Rain curled up in the sand, cradling her satchel of potions against her stomach, trying to be as small as possible. She felt the arrows fall around her, wincing in pain as one ripped through the edge of her apron and carved a shallow cut across her calf.

As the final arrow fell, she heard Calista and Milly’s frantic screams. She lifted her head in time to see Milly scramble clumsily across the sand and crouch over Calista. Healing light billowed around Milly in an uncontrolled torrent as dread fueled her power. The edge of Milly’s light reached Rain’s calf, and a few moments later the cut was gone, leaving behind only a tiny, tender inflammation.

“Hang on Calista. Just hang on…. just hang on, damn you!” Milly shouted through tears, trying to grab the arrow embedded in Calista’s chest. But her hands were trembling so much that she could not get a grip. “Calista, I can’t…”

“Milly, it’s… let me… get this…” Calista wheezed, struggling to breathe. The arrow had pierced her lung. Calista’s hands wrapped around the shaft and, before Milly could stop her, she yanked the arrow out herself.

“Fuck!” Calista tried to scream, though it came as a mere whimper. She coughed, blood erupting from her mouth. Droplets landed on Milly’s cheeks, and Calista’s eyes rolled back in her head as she collapsed, overwhelmed by the pain.

Milly pressed her hands against Calista’s cruel wound. Her elevated magical power, further enhanced by Salem’s Fury, let her feel every torn organ, every broken rib, and every bit of split skin and muscle in her mind. She also felt a fraction of Calista’s pain, a backlash from sensing her injuries, and Milly felt like she wanted to throw up. But she held it down.

The healing light around Milly condensed into bright, precise pinpoints at the tips of her fingers. She ran her fingers across Calista’s bloody wound, feeling for the life-threatening wounds. She targeted severed blood vessels, snapped ribs, and torn muscles with incredible precision. Milly’s hands were soon caked in Calista’s blood as she felt her way along Calista’s chest.

“You need to stop doing this to me, Calista,” Milly cried desperately. “I can’t lose you.”

Rain wanted to rush over and comfort her. But Elmer’s shout dashed any hope of that.

“Freelancers! Stay together. We have incoming!” Elmer shouted, voice betraying his terror. “Oh god.”

Rain followed Elmer’s gaze towards the jungle, the ground rumbling beneath them. And her heart fell.

An army of green and brown goblins erupted from the jungle, running at full speed across the sand towards the disheveled Freelances. They held clubs and spears and were clad in rough hides and bones. Saliva dripped from their teeth as they shrieked and hollered with excitement, sensing a slaughter.

“There must be over two hundred of them,” whispered Rain, and then she saw what was behind them. “Oh no…”

The last goblin straggler to leave the jungle did not make it far. A giant club smashed into its body, sending it flying across the terrain and breaking it against a jungle trunk. Three ogres strolled out of the jungle, each identical to the one Milly had killed on her first day, as if the creatures had been duplicated for this battle.

Rain scrambled to her feet, leaving Milly behind to heal Calista. She started digging through her satchel as she rushed over to Elmer, her mind racing.

“Everyone, get into a semi-circle, backs to the tower wall,” Elmer ordered, watching the Freelancers scramble, “Surround the wounded and the healers. Melee up front, spears behind short-range weapons as we practiced. Naomi, Aaron, Mohammad, fire your bows, for fuck sakes. What the hell are you waiting for, an invitation?” The three archers looked shocked, then quickly raised their bows and started firing into the oncoming goblins. Rain watched a few goblins fall dead to the ground, but it barely put a small dent in their numbers.

“Rain, this isn’t good,” Elmer hissed, watching the Freelancers stumble into place, driven by desperation more than bravery. There were only about forty of them left, half that number again wounded and dying behind them, facing a horde five times larger and far more vicious. Rain watched one woman shaking so hard her spear rattled out of her hand and dropped into the sand. “They are going to overwhelm us. If we get out of this, I’m going to fucking kill Stone.”

Rain pulled two bottles from her satchel. The first was bottled darkness. The second glowed with swirling crimson and gold. The horde goblin horde was growing close, the ogres not far behind.

