Frieda awoke with a slight yawn, stretching her back. As she did so, she felt pains and aching, it seemed the farm work of the previous day had caught up to her. Regardless, she still emerged from the comfort of her bed, wary not to wake the rest of her family.
The village of Edringrad was a modest one, they weren’t prosperous per say, but they were not in a squalid time either. The village was quite small, only about a hundred or so people, only three quarters of which were able to work; the rest were children and the elderly. Frieda had, since she was strong enough to hold a hoe, been working the fields with the rest of her family. The times were tough, but if everybody worked hard, they’d be able to make it through the coming winter easily.
Frieda’s routine for the past decade of her life, had always been to wake early, before the sun had even risen, to pump water. The water would be used for cooking by her mother and the other surrounding families which lived near them. Frieda knew most everyone in Edringrad, and helping others was just like helping family. The only strangers to the villages were the occasional merchant, the odd travelers, and most recently, a team of adventurers. The adventurers had suddenly shown up, on account of needing to thin out the local monster population. Although most were reluctant to accommodate them, the village soon was in their debt; for the odd monster that wandered too close to the village would simply be cut down by the adventurers.
Frieda had heard grumblings of so called ‘nobles’ and ‘lords’ that supposedly owned them. She’d never seen any such nobility, or any of their armies that they supposedly had; they were just as fictional as the prospect of a city to Frieda. The supposed lord holding fiefdom over Edringrad had not done a thing for the village, and yet these adventurers had shown up and done infinitely more even though they had no ties to the village beforehand. Every day, they’d leave at dawn, and go out hunting.
Hunting for what, Frieda didn’t know. Though, they never brought back with them any meat or pelts, so whatever they were killing, was certainly not game. The adventurers of recent had been gone for the past week, they normally didn’t take such a long exodus from Edringrad, but most were not fearing for them; they seemed to know how to handle themselves, even outside the safety of the village perimeter.
Frieda’s mind wandered as she, pumped water from one of the wells in the village as the sun started to rise over the horizon. As she was about to hoist the large buckets filled with water however,
“Frieda~! Frieda~!”
Frieda heard the happy squeals of a child, and recognized it as her little sister, running over to her with glee.
“Oh, what are you doing awake so early in the morning, Lize?”
Frieda asked, with a gentle smile.
“I want to help big-sis!”
“Oh really?”
Frieda raised an eyebrow. Really, the most her sister could help with was the dishes, she wouldn’t have to put up with demanding farm work for at least a few more years. Freida herself had a hard time when she first started working; though over the months, her body quickly adapted, and now, she was stronger than most of the village boys her age.
“Bring this to mom for me, will you?”
Frieda motioned to the two filled buckets on the ground, connected by a wooden rod. Lize shook her head enthusiastically, and scampered closer. When she laid her arms on the rod however, and attempted to pull up, her legs quickly buckled, and she fell over back words with a yelp.
“Well, well. How about you stick with helping to cook then?”
Frieda said, chuckling. Too be fair, the water jug pole alone was longer than Lize’s entire body.
“But, but I want to help big-sis!” Rubbing her eyes, still on the ground, Lize whined.
Her sister was certainly shaping up to be the spirited one, Frieda thought.
“You will when you’re bigger, I’m sure. But don’t forget, mom really appreciates your help.”
“But I want to help big-sis!”
“Oh my…there’s no helping you, you’re as stubborn as a horse, Lize.”
“You’re mean!” Lize pouted, Frieda simply chuckled on faced with the attitude of her little sister.
Though, Lize’s crossed arms and frown soon unraveled, as her eyes widened. Frieda furrowed her brow, and tilted her head at the sudden and odd change from Lize. It seemed she was looking right past Frieda.
“Lize?”
Frieda didn’t think that her little joke would’ve actually prompted such a reaction from Lize, perhaps her little sister was much more sensitive than she thought.
“What, what’s t-that?”
“Hm?”
Lize raised a hand, pointing past Frieda.
Frieda turned, and she saw what’d caught her little sister’s eyes immediately.
The far-off undergrowth of the nearby forest, stricken with bushes, illuminated with the glint of dozens of pairs of eyes. They glowed with a familiar orange.
“S-so?”
Frieda knew full well what it was, though she unable to respond, her mouth was agape, in shock.
