“Are…you sure that this is a good idea?” Chloe asked, looking hesitant.
“Not really,” Vlad shrugged his shoulders. “But what else could we do? We’re on the clock, remember?”
“Yeah, I understand that, but…” Chloe paused before pointing behind them. “Did you really have to make that many thralls?”
Turning around, Vlad glanced over at his small group of goblin thralls. They were grouped together while trailing behind their master and the rest of the players. They moved like zombies, with vacant yet malicious gazes; marching along like mechanical soldiers. All of the vampire’s new servants were wielding their old weapons from before like daggers, swords, and axes and shields. If it were possible, Vlad would’ve given them better weapons, but obviously, it wasn’t at the moment.
Plus, considering what Vlad was about to put these guys through, he didn’t expect the majority of them, if not all of them, to survive after this battle was over. There were twenty Gralls, which Vlad decided to call them since Goblin Thralls were both too long and annoying to say all the time.
Chloe thought that the name was kind of dumb, which caused the two of them to argue over this topic before Arthur stepped in and stopped them. Since they were on the clock, they didn’t have the luxury of wasting time arguing over trivial stuff at the moment.
Anyway, after remembering that he could make thralls, Vlad got to work and started gathering more goblins to turn them into Gralls. Because of that, it took around ten minutes for him to assemble their small militia to use against the horde of goblins. This meant that they only had a little over thirty minutes before time was up and they failed in their quest.
However, Vlad believed that thirty minutes was enough if they made it count. So, immediately after making his Grall militia, he along with his friends quickly made their way down to the first floor, finally prepared to face off against the goblin horde.
Walking down the Stairs, Vlad used his [Blood Sense] skill to pick up any enemies nearby that he needed to take care of. Thankfully, they were in the clear, at least for the moment. Once they were down the steps, the players and Gralls cautiously made their way deeper through the first floor.
Vlad took the lead along with Chloe while Arthur and Lucy were behind them with the Gralls guarding the rear. The vampire and brawler kept a close eye out, making sure they weren’t discovered by the rest of the horde yet.
“So, how are we going to do this?” Chloe asked. “Do a frontal assault attack or something?”
“Close, but not exactly,” Vlad stated. “We’re going to attract their attention while forming a defensive formation. We’re letting them come to us while we simply stand our ground and kill as many as possible.”
Because of the limited time, the group couldn’t just sneak around the first floor and stealthily kill the goblins one by one. By the time they were done with that, they most likely wouldn’t have enough time to kill the boss. Especially since they possibly couldn’t kill it through stealth anyway.
So, the only way to finish this fight as fast as possible was to ignore stealth and fight the goblins head-on. This was the only way, but before they could do that, they needed common ground to use to their advantage.
A place where they couldn’t get surrounded or at least where it would be difficult to be surrounded by the horde. Thankfully, Vlad noticed with his [Blood Sense] skill that all of the goblins were in one direction, making it simple to find a place to use as their defensive line.
The group and Gralls soon make it to the center of the first floor, with multiple metal pillar bars towering around them. Moving further in, they established their defensive ground and slowly got into position.
Vlad quickly commanded his Gralls, ordering them to their stations. He sent five to the far right side, another five to the middle, and another five to the far left side, basically forming a long defensive line, using the metal pillars as sections to divide the groups. As for the remaining five, they were used as spare fodder to replace their numbers in case one of the Gralls on the defensive line was killed.
He managed to command them rather easily, feeling his connection and desires being transmitted to the Gralls like putting certain instructions into a machine as they followed his orders to the letter. This was a relief since having obedient servants saved him a lot of time making his preparations.
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Meanwhile, Chloe and Arthur were stationed at the front with the Gralls along with himself, while Lucy stayed in the back, using the leftover Gralls as guards to protect her. The reason why Vlad and the other two were put at the front was that they were the strongest, and although the Gralls were going to be used as fodder, they needed to survive as long as possible, which meant the player trio needed to reduce the goblins numbers to lessen the burden.
Once everyone was in position, it was time to start the plan.
“Alright, you,” Vlad pointed at a Grall in the middle defense line. “Go over to where the goblins are and bring them here. Gather as many as you can. If you need to cause a big scene, then do it.”
