Mixing It Up (The World Book 2)

by Jason Cheek

  Immediately Sarka threw herself at the uninjured Goblins leading with a Shield Bash as I fell back blasting the fourth Goblin into icy slush. Crossing the last distance between us, Cralo Gutripper leaped at me dual wielding two jagged blades. The first blade I caught on the edge of my shield, but the second sword cut deep into my ribs knocking me off my feet from the force of the physical impact. I watched my Hit Points noticeably drop as I rolled to my knees yanking the hand-axe from my belt.

  Swinging the weapon up over my head at an angle, I caught the Slave Master’s next strike on the axe-blade as my shield deflected the second lightning fast strike that would have gutted me like a fish. Before I could climb back to my feet, the green bastard’s clawed foot slammed hard into my chest, bowling me over as I took damage again. I did a double-back roll to put distance between us to get to my feet, but even then I barely made it back to my feet as the Slave Masters blows rained down non-stop. The Boss’ guttural roars rang out across the chamber until Yun’s Frost Nova covered the room once again in its frozen glory.

  With Cralo Gutripper momentarily frozen in place, I finally managed to climb back to my feet. The intensity of the boss’ attacks left my head spinning as I staggered around looking for Sarka and the last two Goblin Slave Drivers. What I saw of my team on the far side of the room brought me up short. Sarka had been bodily thrown across the room against the far wall with most of her Hit Points gone where her husband’s glowing hands now rested on her chest. Tinyr wasn’t much better off. He’d been pummeled into a heap not far away from the frozen Slave Drivers with half his Hit Points ripped away. Only Unalia was left on her feet. The worried look she gave me as she knocked another arrow into her bow spoke volumes. If we kept on going like this, we’d wipe in no time.

  Obviously, Plan A wasn’t going to work out here. Sarka had probably thought I’d been joking about kiting, but it was a valid tactic in most MORGs. There was no way anyone else in our team could face these mobs head-on. I knew what I had to do. Taking a firmer grip on my shield and hand-axe, I began charging at the frozen Goblins Slave Drivers as I called out orders to the rest of the team.

  “Yun, keep the Boss targeted with your Frost Bolts in-between Frost Novas. I’ll kite these bitches while everyone targets off of me.” With a wordless howl, I slammed into the first Slave Driver hand-axe first, burying my blade deep into the Goblin’s chest. Yanking my axe free, I followed up the strike with a Shield Bash knocking the Goblin back on its heels. Without slowing down, I spun in place with my axe chopped down as the blade struck deep into the back of the second Slaver’s knee as the Goblin’s Jagged Bastard Sword skipped across my ribs. Blocking the follow-up strike of the Slaver’s whip with my shield, I fell back leaving both Goblins with bleed DOTs eating away at their health. I dodged the mobs’ follow-up attacks and ran, while Unalia’s arrows hammered into the back of the first mob I’d struck as the rest of the team got back to their feet as both Goblins chased after me.

  “Ég mun gut þig eins og svín!“ Cralo Gutripper bellowed out across the room at me in rage as Yun’s freeze broke a second later. With a piercing shriek, the Boss leaped after me with both weapons posed to strike. For a second, I freaked as the Boss crossed the distance between us at an inhuman speed. Swearing under my breath, I turned around and ran flat out. I only needed to keep away from the mobs for sixteen seconds as I raced for the far side of the room.

  I didn’t need to understand the Goblin’s guttural speech to know that it wanted to flay my ass alive. I’d never seen anything as scary as the psychotic look on Cralo Gutripper’s face. There was no doubt in my mind that we were in for a horrible death if this didn’t work out the way I’d planned. As if reading my mind, I saw Yun’s Frost Bolt flashed past my eyes as I heard the familiar crunching impact of a solid hit a split-second later. Looking back behind me, I saw the white frost of the spell’s magic forming a frozen sheen across the boss’ enraged face as its insane charge slowed to a fast run. A sharp bark of relief escaped my lips as I headed in a wide arc around the edge of the chamber with all three Goblins trailing behind me in a rough line. As soon as my Frost Nova was about to pop, I looped back for the mobs blasting out a Frost Nova out as soon as soon as I closed into combat range.

