Callen woke up in a panic with no idea where he was. He scanned his surroundings and realized he was in the room he and Ayro shared at the mayor’s house. He instantly put his hand over his heart to make sure it was still there. Of course, it was but how on earth was he alive? Was the whole thing a dream? These were the questions flooding his mind. He was still wearing the armor Ayro bought for him and that’s when it hit him. Where were his friends? He grabbed his sword and knew he had to find them. He opened the door into the living room and almost broke down to tears. There they were sitting at the table they had shared so many meals with their adopted parents all except for Ayro who was deep in thought. Nale was sitting next to Alsa the mayor’s wife who was comforting here. Garl seemed puzzled by something and Frey was clutching his arm tightly as if afraid to let go. Dak was just holding his staff staring at the table. “Thank heavens you’re alive” he said almost crying as he walked up to them. “And no, it’s not a dream” said Ayro who snapped out of his deep thought. “Nor was what happened today it wasn’t a dream either” he continued. “Then what happened because I swear I saw all of you die” said Callen as he was trying to hug Ayro who was brushing him off. “I believe we did die it felt too real” said Nale as she looked down at the table about to cry “I don’t care if we did I’m just glad you’re all ok said Frey as she clutched her brother’s arm even tighter. Clearly the events Callen recalls did happen. All his friends had clearly been shaken up by the incident and left with more questions than answers. “Ayro explained what happened truly horrible if it’s truly what happened” said Alsa as she got up to inspect Callen. “You all seem ok to me much less dead there isn’t a single scratch on any of you” She was speaking calmly but Callen could tell just imagining something like what Ayro had explained was unbearable for her. Alsa was a sixty-five-year-old lady whom the villagers looked up to as a mother figure more so Callen and his friends as she had practically raised them. She whole heartedly saw them as her and Ramer’s children. “So how did we get here?” Callen asked “Ramer found you lying unconscious under the ward tree and brought you here you gradually woke up one by one Ayro being the first” This was strange indeed as Callen scratched his head for answers. That’s when he remembered. “What about Magno the old men we were protecting?” Callen blurted out suddenly “He was nowhere to be found it was just the six of us under the tree” said Ayro Callen felt there was more he should have remembered especially the events leading to his final moments alive in the dungeon. He was about to ask of they remembered something else when all of a sudden, they heard a loud explosion from the center of the village. “What was that!?” Asked Dak snapping out of his daze. “I don’t know but I’m going to find out” said Ayro as he grabbed his bow and quiver. The rest of them were hesitant but grabbed their gear and weapons nonetheless. They followed Ayro including Alsa to the village center where the ward tree resided. What they would see as they got there was imaginable. They arrived to see the ward tree burning brightly and underneath it three hooded figures. They turned their eyes towards the adventurers and revealed three grotesque red bumpy faces with crocked noses and evil smiles. Their robes were dusty but one could tell they used to be very black. On their necks they each had a different colored amulet one red, one green and one blue. “What are they?” asked Nale frightened. “Red goblins” replied Ayro without hesitation. “They are D class level monsters and judging by the robes and amulets these ones are mages” Ayro quickly drew three arrows and fired them at the goblins, they instantly teleported to the only town entrance where they frowned and started cursing at the group in their native tongue. One of them pulled out an ugly looking horn and blew into it. It let out a horrible and incredibly loud sound. As soon it stopped the skies above them turned dark and a dark red magic circle appeared above them. “What is that?” asked Garl “It’s a raid spell it means they are summoning others of their kind to this location” said Dak as he instantly recognized it. “That’s not good” replied a worried Frey. “It really isn’t” said a voice behind them. They all turned around to see the stumbling form of the mayor come into view who was bleeding from his forehead. Alsa quickly rushed over to heal him. She managed to stop the bleeding but he was in no condition to fight. This was a terrible blow already as he was the village’s strongest fighter as an experienced former town guard he had been able to reach Bronze I Lv.20 although with age this was closer to Lv.10 now. Worse still the men of the village had traveled to town to sell the harvest and would not be back until three days from today. The rest of the village was only women and children. Ayro instinctively knew it was up to them to defend the village and all those in it. “Mayor can you and Alsa gather the women and children hide somewhere safe while we take care of this?” Ramer and Alsa looked at each and seemed to want to object but nodded in agreement. “Before I leave I’ll tell you this, red goblins are not that that different from the green ones you know sure they are slightly stronger and faster but what makes them a rank higher is they are smarter. They will most likely send in waves of green goblins they have enslaved to attack first before they themselves enter the battle to tire you out as well as gauge your abilities so be careful and pace yourselves. Ayro nodded and the mayor and his wife left them to do bottle. He looked at his teammates and new the prior battle had broken their spirits and only one person could fix it. He approached Callen. “Brother you need reignite the fire our team had before we took fought that monster, unlike that one in the dungeon we can handle these guys but only if we believe we can like we used to please we can’t win if you don’t. You are the leader df this party and the bravest of us all and a true hero if I ever did see one. “Was he right?” Callen thought to himself. As he was pondering this he remembered the words of Magno before he died. He wasn’t sure what but something told him they really did have chance and this time they could realize the dream they had all those years ago. As Ayro looked into his eyes he could see the flicker