Lanek emerged from the monastery, waving his companions forward, encouraging them to target the ash goblins mobbing the Night Arrow hobgoblins and buy them time. A quick glance showed all but one of the hobgoblins at level 10, meaning they had just evolved. He recognized the last one, Ograch the scout, now at level 17.
Determined to see what his newly evolved class could do, Lanek swept into the bugbear group. He slipped past his first opponent, flicking the blade in a backhand strike to sever the ligaments of its knee. While the bugbear screamed in agony, Lanek moved on, sabre flashing into openings he would have missed were it not for his shinobi class. He wasn’t strong enough to lop off heads or sever limbs with his current stats or proficiency level, but he was able to disable limbs easily enough.
The shape of the sabre made it ideal for a mobile fighting style, its curve taking full advantage of his evasive maneuvers, causing long, deep cuts as the blade dragged along the enemy’s flesh as he dodged, rolled, and sidestepped. His combat style left a trail of agonized wails and raging howls in its wake. However, underneath the wails and howls were also gurgling and choking as he had not just targeted limbs, but also throats when the opportunity arose.
Meanwhile, as Lanek cut through the bugbears, the ash goblins had been thrown into a panic by his two newly evolved companions. Sanguineus’ massive size allowed him to crash through the goblin formation with ease, huge jaws grabbing his opponents and brutally swinging them around like a dog with its favorite chew toy.
Where Sanguineus was power, Kazuma was all grace and speed. He moved in the void wolf’s wake, claws slashing through those goblins that had been knocked down or unbalanced by the wolf’s charge and intercepting any enemy that was foolish enough to approach his friend’s flanks or rear.
At the sight of the savage assault, Ograch and the other hobgoblins drew back, fending off the goblins but continuing their retreat. All the while, they eyed the two powerful animals, clearly wondering if the creatures would turn on them next. Suddenly, Ograch gave a shout of recognition as he got a good look at the human attacking the bugbears.
Understanding that the wolf and cat were here to help, Ograch gave the order to push the ash goblins back, swinging his axe down on them. The ash goblins began to panic as their numbers dwindled rapidly, suddenly facing more powerful creatures on two fronts with no signs of their larger brethren joining the fray. However, fleeing wasn’t an option as the cloud hunter was far too quick to cut off the goblins’ retreat. They had no choice but to stand and fight.
After the last goblin fell, the hobgoblins watched their animal saviors dash toward the bugbears, Kazuma disemboweling his target with those wicked claws of his while Sanguineus leapt upon another foe’s back, bearing it to the ground as his jaws snapped closed on the back of the creature’s neck. Lanek charged into the crowd once more, this time focused on breaking the bugbears’ morale, his strikes now aiming for the disabled and downed enemies, finishing them off for good and harvesting their souls. This left only a handful of unharmed bugbears backing away from the blood covered trio before turning tail and fleeing.
They did not make it far. Ograch watched as a chain flew from Lanek’s hand and impaled one of the fleeing bugbears, making it shriek in horror before it collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. The massive cat sped after the bugbears, severing the hamstrings of two of them before leisurely dispatching them as they writhed in agony. The final bugbear raced away at an impressive pace, disappearing down an alleyway before a haunting howl resounded in the distance. Sanguineus emerged from that same alley, tail wagging and blood dripping from his fangs.
Lanek smiled at his companions, breathing heavily as he did. As happy as he was at his team’s performance, he was also frustrated. Not only had none of the bugbears given him any experience, but his personal performance left much to be desired. Sure, he hadn’t been injured, but he could feel that his proficiency with the sword was holding back his shinobi class.
He needed more training as this fight had only raised his one-handed sword proficiency to level 3. The only reason he had prevailed was due to the mobility provided by evasion, he hadn’t actually parried or blocked anything with the sabre. On the other hand, his SPI had greatly benefited from the battle, rising to 27. Good to know that the shinobi limitation does affect my SPI gain.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Lanek turned to see Ograch approaching him, the hobgoblin scout still cautiously eyeing the two animals. He waved at the hobgoblin, while sending a calming pulse to his companions. For his part, Ograch visibly relaxed as the two beasts stepped away to clean themselves.
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“Thank you for helping us, it seems that my tribe now owes you three times over. Not only did you warn me and mine about the gaunts and even led them away, but now you save my ass in this damnable dungeon as well.”
