Joram turned back around and squinted, causing the guards closest to him to do the same. Either their eyes were better than his, or they had some sort of [Skill], because a moment later a call to arms was being made.

It took Joram another few seconds to see what had caused the alarm, but when he did, he cursed.

“Of course it’s bloody goblins again,” he muttered, gauging the distance.

It was pretty far, and would be into his fourth range increment for his mindbolt’s long-range configuration. Still, it was worth trying, as he could use to get more cores, and thus more money.

Ignoring the bustling guards, Joram formed his shoulder gun and steadied himself on one of the crenelations while he aimed.

He was looking forward to how his new loadout would perform. Again, swapping [Collision] in favour of [Linked Striking] to get ramped-up damage after the first hit on a target was something he was looking forward to.

Joram then concentrated to infuse his gun with [Psychic Strike], wanting to make the first shot as impactful as he could, while also realizing that he should just keep a [Psychic Strike] charged and ready to go at all times. He wasn’t yet sure, though, if he’d just add the damage from [Psychic Strike] directly or use it to activate [Thousand Blades]. He was inclined to the latter, as increasing his chances to hit with more shots was better than relying on his first shot to do most of the damage, then trying to hit with his other shots while suffering a decrease in accuracy.

‘You should wait until the guards start attacking,’ Avi said, bringing him out of his murderous thoughts. ‘If you attack too soon, that may trigger the goblins to attack sooner than the guards would be comfortable with.’

‘Ah, makes sense,’ he sent back just as he got a nudge in the lower back.

Turning, he was about to apologize for being in the way, when the saw that it was the purple vixen who’d nudged him.

He looked at her for a few moments before shrugging and turning his attention back to the goblins.

That seemed to be the wrong thing to do, because the vixen then nipped him on the calf, nearly causing his knee to give out.

Glaring, he turned back to the vixen, who was now getting significant attention from the guards.

“What?” he asked, keeping his tone level.

She then looked away from him, towards the base of the stairs. Following her gaze, he found Asami Miki standing there along with the Manelle family, another horde of foxes, as well as a good number of guards. He recognized some, but most were new to him, but all of them were looking at him strangely.

“Sorry, need to kill goblins” he said, quickly turning back around while trying very hard to ignore his audience.

“Let the guards handle it,” Celys called up, making his shoulders tense. “Come down before you get yourself hurt,” she finished, sounding every bit the village Chief.

While that stung, it also reminded him to manifest [Inertial ArmourA], so he did, making sure to keep the armour invisible. With that done, he turned back around and spoke.

“No. I missed out on the loot from the hobs I killed the other day, so I’m not going to miss out on making that up today,” he called down, his jaw setting stubbornly.

“I can order you down, you know?” Celys replied, sounding more than a little bit exasperated with him.

“Then I’ll wait outside,” he called back, his temper getting the best of him. With that said, he turned and hopped over the top of the wall.

As he fell, he heard shouts of surprise, but ignored them as he landed, trying to roll. It worked a bit.

Laying there, a bit bruised, he manifested [Natural Healing] to top himself up before rolling to his stomach. Next, he pulled up [Foxhole], quickly reviewed it, and found that it was simple enough. So, he used it, augmenting it enough to provide a good trench that ran parallel to the wall behind him.

After a few more exclamations of surprise, he army crawled into position in the foxhole, the name making him grin, but had also come to mind when seeing the foxes again.

With that done, he looked at the treeline again, trying to determine if they were about to attack or not.

It seemed as though they were getting close, as more and more goblins and hobs were stepping forward before being called back into line.

So, he manifested a fully augmented [Force Screen] to help his armour to keep him alive. Then came a fully-loaded [Biofeedback], which left him with about forty percent of his power pool left.

Well, he could buff himself all day, so he could wait for things to get started. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Celys had other thoughts about that.

“Are you crazy? Get back inside before they attack!” she yelled down at him, sounding more than a little panicked.

Be briefly wondered why she cared so much before he remembered Asami Miki. The very vixen who’d basically claimed him. How much trouble would Celys get into if he was killed out here?

He really couldn’t be bothered with that because, if he was dead, then he wouldn’t have to worry about any of that anyways.

So, he continued to ignore the shouts from above while he lined up his shot. He could barely make out what looked like a shaman from where he was and had learned that they needed to be taken out as soon as possible if he wanted to live to see another day. Remembering that his missing leg was because of one of those bastards, he focussed entirely on it.

When he thought he had his shot, the goblins suddenly grew even more agitated. Gritting his teeth, Joram realized that the attack was on. Squinting, he expended his [Psychic Strike] to increase his accuracy, then took his shots.

