What made a human, human?

It was a question that confounded philosophers for ages, and something that Uma herself frequently struggled with in light of her experiences with reincarnation. There was probably no one who could convincingly explain to another the answer to such a question.

It was fairly easy, however, to describe what the average human looked like. Rounded ears, upright gait, and a straight posture with a certain proportionality to it, those were the common features shared by most of humanity back on Earth, and were also features possessed by the beings Uma saw approaching from between the shrubbery.

The few that weren’t wearing helmets displayed a coffee colored complexion, straw colored hair, and well defined facial features, a combination that was decidedly rare without the use of cosmetics back on Earth, and yet holistically it was familiar enough that Uma couldn’t find any other word to refer to them by.

At a cursory glance there seemed to be around a hundred of them marching through the forest, with a standard bearer at the front, and the majority following in three files. Most of the formation consisted of infantry armed with large, curved tower shields, with several individuals who resembled woodsmen scattered near the flanks. Although it was unclear due to the distance involved, there were several animals that looked like horses which plodded along at the rear of the formation, led by people who were presumably either their riders or logistics personnel. Only a few of the humans had a full set of metal lamellar armor, the rest were either wearing only a metal breastplate, or just leather and padded cloth.

It was a remarkable coincidence that both horses and men, along with many other types of familiar flora and fauna, existed in this world, now that Uma spared a moment to think about it. But, whether it was by chance or design did not really matter.

<$*!&#*$ &!*# $&@#*$ %& !@#$>

Uma could faintly hear some of the humans conversing between the ever-present sounds of nature, speaking in a language that she could not recognize. Bleh, the Common Tongue wasn’t so common after all, or at least it wasn’t the colloquial language of these humans.

Between their uninhibited voices, and loud marching, it seemed that the humans were quite brazen.

Uma’s tribe advanced carefully in their separate family subunits under the cover of brush. The early afternoon sun caused the trees and shrubbery to cast longer shadows, and the goblins’ skin color and earthen garments provided a high degree of camouflage within foliage, allowing them to remain undetected up until now. It was, however, unrealistic to hope for a complete surprise with the numbers that they had.

The tension was palpable as Uma tried to inch closer as quietly as possible upon the unsuspecting humans, desperately hoping that by some miracle everything goes exactly according to plan. Every rustling of leaves tickled at her nerves, and even her breathing became unconsciously shallow.

But reality always won against ungrounded hopes.

When the foremost goblins approached within three hundred (goblin) paces (estimated to be approximately two hundred human sized ones) of the human formation, there were a couple of sharp shouts from within the formation, and the humans started moving in a frenzy.

The standard bearer retreated as the footmen behind came forward and the sides of the formation started spreading out. They were attempting to form some sort of defensive arrangement.

Uma did not know if the High Priestess fully understood what the humans were doing, as the goblin martial craft that she had taught Uma had no information of the sort, but there was an aspect of the human military form that was grounded in a bestial nature that the High Priestess evidently recognized.

“Everyone, attack as a wolf pack!” The High Priestess accurately grasped the opportunity presented by the reorganizing human formation, and sprung the ambush!

Toot, toot, toot. The signaler beside the High Priestess sounded her whistle in three consecutive high pitched notes, and the tribe immediately leapt to action. The slingers wound up their weapons on the spot, and let loose a scattered hail of stones, while the other goblins rushed forward in their small groups.

The wolf pack was a hunting tactic that consisted of a wide encirclement, and so the scattered groups of goblins farther out started to wrap around to the sides of the human formation, while the archers at the center reached their effective ranges, and shot their arrows at a high arc. The typical goblin bows, with their low draw strengths, had an effective range of only one hundred paces, and so the archers to the flanks were still hurrying to get into range.

The projectile attacks, which usually achieved great effect against beasts, fared poorly against the humans with their tower shields. The vulnerable woodsmen had already retreated behind the wall of shields, and the footmen, with practiced use of their shields and equipment, protected the formation from the rain of stones and arrows.

The preliminary volleys had only proven to be an annoyance at best.

Perhaps if there was time to bombard the humans with impunity, the goblin skirmishers would eventually be able to slip a few missiles past the human defenses and start causing casualties, but the human officer somewhere in the formation had quickly grasped the situation, and moved to counteract the goblin attack.

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The human officer shouted what sounded like a command, and the footmen immediately halted their outward expansion, planting their shields into the ground to form a barricade. Arrows then began flying from between the narrow gaps in the barricade, primarily targeting the goblin archers. The horses towards the rear were let loose by their handlers and escaped a fair distance away, cavalry being nearly useless in a forest.

