***Matt's POV***
The calm we had experienced was completely broken when a group of five goblins casually walked out of the woods, a sheep carcass hanging on a branch between them.
As soon as they saw us standing in front of the cave entrance, the sheep is dropped to the ground and they draw their weapons.
Luckily my nerves make me faster.
"Lightning Bolt!"
I send lightning arcing at the group of goblins. It strikes one directly in the chest, instantly killing it, and shoots off to strike another one on the arm.
While that goblin collapsed to the ground paralyzed, the other three charged Bernadette.
"Arms of the Bear."
I hear Bernadette mutter this under her breath and a red light envelopes her arms. She charges the goblins, jumping into the air and slamming her axe down onto one of them.
It tried to block the overhead strike, but Bernadette's axe broke through the goblin's shield like butter and cut him in half, slamming into the ground.
The other goblins stepped back slowly, wide eyed at the explosion of dirt where their ally had been a second ago. Bernadette yanks her axe out of the ground and charges at them. The only thing they can do is get out of the way of the deadly blade and run.
I analyse the situation to find a way to help.
"Lightning Bolt!"
As I say this I see one of the goblins throws his helmet towards Bernadette.
He timed it perfectly.
As I release my magic it arches towards the iron helmet, striking it instead of the goblin.
Sparks fly off the helmet, hitting Bernadette and both of the goblins.
I can only looked on in horror as they all dropped to the ground.
Seeing movement, I turn to find a larger goblin walking out of the woods. It's a General, anger filling its face as it looks at its comrades.
For one of the few times in I my life, I cuss.
"We are fucked."
***Kairo's POV***
I concentrate mana into my hands, ignite it, condense the heat, and let it build.
The shouts of the goblins grow closer and closer, pushing me to complete the spell even sooner.
Right as I'm able to heat the fire up to an yellow color, a fist sized hole appears in the wall.
I shove the orb of fire into that hole and finish the spell early.
"Firewave!"
The stone around the hole grows red from the heat as I stumble back, feeling light headed. Maintaining the will-o-wisps and casting other magic is finally catching up to me, so I chug a mana potion as fast as I can.
As we wait for the screams of the goblins to die out, Natalia casts buff magic on us.
When the screeching noises die out she takes down the wall.
Alcon and I go forward, carefully stepping around the charred remains of the goblins. When we see a couple of good shields we grab them and sling them over our backs.
The tunnel smells horrid, so we hold our breath and try to be as quick as we can.
Before we exit the tunnel, I have Alcon stop. I create a mental picture of what I saw when I dragged him back.
After a moment, I send half of the remaining will-o-wisps to attack where I remember the archer goblins were standing.
Only after hearing shouts and running do we burst into the cave.
By rough estimate, there's about twelve goblins and one larger goblin, which has yellow paint on its forehead. The exploding will-o-wisps burnt the string on the archers bows, so they're scrambling to the main group.
'A Chief? Here? I thought that, other than for war, they stayed to defend the tribe?!'
The twelve normal goblins all charge at once. I throw both the short swords I picked up at the two goblins leading the pack.
Two more goblins trip over the tumbling bodies as Alcon and I draw our swords and step back to the tunnel.
We stand shoulder to shoulder, bracing together as the goblins slam into our shields.
When their momentum has come to a stop, Alcon and I push them back then thrust our swords out from behind our shields. Alcon stabs a goblin in the eye and I hit another one's throat.
We repeat this a few times and the Chief seems to be getting frustrated.
"Keep away from the shields! Bring out the spears!"
The general barks a command and the goblins get to work. As a spear stabs towards me, I slam my shield into the side of it and stab the goblin in the throat.
Alcon lets a spear get buried into his shield, then yanks it out of the goblin's hands and mows it down.
With six goblins left, I send out the rest of my will-o-wisps and bomb the group. In the confusion, I grab a spear dropped by me and throw it at the chief.
He dodges by the smallest of margins, but I still manage to nick his cheek.
He wipes off the thin line of blood running down his face and glares at me.
Seeming to make up his mind, the chief pulls a large sword out of the barrel beside him.
"The big guy's finally coming out to play!"
Alcon says this with a cackle. Twirling his sword in a circle, he charges the Chief, my shouts for him to stop fall on deaf ears.
***Matt's POV***
'What am I to do?'
The general is now slowly making its way over to Bernadette, an axe raised.
"Lightning Bolt!"
The goblin throws his helmet away from him, causing my lighting to streak away harmlessly.
With an almost smirk, the goblin takes off more armor and continues to stalk towards Bernadette.
'It has a multitude of iron equipment to act like lightning rods, so another lightning bolt would not be effective. I do not have enough mana left to use Lightning Bundle, so I will have to try this. I was unable to conjure it during training, however it is my only choice now!'
Tossing my staff to the ground, I grab a short and thick wooden baton from my belt. With a click of a button, it extends out to a full staff made from Mattow wood.
Slamming it into the ground, I closed my eyes and started focusing mana into the top of the staff.
'Clear water. Create it into a powerful weapon. Condense the water.'
Liquid starts swirling at the end of the staff. Snapping my eyes open, I take aim.
"Water Shot!"
The general turned its head to look at me and was met with a face full of stinging water. The spell launched it back into a tree, impaling the general on a broken branch.
Half of his face and parts of his chest had been carved away by the water as well. Blood started pouring as pain filled screams filled the clearing.
Averting my eyes from the howling goblin, I slowly make my way over to Bernadette.
She is beginning to move her fingers and jaw, which means the other three goblins would be able to move soon.
"I am nearly out of mana and do not have potions on me. I am able kill one of them, but would be unable to move after the fact. What do you suppose I should do?"
"Try to drag me away from them. We'll have more space if they recover sooner than me."
"That sounds logical. I shall do as you suggest."
With great effort, I propped Bernadette against a tree then sat down next to her.
There we waited, muting out the dying general and closely watching the goblins.