He was extremely gratified when the first shot curved slightly at the end, hitting the shaman in the shoulder. His second shot hit, taking it in the other shoulder. His third hit took the shaman in the neck, blowing out a large chunk that staggered the hob. The fourth took it in the head, sending a rush of energy through him.

Wondering where the energy came from, he belatedly remembered his [Reaper’s Blade] blade skill, and grinned.

The goblin horde went wild. Spells and arrows flew from their ranks, raining down on the wall, though some fell short. Joram quickly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a lightning bolt sent his way. He took note of where it came from, then began firing back at the spell caster as the goblins rushed forward.

They came forward in a ragged line, broken up as some ran faster than the rest. Joram left those ones to the archers on the wall behind him and chose to take a potshot with [Energy Ball] at the largest group he could see.

He chose cold, partly because of the added damage, but the other reason was that it would be easy to identify the ones he killed. He still had to consider claiming his loot after this, after all.

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Once released, he grinned as a large group of hobs and gobs were flash frozen, only leaving a few to start staggering forward again. He ignored them, knowing that they’d be easy pickings for the archers behind him.

He found another shaman, once again expending his [Psychic Strike] to increase his accuracy for his next barrage. This shaman, though, was a bit tougher. Even with a shot taking it through the chest, where he assumed a lung would be, the shaman kept going, even going so far as to cast a healing spell of some sort on itself.

Not having his [Psychic Strike] recharged, he just kept shooting. His next series of shots very much demonstrated the lack of accuracy from not using [Thousand Blades], as two of the four shots missed. Still, the shaman was looking much worse for wear by the time he took his next shot, which took the shaman in the head, ending its life and recharging [Psychic Strike] for him.

At this point, the goblins had made it halfway across the field, seemingly uncaring of the arrows felling goblin after goblin. Given their numbers, which still looked to be well over a hundred, he knew that they’d at least make it to the walls. Which would make things difficult for him, to say the least.

So, he quickly augmented another [Foxhole] to deepen the shallow trench that it normally made into full 1.5 metre trenches, stretching it out from the wall to just in front of him in an arc. He did it again, this time on the other side, connecting the two to form a dry moat in front of him that he hoped would at least slow the goblins enough for the defenders to pick them off before they got to him.

Next, he pumped [Astral Construct] with as much power as he could, bringing forth two large constructs to stand in the trench in front of them, giving them [Extra Attack], [Fast Healing], and [Improved Damage Reduction], as well as two small constructs with [Buff], [Deflection], and [Improved Slam Attack]. Those last two he placed beside him to help keep the goblins off him when they eventually arrived.

With his power pool almost drained, and with almost all of the goblins well-within one hundred metres, he switched out his long-ranged shoulder canon for the Desert M-6 model, the mid-ranged gun.

Then he went back at it, instructing his constructs to crouch down to avoid fire until the goblins got close enough to slam.

His next targets were just the forerunners. Mostly because he couldn’t easily find another shaman to target, but also because he didn’t want to be neck deep in goblins yet.

Each barrage he sent out felled a goblin this time, be it hob or the regular versions, which allowed him to keep his [Thousand Blades] going. He was also impressed with the guards, for their shots were doing comparable damage, or even more, than his own. He greatly suspected that their Paths granted increased damage and utility, though.

Which got him wondering if he really should up and choose a Path right away, especially given the waiting notifications that he’d been silencing all day.

Damn, I wonder if there’s a path that would improve Soulbolt for me… he wondered as his second shot managed to entirely take off a hob’s head.

If that were the case, and he could start doing much more than he was currently, why should he wait?

Again, his stubborn pride reared its head, denying the need to get a Path right now. Sure, his situation was a bit dicey at the moment, but he wasn’t out of the fight just yet.

But the goblins were certainly aiming to bring the fight to him. The frontrunners weren’t more than ten metres away now, so he quickly switched his mindbolt to the N7-90 model and really started getting some good results with that.

So good, in fact, that he stopped using [Thousand Blades] and instead just used [Psychic Strike] how it was originally created for: more damage. With each shot that used [Psychic Strike], the damage was more than doubled for his N7-90, meaning that he dropped the goblins much faster now.

Still, he was competing with probably dozens of guards, so his kill count wasn’t anything to write home about compared to what the guards were doing. That said, he was sure that he was killing more than any individual guard on the wall.

Then the last couple of dozen hobs made it to the outer trench and tried to hop over. He smiled when his two large golems took full advantage of their inability to dodge while flying through the air, each one batting two hobs into the ground.