Lanek shook his head ruefully. “You followed me after I warned you about the gaunts, didn’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t have known about that.”
“I did. I was curious as to why you would run off toward the gaunts you just finished warning us about.”
“Makes sense. Did your tribe get away from the gaunts safely?” Lanek asked, curious if his distraction had worked.
“We did, thanks to you. However, we are still looking for a new home, our old territory is just too dangerous with all of the gaunts infesting it.” Ograch said solemnly.
“I’m sorry to hear that. But I have to ask, with all of that going on, why enter the city and ask for more trouble?”
Ograch sighed, “Because it is a rite of passage for my people. The goblins of our tribe evolve at level 10 and become hobgoblins, as I’m sure you know.” Lanek nodded, gesturing for Ograch to continue. “When a goblin reaches level 9, they are discouraged from fighting, only training. Once enough of the goblins reach level 9, a scout guides them into the Ashen Depths to achieve their evolution and collect gear that the tribe can use. We don’t leave until every goblin has evolved.”
“How large are these groups supposed to be? Are there more of you out there?” Lanek asked, confused at the small group before him.
Ograch shook his head before answering. “We typically enter the dungeon with anywhere between a dozen and a score with the scout being responsible for guiding them to fights they will stand a fighting chance. I don’t know what happened, but I took this group to the same place I’ve taken previous groups to fight the ash goblin abominations. This time, though, we were caught by a larger horde than I have ever seen, with bugbears leading them. We are all that survived.”
Lanek looked at the exhausted hobgoblins, taking in the information before asking, “Where did this happen? And where was your tribe’s old territory?”
Ograch gestured to the northwest. “Why?”
Lanek pieced the information together with his recent experiences before coming up with a theory. “I think I know what happened. To the northeast there is a breach in the walls, thousands of gaunts were attempting to storm the city there yesterday. The dungeon seemed like it was going all out to repel them, I saw many large groups of ghouls, ghasts, goblins, and other creatures rushing to stop the gaunts. After we last met, I could hear sounds of more gaunt bands like the one I warned you about traveling through the forest. They must have been heading to that breach to join in on the attack. Based on the location of the breach and where I heard those other gaunts, they would have had to pass through or near your territory before reinforcing the horde attacking Caelis.”
Ograch swore angrily, “And my group just happened to be in the city when the dungeon called up its hordes. Fuck!”
“Ograch, I think we need to get out of the city for now. I have a camp to the west, outside of the city. I need information and I would like to ask for your help. In exchange for coming to my camp and just hearing me out, please take all of the drops from the goblins and bugbears. It sounds like your tribe could use it much more than I can. Will you come with me?”
“Aye, I owe you. I don’t know if I can help, but I can at least hear what you have to say.” Ograch replied. He strode off, shouting for his companions to begin gathering up the weapons and pieces of armor dropped by the dungeon monsters. Meanwhile, Lanek returned to the door of the monastery and retrieved his pack.
When he returned to the plaza, the hobgoblins were ready to go, all of them now outfitted with at least some armor and bearing new weapons, packs bulging with the remainder of the loot. Lanek nodded at them before leading the way to the west, and only, gate that he had ever used. Along the way, seeing the nervous glances shot their way by the hobgoblins following Ograch, Sanguineus and Kazuma both returned to their vessels.
Ograch raised an eyebrow at the sight while looking at Lanek. “Spirit beasts?”
Lanek shrugged in response, not knowing how to answer and not knowing if Ograch’s guess was accurate. For all he knew, spirit beasts could just be summoned creatures or spiritual constructs that ran on a time limit or cooldown, which definitely didn’t apply to Sanguineus and Kazuma.
After some time, the group exited the city and entered the forest. Before they could advance too far, Ograch dispatched his companions to the north, hugging the treeline as they moved. Lanek looked at the scout.
“My tribe needs to know what happened and those three should be strong enough to reach them from this direction if they stay out of the city. The tribe also needs that gear if the camp is discovered by the gaunts.” Ograch explained.
Lanek nodded, continuing into the forest. He and Ograch went quiet, listening for any threats as they approached Lanek’s cave. Ograch looked around in approval at the camp.
“Nice place you have here, hidden and plenty of resources. Your campfire and that thing over the cave entrance looks like shit, though.”
Ouch. This is going to be an interesting conversation.