As the goblin starts to rush, Astaria begins casting. Ignoring the first two goblins, she raises her staff to cast [Lightning], the bolt hitting the third goblin, instantly killing it as it crumples to the floor.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 0.1% xp gained. 20% skill point xp gained]
Astaria moves on to cast [Fireball] at the next enemy, quickly glancing over to check on Ben.
Ben had shot two more arrows, the first one missing its intended target and hitting the goblin behind it, and the second impaling the first goblin's leg, making it stumble.
Seeing that the first two goblins are fully focused on Ben, Astaria finishes off the fourth goblin with her [Fireball] that had completed channelling in the short time, and she starts to circle around to the left in order to gain the attention of the remaining three goblins.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 0.1% xp gained. 20% skill point xp gained]
[+1 skill point]
Letting loose a [Mana Arrow], Astaria completely destroys the fifth goblin's shoulder causing its now disconnected arm to drop to the floor. The goblin, now in immense pain, starts screeching like a banshee.
Now fully gaining the three goblin's undivided attention, Astaria continues to move her position to cast [Earth Spike] as the goblins reach her. With a slam of her staff two earthen spikes erupt from the ground, both piercing the two healthy goblins in the head causing their bodies to hang from the spike, completely limp before it crumbles.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 0.1% xp gained. 5% skill point xp gained]
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 0.1% xp gained. 5% skill point xp gained]
The last goblin who has now picked his spear up with his left hand, charges at Astaria with its enraged and pained screams only to be met with the end of her staff slamming upwards into his chin.
The goblin lands on its back, dazed from Astaria's attack, giving her the chance to glance over at Ben who is now using the rangers [Shotgun] ability. [Shotgun] shoots a single arrow that multiplies as soon as it is loosed spreading out in a small cone. At Ben's level the skill only creates 3 arrows that all hit the first goblin from point blank range, instantly finishing it off.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 0.1% xp gained. 5% skill point xp gained]
Using an evasion skill similar to the one that the mages class uses, Ben creates some space between him and the second goblin, loosing an arrow that generates illusory ropes as it hits, binding the legs of the goblin.
Astaria seeing this casually swings her sword which easily decapitates the dazed goblin before she looks back to watch Ben finish his fight. Ben has taken a step closer to the goblin to ensure he does not miss, then activates his [Charged Shot], taking a few seconds to let the arrow gain power while it starts to glow, before letting it loose straight through the back of the goblin's skull.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 0.1% xp gained. 5% skill point xp gained]
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 0.1% xp gained. 5% skill point xp gained]
Astaria walks over to Ben who notices her presence.
"Not too bad."
Hearing her words, he finally looks up from the goblin at his feet.
"Your use of skills without needing to shout them is perfect, and you followed the suggested guide to the letter. You just need to work on your accuracy, but that will come with time."
Straightening himself up, Ben responded.
"Yeah, it's taking some time to get used to using a bow. As you can imagine Its quite the big change from using a submachine gun."
Bending down to start looting the goblins, Astaria let out a chuckle.
"Yes, I can only imagine your disappointment at not being able to spray and pray. On a side note, let me loot the corpses, I have 500 more luck which has given me a crazy drop rate for items."
After hearing Astaria's words, Ben retracts his hand that is about to loot a goblin and watches as Astaria quickly moves around.
"Wow, so I assume that Fortuna gave you a blessing then?"
With a hum, Astaria replies.
"Yes, I think just about the only helpful thing that came from our meeting. That and that she calls kebabs, skewers, not that the revelation means much mind you."
With a scoff, Ben shrugs.
"Well, I wonder what your patron airhead would make of donor kebabs, do you reckon they have such superior foods for the end of a night out wherever the gods reside?"
Looting the last goblin, Astaria splits the loot and transfers Ben's share over.
"Probably, they have superior drinks in the form of ambrosia, so what's not to say they developed the ultimate drunk food."
Shaking his head, Ben ponders the matter.
"Well, we have thousands of years' worth of suffering and turmoil trying to produce the peak of human drinking food, while the gods likely don't even have to worry about hangovers with their ambrosia."
Also now falling into thought, Astaria stares at the same spot as Ben while holding her chin.
"This is true, the gods do have it easy… wait, why are we even taking this topic so seriously? We should get moving again."
With a shared laugh of realisation, the two start to make their way across the forest, each step making Astaria grow more anxious as the worry of facing her friends grew.
Explaining her situation to Ben is one thing, she has known him far longer than most of the group and is much closer to him since he spends his most of his free time around her Manor.
Ash is the person she has known for the longest time out of the group, having become fast friends with their shared love of playing FPS games. He was innately indecisive in social situations; however, his gaming sense was second only to her having been a close rival and a perfect teammate.
Tyrell and Russel are both close friends with Astaria having met at university. Tyrell is an easy-going guy, he has a good sense of humour with his comments occasionally sending the group into uncontrollable laughter. Tyrell is also exceptionally skilled in playing MMO's, having previously been widely regarded as a top rank damage-based Paladin.
Meanwhile, Russel is a little more reserved, but always partook in anything the group would do, becoming a fixture in the group before anyone realised. However, since returning to the past he has not spent that much time with everyone so has yet to properly integrate himself. His gaming experience is quite average, mainly playing sports and FPS games casually.
Lastly Roxanne, she has been a fairly close acquaintance that Astaria had originally met online. She is quite playful, enjoying teasing people, but is truly trustworthy. After joining Astaria's past guilds, Roxanne had quickly grown close with Ash and her, becoming her go to person for any sort of subterfuge. After meeting in real life, Roxanne started to spend a lot of her free time with the group, eventually becoming a regular sight whenever everyone met up. She is quite skilled with FPS and MMO's, not falling far behind Ash.
Thinking about the personalities of the four, Astaria can only think of the worst case that keeps playing out in her mind.
Feeling a hand resting on her shoulder, she looks over to see Ben.
"You're starting to freak out over meeting everyone, right? I can see it on your face."
Seeing Astaria give a slight nod, he continues.
"Honestly man, you gotta stop overthinking things. I don't think they will give two shits that you are now a girl. Yeah, there will be the 'what the fuck' moment when they confirm that it is actually you, but we have already talked things over. I explained what you told me about the whole time travel thing, and confirmed what Fortuna had apparently explained to them, so I believe that everyone will accept things quite easily."
Taking a breath, Ben removes his hand before speaking again.
"Although I don't know Russel quite as well, you have always had a good sense for people and should have more faith in that. Like me, they won't be all weird about it."
Letting out a deep breath, Astaria gives a brief nod at what Ben has said, realising that if there had been an issue Ben would have already mentioned it.
Feeling a little less apprehensive, Astaria and Ben continue walking, making light conversation between silencing groups of goblins. Eventually making their way to a cleared camp on the rotation, they then started to make their way along the planned route. After a short time walking, they can hear the sounds of goblins screaming.
Now that they have caught up to the others, they wait at a decent distance away to avoid lowering the other's XP gain.
Standing and listening to the sounds of the fight, they can hear a loud and wet splat followed by a small ringing sound coming from a dark ball that was slightly visible through the trees.