Tired Eriv and Dori
"Rest. In ten minutes we're goin' for another goblin pack," Guard-Jarka ordered her party as she was sitting on the still-smoking corpse of a goblin.
They were in a medium-large cavern, around 15 meters in diameter, with mushroom patches growing everywhere from a red-glowing moss. Around them lay scattered limbs of goblins... and the fallen corpses of two druegars who didn't make it.
"Tche… These goblins're more and more daring… These are dur caves!" One of the warriors exclaimed as he angrily kicked the goblin's corpse.
"Yea, I wonder why…" Another agreed with the mouth full with the roasted goblin's meat.
Soon relaxed steps echoed through the cave as Scout-Durza returned with a report, "Guard-Jarka, another band is three cav'rns away."
She silently nodded and waited for the rest to refresh themselves.
"Sis, how're ya?" Dori glanced at his sister, who had been crying and bersekering around a few minutes ago.
"Naet good… Bro, I think I know why the others don't wanna be blighted…"
"Yea, I feel it too. We'll have to go deeper and find more powerful beings."
"But we'll die there. We coulda hardly kill pathetic goblins," she replied, filled with tiredness and half-fell, half-sats on her ass.
"Ya're probably right… But the blight'll eat us alive…"
"Maaaasssteeeer, I woooon't eeeeaaat yooouuu. I promiseeee," a strange voice, sounding like a flame resonated in his head.
"Quiet, you! I know what're ya doin'!" He shouted at the cave. The druegars did not even looked at him as they were already used to the pair of odd siblings.
"Get up, ya lazy pigs! Another goblins wanna be fed to the ston'!" Guard-Jarka shouted like a drill sergeant.
"Hurry up, ya two sun-crazed dwarfs!" Scout-Durza urged them before Guard-Jarka could.
Their company of eight hastily ran through the empty caverns to meet their adversaries. Guard-Jarka was in front with scouts on her sides and the dwarven siblings held the rear. All of them, except two or three experienced ones, were gasping for air, already exhausted from previous battles.
Still, the siblings were the lowest-levelled warriors here and had to put up with jokes and bullying in the group. But in the battle, they had their backs covered. Druegars were solid when it came to goblins.
Soon, they made it towards the hunting pack of thirty goblins, from which three of them were 2nd-tier and one 3rd-tier.
"GULBA! KARK!" The leader commanded the goblins to create a line before the shaft with 1st-tiers as cannon fodder.
"Chaaaarge!" Guard-Jarka cried out and activated her warrior skill. A scarlet mist surrounded her as part of her lifeforce left her body. Her speed rapidly increased. Her sheer strength meant that the 1st-tier goblin was nothing more than a slight hindrance. The poor sod exploded into bloody mist and part of his [Lifeforce] was drained by Jarka. She raised her double-edged axe and engaged with the back-line of four powerful goblins.
The bolts pierced the air as the druegar warriors fired a volley of bolts from their crossbows.
Chaos ensued. The defenceless goblins were in disarray as the bolts pierced their bodies. The druegars prepared another volley. However...
Eriv leapt above the druegars' heads, landing directly in the middle of the goblin pack. A few spears penetrated her body, but she did not even notice.
She cracked skulls and ribs all around, while madly laughing. The goblins were scared out of their mind, adding to their chaotical screeching.
She broke through the line but was ambushed by a 2nd-tier goblin who was hiding nearby. In the chaos, the druegars had not seen him, so he launched his attack on Eriv, repeatedly hitting Eriv with his rusty mace. Her lifeforce began to rapidly drop, even her enhanced regeneration was not enough to keep up.
She desperately activated the [Berserker] talent. Her muscles bulged and her skin reddened. A few veins ruptured, making her profusely bleed. However, her strength increased immensely and she was able to defend herself, even push the 2nd-tier goblin away.
Meanwhile, the rest of the swearing druegars met the goblins in savage, close-range combat. They were angry at Eriv because they could not fire the second volley, not while she could be caught in the crossfire and the goblins still had the number advantage.
Dori, stood back, waiting for an opportunity. He conjured his new companion; the purple flames. It was an odd talent and he itched to ask his father about this. Luckily for him, the druegars' shaman had not met him yet and the rest thought it was a skill passed through his family.
