Damn, there were a lot of goblins below us. Of course, there weren't as many as the group that ca to attack the village, but every goblin below was at least a hobgoblin, most of whom were horned hobs. The level difference between the two groups was night and day.
And the arch goblin….
Looking to my right, I see Tabitha struggling to hold back her killing intent. She was focusing on the arch goblin in the center of the group, and if she let out even a sliver of her intent, I’m sure he would sense us and give away our position.
I nervously swallow a lump in my throat. Utilizing Sense Soul had given a clear picture of what we were dealing with, and it wasn’t what I was hoping for. Before I saw him, I was praying that the arch goblin was only in the high 70s, maybe low 80s like Tabitha told , but this.
I grimace as my skill estimates the arch goblins level to be in the low 90s, ten levels higher than I expected. aning only a few crucial levels were separating him and Tabitha.
Facing sothing on the sa level as Tabitha sends shivers down my spine.
Get a hold of yourself; you have a job to do, I remind myself. We were on the clock, and every second counted. One last ti, I turn to Tabitha, and she turns to . The two of us don’t say a word and only nod to one another.
Tabitha leaps out of sight, to move into position, while I turn back to the goblins below. My job was to cause the biggest distraction possible while incapacitating as many goblins as possible. Once there was sufficient panic amongst their ranks, Tabitha would swoop in like death incarnate. However, her main goal was to be the arch goblin.
We needed to teach these pests that it wasn’t worth it to hunt us, and to do so; we'd need to take out their leader, or else he might co back with a second group.
Holding out my hands, I start to focus my mana.
One Hour Earlier
“Will ambushing be enough?” I nervously ask Tabitha after she finishes explaining her plan to .
“If executed properly, then yes,” Tabitha tells . “We won’t have exact numbers until they’re back within your skills range, but our goal remains the sa even if there are thousands of them. We need to kill their leader,” she stresses.
“And if we can’t identify him?” I point out. Tabitha knew I didn’t get a good chance to scan them before we started fleeing. "What if their leader is hiding?"
“I think you’re giving the goblins too much credit,” Tabitha snorts in amusent, but her eyes narrow seriously. “But if that’s the case, we target the one with the highest level. Depending on where they are in the group, I’m going to need you to cause a distraction. I'll pick off as many as possible in the chaos, but I need an opening.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?” I frustratingly complained, not because Tabitha asked too much of but because I couldn't help her as she needed.
“That’s what we need to figure out,” Tabitha supportingly places a hand on my shoulder, sothing she's been doing a lot more as of late.
“What about dropping a tree branch on them?” I suggest. The trees around us were ginormous, and their branches weighed at least tens of thousands of pounds. Imagine the chaos it would cause if we managed to drop one into the center of their group. At worst we would be able to split them up.
“It would be difficult,” Tabitha shuts down my idea before it can fully take root. “It would take a while to cut through a branch of that size, and we would need to be too close to them to set it off reliably. They'd sll us and know sothing was up.”
“This sucks,” I slam my fist into the tree we were strategizing under. “If only I knew a siege spell.”
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Again, Tabitha shakes her head. “Sige magic takes more mana than you currently have. So even if you could sohow cast it, I'd leave you with nothing to defend yourself.”
“Then any attack magic,” I grumble, unhappy that even my hypothetical plan was turned down.
“And how would that help us?” Tabitha rolls her eyes. “You are unused to casting anything other than basic magic. Even if you knew an attack spell, it wouldn’t be a big enough distraction.”
“I could use Empowered Spell," I jokingly throw out, more to prove I wasn't useless than actually suggesting anything.
"You have such a skill!?" Tabitha's eyes widen in surprise.
That's right, Tabitha knew about all my physical and defensive skills, but I have yet to tell her about my lesser-used ones like Chanting and Empowered Spell, which I rarely use. Tabitha knew I only had three tier 1 spells available to and primarily focused on freeform magic, so we never talked about my other magic skills at length.
“I do,” I tell her. “I use it on occasion to boost my weaker magics. It's how I make my self-cleaning spell work on my surroundings. I can also empower my little fla spell to cause an explosion, but it requires to be at the center of it."
“That is unacceptable," Tabitha flatly tells before I get any funny ideas.
“I figured,” I hang my head.
Even if I poured all my magic into it, I doubt I could make an explosion strong enough to kill over a hundred goblins and survive.
While sulking, I hear Tabitha hum in thought, causing to look up. Tabitha was looking at like a puzzle that needed solving. “Suppose I could tell you the incantation for an attack spell. Is it possible you could learn it before the goblins arrive?"
