Aaliyah’s Point of View:

Damn, Tabitha was going all out…. was what I wanted to say if the noises below me were anything to go off of.

With all the goblins recklessly charging me from all angles, I had little time to look down. But it sounded like a war was going on down there, and here I was, missing it. I couldn't even direct Sense Mana that way because it is the only reason one of these horned bastards hasn't caught me unawares yet.

In all the chaos, I lost count of how many I'd killed at this point, but I'd put it close to a couple of dozen.

Using Air Walk, I flip over a hob charging me with his spear. Then, while I'm directly over him, I momentarily fix myself in place using Magic Threads and swing my hammer catching the goblin in the back of his unguarded head, splattering blood and other chunks of gore against Mana Skin.

The goblin's lifeless body starts to slide off the tree branch, but before it can, I land and stop it from tumbling over the edge with my boot. Unfortunately, I only have a short time before the next goblin reaches my side, so I work fast and use Soul Devourer.

A jolt of ecstasy shoots up my spine, but the feeling is short-lived as I need to stop using my skill as a hob wielding two swords made out of bone screams and jumps at me.

"Not enough yet," I growl as I dodge the goblin's hail-marry attack. I needed a considerable amount of experience points to reach level 76, and I wasn’t going to get it while constantly being interrupted.

I had just leveled up to 75 a few days ago during my week of training with Tabitha and had initially planned on saving my skill points for an emergency. This was that emergency.

I had already distributed 8 points into Vitality and split the other two between Strength and Dexterity. My goal was to jumpstart my healing factor, having already taken a few blows since the fighting started. It helped enormously, and though Tabitha might call it cheating to use a one-time boost as I did, I was already prepared to get an earful from her when this was all over for not following her plans and running like I was told to.

The boost did its job and gave me a slight second wind, and it was the only reason I was still in the fight in the first place. Sadly, the effects I was feeling were dwindling fast; hence my being reckless and trying to absorb as many experience points as I could, consequences be damned. The only thing that mattered was keeping this group of goblins focused on me.

If they didn’t, then….

Suddenly, I feel a spike of mana below me, followed by an unnerving silence. The chorus of goblin cries and hisses below me had gone silent, and I feared the worst, but I still couldn’t look down.

"Curses," biting my lip, I use Air Walk multiple times to dash through the air and away from the many goblins hounding me. Of course, I can't stay airborne for long, thanks to my mostly diminished mana pool, but my escape doses give the reprieve needed to look below me and see how Tabitha was doing finally.

The first thing I spot is the many dead goblins littering the forest floor, some were from me, but most of them had sword wounds. So that's where the small whisps of experience I’ve been randomly getting came from. Hitting them with that spell at the beginning of the battle must have entitled me to part of the rewards for their death.

You won't catch me complaining; I needed everything I could get. All these horned hobs were relatively high-level. Still, I could only absorb a fraction of their total experience, and it would take a lot to level up again so soon.

Ignoring the many bodies, I scan for Tabitha and spot her standing between two dead hobs, one cut in half, Darth Maul style, while the other looked like he had his head removed with Tabitha’s shield. I didn’t know she could use it like that.

Judging by the massive amount of experience points diffusing into the surroundings, they weren’t weak hobs and were significantly stronger than the ones I was fighting with. They must have been a big deal because most of the hobs were slowly backing away from her and looking at Tabitha like she were a monster.

I’m too far up to see everything going on below, but I nearly scream a warning when one of the hobs standing next to the arch-goblin tries throwing something at Tabitha. She quickly dodges, to my relief, but that doesn't stop my anxiety from rising afterward when Tabitha picks up her shield and starts walking toward the arch-goblin. He does the same, and I can practically feel the tension in the air rise when the two stand in front of each other.

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The only good thing about the situation was that the other strong hobs were backing away from the pair. It looks like the arch-goblin wanted Tabitha all to himself, something I imagine she’s smiling about right now.

The tense standoff between the two doesn’t last for long, and the battle starts in the blink of an eye. The arch-goblin's first attack is so fast I almost miss it, and yet Tabitha expertly deflects it with her shield. I struggle to keep up with their movements as the two shift at inhuman speeds and immediately launch another wave of attacks.

I wish I were closer, as they again separate so I can see who came out on top after their initial clash, but that would be unwise.

Touching down on a different branch, I duck under an arrow aimed at my face. Noting the goblin who shot at me, I steal one last look at Tabitha's and the arch-goblin's fight before I'm forced to look away.

The battle was so fierce it sounded like they were clashing a few feet below me, when in fact I was over 500 feet above them. Unfortunately, however, that's all the information I could gather at this time.

Flipping my hammer around in my hands, I jump up and swing the pike side of my weapon into a pile of leaves nestled on a branch directly over me. There was a high-pitched squeal as my hammer punctured the chest of the hidden goblin within, nailing him to the tree trunk behind him.

With his death, there was only a single scout goblin remaining. Since the battle began, this particular goblin only moved when he thought he was in my blind spot, but I’d been keeping an eye on him with Sense Mana from the very beginning.

Tough luck for him; I was an assassin's worst nightmare. Several ethereal hands extend from my back and greedily start scooping up as much experience as they can.

Even though it felt great to absorb experience points rapidly, I was gritting my teeth in frustration because the twin-bone-sword hob was again rapidly closing in on my position.

