Before I knew what'd happened, they were under my tree and the wolf was howling in anger at me. Looking up, the Shaman exclaimed and pointed his staff. A fireball shot from it, flying at me. In an automatic reaction, I jumped out of the tree dodging the attack. Landing on the ground in a crouch, I summoned my staff and started attacking.
"Elemental Strike!" I yelled out as I swung my staff horizontally. Most of the goblins were sent flying as a gust of wind tore through the clearing under the trees. However, the shaman raised his staff and chanted for a second before a fire shield covered his body.
Yelling, he pointed his staff at me and the wolf charged. I hadn't yet trained any movement skills so even with 'Riding the Storm' I couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. Not that I needed too. Activating Defense of the Light, my staff slammed into the wolfs head, sending him flying as a barrier of light appeared around my body. The nice thing about the staff is even defensive techniques can do damage in the right situation.
Before the shaman had a chance to recover, my eyes began to glow that dark-golden color again and a phantom of a roiling storm appeared over my head. A young girl's voice cried out as a dark-gold icicle pierced through the fire shield and exploded the shaman's head.
'When did you start using Ice attacks?' I thought, but all I got was a smug feeling from Patrice. I didn't have time to question her further as the gates to the Goblin Nest opened and thousands of them rushed out followed by the hundred Hob's in heavy armor. It was quite the sight to see, at least twenty shamans chanted in unison from atop more wolves. A giant Hob, nearly 8 feet tall, stomped through the gates and yelled in English, "Kill the intruder for the lord!"
The twenty shaman's pointed their staff's at me in unison and before I could even think about dodging twenty fireballs exploded on my Storm Shield. I was completely surrounded, yet somehow I knew that the torture I'd put myself through over the last couple of weeks was worth it as I watched them approach.
Taking a deep breath, my eyes burned as Storm Elemental Energy flowed through me. The roiling storm cloud over my head became solid as it expanded covering the hundred feet around me. A gust front blew through the area with such strength that hundreds of low-level goblins were picked up by it and sent flying into their comrades. An image of a dark tornado with hail and lightning flashing from it came to my mind and I focused on the image, giving my Storm Elemental Energy to it. Patrice combined my Storm Elemental Energy with her own and the image came to life with me standing at it's center. Between my barriers and Defense of the Light, no matter what they did the goblins and shaman's couldn't harm me. The thousands of regular goblins were swallowed up and torn to pieces by wind blades hidden within the tornado, meanwhile bolts of dark-gold lightning struck the Hob's in heavy armor electrocuting them. To me, heavy armor is just a decent conductor for electricity. Within moments the only beings left standing where me, the 20 shamans, and the giant hob.
I had to cut off the tornado if I wanted to keep my barriers up, it took too much energy. With a last strike of lightning, the tornado dissipated and left me standing untouched in the middle. Charging towards me, the giant hobgoblin pulled out a massive two-handed battleaxe and slammed it down. Stepping to the side, I used my staff to deflect the blow causing it to slam into the ground and get stuck. Whipping it around, I slammed the other end of my staff into it's head, disorienting it. Ignoring the spells slamming into my shields, I knew that I had to take care of the big guy fast or he'd deplete my Energy levels with his insane strength, I once again gave Patrice my Energy. While I'd been fighting, Patrice had been gathering up Elemental Energy and before the giant Hob could pull his battleaxe from the ground she used our combined strengths to freeze him in place.
A massive popsicle, the Hob struggled mightily and the ice cracked slightly but held. Taking advantage of the reprieve, I sent an image to Patrice of a bog. Water Elemental Energy gathered overhead and slammed into the earth around the Shamans, drenching them and slowing the wolves down as a massive amount of mud surrounded them.
The wolves scattered, but I managed to catch two of them. Slamming my staff into the side of a wolf before it's master could shield it while Lightning crackled. Patrice showed off her training as she rained down bolt after bolt of lightning. She was unable to kill the shaman's without fully concentrating on penetrating their shields, however she easily killed the wolves and without their movement advantage I quickly killed them all off using my staff and Ice attacks.
*CRACK*
The Ice finally shattered, and the giant Hob's war cry shaking the surroundings. By this point, Patrice was completely out of energy, and I was running close to empty. Decisively, I decided to cancel my barrier and rely on my staff technique to survive for as long as possible while Patrice started to gather more energy. One of the great things about having a Spirit Partner like Patrice is that while one of you fights, the other can gather energy and because of our soul bond we can even share it with each other giving us a nearly endless stamina.
Ripping it's battleaxe from the ground, the Hob charged at me. This time, it swung horizontally, not giving me the chance to dodge so easily like last time. Activating Defense of the Light, I blocked the strike.
*CRASH*
A bright white shield covered my entire body as I was pushed back a couple feet by the sheer force of the blow. The Hob raised his axe again, and this time I stepped into him not giving him the chance to build up his momentum.
*SMACK*
He was unable to push me back, and using the energy of the recoil I spun and slammed my staff into his guts. With a grunt, he bent slightly but recovered and kicked me in the chest. Continuing my spin, I blocked again. The training for Defense of the Light showed it's value as I blocked attack after attack. While I may have completed the training, I hadn't truly mastered the technique yet. So, with every blocked strike I grew more and more confident in it. My ability to counterattack increasing as time went on.
Nearly 5 minutes later, we were both panting, but I was still going strong as Patrice fed me Storm Elemental Energy while keeping some for herself. She sent me a message saying she'd saved up enough for an Ice Spear. The longer the fight went on, the more in sync we became. Messages between us became easier to understand, and we no longer needed pictures or words to convey our meanings.
I took a step back, and pretended to be more tired than I really was. My arms drooped, and my head lowered slightly. The Hob bought it, and charged while screaming with glee pulling back his axe for a massive strike yet again. I smirked as I used my staff to divert his blow and the phantasmal image of a golden storm cloud came into being behind my head for the second time. A spear of ice so sharp at it's point that it could cut through steel pierced through the undefended head of the Hob, knocking him back several feet as he fell to the ground. I pulled a sword out of the storage bag as I ran up to him and started to cut his head off. This Hob was obviously some sort of body cultivator, and you never take chances with them.