A fire was coming, and Edringrad was the kindling.
…
The morning was quiet, though the fog did little to calm my senses. We’d travelled through the night away from the Menton forest, almost completely in silence. After what happened with Sylph, whatever she was thinking, it seemed to have really shaken up Alisson.
“So, uh, how far away is Edringrad now?”
I try to make small talk as best I can with Alisson. Wow, ain’t that a sight, usually, he’s the one talking first.
“Only a few klicks or so now if I’m not wrong.” After a few moments pass, and I think that Alisson isn’t going to say anymore, he continues, “Those adventurers, we might see them at Edringrad. They didn’t seem to have any mounts with them, so their range would’ve been quite low, so I’d bet anything that they’re using Edringrad as their resupply point.”
Err…scary thought, we just sent them packing, after murdering one of their members…I really don’t want to have to see them again.
“Maybe they ran away.”
I say jokingly.
“Well, they might’ve. With one of their members dead, their ranger, I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to head further east into human territory. Edringrad is quite the isolated and frontier village, one of the closest to Lake Aleeze this part of the continent.”
“…Since it’d be safer to recuperate deeper in Caliphate lands without a ranger.”
I mumble.
“Yes, you’re on the mark. If speed and concealment wasn’t an issue, then we’d be heading north right in the middle of Caliphate territory for ourselves already.”
If only…but we have to travel along the edges of human territory, the literal frontier. Well, I guess I shouldn’t complain, I’m happy not to have run up against any other humans so far.
The beasts are easy enough to deal with, when they’re the simple tunnel trash that is. It’s the ones I can’t see, the ones I’m not familiar with, those are the ones that unsettle me.
“If we weren’t traveling on the Jedathari frontier, we wouldn’t have to deal with that large expanse of land above Edringrad. It’s a huge plain that leads north, nearly to the top of Lake Aleeze on the map.”
Yeah, I didn’t forget my geography. Man, it’s crazy that only a month or so back were me and Alisson below Lake Aleeze, but now, were talking about going above it…
“We won’t be able to restock supplies or forage in that plain then?”
“Yes, that’s why I want to load up on food now. If we do, we’ll have safe travel all the way up to the northern kingdoms if we play our cards right. There’s a lip of Caliphate towns that are up in the north though, so we’ll still be in the Caliphate by the time we get out of the plain.”
It’s crazy to think about how big the Caliphate and Principality are, we can travel all this distance, yet still be in the same nation. Even without mage rails, travel through Sidonian territory would literally take a few days on horseback. Now that I think about it, I think Sidonia really is the smallest nation in the entire world, I’m pretty sure even the smallest northern kingdom is still dozens the size of the Sidonian peninsula; unless some other nation formed, the north is super turbulent, so that’s totally a possibility. The only two enduring states in the north are Halaruth, and that orc nation. The orcs southern border is the Deadzone, and their western and northern borders are ocean, so the only real border they share is with Halaruth at their east. The orc nation is the farthest northwestern nation, and thanks to its confined borders, it being squeezed in and all, not much is known about it. Halaruth looks like a half-circle, the way half its nation hugs the ocean at the top of the entire continent.
I feel bad for the Halaruth rulers, they probably want to hang themselves with how many borders their kingdom has with all the different northern nations. Thanks to their position, they serve as a linchpin of land trade between the Caliphate and Principality, and they’re big enough to safely interfere with other northern nations to better themselves. Halaruth is on a thin rope though, they must be sweating, fearing that both the Caliphate and Principality will collapse on them to take their advantageous geopolitical position.
I have a question though about that plain, not one just to make small talk.
“Why would the plain be safe?”
“Because, it’s open. It’s just grasses and plain as far as the eye can see for miles and miles. We’d be able to see anything encroaching on us easily. The only other travelers through that area are large convoys or merchant caravans, and we’ll be able to see them a lot earlier than they see us, so we’ll be able to avoid them.”
Safety in vision, and in openness…I feel really exposed thinking about it though, like, uncomfortably so. What’s so scary about being in the middle of nowhere, and not seeing anything in your vision for days on end..? I really don’t know…It just feels like the emptiness of it all would crush me.
