40.

The ever present sweat trickled down Santi’s neck as he stared down at the hospital. He had taken up residence in the house again, using it as a base for the team who’d infiltrate the hospital to use. In the light of day the horrific violence was all too apparent. Another ember that burned in his chest as he thought of the unfairness of the world and how it had robbed everyone.

He couldn’t change the System arriving, but those frustrations and rage could be vented out on the nest in front of him. The hags would be using the survivors as living ingredients for their potions. Santi would scour them from the face of the planet for their crimes. The bubbling rage that had been simmering for so long was ready to come out. He had been scared, depressed, fatigued, and had hits of that anger leak through. Now, though, it was a pulsing wave of rage that made it hard for him to breathe.

“The first part should be starting soon,” Daniel said. He and Hana were in the corners of the room, each watching out the window without poking their heads out. Justin was leading his team toward the goblin nest and was supposed to be launching the attack at noon. Or their rough estimation of noon, when the sun was at its zenith. Finding some type of mechanical clock would be a priority once they found some time.

The farm was only a few miles away, the smoke from the fires would be visible. They weren’t going to wait for the smoke, not wanting to give the guards around the outside of the hospital any type of warning. Santi had tried to get Tank to lead the attack against the guards, but the man had refused. The archer, Chad, was going to be in the nominal lead for eliminating the outer guards and protecting the entrance from any type of reinforcements.

Tank would be coming with them as their healer. Daniel and Hana were the vanguard, Chloe and Rayleigh the heavy muscle, while Santi rounded out the team as the all-rounder. Aside from Justin, these were the highest level people from the camp and even Justin was comparative. Fighting the higher ranked hags would give everyone here a boost in levels. The rich got richer. It was the way of the new world, those willing to take the risks would continue to see growth.

If they stayed alive.

The minutes trickled by and Santi was getting nervous, shifting his weight foot to foot. His internal clock was almost at noon when Chad turned the corner to look at the mass of goblins working around the hospital. They saw him as soon as he turned. The reaction was instant, dozens dropping what they had and racing toward the archer.

A single arrow flashed from his bow burning with a red aura around it. The arrow moved fast enough that if Santi had blinked he would have missed it. A goblin simply disintegrated as the arrow tore it apart. The goblin behind it had a dinner plate hole blown through its chest. The third goblin simply had to deal with a simple arrow punch through its neck. Killing three goblins with a single skill, Santi felt a smile touch the corner of his mouth.

“Time to go,” Santi said. He followed up his words as he bounded down the stairs as quickly as possible. The hobgoblins hadn’t moved from their position as the rest of the horde began to chase after Chad. The rest of the party followed on his heels, each of them thundering down the steps. There was no time for any type of stealth as all of them focused on closing the distance.

Running out the back door Santi hardly paused as he leapt over the shattered glass backdoor and toward the back fence that was a mangled ruin. The hospital loomed in front of them, the tail ends of the goblins horde on the very edge of the hospital grounds. None of them turned to look behind as Santi ran toward the hobgoblins at full speed.

Fifteen hobgoblins in their bronze armor stood in a cluster around the entrance. They tightened their formation, becoming a wall of bronze with bristling speartips poking out. The discipline was closer to his own memories on how hobgoblins acted. The ones so far had been poor remnants of his past experiences. Santi poured on the speed, his legs churning as he crossed the distance, his own spear held out in front of him.

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Each step sent a shock up his legs, every breath fire down his throat. With only feet before the sharp spear points threatened to impale him, Santi lowered the spear down to the ground and did his best impression of a pole vault. Activating Gust at the same time as his momentum changed, the powerful wind creating a wave of dust and dirt. The powerful wind lightened him, giving him more air as he sailed over the tops of the hobgoblins and more importantly their spears.

Time stretched out in slow motion as he felt weightless, sailing over the glistening spear tips, lit by the bright sun. Santi could see the hobs staring up at him, their faces shocked as he flew over the top of them. Time resumed its normal course and Santi landed lightly, stumbling only a moment behind the wall of hobgoblin warriors. Santi grabbed his iron knives and darted toward the backs of the hobgoblins.

If they turned to fight him, then they’d leave their backs to the rest of the charging group. If they didn’t turn around, then he was going to rip them apart. Two peeled away, stepping out of the formation to whirl on him, while the rest tried to compress before Chloe and Rayleigh closed the distance.

Santi crouched, letting his knees collapse and catching himself right before he hit the earth. The spear cut the air above him, but he was surging forward and up, dagger punching up through the hobs chin. Santi twisted the knife as he wedged himself tight to the hobgoblin, twisting the hob around to interpose its limp body toward the second hob. The second hob stabbed the limp body, its spear piercing the dead corpse. Santi twisted the dead goblin, rotating it away and dragging the spear lodged in it out of the second hobs hands.

Santi was moving faster than either of the two hobs, he was stronger than both, and they were like mannequins. Even with similar levels, there was so little they could do. Santi crossed the distance between him and the remaining hob and cut its throat as it stared at him with surprised wide eyes. There was little it could have done, simply outclassed as it died.

Santi turned to start cutting open the hobgoblin wall just in time to see Chloe hit the line like a tank. Her axe was glowing silver as she hewed through a pair of spears before splitting open a hobgoblin like it was an overripe cantaloupe. Santi stabbed the neck of the hobgoblin next to the one Chloe had killed.

The formation broke apart as Rayleigh and Tank hit them. Daniel was nowhere to be seen and Hana was coming around the corner from an obscure angle. Tank’s bat came down like a meteor as the defensive position broke apart. Bones crunched and hobgoblin was driven down into the ground. Rayleigh shattered ribs with a single blow, the bronze armor failing to mitigate the power behind the blow.

In less than a minute it was over. The corpses piled up like logs as Santi took another spear from the ground. His own had split during his leap over the line and war spoils were frequent rewards. The new spear was a near carbon copy of his now broken one. Santi did a few practice swings and thrusts, growing accustomed to the minute differences.

“Is it me, or was that way too easy?” Chloe said as she stared down at the dead hobgoblins.

“Our levels are higher now. I think we could fight the troll-kin with reasonable ease. It was strong but in only a few areas, we are more well balanced. And we have skills,” Santi said as he stared at the glass doors that would lead into the hospital.

While the goblin nest was easy to see with its creeping red vines and black webbing that clung to buildings. The hag nest was different. There was little visible on the outside, the walls and concrete of the building stained only by the daily abuses of life.

The difference was more subtle, a chill in the air, a scent that clung to the building. Goosebumps rippled over Santi’s arms as he started to walk toward the doors. The dim lobby was nothing more than dark shadows and obscured furniture. Rust red dried blood was smeared over the white tile floors and shattered glass littered the ground.

Daniel walked out of the entrance of the hospital and looked around at the dead hobgoblins. Neither he or Hana had participated in the fight, but then again it wasn’t the type of fights they’d normally take. They worked better striking from hiding.

“Ready to go in?” Daniel asked.