Chapter 46_Chronicler’s Tale

New World Day 26

I heard the goblins and forest coyotes banging away at the barrier as I ran down to the edge of the lower roof. The barrier for the ground floor was on the verge of breaking, but before the horde finish breaking the barrier, I put my foot on the activation rune at the edge of the lower roof and let all of the mana raging in my spirit world drain into the barriers. When the mana poured into the barrier runes, the dimming white light of the barrier flared up to its brightest point yet and the cracks and scratches disappeared. The goblins let out a collective roar as they realized that their efforts had been for naught. That roar of rage shifted to one of panic when I put the one round from the rifle and a shotgun slug into the two leftmost goblins who had been pounding on the barrier with their wooden clubs. The two dead goblins slid off of their mounts to drop to the ground with a thud, surprise evident on their faces. None of them had realized that I had run to the edge of the roof until that moment.

I was already in motion before the bullet and slug had hit their targets. I needed to get rid of as many of them as I could before they had a chance to spread out. I flung the rifle and shotgun onto my shoulders and drew the pistol from my waist. I held it steady with both hands and emptied the entire clip into the mass of bodies attacking the barrier. Speed was more important than choosing specific targets. Whether it was a goblin or a forest coyote, I took aim at whatever came into my sights, squeezed off a round, and then shifted to a new target.

I needed to use this chance to cut the size of the horde down to a more manageable number. The horde was so close and clustered together that I couldn’t miss. Twelve bullets found their way into twelve different enemies. Four goblins and eight forest coyotes were struck by the pistol rounds. Of those twelve, three goblins sagged down dead on their mounts and five forest coyotes perished. The five forest coyotes collapsed to the ground and sent their riders tumbling to the ground. Their deaths meant that there were four goblins, eight forest coyotes, and one hobgoblin left.

I holstered the pistol and unslung the rifle to use the last round in it, but the hobgoblin had reacted to my presence by now. It started in shock at its dead minions and then glanced up at me fury written on its face plain as day. It let out a tremendous howl of rage, and I watched in awe as the faint white mana around its body flared impossibly bright before it all poured into the axe it held with both hands. Three unknown runes that had been hidden until now lit up on the axehead as the hobgoblin’s mana filled the axe. The runes glowed white for a moment before a mix of purple and blue overpowered the white. When the glow of the runes reached its apex, the hobgoblin smashed the axe down upon the barrier with all of its strength.

There was a brilliant blue and purple explosion as lightning erupted from the blade of the axe when it struck the barrier. The lightning exploded into multiple strands that raced out in all directions from the point of impact and melted the barrier wherever they passed through. A deafening clap of thunder accompanied the flash of the lightning followed by the sound of glass breaking as the ground floor barrier shattered. I saw the hobgoblin sag backwards in exhaustion, but his mount jumped into the relative safety of the front porch before I could react to his sudden weakness. The other survivors of the horde attempted to follow suit and cram themselves into the front porch. But the porch was too small to hold them all so there were four forest coyotes that were left outside. I put my last rifle round through the chest of one of them, tossed the empty rifle behind me, and pulled the shotgun off of my shoulder.

I heard a grunt from underneath the porch and the two forest coyotes ran towards opposite sides of the house. I tracked the one running to the left side of the house and squeezed the trigger before it could turn the corner. The shotgun slug tore a large hole through its chest and the momentum of its failed dash for safety sent it rolling into the gravel of the driveway. If the hobgoblin hadn’t broken the ground floor barrier, I would have been stuck with my foot on the activation rune fueling the barrier, but now I was free to chase down the forest coyote.

I ran to the right side of the house and saw it below the door that used to lead out onto the deck before I dismantled it. I saw it look at the wooden stakes around it before it looked back up at the door and broken windows. I hadn’t had time to board up the windows yet. Was it going to try and jump into the house from there? If I wasn’t in such a dire situation, I would have waited to see if it succeeded or failed and fell onto the spikes, but I was in a bad situation so I raised the shotgun and fired. The slug caught it in the right side of its body as it tensed its muscles and crouched down to gather its strength for the jump. The slug rocked its body to the left and sent the dead forest coyote rolling down the slight incline towards the Little Lake.

As I was dealing with the three stranded forest coyotes, the rest of the horde was working hard under the porch. I heard the sound of claws against wood followed by a loud bang. One of the forest coyotes must have tried to claw down the door before one rammed it or a goblin attacked it with a club. Things were quiet for a moment before I heard glass shatter. The window that lead into the ground floor bedroom had been broken. I heard the sound of crunching glass followed by the thud of footsteps in the bedroom.