Er…I need to think of better places…
“Hey, Alisson, have you ever been to the Far East, or Peidzé, or Siphrine?”
I ask, not too many Sidonians travel between our external territory and the mainland. The residents of those two islands below the Sidonian peninsula are pretty stationary, and the Far East is, well, far.
“No, I’m afraid I’m too much a city bumpkin.” Alisson says jokingly. “I’d like to see Peidzé or Siphrine one of these days, they apparently have quite the sights. If I ever retire, I’d like to settle down in a little farm there…” After a pause, Alisson adds, “You can count me out of the East though, I rather not be crammed onto a ship for a year to meet an eternal frozen wasteland of islands and barbarians.”
“Me neither…”
I say.
“Yes, cold weather is not my forte...”
Alisson pauses for a moment; he opens his mouth to continue when-
I hear the whiz of an arrow, and a horrifying crunch. Alisson is knocked of his horse, from what, I can’t see. Though, from the noise, it sounds like an arrow just hit him-!
Cut me a break already with this kind of crap!
I hop off my mount forward, drawing my stilettoes. I hit the ground and frantically scan the tree line in front of us for enemies. Another arrow comes howling in my direction, though it hits my mare instead. Thankfully, the arrow literally bounces off a hard plate of steel on the horse. It looks like that arrow was meant for me.
Alisson rises in a blur next to me.
“Obice!”
Even though there aren’t any visible enemies, Alisson forms a shielding spell, and blue film covers me, Alisson, and our horses in a 180˚radius.
“Are you alright-”
“Fine! Look for them!”
Glancing at Alisson, I see the shaft of an arrow sticking out of a pauldron of his. It seemed it got stuck, so Alisson broke the shaft at its head so it wouldn’t interfere with his mobility. From the arrows’ rudimentary and crude appearance, I don’t think we’re facing humans, or at least, not very competent ones- The arrows are trash.
A few arrows impact on the barrier spell but do little more than snap in half.
As I scan the tree lines, desperately trying to identify our aggressor, I hear it. A horn. Then, from every bush in my vision, from behind every tree I can see, appears a few dozen of them. It took me second to realize what they were,
Goblins.
These ones are far different from the ones inside Davy’s basement, I can tell that much. Each one isn’t pale, they vary in shades of green to brown to grey. Each one was far more muscular and large than the ones I’ve seen before, and they don’t have nearly as many deformities. They’re all armed with some sort of weapon, and about half have some sort of viable armor, whether it be leather or a single piece of steel plate, probably all stolen. The gear was not well kept, not in the slightest.
There’s about forty in all, they spew out of cover, with a few staying behind that are armed with bows.
“…Behind…”
I barely hear Alisson say, when I turn to him, I see him lift Enhérejär out of its sheath. Correction, he’s only holding…the pommel and handle? W-what happened to the blade?
Wordlessly though, Alisson throws the piece of Enhérejär behind us. As I follow the flying junk of Enhérejär with my eyes, I see what Alisson was talking about, there are five goblins behind us! Tricky bastards; I didn’t even hear them!
Before I can turn to engage, the chunk of Enhérejär splits into five large darts with its signature clicking and floating, the darts each impact on a Goblin’s skull, killing them all simultaneously. The darts then retract, and come flying back to Alisson, forming back into a handle and pommel midair.
“Celis, protect the horses. I will cleanse this plague.”
Then, without further word, he walked through the Obice spell, bringing his hand holding Enhérejär to its sheath, then drawing it once more, this time with a blade attached.
I swallow hard. I, I can handle these guys alone, right?
“Yes, master!”
…
Alisson strode forward toward the formation of goblins. He certainly wasn’t expecting to be ambushed; it was an insult to his pride that these wretched things had snuck under his senses. Though goblins were easy opponents, he was not going to play the fool, and get encircled and slaughtered by them. If there’s one thing such stupid creatures can’t expect, it’s a numerically overwhelmed prey biting back, and winning. He wasn’t going to play defensively, not with the horses being so exposed, Alisson needed to draw the archer fire toward him, and not let a single goblin past him to Celis and the mounts.
Celis-he didn’t think she’d have any trouble; there might be a few goblins still scattered around the forest who could bypass him to attack Celis yes, but their numbers would be minuscule, because Alisson hadn’t noticed any other ones than those five who’d snuck up behind him.
