by Jez Cajiao
Bob was still pretty obvious, where he hulked behind the tree, and the goblins slowly began to spread out, clearly planning to encircle him and attack.
“Well, can’t have that, can we…” I whispered to myself. raising my hands, with my naginata laid on the ground at my side, I began to dual cast firebolt. I continued to channel mana into it, adjusting the spell as I remembered using it what seemed like ages ago, when I’d first arrived at the Tower.
As the mana built, I kept my hands spaced about ten inches apart, fingers slowly dancing as I layered the weaves on atop another.
I’d not realized what I was doing when I’d done it the first time, but after casting the normal version so many times now, I’d noticed…differences. Areas where the spell could be improved, I’d thought, but I hadn’t had time to experiment consciously yet. Now, I thought ‘fuck it’ and piled the changes in, feeling the spellform ripple and fight to be free. I forced the shape to hold together as the pressure built, until I started to feel like I’d hurt myself if it went any further.
The normal Firebolt was ten mana, but this…there was sixty mana in it when I finally cut it off and threw both hands forward in a ‘Streetfighter’ move.
What left my hands was a different level entirely from the firebolt, and I saw my notifications go crazy, even as it impacted the left flank of the goblin gang.
When the glowing white-blue spell hit them, it smashed through the first few creatures unfortunate enough to be in its way before exploding. Bits of goblin bodies were hurled through the air, liquid fire covering them, and over a dozen were killed outright. I paused, gawking at the devastation before me, when Lydia struck.
She’d darted out from behind her tree as soon as the spell hit, and was shouting like a Valkyrie, rousing the squad to battle. I swept up my naginata and ran forward, jumping back onto the trail and stamping down hard on a weakly struggling green-skinned figure. I lashed out, stabbing to my right, left, sweeping the haft around and breaking bones wherever it hit. In the madness of the fight, I saw the others wading in. Cam, to my right, was using his axe like a baseball bat, hitting each opponent with a huge amount of force, and sending the corpses flying in pieces.
I didn’t have time to watch them all as I stabbed and swung, my naginata dancing through the air, but in what seemed like seconds, it was over.
I spun from one side to the other, looking for another target, my naginata dripping with gore as I panted, trying to get my breath back.
“Is…is that…it?” I asked and got a grim look from Lydia in response.
“Flux and the other two are chasing the last ones down, but… we were too close to their camp, I think. They had to have heard that…”
“Fuck!” I cursed, looking around, “Okay, anybody hurt?” I asked, seeing Miren raise one hand. Her left arm looked torn and bloody, but before I could do it myself, Oracle had cast healing on her. Miren hissed as the flesh knit itself back together, but soon, she was looking at her arm in wonder, the wound completely gone, and only the torn and bloody cloth of her sleeve showing it had ever happened.
“Anyone else?” I asked. Getting no response, I nodded to myself. “Good! We might have lost the element of surprise, so we need to be careful now. Keep the noise down where you can, but speed is more important.” I turned and started jogging up the trail, quickly finding a few more bodies. Clearly, Flux had caught these, at least. There was no other sign of him, so we continued on, moving faster.
It took a few minutes, but we caught up to Flux, Cheena, and the youngling fighting a handful of feet from the entrance to the camp. A dozen small corpses were sprawled around, and the sound of more came from the hole that led underground.
“Shit!” I cried out as the youngling got stabbed by a goblin that leapt on his back, wielding what looked like a kitchen knife. I rushed forward, punching out with a fist. I felt the small creature’s neck snap with the force, sending the body flying from his back as he collapsed to the ground, wheezing.
“Oracle! I need you!” I bellowed, and she was there in a flash, landing by his side and growing to full size and flipping him over to get at the wound.
“This is bad! I need more mana!” She cried to me, and I pawed at my belt, pulling a potion out as I stabbed around, one-handed, trying to stem the tide of goblins. I looked at the potion, verifying that it was a healing one, and chucked it to her.
