The next morning was the day we planned on going farther into Goblins Reach. We had each received more skills and training in the last week that we'd taken off from hunting, so it was time. Derek still had the two skills that he'd learned, but now his swordsmanship was looking less clumsy and more refined than it had been previously.
The back yard was starting to look more and more like a training area than an actual yard. I'd gotten a little crafty a while back and decided that I'd make grass dummies by twisting together tall grass that I'd grown myself and binding them into the rough shape of a person. Sarah used these to practice her marksmanship any chance that she could. The archer learned the skill "Blood Shot" in the past week. It was a skill that caused the intended target to bleed more even when just nicked by an arrow.
Tim's skill was fascinating. He had to make a connection with another deity of this world, which added to the number of daily prayers he would have to do to allow him to use his magic, but he promised it would be worth it. The skill was called "Blessed Protection." He was able to raise a target's defense against physical attacks meaning that Grace would take less damage when she was out front. The Paladin was grateful for that.
Grace's shield work was getting better and better. She would now use her buckler to parry rather than just clumsily block. Her teacher saw her potential with the shield, so instead of teaching her a sword skill, she learned one for the shield. "Charge." She called it. Red energy would appear in front of her as she ran towards the enemy. Any enemy in front of her would-be knocked back or to the side. It didn't cause a lot of physical damage, but it did allow her to get up close and personal with the enemy attacking them while they were unbalanced.
It was the perfect skill to match with Laura. Laura had decided to stick with learning more ice magic. Now instead of just being able to lay a layer of ice on the ground for enemies to slip on, she could make the ice crawl up their legs, trapping them where they were. If an enemy can't move out of Grace's way, they're in big trouble.
Everyone was looking confident and assertive when we got up. Tim and I had told them about what happened at the bar, but it only made the others more determined to become stronger and prove what people had been saying about us wrong.
"We don't have to reckless, though." Grace had said to the group the night before. "We should take our time, get to know our enemies. Rushing into battles can get us killed." We had all agreed with her about that. In a way, I was grateful for what happened during our first hunt, even though my scar still burned when I would twist the wrong way.
We headed out about an hour after we'd all gotten up having had a chance to get ready and eat a small breakfast. The trip no longer felt like it took a long time; we'd talk while walking and make battle strategies. It was strange, but I was starting to have fun being in this world. I missed my Mom every day. But all I could do was hope that she was ok.
For the most part, this world kept me too busy to think about such depressing things, though. We had been tracking where we'd been hunting before, so we knew what path to take to get farther into the territory of the goblins. We ran into a couple of small goblins, but they were quickly dispatched. 'I think even I could solo one of those things now.' I thought to myself. It was true, but still weird to think about considering having almost been killed by one the first time I met one.
As we went farther, you could start to see bits and pieces of old ruins popping out here and there. Stone pillars having crumbled some with time, and what looked like what could have been buildings at one time. Once reaching this area, we needed to rely on stealth. There was no way of knowing when the enemy would show up, but luckily we had learned what kind of monsters we'd be facing.
In this area, it would be Hobgoblins and goblins. Hobgoblins were supposed to be the bigger, faster, smarter, and uglier cousins to the goblins. Grace, the ever hard-working leader of our party, had done some research about them in her spare time. They worked as a middle man between the Great Goblins in the area and the smaller goblins. 'Like middle management.' The thought of a Hobgoblin in a suit and tie was almost enough to make me laugh if it weren't for the fact that they were so ugly.
As I was lost in thought, Sarah, who had been scouting from the trees for our party as we moved along the ground, gave a loud whistling bird call. That was our new signal for when she caught sight of the enemy. Tim had taught us some hand signals that he'd learned during his time in the army, which allowed us to communicate silently. Grace was the call maker, though.
Sarah held up the number two. That meant two enemies ahead. Grace signaled for Laura and Tim to follow her and gave Derek and I the sign to flank. We did as she told us to, sneaking carefully to each side of the two Hobgoblins walking down a nearby path. I was able to see them when I was about fifty meters from them. It was going to be a quick bait and hook. Grace stepped out into view and whistled at the enemies. She was the only target they could see and got disgusting smiles on their faces when they saw the attractive woman in front of them.
I swear I even saw one drool. I could only guess what this meant for the mindset of Hobgoblins, and the thought made me shudder in disgust. The monsters got closer. But as soon as they began to make their way towards Grace, Laura popped out and trapped their legs in ice. Panic reached the monster's faces as they realized what was happening. But it was too late for them.
As soon as the Hobgoblins were trapped, Derek and I made our move. I threw a seed onto the ground and began to make a single vine grow towards the back of one of the enemies' heads as fast as I could. Derek darted forward like a flash. In a second, the fencer removed one of the monster's heads, and my vine pushed through the brain of the other one at the same time. We had no time to celebrate our first victory, however, because we heard Sarah's whistle again.
