After a while we meet back up at the south gate. We had long since agreed to travel together. I enjoyed the free experience, and they enjoyed the free heals. Especially Yuna who suddenly found that she was only really needed for life threatening injuries. Leaving her more time to play with the little woodland creatures. Never mind the fact that just a few weeks ago I would have found those same woodland creatures absolutely terrifying.

Before we could get too far though a huge army of goblins appeared from the forest. I was excited at first as even with Yuna's party helping me the outnumbered bonus would still be substantial. Then I looked at their stats and realized I probably wouldn't get much from this fight. The average level was 10 with a relatively small portion being level 12. Come to think of it I don't remember ever really confirming if killing something of the same level even rewards experience.

We have to warn Eldenvale cries twitchy before firing off a few arrows. He's right I realize. while I am no longer human, I used to be, so I'm still a little biased. Eldenvale, apparently the name of the city, isn't a 100% human city but there are plenty of humans living there. Thinking quickly, I form dirt stairs leading up my shell. They all look at me puzzled before Yuna speaks up. "Do you have a plan?" "The way I see it we only need one person to alert the city guards. The rest can hold off the goblins for a bit until reinforcements arrive" I answer while trying not to panic at the thought of losing people I've grown attached to in spite of only using them for free experience points at first. "Furthermore" I continue "Mark and Vivi both have ranged attacks while Yuna as a healer is vital. Meanwhile Harold still hasn't fully recovered."

"Yes, but who will protect them if I leave" Harold protests. "As long as they're on my back my Mirror shield will protect them" I answer matter-of-factly. In truth I'm not sure if it will or not but I believe it will. They don't need to know that I'm just guessing it will work though. He starts to say something else before seeming to realize that he's arguing with a walking fortress. Shortly after that he takes off towards the city while the others climb up onto my back.

I start creating dirt walls several meters high before causing them to fall on the goblins. Meanwhile Vivi and Twitchy are lobbing spells and arrows respectively as far into the goblin ranks as they can. The attacks are effective but there are just too many goblins. Not to mention there is a limit to how far my earth manipulation skill can reach. We have succeeded in getting their attention at least. Now my mirror shield which had been active this whole time was really starting to prove it's worth. It was able to protect the people on my back after all.

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Another problem I only just now noticed is that the level of my earth Manipulation skill limited how much earth I could affect at once. When they were still coming towards us or trying to run past us it wasn't that big of a deal. Now that we had gotten their attention however, and they were actively attacking us from all sides this limitation became obvious. Fortunately, even with their weapons they couldn't hurt me. Unfortunately, the only thing protecting my new companions was my mirror shield. Sure, they were each wearing protective gear but against an entire army that wouldn't do much.

I only hoped that I could maintain mirror shield until Harold returned with reinforcements. To that end I eventually gave up on earth manipulation in order to conserve energy. Before I did though I raised the ground directly underneath us by several meters. This made it harder for the goblins to attack us, more importantly my companions. while also making it easier for my companions to aim at them.

It wasn't long until the Reinforcements arrived, and the battle could begin in earnest. The battle was intense with Eldenvale and goblin forces clashing all around me. Seeing as I was no longer the center of attention, I lowered myself back down and rejoined the fight. The battle itself only lasted another two and a half hours after that. Sadly, as I predicted I didn't receive any experience for that fight since the ones I killed were all lower-level goblins. The ones at my level were all hanging back and acting as commanders.

I was able to get a lot of experience after the fight by acting as a walking hospital. Those whose injuries were not life threatening either climbed up or were placed on my back. Others though were losing health faster than my passive ability could restore it and required more active healing. Yuna and the other healers that came out with the army were busy treating them or at least stabilizing their condition. Even with all of the healing though people were still lost.

"Well, I guess we don't need to find out what the goblins are up to anymore" quips Mark which earns a small chuckle from everyone. "It would be nice to figure out why they decided to attack the city though" answers Harold in a more serious tone. Doing the math, I realize that if they had made it to the city unimpeded, they would have decimated the city guard. As it was, a significant number of them were killed by us as Harold was warning the city guard. Even then the casualties on the city guard side were numerous.

The rest of the day was spent healing the wounded. On a positive note, all this healing gave me quite a bit of experience. Not enough to level up but not too far off either. I currently only need 13 experience to level up. With my new companions around that shouldn't be too hard to come by.