Alisson’s eyes narrowed at the swarm of goblins naught dozens of meters away.
This. This was his pride, Sidonian pride. To do away with such disgusting and despicable creatures, it was one of the reasons Sidonia herself had formed a nation, to defend against this, this pestilence. Alongside his adrenaline, it felt as though the weight of every Nekomata were behind him, empowering his body and galvanizing his mind in invincibility. Every step he took, was backed by his comrades, Alisson felt as though the entire empire were right behind him.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
As if to challenge Alisson’s steeled mind, five arrows whistled at him from the five odd goblins wielding bows.
Three will miss.
Alisson rose Enhérejär up over his shoulder in a blur, and with a step to the side, brought it down. He avoided the path of one arrow, whilst swatting away another one that was going to hit him. It truly was a pitiful sight, the goblin fletching was so bad, so crude, their bows so flimsy and their hands so unsteady, that Alisson was able to completely negate them; even batting one away, to his own surprise.
Spurred on by the arrows, the rest of the goblins surged forth at Alisson, running a little faster than a normal man, despite their shorter builds. Thankfully, these were no hobgoblins or worse, Alisson was confident one swing or thrust would be enough for the lot of them. He was most likely going to be encircled himself, there was no way he could quickly dispatch the entire mob of goblins rushing toward him without the aid of his mana, from whence he needed to use his shielding spell in case of an emergency. From all this, and taking into account the nature of the goblin’s size, speed, and vitality, Alisson decided that a buckler and backsword approach to this fight would endow him the most breathing space. After closing the distance though, Alisson would use Enhérejär in its fullest...He was glad he didn’t need to worry about concealment, he could utilize his signature unorthodox tactics with Enhérejär.
Enhérejär.
Enhérejär clicked and split in his hands, the pommel peeling away and floating to his left hand in its serenely floating slivers. The rest of Enhérejär clicked and shifted within itself, and within a moment, the blade had taken the shape of a backsword, though it was less lengthy than before. The pommel which had split away wrapped itself around Alisson’s left hand, and extended radially, creating a skeletal circle on his hand about a foot in diameter.
All within the better part of a few seconds, Enhérejär and him were completely ready, ready for the swarming goblins, who were now only a dozen meters away.
Finally, Alisson begun the true battle.
That mass is a problem, I need to disrupt them.
The easiest way to do that, was with a wide area of effect spell, though regrettably, he was no true mage, so the best he could do was stretch the Fult spell as far as it could reach horizontally, which is what he did.
“Fult.”
From Enhérejär shot a thin and barely visible slash of air, it splashed across the center of the goblin mob, the ones that were directly in front of him. The spell did little more than give them a large paper cut, but the motive was still achieved, the front line of goblins in the middle were momentarily stunned, as a wave of blood was drawn. Now, the only ones that were going to engage Alisson, were goblins on the right and left. Though thanks to the disruption of Alisson’s spell, the goblins were not in a horizontal charge, they were running at him in a single file line; that meant that in reality, now only two goblins, on his right and left, were going to attack Alisson at the same time.
With the frontal goblins at the right and left now only a few meters away, Alisson rose his arm and slashed at one with Enhérejär, easily outranging the goblin’s short weapons. The other swung for him, though with a thunk, the goblin’s dirty blade impacted Alisson’s now raised buckler. Alisson quickly pushed back at the goblin, sending him stumbling backward before Alisson finished him off with a follow up slice from Enhérejär.
Stopping to engage more would be equivalent to Alisson handing over battlefield control to the goblins, so he dashed a ways to the left, circumnavigating the mass of goblins, for the moment. Thankfully, these goblins were not well armored in the slightest, and they didn’t seem to have the thick bodies to pad their vitality, so Alisson’s best way of eliminating these couple scores of goblins was to use Enhérejär, and attack every single one at once.
Although Alisson could easily throw Enhérejär into the sky, and let it do the rest for him, given the number of goblins he didn’t think Enhérejär would be able to take them down quickly enough, he’d be far too exposed for too long a time. If Enhérejär had an infinite mass, then it’d be trivial, though unfortunately for Alisson, Enhérejär was finite; it could only slit the throats of so many at once before it ran out of mass to do so. So, Alisson decided to take up a more practical way to dice through the disorganized mob before him.
