“Watch out!” yelled Josh.

The Bugbear moved toward Mina and roared again. Its teeth were long and sharp. Each one was as long as a human hand. The monster raised its weapon, a massive pickaxe, and brought it down toward Mina in a flash. She jumped back as the weapon came down just missing her. The pickaxe buried itself deep into the ground making the Bugbear overextend slightly.

“Flame Shield!” roared Drox.

Mina stepped forward with her shield on fire and bellowed a roar. The sound waves shot out toward the bugbear and he stared down at Mina. She brought her shield up slamming it into his chest. The shield was wreathed in fire from Drox’s spell.

As the shield connected with the overextended bugbear there was an audible smack. The monster flew back pulling his pickaxe out of the ground with him. He rolled and slammed against the wall of the cavern right next to the open tunnel. Smoke rose in black wisps where the hair was burnt from Drox’s flame shield, but there was not real damage.

Adam watched his health bar flash and it lowered by about ten percent. Adam and Josh moved as the wolves howled and sped toward the downed bugbear. Josh made it first and his sword flashed blue as he brought it down, but the foreman was too quick. It blocked Josh’s strike with his pickaxe.

Adam was right behind Josh though. He activated Combo as he swung his fist at the bugbear’s face. His jab connected with a crunch, but it felt to Adam like he’d hit a brick wall. A small bell sounded inside of his head. He didn’t stop though. Two more jabs flashed out and connected each followed by a familiar small bell. As the last hit landed his speed increased.

The bugbear roared as it locked weapons with Josh. It was still on the ground as Adam pummeled it in the face. Then it moved. The foreman pushed himself up and at the same time pulled his pickaxe away from Josh’s great sword. In one motion he threw Josh back and swung his pickaxe toward Adam’s head.

Adam’s vision changed as Combo activated. It felt like his surroundings were suddenly underwater. Everything was slightly blurry unless he focused. When he saw the pickaxe coming for his face he was focused on nothing else. It moved quickly, but not as fast as Adam expected. He could see where it was going and he made his choice. He ducked.

The pickaxe flew over Adam with such force that he felt the wind kick up his hair like a tornado. Adam moved closer and punched the bugbear in the stomach. Four fast jabs he was able to get in before the pickaxe finished its swing through the air. He kicked off the ground and flew back as the foreman’s free hand tried to grab at him.

Then Josh was there his sword came down on the monster’s extended arm and it sunk down almost half way. The bugbear let out a scream of pain and flung its arm up throwing Josh back again along with his sword. Adam wanted to move in again, but the pickaxe was raised high waiting for him.

The wolves came barreling in with Mina leading the charge and Skyeyes on Pork Chop’s back. Mina let out a battle cry and the sound waves hit the bugbear in the face causing his attention to snap over to her as the wolves raced around its legs.

Skyeyes’ daggers flashed as he cut at the ankles and calves of the monster. Thin red lines appeared and the wolves snapped a bit at the foreman’s feet. The foreman moved back trying to stomp, but the animals and the goblin were too quick when he couldn’t focus on them. He only had eyes for Mina and those eyes burned with rage and hate.

The pickaxe came flying through the air and Mina brought up her shield as she moved close. She caught the handle with her buckler and was sent flying through air from the impact. Adam moved in and punched the foreman with all his strength in the side of the knee. Something crunched and the monster went down in a heap.

The wolves moved back out of the way of the falling monster. Adam saw the foreman’s health bar had dropped from blue to yellow and it was sitting at about fifty percent. Adam was breathing hard and he felt his world snap back into focus. Combo had run out.

Jerky leapt toward the downed foreman’s throat, but he was smacked away by a massive backhand from the monster. A yelp of pain came from the wolf as he hit the ground and slid, not getting up again. The foreman fumbled at something on his chest as he swung his pickaxe around widely, keeping Adam, Skyeyes, and Snowball back. Adam saw a flash of white as the foreman pulled something out and put it to his mouth.

“Stop him!” yelled Adam.

He couldn’t tell what it was, but he knew it wasn’t good. Josh came barreling in and swung his sword down at the foreman’s head, but his weapon was caught by the pickaxe again. Adam saw the foreman’s chest filled with air right as he noticed what it was in his hand.