“You know a spell?!” I exclaim. "Why hadn't you taught it to sooner?"
Tabitha scoffs as if I said sothing offensive. "Do I look like a magic teacher to you? I only know cantrips like yourself and have no experience in teaching magic. So why would I waste my ti when I could improve your fighting technique?"
"But you just said?" I start, but Tabitha holds up her hand.
“I said I could give you the incantation, not teach you how to use the spell. I only know the words because I’ve heard them used so many tis. I must stress that you'd need to learn how to cast it by yourself, with no help from . Do you think that's possible?" Tabitha fixes with an intense look.
“What’s the spell?” I lick my lips in anticipation.
“Fire javelin,” Tabitha answers, and I have to hold myself back from leaping into the air and shouting.
"I can do it; you can count on ," I assure her without even thinking.
“If you can’t, you’ll just be wasting precious ti,” Tabitha looks at like she wasn’t sure.
“Let help you,” I’m practically begging at this point. As excited as I was to learn a real fireball spell, I was still aware of why it was so important in the first place. If I couldn't decipher how to use the spell correctly all on my own, I’d be extrely limited in helping Tabitha. So I needed to make this spell work to help her.
"Fine," Tabitha sighs, seeing my determined expression. “But if you aren’t making progress in thirty minutes, I need you to tell so we can think up another plan.”
“I promise,” I nod in agreent.
"Alright, listen closely," she waves closer as I struggle to hold back a manic smile.
Now
Gathering nearly 200 points of mana into my hands, I start my chant.
“Hinsung gab bas ri he dymntn, o silf wer yemki por faestt.”
After I say the first line, a growing sphere of fire forms in front of my hands. Unlike my other spells, Fire Javelin was a tier 3 spell, so it had multiple parts to its incantation, and I had to be extrely careful as I correctly recited each.
“Ir tbels bnieght eforem em y, es weth firsnu molh acose.”
As I finish reciting the second verse, the sphere starts to compact and elongate. At this point, the goblins below had already noticed . It would be hard for them not to, considering my spell was excessively flashy.
Dozens of goblins were already crawling up the nearby tree trunk, so I needed to hurry.
“Dat ruenghtl fys trai, ight nurrbb!”
I finished reciting the spell, but I wasn’t done just yet. Before the bolt of fire can leave my hands, I activate Empower Spell and forcibly cram another 200 mana into it. I have very little ti to adjust the spell how I want, and most of the mana just goes into making it bigger and more deadly, but my skill does its job.
The bolt of fire launches from my hands with the force of a ballista aid straight at the arch goblin.
Hundreds of feet may separate us, but I can see it grinning at my oncoming attack. The arch goblin readys its claymore, I’m assuming to block it with so sort of skill, but now it’s my turn to grin.
A hundred feet from the ground, my fire javelin spell suddenly, and to the shock of all the goblins, breaks apart into hundreds of smaller fire arrows. The goblins have almost no ti to react as I literally rain fire down upon them.
I wish I could watch my spell's effect on the horde, but the first wave of goblins climbing toward was almost here. The only thing that told my spell did its job was the hundreds of goblins screaming below and the smoke wafting up into the canopy.
I sense a few whisps of experience points drifting up toward , so I know I killed at least a few, but that wasn’t what my spell was ant for, though I’m happy for the results.
Tabitha would erge and start slaughtering any second now, but I had other things to worry about. I count forty-three goblins climbing up after , including the other six scouts rushing through the treetops toward my position.
I had completed my main objective but still had more to do. To help Tabitha, I needed to keep as many goblins focused on as possible, so though scary, it was a good thing a third of them were converging on . She said I only needed to keep their attention, but I wasn’t only going to settle for being a distraction.
Each goblin I killed was one less Tabitha needed to worry about. So, instead of Flash Stepping away as the first goblins reach my position, I draw my hamr and stand my ground.
“I’ll kill all of you,” I growl and raise my hamr threateningly.
I didn't bother to check the level of the goblins rushing because it didn't matter; I was going to turn them into at paste anyway.
The goblins snarl at my challenge, holding their weapons at the ready. They move to rush , but I’m faster.
I Double Step in close, dodging a spear thrust to my face, and initiate my counterattack. My hamr slams into the first goblin's chest before it can react. I can feel its chest cave in under my strike, but I don’t let up. Activating Double Strike, I add a second blow to the already dying goblin, sending him flying into his teammate standing behind him, catching him off guard and knocking him off the tree branch.
Two down, another forty-seven to go.
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