After giving a salute to Vlad, the Grall spun around and ran toward where the goblins were. Meanwhile, the rest of the group prepared for battle.
“You think this plan is going to work?” Chloe asked, already questioning the outcome of this plan.
“It has to,” Vlad firmly stated. “We don’t have a lot of time left to come up with something else…”
He spared a glance at the panel that displayed the Time Duration of the Quest, noticing that they were still a little over thirty minutes. While that seemed like a lot of time, fighting the horde would most likely take up a lot of it. And they needed as much time as possible to deal with the Boss.
“So,” The vampire turned to Chloe while grinning, revealing his fangs. “How many goblins do you think you can kill?”
The brawler’s eyes widened for a second right before a smug smile formed on her face. “More than you. I can guarantee that.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s right.”
Chloe was always a competitive person and was easily provoked into accepting a challenge. Vlad could recall many times when she took up bets and dares that she was told she couldn’t win, only to easily complete them like they were nothing. Thanks to this little trait, Vlad easily used it on her so she wasn’t so tense.
Vlad could tell that his friend was worried about what could happen, which is why she wanted to be certain that this plan would work. And to be honest, he wasn’t sure if this plan would work, but he was out of options.
If he wasn’t on the clock, they could’ve taken their time, but those Angels and Pantheons decided to screw them over. All because of Vlad.
He couldn’t forgive the Pantheons and Angel Factions. Not after putting his friends in danger like this. It was one thing if they simply put only him through this complicated quest, but getting the people he cared about involved was crossing the line.
If it were possible…he would find a way to make them pay for what they did. To make them regret messing with his loved ones like they did.
Feeling a mixture of hatred and resentment, Vlad decided to use these negative feelings as a drive to kill the goblins. Speaking of which…
Off in the distance ahead of them, a chorus of goblin sounds could be heard as it got closer to them. A few moments later, the Grall that Vlad sent to gather the goblins appeared, scurrying over to them. Behind the Thrall servant, a horde of goblins were coming their way. They were chasing after the Grall with malicious intent as if they were prepared to rip it to pieces.
Vlad smiled, happy that the Gralls were able to attract so many goblins. Seeing the horde closing in, everyone got ready for battle. They stood firmly in place while waiting for the horde to get to them.
“Let’s see you put that money where your mouth is, Vlad,” Chloe declared, showing a daring smile on her face.
“If you say so,” Vlad replied, turning his attention to Arthur. “Alright, let’s slim down the numbers, okay, Arthur?”
The Knight player turned to the vampire, firmly nodding his head and gripping his sword. Seeing this, both Vlad and Arthur faced the horde. Crimson mana began to radiate off Vlad’s hand while a pure blue aura emanated off the Knight’s sword. The mana continued to gather and condense around them as the pair stared down the enemy.
“Just a little closer…” Vlad muttered, carefully watching the goblin horde close the distance between them.
With each second that passed, the goblin mob got closer by a couple of feet. Yet Vlad still held off from attacking. So did Arthur as he stood his ground, making his stand against the enemy.
The horde got even closer, being mere feet from the group, but Vlad still held off. It was only until the monsters got within ten or so feet of the group that the vampire finally acted.
“Now!” he roared.
At that moment, both Arthur and Vlad launched their attacks, watching as a pure blue blade aura and Condensed blade of blood blurred toward the horde, instantly cutting through the monsters like butter. A collection of blood viscera spilled all over the floor along with their severed bodies as arms, torsos, and legs fell as well.
The pair's attack spread across the horde, continuously stacking the body count until they were no longer seen as more corpses collapsed on the floor. As this occurred, Vlad received multiple messages of his kill count, feeling overwhelmed by the panels flooding his vision. And in those messages, only one of them mattered which was his level up. Or he should say level-ups.
In the aftermath of killing all those goblins, he leveled up two times, officially making it to Level 16. That was the same level as Lucy and two levels behind Chloe and Arthur. Just this act only put a massive grin on his face as he gazed at the floor of corpses before them.
But the battle was far from over. Now was the real deal…
As if on cue, more goblins appeared in the back, charging at the players in a chorus of screams and grunting. Vlad and the others saw the horde and prepared for the second wave.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Vlad declared.