For Whom the Bell Tolls
Tom stared up into the war chief's eyes, which were filled with hate and the hint of a knowing victory. He smelled of sweat, body odor, and some kind of sulfur scent.
"Now you see me," Tom said as he winked at the blue goblin.
The creature brought its mace down with all the force it could muster toward his face. Suddenly, Tom vanished from beneath him, and the Mace hit the pavement, cracking its surface and leaving a deep indention. He stared at the place Tom had been in shock and incredulity.
"Now you don't," Tom said from directly behind the creature and hit him with a kick to the head, sending the goblin flopping to the side, its cranium crashing into the pavement.
"Glad I saved that Tattoo of Displacement. Time to call off your troops, you sack of shit." Tom pointed one sword at the goblin's throat.
"And what? You'll just let me go?" The war chief asked, snarling at Tom.
"Actually, you have a point. Guess it doesn't matter." Tom said.
"No, wait!" The goblin began, but it was too late.
Tom stabbed forward hard enough to pierce the street behind the goblin. In a desperate attempt to save his life, the goblin war chief had pushed the blade with his hand to the side, nearly severing his fingers in the process. Kicking out one foot, the war chief also set Tom off balance and punched him in the face as he leaned forward.
"You tricky bastard. Fine, have it your way." Tom said as he caught his footing and ripped his sword from the ground.
Equipping a sword of his own from his inventory, the blue goblin took a fighting stance before lashing out at Tom. Blocking the strike, Tom brought his other sword down in a chop, and the goblin dodged. They exchanged blows over and over as they each tried to get the upper hand. Tom had the advantage, but the war chief seemed to know what he was doing and continued to deflect the strikes off to the side so as not to take the full force of any of the attacks.
The clanging of metal on metal rang out repeatedly as Tom and the goblin exchanged blows. As they continued to fight, neither able to gain a true upper hand, each began to take small cuts and nicks on their body as blows came closer and closer to landing. Tom took a particularly nasty cut on the back of his left arm that left it dangling uselessly. When this finally happened, he cast Dark mending on himself, which set him back to full health.
Seeing Tom recover almost immediately, the goblin also cast a spell, and his wounds began to close, though they weren't fully healed, showing he was not as adept at magic. Tom took a step back from the fight, letting both of them breathe as the rest of the battle continued to rage around them.
"Look, we can do this until we're both blue in the face. Your units are losing. Take a look around." Tom said to the goblin.
Shifting his eyes back and forth, the war chief took in the scene, and indeed, his goblins were being slaughtered.
"So what do you propose?" The goblin asked.
"This is a forgone concluded battle. You thought you could rally to take this area, but we have been here longer than you, and we will be here after you." Tom replied.
"I don't expect you to understand. You aren't some hated race. You are natural born, not those that were brought here. We exist at the whim of the System. Our lives are playthings for it. You have no idea what we go through." The goblin leader said.
"That may be, but it doesn't give you the right to take from those who spent their blood, sweat, and tears to build what they did after having their entire lives turned upside down. Just as you were tossed here, we, too, were living peacefully in a society we had built with the infrastructure to support ourselves before this System took everything from us and made our lives a living nightmare. Now, we struggle every day to survive in a world we no longer recognize. So to say we have no idea is incredibly naive of you." Tom replied, getting angry.
"Welcome to the world of survival of the strongest," The war chief smiled evilly.
"I know. I've learned that lesson the hard way. So you know I can't let you leave. Now, if you would be so kind..." Tom paused.
"What do you mean?" The goblin asked, now genuinely confused.
"Take two steps to the right," Tom replied.
"What? Why?" The goblin asked.
"Fine, I'll move," Tom said, moving two steps to the left.
"What could you possibly..." the war chief was cut off when a bullet went straight through his head.
Stabbing his sword into the ground at an angle, Tom swept the goblin's feet out from under it, and the body fell sideways, its neck landing on the blade and severing its head.
"Thanks, Kiera," Tom whispered.
Tom looked around the battlefield and noticed that many of the goblins had begun to attempt to flee as soon as the war chief had fallen. It looked like whatever was bolstering their spirits had died with their leader. In seeing the carnage that was being wrought, Tom picked up his sword and watched as the rest of the destruction unfolded.
Forming a circle around him, the Mastadonians continued to kill any goblins within reach. Jay came running over to give him an update.
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"The goblins are in full route. We are hunting down any we can follow." Jay reported.
"Good, let none survive if possible, but stay close. We don't need to be going on a dangerous chase that might end with more monster fights." Tom replied.
"Understood. I'll pass along the orders." Jay vanished, leaving Tom alone in the battle.
