CHAPTER 18: A Real Battle
“We should set the warriors ahead of the doorway, so we have some room to move. Then we can retreat to the hallway when we get overwhelmed or the bodies are getting in our way. Make sure not to move out too far. Lucas, create rotations. Two spears and one scout in the back to watch for goblins approaching through the hallway. Casters need to decide on a rotation, so you aren’t all out of mana at the same time. Fight defensively and check in and out. Support, stay on top of heals and weapons. Make sure you have plenty of mana for bigger injuries.”
Everyone took positions. Spare scrapers and machetes were left just inside the hallway so they could be passed back and forth. Lucas, Brittney, and Tom started in the front with Carlos and Lamar. Lamar didn’t have his bow this time, due to his dad’s anger at him borrowing it without permission. Randal, Joseph, and Nick were further down the hallway.
Once everyone was in position, Adam nodded. “Time for some havoc. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Adam closed his eyes and felt inside himself. He withdrew the coolness back to his head, except for the tendrils connecting him to his group. Then he felt in his heart. The heat was not restrained so he encouraged it to begin spreading to his body. A few angry memories of being in fights started the heat to flow into the river. When his body was warm and his skin was tinting red, he was ready.
His strength and speed had grown beyond normal since the system came. The heat and river clearly increased it too. There had never been a time for Adam to test how superhuman he had become, and now seemed like a good opportunity.
Legs pumped as Adam sprinted forward. Before the goblins noticed him, he jumped as hard as his legs could manage. The air in this place didn’t let him feel how fast he was going, but he saw the ground flying past as he rose about thirty feet into the air. The distance he covered was huge. He had aimed for a large group of goblins.
As he was coming down, Adam opened his mouth and roared. The sound failed to travel like it should have due to the environment, but hundreds of goblin heads whipped in his direction. Those closest to him froze mid motion, not even able to bring their heads up before he came smashing down, leading with his sledgehammer.
A goblin exploded, gore showering those closest. The force of the landing tried to push them back, but there were too many for space to really open up, which suited Adam well. Instead, they were knocked off balance against the goblins behind them, like dominoes that didn’t have the space to fall over.
While the goblins were still stunned by his roar, he swung his hammer. He swung and swung. With each movement a goblin burst and showering the area with more gore. The blood smelled too sweet to Adam, but he put all thoughts away and swung him hammer.
In seconds, more than a dozen were dead. Then the stun wore off. The yard became a press as enraged goblins tried to get to him from all sides. They climbed over their own, fighting amongst themselves to get to him, only for those closest to explode. There was no thought, either in Adam or the goblins, there was simply mayhem.
Adam didn’t even need to dodge or block. He moved so much faster than the goblins. Any that got close enough to raise their weapon were soon crushed into those behind. The space around Adam never expanded as the press continued, which worked best for Adam. He let his internal river turn into rapids and his strength and speed increased further. He was a blur of death as goblins fell by the dozens.
When he ran out of room or the area became too slippery from the blood, he would jump and land on another group. His movements would catch the goblins by surprise and they would turn too slowly, letting Adam make another gory opening to swung his hammer freely. The goblins all showed levels between 4 and 7, but it all felt like nothing as Adam easily moved through them.
After hundreds of goblins had fallen in just a few minutes, Adam felt his limits. He knew the river could boil and produce even more heat and strength, but his body and mind couldn’t take it. The strength was unnatural, and it was fueled by anger that would overwhelm his thoughts. It was caused by some energy inside of him and if he let it build up too much then it would overwhelm his base abilities. Even the goblin’s blood that was all over his exposed chest was steaming as it burned from his heated skin. His breath was getting ragged as the air entering his lungs was heated up and burning his inside.
Before he ran out of breath, Adam swung his hammer and then roared once more, stunning those goblins directly around him. He kicked off the ground, using goblin after goblin as steps to propel him towards his friends.
Landing before the goblins had time to followed him, he gasped weakly at Abbey’s heal. Concern was on all their faces as Abbey rushed forward and touched him. A yelp came from her as she pulled her hand away.
“You're too hot to touch,” she exclaimed.
“We need to hurry. They will be here in seconds,” said Lucas to get the others focused on the goblins.
A bottle of water was dumped on his arm by Andrea, where it hissed and steamed upon contact. Adam tried unsuccessfully to draw the coolness out of his head and to his arm. His thoughts were as elusive as the steam, burned away by the raging river and the hate it carried. No matter how hard he tried to focus all he could hear and feel were the roiling of the heat inside.
The slightest chill flashed through him and he saw Abbey healing him where the water had been dumped. Then another, as Abbey cast multiple heals on him. As they came, he found breathing easier and his skin was cooling down.
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“Thanks,” he said when his thoughts got clearer.
“How did they do this to you?” Abbey asked.
The goblins had reached the group by now. Scrapers were pinning them in the limited space and machetes were cutting. Brittney wielded a goblin shield and small hammer while Lucas swung his larger sledgehammer to move the goblins into position. Even with all the noise they should be causing the volume was surreally steady without an echo or reverberation.
“They didn’t touch me,” Adam answered. “I tried to see how hard I could go, and it seemed that whatever I use to power up also harms by body. When I realized it, I came back here. I think you’ve healed me enough now.”
“So you can’t use your strength?”
“Just not that hard. I’ll be fine if I hold back and just use the top end in bursts.”
Abbey’s touch lingered on him so he pulled away, dropping his blue coated sledgehammer against the wall and picking up one of the spare scrapers. Then he headed to the front line and helped control the incoming goblins.
