We turned to face the sound. Every one of us readied our weapons, preparing for a fight. I held my breath while waiting to see what was in store for our group next. It didn't take long though a few seconds later, our new enemy stepped out on the scene. Our faces all went pale with fear as we saw the massive monster in front of us. The new beast was at least thirty feet tall. Its facial features were broad and distorted to look almost like a frog.
Its body looked fat, but it's arms and legs were very defined, so I attributed the fat to its monstrous size. In its hand, it wielded a giant club that looked more like a tree that had been ripped out by its roots. It looked at us, glaring menacingly before it began to speak.
"So you da ones have been killed my soldiers." He didn't seem very eloquent but still hearing a monster speak the same language as you was terrifying. "Now, I kill you." He said, raising his club above his head. Grace was the first to move. The tree came down, and she tried to block the strike with her shield. But as the club made contact, her wooden buckler, it shattered, and Grace was sent flying. We were all in complete shock.
"G-graacee!" I could hear someone scream. 'Was that me?' I looked around and could see the wide-eyed horror projected on everyone's face. Then I looked at the spot where grace was lying so still. Her body was mangled, bones sticking out of her arms and legs, and cuts were all over her body. I tried to snap out of my shock.
"Tim!" I called out, but he was already running towards her. The monster prepared to strike again, this time, aiming for our healer. "No!" I rushed forward as fast as I could, dropping seeds on the ground on my way through. I placed a wall of thorns up between the Great Goblins swing and my friends. It gave Tim some time to get to Grace and begin healing her.
"I... is she?" Laura asked him, almost hysterically crying. Tim didn't answer; he just kept healing. Meanwhile, the monster had begun tearing my vines out of the way with his bare hands.
"You think puny weeds stop me?" He laughed, but I kept reinforcing the vines every time he would tear one away. The others were watching Tim with bated breath as bones started to snap back into place, and the bleeding stopped. It didn't take a lot of time, but it took most of Tims mana. Grace was still unconscious, though.
Sarah had finally recovered enough to start firing arrows, but she was still shaking so hard that even with her skills, she was missing the target.
"Enough, tiny human!" The monster was tired of these vines. It reached behind him for something and pulled out a giant knife. I hadn't even seen it behind its massive body. I knew my stalling tactics were over the moment I saw his new weapon, and I looked back at the others.
"Run!" They all just stared blankly at me for a second; they could see that I was struggling to keep the Iron Thorn growing as the monster swung his great knife cutting through it like butter.
"What do you me-" Tim began, but I interrupted him.
"DON'T ARGUE JUST RUN!" I screamed. I was terrified; I would be staying behind to stall this giant monster. 'Am I going to die?' I thought to myself, but I continued to pour energy into my wall of thorns. My message seemed to get across to all of them. Derek helped Tim prop our leader up and started carrying her away. Laura was still standing there, screaming at them not to leave me. 'But they have no choice.' I knew that. Sarah had come down from the tree and began pulling at the sixteen-year-old girl about to watch her friend die.
They were all crying. 'At least their moving though. I kept up the wall until I saw my friends disappear entirely into the woods. I was alone, and they were going to be safe. I thought about the small goblins that they might see along the way home, but I could trust anyone of them to handle that. The monster was moving towards me steadily now. Watching it easily cut through my vines was difficult. They had been so effective until now, but the Great Goblin was cutting them quickly as if they were paper.
I tried to start wrapping the thorns around its wrists and ankles. Anywhere I was able to put them, I did. But it was pointless. The brute kept coming at me. Finally, it had made its way through the Iron Thorn. It took only two steps to reach me, I tried to turn and run, but the Great Goblins had shot out and grabbed me by the nape of my neck. It lifted me off the ground and had me look it straight in the eye.
"Tiny man saved friends from death." The monster let out a sickeningly, loud laugh. "But now man is gonna die, you a stupid man." The beast started to put pressure on my throat. 'This is the end.' I thought and closed my eyes. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't speak, so my skills were useless. It was just all so hopeless. I started to get angry; I was mad at this monster. I was mad at this world. I was going to die alone, out here in the woods.
But I wouldn't go quietly. I opened my eyes again and glared at the monster. I still had the dagger that I'd stolen from a goblin earlier. I knew that I had no hope of winning against this giant monster, but I was too pissed off to care. I started to dig the knife into whatever part of his hand I cour reach. I kept stabbing and stabbing. The monster just laughed at me, though. It loosened its grip a little bit so that he was no longer choking me.