Enhérejär.
Once more, Enhérejär twisted and peeled away into it’s tiny slivers. Though it did not form anything, rather, Enhérejär’s slivers lay suspended next to Alisson’s arms, gyrating with elegance from his shoulders to the tips of his fingers. Clenching his fist, Enhérejär’s slivers quickly narrowed into sharp edges facing outward. Effectively, Alisson now had two large and highly mobile cutting edges to use with as he pleased. The downside to this more fluid formation of Enhérejär was that any good strike would easily cause the blade to give way and bend; it wasn’t a good defensive tool. The same result would inevitably take place for attacking armored opponents, for Enhérejär would literally bounce off of any steel armor thanks to again having no weight behind it in its current form. Enhérejär would need to rely on the serrated edges it had formed to tear through the goblin hide.
I need to stay mobile; I’ll use my agility against the goblins to stop them from attacking…
Alisson swiped a hand in a diagonal chop before him, the slivers of Enhérejär floating near his hand following and extending outwards like a whip towards a single goblin, which cleanly diced the goblin through diagonally. Alisson did the same with another goblin with his other hand, and then brought his hands together, merging the slivers of Enhérejär into one stream. He then sliced horizontally with his right hand at the wave of goblins who’d now clearly locked onto him; the full mass of Enhérejär extended and tore through half a dozen goblins, following in his arm’s wake.
That’s enough, they all know where I am and are moving to me, I’ll move again and attack…I think they won’t expect me leaping straight into the middle of them…
A bold plan on paper, to leap straight on into the few dozen goblins, but considering Alisson’s range and the deadliness of Enhérejär against these unarmored opponents, he could clear a massive area with just a single swing against such packed enemies. He’d of course only stay around for as long as the goblins were dazed by his sudden movement, once they’d all turned their heads…Alisson would simply jump away.
And so forth, that’s exactly what Alisson did, he jumped forward, high into the air, narrowly avoiding another crescendo of arrows in his wake. He then plunged straight into the middle of the goblin mob, impaling two goblins with either ends of the suspended Enhérejär. Standing atop the corpses of those two goblins, Alisson rose his hands, and whipped either way with them. The goblins in the immediate area, who’d probably not even recognized Alisson’s positional change yet, were diced in two. It was a great many of them that fell this time; Alisson felt Enhérejär put up some minor torque as it had trouble maintaining adequate momentum cutting through so many goblins. Alisson then once again combined the two separate whips of Enhérejär, increasing his range, and picked off a few more with another swipe before promptly jumping away.
All in all, about a dozen goblins were left.
Alisson landed opposite to where he’d first started, and before him was a row of goblins, with not even their heads turned at him thanks to his swiftness. Alisson once again whipped at them with a singular long strand of Enhérejär, cutting them down like a row of string less puppets with ease. There were only a few stragglers left, and although goblins had a tendency to flee from overwhelming fighters, Alisson had simply been too fast; only thirty seconds had passed since he left Celis, most of which was spent walking toward the goblins and setting his mind on the right path to win.
Alisson now needed to decide on his next course of action. There were two threats to him, the few stragglers left in the mob, and the five archers behind him and in the shrubbery. The archers were most definitely the higher threat, from this range, they wouldn't miss, no matter how unskilled they were. The few stragglers were in a daze, and at least for the coming few seconds, were no threat thanks to distance and confusion.
Alisson soon decided, he'd leave Enhérejär to deal with the stragglers, and Alisson would handle the archers himself.
Alisson threw Enhérejär high into the sky forward; though he turned before he could see it's elegant separation, he already knew that Enhérejär would have no trouble falling upon a few enemies. He was now turned to the archers, and as he was expecting, they launched off another crescendo. Alisson wasn't brazen enough to try dodging or batting the arrows away. Even if Alisson hadn't thrown away Enhérejär, its slivers were too slow to catch and stop the momentum of an arrow, no matter how shoddy they were. So Alisson simply used his barrier spell, this seemed to be the end of the confrontation anyway, it was no use in being too frugal.
"Obice!"
