Magic can be performed in a variety of ways, we twist reality but others utilize some form of energy to use their abilities. Yes, we can do more than they in a day but they find it easy to do some of the things we struggle to learn. A wizard or sorcerer can divine the answer to a question far easier than us. Everything has its own advantages or it would have ceased to exist long ago. – Introduction from Magi Sects and Practices.
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Adrian
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The three of us are able to take out the first wave of these goblins before they finish adjusting to the higher level of light within the building. Abagail is a bad shot but still better than nothing. There are still goblins rushing in from the broken windows, they are looking around and spreading out. After around forty enter through the windows the stream of the creatures stopped. Well, there is only twenty of them still alive in the building, too many for melee, there is also noise coming in from outside of the store.
There are no goblins in my sight at the moment and I can see the only two paths that they could use to reach me. Time to try out some of the concepts that that dream realm showed me. Will they even work? I am familiar enough about my own body to heal myself, so I’ll focus on that. I look at the minor burns on my side from the fight with that goblin sorcerer from yesterday focusing on what they are supposed to be, rejecting what is there and guiding my body to not be injured.
The burns slowly fade as I feel what is real shift. I cover the healed burn with my shirt, I should be injured but I’m not anymore. I know that if those around me reject this change reality will backlash against me. Mabey, I can play this off as magic, if others think that this is the effect of a spell then there will not be a schism between what I made real and what they’ll accept.
The sorcerer from before used magic, so it is a thing that others will experience and accept. I see five of the goblins moving into the hallway that lead into the camping section. I take out one of them, Bryan takes another out but the three remaining are now up against the barricade we set up. Great, using our cover against us.
I turn to look at the stairs from the entrance to the food court, ten of the goblins are rushing up it. I manage to kill one of them with the two shots that I get off before they leave my sight.
“They’ve reached to food court. Keep them pinned here. Abagail, help Bryan and take any shots you can at the few that haven’t made it to the food court.”
They nod as I leave the rifle against the railing, it’ll be too bulky to work in the closer quarters of the food court. Hopefully they will not all be able to rush me at once. As I run to the food court, Bryan snipes one of the goblins as it tried to climb the wall we built. I pass by Jason as I run, he is still out, useless.
I arrive at the food court. The small burger store with a large counter for the customers to sit and watch as their food is prepared, a dozen goblins are searching the place, they can probably smell the meat in the unpowered fridges. Good, they are distracted. I take aim with one of my pistols, I attached a suppressor to one of them. Lets see how many I pick off before they notice me.
None of them are looking at the corner of the room that connect to the balcony above the camping section, I see one of them licking the grill where we cooked a few hours ago, is it trying to lick up the grease? Whatever, it's alone so I should be able to take it out without alerting the others. I fire and its brain spills out onto the grill, but the bullet ricochets off the metal plate causing it to ring loudly, louder than the noise of its raiding kin.
So much for getting a bunch of sneak attacks. A few of the goblins rush over to the counter, they start looking around for what happened, talking in their tongue to each other. I fire again, taking out a second goblin, I hit its neck. Wasn’t what I was aiming for, but still a kill. The goblins take cover, they recognized the direction of the attack even though they haven’t noticed me.
Several more of the goblins rush out to see what is going on, I take another shot. This one misses, the goblin changed directions as I pulled the trigger. It shouts out and points to the corner, they noticed me. Ten goblins, I take another shot and this time put a hole in the chest of the goblin I missed before, it colapses to the ground spitting up blood.
Nine goblins, twelve bullets. The goblins look out from behind the little cover they have and see me. Their eyes reflecting some of the light from the lights in the ceiling. Cat like eyes, they probably see in black and white. Not the time to be distracted I shoot at a goblin that stepped out of the employee’s entrance to the storage of the restaurant. A hole appears in its chest, not a kill shot but that’ll incapacitate, I’ll finish him afterwards.
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The remaining eight goblins, begin to rush at me. I fire again hitting one of their shoulders before I back up away from the door. I manage to get about a dozen feet back from the door before the goblins open the door in a rush to charge at me.
I get a free shot at the first through the door. A choke point, but they flood in too fast for me to get all of them before they reach me. I manage to kill or incapacitate four of the seven left before they reach me, expending another seven bullets.
Three bullets, three goblins, but they are in melee and have knives and clubs. I attempt to side step the first swing of a knife against me, I manage to dodge it but step right into a slash from the goblin on my left, the blade cuts into my belt. It didn’t manage to break my skin. The club impacts against my back, knocking me forward to keep my balance.
