of gems, or at least the chieftain and main shaman do. They’re probably building an undead army down here, to act as shock troops.”
If that was true, we were in for a very dangerous fight. An apprentice shaman would be a hell of a lot more powerful than an initiate one. Still, five against one mattered.
Wynn said, “Fire and decapitation are the best options, though enough normal damage will slow them down. We should also claim the gems powering them, they’ll not only sell well to be cleansed and enchanted with something else, but it will deny the goblins an opportunity to just implant them in a fresh corpse. Even if we do kill the Death enchanter.”
I said, “I think I’d rather keep my share, against the day I can do enchanting myself.”
Lyre interjected, “Me too.”
Gwen smirked, “Me three.”
Anlyth grinned, “Me four?”
Wynn sighed, “Of course, we’ll just keep them all for the party for common use, I’ll donate my portion if you all make me stuff.”
I wasn’t sure what was involved, or what would conflict with what. I wouldn’t know until level ten. But the idea of having detect life going all the time without draining my mana, or enchanting my own equipment sounded good. Maybe I could even ask Lyre to give me an air shield enchantment. I doubt it could run constantly, but maybe for short times during a battle, and then it would need to gain back mana. I wasn’t sure what was possible yet, and what wasn’t. Or even how long it took to enchant something, I doubted it was as simple as casting a spell.
Still, I needed to focus on reaching level seven, we were in a dungeon, which was hardly the place to fantasize about my level eleven gains.
We moved forward, and the hallway widened slightly before it opened up into a cavern. There were ten goblins in the middle of the room, and they didn’t look alive. They weren’t a pretty race to begin with, add in decomposition and threadbare clothing, and they were horrifying. Of course, being dead didn’t stop them from drawing their swords eerily in unison. It was creepy as hell. No guttural threats, or war cries, they were eerily silent which added a dimension of horror to them.
When they started to shuffle forward, I hit them with a tight area of effect blast, just large enough to encompass all of them. I put in ten extra mana, making it cost twenty five in total, giving it a maximum damage of forty four.
The damage reports came back, and I felt shock for a moment. Eighty eight, eighty seven, four were hit for eighty five, and the last three took eighty four. Best I could figure was that zombies were vulnerable to fire, and took double damage from it.
Great, now there were ten zombies shuffling forward and they were on fire. The horror of it made my heart race and the stench made my gorge rise.
Lyre took the opportunity to get her fire damage in too, but then Gwen and Wynn were among them and swinging for their heads. The zombies weren’t exactly fast, but they weren’t slow either and managed to parry the first stroke.
Both their follow up strokes took a head.
Anlyth fired an Earth spike, that embedded into a third’s chest, then exploded.
We were all showered by rotting flesh, as the torso fell apart and the head rolled off its neck. Damn, I needed a bath, and it was all I could do to stop from puking.
Lyre and I fired another fire blast, this time I just did the default eleven. Thirty four base damage, doubled on one creature, which translated to four times damage for a zombie. Another hundred and twenty points on the one sixty we’d caused combined in the major area blasts put mine down, and Lyre’s as well.
Five down, five to go.
Wynn and Gwen were fighting fiercely, and trying to draw the attention of the five remaining. As a result, they both took a couple of hits, and didn’t manage to decapitate another one.
But that left the three of us free to act. Two fire blasts, and another earth spike, and there were only two left. They were no match for Gwen and Wynn one on one, who took the last two heads effortlessly.
“Umm, do we really have to search through them?”
Anlyth laughed, “Earth sphere remember? Now that the enchantment isn’t active, I can just pull the gems from the remains with my magic.”
Good point.
Anlyth cast control earth, and pulled out the gems from the rotting flesh one by one. There were six small diamonds, two large rubies, an amethyst, and a sapphire.
Lyre said, “I think I have an idea, do you remember our experiment in the glade?”
My mind flittered back, and when I realized what she was talking about I started to laugh.
“Perfect.”
Wynn asked, “Want to share?”
Lyre said, “Next room, let me and Jason handle it with fire. Don’t rush them.”
Wynn nodded, “You two are best suited, undead are nasty.”
We moved forward, and left by the hallway on the other side of the cavern. We’d barely gone ten yards, before it opened up into a second cavern. Like the last one, there were ten zombies in the middle, standing rather close together. Stupid goblins.
Lyre cast an air spell, and I shot an area of effect fire blast behind it. Instead of just adding ten, I added twenty-six, to make it a nice even number. Maybe that was anal of me. Regardless,
the spell had a base damage of sixty now. Double damage against undead meant one hundred twenty.
Except, Lyre’s air control spell surrounded all ten zombies in oxygen, which we’d discovered tripled the damage of a fire spell. They barely had time to even draw their swords.
I was temporarily blinded by the flash explosion, which caused as we suspected it would, between three hundred fifty and three hundred sixty points of damage. When my eyes cleared, and I could see again, the undead were in pieces. Charred and very small pieces.
Gwen snickered.
Anlyth collected ten more enchanted gems with his magic. As we had last time, we left the swords. We could collect them on the way out. More to sell, and it denied the goblins access to them.
We repeated the process for three more caverns, for a total of fifty undead.
“Why ten in each cavern?”
Anlyth shrugged, “Who knows what the goblins are about. Maybe they’re all keyed to take commands from a different goblin commander, and they decided to separate them. Maybe if we hadn’t found this place so soon, those caverns would be completely filled with zombies, so they figured split them up by person. No way to be sure.”
“Do you know how long enchanting takes?”
Lyre said, “Depends on the difficulty of what you’re enchanting, quality of stone, and a number of other things we won’t get yet. A few hours per effect or attribute for the simple rings we’re wearing, but grandmaster level equipment can take days.”
“What makes something grandmaster level?”
Lyre tilted her head, “The concepts used plus the quality of gem.”
Oh, that was a stupid question.
“Quiet, cut the light,” Wynn hissed in a low voice.
I cut off my light and stopped walking. It got dark, very dark, but I could see some light ahead of us. Enough I could at least make out the walls, and the silhouettes of the rest of my party.
Wynn said, “That must be where the shaman is enchanting. Quiet, and cautious. He must know we’re here, the explosions weren’t exactly subtle. Assume he’s got traps in there, if he didn’t he wouldn’t have waited for us to get to him. He also has the Light sphere, and an unknown third. That light up ahead can’t be from the Fire Sphere or a lantern or torch either. Assume he’s already protected from something, and probably fire since he heard the explosions. Lyre use air, Jason water, and Anlyth stone. I’m going to rush him. Gwen, you try to curse him with an arrow, if you can enrage him past thought he can’t cast anything to kill us all.”
Gaia's Gambit: Evolution Online I (A LitRPG) Page 18