The purple flame converged into a ball and he threw it into the nearest cluster of three goblins. They shrieked in pain as they were eaten by the flames alive. They staggered around the battlefield, setting aflame another goblin who did not notice as he was in the middle of evading a raging druegar.
Guard-Jarka successfully eliminated the three 2nd-tier goblins by cleaving them in half, at the waist with her skill [Sound-Breaking Slash].
The 3rd-tier skill allowed her to break the speed of sound with her axe, but for the price of 50% of her maximum [Lifeforce] and [Stamina]. Thankfully, the village shaman engraved her axe with unique engravings that deprived her adversary of some [Lifeforce] upon deathblow and transferred it to her and gave it some basic hardening.
The 3rd-tier goblin leader, who was towering over the battlefield at an impressive 1.8 metres, raged. He activated his own skills and savagely pounced on Jarka. She parried with all of her might, but exhaustion became apparent in her moves. The fights from before took their toll.
With the support of Dori, Eriv took down the 2nd-tier goblin and Scout-Durza ordered them to go and help others to clean up the rest of the goblins.
The whole druegars party then supported Jarka with bolts. They were not able to pierce through the goblin protection but hindered him greatly.
With this, Jarka activated her trump skill. Most of her bloody mist converged at the edge of her axe. She jumped up and bisected the goblin leader. Even with his weapon raised in a desperate attempt to defend himself, the cut was clean. The two bloody halves slowly tore apart and collapsed.
The last goblin was taken care of, but another two druegars died—one by the goblin and one by Dori's flames.
"Dori! Learn to control yar flames, ya idiot! That was mae brotha!" One of the warriors stepped to him and punched him in the face.
"Yea, yea..." he punched him back. Everyone froze.
"Heh…" one of them grinned. "Hehe," another joined. Soon, everyone was laughing. Even Jarka held a slight smile.
"Maggots! Ya two," she pointed at the druegars who started to laugh first, "Clear the corpses! Dori! Calm yar ragin' sis down! The rest of ya, twenty minut's rest! Eat, drink, fuck, whatever!"
"Yaaaaaargh!" They victoriously screamed.
"I'm sowwyyy!" The bersekering Eriv still jumped up and down on one of the goblin corpses.
"Eriv! Calm down!" Dori carefully walked to her vicinity, but after a painful lesson, he did not touch her.
"I'm sowwyyy!" She sobbed, utterly ignoring her brother.
"Fuck! Flame!"
"Yeeesss, maaasteeer?"
"You know the drill."
"Yeeesss, maaasteeer."
A small purple flame covered Eriv's mouth and nose, depriving her of air. After a few minutes, she swayed and fell, unconscious.
"Dori! Ya two doin' a good work. But Maris was right, learn how to control yar flames," Scout-Durza came from behind with three bowls filled with bread, mushrooms and goblins' meat. "Although, it's nice naet to have to cook…"
"Thanks, Durza," Dori said and hungrily devoured one of the bowls.
"Anyway, we'll go on the last ambush. We lost another two warriors and many are wounded. Ev'n Jarka is gettin' tir'd. If ya dinna notice, this pack leader was nearin' the fourth tier. He would become an Orc.. Ya dinna wanna meet orcs… Nasty, smart bastards."
"Good," Dori answered with a full mouth.
Eriv twitched a few times and jumped back to her feet, "again?"
"Again…"
"Fuck! Dornus ass!"
"Stop sayin' that name here! I warned ya before!" Scout-Durze smacked her head's backside.
"Scouts!" Jarka's voice resounded, carrying the order to assemble.
"Yea, yea… Shit… Shouldn't have become a scout… The pay's terrible and ya have almost no pauses," Durza complained and left for Jarka.
"Sis, eat."
"Yea. Thanks, bro." She hungrily ate her meal almost with a bowl.
After another ten minutes, they departed for the last warband that was four caverns away.
The cavern was large, approximately 50 meters in diameter, with a stream of water and plenty of moss and mushrooms to feed a small camp. There were some half-built tents and four dozens of 1st-tier goblins, six 2nd-tier goblins and two 3rd-tier ones. Jarka's face darkened and promptly ordered a retreat.
The higher-ranked druegars sensed a thin mana wave going through them.