“Please tell me that is a bottled miracle,” Elmer asked, holding his giant rusted axe out as the goblins closed within thirty paces.

“Just a little bit of chaos,” Rain answered. She gripped the bottled darkness tightly and hurled it into the middle of the goblin horde.

The bottle smashed against the chest of an oncoming goblin, knocking it to the ground as the darkness billowed out in all directions, covering the goblins in thick night. Their shouts of slaughter were transformed into howls of surprise, and Rain and Elmer could hear confusion spread in their ranks.

“Archers, fire into that darkness!” Elmer shouted, and three arrows flew. Rain did not know if they struck home, but a moment later the sound of goblin weapons colliding with each other erupted from within the darkness. It had confused them enough to buy them some time. But not much.

The first wave of goblins escaped the edge of the darkness. It was time for Rain’s trump card.

She lifted the crimson and gold bottle in her hand. “I really hope I got this recipe right. Lugh Samildànach, this had better deliver as the recipe promised,” she whispered, then hurled the bottle forward at the ongoing goblins. She did not watch it land. She grabbed Elmer by his torn shirt and spun them so their backs were to the advancing goblins.

The bottle struck another goblin, and the resulting explosion blew Elmer and Rain off their feet. They landed hard on their backs, sand and tiny stones creating clouds in the air. Rain sat up, her ornamental dagger clutched in her hand, ready to defend herself. Only to have a severed goblin head, the back of its skull blown away, land at her feet.

Fragments of dozens of goblins rolled across the beach in every direction and there was a small crater at the epicenter of the explosion. A few had survived, limbs blown off and crawling along the sand in desperation. Rain felt a moment of guilt, but she had no time to dwell on it.

It bought them only a few seconds’ more reprieve. Goblins streamed out of the darkness, stampeding over the remains of their fallen comrades. There were still so many. Rain’s explosion had only put a dent in their numbers.

Rain held up another bottle of crimson and gold explosive. “I only have one more, Elmer. And we still have the ogres…”

“Throw it Rain,” exclaimed Elmer, then turned to the Freelancers, huddled in a tight semi-circle. “Everyone, be brave. Fight smart. If we break our line, we die. Fight like Spartans!”

Elmer turned back to the goblins, his axe clutched in his white knuckled hands. He stepped backwards, joining the centre of formation. “After all, it’s just a bunch of goblins, right?” he murmured to Rain, eyes filled with fear.

Rain held her dagger at her side, stepping in beside him. “You are a good leader, Elmer.”

“Yah, well, I watch a lot of movies.”

Rain hurled the bottle as the first line of goblins collided with their formation. The resulting explosion took out another swath of oncoming goblins, as the weapons of the forty remaining Freelancers collided with the first wave of goblin club and spear. The Freelancer’s shouts of fear and desperation merged with the guttural growls of the goblins. They were outnumbered four to one.

Rain’s dagger flashed as the first goblin struck her position. Her dagger twirled in her palm, deflecting the goblin’s clumsy blow into the sand and slashing across its throat a heartbeat later. The Dagger of Lugh Samildànach carved through its flesh and bone as if it were butter, its unnatural sharpness and her enhanced strength hardly feeling any resistance at all. The shocked goblin dropped the club, hands moving desperately to its throat. Rain kicked out, sending the goblin backwards into the one behind it, leaving it to bleed out on the sand.

It was immediately replaced, another goblin stepping over the first’s body without concern. The line of goblins was four rows deep, each pushing forward frantically, eager to fill the space.

Rain dispatched this one with a flick of her wrist, severing four of the goblin’s fingers mid-swing so it could not longer hold its weapon, then thrusting her dagger quickly into its eye. The goblin shuttered and was dead before it hit the ground.

Another two goblins fell to Rain in short succession, the Dagger of Lugh Samildànach and her dagger specialization talent a lethal combination in close quarters combat. As the fourth goblin fell, Rain snapped her fingers to channel her new fire magic, enveloping her off-hand in dull red flames. She set the dying goblin’s hide armor and body hair aflame, then pushed hard to send it backward into the goblin ranks. The goblins scattered in fear as they saw the burning flesh, and Rain suddenly had a moment of reprieve.