The five arrows, soaring squarely at his torso, impacted on the thin blue film before him, snapping in half against the spell like twigs. However comically weak these goblins seemed though, Alisson didn't forget that one good swing or barrage of arrows would lead to his death. A single swing could have the chance to tear through his armor, and weaken him for another goblin to swing at him, and before he knew it, he'd be grappled to the ground and beaten senseless like a sandbag. The same with an arrow, although one wouldn’t do much, it still had the chance to lead to his death.
Alisson dashed forward on his front foot, closing the distance a few meters within a second. The goblins were startled, some fumbled for another arrow whilst others attempted to draw some sort of club or sword. Unfortunately for them however, Alisson wasn't going to approach any closer, he wouldn't need to. Both his hands sunk within his cloak, and out came two knives in each hand. As his momentum stopped from his dash, he thrusted forward with one of his hands, throwing his entire body behind the two knives in his hands. Releasing the two knives with a skilled flick of his wrist, Alisson then swung his body round, throwing himself behind his other two knives and throwing them as well.
The four knives gouged themselves into the throats of four goblins nearly at the same time. Alisson then withdrew a single other knife, throwing it with a wide and fast vertical swipe , killing the last remaining goblin. Along with the falling corpses of the goblins in the forest before him, he heard the crunch of Enhérejär, as it minced the remain goblins behind him without Alisson even looking; He was quite glad to have such an autonomous weapon, that Alisson was certain of.
...
W-wow...Within the course of only a few seconds, Alisson managed to defeat the entire swarm of goblins...
I know that I saw it all happen right before my eyes, but for whatever reason it still feels surreal to me. I think the most bewildering part was his use of Enhérejär - I didn't know it could float like that and still attack! I thought it was just some aesthetic thing or something, but no, Enhérejär was weaving and floating all around Alisson as he diced through the goblins with those whip-like strikes, hitting and dissecting multiple enemies at once. Combined with his agility, the goblins were no match for him, they couldn't even pin him down to attack-! If I had to deal with this swarm, I'd just dump my entire mana supply into them, just launching off Pict and Pictun spells over and over again...but the scary thing is, that probably wouldn't be enough to deal with their sheer numbers.
I sigh, my shoulders drooping beside me as the imminent threat of death leaves my body. Before me, the Obice spell Alisson initially used is still operable, it would only cease to operate if the caster was out of range, if the barrier was broken, or if the caster cancelled the spell themselves. Alisson flicks his head over at me lazily, also glancing at what work Enhérejär had done without him. Alisson walks over to Enhérejär, and grabs hold of it as it gently hovers off the ground to him.
As I'm about to lead the horses over to Alisson though, I hear the sound of a few crashing footsteps over where Alisson is. Through the forest where the goblin archers were, stampedes three towering humanoids. With their green skin, large teeth, and massive size, I recognize them immediately, they're hobgoblins. They stood at about quintuple the height of a normal man, making Davy look like a pipsqueak. Each of them held in their hands an equally large weapon, two had clubs, and another held a thick sword; though it looked more like an uncut block of iron. They must've been alerted to the deaths of the smaller goblins. They are the same species after all, they work together, terrifyingly. Though compared to goblins, hobgoblins have lived much longer, and grown larger and stronger than their smaller counterparts. It's scary to think that goblins can grow even larger than that, and smarter too...
Alisson was completely thrown off guard as he turned with a stumble to meet the stampede rushing forth at him. Enhérejär quickly shifted back into its prior, liquid like form, and Alisson jumped forward, lashing at one of the hobgoblins with the two rivers of Enhérejär’s slivers. The two sides of Enhérejär, impacted on the hobgoblin, Alisson only managing to attack its upper body thanks to his large leap. One stream of Enhérejär’s slivers were completely deflected by the raise of the hobgoblin's club, and the other stream bit into the side of its torso; though it drew blood, it didn't cut very deep into it. The hobgoblins swung back at Alisson, narrowly missing though succeeding in driving him back.
I, I need to help!
I subconsciously lay my hands on the stilettos at the back of my hip. But, as I do, I feel a sudden few prongs of force wrap around me from behind!
“Gyah!”
There’s, there’s two goblins, right behind me! Each one is as tall as me, squealing and smelling horridly.
They’re grabbing be and lifting me almost of my feet; You’ll pay for making me sound so uncouth!
“Get the hell off of me-!”