With wicker and hide shields being barely adequate for protecting just a single individual, goblin archers typically operated alone, and with only the protection of natural cover. Although goblins were naturally nimble due to their small stature, the archers’ inadequate defenses proved deadly for the few that could not duck fast enough.

“Ahhh!!” “Uahh!” Two goblin archers were practically skewered by the more powerful human arrows, and became pinned to the ground as they bled.

The goblin warriors, as they approached, were also targeted by both arrows and bolts of light, slowing them down significantly. The humans apparently also had one or two low level spell casters judging by the power of their magic missiles. It wasn’t a game changer, but was definitely another point of advantage.

The casualties from the human projectile fire remained low due to its lacking volume, but the humans had managed to create a sizable gap in the goblin missile screen and slowed the goblin advance. Taking the opportunity, five of the woodsmen escaped out the rear of the human formation, sprinted away towards whence they came, and quickly disappeared into the woodlands. There were a couple of slingers who were close enough to attempt a shot, but the bullets were only able to score a hit on one woodsman’s leg, unable to accurately hit any vitals at extreme range.

Though Uma and Goma had their own magic spells, even their most powerful and long ranged spell, fireball, had only a maximum range of one hundred twenty paces. They were still hanging at over two hundred paces away from the human formation to avoid the arrow fire, so they could only watch as the woodsmen got away. They were probably messengers, escaping to call for reinforcements.

The goblin archers were no match for their human counterparts, and the defensive power of the human formation meant that even if the goblin priestesses risked their lives to cast their magic, they wouldn’t be able to inflict decisive damage. Things were not looking good, both time and troop quality were not on the goblin’s side, but it was already too late to turn around.

If they turned and ran, they’d lose many warriors in the pursuit, and potentially have to face an even greater human force when the unit here was able to link up with reinforcements. The only choice would be to annihilate their enemies, and hope that it buys enough time to migrate their tribe before the reinforcements arrive.

Uma understood this, and it was evident that her master did as well.

The High Priestess called over a runner and told her:

“Go back to the tribe and tell them to start packing. The tribe will move as soon as the warriors return.”

After the runner took off, the High Priestess could only look on with grim determination as the goblin warriors approached the enemy, a few being cut down by arrow fire and bullets of light as they approached. She then turned to her disciple, and said:

“Uma, I will need to begin channeling the spirit link, you will be responsible for taking command of the battle.”

The spirit link was one of the premier spiritual abilities that a High Priestess had at her disposal, it was a technique that linked the minds and souls of all willing participants, and allowed them to move as one being. It gave goblins, who were relatively weak individually, the ability to overcome physically superior foes through numbers, morale, and coordination, but it was a highly taxing and difficult technique.

Uma was hesitant. “Mother, why don’t we both channel together and give command to one of the warmaidens? You would only be able to maintain it for a short while by yourself.”

Goma shook her head: “It takes great spiritual power and training to give commands through the spirit link, no warmaiden would be able to effectively do it. If I had another daughter, then things might have been different, but it is too early for you to channel the spirit link alone. This is the only possible arrangement for us.”

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The High Priestess’s firm gaze made Uma swallow her reservations.

Uma nodded: “Alright mother, I will do my best.”

Having received Uma’s affirmation, the High Priestess sat cross-legged on the ground and closed her eyes in concentration. Almost immediately, a foreign but familiar presence crept into Uma’s mind, which she welcomed with open arms. Her senses were subsequently elevated to a state similar to when she was performing her rites, but her perception of the material realm remained.

It was a strange sensation where the two realities were layered upon one another, a state where she felt both her individuality and oneness with a greater whole. Soon more minds began flowing in, taking their places as parts of a greater individual and the resulting torrent of thought and emotion was then tamed by her master’s will, forming into a more cohesive being.

The combination of hundreds of minds was like a stream to the individual’s droplet, washing away any sense of agency and individuality. Steering such a flow with only a hundredth of the mass was extremely difficult, and that was currently Uma’s job.

Her master could probably only maintain the technique for an hour at maximum, so there was no time to waste. Uma gazed upon the battlefield, her vision now a coherent coalescence of hundreds, and gave her first command:

Warriors, charge!

““Yaaaaa!!!!!””

And so they did with a thunderous cry, forming a green wave which braved the arrows of wood and light, rushing against the human lines.

Boom! Boom!

