Chapter 14: Limited Power Supplies
dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 had weakened the supports of all the village buildings in preparation, making it possible to collapse their roofs with only a small transfer of material. The roof of the central building was made of heavier materials than the rest of the buildings, as it had a more elaborate design. Still, it might not have been enough to eliminate some targets. He sent in 11 goblins that had previously been lurking out of range, at the exact moment the support began to fall.
Evelynn had the fastest reaction speed. She jumped forward with a burst of speed, rushing for Calder, and pointed her shield towards the ceiling. Runes on the shield lit up with light, and a shimmering field extended from it. A falling support hit the field, which acted like a solid extension of the shield, and Evelynn almost buckled under the weight of it, before she adjusted her stance by dropping her sword and holding the shield up with both arms.
The next person to move was the mercenary leader, who rapidly swiveled towards the exit. He pointed a finger at it, and shouted something which momentarily scrambled the sensors of dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 and was not picked up by any of the goblins. Two mercenaries closest to the exit, one of them the trap detector, were launched backwards and out of the doorway without any visible force acting on them, saving them from the trap. dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 began to calculate the path of a long-range dagger throw before they could recover, but the two landed on their backs and smoothly rolled onto their feet. There was a visible delay as they adjusted to their new positions and their movements were uncharacteristically precise during the roll, suggesting they were guided by augmentations.
The rest of the mercenaries were crushed under the wooden rubble, although only one died. They were stuck and injured, but alive for now. Evelynn was left supporting a large portion of the former roof, keeping Calder safe from it. The shield extension was rapidly shrinking and the runes fading.
Then Calder reacted. He moved to support the shield, and the cores embedded in his clothes lit up as he made contact with the shield, which instantly re-expanded, with the force of it pushing into the surrounding rubble and causing the metal shield to slightly crumple.
"Let go!" he shouted to Evelynn, who released her grip in response.
Calder grabbed the shield with both arms. The runes on his clothes glowed blue and the cores in his clothes blazed with multicolored light, before sequentially turning dark. The runes on the shield lit up further, the metal surrounding them began to glow from being superheated. He heaved, with the shield deforming under the pressure. The range of the shield expanded further, supporting more material, before it solidified for a moment and stood up against the weight. A blow of kinetic force launched the rubble sideways and into the air, ripping through one of the walls of the building and causing wooden debris to rain down around the village. The blow partially freed one of the mercenaries stuck under the rubble. The last core in Calder's clothes went dark and he stood there, panting for air. dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 considered if the cores were a power source, which would imply that the powered armor was presently out of energy. He made the goblins rush for Calder to take advantage of his potentially vulnerable state.
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Evelynn reacted quickly by grabbing the destroyed shield from Calder's hands and tossing it onto the ground. She grabbed her sword on the ground and ran to pull the freed mercenary to her feet. The two mercenaries which had been tossed out of the building rushed towards the source of the blast of wood, rendezvousing with the rest of the survivors. Evelynn suddenly accelerated back towards Calder and deflected a dagger which had flown over one of the remaining walls. Another got through the defense and hit Calder in the back of the neck, failing to cut through his clothes but the force large enough to daze him. A third was dodged by Evelynn pulling Calder out of the way of its path.
The three mercenaries pulled into a defensive formation together with Evelynn and Calder, their shields up and ready. Surprise was evident in their faces, as eight goblins climbed over the walls, two of them unarmed. The goblins surrounded them, most of them standing on unstable piles of wood, but still holding the high-ground. They charged simultaneously, with the unarmed ones approaching slightly faster. The mercenaries raised their swords, ready to slash through the incoming goblins, who suddenly dodged to side. Two of them managed to slash at the goblins regardless, and smoothly transitioned into a second slash directed at the next goblins. One slightly stumbled, which allowed a goblin to pass through a gap in the formation, slicing the mercenaries legs but unable to cut deep through their armor. Evelynn slashed through the goblin, before pivoting to deflect a dagger aimed at Calder, with a slash which continued to split another one of the incoming goblins in half. A goblin leapt onto her and attempted to pierce her armor with a dagger, but it only left small scratches in the metal. Another goblin leapt onto Calder, stabbing a dagger into his eye, only to be split in half by a swing from Evelynn a split-second later.
With Calder dead, the remaining goblins pulled back. Only four of them survived the assault, but dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 began the production of more. They stared at the mercenaries and Evelynn, eerily still and silent as they only moved in response to the mercenaries adjusting their positions. The mercenaries were tired, their breathing loud and their bodies moving in sync with each breath.
dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 considered how to proceed. He wanted to avoid them reclaiming the equipment from Calder's corpse, but piercing their armor was extremely difficult, which made direct assaults ineffective. He would have to continue wearing them down until they were vulnerable.
The goblins began moving around them in perfect sync, rapidly leaping in and out of range. The mercenaries were forced to keep adjusting their positioning and shields, with only Evelynn holding her sword against the ground, moving with small steps and ignoring the more erratic movements of the goblins.
"They're trying to delay us." she said. "We need to move. Keep steady and start moving towards the edge of the village." She made a quick slash with her sword, catching the arm of one of the goblins, causing it to drop its dagger as she cut through its tendons. The goblin itself did not alter its future course, merely using its other hand to retrieve the dagger.
They started heading north, the direction of the destroyed wall, while being harassed by the goblins. dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 began the spawning process of the cores from the goblins which had died during the assault and the sight seemed to unnerve the mercenaries as they increased their pace. He tried to angle the goblins to force the mercenaries to move in a different direction, but Evelynn seemed to sense that, and instead started heading even more directly north, having spotted the unclaimed forest path.
They managed to leave sensor range before additional goblins finished spawning. The cost of continuing the process was too expensive in comparison to the potential gain, and he pulled the goblins back to finish off the mercenaries still trapped under the rubble instead of chasing after the ones that got away.
The next upgrade would come in only a few hours. dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 was hoping for something that would help deal with armored targets.