Thinking on my toes, literally, I unclip my cloak with a free hand, and briskly slide down and through the two goblins’ hold on me. I scramble a meter away, my bare armor now showing. Filled with adrenaline, and mainly fury, I immediately turn on my ankle, and draw my baselards, slicing at a goblin in the same motion. Within a second, I’ve swung about half a dozen times, and turned one goblin into minced meat. The other however, with another disgusting squeal, lunges for me.
Oh no you don’t!
I deftly sidestep it, impaling it straight in the throat. It gurgles briefly, but the goblin doesn’t stop moving as it swings an arm at me; one strike wasn’t enough-!
I barely bob under its arm, being forced to let go of my baselard impaled in its throat. With the momentum, I’m now behind it thanks to its panicked swing.
Fine then, you want more than one attack!? I’ll give you more!
Without regard to cleanliness, I wrap an arm around the goblin’s front, and with my other, still armed hand, I slit its belly open, effectively disemboweling it. I give a tug, and spin the goblin to face me, drawing another a stiletto and impaling its face. I then kick it straight in the stomach, sending it tumbling away through the air.
I stand in shock for a moment, breathing heavily. That’s the first time I’ve been so close to an opponent, and that’s the first time I’ve ever been grabbed…I seriously could’ve have died…I didn’t even hear them approach me, I can’t believe something managed to get under my senses like that…
I swallow, shoving down my worry and doubt. I need to move. Quickly retrieving my weapons, I look back over to Alisson. Not a single hobgoblin has fallen yet…Alisson deftly evades a strike , twirling through the air with Enhérejär formed as a rapier.
I see one slightly distanced from Alisson and the other two hobgoblins, it’s the one with the sword.
That one.
That one’s mine.
…
Tch! I can’t get a hit in on these bastards!
Alisson was not having an easy time, he’d get the upper hand, and just as he were about to initiate the killing blow on a hobgoblin, another would step in an interrupt him. The one time he had two in his sights, the third stepped in and almost turned his body into a pancake.
He didn’t know if these hobgoblins were truly that intelligent to know that wearing down Alisson was their best bet, or if it was simply coincidence, but at this point, Alisson didn’t care. He needed a way to place pressure on all the three hobgoblins at once. They weren’t simple and small enemies like the normal, pipsqueaks he’d just fought, no; These hobgoblins would require an order of magnitude more strength to send on the back foot. Alisson unfortunately only really had the power to place pressure on one hobgoblin at a time.
Hmph, the hell am I supposed to do? Think.
Twisting and weaving though the path of clubs in midair, Alisson didn’t exactly have the brain power to think too hard. Alisson landed from his evasive jump, getting ready to jump away once more, it was really the only thing he could do against such powerful and wide range attacks. Another swing of a club came, and Alisson leapt back, this time, he was at a safe distance, and could see all three hobgoblins, the two frontal ones bearing clubs, and the sword wielding one who’d yet to commit all that much slightly father back.
That’s it then. I’ll have to use my knives.
Alisson had already thrown five of his knives yes, though he hadn’t activated the magic power they’d been imbued with. Those five that he’d thrown earlier were simply explosive imbued ones, meaning he had three left.
One explosion spell at the throat should be able to do the trick…
As Alisson reached into his cloak however, out of the corner of his vision, on horseback, came Celis. For whatever reason, her cloak was off, revealing the bare shining steel and chain beneath, for some reason, there was an immense amount of blood splattered over the armor.
Alisson’s hand stopped, and he steeled himself. He wouldn’t question it, but this was his chance, if Celis was confident in joining the fight, she could at least pin down a hobgoblin long enough for Alisson to kill the other two.
He didn’t know what her plan was, but she fired off half a dozen Pict spells at the hobgoblin with the sword, getting its attention. It turned to meet Celis, now unstably standing on the horse, obviously preparing to jump off it. The swing of the hobgoblin’s unequipped arm came, and Celis leapt, the flail of the hobgoblin narrowly passing below Celis and above her mare.
Celis then, to Alisson’s surprise, landed atop the hobgoblins arm midair. She continued to rush along its arm, slicing at it with her baselards. Reaching its collarbone, she leapt once more, onto the other side of it, and whilst falling, sliced at its other arm.
