Goblin shook and vibrated wildly. The King desperately tried to pull the blade out. Every other attack from every other Diver, Guardian and Grandma was now focused solely on him.
[G/CRITICAL HIT
The King's shoulder exploded with a bang. His arm detached from his body, flying across the platform in a shower of blood and torn muscle.
Mike landed hard on the ground, as the King's arm flew over his head. The hobgoblin King let out a bellow of combined rage and pain. The sound was unlike anything Mike had ever heard. Its massive bulk collapsed first to its knees, and then slumped to the ground on its fat belly with a crash.
Mike spun to see Goblin clatter, flashing and sparking to the ground only a few feet away.
He dove for the sword, grabbed its now-familiar hilt confidently, rolled, found his feet, and lunged towards the head of the King.
The last thing the creature ever saw was the blade of its defeated foe, the revived blade called Goblin, pierce its own eye.
[M/ASSIST: [-] 80/20
[M/+120READ
[M/+120FIGHT
[M/+120POWER
[M/+120SPEED
[M/ENERGY 10:150
[M/HEALTH 42:300
[M/LEVEL UP. MIKE IS NOW LEVEL 7.
[M/LEVEL UP. MIKE IS NOW LEVEL 8.
[G/+60FORCE
[G/STATE 15:180
Mike drew Goblin out from the King's eye. The sword glowed and crackled with bright orange gold light while the few remaining hobgoblins turned to flee, and the Divers, the Guardians and the Grandmas let out an enormous cheer.
[G: Actually, that was the best thing we've ever done.
[G: Thank you, Mike. Jed would be proud.
Mike's Grandma ran to him with tears streaming down her face and hugged him tightly. He returned the hug.
“Thankyou.” she whispered simply, but meaningfully, before she released him. She held his arm up and turned with him as the Divers cheered and shouted.
“Is Gwynne going to be okay?” asked Mike.
“She's sleeping now, but yes, she's going to be alright. The King didn't have the time to complete..." Mike's Grandma couldn't finish.
"Thanks to you Mike.” it was May who answered.
“Well thanks for zapping me out from under that monster's fist… or whatever it is you did. Otherwise I'd be dead.”
A heavy hand smacked Mike on the back.
“That was some pretty fine swordsmanship, son. For a freshman!” Mike turned to find the wide, grinning face of Jim the blacksmith, his metal visor up. His suit of armor was severely dented and covered in streaks and splatters of hobgoblin blood. “Looks like ye wrecked the leather jerkin I gave ye though. Might be, I need to make ye a metal one next time.”
“Looks like you're going to be busy enough patching your own suit up, Jim!” Mike shot back.
“Oh, no problems there. I always like tinkerin’ with me gear.” he answered, as he clanked off. He called back over his shoulder. “We all owe ya one Mike, just you stop by old Jim's forge when yer ready. I'll sort ya out.”
[G: Mike, remove the car tire shred and fill the spare slot with the blood of the King.
[M: I don't know Goblin... it seems a bit... sadistic and... vengeful.
[G: No, it's not that. It's the critical hit.
As the other Divers turned their attention to chasing the remaining hobgoblins down, Mike knelt next to the lifeless body of the giant Hobgoblin King. He opened the slot containing the sportscar tire shred and discarded it, a little bit sadly, if he was honest. It had been an incredible car chase.
He positioned the open slot next to the hobgoblin King's eye socket, where blood was running freely out.
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[G/SLOT DEPOPULATED SPORTS CAR TIRE SHRED
[G/GRADE 52:128
[M/SLOT DEPOPULATED SPEED DEMON 18
[M/SLOT DOWNGRADED FEAR 12
[G/SLOT POPULATED AVENGED BLOOD.
[G/+40GRADE
[M/SLOT POPULATED CRITICAL CHANCE 2
[M/SLOT UPGRADED FEAR 25
[M/SLOT UPGRADED RAZOR SHARPNESS 15
[M/SLOT UPGRADED VOLTPOISON DEALER 15
[M/SLOT UPGRADED FRISSION 25
[G/ALL SLOTS POPULATED (UPGRADED)
[G/+20GRADE
[G/CRITICAL CHANCE+VOLTERGY BLADE FUSED TO CRITICAL CAPACITANCE BLADE
[G/+20GRADE
[G/LEVEL UP. GOBLIN IS NOW LEVEL 8.