that was dying was a raging fire once more. Callen resumed his once proud stance chest out and head held high. “My fiends I know you’re scared of dying a horrible death like before I know because I was too but the village needs us to be that group we were before the dungeon if they are to see another tomorrow. We’ve already faced a monster like no other so these ugly things are nothing to us we were bought back to life for a reason and its not to fold in fear right now in this crucial moment. If you don’t want to be an adventurer after this I understand but now I don’t need adventurers I need heroes, I need my friends. They looked down at the ground as if they might find some courage laying around somewhere. Clearly, they were still shaken but deep down they knew he was right although they had perished once in a cruel way, some unknown power had brought them back and it was not to live a life of cowardice. They started to remember how they used to feel before today like they could do anything despite their circumstance and Callen believed in them with every shred off his being how could they let him down now? “He’s right” said Nale as she looked up at him with determination. “Something has changed maybe we were brought back for a reason and maybe this is it to be heroes to those who need us most”. One by one they found their courage again and stepped forward to Callen’s call to arms. “Glad to have you back guys now look alive here they come” said Ayro never taking his eyes off the enemy. “Dak is there anything else we need to know about the raid spell?” “Yes, it grants them a temporary buff in stats but as long we can deal with small numbers of them at a time we’ll be fine I’ll use my barrier spell to separate them to achieve this. As he was saying this, five green goblins came down from the forest dashing through the grassland towards the village. They had enough time to fall in formation between the burning tree and the only entrance into town. Garl, Frey and Callen where at the front while Dak and Ayro behind them and Nale at the back ready to move closer to them if they needed healing. Ayro shot some arrows and they landed hitting one on the leg and another on the torso effectively slowing them down this allowed Dak to put up a barrier separating them and only three entered the village while the other two remained outside trying to break through. This would only buy them a few seconds at best as the mage red goblins were still at the entrance as if observing the battle and one could easily cast a fireball at the barrier to dispel it so timing was precious. The three goblins that made it through were clearly lowest in their troop’s hierarchy as they only wore loin cloths and had small knives for weapons. They were skinny probably from not getting enough food having to eat after the higher-ranking ones. Callen instinctively stepped up to greet them and Frey and Garl followed suite without hesitation. He replayed the image of his friends’ corpses in that dungeon and was instantly filled with a burning furry that refused to let such a thing happen again and like wild fire his friends felt it too and all moved up. The goblins jumped forward ready to stab the charging humans but they weren’t prepared for the sheer will power they were about to do combat with. Alsa came with a group of children and their mothers to were Ramer was waiting with some old timers in the north of the village. “Is that all of them?” he asked making sure everyone was ok. “Yes, dear that’s all of them” she replied fussing over the children. “Good I’ll get Callen and the others now I’ll help them clear the current wave they are dealing with then we’ll come here move everyone over the fence and abandon the village” he said as he began to run south She nodded at him and told him to be careful. He thought this was a battle they clearly could not win so he hoped Callen and the others would hold off the enemy waves while they gathered the remaining villagers and they could escape through the north. Ramer figured the goblins only wanted the village and they were just standing in the way so they probably wouldn’t give chase. They could make their way to one of the surrounding villages ask for help and retake it another day. The burning ward tree came into view and Ramer knew once he ran around it, Callen and the others would be there hopefully still alive. He would have never believed what he would find nothing short of a miracle. When monsters die they don’t leave behind a body but ash instead as they disintegrate and all that remains is the heaps of the ash and the occasional loot. When Ramer got to the young ones he counted at least twenty heaps of ash all over the place. How could this be? He wondered as he had only expected hem to hold off one or two waves of goblins but this was at least five. Ramer noticed the others still standing in their formation not even the least bloodied or tired. Nale could only use her healing spell at least three times because of her level and yet there was no sign she had even used it as her magic circles were still glowing brightly indicating she still had mana. It was as if the battle hadn’t even begun. Ramer was in awe trying to piece how any of this was happening. As he looked forward he saw Callen dueling a green goblin general. He could tell it was a general because only they had armor and helmets plus used actual swords instead of knives. One wouldn’t have guessed this was a duel because upon closer inspection it was completely one sided. The general swung his sword at Callen panting as it did so, who effortless parried it with such force that the creature stumbled backwards which was made more impressive because he used one hand instead of the usual two. He quickly repositioned his sword before the monster could recover and thrust it deep into the general. It exploded leaving only ash and its helmet. As soon as the creature died Ramer’s eyes widened as he saw something he thought he’d never see. After the monster’s demise Callen and his party all of them flickered with a bronze colored light for an instance. He knew what that flicker was it was something he had experienced at least twenty times in his life that all empowering feeling many adventures couldn’t get enough off. They had leveled up. Callen stood over the pile of ash he knew something strange was happening. They had now cleared their sixth wave yet there was no exhaustion among the team. When they started they needed to help each