Another stone whizzed through the air, loudly, skipping violently through Walter’s and Elin’s camp. Small tufts of grass and clumps of dirt were ripped from their place and tossed into the air. Soon the ground was pockmarked with overturned grass and dirt. Each time a stone impacted Walter flinched.

It was by a stroke of luck their camp happened to be in a very shallow depression. If they so much as raised their heads, however, one of the speeding rocks could possibly kill them.

Maniacal giggling filled the area around them. It reminded Walter of hunting hyenas he saw on an animal documentary.

“I can’t see them!” Erin hissed.

“Elin, can you get off me please?”

Clink.

She furiously slapped him, hard enough to turn his head. Walter worked his jaw, trying to massage away the stinging pain on his cheek.

“What was that for?”

“Even now?” Elin accused irritated, rolling to the side without rising above the overgrown grass and making herself a target, “What is wrong with you? You’re actually worse than a mercenary. Get ahold of yourself!”

When she had pulled Walter down, yanking him out of danger, she ended up straddling on top of him. It was meant to shield him. However, when he felt her thighs on either side of his waist he couldn’t help but think of it a certain way. Their hips aligned perfectly. The awkward problem they had with the [Scales of Love and Passion] primed him to recognize it that way.

Elin pulled her saber from its scabbard. It gave a clear, low ring, like a bell.

“If I could see how many there are and where they were at I could--”

“There’s five in front of us, probably close to the treeline. One of those five is taller and looks strong. They all use their slings at the same time so we could probably make a run for it between volleys? On our right are two more. I think they’re waiting until we’re hurt by the stones before going in.”

“Wait, how do you know all this?”

Elin kept her eyes locked on Walter. All she could see was him staring at the tall grass in front of her without lifting his head up.

“I can see them.”

“How?” she asked, exasperated.

“You remember my status? [Eyes of the Archwizard]?”

“Yes?”

“That’s how.”

“How does that work?!”

“I don’t know how it works! It’s magic! I don’t have to explain it, do I?!”

“Fine! Are you certain? About how many there are and where?”

“No, first time I’ve done this.”

“Walter!” Elin said grasping his arm, giving him an annoyed shake.

“90% certain.”

“That’s good enough.”

“Are we going to run for it?”

“No,” Elin uttered. She was seething, “I’m going to kill them.”

She curled up tightly. Walter watched, perplexed, as she worked her toes, and then her feet, as deep into the dirt as it would allow.

“Let me know when I have an opening. And you might have to run from the two on the right until I can get to them?”

“What are you going to do?”

“Just tell me, okay!”

“Okay.”

He stared at the grass. But he saw through the grass. He could see the goblin’s outlines, in dull red. All of them had the same blue glow and wisps on the inside, like Elin did, but they were far dimmer and less dense.

“They’re winding up.”

Elin let out a long breath.

“Incoming!”

After the stones had safely sailed over Elin raised her rear into the air like an Olympic sprinter about to dash. Every one of her muscles coiled.

“Go!”

She bolted with a ferocity Walter had never witnessed before. To say she moved suddenly would be an understatement. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and if the bucket’s worth of dirt and grass she kicked up was any indication she was moving so fast it would make a professional athlete jealous.

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It reminded Walter of a lioness pouncing on its prey.

Elin covered the distance between her and the goblins in three bounds. On the last step she put extra spring into it to get in sword distance of the first goblin. Her saber flashed, a bright outline of light. With the extra momentum from the jump and her own terrific slashing power the goblin’s head rolled clean off its body.

She covered the entire distance and killed one of them before they even had time to drop the next stone in their slings.

Her back leg crossed behind the front, and she spun on her toes, twisting like a top, as she stepped back on a curving path towards two of the goblins. With two successive pirouettes her saber flashed twice.

The first slash cut through one goblin’s arm, but not cleanly. It was obvious, though, by the way it hung limply by the tricep muscle, the bone was broken all the way through. Arterial spurts ejected from the cut in time with the goblin’s runaway heartbeat. Writhing in pain the goblin dropped to the ground, desperately clawing at the wound, and howling. With each second more blood pooled, and the more blood that pooled the more its pine green skin turned a muddy ash color.

The second flash of her sword traced over the other goblin’s eyes. Walter winced when he realized just how vicious a blow Elin had delivered. The goblin was certainly blind.

Mid-turn Elin stopped all her momentum by stomping her foot and, with sheer muscle power, reversed the turn completely to deliver an upwards diagonal slash across the blind goblin’s spine, exposing bits of yellow vertebrae as the tensed skin curled away. By the way this goblin’s body seem to freeze up and it was now paralyzed. When the muscle memory in its legs ran out it collapsed into a quivering mess on the ground.

The largest goblin roared a challenge at her, beating on its chest like an angry gorilla.

