It was the morning of Day 3 of this new stage. I was sitting in my room, but I wasn’t alone. Richard and Nate were with me as well. The mood was a bit somber.
A lot had happened while I was unconscious, but before we got to that, something else had to be addressed first.
People had died.
All from Nate’s group.
“We were not ready…I thought we knew the type of danger to expect based on what we experienced around our camp. Or even based on the descriptions Richard and others gave us on what to expect. But this was…different. 4th Cycle Hobgoblins. If even one of them had approached our camp, we would have all died. No questions about it, I and everyone else would be dead. Because of that thought, it helped stop me and others from blaming the move to this Outpost for the reason of people dying.
“Some of them even wanted to blame you. Though once our heads cleared up a bit, we remembered the notification we got when the stage started. The wilderness is no longer safe for the weak right…we are the weak…and our camp was the wilderness. There would be walls to protect us, no houses to hide in, no…you to protect us. I won’t ask about the black fire…or the…thing…you did at the end. All I will say is thank you. I’m sure if we weren’t allowed to move to this outpost or if you weren’t willing to help, then more if not all of us would’ve died. So, thank you.”
He didn’t let me respond and just left. I didn’t stop him. Though people giving speeches in my room and leaving without me saying anything is happening one too many times.
Anyway, after he left Richard began his spiel.
“A lot of people were wounded, but apart from the three people a part of Nate’s group, no one else died. We had a lot of potions on stand-by so after everything was over, people were able to get the help they needed.
“Something else that happened was the Outpost Leader. He came and took you and told us that the Outpost and only the Outpost would be safe until you woke up. That was also a bit of a wakeup call for us. It’s not hard to figure out that we likely have earned some benefits through you. From training all the way to this moment. Training was likely the reason we didn’t die during the attack. Of course, that’s only because they were already weakened, and your timely help, but still, it helped us to buy time.
“Honestly, it’s a little embarrassing to say this when I know you’re younger than me, but we have no choice but to continue to depend on you. We are still too weak. Way too weak. I am sorry, and we will work even harder to be able to help more than we can do at the moment. We can’t integrate Nate and his group into the official evening training but we will work with them afterwards. I recognize we likely can’t leave the Outpost until the Tutorial is over or we get strong enough to defend ourselves, so that will give us more time…more time to hopefully not remain burdens.”
Richard didn’t appear like he was going to follow the path of leaving without giving me a chance to respond but just as I was going to say something back, I heard loud steps approaching the door.
“They’re here!! The Hobgoblins are here!!”
“We’ll have to pick this up later Richard. Let’s go.”
We quickly hurried outside to find Micah waiting there, he got a single nod before I took off running towards the gate and jumped over.
Before me 3 Hobgoblins that were similar in size and appearance to the 5th Cycle one from day 1 of this stage, stood waiting. Though that was all the waiting they did.
The second I landed after leaping over the gate. The one in the middle opened its mouth to speak while the other two reached for the maces hanging at their hips.
Though unlike day 1 of this new stage. I had no time to waste.
Unless I had the ability to prevent the Hobgoblins from jumping through my wall of flames, it would be far too hard for me to completely stop any Hobgoblins from approaching the walls from the rear at all.
The only feasible plan we could think of was for me to finish the fighting at the front quick enough so that I’m able to head back into the Outpost and provide help there before anyone dies.
They would need to fend for themselves long enough to give me a chance to help.
Of course, there were two major differences between today and the first time I faced these 5th Cycle Hobgoblins. I was two full Cycles higher than where they were, and the guys inside the Outpost were aware of what’s to come.
Spiked wooden fences were set up inside the Outpost, and Nate’s group were armored just as we were at this point. They couldn’t afford the cost of everything, but Richard took care of that problem.
They didn’t suddenly become better fighters, but having better gear would definitely help keep even one of them alive a second longer, and on a battlefield a second could prove fatal. Or something like that.
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Anyway.
As I was landing on the ground, flames were already spreading from the butt of my spear. And as I landed the wall of flames formed once again. It’s not strong enough to completely stop every single Goblin from making it through, but it was more than enough to slow them down and severely injure any who made it over, which was better than nothing.
I then coated my spear in flames and took off towards the Hobgoblins. The middle one finally spoke, and I assumed it would be directed at me, but it was different.
“ATTACK!!”
We miscalculated. Why would they wait for me to start defeating them before giving the order to attack? Them waiting outside the Outpost until I stepped out was already enough of a blessing.
Even though it was a slight miscalculation. Nothing has changed. I was going to kill them as fast as I could anyway. A 5th Cycle Hobgoblin could just barely dodge my strikes with nothing but sheer fighting experience back when I was in the 7th Cycle, but things were different now.