I grab the knife strapped to my right side, as I take aim at the goblin who I dodged. The shot misses as my arm gets struck by the club wielding goblin. The knife wielding goblins moves inside the reach of my pistol.
They are now too close for me to shoot, I stab the goblin on my left with the combat knife I am now holding, it screeches and drops its weapon. The other knife wielding midget shanks me in the gut. I yell out in pain, the bastard wants to disembowel me.
I drop the pistol in my right hand bringing it down to keep this thing from causing more damage, my left also reacts to my pain ripping the blade through a chunk of the goblins neck.
That goblin collapses as its blood sprays over myself and the two other monsters. I hold the knife in my gut as the goblin who wields it tries to twist it, he manages to move it some and blood begins to spill out of my belly. I feel another impact against my back, I stab the blade in my left hand into the goblin in front of me.
It cries out in pain and abandons its attacks against me. I leave the blade in its gut, moving my left hand to hold my bowels in as I remove the knife. My flesh rips a bit as I remove the blade, I hear the goblin behind me start to cower. Does it think that cowering will save its life? I draw the pistol that still hangs on what is left of my belt and turn to the creature.
It keeps cowering squealing, and whimpering. I shoot the thing in its head, and turn to do the same to the goblin trying to pull the knife out of its side but keeps stopping as it winces in pain. Once the creature is dead I lean up against the wall slowly lowering myself down to floor. The hole in my skin leaking red and black fluid. The knife must have cut into my lower intestine. I’ve lost a lot of blood my head getting light, I have to fix this before I pass out or I’ll die.
Focus, just like curing the burns earlier. I need to be as I was before the cut. I don’t know as much about how my insides should look, even so the blood slows to a trickle and the skin closes. I still feel pain within my gut, so I keep focusing on my injuries being healed. I stay focusing for several minutes until I hear the door to the food court open as two more goblins rush towards me. More must have gotten up the stairs.
I manage to shoot one of them twice in the chest, as I still feel weak and light headed from the near disembowelment. The other, a spear wielder manages to pierce my shoulder. I turn the gun up into his chest and fire twice. It slumps down and I push him off me, the spear stays having entered a few inches and is caught on my collarbone. It won’t bleed much until I pull it out, I’ll finish fixing my gut first.
After a few more minutes my gut no longer is a ball of pain, it's fixed. Now for the spear, how can I pull this out? I don’t have the leverage, and if I lose more blood I’ll probably pass out. Remove the spear without tearing the blood vessels in my left shoulder. As the spear has a barbed head, I’ll have to remove it with Translocation Grasp, but it’s too large. I’ve only ever moved something the size of a cat or smaller. I’ll have to cut most the shaft away first.
Cutting with the knife or sawing will stir up the wound, that’ll cause a lot of bleeding. I have no brace or leverage to snap the wood. Fire maybe? I hold the spear still with my left hand and hold my palm open about six inches above my wound.
A flame appears in my right hand as I will it into being, it comes easier than the last time I called fire into being. The wood of the spear begins to char, I need to keep it steady until I burn through the shaft. After another minute or two the spear breaks off under its own weight and I stop maintaining the flame. Now for the dangerous part; I take a few breaths to calm myself before continuing.
I hear something making heavy steps on the other side of the door, no time to finish. I have fourteen shots in the pistol within reach. I pick it up as the door opens, a two-meter-tall version of the goblins opened it. It is wearing leather held together by bits of bone, a crude axe in his hand. He looks straight at me and laughs, probably thinks I’m easy pickings. I probably am, but he has to get to me first.
The first shot from the pistol hits his chest, blood starts to spill out of the hole, and the creature grunts in pain as it begins to move towards me. I fire the gun as fast as I can, I put four more holes into him before he finally falls to the ground gurgling blood from punctured lungs. My heart beat begins to slow down, the danger having passed.
Larger than human sized goblinoid, greenish skin with a pronounced forehead and jaw. Probably an orc of some sort, but I thought that orcs are should have tusks coming out of the lower jaw. I need to get ready to move, if there are orcs leading these goblins it’s going to be rough. I set down the pistol and grasp the air in front of me, visualizing the piece of the spear from my shoulder. The spear vanishes from my shoulder and appears half way between where it was and my hand.
Not what I was trying to do, but close enough. Now to focus on healing before I pass out. The injury begins to slowly by visibly close, a minute later my shoulder is unhurt. I reload the magazines of the two pistols quickly, I can still hear Bryan and Abagail shooting. Hopefully that wall held.