The pressure that Joker felt from the hobgoblin shaman was no joke. He had underestimated the goblins and their numbers, but there was no going back now. He wanted to preserve his mana, but there was no point in preserving it if you die. He immediately raised ten more skeletons out of the goblins he had killed, filling his ranks up. Now he had a total of twenty skeletons, half of them humans and the other half goblins.
*Ding*
[Corpse level exceeds summoner's level!]
[Suppressing skeleton's level!]
Each time he raised a goblin skeleton, that message popped up in front if him. Joker had not seen that message yet, but he immediately knew the meaning of it. His summons were not able to raise their levels above his, so if he raised the corpse of a monster, whose original level was higher than his, it's level would be forcefully lowered by the system. The goblins had each been on par with his skeletons, maybe a bit stronger than them, but that was solely due to their difference in levels. Now that they lost a few levels, he did not know how they would compare to their living companions, but they would still be of some use. At least that was what he hoped.
"Red, I can get you a bit of time. I will try to shift their focus on me. You see those people watching us? Get them to help us or we're all dead! The ones who have weapons in their hands have already registered usernames, so they should be ready to go. Give the others a short explanation, like I explained to you and then get back here, I don't know how long I'll be able to survive! Now go!", Joker said and immediately rushed forward, followed by his skeletons.
His usual quick attack on the first encounter, using [Shadow Rush] shortly before reaching the first enemy, proved to be useful again. He wouldn't dare use that against smarter or faster opponents, because recklessly charging in against the wrong opponent would be like suicide, but against low level goblins? There was no risk in using it.
This time, he went all out from the beginning, fighting the goblins at 100% with both his hands on his sword. After cutting down five of them, he finally saw the message he had been waiting for.
[Swordsmanship created!]
The [Swordsmanship] skill was a passive skill, that could be raised, who would have thought, by fighting with a sword. Improving your swordsmanship was not easy, but with the [Swordsmanship] skill, it wouldn't be a problem. There were a few different ways of improving, like finding someone to teach you, using items which raised it's level or just fighting with a sword. Joker had mastered [Swordsmanship] in the past by relying on trial and error. Whenever his efficiency rose, the [Swordsmanship] skill improved his knowledge and mastery, improving his muscles memory, so that his new moves felt natural.
After cutting down two more, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation in his neck and immediately turned around, slashing whatever there was just in time. His sword collided with a heavy two handed axe, almost knocking the weapon out of his hand. One of the hobgoblins was now his opponent and furiously attacked him with it's axe, forcing Joker to step backwards, solely defending. It wasn't very skilled, as Joker was able to notice a few openings in his opponent's attacks. He just could not use them, as the opponent's stats were higher than his own, making his enemy as fast as him, but also fairly stronger. He was able to position himself behind his enemy with a quick use of [Shadow Rush] and was about to slash the back of it's head, when a fireball passed his face by the length of a finger. The goblin shamans were now throwing their magic at him and as if it was not difficult enough right now, another two hobgoblins joined their companion, so now Joker had to face three of them, even though none of them was the one with the greatsword. That was one standing next to the hobgoblin shaman, both not lifting a finger and silently watching the fight.
Joker was now completely on the defense, evading and parrying all attacks, just waiting for a chance to strike back, while he had an idea.
"What the hell, why didn't I think of this sooner? Get over here and make an opening for me!", he thought, while concentrating on one of his skeletons. It was Scars, who now rushed over, and threw himself against one of the attacking hobgoblins, making it lose it's balance and falling on it's back. Scars stood above it and started hacking it's face as if he was in a frenzy, turning the attacking hobgoblin's head into minced meat. Joker had lost a few of the goblin skeletons, so he used the chane to raise the hobgoblin.
"Scars and new one, you go fight your way through to the shamans!", he ordered them, now facing the remaining two attackers on his own. His goblin skeletons didn't fare well, it's former comrades were hacking at them and slowly broke their bones one by one. The other skeletons were not in a better position, except for three of them.
The three he had noticed before, the one with the spear and two dual wielding ones, they were actually not that bad, while scars and the new hobgoblin skeleton were cutting their enemies down easily, the shaman's fireballs dealing almost no damage at all to them.