“Use that!” I shouted to her, kicking out and sending another goblin flying, and swearing as more and more came running out of the hole in the ground. There were easily fifty in the small clearing now, and more were emerging every second.
The others took up position around me, and my vision suddenly updated, my usual vision of my own health and mana bars being augmented by a series of symbols I instinctively knew matched up with the rest of the party. Each symbol had a red ring around it, and Arrin’s had a second blue ring as well, I could see them all dropping slowly, yet somehow it didn’t interfere with my vision, luckily.
Bob was suddenly by my side; his symbol was grey, and the single white ring around it chipped away slowly but steadily.
I glared around as I slashed and kicked at the goblins, finally pulling out a bright blue potion and biting down on the cork. I yanked back, pulling free and spitting the cork at the nearest screaming goblin. I punted it as hard as I could, feeling bones break as it flew away, then chugged the potion.
As soon as my mana refilled, Oracle was draining it, piling the layers of the ‘Battlefield Triage’ onto the youngling. Despite the potion she’d already used on him, his wounds were severe enough that he needed more. As soon as the mana potion was empty, I threw the bottle into the crazed horde and started laying into them.
There were dozens all around us now, and we fought on; like a rock in the middle of the sea, we survived the waves that came, stabbing, kicking, and beating them back as quickly as we could. We’d moved to fight back to back, with Oracle back to her usual size flying above. Miren, Stephanos, and Arrin held positions in the center of the group, firing out as best they could, while the rest of us weathered the storm.
Jian was to my left, Bob to my right, and I could see everyone’s health bars getting hammered. I didn’t dare use my magic, more from fear of running out when Oracle needed it, as she steadily depleted it on healing our people.
I cursed myself as I swept my naginata from side to side. I had the second damn healing ring, and I’d forgotten all about it! I fumbled it from my bag, tossing it to Lydia.
“Catch!” I shouted, and she blinked in confusion as it bounced off her shield. I swore, but Oracle was there a second later, diving into the mass of bodies and sweeping the ring up. Lydia stepped back to buy time, and jammed it on her finger, sighing with relief as she used it to banish her minor wounds, and stepped back up to the line.
I yanked my own off and shoved it into Miren’s shocked hands, telling her to use it if she needed to. We were getting slowly overwhelmed, surrounded as we were in the middle of the clearing. I figured we had one chance, but it was a toss of the dice.
“Stay here!” I bellowed at the others. I took a step back, a deep breath, and threw myself forward. Sweeping my naginata low and putting as much force as I could into it, I sheared through the goblins, sending them screaming to the floor, maimed, and dying. As soon as the gaps appeared, other goblins rushed to fill them, easily a hundred in view as they kept boiling from their nest, as I could only think of it now.
I didn’t give them the chance. I lunged forward, spinning my weapon in overlapping arcs, finally letting myself use a little mana as the potion replaced it, and the two healing rings gave Oracle a break.
I channeled mana into my naginata, feeling it roar to life as the blade burst into bright, crackling light. I channeled a lightning bolt into it and whipped it around in circles. Hissing sounds arose from the freshly made corpses as the blade met black blood and I cleared even more space.
As soon as there was enough, I started to spin, getting dizzy wit
h each rotation, but with the naginata flashing up and down, I felt the blade carving through them in their dozens. I staggered from side to side, dizziness making it hard to keep going in the right direction, and I forced myself forward, slicing my way forward through the oncoming goblins, sending blood and viscera flying.
The closer I got to the entrance to their home, the tighter packed they became, and the harder it became for them to dodge. I could hear shouts and screams from behind me, and I sensed Oracle pulling on our shared mana, but I couldn’t stop. It was our only chance.
I lashed out, even though I could barely stay upright. The world was spinning wildly, and I planted my feet firmly, locking my gaze on the hole right before me, which was filled with goblins fighting over each other in an effort to fall back out of range of the madman with the glowing naginata. I could feel the world tilting, and I frantically tried to keep upright, knowing I’d die in painful seconds if I fell.