“We can do this Elmer!” Rain shouted, glancing to her side. And her heart dropped.

Elmer was struggling to wield his axe in such close quarters. His arms were bloody from numerous wounds he had suffered. The bodies of three goblin lay at his feet, but the fourth was gaining an upper hand on him until the Freelancer behind him thrust a spear forward through the goblin’s eye.

All down the line, Freelancers were covered in blood and gore. They did not have the advantages Rain had. Their levels were lower. They had fewer talents, and worse equipment. Many had barely grown since day one, too afraid to leave the beach.

“Elmer, hang in there. We…”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Rain watched in horror as a large, skull-decorated goblin thrust its spear viciously through the throat of the Freelancer fighting beside Elmer.

Veronica. She liked Rain’s tea first thing in the morning. She was a single mother with two kids at home, working a dead-end job to make enough to keep them in school. She had a heart condition, and Rain had spent an afternoon designing a replacement for her mediation when she had run out. And Rain watched as her body was pulled forward by the skull-decorated goblin as it wrenched his spear out of her throat. Her body collapsed on top of the pile of goblin corpses, her final contribution to the Contest.

Elmer’s axe and Rain’s angry blast of fire caught the skull-decorated goblin at the same time, sending its head flying backwards and its body launched into another pack of enemies. Rain felt tears flowing down her cheeks, and she wiped them away stiffly with the back of her hand before turning back towards the enemy, dagger ready and hands aflame.

Another four fell to Rain’s dagger and two to her flames as she poured her anger and sorrow into the fight. But it was not enough. For every four goblins they killed, a Freelancer fell. Everyone was forced backward two steps to close the line and prevent the goblins from breaking through to the wounded.

Rain’s eyes glanced behind the thinned goblin horde as she beheaded another goblin and shoved its body onto the growing pile at her feet. Her heart raced faster. “Shit.”

The three monstrous ogres strolled out of the cloud of darkness, slowly walking towards the goblin lines. They stepped over goblin corpses, licking their lips at the sight before them.

If the ogres hit their defensive line, it would be over. They could smash through their ranks with a single swing.

She braced herself, ready to break through the goblin lines to create a distraction. She could not defeat three ogres, but maybe she could slow them down.

And then she heard Elmer’s pained scream next to her. She looked over and saw a massive goblin standing even taller than Elmer, its spear impaled through Elmer’s shoulder. His axe had fallen to the ground, and Elmer gripped the goblin’s spear with his hands, staring the goblin in the eyes as he bled.

“I’ll take you down with me, mother fucker!” Elmer shouted, spitting into the goblin’s eye. The goblin gave a wide, angry grin, and leaned forward to bite through Elmer’s neck. Elmer smirked. “I hope you choke on me.”

“Elmer!” Rain shouted desperately, trying to fight her way to him through the two goblins that stood between them. She was not going to make it.

The Spear of Pinga flew from behind their ranks, striking the massive goblin through its eye and out the other side, its skull exploding as the momentum took it off its feet. The driftwood spear carried forward, impaling another two goblins on its shaft before coming to a halt.

Elmer cried out in pain as the spear was wrenched from his shoulder and he began to fall, only to be caught by Calista.

Rain’s heart leapt. Calista’s chest was covered in blood and she was unsteady on her feet, but she had a vengeful fire in her eyes.

“Don’t tell me you are done already, Elmer,” Calista poked. “I know you are tougher than that.”

“Tougher than you,” Elmer grunted through the pain. “You can’t even take a tiny little arrow. It took a whole spear to slow me down. Where is the witch?”

A line of dark red flame erupted between goblin and Freelancers along their line, weak heat that licked bare goblin feet and distract them long enough for the swords and spears of the Freelancers to carve through them and cause the next goblin line to hesitate. Rain took the chance to slice through the necks of both goblins she was facing.

Milly stood behind Calista, her dress caked in Calista’s blood, her eyes set with deep exhaustion.

She wanted to run over and hug her friends. She wanted to cry in their arms. But they had no time.