Two fireballs detonated within the goblin ranks, instantly killing five and wounding several others. Those who died had their wills snuffed out from within the spirit link, leaving a temporary wound upon the unitary psyche, before being filled in by the contracting greater consciousness. Strangely enough, there was no feeling of pain or shock, but Uma knew that to be the illusory product of her master’s manipulations.

Although she was not close with the dead, she had known every one of their names. Now, they were gone, as a price to pay for the prospect of victory.

Despite the fearsome magic, the goblin tide did not falter, their unitary will void of any hesitation or self-interest. They smashed into the human square with a resounding crash, compressing the human formation by several paces on all sides, but despite the goblins’ reckless valor, the human formation held strong and quickly pushed back after they absorbed the initial momentum.

The ensuing melee was bloody and intense. The goblins had the advantage in numbers both locally and overall, two goblins could fit in the space of one human soldier, and there were nearly four goblins for every human present, but the humans had superior stature, training, equipment, and tactics.

It was obvious that they were used to, and anticipated fighting goblins by how the human soldiers equipped and conducted themselves. The tower shield that the human soldiers held stood at around four and a half feet tall, which was enough for the human soldiers to see over, but offered complete protection against the average goblin. They held their shields at a slight inward angle, making it more difficult for goblin warriors to peel it away from their bodies, and allowed them a nice range of motion to stab any potential climbers with their swords.

The human formation stood three ranks thick on all sides, so every human soldier at the front had two behind to support them, making it futile to try and push those in the first rank down. They also had better armor, allowing them to mitigate much of the damage that the goblin weapons could inflict, and if there was an occasional incapacitation, there would be an immediate replacement to hold the line.

Thankfully offensive magic was impractically dangerous in a melee, so the human mages were just trickier footmen at this point, but this was little solace as the casualties started mounting.

In just a few minutes of fighting, a dozen or so goblin warriors were taken out of commission, and several dozen more had suffered non-debilitating wounds of various degrees, all for just two incapacitations on the human side.

Not only was it heart retching to watch, it was completely unsustainable even with the numerical advantage that the goblins had.

No, calm down, no strategy is infallible.

Uma forced back the moisture that had started to accumulate in her eyes, and calmed her roiling emotions which had been made far more volatile due to her connection to the spirit link.

She just had to think. Any tactic that she could think of, that was within the realm of physical possibility, could be realized, that was the true power of the spirit link. There was no need for drills or teamwork, each individual goblin functioned like a muscle in the same body. As long as the brain, Uma, knew how to do something, everything else followed naturally.

Uma closely examined the state of the battlefield, and quickly noticed something.

It was only for brief moments where this happened, but the human soldiers could just barely hold on to their shields when two goblins latched onto their shields simultaneously. If the humans were already struggling with only two, then how about four?

With that thought came an entire course of action.

Everyone, back up! Commanded Uma.

As soon as Uma impressed the thought, the goblin army immediately ceased their attacks, retreating two paces in perfect unity. The humans Uma could see were visibly unnerved by unerring organization that the goblins showed, but whether because they were stupefied, or that it was part of their discipline, they did not chase and stood stock still as the green tide ebbed away.

…and then they were knocked off their feet.

The goblin wave came back with a greater fury, with four goblins simultaneously attacking every front row human soldier. Two goblins dove full force into the base of the human shields while two more jumped up and pulled down on the top of the shields with all their might, and the resulting forces were too powerful for all but the strongest human soldiers to resist, causing many soldiers to lose their grips on their shields or even outright flip over.

Those that let go of their shields now had to contend, outnumbered, with just their sword arm, and those who were unfortunate enough to lose their footing met their certain doom as six or even eight goblins swarmed over them, dismantled their armor, and stabbed them in the vitals. Although the individual humans were still stronger, heavier, and better armored, not having a shield meant their lower bodies were now exposed, allowing goblins to slip into the gaps between and underneath the soldiers, and inflict damage in places that were difficult to defend against.

The first rank of the human formation had effectively lost cohesion as every soldier struggled to defend themselves, and that effect started to spill into the second and third ranks as some in those ranks moved forward to help their allies while others were shoved back by their floundering comrades. Any shield that was not linked to its neighbors could be peeled away by the sides, and the tightly packed human square compressing on itself meant that those in the later ranks had difficulties helping their allies in front.

The human formation was being overwhelmed.

The goblins had the advantage now, but it did not mean that the humans would just lay down and die.

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The human commander screamed a series of punctuated commands, and the soldiers of the unit repeated the latter part like a mantra. Then, their tactics changed.