A clear, loud whistle blasted through the air like a train horn. It filled the cavern for a moment bouncing off the walls and down the tunnels. Josh brought his sword up and down again and again. It was blocked every time by the pickaxe, but Josh just kept beating away. Then his sword flashed blue again and he slammed the sword edge into the raised pickaxe. The foreman’s weapon shattered and Josh’s sword kept going right into bugbear’s shoulder where it cut through skin and bone and only stopped when it hit the ground underneath the fallen monster.

The bugbear foreman dropped the whistle and a meaty fist slammed into Josh, sending him flying through the air once again. He landed with a crash and kicked up dust. Adam saw the HP bars of his teammates that took hits. Both Mina and Josh’s HP were yellow, Jerky’s was flashing red. The foreman on the other hand was down to a third.

That’s when the rumbling began. The walls reverberated with a deafening pounding sound that bounced off the walls of the cavern. Adam couldn’t hear anything but the constant beating in his head. He saw Skyeyes ride over to Jerky and jump off of Pork Chop. His hands glowed green as he knelt down next to the injured Jerky. The wolf’s HP bar gradually started to refill.

The foreman pushed himself up as he continued to flail around with what was left of his pickaxe. It was little more than a handle, but Adam was sure it would do some major damage if he got hit with it. The beating sound in his ears was almost putting him off balance. The foreman didn’t advance on Adam though. Instead it backed up toward the tunnel it had come from. One arm hung limply at his side as he limped back.

Adam moved toward the foreman and saw movement explode from the tunnel. A small goblin, even smaller than Skyeyes, came barreling out of the opening with a small pickaxe raised. It swung at Adam and he dodged back. At the same time he snapped his fist out catching the goblin on the jaw. He saw the monster’s head snap to one side and heard a cracking sound. The goblin died before it hit the ground.

Before Adam could take a second to process what happened he was surrounded by more of the small goblins with pickaxes. They were spilling out of every tunnel. They were the massive beating sound. It wasn’t some massive monster, but hundreds of small feet all pounding the hard ground at the same time as they came running to support their foreman.

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The deafening stomping had subsided as the tunnels clogged with goblins and everyone desperately tried to keep them at bay. They were silent, corrupted monsters that couldn’t have been higher than level one as they were batted aside with ease. But there were so many of them. Mina was on her feet striking out widely with her sword as she blocked blows with her buckler. A few of the pickaxes got through and she was bleeding in places.

Josh’s great sword was flying through the air decimating any goblin that dared to get close. He was the only one with clear space near him due to his weapon. The wolves were snapping and biting at any of the small goblins that dared approach Skyeyes or Drox. Adam moved back punching and blocking strikes. He felt a few of the weapons pierce him. They were like tiny daggers, but they damaged him nonetheless. He saw his HP bar dropping as he moved back.

A firebolt split through the goblins next to Mina clearing the way for her to move back and causing screams of pain to erupt from the goblins that had been unfortunate enough to be near the blast. They burned and screamed and still came on, pickaxes flying.

It felt like wading through a flood as the group moved toward each other. None of them could focus on the foreman that towered over all the other goblins. He moved back through the river of his minions until he was near one of the tunnel entrances. It was there he found what he was looking for. A barrel of unassuming quality. It was just a round barrel made of wood that was rotting and full of holes.

He reached his one good hand into the barrel and pulled out a small black bag. The bag was the perfect size to fit into one hand. In the foreman’s massive meaty hands it looked small. It was made of tattered cloth that had been stained black by its contents. From the top of the small pouch a string jutted out. Where the string and pouch met there was a small glob of wax holding the two together and keeping the string sticking up straight.

The foreman grunted. He did not speak. He grunted a guttural sound and an instant later one of the small corrupted goblins was at his side holding a torch. The foreman put the string close to the torch and it ignited with a spray of sparks. The foreman wasted no time and chunked the bag toward the unsuspecting adventurers.

Josh looked down as a black pouch landed close to his feet. He was desperately swinging his sword back and forth keeping the goblins at bay as he backed toward where Drox, Skeyes, the wolves, and Mina had set up a sort of wall to keep the ocean of monsters back. He was close to them now. About ten more feet and he’d be there. Then the bag had plopped down at his feet.

Josh saw the sparks coming from the bag and acted on pure instinct. He kicked the bag toward the sea of goblins and dove back toward where his group was. “Get down!” He yelled as he hit the ground covering his head. The small corrupted goblins hadn’t even glanced down at the bag as they moved in toward Josh’s exposed form. The rest of his group reacted in an instant. It must have been the panic in his voice but every one of them crouched down and covered their heads.