“Calista! Milly! The ogres!” she called, pointing with her dagger to the three approaching monstrosities. Calista started to move forward, but Milly reached up and grabbed her shoulder.

“Don’t you dare get hurt again,” Milly whispered in Calista’s ear. “I’ll never forgive you.”

Calista looked into her concerned eyes, then nodded. “You too, Milly. Let’s make it quick. One each?”

Milly and Rain nodded, and the trio sprang into action, Milly’s flames carving a path through the goblins between their line and the ogres. “Elmer, hold the line,” shouted Rain as they broke through and dashed towards the ogres.

“Right,” whispered Elmer, reaching over and grabbing a small goblin club on the ground with his uninjured arm. He slowly got to his feet, grateful he had decided to increase his toughness so much. Elmer shouted to the Freelancers as the flames died, “Freelancers! Let’s do this!”

When the last flame went out, the goblins crashed forward once again, their final line of forces meeting the stubborn Freelancers.

***

Rain carved through three more goblins as she dashed towards the ogre in the middle. It gave her a broad and stupid smile as she approached, eager to begin. It dragged its giant club lazily in the sand beside it, leaving a trail back to the darkness.

As she ran forward, Rain withdrew the final bottle from her satchel, a wide-brimmed narrow flask with a sickly green liquid and a black cork, marked with an X in red. She wiped her dagger clean on her apron before very carefully removing the cork and dipping her dagger inside. She held it there for a few footsteps until the imbedded pearl at the end of its hilt changed from milky white to sicky green. She gently replaced the cork on the bottle, now half empty, and stashed it back in her satchel.

She did not need the potion for the goblins. It would have been overkill. It was meant for something bigger.

She ran straight for the ogre but adjusted her speed, suddenly sprinting forward and catching the ogre off guard. It lifted its giant club to swing, but Rain was already sliding between its legs before its club left the ground, dagger slicing through thick skin and into tendons. She rose back to her feet behind the ogre, dagger jabbing forward quickly into its lower back. With each jab, the sickly green pearl slowly faded back to milky white.

It would be a monumental task to take down a massive ogre with a simple dagger.

But the Dagger of Lugh Samildànach was no simple dagger.

And Rain Desjarlais was no simple alchemist.

The ogre did not stand a chance.

Rain’s poison spread quickly through the ogre’s body, sickly green veins spreading with every prick of the dagger. Its blood vessels shattered. Pustules formed beneath its skin and ruptured. It tried to roar in pain, but only succeeded in expelling copious amounts of black fluid from its mouth onto the sand below.

Rain kept dancing behind its back, dagger stabbing until every last speck of sickly green had disappeared from the pearl. The ogre spun around, trying to reach her, but Rain was too fast. She stayed behind it, until the poison reached the monster’s heart and tore it apart from the inside. The ogre collapsed face first into the sand, shaking the ground as it landed, the poison still ripping its way through organ after organ.

“I may have made this first batch a little too strong,” concluded Rain, making a mental note to dilute down the next batch, and to find herself a thick pair of gloves.

***

Calista stumbled forward in the sand, yanking the Spear of Pinga out of the two goblin corpses as she passed. She was not well, though she was trying to hide it. Milly had been able to heal the worst of her injury. The arrow had pierced lung, and Calista had damaged her heart when she wrenched the arrow out of her chest. That she was still alive was a testament to the magical prowess that grew more powerful within Milly every day.

Two near-death experiences in two days, and Milly was her savior for each. It put her life in perspective. Milly was special to her, and Calista found herself smiling when she was simply in her presence.

“Rain is right. I cannot keep denying this. I cannot keep denying myself. When this is all over, I need to tell her,” Calista promised herself. “I need to tell her how I feel.”

The ogre roared, saliva flying out of its mouth in a torrent of foul-smelling droplets. It lifted its club, pounding its chest to challenge Calista.

“But first, there is this asshole to deal with,” Calista said. “I am not strong enough yet to fight it head on. Time to see what Pinga’s spear can really do.”

The ogre charged forward, massive footsteps shaking the ground. Calista lifted the spear up to her shoulder and took a deep breath. “Let’s see what a twenty strength can do.” She hurled the driftwood spear forward with all her strength, wincing in the pain with the effort.