  This time I targeted Cralo Gutripper as I closed in for my attack. Coming up behind the frozen Goblin, I was able to hammer my hand axe into the back his knee, hamstringing the mob as I raced by. Unfortunately, the hit instantly released the Slave Master as the Goblin turned around and pounced on top of me before I’d had a chance to get out of range. Pummeling my face with both sword hilts, the Boss howled before ripping a bloody chunk of flesh out of my shoulder. Agony and fear drove me as I somehow manage to bash the Goblin away with my shield and make it back to my feet as Cralo slowly facing me. Laughing harshly, the mob threw its head back gulping down the hunk of flesh it had ripped out of my shoulder as I took off running.

  The ease at which the Goblin Slave Master had tackled me to the ground had freaked me out. There was no way I could face the bastard alone without the entire team backing me up. With Yun’s Frost Bolts I managed to keep ahead of the mobs until his time for Frost Nova popped. As soon as the spell blasted out to freeze everything around us, I raced back towards the Goblins. This time I targeted the Slave Drivers. Trading a flurry of blows with each of them, I focused on hamstringing their legs and triggering my DOT on each of them, before taking off again as the Boss was released from its frozen prison to chase after me. Even slowed down as he was, Cralo was fast. Before I could cross to the other side of the room, the bastard was on me again as his blades flailed at my back. Yun did his best to slow the fucker down, but I ended up taking some serious damage before I got out of the range of his blades.

  Still, at half health, Tinyr and Sarka got back into the fight trying to give me a hand, but their damage was next to nothing against these high-level mobs. The level difference between them was just too great. I did my best to wear the fifth Slave Driver down. If we could get down to just two mobs, we’d be doing a lot better. Yun and I continued taking turns locking the Goblins down in-between attacks. Once they got the rhythm down the rest of the team joined in on the action too. Even though the team’s damage was next to nothing, every little bit helped to whittle the bastards down, working together we managed to get the fifth Slave Driver down to a quarter health in twelve minutes.

  Unfortunately, no matter what I did, the Slave Drivers manage to get several hits in before I could get back out of the range of their strikes. If the rest of the team got in close enough to attack, the Slave Drivers changed their tactics to fighting back-to-back instead of blindly chasing after me. It was a rough tradeoff. The Goblins managed to hurt us nearly just as bad as we hurt them. If not for Yun, we’d have all died in the first few minutes of the fight. Still, we kept at it. I was closing in for another attack run on the fifth Goblin with Tinyr and Sarka waiting just outside of the mob's weapons’ range when Yun hissed at me urgently.

  “I’m out of Mana!”

  “What? Aren’t you regenerating?” I asked coming to a stop just out of range of the Slave Drivers.

  “Yea, but my regen is cut down to a quarter as long as we’re still in combat.” Yun hurriedly explained drawing his sword nervously.

  “What the fuck, Dude! You can’t wait till the last second to drop a bomb like that.” I swore out loud.

  “Sorry man, I completely missed it!” Yun said looking devastated.

  “Shit, then we’ve got to take that wounded Goblin down now, or we’re all fucked.” Tinyr urgently said dancing on the outside of the edge of the Slave Drivers’ range, before I could reply, the shattering sound of the Frost Nova’s freeze suddenly ending stopped all discussion as I leaped forward to attack screaming. “Go … go … go!” There was nothing I could do. I’d blown my load taking out the first four adds and was now barely regenerating enough to keep my own Frost Nova attacks going. Before anyone could react, the Slave Drivers turned and lunged after Tinyr a
nd Sarka instead of chasing after me.

  The Goblin’s sword pierced Tinyr through the chest before he had a chance to dodge out of the way. Not stopping there, the Slave Driver rode his body to the ground as its fangs ripped out his throat in a spray of blood. The dual attacked killed him instantly, but not before Tinyr managed to thrust his Cruel Bastard Sword into the Goblin’s eye. Instantly the fifth Slave Driver’s health bar began flashing dangerously red as the mob began bleeding out like crazy all over the ground as it collapsed to its hands and knees. Before it could yank the blade out, my axe cleaved through its ugly, green head a half-second later.