She’s not messing around…Hmph. I won’t disappoint either.
…
Ha! I wasn’t expecting that to work. Nope, not one bone in my body said I could do that, but look at me now!
I hit the ground with a roll.
The hobgoblin turns on its heel, and smashes down with its sword; using only one of its arms. Alright, that’s one arm effectively neutralized, now, I need to disable its sword arm if this is going to work…
I evasively hop away dodging it’s smash. Landing briskly, I close in, and just like with that beast in the Menton Forest, I swing my baselards in a scissor like form, hoping to sever its limb. My baselards impact on at around the hobgoblin’s wrist, but only dig into it a few inches.
Tch, I’ll need another attack or two…or…I could mount it again. Yeah, that sounds more fun!
Using my stuck baselards for leverage, I pull my self up, my arms easily propelling my small body up the hobgoblins enormous arm. Withdrawing my baselards from its body, I sheath them midair, and draw my stilettos, impaling the hobgoblin in its neck as I pass it, I have to let my stilettos go though in order to conserve my momentum to escape.
I land a few meters away, thoroughly proud of my flyby strike. The hobgoblin bellows in pain, letting go of its sword and clutching its neck. Alright, just another good strike at its wrists, and I’ll have severed its arm, that’ll clear the way for me to finish it off.
I stand tense as I wait for the hobgoblin’s attack; I can’t very well strike first for myself…what am I gonna do? Poke its feet? I don’t exactly have a way to get suitable height quickly.
After wallowing in pain for a few seconds, the hobgoblin glares at me, roaring with fury. It shambles toward me with a step. Alright! I need to be precise if I wanna hit the exact spot I sliced at before; I draw my baselards from my wrists with the familiar scrape of steel, and prepare myself. As it takes another step, I dash off my front foot. I’ll preempt its swing…If I do that, I should be able to attack it midair in the exact spot I want to if I’m not misunderstanding the hobgoblins trajectory.
I leap as high as I can, angled slightly away from the hobgoblin. I twist my body, almost ending up parallel to the ground. But, the swing of the hobgoblin comes, right for were I was on the ground.
Man, it feels good to predict an enemy so far ahead of time.
Its arm slamming down, I slice at its wrist as it flies past me. I feel a satisfying tear, and I deftly pass its arm, landing with a roll a safe distance away. The hobgoblin bellows once more, falling to its knees as its arms hang limp by its sides.
Alright! This is my chance!
I redouble my efforts, and attack once more. I Sheath my baselards, and jump for its head, charging up my going-away gift. I easily land on its collar bone thanks to the hobgoblin being on its knees, and I shove both my open palms straight into its skull.
“Pictun!”
A few spells fire from my gauntleted hands, and within a short moment, the hobgoblins massive head is ripped apart by my spells, literally eviscerating it from the inside.
I hop down, from the dead hobgoblin, its body falling limp over the ground with a heavy thud. I scan the area, wary that the battle still has other hobgoblins. I look to see Alisson in the distance, facing me with his eyes closed. Behind him, is a hobgoblin. For whatever reason, he isn’t holding Enhérejär. Before my mind can question it, the hobgoblin behind him is ripped apart; streams of Enhérejär ripping through its body and streaming away to Alisson. The hobgoblin falls, and Enhérejär’s slivers stream for Alisson’s open palm, forming into a rapier within a few seconds.
Just, just what the hell did I miss?
Regardless, the battlefield is silent, we’re victorious. Alisson approaches, and to my relief, my mare and the stallion also close in on us, although evidently quite wary of the huge corpses of the hobgoblins.
“That’s a fine job you’ve done Celis.”
Alisson smirked at me.
“Although, don’t forget your cloak…and do remember to clean your armor later…”
“Ah…”
I look down over myself with a blush, my bare armor is covered in blood and dirt. I, I seriously didn’t notice all the blood that the hobgoblin was spewing when I cut him huh?
“Look. Edringrad, it’s not having a very good day.”
Alisson pointed up at the sky, and over the tree line, I see numerous smokestacks rising, extremely tiny due to the distance.
“What do we do?”
I ask.
Alisson turned toward the smokestacks, his mouth curving.
“We need to restock our supplies. We’re continuing to Edringrad, whether we like it or not.”
***