"Gulbu!" A shout echoed as one of the 3rd-tiers found them with a [Scan] spell.
"Darkul ass! Attack!" Jarka commanded her men and activated her bloody mist while charging up front.
She rolled over the 1st-tier goblins before anyone could even react, including her own party. She reached the higher-tiered goblins, each equipped with steel swords. The two 3rd-tier goblins derisively laughed and retreated behind the wall of 2nd-tier bodyguards.
The bodyguards trembled as they gazed on the crazed, yelling druegar mowing down their goblin slaves with her mighty axe, unstoppably stomping towards them.
Jarka reached them in a few seconds and with a lucky hit, she decapitated the first bodyguard. Then she had to defend against the onslaught of five 2nd-tier goblins while paying attention to their two leaders.
Meanwhile, the rest of Jarka's party, including Eriv and Dori, engage with the first-tier goblins. They created two lines this time, with Eriv and Dori and two warriors in front as they were great meatshields.
Eriv had to activate [Berserker] again.
Her muscles swelled more every time as her level rapidly climbed during this hunt. Her mace became a blur for the weak goblins' eyes. With each swing, she killed or crippled her victim.
Soon, there were five goblins around her, two of them dead and three screeching in pain as their bones protrude from their olive-green skin.
Dori evoked his purple flame and roasted a few goblin steaks with a wall of fire. His eyes gained a strange glint as he stared at the dancing purplish flames eating away the flesh of the screaming goblins.
His mana was exhausted soon and he retreated behind the fighting druegars. He pulled out his crossbow and a pouch with dozens of shots left and proceeded to assist his sister.
Meantime, Jarka slew another 2nd-tier goblin. A few wounds appeared on her, but nothing life threatening. In the brief moments between attack and defence, she wondered why the two 3rd-tier goblins did not attack them yet.
The answer came soon.
The pair of 3rd-tier goblins raised their hands and refined mana converged before them. It shaped itself into a bluish, large net.
She recognized that spell. These were the two goblins that hunted with the chief. Even though chief was a fuckin beast in battle, being electrocuted still hurt.
She wanted to warn her party, but the onslaught from the 2nd-tier goblins intensified, making her fully focus on them. All four of them activate their own skills and techniques and even her powerful scarlet mist was barely able to keep up.
The net slowly expanded until it was around ten metres large. They sent it above her group clustered with the goblins. Immediately after that, one of the 3rd-tier goblins strolled towards Jarka and, with his guards' help, overpowered her with relative ease.
Still, she was not going down without a fight and hacked off the right arm of another 2nd-tier goblin. He snarled at her, gripping his wound, but was ordered to stand down by his superior's raised fist.
The battle halted as abruptly as it had erupted. The 1st-tier goblins still struggling with the druegars, including the bersekering Eriv and exhausted Dori, were all caught up in the net.
As it touched them, the electric discharge effectively stunned them as the druegars were only 2nd ranked, except the dwarven siblings, who were on the cusp of reaching the 2nd rank.
The buffed 3rd-tier goblin ensued some commands. The 2nd-tier goblins strode towards the net and tightly bound the druegars with ropes made from some higher-tier Monster tendons.
One of the 3rd-tier goblins told something while laughing and the rest joined him. Then they put them all near the stream and pitched a camp with a big fire in the middle. They took the fallen and wounded goblins for 'reuse' and prepared a feast.
"Sis! Are ya fine?" Dori worryingly whispered as his paralysis from the electricity faded.
"Yea, I think so. What about ya?"
"I'll live… Only a few scratches here and there," he replied with a nervous smile while hiding a wound that had festered on his hip. Luckily, he was able to cauterize it with his last bit of mana.
"How's the rest?" Eriv asked the others.
"We're still livin'," Scour-Durza answered while carefully trying to break out.
"What about the boss?"
"Don't know. She's unconscious, but donna seems harmed too badly."
"Why dinna they kill us yet?"
"Hard to…"
"Tuak!" Two 2nd-tier guards interrupted them and forced every single one of them to drink grog. Some of the druegars struggled, but a croaked dagger up their necks made them very compliant.
"What in th…" Eriv said as darkness descends upon her. The rest fell asleep as well… Except for one.
"Gakahaha!" A gruff laugh was the last thing they heard.