  In the time it took me to take out the fifth Slave Driver, the sixth mob had lashed its whip around Sarka’s throat. Before any of us could react, she was yanked by her neck backward into the Goblin as its blade pierced through her spine. With a heart-wrenching scream, Unalia threw herself at the Slave Driver’s back with her sword drawn as Yun charged wordlessly screaming in anguish at his wife’s attacker. No matter how much I wanted to help them, all that I could do was turn around to face the boss’ charge. I’d barely gotten my shield up when I was blasted off my feet from the mob’s massive strength.

  The impact jarred me to the bone as I rolled to my feet fighting for my life. The screams of combat echoed around the chamber as our team fought for their lives. Sarka’s life bar on my group list was flashing red as I caught glimpses of Sarka, Unalia’s and Yun’s fight, although calling the slaughter I saw a fight was a misnomer. There was no doubt in my mind that they were all going to be cut down any second. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to help them as I dodged and parried against Cralo Gutripper’s insane flurry of blows. The dual swords ripped through my leather armor like tissue paper as I was bashed about the room.

  Even with my increased stats, I couldn’t hold my own against the Slave Master. I tried my best to deflect the overpowered blows raining down on me, but every strike drove me back further and further away from my team. My hand axe was too bulky to match the speed of the blurring blades, and the continuous blows were decimating my shield, giving me no time to strike back as I struggled to match the Goblin boss’ insane attack speed. In my heart, I knew that if I didn’t come up with something fast, this was going to be a wipe. When Cralo suddenly stepped back and spun in a whirling attack. The double blade strike shattered my shield and completely blasted me off my feet. Flying across the room, I bounced off the far wall with a bone-jarring jolt before coming to a stop on the hard, stone floor.

  I heard the Slave Master’s ridiculing laughter echo around me as the Goblin threw its head back and bellowed in victory. Struggling to push myself to my feet, I saw that my Hit Points had plummeted to 412 as my hand slipped in a pile of goo. Immediately, I face-planted into something wet and slimy as I hurriedly tried to scramble back to my feet, when I felt more than heard a labored growl all around me. The vibration was so powerful I could feel it through in my bones. Wiping the bloody mess from my eyes, I froze in horror at the sight before me as I stared directly into the eyes of the Silver Dire Wolf mother I’d seen earlier.

  In that split instant something passed between the two of us as time seemed to stop. Cralo Gutripper’s harsh guttural barks of laughter. My friends’ death screams. The pain filling my body. Everything was stripped away in that instant as the emotional agony of a mother’s anguish touched my soul as the beast thoughts touched my mind.

  [Release me to avenge my children]

  With the beast’s mental touch I felt a window open up in my mind as its burning fury rushed through me. I’d like to say my next decision was a purely based on calculated risk taken for the betterment of my group but that would have been a lie. Truly all that I can say in my defense was that my heart burned in rage from the link that had formed between us. Besides, in the back of my mind, I knew there was nothing left to lose. There was no way we could win this fight unless something drastically changed.

  Not looking away from the Silver Dire Wolf’s hate-filled eyes, I lurched to my feet bringing my hand axe high above my head in a two-handed grip. Screaming in rage, I swung the blade down with all my might as the sharp mental sliced through the bindings holding the Silver Dire Wolf’s head to the ground. Ignoring the bellow of rage behind me, I lifted my axe and struck again and again, releasing the rest of the binding that held the monster in place as Cralo crashed into my side bowling me over.

  My head swam as I tumbled head over heels, slamming to a stop as I hit another wall while all hell broke loose around me. The ferocious howl of rage that blasted throughout the room made my ears ring as I pushed back to my feet gasping for breath. A flashing alert in the corner of my vision showed a warning that my Hit Points were at 98 points of health. One more hit from the Boss and I would be dead. Looking around the room, my eyes followed the bloody trail of intestines and gore to where the Dire Wolf had borne Cralo Gutripper to the ground underneath its oozing bulk, holding the Goblin down in a death-grip as the sounds of battle came to my ringing ears.