This time she held out the number two but tapped it on the back of her head. This meant that her headcount for the enemy was twenty in number. 'Hobgoblins?' I wondered if we could even take on that many. But looking at Sarah, I doubted that it was. Derek and I went back into our hiding places quickly, as did Grace and Laura.
The next thing we knew, two platoons of goblins were marching up the path. 'We must have just taken out their commanders.' The monsters stopped marching when they saw the bodies of the two Hobgoblins a little further up the path. They drew their weapons a combination of daggers, clubs, and flails. I decided to crawl up a little farther towards the enemies.
I could be more effective by cutting off their retreat and taking some out from behind. The goblins moved slowly forward keeping an eye on their surroundings, watching for any movement. Listening for any sound. I was as silent as I could be though watching for twigs or leaves that could give away my position. The goblins had all almost past me though so I decided to stop.
Once more it was time for Grace to step out of her hiding spot to draw their attention. As soon as the goblins saw her though they went into a frenzy it was nothing like we'd seen them before. They weren't just trying to enjoy the hunt, they were angry for us having killed their leaders.
The monsters sprinted forward surprising all of us. Only for a second though I heard Tim speaking loudly now.
"Great master of stone and vitality, grant my target, the glory of your divine strength. Blessed Protection!" A dome of light just large enough to cover Grace appeared over her. Laura once more popped out and froze the feet of as many as she could then our Paladin charged in. I stepped out of my hiding spot and quickly blocked off the retreat with a wall of vines.
The monsters were recovering quickly though taking up defensive positions. Derek weighed in from the side striking and parrying as much as he could. There were so many of them though and they were fast almost as fast as he was. Sarah let out a volley of arrows with deadly accuracy she took down three Goblins.
The monsters noticed Tim and pushed their way passed Grace heading towards him and Laura. The Cleric stepped in front of the girl and drew his mace. It was time for me to enter the fray. I ran up behind a knife wielding goblin and grabbed him by the back of the neck. I then activated my electric alchemy and held him until smoke started to come from his spine and I could smell burnt flesh. I picked up the knife and started to slash randomly at the tiny monsters.
We were each fighting hard. We had gotten a lot stronger, but twenty goblins was too many. We'd never fought against this many enemies at one time before. I heard a female scream, it was laura a goblin had gotten her in the leg with it's knife. Tim quickly bashed the monsters head in, but he didn't have time to get down and heal her.
"Are you going to be ok?" I heard him scream at her with his mace moving back and forth trying to fend off the little creatures. But Laura had grown tough. She covered her wound with a layer of ice to stop the bleeding then continued to trap as many as she could. It was clear that we were losing. I had an idea though, it would just need a couple people to cooperate with me on the fly.
"Sarah cover me and Grace!" I yelled then looked to the Paladin who was already struggling with the enemies she had. "Grace scream and pull them all towards me!" She knew exactly what I meant but she looked at me like I was crazy.
"I'm having difficulties myself you know!" I did know.
"Just trust me!" I said while still slashing and shocking as many as I could. "Scream and run towards me! Everyone else back up!" She still wasn't sure, but one look at my determined face made up her mind.
"I hope you know what you're doing!" Grace took in a deep breath and activated her pulling skill. The goblins all reacted by turning their heads towards her. Sarah covered her and me as we ran towards each other in the center of the enemies. Every time an enemy got too close she would loose an arrow and strike down another monster.
We reached each other and I wrapped my arm around Graces waist.
"Hold on ok?" She nodded, and I dropped a seed right underneath us. I activated the growth skill with more power than I'd ever done before. As I did the vines shot out of the earth in every direction around us. The thorns would slice, stab and impale the monsters I made the vines grow over us in a defensive position too. I couldn't even see what was going on anymore. But a minute passed with no sound.
Another couple minutes went by before we hear the swish of Dereks blade poisoning the vines all around us until they fell away. I let go of Graces as soon as the thorns were no longer a danger to us.
"Todd you are insane man!" Derek yelled as soon as we had been released. The group looked exhausted. Laura was being healed by Tim who was looking over at me to make sure that neither of us were hurt. My vines had killed eight of them that I could see, Sarah and Derek took care of the last few while I was encapsulated.
Tim rushed over to us after the healing was done and wrapped his arms around me and Grace.
"We did it I'm so happy you guys are ok!" I agreed with him and returned the hug.
"Me too we made it." It felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I didn't know if we were all going to make it out of that one alive but we did. My relief didn't last long though, before the group could get our bearing back that's when we heard it.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"