The goblins rushed out of the bushes and raised their weapons.

“Kendra take the lead. Clear out the area,” shouted Lucas as they started to regroup.

Kendra called upon her flames and began burning an area around them so it would be easier for them to fight. Some of the goblins got burned a bit by the move but most jumped out of the way as she spun around. She quickly cleared the area of obstacles and prepared an area for them to engage the goblins. She made careful use of her spell and made sure that the fires stayed small and concentrated in key areas. The one downside to this move was that Arthur could no longer use [Vine Trap] the fight.

“Arthur get behind me. Use your ice to slow them down and protect my side. There could be up to one hundred of them in a hunting pack or more if they call reinforcements,” said Kendra.

Arthur took out his sword again and readied himself for battle.

“Aria protect our backs.” Aria nodded in response and got into position.

The goblins sent out their first volley of attacks. The arrows bounced off Arthur’s chest while the rest had their wooden shafts burnt by Kendra. The goblins charged them from three sides and began throwing themselves at Arthur and Lucas mainly because they weren’t using magic. Once Arthur found an opportunity he jumped at the chance to use magic.

[Ice Block]s shot off to the nearest goblins and it surprisingly killed them outright. He did not immediately disperse the spell when he saw them die. He instead kept them as temporary stops for the goblins. They were forced to run around the bodies slowing them down. Kendra’s magic sped up the melting eventually. When the goblins found the opportunity they decided to break the half-melted ice blocks and cut a clearer path towards him. The goblins focused on fighting with numbers and swarm tactics over much planning.

The goblins weren’t wearing much armor and instead wore pelts of animals such as the worgs as a defense. For Arthur, the armor wasn’t much of a deterrent. Because of his larger size and strength, he used his sword more as a bludgeon to kill the golems that got near him.

Soon goblins riding worgs followed and joined in the fight from the back lines. Aria watched them and prepared and [Stun] spell when they got closer. The riders fell off their worg companions or barely held on while the worgs trampled nearby goblins and got distracted. Their animal minds were more affected by the mind magic and then were killed off while in their trance by Kendra.

Arthur continued to fight off goblins with the others when a magic bolt whizzed past his head. He looked back and saw that Lucas had jumped out of the tree he was in and rolled away. The tree he was in moments ago was now smoldering and broken. Arthur turned back to the fight and calculated the trajectory of the bolt that had come his way. Zooming in on the goblins in the distance he saw two goblins with staff raising sticks in the air whispering words.

“There are magic goblins,” said Arthur.

“I know. Those are goblin druids. They are sub-leaders under the hobgoblins. There are probably others scattered within the goblin groups,” said Lucas.

“Arthur. We will be fine here. Most of their weapons will only scratch you with little real damage. Find the druids and take them out. Watch out for the hobgoblins,” said Kendra.

Arthur nodded in confirmation and set off to the location of the first two druids he had seen. He pushed the goblins that came in his way. Occasionally he pushed too forcefully or towards the right weapon and killed the goblins. Soon enough they realized not to get up close to him. The druids noticed him approaching and prepared a spell.

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A water jet left their hands and combined into a torrent. Arthur had a [Mana Shield] prepared but the water was made of mostly force rather than true damage. Due to the miscalculation, he was knocked back several feet. He stumbled over several goblins as he fell. The nearby goblins that had gotten clear of the druid’s attacks jumped on top of Arthur while he was down.

He swung his arms around as he got back up, but his connections had become torn in his right leg. Arthur activated [Ice Field] in a small area around him and followed it up with [Plant Growth]. The tiny goblins froze in the area around him and after he picked his sword back up he killed the ones around him.

The two druids, excited after their success in the last attack, prepared another attack. This time Arthur watched them prepare the spell and was ready for it. The water jet flew towards him for a second time. Arthur chained two attacks together to block it. He sent [Ice Block] and then [Air Burst] shortly after it.

The resulting effects caused the torrent of water to freeze in the air before twisting and flying around in the air back at the two goblins. The two druids were not prepared for this change and the chunks of ice impaled them and bombarded them. Arthur limped after them as he finished healing his leg. With a few quick swings, he finished the two off with his sword once he was in close range.

More goblins backed away from where he was after he killed the two druid goblins and focused their attention on killing Lucas. Lucas continued to fire off arrows after leaving the tree. He had occasionally switched up the arrows for some with more magical type arrows to deal with the groups. His current favorite and repetitive use was an arrow with runes engraved on it so that it duplicated itself while in the air. It was quite effective in killing at least three goblins all at once. Another arrow he used constantly because of its effect was a ‘returning arrow’. Its effect was that it teleported back to his quiver as long as it had the mana charge still in effect.

Arthur returned his focus to the fight after scanning the battlefield once. He switched on his [Mana Sense] a natural ability of his and searched for the other druids. He caught sight of the remaining ones quickly enough. Marking the location of the nearest once he ran to catch them. Occasionally a goblin archer would hit his body with an arrow, but they bounced off harmlessly.

The next goblin druids were also grouped as a pair together. This pair used two separate spells instead of one larger combined one to attack Arthur. The first spell activated and didn’t hit Arthur but the ground beneath him. He immediately began sinking in the quicksand mud that had grown beneath him. His heavy metal body did not help the matter and he sunk quicker as the time when on. The second druid moved a boulder to the top of his head and began repeatedly smashing his head. It didn’t do much to hurt his head, but it disorientated him for a minute while he got used to the timing of the hits and tried to prepare spells. When his hands touched the mud he raised them to try and get a shot off at the druid's. The rock kept banging against his head. The goblin druids started moving to the side of him and out of the way of any potential spells.

Arthur focused on turning off the touch sensations to his body and only on the magic he was casting. This helped him immensely with preparing a spell. When he was ready the [Plasma Bolt] flew above his head as the druid raised the rock. The attack hit the rock and it shattered to pieces. With that small victory, Arthur returned to his trap situation. Arthur focused on spreading his mana and connection to the earth. He felt the connection of mana tying one of the two druids to the active spell pulling him down.

At this point, it was almost up to his arms. The other goblin druid not controlling the spell prepared another rock attack to slam Arthur with once more. Arthur connected with the mana of the earth like the druid did and felt a push. The druid was also there and fought with him for control. They pulled back and forth for a bit longer before Arthur wrestled control. When he felt full control of the area he used his spells and forced the ground to spit him out.

The druid he had mentally fought with had exhausted himself. The other druid sent a rock flying his way, but he blasted it apart before it could get close with [Plasma Bolt]. With another quick cast of spells, he killed the two goblin druids.

Arthur sent out another scan once the two were dead. There were druids in a few more locations that Kendra or the others had not finished off. Arthur turned his focus to his next trio this time of goblin druid. As he started to run after them he was thrown to the ground by something. Arthur looked up to see a reddish goblin man thing that was almost his height if he was standing.