other defeat these monsters but as the battle progressed they had been handling at least two each individually. Some weren’t even making it the village as Ayro would shoot them dead with his bow and his range seemed to be getting wider with each wave. The red goblin mages were clearly frustrated they had not expected such resilience this was made worse as Dak’s barriers were becoming a nuisance as before they needed one fireball to dispel his spell but now it was taking three clearly, they were running out of mana doing this. They stopped trying to dispel his barriers altogether and Dak himself stopped putting them up since his companions were easily trimming the monsters down without needing to deal with them one at a time. The lead mage goblin with the red amulet pulled out his battle horn one last time and gave it one more blow. Nothing changed as the sky was still darkened by grey clouds and the magic circle was still in place. Then suddenly five read goblins each wearing iron chainmail armor came out of the forest and made their way through the grasslands. They were armed to the teeth and their gear seemed more impressive than the ones Callen and his friends wore. The one leading them was slightly bigger and the only wearing a helmet he had a short sword in each hand. All five of them didn’t have the usual menacing smile known to goblins one wouldn’t have guessed they even had teeth if not for the two protruding out of their bottom lips. Their eyes were solely fixed on Callen and his friends. “Those are red goblin warriors they are more proficient in battle than the ones we’ve been fighting we have to be extra careful if we are going to beat them we might have to start isolating them with Dak’s barrier and fight at least two at a time.” Said Ayro as he fired one arrow which the lead goblin deflected with one of his swords. Dak’s eyes widened as he was observing the mage goblins. The lead mage goblin pulled out a small amber pearl-like object. He immediately started imbuing the pearl with magic energy and the other two mages joined him. “Guys look!” shouted Dak. “It’s a fusion pearl they going to merge those five goblins together to make a boss level monster” Amber pearls were usually used on golems which were like big dolls to do battle by imbuing them with magic. They were normally used to defend towns and cities as they did not get tired of patrolling and using a fusion pearl on five would create a giant golem with superior strength and fighting capability. They were known to have the same effect on monsters of the same species but few used them because the ones that traveled in packs were rarely intelligent enough to know their use. The mage goblins finished imbuing the pearl and were waiting for the warrior goblins to arrive and give them the pearl. It was once amber but now was a deep black indicating its readiness. “We have to stop them!” shouted Ayro as he shot two arrows in case the first one missed. The lead mage instead of dodging or blocking them since the exercise had depleted them of their last mana he grabbed his two companions and used them as shields, they instantly tuned to ash and left behind their amulets on top of the heaps. He fired another one but this time it was blocked yet again by the leader of the red goblins. He grabbed the pearl from the mage and swallowed it. The last remaining mage took several steps back as the five warrior goblins began to melt and join up to form this mound of red bumpy flesh and chainmail as it grew taller and taller even taller than Garl. The mound stopped growing and began to take shape first it was four arms then a head and two legs. Then it grew armor the same type as its five ingredients wore the head grew the same helmet the leader had won and in two of the hands appeared two swords and the other two maces. On its back a bow and quiver these were all the weapons the individual goblins had carried. When its grotesque transformation was done it let out a menacing roar and advanced towards the six defenders. Garl being the taller and stronger of the group took point and met the giant goblin head on. It raised its two arms and swung downwards at him but he held his hammer horizontally and successfully blocked. A strength tug of war began with the monster trying to press Garl downwards to his knees while he resisted. This was of course a distraction as in doing this Garl had left his sides open to the other two arms of the monster as it was about to smash them in with its two maces. They were about half way from landing this death blow when Callen intercepted one blocking with his sword and Frey the other one blocking with her axe. The were in a deadlock but the creature had more stamina and it was only a matter of time before it would overcome them “Dak can you use one of your barriers to launch me into the air over its head?” said Ayro having analyzed the situation and choosing a course of action. “I don’t know if I can but I’ll try” he said pointing his staff at Ayro’s feet. A blue square formed around his feet and as Dak slowly lifted his staff it raised Ayro off the ground then with one sudden motion raised his staff all at once to the sky. This instantly launched Ayro into the air and he did a backflip over the giant goblin’s head landing behind it. He instantly got on one knee quickly drew and shot two arrows at the back of its knees where there was the only gap its in armor he could find. The monster let out a loud painful howl. Garl recognizing it was distracted by its pain used all his might to deflect the two-sword attack. The force behind his move was so great that the beast stumbled backwards. Callen and Frey seizing the opportunity used all they strength and cut off the arms holding the maces. They would have needed a moment for a follow up attack to regain their stamina but they felt it return rapidly as they started glowing with a green aura. It was Nale who saw her chance to restore them to fighting form with her powers. The goblin angered with pain turned its attention to Ayro and started charging at him. Before it could even land a hit on him Garl grabbed one of its legs and before it could react Garl swooped in and cut off the other Frey followed suite and with every ounce of strength used her two axes to decapitated the monster. As soon as its head dropped to the ground it started turning to ash. Among the ash was the fusion pearl back to its amber color and the two swords and helmet it had equipped. Victory was theirs