"You funny little man stinging me! You still going to die, though." I coughed a little bit then looked him straight in the eye. My voice was still weak as I was talking to him so he couldn't hear what I was saying. "What little man saying? Beg for life, maybe?" The monster laughed again.
"I said-" I cleared my throat one more time. "You shouldn't have stopped choking me. I stabbed the knife into his hand and activated my electric alchemy. The shock surprised the Great Goblin, and he let me go. I fell to the ground hard, but I didn't have any time to think about that. I sprinted behind the goblin dropping thorn seeds as I went. I then ran the knife into the back of his ankle and activated my skill again.
The reaction that I was looking for was there; the monster jolted his leg up out of reflex. I began to grow my Iron Thorn. The beast was unbalanced, and I could take it down. I wrapped my vines around his neck and grabbed them. The thorns cut my hands open, but I had no choice. I pulled as hard as I could, and the monster fell backward.
It was about to try to get up, but I was already moving onto the next step. I grew vines from each of the seeds that I'd dropped on my way through; I wrapped them around its wrists, it's ankles, it's knees, waist, and neck. Then I forced the plants to grow straight back down into the earth, stapling the monster to the ground.
The Great Goblin struggled and struggled, but the way I had it bound to the earth, it had no way to pick up any momentum to break free from his bindings.
"Let me go, tiny human!" It was my turn to laugh. I climbed on top of the monster to look him in the eye. It was a hard climb up his colossal body but some how I managed it. I came straight up to his face.
"You're not really in a position to be making demands of me," I said flatly. I don't know what was going on in my head, but I wanted this animal to suffer. It hurt Grace; it caused Tim to relive the trauma of the first hunt, it scared the other three to the point that they were crying. I thought back to Laura's face stained with tears, and my rage grew. "You're a rabid animal, and I'm going to put you down."
I felt the Great Goblin start to thrash about under me, but I just made the vines grow deeper into the earth, tightening and stopping any amount of movement. I gave my spade to one small vine I made grow towards me. I then had it scoop up some dirt and grow back to hand it to me.
"You're not going to want to see this next part." I grinned viciously. I then planted a seed in the dirt and threw it into its eye. The thorns started to proliferate, burying itself in the monster's eyes and traveling down through his eyelids and nasal cavity. The Great Goblin screamed in pain as the thorns tore him apart from the inside until I couldn't hear its screams anymore.
The monster was dead. My body relaxed, and the pain from the battle finally hit me. My leg was in excruciating pain, my head was pounding, and I could feel the swelling around my neck. I looked down at my bloodied hands, and as I did, my head started to feel dizzy. I collapsed on top of the giant corpse as exhaustion carried my mind into the dream world.
*****
It took hours to get back to the city. The rest of the group were in tears the entire way, but they kept pushing on. Tim and Derek took turns carrying Grace, her significant injuries had been healed, but she still hadn't woken up. The group ran through the city as fast as they could until they reached the steps of the guild. Sarah flung open the doors and came rushing in.
"Please help!" She yelled, bringing the entire ground floor of the building to silence. Tim laid the Paladin on the floor, still crying, thinking about Todd fighting that beast alone. A woman Cleric came running up along with a small group of other people, including the familiar face of Jake.
"Move aside, young man." She said to Tim. The woman began checking Grace all over. This was a very skilled cleric who had learned abilities that could work to diagnose people. She did so to our leader lying on the floor, face pale and dried blood coating most of her body. "You did well to heal her as much as you could. Let me work." She said to Tim.
The woman began her prayer, and the color started coming back into Graces' cheeks. Her breathing became more steady, and her eyes began to flutter. It took mere seconds for this top-notch healer to bring life back into an almost dead woman. Tim couldn't help but think that he had to become stronger. Grace sat up slowly with the help of the female Cleric.
"What happened?" Grace said, looking around at the group. Laura was sobbing, Sarah sank her head into Derek's chest, and he held her, stroking her back gently. However, it looked like he was going to burst into tears any second himself. She looked at Tim, but he wouldn't meet her gaze. That's when it connected with her. "Where is Todd?"
"I would also like te know." A familiar voice popped up behind Jake. It was Todd's master. Tim nodded to her and began his explanation about what had happened at Goblins Reach.