Looking around, Tom found targets he could attack and cast Eldritch Blasts at the small creatures, killing as many as he could without leaving the circle. Exhaustion began to overtake him when Jerky finally reappeared, still riding Shadow.
"Did you have fun?" Tom asked.
"I definitely need to team up with Shadow more often. He is an amazing companion." Jerky replied, petting the Usiku.
The large tentacled cat purred loudly as Jerky stroked his head. Tom smiled at the pair and felt his heart fill as he saw the friendship forming.
"I'm glad to hear it. We need all the friends we can get in this world." Tom replied.
The remainder of the battle lasted about an hour, including hunting down any of the fleeing goblins. Jay and his team were instrumental in chasing them through the streets so they could hide and surprise the goblins when they thought they were free of the carnage. Once the team had gathered back at the guild, they returned behind the walls and closed the gates.
In total, the guild had wiped out at least ninety percent of the invading force. Though it had cost them twelve of their own to defend the guild. Tom felt the weight of the loss dearly, but the rest of the guild seemed to be in high spirits at the victory. Derek continued the process by debreifing everyone and collecting the statements of everyone involved.
When they convened later in the conference room, Derek reported, "Everything seems to have gone according to plan."
"So why do I feel like this was not as successful as we would like?" Tom asked.
"That's because you expect every encounter to end with a one hundred percent survival rate, which is completely impossible and naive. No plan can withstand an encounter with the enemy." Derek replied.
"Isn't there anything we could have done differently?" Tom asked.
"I'm gonna pretend that you said that because you want us to learn from every encounter. And yes, training can be increased for group tactics to improve the fighter's abilities. As for what you likely truly meant, no. Brian was instrumental in keeping communication between squad leaders active so that we could ensure everyone was seeing the movements of the troops on the enemy's side." Derek explained.
"The goblins seemed to have some form of non-verbal communication from their leader as well. He could direct them to try to counter our movements. Kiera had an eye in the sky for us to follow directions from, and I could use that to help place our troops where they needed to be." Brian added.
"This was still an overwhelming victory when you consider the number of combatants on the field. Don't feel too badly about the losses. It could have been in the hundreds." Derek said in an attempt to soothe Tom's feelings.
"But, we lost people," Tom continued.
"I don't know how else to get this past your mental block, but you're being a jackass about this," James interrupted.
"What?" Tom asked.
"You keep expecting everyone to survive. You're being a pouting child. You need to stand up and lead these people. They follow you because you care, but they will see you as weak if you keep pretending you can save everyone," James said, not even looking at Tom as he sat in an office chair leaning back.
"As much as I hate to admit it, James is right," Derek added. "You have to look at the bigger picture. Remember, you're one of the few with said picture."
"So, what's next?" Tom said, trying to change the subject.
"Memorials, and continuing to build up for the invasion. Herbert has been working on those new weapons, and I bet we will see some demonstrations soon." Derek replied.
"Good. I want everyone training on those tactics. We need to work at being ready for the next set of fights we have coming our way. Those pirates won't be holding back in their attempts to take what we have, so we shouldn't hold back either." Tom said, a determined look on his face. "I'll speak with Bron about any other changes we can make."
"Our number one tactic must be to lure them to the ground. If we can get them to the ground, we will be in a much better situation." Brian stated.
"Hopefully, they will need to land to get what they need. But we shall see." Derek said. "We can't count on it, so we need to keep working on our strategy. I'll speak with the pilots and get them working on some other options."
With the meeting adjourned for now, Tom went back to his room to try to relax. After showering and returning to his bed, he lay there contemplating what the others had said to him. Had he really been so naive to worry about everyone's safety? That couldn't be right. But he had been dumb to think he could always save everyone. Realizing that it could have been so much worse if the enemies had been larger creatures made him pause.
"If these had been something strong like orcs, we wouldn't have been so lucky. These tiny goblins were the main reason our losses were so low. I really need to start thinking more about this," Tom thought to himself.
"What are you thinking, master?" Jerky said.
"I told you, Tom is better. And I'm still trying to figure out how to feel. I'm just feeling like I should be able to protect everyone." Tom replied.
"Life and death are two sides of the same coin. Isn't it good that they died protecting something they value? It seems like a far better death than screaming in fear or in a way outside of your control." Jerky said to Tom, giving him a knowing look.
"You want to die that way, don't you?" Tom asked.
"If I must die, I want it to be for a purpose. Saving someone or in a battle of my choosing. It is an honorable death. We all must die eventually. Why not for a cause we believe in?"
Tom was silent as he thought about this. Jerky was right, of course. Everyone had been telling him that. He needed to accept the facts and still do his best. What more could he do at this point?