Patricia’s health bar suddenly dropped to match Seb’s.

I swung my head to where our tank had gone, seeing that her location had unchanged. Her movement was coldly precise as she weaved her body, tonfa, and shield to barely sidestep and parry the simultaneous attacks of the two warriors. There were a few arrows sticking out of her armor, but only one goblin archer remained — desperately attempting to land more shots.

Me and Liz admired the elegant dance that Patricia was displaying, before another harsh blow to her tonfa dealt significant damage and Seb snapped at us to get going. We had idled for so long that all of our Mana had recovered to roughly half, which was enough for one solid empowered skill use.

The clean up was fairly quick. Once the goblin warriors were restrained and distracted by us, Patricia quickly dispatched the goblin archer by Pummeling her shield into it repeatedly. The warriors went down not much longer afterwards, one being shot down by Liz and Seb, and the other one getting Stabbed by me.

“Alright, now that we’ve successfully cleared out first encounter, let’s talk about what needs to be improved.” Seb summoned a party-wide notepad window, which was a new feature to me. The group immediately scribbled a handful of notes, poked me for some feedback, and wrote that down too.

“Alright. Let’s fight more grouped this time. Pat sticks with me and Liz to give us more room to be offensive. Isaac, be our flex. If you see openings, take them.”

I nodded, much more comfortable with this setup.

“Why didn’t we run an idea like this earlier?” The thought sprang into my head and out of my mouth.

“Oh that’s on me and Patty. We wanted to see how you handled partying with strangers, in case you were some crazy psycho selfish player.” Liz waved her hand around. “You’re easy to work with but obviously your build isn’t optimized for co-op work. I’m assuming fights only get harder from here, so we need to maximize our odds.”

I nodded again, satisfied with the explanation. It was distracting to worry about the status of the two ranged players behind me, and the fact they were subtly testing me was common practice anyways. Suddenly, another question popped into my head.

“Actually, how exactly did you know that it was exactly two archers?” I motioned towards Patricia.

“Oh, that? I got a non-combat skill from an NPC quest reward called Inspect. It lets me see monster names. Apparently at later tiers, it’ll let me see more detailed information.”

As expected, the new setup was much easier to manage. Patricia was able to keep the attention of nearly any goblin that was in the vicinity, so I easily picked off any stragglers that somehow escaped the mesmerizing dance or were otherwise vulnerable.

Seb’s skills were clearly meant to augment a tank’s performance by interrupting enemy attacks and hindering their mobility. Liz was able to slowly but consistently take down monsters with her Charged Arrow, which was always mildly terrifying to watch when it blew holes through bodies like a high caliber bullet.

We made significant progress through the instanced zone at a healthy pace. It took about thirty minutes from when we first entered to finally encounter a group of enemies that I didn’t recognize.

“Hm. Looks like this is where we’re supposed to wipe.” Patricia’s silver eyes immediately narrowed the moment she saw the bear sized goblin sitting ominously in the road.

“A named monster. We haven’t had to deal with a humanoid one yet.”

“Does it matter? I doubt it can survive a fully powered shot to the head.”

I silently stared at the large goblin, who was surrounded by a handful of warriors. The name Grahble Grahob floated ominously above, goblin green stained with an ominous indigo aura. Its eyes were closed, but the large copper blade and shield stuck in the ground beside it contradicted any perceivable weakness.

My gaze wandered to the second group of goblins that was resting further down the road. It was just four goblins, but the combination was new.

“Two mages and two warriors. That’s not good.” Patricia confirmed the new monsters.

“New enemies with the named goblin. No wonder we haven’t gotten any information about this place, it’s probably where people skipped straight to bandits or are stuck.” Seb had pulled out the crowded notepad window and scrawled even more scribbles into it. I saw a few ??s written in.

“No time like the present!” Liz straightened her tall body and motioned towards the goblins. Seb sighed again, and we approached the group together.

It was obvious that the goblins were aware of our presence the moment we first saw them by how their gazes collectively shifted to keep us in sight. The way that the Grahble Grahob calmly meditated despite our presence was unnerving, as if we weren’t even worth its attention.

“…Grooohh..” An annoyed sigh was exhaled from the named goblin as its red eyes flickered open.

I was filled with a deep sense of awe as the goblin stood up, rising above even Liz in height. The goblin warriors beside it were barely taller than its waist.

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“Isaac. Try to take out at least one mage from the rear if possible. If it feels too dangerous then regroup. This is an info gathering run, not a clear. Anything else, Seb?” Patricia’s instructions were clear and concise. Seb simply shook his head.

“Watch out!” Liz roughly shoved me, the body of a goblin warrior splatting against the ground I was just occupying.

I twisted my head to see the three goblin warriors around the Grahob Grahble preparing to charge. The giant goblin itself grabbed a nearby fencepost, about to throw it.