  Incredulously, I saw my team on the far side of the chamber still fighting for their lives against the last Slave Driver. Unalia and Yun clung to the mob’s back hanging by their blades as Sarka faced the Goblin head-on. The group bar on the top left of my vision showed that they were all injured with their Hit Point in the yellow, while the Goblin’s health was red, down to 20% of its max health. Dropping my ruined shield to the ground, I scooped up my hand-axe from where it had fallen and drew my Cruel Bastard Sword as I lurched into a staggering run. I was nearly on top of the Slave Driver when the mob finally bucked Yun and Unalia off its back. As the Goblin brought its sword up to pummel Sarka, I slammed into the mob back blades first triggering my Sneak Attack as the Goblin shrieked in agony as its Hit Points hit zero. With a final surge into the air, the mob stumbled before collapsing to the ground dead. Immediately a golden glow surrounded me as my Hit Points and Mana suddenly shot to 100% as a familiar window briefly popped before my eyes.

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 21!

  Instantly the numerous wounds marking my body disappeared as I jumped to my feet feeling whole and healthy once more. Before I knew what was happening I had three sets of arms wrap around me as Anseille, Yun and Unalia shrieked and laughed excitedly in my ears.

  “Oh my god, we did it!”

  “I can’t believe we survived!”

  “Nice save man!”

  Urgently, I pushed everyone away speaking hurriedly as the sounds of enraged growls, and harsh Goblin bellows came from the other side of the chamber. “No time guys, the Boss is still alive. We need to finish this up quickly before he breaks free.” Seeing the fearful looks on everyone’s faces as they worriedly stepped back. I held my hands up to stop their questions. “Quick, where’s Tinyr’s body?”

  A moment later, Unalia brought us to Tinyr’s crumpled form as I went to work. Immediately my hands and fingers began an intricate dance forming the mystical gestures needed for the spell as I began chanting. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do for the twenty seconds needed to cast the spell. Thankfully, the long cast went off without a hitch as a thousand points of my Mana instantly drained from my reserves as a beam of light shined down on the rogue’s unmoving body. For a long moment, nothing happened as we all anxiously watched when all of a sudden Tinyr’s eyes popped open as he sucked in a choking lungful of air.

  It took all of us to hold the tiny Light Elf down as he jolted upright. His eyes wildly looked around at us as he tried to get a bearing on his surroundings. His Hit Points were still in the red from the resurrection spell I’d just cast, which Yun took care of a few seconds later with a double dose of healing. “Just for the record, dying sucks ass!” Tinyr muttered as I pulled the disoriented rogue to his feet. Hurriedly, I pushed the team towards the far side of the room and the sounds of battle. Sprinting ahead, I drew the Jagged Bonesplitter Axe from my belt as I hurried around the bulk of the massive beast.

  Immediately, I saw that Cralo Gutr
ipper had managed to get one arm free as the Slave Master repeatedly plunged his blade deep into the Silver Dire Wolf’s neck. As soon as I neared, the Goblin’s evil, red eyes locked onto mine as it saw me charging in for the kill. Urgently, the Slave Master yanked his solo blade free, but before the mob could bring the sword back up to block, my blade chopped through the Goblin’s wrist with a satisfying thunk. With a shriek of rage, Cralo Gutripper began swearing at me in its foul language as I brought my hand axe up two-handed above my head for another strike.

  Shrieking out a wordless battle cry, I chopped down with my entire body aiming for the Slave Master’s thick neck. Blood sprayed everywhere as the Goblin’s stump waved in the air trying to deflect the strike as I sought to end the boss’ miserable life. Finally, the battle came to an end when Cralo Gutripper’s ugly green head rolled away from its body as my axe-blade chopped completely through the Goblin’s bony spine. Collapsing to my knees, I sat back on my thighs gasping for breath directly in front of the Silver Dire Wolf’s head as Tinyr glowed behind me as he instantly leveled up from the boss’ massive experience boost. Looking into the beast’s bloodshot eyes, I tried to think of what to do with the beast as the rest of the team nervously gathered behind me.

  The Silver Dire Wolf’s pain and loss bled through the mental link between us as I unconsciously placed my hands on either side of its bloody head. It was hard to know where to safely touch her since most of her flesh had been stripped away from the Slave Driver’s whips. The Silver Dire Wolf’s health bar was highlighted in the red of near death. With tears running down my cheeks, I began casting my first level healing spell, when the beast’s thoughts reached out to me once again as the magic fizzled away.