Adam was too far away to see what was happening, but he had heard Josh’s shout. He just couldn’t do anything about it. He was punching, kicking, and trying to block as much as he could. He was bleeding in many spots where the small pickaxes had found purchase. Luckily the pain was overwritten by the adrenaline pumping through him.

Adam saw the explosion before sound caught up. Flames erupted from the ground and covered a massive circle ten feet in every direction. Rocks and dirt flew up from the ground and covered the cavern in the mist of grime. The noise though. It was beyond deafening in the cavern. Adam felt his ears pop then pain shot through his head. He felt himself scream as his eardrums busted, but he could hear nothing.

He willed the magic in the pit of his stomach up through his body and cast Emerald Leaves on himself. Rivers of ice shot through his veins as the healing magic took effect. The cavern was in complete chaos as the sea of small goblins grabbed at their ears and thick dust obscured almost everything. Adam could see Josh getting up near the rest of his party. They seemed to be fairly unaffected by the blast.

“What the hell was that?” said Adam. He had made his way to them as the goblins recovered from the blast.

“The boss has bombs,” said Josh. He was swinging his sword again, decimating the still recovering goblins and keeping the ocean of monsters at bay nearly by himself.

“Boom bags. Bad. Very Bad. Not good. Must stop him.” Skyeyes was off his wolf now and weaving in and out of the battle with his daggers right under Josh's massive swings.

Mina moved up and bashed an oncoming goblin with her shield that had slipped around Josh. It crumpled to the ground with a single blow. The group was bleeding in places and everyone looked haggard. They knew it was a losing battle.

The dust was settling now and they could see the foreman getting ready with another boom bag. Josh watched as he pulled it from a massive barrel and had one of the goblins light it with a torch.

“Incoming,” yelled Josh.

The foreman tossed the bag toward the group as Josh kept the goblins at bay. The bag lobbed its way over Josh’s head toward where Drox, Skyeyes, and the Wolves were standing. Adam dove. He reached for the bag and felt his hand clasp around a slightly wet pouch that felt like a beanie baby. In a single motion he twisted and threw the bag into the sea of goblins. As he hit the ground he covered his ears.

The explosion was far enough away this time that the noise only made the adventurers' ears ring. The goblins near the blast that weren’t disintegrated instantly were running around on fire and screaming. Dust bellowed through the cavern again as Adam got back to his feet.

“We have to do something,” he said. “There’s no way we can make it to the foreman through all of these goblins.” Adam was yelling over the sounds of battle and ringing in his ears. He moved to the opposite side of Mina and Josh, creating a semi-circle of death as punches flashed out at the oncoming wave of monsters.

“I have an idea,” said Josh. He was steadily slashing his great sword back and forth, but the goblins were catching on. They could see that he was slowing down. “But it could get us all killed.”

“We’re dead either way lad.”

“The bear speaks the truth,” said Mina. She was slowing down as well. Adam could see blood leaking from all over her legs.

Josh grunted. “Get on my head and as soon as the dust clears I want you to use Fire Bolt and aim for the foreman’s barrel.”

Drox nodded grimly. The bear moved over toward Josh with his grimoire tucked under one arm. As he reached his destination Drox began to climb up the Overlord. He was almost shaken off twice by Josh’s constant swinging, but he made it. He was high above the ocean of small goblins as he held on to one of Josh’s horns.

The dust was settling again as Drox flipped open his book. The massive tome floated just above his paw with magic keeping it in place. The Foreman came into view then. He had another boom bag in his hand getting ready to light the thing. His eyes locked on to Drox who was standing on Josh’s shoulders with one paw desperately gripping a horn and the other holding a magic book. Drox smiled.

“Die you overgrown son of a pig!” yelled Drox. He let go of Josh’s horn and pointed toward the foreman. “Fire Bolt!”

The Foreman saw the baseball sized ball of fire stream toward him and he jumped out of the way. It was then that the monster realized his mistake. The ball of fire wasn’t actually headed toward him, but instead the barrel that was next to him. He’d jumped away from the barrel full of boom bags.

As the Fire Bolt flew through the air Drox jumped down and got into a fluffy ball behind the wolves and Skyeyes. Mina covered them, then Adam and Josh were there in a pile. Tiny pickaxes stabbed into Josh and Adam’s back. Adam watched their HP bars dropping as he gritted his teeth through the pain. Their blue bar turned to yellow, and Adam started to worry. Then the Fire Bolt spell hit, and the world was nothing but roaring heat.