Patricia and Seb both glanced towards me and nodded in unison, signaling for the plan to begin. Liz was already channeling her Charged Arrow, not bothering with her Magical Arrow Shot.

I took one deep breath to focus. There wasn’t a clear opening to the back group of goblins with the Grahob Grahble in the way, but if he didn’t join the three goblin warriors, the group would make quick work of them.

That being said, there was a guaranteed chance that I would be instantly killed if the giant worked with the mages. We would lose me, and they would ideally lose three goblin warriors.

The choice seemed obvious. I ran off to the side, making sure to avoid the path of the goblin warriors. My eyes locked with the Grahob Grable as I approached the warriors and mages. It seemed to sneer in contempt before turning to join its lackeys.

I placed my attention back on the four goblins ahead of me. The warriors were oddly still, and the mages were already shrouded in crackling blue tendrils.

“Bolt!”

The warriors immediately responded to my skill, moving to intercept the projectiles with their bodies. One of the mages pointed a gnarled finger at me, and I felt my hair stand up in alarm. I preemptively Rolled to the side, trusting my instincts.

Cobalt lightning split the air, frayed tendrils licking at my sleeve as I recovered from the Roll. The other mage immediately shot an icy ball of flames, which I managed to smother with two layers of Block.

I wasn’t particularly close to the group of four, but the warriors were still uncharacteristically aware of their positioning, preventing me from using them as potential cover for the magical barrage. For every three steps I managed forward, I was forced to evade two steps backwards.

It didn’t take long for the lightning mage to glance a hit on my torso. Even though it wasn’t a direct hit, the electricity still flooded my body, causing my muscles to uncontrollably convulse and halting my movement. As expected, the follow-up fireball was roaring towards me, and the best I could do was numbly brace myself with the shield. My health bar dramatically dropped as the soft blue washed over the wood and licked at my body. While I couldn’t feel the burns, I could see the wooden shield charring with the burning flames. I threw my shield down to prevent the fire from spreading to my body.

A rush of adrenaline flooded my veins, and the numbness left my limbs. I looked up, but the mages were no longer crackling with Mana. It looked like they had finally run dry, but the green light was already swirling around them.

They began to both fire an all too familiar skill. I was able to easily deflect the incoming Bolts with Blocks, but the final skills had taken their toll on me. The warriors noticed and began to shift to intercept me, obviously to take advantage of my weakened state.

I pulled out the Training Spear, swapping my dagger to my now empty left hand. Dual-wielding weapons wasn’t something I was fond of, but the dagger was too short to use as a solo weapon — especially without any cover. Spear and dagger was also an incredibly odd combination, but a morbid curiosity wanted me to try it out despite my circumstances.

“GRAAAH!”

The two warriors roared with excitement when I was finally within striking range, beating the ground with their clubs. I could understand why. It must have been incredibly boring to wait around while others got to enjoy glorified target practice.

I didn’t waste their celebratory moment.

“Stab!”

The flow of Mana along my right arm crackled to life before flowing into the tip of my spear. I thrusted the long weapon forward, cleanly splitting the parrying club in half.

“Grooh??”

The goblin warrior made one confused sound before I Stabbed again, piercing its throat and ripping it out. With that one evaporating, and no more mana left, I turned to face the remaining warrior.

And was immediately greeted with a club slamming the side of my head. Through the System-dampened concussive haze, I faintly realized that this goblin hadn’t let out the usual noises in advance. A Bolt pelted me while I toppled over, sending me tumbling into the ground. When my momentum slowed, I Rolled further to the side, vacating the space that a club immediately occupied.

“Block!”

I threw up a barrier vaguely in the direction where I hoped the mages were, then scrambled to my feet. The oddly intelligent goblin was already continuing its offensive pressure, seemingly sneering as it quickly attacked again, its weapon once again flaring red.

“Pummel!”

I swung the hilt of my dagger towards the club, barely managing to redirect its trajectory to the side. My spear was already following up the parry, the tiniest sliver of regenerated mana giving life to the smallest spark of blue.

An ugly sneer was still painted across the goblin warrior’s face.

The feeling of hitting a Block is incredibly unsatisfying. The sensation feels like hitting a memory foam pillow, except there’s no funny imprint to look at afterwards. I had gotten quite familiar with the experience when I was fighting the slimes, but none of the goblins had used it, so I had almost forgotten the experience until this exact moment.

In retrospect, it was obvious that goblin mages would have access to Block.

Taking advantage of my momentary confusion, the warrior gave me a solid kick to the chest. I staggered back a few steps and glimpsed a flash of blue lightning.

YOU HAVE DIED!

YOU HAVE LOST 25% OF YOUR COPPER.

YOUR WEAPON, Crooked Copper Dagger, HAS SHATTERED!

NOW REVIVING IN LAST VISITED SAFE ZONE.