A stronger fire mage would be able to burn the relatively weak skeletons to ashes, but the goblin shamans were far from strong enough to do that. Seeing the two skeletons slowly get closer, they started panicking and some of their fireballs missed their targets and hit their comrades instead.
Just as Joker was about to slash one of the enemies in front of him, an arrow missed him and hit a goblin in the back. The two hobgoblins and Joker turned their head around and saw a young girl with short red hair and glasses, holding a bow in her hand. She was standing right next to RedBear, who now ran towards the goblins, followed by around two dozens of people, now all armed.
"Sorry!", the girl said, with close to no expression on his face. Joker estimated her to be around the age of sixteen, with short red hair and a small body, which made the longbow in her hands look huge. Next to her were two other people with bows, also shooting arrows at their enemies.
"good job Red!", Joker laughed and dealt a heavy two handed slash to one of the hobgoblins. His friend saw the deep cut, going through it's leather armor and leaving a deadly wound on it's chest, when Joker turned to attack the last one. It blocked Joker's attack with it's shield like it was nothing
"Ding*
[Level up! Level 5 reached!]
[Golem creation can now be used!]
[Second summon accessed - combining summoning slots (16/24)!]
Reaching level five was the first milestone, as people would receive their first skill by that time. They could learn other skills before if they succeeded in utilizing the skill before learning it, but not many people would be able to do so. Joker could, because he remembered the skills from his past, knowing how to use his mana and remembering the movements to it. On level five on the other hand, everyone would receive their first skill, given by the system.
When Joker learned [Golem Creation], the number of possible summoned creatures was not just counting the skeletons, but now it changed to all all his creatures, meaning that raising golems did not have an own count.
A lot more messages popped up in front of him, three of them caught his eyes especially.
[hobgoblin skeleton - level up! Level 5!]
[hobgoblin skeleton can now use shields!]
[Skeleton - Level up! Level 5]
[Skeleton can now use shields!]
[Skeleton - Level up! Level 5!]
[Skeleton can now use shields!]
[One or more summons have reached level 5!]
[Access to naming system granted (0/5)!]
His other skeletons had also leveled up, none of them below being below level four now. He was still facing one hobgoblin, that was about to attack him, when something grabbed it's leg. It was the other hobgoblin, which Joker had raised, now owning 2 hobgoblin skeletons. The now surprised enemy didn't see his sword coming, dying when it saw Joker's sword sticking out of his chest. Now he had three hobgoblin skeletons!
He took a few seconds to look around and checked for RedBear and the other humans, who were doing ok. They stayed near the skeletons, not risking too much while slowly cutting down the goblins one by one, the fight now being in favor of Joker and the human group. Scars and his first hobgoblin skeleton were still trying to get through to the shamans, but were now surrounded by a group of hobgoblins, now being surrounded by seven of them. Joker quickly ordered his newest additions to support them and took the chance to check his newest skill.
"Skill info: [Golem Creation]!"
[Golem Creation]
Beginner rank level 1
Creates a golem out of a chosen base material.
Takes up 5 slots of possible summons.
Mana cost: 50
"fifty mana and five points? This better be worth it, [Golem Creation]!", Joker said.
[Golem Creation failed, concentrate on a base material which should be used for creation!]
"Shit, ok let's try again!", Joker said. He concentrated on the ground between some corpses and repeated the command, trying to create a rock golem, when a message popped up.
[Blood golem created!]
The goblin corpses were slowly combining, their blood and pieces of meat and bones slowly forming into a 3m tall creature.
"Blood golem? I was concentrating on the ground, not the corpses! Ah Shit, golem, attack!"
He had already spent fifty mana on it, so he couldn't raise another one right now. The summoned golem immediately started attacking the surrounding goblins. It was slow, but the attacks that it received were showing almost no effect. It was at that moment, that a loud roar stopped all fighters, who now all looked at the hobgoblin with the greatsword.
[Hobgoblin Warrior used [War Cry], strengthening all goblins!]
"So it's not a regular hobgoblin but a warrior, huh?", Joker thought. The fighting continued, the goblins gaining new momentum, now stronger than before.
