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Equilibrium
Chapter 10 - Everything's Better With A Group

Chapter 10 - Everything's Better With A Group

Monsters in a Party-Play Instance are stronger based on the number of players in the party.

“Goblin scouts are above us. About six of them.” Patricia noticed the dozen glittering golden eyes perched in the branches before I did. The system had not sent us battle notifications yet, but it was clear that we were being targeted.

“Liz, with me. Isaac, as discussed, no long range Bolts unless absolutely necessary. Patricia, your usual.”

Our tank’s throat and mouth began to glow red, and I instinctively covered my ears. Unfazed, Seb pulled out a pair of tall torches from his inventory, planting one at his feet and the other near Patricia to use.

“AHHHHHHIEEEEEEE!” Apparently, that skill was Deafening Shout. I made a mental note to ask Patricia how she got it.

“Magical Arrow Shot!”

“Magical Bolt!”

The projectiles fired off from Seb and Liz cleanly pierced through the kneecaps of two of stunned goblins, causing them to slump and fall to the ground. I ran and leapt into the air, Stabbing one of them through the chest with a third of my mana. My blade crackled on impact before smoothly inserting itself between the monster’s ribs, which promptly exploded into a loot bag.

My momentum carried me past the other goblin, and by the time I had gotten to it, it was recovering. I sidestepped its Stab, grabbed the offending arm, and did a clumsy throw over my shoulder to slam it into the ground.

It was a move that Alice had insisted I try out over dinner when I mentioned how small and light the goblins were.

To conserve Mana, I shouted to Liz and Seb, then kicked the goblin upwards, where it was peppered by a round of projectiles and poofed.

“Careful!” Patricia’s voice snapped my attention back upwards, where the four dimly lit silhouettes began to creep through the canopy, glinting yellow clearly searching for blood.

I navigated myself closer to the ranged duo, watching as Patricia carefully navigated to a small opening in the otherwise crowded forest. Once she seemed satisfied with the location, she jammed the torch beside her, the steady flame lighting up the trees above.

Despite the lack of cover, three of the goblins leapt from the branches, screeching with their daggers dripping with red malice. Our tank Blocked the first with her massive shield, Parried the second with a thick wooden tonfa, and Swung the shield into the third, a constant green aura flowing through her silhouette. I kept the impressed whistle inside my head — Alice was the only other person I could imagine moving that smoothly.

I dragged my eyes off the spectacle of Patricia handling three goblins scouts on her own and scanned for the remaining goblin.

“Liz, assist Pat. Me and Isaac will handle the ambush—“

“KREEE!”

The lurking goblin flung itself at Seb mid-sentence, which I promptly slammed to the side with Bolt. There were Binding Vines ready to restrict the monster as it landed, and Seb put his own Magical Bolt through its skull as a finishing touch.

We cleaned up the final three goblins with relative ease. Liz and Patricia were incredibly efficient together — an arrow would fly to a seemingly random place, and then a goblin limb would be kicked right into it. My singular contribution was tripping a retreating goblin with Block, which Patricia promptly crushed with her shield.

“Your moves aren’t too bad. Guess that comes with playing the game solo?” Patricia raised an impressed eyebrow at me when we finished.

“I can’t take that compliment from you. You solo tanked three of these green gremlins without getting hit once.”

“That’s to be expected. This girl has been practicing fencing for years out in the real world.” Liz planted her lean forearm onto Patricia’s head, using it as an armrest. “No way some low level monsters could touch her.”

Patricia scoffed, but seemed to blush a bit. “I’ve told you multiple times that fencing doesn’t translate to using a shield and tonfa.”

As the pair began to bicker again, I gave Seb a sideways glance. He slowly nodded back.

With the help of the navigation beacon, I led the group back to the instanced zone as we continued to effortlessly clear various packs of goblin scouts. My inventory filled up magnitudes more quickly than when I was alone, and I began to wonder why I had even bothered going around alone. I could only imagine how lucrative the rewards would be at the guild.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

PARTY OF FOUR DETECTED. PARTY DIFFICULTY AND REWARDS WILL BE LOADED.

The first group of goblins were a mix of warriors and archers. I counted five muscular goblins and two leaner ones, and Patricia confirmed that it was a five warrior and two archer mix. It was a worrying combination, since we weren’t sure if me and Patricia could hold off all five warriors if they charged at the same time. I was confident that everyone’s Block could easily deflect the arrows, but I had a strong suspicion that only Patricia’s Block could clash with the large clubs.