The biggest threat wasn’t the goblins’ weapons, it was the weight of the goblins behind them pushing the crowd forward. There was no control to their approach. The goblins acted like mindless beasts, pushing forward to get their prey only to fall again and again. The bodies that fell helped Adam’s group by creating an obstacle that was able to slowly release the pressure from those in the back.
As exhausting as it was for his group, Adam didn’t see any waver in their movements. They fought and fought. Minutes of exertion at this level would even wreck professional athletes, but his group was steady. They breathed and used controlled movements. Scrapers pinned or steered a goblin, [Mana Darts] hit them, machetes took out their legs. It was controlled chaos and throughout it Adam pulsed determination and calm using his connections while he worked at the group’s pace.
After about fifteen minutes, two rotation changes to prevent fatigue from building, and another 70ish goblins, something changed. A goblin slipped under Randall’s thrust and headed towards the center of the group. Adam was able to catch its chin with the back of his scrapers pole and throw it back to their front. He hadn’t seen Randall falter, so he looked at the goblin’s tag.
Brawler [11 (6)]
The level number was messed up on all the goblins reaching them. They were all five levels higher than they should be. It looked like the original level was in parenthesis. He didn’t know why the level was increasing but it was clear that his group was affected by it. Lucas called them to pull back and everyone moved into the hallway to further reduce the number that could approach. Now only two or three of their group would need to defend at a time.
Randall and Joseph, the two freshest, took the lead while everyone else fought for breath.
“They suddenly got stronger,” gasped Brittney. “I couldn’t hold them back.”
“Yeah, they were able to move between us as if they were faster than us. This is a problem,” griped Tom.
“Anyone know what happened?” demanded Lucas.
Adam had stayed behind Randall and Joseph. He was jabbing his scraper as quickly as possible into the necks of the goblins to bring them down quicker. A quick break allowed him to investigate the courtyard where he saw goblins flash red, as if a skill was being used, and then come at them with increased strength.
“It’s got to be a skill,” said Adam. “Someone must be doing that.”
“It’s a goblin chief,” announced Ed, staring at his laptop, while everyone else was getting heals from Abbey to reinvigorate them. “According to its tag it is level 25. He must have a skill for boosting his people.”
“Shoot! A level 25. No one on earth can beat a level 25 right now. How are we supposed to win this,” whined Randall, as he rotated with Lucas, earning him a swap to the back of his head.
“How about it, Boss? You think you can beat a 25?” teased Tom, clearing hoping for a yes.
“It looked like I have to. I need to stop him from buffing the rest of the goblins at least, or you guys are in trouble,” answered Adam. “Let’s hope I’m overpowered enough to do that much.”
Abbey hesitated before speaking, then gently touched him, casting a heal. “Just make sure you don’t over do it. If it looks hopeless then we’ll retreat. You are too important to the world to die here.”
Adam looked at her with soft eyes, “We are all too important to fall here.”
Handing the scraper to Brandon to sharpen, Adam picked up his sledgehammer. The handle had been cleaned of the goblin blood so getting a grip wouldn’t be difficult. He picked up a spare machete and attached it to his belt. He took Lucas’s sledgehammer in his off hand, with Lucas replacing his with a scraper.
“Dual wielding hammers? Crazy awesome, Boss,” mocked Tom.
“Stay safe. Retreat if it is too much and I will find my own way out. The outside needs to know what is happening here,” ordered Adam. One final pulse of determination went through their connections and then Adam was ready.
He slightly crossed both hammers, thrust them forward and leapt into the mass of goblins. His roar stunned them, and he swung both hammers apart, forcing the goblins to the side so he had enough room. Once he was outside the hallway, he leapt straight up just short of the top of the wall, planted his feet, and kicked off as far as he could. He flew over the goblins’ heads and towards the source of the flashing skill.
It was too far for him to reach in one go, so he plowed into the goblins before losing momentum. Then he swung both hammers. He became a whirlwind of death and blood. Goblins once more died by the handful as he swept forward. Even the enhanced goblins died to his fury. The river was rushing inside him, but Adam made sure he could handle it as he waded through the horde of goblins.
Once he saw the chief he sped up. The chief was wearing a headdress of bones and stones, tied together with leather. His body was slightly larger than the other goblins, though his head was smaller than the rest, with a less prominent nose. He had a stick in his hand. It looked unlike a wand or rod, and the chief didn’t look like a caster. Crude leather was shaped into a jacket and pants on him.
When the chief became aware of the ruckus he glared at Adam and hissed something. All the goblins in the surroundings put themselves between the chief and Adam. There weren’t enough to halt Adam, but it did force him to move slower as the obstacles increased. Meanwhile the chief turned and walked the other way, towards the castle without even looking rushed.
Adam snarled at the chief’s action. More anger rose in him, causing the river to rumble. Clenching his hammers, he again jumped forward, above the goblins and towards the chief.
Surprise flashed on the chief’s face and he rushed forward, no longer bothering with how it looked. The other goblins would move out of his path but would then flood back to wherever Adam was going to land. Adam fought to make progress and keep up with the chief. His anger fueled him forward. The heat increased and his thoughts diminished, what remaining focus there was pushed him to catch up with the chief.
The chief arrived at the castle ahead of him and dashed inside, hissing and speaking a guttural language. Adam was in a lather as he moved past the door and into a hallway. He ran down it and came into a large audience room. The goblin chief was waiting for him in front of a throne, while smiling viciously.