I loaded the last three shotgun slugs into the shotgun while I raced over to grab the rifle from where I had tossed it a couple of minutes again. Then I ran to the upper roof where I stashed the extra ammo. I heard multiple footsteps in the kitchen now. At least two or three of the remaining goblins were inside the house. They were searching for a way to get up here, but it wouldn’t be that easy for them. I knew it wouldn’t take them long to find the steps to the second floor, but the upper barrier was still intact for the moment.

I reloaded the pistol and then both of the rifles as I strained my ears to hear what was going on inside of the house. It was hard to hear their footsteps after they entered the carpeted great room. The carpet dampened the sound of their steps enough that I couldn’t tell where they were at. I glanced at the front of the house to see if any of the others had left the front porch. None of them were in sight. I suspected meant that they were waiting until the goblins inside of the house had my attention before they made their move. It was the smart decision which led me to believe that the hobgoblin was still recovering under the front porch. I had just finished reloading the guns when I heard a creak from the stairwell. I left one of the two rifles hanging from a nail on the roof and brought the second and the shotgun with me to the lower roof.

I designed the barrier for the second floor to start along the railing above the stairs. That meant that the stairs themselves and a thin strip of the landing at the top of the stairs wasn’t covered by the barrier. I did this on purpose for a simple reason. The door to the first bedroom on the floor was right there on the landing, and the window in the bedroom lined up perfectly with the door. As soon as anything reached the landing, I would be able to fire at them through the window. I wanted to save the last few shotgun slugs so I raised the rifle instead and aimed it through the window. I could have gone inside to attack them, but I wanted to stay on the roof to keep an eye out for the rest of them.

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A few moments passed before I heard some soft footsteps. Seconds later three goblins carrying stone axes stepped into view. When they reached the top of the stairs, they turned to attack the barrier which is when their eyes widened in fear. They saw me aiming at them through the window, and each of them reacted in a different way. The one to the left threw himself towards the daybed to the left of the door. The goblin to the right dove back down the stairs, and I heard a series of thumps mixed with cries of pain as he rolled down the stairs. The middle goblin attempted to follow his companion in jumping on the daybed, but he was out of luck. The rifle round punched through the leather armor covering his chest before he had a chance to dodge. He fell backwards and slumped dead against the wooden railing. I twisted my body to see if I could get a shot at the goblin that jumped on the bed when I saw natural stream of mana flowing through the sky change course to gather at the front of the house.

I whipped around to face the front of the house and saw the hobgoblin sitting there astride his mount. That damn axe of his was raised up high above his head and the mana from the surrounding area was being drawn into the hobgoblin’s body before being channeled into the axe. How in the hell was he doing that? Was it all the axe or was this something he was doing himself? That was something to puzzle out later. I needed to stop him from charging his attack. I tried to line up a shot to stop him, but I was too late. The runes on the axe blazed blue and purple and the hobgoblin’s mount vaulted up into the air. It slammed head first into the barrier without the slightest care for its own health. I heard a cracking noise from its skull and it was bounced backwards by the barrier, but it was enough. The hobgoblin chopped down with the axe and slammed it into the second floor barrier before he was flung backwards off of its mount. The blow resulted in another blinding burst of lightning and clap of thunder, but all I heard was the sound of glass shattering as the barrier broke under the fury of the blow.

Basic Gun Mastery (B) * leveled up!

Flexible Mana Lake (B) *** leveled up!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 9 38%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

Titles:

Survivor © LVL 1 62%

Fool © LVL 1 82%

Swarm Killer (B) LVL 9 31%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 9 49%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 9 59%

Repeated Risk Taker © LVL 8 72%

Compassionate Fool © LVL 5 26%

Curious Fool © LVL 5 97%

Stupid Fool © LVL 7 96%

Extremely Stubborn Fool © LVL 5 22%

Greater Mana Wielder ® LVL N/A

Title Points:

*****

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Agility:

Spirit:

Bonus Points:

170/170

100/126

22 per min (-2.75)

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist, Poison Resist

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 9 99%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 7 63%

Lesser Regen (Passive) (UC) LVL 1 31%

Lesser Mana Control (UC) LVL 1 75%

Greater Mana Vein (Passive) ( R ) LVL 1 0%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 6 91%

Pain Control (B) LVL 4 71%

Fear Control (B) LVL 4 91%

*****

***

Chapter 46

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