"Stand your ground! I'm going for the leaders!", Joker yelled and ran towards the hobgoblin warrior and shaman, using [Shadow Rush] to doge random attacks and make his way towards them. On the way there he occasionally cut down a goblin or two, when he saw that someone was in about to get killed. During all of that, he leveled up twice more, due to the efforts of his summons.
When he finally arrived in front of the hobgoblin warrior, he was greeted by a heavy attack of it's greatsword, which he barely managed to evade. Suddenly flames came from his left, so he had to take another step back, the flames now between him and the warrior. He turned towards the shaman, who had used the flame magic against him, when he saw the warrior jump through the flames, not giving him a single moment to counter. Joker now had to evade the flames and the greatsword, constantly pushing him back. He took another step back and stumbled over a goblin's corpse, losing his balance, but not falling, when he saw the greatsword coming at him. It was impossible to evade it now, just like blocking it. The greatsword combined with the hobgoblin warrior's sheer strength would probably break his sword and cut him in two if he tried to block it heads on, which left him with only one choice.
"Parry!", he deflected the first attack, the second, third and a fourth attack, when he was able to gain his balance. When he deflected the fifth attack, the greatsword now on his right side, he turned around and swung his sword, before he saw the next wall of flames coming. The hobgoblin warrior's chainmal had had taken most of the blow and when Joker had to jump back, he was not able to hit the enemy as he wanted, the hobgoblin warrior still had a huge wound on his right arm, which would slow his attacks down a bit.
An older man, maybe in his forties, who snuck up behind the now occupied shaman, was about to stab it, when the shaman suddenly turned around. It grabbed the man's throat and lifted him into the air, dropping him a second later. It broke the man's neck, throwing a few fireballs into the crowd of people. The fireballs didn't kill them, but left some of them hurt and badly burned. The warrior raised his sword again, trying to attack Joker when suddenly..
"Rock Smashing Fist!", Redbear attacked it from the side, his fist smashing the green face below it's left eye, shattering the hobgoblin warrior's cheekbone. Joker was thankful for the short distraction, but if RedBear had used the [Open Palm Strike], he possibly would have been able to shatter it's skull. Joker did not give it a second to rest and was launching his counterattack now, finally gaining the momentum and pushing his enemy back, while occasionally doging the flame attacks.
"I'm going for the flame guy!", Red said, rushing towards it.
"NO! STAY AWAY FROM IT!", Joker screamed. Red was clearly underestimating the enemy, thinking that a magician could not be that strong in close combat, being completely wrong. Even though it was a magic type, it was still a hobgoblin of a higher level than Red, whose stats were not nearly as high as his enemies. While he rushed towards the shaman, ready to strike it, Joker saw the shaman charge a fireball, which was shot in Red's direction.
Joker used [Shadow Rush] to speed up and pushed Red aside, but his shoulder was now hit by the fireball.
"Argh, damn!", he said. Not only was his left shoulder badly burned now, he lost the chance of killing the hobgoblin warrior, who now rushed at Red.
"Protect him!", Joker commanded, and his hobgoblin skeletons came running to defend Red while attacking their enemy. The greatsword went straight through two of them, shattering their ribcages. Joker pulled Red up and rushed towards the screaming enemy, who was not as fast as when their fight began. They were slowly getting tired, like everyone else, except for the undead.
That was one of the great advantages undead creatures had, when compared to living creatures. Undead would never grow tired. They never got hungry and always obeyed their masters' commands, turning them into great subordinates.
Joker tightly grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands and gave a mental command, focusing on his golem and Scars.
"Attack the shaman! Golem, you draw it's attention and Scars, look for the right moment to strike!", a simple command, but that was his last resort. He had to buy some time, so he could deal with the hobgoblin warrior, who was now launching it's next attack. Joker evaded it's attacks, one after the other, waiting for his enemy to make a mistake. One mistake, only one, would be enough for him to create an opening. He could feel that he did not have much mana left, so he could only rely on his physical skills. He actually wanted to conserve the rest of his mana for the shaman, which would not go down against his golem and Scars.