I started a kata I remembered from my training, looping the blade over my shoulders and forward, before dipping it and repeating, swapping from hand to hand in a constant loop. West had called it a ‘lawnmower move’ and it worked exactly as he’d warned it would. It sliced and diced everything in front of me, but it left my sides and rear totally exposed. I had all I could do to keep upright and keep this up, I couldn’t risk anything more complicated, and I relied on the others totally.
I stopped using my mana when I felt Oracle pull on it again, and we dipped to single digits. I could feel the mana headache bloom, and I winced, then gritted my teeth as the taste of ozone filled the air around me. An explosion seemingly right at my feet told me that Oracle had my back.
I saw the goblins sent flying from the explosion out of the corner of my eye, screams filling the air, as well as less identifiable…bits. I was frantically slicing and dicing, out of mana, almost blind with the headache, and the world was spinning like crazy. When I saw Bob step up on my right, as a Firebolt flew past to blast into the seething mass before me. I felt a hand grab my shoulder, and hands reached past me, grabbing my naginata before I could hit anyone on our side with it.
I let myself be pulled back, knowing that if Bob was there, I was safe.
Long seconds passed as I was dragged back and dropped down onto my ass on the floor, hard. It seemed like forever before the world stopped spinning and I could focus again, but when I could, Oracle’s hovered face before me. She had a potion out in either hand, a mana, and a stamina one, and I focused blearily on my bars.
My health bar was at seventy percent, but my stamina and mana were close to rock bottom, and I realized why my mana headache had flared so badly just now…Oracle had used a healing spell to get me up to where I was.
I grimaced and shook my head again to clear it as I took the mana potion first, chugging it and dropping the bottle, quickly following it with the stamina one. I needed to be back in the fight, and as soon as the stamina started refilling, the world started making sense again.
I’d no idea that stamina depletion was such a killer, but without my team, I’d have keeled over in a few more seconds. I coughed and forced myself to my feet, staggering to one side before righting myself, and looking around at the battlefield.
Miren and Stephanos were alternating between picking off stragglers and firing arrows into the nest. Arrin was taking his time and firing the occasional firebolt into the goblins, then stabbing the wounded between castings. Bob and Lydia were at the front of the group, hammering their way through the goblin horde, and all three Mer were darting around at the sides. The youngling kept nearby and had clearly been tasked with watching over me, while Flux and Cheena were on either side of the group, slaughtering everything they could reach.
I could see my notifications going crazy, but I ignored them, looking at the youngling as he stood nearby, clearly torn between diving into the fight and staying close to me.
“What’s your name?” I asked him, and he jumped, turning to face me fully, and starting to go down on a knee. “Fuck’s sake, man, get up!” I cried, grabbing his arm, and hauling him upright.
“There’s no time for shit like that!” I snapped and pointed to Cheena. “Go help her!” He took off running, but after a few steps he paused and turned, bowing his head to me again and called out.
“Call me Bane, Lord.” With that, he was back up and flying across the distance to join Cheena, diving in and fighting alongside her.
I turned and exchanged a look with Oracle. The kid had either a natural talent, or he was exceedingly dedicated. He was like a machine as he fought, two upper arms blocking and deflecting the goblins attempts at attacks, while his lower arms struck forward and pulled back like pistons.
I strode forward to join the line again, pulling Lydia back to rest as we started to push the group back further. The press of goblins had begun to weaken off; where before, they’d been clambering over each other to get at us, driven to insanity by some instinctual need to fight, now, there were fewer and fewer joining the battle.
At first, Bob and I could fight side by side, but as we continued down the earthen corridor, it grew narrower, and I eventually had to step back and let Bob lead the way. We took turns resting and recovering, with me watching Bob’s status and waiting as long as I could, while my mana returned slowly.