The spear connected with the ogre in the same place Calista had been struck by the arrow. Only her spear pierced straight through the ogre’s thick hide, erupting out the other side and carrying forward until it impaled itself into the middle of a palm tree twenty paces away with a resounding crack.

“Holy shit!” Calista exclaimed as the ogre halted in its tracks, staring down in disbelief at the hole the spear had carved through its chest.

“Now, for its talent,” Calista said, raising her palm to the sky and focusing on the spear. “Let’s see if this works.”

She felt the talent granted by the spear activate, an invisible silver thread connecting her palm to the Spear of Pinga. It felt as if she could reach out and touch it.

“Spear Recall.”

The driftwood spear began to move, jarring itself out of the tree. Coconuts rained down on the ground below as the tree shook with its effort. Once it was free, the spear turned its point towards its owner and shot back in a straight line, traveling at the same speed it was thrown.

The ogre stood between the spear and Calista. The spear did not slow down, and it pierced through the ogre’s stomach as it traveled towards Calista.

The spear finished its flight and rested gently into Calista’s outstretched palm as the ogre’s vile insides spilled onto the sand. The spear was covered in ogre blood and bile, and Calista struggled to focus as she dodged the droplets of ogre insides that fell around her.

“Oh, that is so gross,” complained Calista. She shook the spear off in the sand to get rid of the worst of it, then hoisted it back up. “One last time,” she said, throwing hard.

The Spear of Pinga struck the creature in the eye, imbedding itself deep into its skull. The ogre collapsed backwards with the impact, dead in the sand.

“I really wish we had showers here,” Calista sighed.

***

Milly steadily approached her ogre, exhaustion threatening to overcome her. Salem’s Fury was still active, and she could feel the wellspring of power still flowing within her, but each time she tapped into it she grew more exhausted. And more angry. She was borrowing power from an unknown source, and she did not know what would happen if she drew too much.

But her anger drowned out any worry within her. She had been forced to listen to the sounds of dying Freelancers as she had kept Calista alive, unable to help them for fear Calista would be the cost of doing so. A sacrifice Milly would never make.

“Damn those goblins,” spat Milly, marching towards the ogre, her anger growing. “Damn the Gods. Damn Jacob Stone. Damn Judy Brass. Damn every single, fucking one of them.”

Flames erupted from her palms, stretching high above her. Her eyes glowed with violet fire as anger consumed her. Her gaze burrowed into the ogre’s eyes, a mirror clone of the one that had nearly killed her and Calista on that first day. And her flames grew hotter.

“You attack my friends? The people I care about? I will not let you have them. I will not let them be sacrificed to your fucking game.”

She felt no fear. Her anger had consumed her fear. But the ogre could not say the same. The woman clouded in flames and with piercing violet eyes frightened it to its core.

The ogre turned and ran.

“Oh no, you fucking don’t!” Milly shouted, reaching out with her earth magic and causing the sand around its feet to solidify. It fell forward as its feet were planted in place, but Milly used her telekinesis to keep it on its feet.

She closed the distance as it struggled to rip its feet from the earth. It looked backed at Milly, utter fear in its eyes.

Milly unleased her flames, and the ogre’s dying screams struck fear into the heart of every remaining goblin.

***

Elmer watched The Huntress, The Alchemist, and The Witch of the Castle of Glass take down the three ogres, utterly awestruck at their power. A sentiment shared by every one of the remaining Freelancers.

“Come on!” he shouted, bashing a goblin over the head with its own club. “They have cleared us the path. Let’s end this!”

The Freelancers surged forward as the ogre’s dying screams filled the air. And one by one, the remaining goblins were struck down, until at least the final one took its last breath, lying on the sands of Tower Beach.

A victory cheer rose into the air from the survivors. A cheer that every person cowering in the Tower, watching from on high from behind glass walls, could hear.

A victory that had come at a heavy price.

Congratulations Players!

Event Complete

Win condition: Defeat All Enemies

Rewards: Participating players receive

* Experience based on kills

* +1 bonus level

* 500 gold each

* 1 special custom item

Event timer reset to 168 hours