The Hobgoblin who gave the order to attack was a bit slower than the others in taking its mace out and couldn’t move fast enough out of the way of my rapidly approaching thrust.
My flame coated spear pierced right it’s abdomen, which caused its blood to fly everywhere, but the other two Hobgoblins didn’t let a fatal injury to their comrade stop them from coordinating to attack me. I didn’t bother dodging.
All three of them were far too close.
“RAH!”
With a burst, my flames rushed out of my body and enveloped all three Hobgoblins from head to toe. Of course, this wasn’t enough to stop their maces from crashing down towards my body, but it was enough to cause the strength of their swings to wane just a bit.
Leaving more than enough time for me to pull my spear out of the first Hobgoblin, who was essentially being eaten alive from the inside of my flames.
One strike was coming from above and the other from the side aiming at my back. I raised my spear to block the mace from above while delivering a rear kick the mace approaching from the rear.
It stung my foot a bit, but that was not a problem.
The problem was that my spear broke whist blocked the mace. It held up enough to kill the momentum of the spear all the way, so it wasn’t coming for me any longer but my spear broke.
Not good at all.
Well, no time to dwell on it.
I didn’t give them time to back up and counterattack, before I drove the top half of the spear with the blade attached into the neck of one Hobgoblin and quickly spun and drove the lower half into the gut of the other Hobgoblin.
Of course, both halves were coated in black flames.
I took a step back as the three 5th Cycle Hobgoblins fell to their feet one by one.
There was no time to admire my work, as the sounds of who knows how many other Hobgoblins were closing in towards us.
I waited for a few seconds as the first of them burst through the tree line, before turning on my heels and darting back to the Outpost and leaping over the wall.
This was the new plan. Instead of fighting everything approaching from just the front, I would just join the defense in the Outpost. The area to defend was much smaller, and I could move much quicker to provide help. Especially considering that the Hobgoblins would be injured after jumping through the wall of flames.
Everyone saw me but none spared me more than a glance as they all were focused on the coming threat.
It only took a few moments after I made it in the Outpost to finally see the Hobgoblins climbing through the flames. Of course they were being burned, and all the ones who climbed over first, barely made it a step before they crumbled and burned to death. But the Hobgoblins coming up behind them never slowed or rested, and the ones dying first because of how burned they were, helped to shield the ones behind them from being burned as much and while they were likely to die from just the flames in a few moments, those moments were more than enough for 4th Cycle beings to cover the distance that separated us from them.
But while they would’ve posed a challenge to everyone else here. At the of the day, before me, they were just fodder. Waste to be disposed of.
Hmm my thoughts got a little dark there, but moving on, the Hobgoblins eventually ceased climbing over the walls, and after waiting a few minutes to ensure that was truly the case I let my flames die down, and at this point I was beginning to feel a strain on my body from keep them up so long, so this worked out.
There are no major injuries to care for, let alone deaths this time around so this was a win. What was curious about this though was that a notification never came up. Nothing to signify that we won the battle. Nothing.
It was only a few hours later that we learned why.
“Raizen! More of them were spotted! And they are rushing straight here!”
So, they wouldn’t attack only in the mornings huh.
This could prove troublesome.
I quickly grabbed the spear I was training with, one that someone had loaned me, and moved to the outside of the Outpost.
I got there in time to see a squad of Hobgoblins heading straight to the gate. It was only 5 of them.
It only took me a few minutes to dispose of them. I managed to keep my loaned spear intact this time.
But something is off here. I don’t see any more Hobgoblins approaching the Outpost. Why only 5?
That did not signify the added danger I expected.
Hm, I got a bad feeling about this.
I quickly ran around the walls of the Outpost, keeping a keen eye on the tree line the entire time and I sensed nothing.
I went back inside the Outpost to talk with Richard about it but I barely took 2 steps into the Outpost when I heard steps rapidly approaching from the forest.
I turned around to see what appeared to be another 5 Hobgoblins.
2 of them hung to the back. They had bows. While the other 3 continued to rush towards the gate, arrows whistled through the air towards my head. I was just barely able to keep up with their speed and dodged to the side in time.
A few minutes later all 5 of them were dead.
I finally figured out what the problem was.
These attacks. They were being planned.
Someone or something was instructing the Hobgoblins from deep within the forest.
I wanted to leave to investigate, and potentially nip the problem in the bud, but I couldn’t leave the Outpost unprotected at that time.
Hm.
Is this what system meant by dying for burdens? Not that I plan on dying but I understand the premise.
My stamina is extremely high, and my ability to heal and recover is unmatched by anyone here, but I’m not invincible. If I had to fight around the clock continuously, I will eventually get tired, and people would die.
Something needed to change now.