As the hobgoblin warrior was about to swing his sword, an arrow came out of nowhere, hitting his shoulder. Even though the arrow did not penetrate the chainmail, the hobgoblin looked away for a split second. That was the mistake Joker had waited for. He pushed the greatsword aside with his own weapon, spinning around once, raising the last bit of his strength to stab the hobgoblin. He used so much force, that his sword went right through the enemies' chainmail, impaling it.
[Champion - Hobgoblin Warrior - was killed!]
[Gaining additional EXP!]
*Ding*
[Level up! Level 8!]
After he pulled his sword back, his enemy fell to the ground, dead. He also dropped a few coins, which were made out of copper. Joker did not bother to pick them up yet, there was still one more strong enemy there, who was slowly burning the golem, which was now heavily damaged. Apart from that fight, there was a sudden silence on the supermarket's parking lot. All goblins had seen their strongest warrior's death, they were now devastated, while the humans gained new strength. They began slaughtering the remaining goblins, who were so terrified that they turned their backs and ran.
"Go after them, don't let any of them get away!", Joker yelled. The people did not think of letting them get away. All the fear and anger that they felt, after watching the goblin's slaughtering so many people, broke out of them. They were chasing the scattering remains of the goblin's army, mercilessly slaughtering them, like the goblins had done before. Watching their neighbors, friends and other innocent people get butchered in the most gruesome ways had turned their hearts cold towards the green skinned monsters.
Joker knew, both humans and monsters who tried to run away from their enemy, lost their will to fight, most of them not even willing to fight back anymore.
"Surround him!", he commanded all of his remaining undead, now turning towards the last obstacle. The shaman, was now surrounded by all of his skeletons and his golem, who stood there, not moving an inch. There were now more and more people coming closer, weapons in their hands, silently watching the enemy boss.
Joker's summons now pushed forward, all of them simultaneously, when the shaman used another skill as a last resort.
He used [Circle of Flame], pushing Joker's undead back with the flame that exploded from his body. Joker knew that skill, as he had seen it many times before in the past. He also knew about one of it's major flaws. There was a short timespan, after the skills' use, where the caster would be unable to use other magic skills. As soon as the flames died out, he would be able to attack again, but Joker would not let him. He used the last of his mana for one last [Shadow Rush] and jumped through the flames. He saw the shaman's terrified eyes before he overexerted himself and went for a murderous attack, swinging his sword down on the shaman, who raised his staff in defense. The sword went straight through the wooden staff, cutting through the monsters' collarbone and ribs, cutting through it until it reached the hobgoblin's belly button.
[Special Champion - Hobgoblin Shaman - was killed!]
[Gaining additional EXP!]
[Goblin's Nest - cleared!]
[All participants gaining additional EXP!]
*Ding*
[Level up! Level 9!]
[Level up! Level 10!]
[Raise Undead can now be used!]
[LVL 10 - Milestone reached!]
[Guild system - access granted!]
[Arena system - access granted!]
[System shop - access granted]
[User "Joker" is the 7th person to reach level 10!]
[Global Leaderboard - access granted!]
[Top 1000 - reached! Gaining 50 Gold!]
[Top 500 - reached! Gaining magic grade item coupon!]
[Top 100 - reached! Gaining 100 Gold!]
[Top 50 - reached! Gaining rare grade item coupon!]
[Top 20 - reached! Gaining 1000 Gold!]
[Top 10 - reached! Gaining "special item" coupon x2!]
[Do you wish to publicize your name on the Leaderboard?]
"No!"
[Username will be shown as "???"]
[Raise skeleton - level up! Beginner rank level 3]
[Raise skeleton - level up! Beginner rank level 4]
[Raise skeleton - level up! Beginner rank level 5]
[Raise skeleton - splitting!]
[Raise skeleton warrior - can now be used!]
[Raise skeleton mage - can now be used!]
[Raise skeleton archer - can now be used!]
[Skeletons that reach level ten can be evolved!]
Tons of messages were popping up in front of him, but Joker was unable to read them all. Now that the fight was over, Joker realised how tired he was, so he sat on the ground.
"Let me just close my eyes for a sec..", before he finished the sentence, he was already passed out.