I swing my hammer at the spot I know he'll appear, but the bastard somehow predicts my attack and ducks under my swing. I barely have enough time to pull back my weapon and block his first strike aimed at my face.

The cocky hob grins as his second sword finds purchase between my armguards. Mana Skin helps minimize the damage, but his sword still draws a lot of blood.

“Fucker!” I shout and try to kick him away, but again, he somehow predicts my exact movements and narrowly twists away from me. He was close to my level at 69, but even if he was a pure Dexterity build, he shouldn't be able to read me like this.

I raise my hammer, planning to bulldoze my way through him, but he disengages and lets a second goblin come between us just as I do.

When I raised my hammer for a brief second, his eyes flashed brighter. Did he see the future, I question as I slam my hammer into the side of the new hob. Again, I try to absorb extra experience points, but my new best friend comes back and again cuts me off.

No, that would be too overpowered, I think, as I use my weapon as a makeshift shield to block a series of quick jabs. I watch his eyes as he attacks, but they don’t light up until I decide to try and counterattack. It’s then that the glow of his eyes intensifies, and he starts positioning himself to best dodge my swing.

Halfway through my swing, I halt my attack and watch as his eyes dim back to normal. He stumbles in surprise, but I decide to stay in place rather than recklessly charge him.

This guy has either a high level in Danger Sense or a stronger variant of it, either way, it only activates when I commit to an attack. How annoying.

How was I supposed to attack without meaning to?

I try to clear my mind and wildly swing at the goblin, hoping that wouldn’t trigger his skill, but that doesn't work. His eyes still lit up because I was consciously swinging wildly, and while he looked like he had a more challenging time dodging my nonsensical attacks, I couldn't touch him in the end. Though seeing him struggle did give me another idea.

Breathing deeply, I ready my stance. The goblin cockily grins at me as his eyes start to light up, but his joyful look quickly falters, and he turns pale green.

"What, didn't you like what you saw?” I shout while activating several skills at once. Flash Step, Weighted Strike, Double Strike, Precise Strike, Intimidating Shout; My Stamina plummets as I put everything I can into a single attack. Who cares if he can see where I'm going to strike; I just have to be fast enough that he can't react.

He manages to dodge my initial swing, but my second one, layered on top of the first, catches him before he can reorientate himself. I wanted to celebrate, but I wasn't done yet. I may have tagged him, but not hard enough to kill. Pushing past my limits, I manifest a third swing right after the initial two.

I feel a rush of excitement as a familiar skill forms in my soul, the tier 4 skill Multi-Strike.

My third hit lands clearly against the sword-wielding goblin's chest, and I watch the light fade from his eyes with an uncomprehending look on his face.

“Thank you,” I pant over my defeated foe. “Thanks to you, I unlocked one of Master’s best skills.” The core of the goblin’s soul quickly dissipates, and once it’s gone, I don’t hesitate to try and absorb the rest.

I expect to be interrupted, but as I gather myself and look around, I see the stunned faces of the goblins around me. They were looking at me like how the goblins below looked at Tabitha. Huh, did I just kill the strongest goblin among them? Using Sense Soul, I look each goblin in the eyes, causing them all to flinch back in abject fear.

Of the forty-nine goblins who climbed into the trees after me, less than half remained. I wanted to pat myself on the back for the accomplishment, but I had something else I needed to do.

“Come at me!” I roar with Intimidating Shout, causing the remaining goblins to hesitate further. Good thing, too, because I was running on empty and didn't actually want them to charge me. I was doing my best to appear fine, but the gash in my arm hurt, my Stamina was below 20% and recovering at a snail’s pace, and worst of all, my mana was down to 212.

Soon, I would need to deactivate Mana Skin or risk using too much and passing out due to mana exhaustion. I’d been fighting for over thirty minutes straight at this point, and it was taking everything I had not to keel over in exhaustion.

I've trained with Tabitha for longer periods, but training and a life-or-death situation were different. Who knew, I self-deprecatingly smirk.

I very much consider running at this point but wasn't sure how far I'd get as I am. So, the only thing I could do was bluff my ass off. Unfortunately, I was still short on experience and hadn't reached level 76, and at this point, it was painfully obvious I wasn't going to be able to force myself over the threshold.

Straightening my back and holding my hammer high, I meet the gaze of every goblin, including the remaining scout, that was doing his best to hide from me in a nearby tree. If even one of them charged me, I'd be able to dodge, but nothing else. The goblins would realize how weak I was, charge me as one, and I'd be finished.

One goblin hesitantly steps towards me, and I worry my cover is blown. I had to think of something fast, but with no good options left available, I decided to try something extremely smart or incredibly dumb.

I grin at the goblin and fake snort in contempt. Then to the goblin's surprise, I turned away from him and looked down, exposing my back as if saying I didn't need to worry about him in the slightest. I acted as if he and his buddies were of no danger to me and that I was more interested in the fight below us. In reality, I may be looking down, but Sense Mana was focused solely on the goblins around me; if any of them twitched, I'd know about it.

Come on, Tabitha, hurry up and kill the bastard, I plead in my head. Unlike me, who was at death's door, Tabitha was still going strong against the arch-goblin.

I couldn’t keep up my act all day, and if she didn’t kill their leader soon…. I didn’t want to think about it.

Come on, Tabitha, hurry, please!