As soon as Bob reached the fifty percent mark, I ordered him to fall back, stepping up and taking his place. I needed him, and we all would, but at the end of the day, he could be rebuilt if need be; others couldn’t be. I’d repair him as soon as we got the chance, and the passage we were following had narrowed to the point that he was having difficulty moving forward.
I stabbed forward, shuffling along, and using my naginata as a spear for a few minutes, stabbing and deflecting the goblins’ crude attempts at fighting.
The dirt and exposed rubble of the passageway suddenly gave way to a roughly broken hole into a large stone hallway, and the last few goblins backed away and ran to the right. I shifted forward, finding that the left led to a solid wall of collapsed masonry, but the right…
The goblins were clearly visible as they backed away, but they weren’t running randomly. Halfway across the room stood a group of twenty larger goblins. Each of them wore cobbled-together armor, but they carried real weapons: swords, flails, one even had a giant cleaver. They were waiting for us, and that wasn’t the worst bit.
Standing behind them were two other goblins. One was easily the biggest in the room and wore what looked like a complete set of armor, carrying a hammer and shield. The other goblin was wearing a black robe with its hood up; a single sickly white hand was all that emerged from the garment’s protection and it clutched a wand threateningly.
I jumped down and moved into the room, the others of my squad following me and spreading out, until even Bob had shoved through, dropping down to stomp up to my side. I noticed that Flux and the other two Mer were nowhere to be seen, and Oracle was staying out of sight behind Bob, and I grinned at the thought of the surprise to come for the nasty creatures we faced.
I checked my mana as both sides eyed each other coldly. I was at a hundred and four stamina out of a hundred and eighty. I had three hundred and sixty HP out of four hundred, and at the lowest, of course, was my mana at one hundred and twenty-six out of two hundred and thirty.
I stepped forward and called out to them, the previous silence of the room broken only by the crackling fires dotted around, and the panting of the retreating, smaller goblins.
“Where are my people?” I asked, and there was a long pause before the hooded goblin spoke up in a harsh voice.
“What people?”
“From the ship,” I snapped back, looking around the room. I needed to delay as long as possible to let my mana recover, but…the room was lit by scattered fires and contained what looked to be old stone benches. Piles of rubbish were carelessly strewn about, but there were no cages or bodies visible. At the far end, a doorway led out of the room, and I could see more fires reflecting o
ff the walls down that way.
“You come here for food?” the goblin asked and then cackled. “You come to be food!” it cackled, raising its wand, and firing a bolt of solid darkness across the room at Bob, making him rock back with the force of it. He’d already lost several bones from his plated armor, and I could see rib bones exposed by the impact. He dropped by nearly ten percent of his health, or structural integrity, or whatever it was…
“You’ll pay for that, my son!” I bellowed at the creature, running forward, the rest of the team following me. “Kill that fucker!” I roared.
“Oracle! Keep hidden behind Bob and charge up a big lightning bolt; I want that fucker dead!”
“On it!”
I sent gratitude to Oracle, aware that she’d hidden when we entered the room. I got her response mixed with a sense of glee, as I knew she loved using that damn spell.
I ran forward, seeing the armored goblins spread out to take our charge. I felt, as much as saw, the others spreading out behind me, and as I picked my target, I felt the cold rage building, I’d been focused before, but now? Now I needed control, as I could hear other goblins shouting in the distance. I gritted my teeth and tamped my anger down as hard as I could.
I lashed out with my naginata, beating the nearest goblin’s =sword aside, jumping and spinning into a kick that snapped its head back and sent it reeling. I’d used the impact to push myself back and blocked a mace strike from my left. Jian was there in a second, his right sword slamming into the mace as well and driving it further aside to free up my weapon, even as his left-hand sword stabbed deep into the goblin’s unprotected side where its armor didn’t cover. I heard another blast of magic and a cry of pain as someone was hit with the dark magic the goblin mage was firing, and I gritted my teeth again, determined to end this fight as quickly as possible.