[GOBLIN | LEVEL 8 | STATE 15:360
[SOULBOUND SWORD | ARMING SWORD | CRITICAL CAPACITANCE BLADE
[FORCE 144:256 | GRADE 144:256
[WORMWOOD SPRIG | AVENGED BLOOD | KRAKEN HOOK SLIVER | ELECTRIC CAVE SPIDER FANG | EPIC TRACK SAMPLE
[MIKE | LEVEL 8 | HEALTH 42:450 | ENERGY 10:320
[SOULBOUND SWORD WIELDER | FIRST INHERITOR | LEATHER JERKIN CLAD
[READ 350:350 | FIGHT 225:350 | POWER 216:350 | SPEED 221:350
[FEAR 25 | CRITICAL CHANCE 2 | RAZOR SHARPNESS 15 | VOLTPOISON DEALER 15 | FRISSION 25
[SAVE 2 | MAGIC SAVE 2
[INVENTORY[-]
[G: Level eight, Mike. WOW.
[M: I don't even know what capacitance means.
Mike looked at Goblin in awe. Its metal blade had just separated right down the middle, about two thirds of its length, so that it was two blades running parallel to each other, like a long, incredibly dangerous looking forked prong. It still crackled and sparked, and glowed orange-gold, but now small bolts of electrical power arced up the core of the blade like a Jacob's ladder.
[G: I think I will now be able to electrocute everything the right amount. It should prevent things exploding like they have been. It will kill more monsters while preserving energy and state... but most importantly, we will now have a regular chance at a critical hit. I think. Want to go and kill more monsters to figure it out?
[M: Think I might need a quick break. Haven't slept since... don't know.
There was a rumble in the subway, but a familiar one. A train was coming. Mike looked around in horror at the state of the station. There were bodies and blood everywhere, including on the tracks.
Will the train just run over them? How will the commuters react? We can't let them see this! he thought.
But Jay and Ben were yelling to each other, and both were summoning energy around their hands.
The monster bodies levitated from the floor as one, blood and gore dripping from them. Ben seemed to be casting some sort of mass removal spell. The bodies floated along to the far end of the platform, out of the way of where the main bulk of commuters would walk from the train doors to the stairs. They piled up in macabre heaps towards the dark ends of the platform.
Jay held up his hands, arms spread wide, and turned a full circle. A wall of blue light that looked to Mike like some sort of laser scanner, did a circuit of the entire platform. Out of nowhere some legitimate looking maintenance signage, some construction barriers and stacks of building materials seemed to appear.
[G: Low level area disguise spell.
[M: Serious? Are you saying everyone is just going to walk past that massive pile of monster bodies? Walk right over the top of all that blood and guts?
[G: Remember what I told you, Mike. Most people only ever see what they're expecting to see.
Goblin was right. The commuters got off the train, and walked straight up the stairs. None of them paused, none of them looked around.
[M: What about the human commuters who were actually here during the battle? The people who died?
[G: Very sad and unfortunate. They will be reported as victims of street crime, and conveyed respectfully to the city morgue. The soldiers you saw are a special ops group, trained for supernatural tactical encounters and recovery. They have systems in place for this.
Mike was shocked.
[M: Goblin, how often does this sort of thing happen?
[G: You mean all-out rift invasions? This is the worst we've ever seen here. Casual attacks like what you experienced with the orcs earlier are much more common. They have Bosses who are committed to long term invasion plans. They are trying to assimilate, rather than conquer. Hence the suits. Also, not all rifts are under human control like this one.
[M: All the rifts? How many are there?
[G: Many. In many parts of the world.
Mike still had his earbuds in. The music had stopped, though he couldn't remember when.
He was reminded now though, because his phone rang. He pulled it out and checked his screen. It was his sister, Lexi.
Seriously, not now. he sighed, and tapped his earbud to decline the call. He accidentally answered it instead.
“Mike! M-mike! Y-you've got to h-help me!” she was stuttering. She sounded upset, scared. “I-I couldn't stop th-thinking about that… that n-necklace from G-grandpa… so I p-put it on, and now… now… there's monsters M-mike. I... I s-saw a s-skeleton. A d-dead… skeleton-thing but-but it was w-walking around… it… it… t-tried to g-get me Mike! A-and I-I k-killed it. I killed it Mike! I mean… it was d-dead but... it still h-had eye... eye... eye-balls! And... b-brains... and I… I kind of… blew it up… b-but I didn't m-mean to… I d-dont even know h-how I did… but I got b-brains on me. I got b-braaaaiiiinnnsssss…” she trailed off into a blubbering, terrified mess, crying in uncontrollable, heaving gasps.
Mike took his earbuds out and put the phone on speaker. He walked over to Grandma and held it out to her. She took it with a confused look on her face.
“What is this thing, dear?” she asked.
She's never seen a smartphone before! Mike realized.
“Uh, Lexi, are you there?” he said loudly.
The sobs had abated a bit, and her voice responded, sniffling, “I'm here…”
“Grandma will explain for you…”