The entire human formation started to shove outwards with all their might, plowing their bodies and shields into both their allies and enemies. The goblins attempted to resist the human push, but were momentarily overcome by the sudden burst of strength as some goblins were forced to make way to avoid being senselessly crushed.

With this act, the humans had created more space to fight with, but also caused their formation to crumble as the smaller goblins slipped into the gaps. The human and goblin lines started to mix and both sides now had greater amounts of room to attack each other. As the humans’ formation had previously started to hinder them more than it had increased their defensive power, it was a favorable trade for the humans with all else being equal.

The human commander had abandoned all pretenses of defense, and was now aiming to kill as many goblins as possible at the cost of hastening their own demise.

It was pure chaos and carnage.

Blood was spilling by the buckets on both sides, but the rate of loss was not equal. Though the human soldiers fought valiantly, with the loss of their biggest strength, their formation, they were only able to trade one for one against the goblin warriors. Every time they managed to stab a goblin in the heart, they would also suffer fatal wounds from two or three others, and if their weapon was somehow blocked or caught, it was also over for them.

The officer and their lieutenants at the center of the formation were certainly strong, slaying every occasional goblin that had slipped past the melee, but once their front line fell, they would be facing a swarm of hundreds, alone. Uma coldly judged their skills to be inadequate against such odds.

Just as Uma thought victory was certain, however, a surprise came from the treetops.

Three arrows flew, fast and true, for Uma and her master.

Perhaps by some fluke of instinct, or because one of the nearby guards had caught sight of it and shared it with her through the spirit link, Uma was able to reflexively twist her body out of the way at the last second, deflecting the arrow off her metal chest plate.

Her master wasn’t so fortunate.

One arrow struck the High Priestess in the arm, and another, square in the neck, piercing through the leather neck guard. The High Priestess let out a muffled groan and clutched the arrow on her neck, her body falling limp to the side.

“Mother!” Uma screamed, breaking her concentration on the spirit link.

She had not yet fully comprehended what had transpired, only intuitively grasping that it wasn’t anything good, but a second volley was already in the air. This time, Uma was already alert, and pressed her body down prone on top of her master, dodging all three shots aimed at her.

The nearby group of goblin bodyguards, of which there were ten, had finally understood that their charges were in danger. They quickly huddled around the prone priestesses, protecting them from danger with their bodies, but it was too late.

The High Priestess was already bleeding profusely, the arrow in her neck having severed an artery, but despite her injuries she was still conscious.

“Mo-mother…” “Great mother!” “Oh no!”

The spirit link was broken due to the physical shock inflicted upon the High Priestess, and so the goblin army faltered in bewilderment. The humans took the chance to drive them back a bit before the goblins regained their bearings as individuals, but having lost their mental unity, their attacks became less effective.

Unfortunately Uma was in too much shock to respond, and could only gape at her master in a stunned silence.

The High Priestess, as if to shake her disciple out of her stupor, unsteadily pointed somewhere with her free hand. The young goblin priestess followed her master’s direction and caught sight of a figure with a bow sliding down from a tree a fair distance away. It was one of the woodsmen who she thought had run away.

Right, the battle isn’t over yet. The assassins were still around.

Uma clenched her teeth to refocus her muddled thoughts, and drew a dart from her side bag, charging it with her magic.

One hundred, maybe one hundred and twenty paces. It’ll be a challenge, but I can hit.

With a flick of her wrist, the dart cut a shallow arc across the air, leaving a phosphorescent trail at its wake. The dart was not only much faster than expected, but adjusted its trajectory as it flew, shooting straight through the fleeing woodsman’s neck.

I’m sorry if you had a family, but you’re the one who invaded our home.

The second and third rangers were quickly discovered by the bodyguards. While Uma was able to also slay the second, the third had been too far by the time Uma had readied another dart. They were able to escape into the forest unscathed.

A winded Uma dissipated the charge on her dart, and for a moment, wondered if she should be resentful that the assassin was able to escape, or feel guilty for allowing her master to be hurt.

“Mother…” Uma called out helplessly to the aged priestess once again, this time at a loss for what to do. Even if there was a way to heal such a wound with magic, she did not know it, and so she could only look in despair as her master inched closer to death.

The High Priestess pressed hard against the wound on her neck, and shook her head. She curled up into a fetal position and closed her eyes, as if giving in to death, but Uma soon felt a familiar prodding at the edge of her mind.

My child, she was told, you and I still have unfinished business. My wounds are fatal, but my life still has worth until the moment it expires.

To Uma’s surprise, the feeling of being connected to the spirit link returned.

Indeed… Unfinished business.