That was also when the spells came from the walls. He supposed that at Kirkwall had more than a few casters roped into the defense of the village. Because he saw spells ranging from firebolts to cutting wind to spikes of earth impaling goblins. He even saw a ball of water enveloping the head of a shaman that wandered too close, preventing it from chanting any new spells. And breathing, of course.

All of which meant that only one hob managed to get close to him, but his two small constructs efficiently managed to stop its advance long enough for him to send a few shots into it, ending its life while covering him in its rancid blood.

Then it was all done, and silence descended on the battlefield for a brief moment before cheers erupted from the wall behind him. Grinning through the smell, he dismissed his two smaller constructs then had one of the large ones pick him up. He had the construct hold its hands in the shape of a seat so that he could just sit in them, ready to shoot anything that might have been playing dead.

Still ignoring the people on the wall, he had his construct squat a bit so that his toe could touch the hob that had gotten close to him. He then concentrated on “Loot”, hoping that that would work.

And it did.

Another notification appeared, this one telling him what he’d gotten.

Congratulations! You’ve looted the following:

- 1 Grade C Core, High Quality

- 2 Silver Coins

- 87 Bronze Coins

He blinked at that, then started mentally cursing not having known about the looting feature before. How many coins could he have earned if he’d known sooner? Even then, the coins paled in comparison to getting a core out of the deal. The best part? It all went directly into his inventory!

But what really got him was that once the body was looted, it immediately started dissolving into faint particles of light, much like how [Cleanse] affected them when he “cleaned up” after an attack. Even the blood on him faded away, leaving him rather dumbstruck. And then audibly cursing.

So, still ignoring the people yelling at him, he had his ride take him around the battlefield so that he could loot everything that he’d been responsible for killing. He had the second large golem just following along behind him, not wanting to waste a good bodyguard should there be an ambush waiting for him.

Then, as he raked in more loot, his mood started to improve, though he stayed vigilant of possible threats. By the time he got to the treeline where he’d killed the first shaman, the guards had opened the gate and had started their own looting, chatting amongst themselves as they worked.

Then his last goblin, the shaman, provided a surprise.

Congratulations! You’ve looted the following:

- 1 Grade B Core, High Quality

- 11 Silver Coins

- 92 Bronze Coins

- 1 Skill Book

He’d not expected such a thing to exist here, but was over the moon that he’d gotten such an item! He wasn’t sure how rare they were, but considering that he only got one after having looted twenty-six goblins, he suspected that they weren’t common.

He was about to retrieve it from his inventory when he felt an impact on the construct that was carrying him, that then sent it toppling forwards. Not wanting to be flattened by his construct, he quickly dismissed it was he formed his N7-90 and tried to roll.

After hitting the ground, he succeeded in rolling onto his side, twisting so that he could see what had hit his construct, ready to fire.

“Rude,” Asami Miki said, arms folded across her ample chest. “Come back now,” she said, giving him a stern look that didn’t quite have the same impact as it would have had on an older woman.

“What’s up with you, anyways? Why are you so interested in me? I can’t be the only person who can give you a good rubdown,” he said, both annoyed and genuinely curious as to her fixation on him.

“You don’t need to know,” she said, then turned and started walking back to Kirkwall. “Come,” she called, not bothering to look back at him.

He very seriously considered just heading into the forest and leaving the eccentric vixen behind. But a combination of self-preservation and curiosity overrode that incredibly strong impulse.

Grumbling, he instructed his last construct to pick him up and take him back to town.

* * *

Given the number of goblins that were attacking, Myra had been allowed to participate in the defense of Kirkwall for the very first time. It hadn’t been quite as glamorous as she’d imagined it to be.

Shuddering at the memory of the gore, she was at least glad that she’d gained a level, and a new Skill! She wasn’t sure how useful [Selective Area] would be, but was sure that she’d figure it out later. For now, she was more concerned about Joram.

She was still getting over the shock from this morning, though. Both in seeing Asami Miki’s foxkin form and having seen her, naked, on top of an equally naked Joram. They had both claimed that nothing inappropriate had happened, but having seen what she’d seen, she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe it.

Now she was watching Asami Miki bring Joram back after his little looting spree, carried by a strange silver golem that stood a good story tall. She didn’t know when he’d learned to do that, or even if he’d always been able to do that, but she was nonetheless impressed. But, also suspicious.

How could anyone do that without having a Path? Had he somehow tricked their [Truth] spells? If so, what else was he hiding from her- er, from them?

But one of her biggest questions was still: why was Asami Miki so interested in Joram?