Elin raised her weapon vertically, just a few inches from her face, and rendered a weapon salute. She answered with her own passionate battlecry and leaped forward.

The other smaller goblin in that group turned its back and simply fled.

Watching Elin’s extraordinary martial display inspired awe in Walter. But it made him careless. He forgot about the last two flanking goblins. Both had nearly slinked away, until their new leader had gave a challenging roar. One gathered enough courage to attack while the other crawled away, doing its best not to reveal itself.

The courageous goblin jumped on Walter’s back, pulled his hair, and slammed a balled fist into the back of Walter’s head. Walter’s vision shook and his eyes unfocused.

If I keep getting hit like that I’m going to get knocked out!

So Walter twisted instinctively, rolling with the shorter green monster clinging on his back, until the goblin was pinned underneath him and, using the back of his head, headbutt the goblin on the nose. It screeched and let go and Walter rolled away.

Goblins are not known for letting weak prey get away easily, though. It had sensed Walter was weaker and became bloodthirsty.

It rolled after Walter and ended up on top of him. Dirt flicked about from their scrambling.

As a race, goblins are smaller than humans but larger than human children. They also have lesser muscle mass and so are weaker as well. But they’re vicious. They have no restraining urges to keep from scratching, biting, and gouging. Their skin gets rough, like leather, and some parts harden to the same texture of dry mud. Their bone structure is dense despite their small size. This turned the goblin’s fists into natural weapons.

Plus, Walter had lived a sedentary lifestyle while the goblin had lived by chasing animals to eat in the forest and attacking the occasional unaware traveller. Walter did not have an instinct to hurt anyone, or anything, and as such couldn’t summon the needed intent to fight.

So the struggle was even, with a tiny advantage for the goblin.

If it keeps hitting me will I run out of HP?! Will I just suddenly die at zero?! How does it work?! Is the next punch my last?!

At that point Walter panicked. It was his first personal struggle with death. He had avoided it in the Necropolis but now he had to fight for himself, not just run. He grabbed the goblins wrists and tried to push it away, to keep from getting clawed again. His nose was bloodied, flowing freely across his mouth and blocking his breath, while the goblin continued its hyena-like laughter--

And then it stopped, froze up entirely, to the sound of crepitus.

Elin, with a stone face of determination, stood behind the goblin, her saber extended from her hip. The tip of the blade was wedged between the top vertebrae of its neck and base of the skull. With a grunt she shifted the dangling goblin to the side, with its jaundice-yellow eyes rolling in the back of its head, and let it fall limp with a flick of her blade.

Walter hurt everywhere. His face was scratched badly and stung. One of his eyes was getting harder and harder to see through as it swelled up. He could feel bruises forming on his arms, face, neck, and chest from where he was punched. All of his energy was spent and, so, he collapsed flat on the ground taking gasps of air. His adrenaline spiked and then flatlined and suddenly everything felt cold enough for him to shiver.

Elin knelt beside him, asking gingerly, “Are you okay, Walter?”

She propped his head up with her hand. With a small cloth she wiped the blood from under his nose while he desperately tried to blow it out on each breath. When he looked at her he could see deep gouges in her breastplate where the giant goblin tried to scratch her.

“Y-yeah. Yeah. I’m fine. I’m fine. Yeah. Just tired. No problems.”

“I won’t let this happen again. I promise.”

Her face was covered in a sheen of sweat and she was breathing heavily. Despite the short nature of the battle it seemed her stamina was low. Her face was pale from exertion.

No, Walter deduced, she has very high stamina but her output used up way more than an average person could endure.

A battle between two knights must be fast, destructive, and violently short.

“Yeah, me either. Not your fault,” he groaned with some effort, “Blame the goblins.”

She gave a sad smile, but only with a lot of effort. It was at this moment she realized just how fragile a level zero was.

He glanced over at the large goblin. It had collapsed into a crumpled heap on the ground. In a way he was glad he could not see how Elin killed it, directly. The red outline was gone. The blue glow of its heart was several times brighter than when he first saw it but was fading quickly.

The sun finally broke the horizon.

It was late in the morning by the time they packed up to leave. Elin was indefatigable, even after a life-and-death fight that clearly drained her, but Walter took over thirty minutes to even bring up enough strength to stand without wobbling. The vibrant colors of daybreak, the reds, purples, and yellows, were all replaced by the light blue sky.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Walter mumbled appreciatively from the saddle. He wasn’t looking up, only concentrating on keeping his balance.

Elin looked up and studied him a moment, walking beside the horse. Although he protested about riding it alone, since the horse needed a break, she was worried about his injuries and made him saddle up with an order.

“Yes. It is.”

It was, by all accounts, an average morning, nothing special about it. But she knew what he meant. She had felt that way plenty of times after a tough battle.

“We will be at Letun at the end of the day.”

“Looking forward to it,” Walter said, only lifting half his lips in a smile. The other side hurt too much.