“Well, we won’t get anywhere just sitting around and thinking. Figure out a way to interrupt the charging skill, and the rest will be cake. I’ll aim for the joints, Seb aims for the soft spots, and Isaac, you handle them once they get too close. Pat will split off as many as she can handle, and we’ll just have to join her quickly.”

We all agreed and went up to the monsters. Patricia leapt ahead, looking to interrupt the warriors from buffing themselves.

“GRAA-“

“AHHHHHHHHHHIIEE!”

Our tank crashed into the frontmost goblin warrior, knocking it over and simultaneously stunning the group with her Shout. She immediately started hauling herself towards the archers, who had recovered incredibly quickly and were already preparing their bows. The standard follow up still came through, a volley of crackling blue projectiles soaring against the torchlight backdrop, and slid through the green flesh of a few unlucky warriors. A moment after, the goblins all collectively snapped out of the stun and roared again.

Two of the warriors charged Patricia and the rest charged us. Streaks of silver and green light flew towards the trio of red, galloping creatures. As expected, the raging aura dulled the attacks, merely scratching their skin.

“Cover my right. I should be able to get two of them. The third is on you guys.” I shrugged my left shoulder, emphasizing the small shield further down the arm. Seb nodded, while Liz stared straight ahead, more green energy coalescing into her notched arrow.

I ran to intercept the trio, doing my best to suppress the instant anxiety from facing down the three crazed and slobbering goblin faces.

One deep breath, and focus.

“Bolt!”

The front goblin’s momentum flinched slightly as the dense ball of silver energy slammed into its face. I immediately followed this up with another Bolt to the supporting arm, causing it to flop forward.

“Block — Block!”

I summoned the two translucent barriers in front of my raised shield, bracing myself for the incoming attack. The distinct shattering sound of the Blocks were immediate, but I still had feeling in my left arm when the club slammed into it. Unfortunately, there was still enough force to push me back and cause me to lose my footing and nearly trip — right into the third goblin’s gleeful charge.

“Mana Block!”

A thicker slab of blue energy appeared, courtesy of Seb. It successfully stopped the goblin warrior’s initial swing, but cracked worryingly on the second. I glanced sideways, and realized too late that the other goblin had sprinted past me.

“Incoming!” I called a warning out to the others, before ducking under the club that had shattered Seb’s Mana Block into a cascading rain of glitter.

“GRAAAAAAH!”

The goblin warrior was clearly unhappy with my evasion, and screamed at me. I took the opportunity to shove a Bolt into its neck, but despite seeming distracted from irritation, it adeptly deflected the skill with its club.

To make matters worse, the first goblin had finally recovered and was ready to go, already preparing itself to run at me. It was already a rematch of my first trip, which I was not particularly excited about. I had already missed my opportunity to cleanly take them out one at a time, and it wasn’t like I could take my time.

It only took a moment to decide what needed to happen. The first move needed to be mine, and unless they had a hidden skill, I already knew what these monsters could do.

I ran sideways, making sure the goblin in front blocked the one behind it. There wasn’t any point in Blocking or Rolling the goblin’s attack, so I slammed Bolts into the club and then its outstretched right arm to interrupt the swing. From there, a quick spin to gain momentum for a Pummel into its wrist. I spat another Bolt into its chin to knock its head sideways, and Stabbed my dagger into the exposed neck. The goblin grabbed me with its arms and started to firmly squeeze me, but they went limp once I gave the dagger a good twist.

The corpse had barely evaporated when the other goblin’s club rapidly approached my weapon arm. It was an awkward angle to guard with my shield, but I still managed to throw a Block before it hit. I braced myself and winced as my bones flexed under the force. Thankfully this time, no breaking happened, and I was able to Roll out of the next swing.

“Charged Arrow!”

Liz’s shout startled me and the goblin, and we both turned our heads to look at the archer. Unluckily for the goblin, a thick beam of viridian light pierced straight through its eyes. The goblin that had ran past me earlier was tightly wrapped in vines, featuring a fresh and gaping chest window.

“You two help Pat. I need to Meditate to get some Mana back.” Seb had definitely seen better days. His face had a swelling club mark, and his left arm seemed broken.

Liz was completely unharmed. In fact, her face was glowing with elation.

“Ay, you see that? I got a double kill on my first try! That wasn’t too bad!”

Seb simply responded with a pained look, before sitting down and beginning his Meditate. I checked the party bars, seeing his nearly depleted Mana bar begin to creep back up. His health bar had also seen better days, hovering around 40%.