The first thing that happened when the goblins came around the corner was that Kim swung her bastard sword, killing the first goblin before it had a chance to even be aware of the danger it was in. Then as the other goblins tried to process what was happening, Kim was able to cut down two more as Jonas swung his daggers, eliminating three of his own.
The remaining goblins broke rank and fled. Jonas threw his daggers, taking down two more goblins, but three were able to make it out of sight before they could be killed as well. Elmo hadn't needed to do anything, but it was clear the only reason for that was because the goblins hadn't stuck around long enough for his to be able to do anything.
It wasn't long before they could hear the roar of other goblins and Elmo knew it was only a matter of time before reinforcements came around. Which meant he wasn't going to be able to get any more sleep. Though, while he would have like to sleep some more, he wouldn't say that he particularly needed more at the moment. He was sure he'd be able to manage through what he knew was coming.
Kim motioned for them to hurry forward, though, Elmo wasn't sure what she had in mind. Elin followed them, though she almost looked like she could be mistaken for a zombie with how tired her face looked. Whether she was really that tired, Elmo couldn't be sure, as she was at least able to keep up with them.
As they reached the room that was just ahead of them, they could hear loud noises from the stairs, and Kim was making a beeline for the other entrance to the room, right aross from where they'd entered the room this time. As they approached it, a bugbear stepped out from the corridor that went to the left of that entrance.
Kim swung her sword without missing a step, only to have her attack blocked by the bugbear's own sword, the ringing of the blades striking each other rivaling the roars coming from the stairs. Elmo wondered if he should try a spell of his own or if Kim was fine on her own against the bugbear.
Yet, he didn't have time to think about it when he realized more goblins were coming from the stairs. He glanced at Kim fighting the bugbear as she was able to leave a big gash along the bugbear's entire left arm, while the bugbear was unable to get through Kim's defenses.
Elmo merely then assumed Kim would be alright and focused on the goblins coming down the stairs. The first few that come in sight, Elmo used his Rock Spray to mow them down. He got three uses of that spell before another opponent appeared that he knew wouldn't be so easy to defeat. Another bugbear.
As the bugbear approached, he decided to try his new spell Frozen Missile. He wasn't sure what to expect, but while it would use up more MP, it would also deal a good amount more damage. However, he also recognized that he would need to be careful with his MP. Although, the moment he had that thought, another came to mind.
He still had his absorb spell as well as his MP charge skill. So, as long as he had enemies to steal stamina from, he was confident that he'd be able to keep going. As such, he put his entire focus on the bugbear's chest. A realtivel large target, but with some key fatal point, provided he could get past the rib cage.
"Frozen Missile!" Elmo cried, his left hand held out towards the bugbear.
A conical spear made entirely out of ice, if a little unrefined, crooked, and jagged, formed in front of his hand a moment before it launched straight through the air and through the bugbear's chest. So fast that even Elmo wasn't sure what had happened as he watched the bugbear fall to the ground, an expression of complete surprise and shock on its face.
Elmo only had a brief moment to admire what his spell could do before he realized several other goblins had started to come into the room from the stairs. He was able to get one more rock spray, taking out several of the smaller goblins, but none of the other bugbears.
However, before they reached him, Kim had stepped in front of him, clearly having dealt with the other bugbear. Elmo couldn't even spare the time to look to see in what shape Kim had left the bugbear in.
The tide of goblins seemed endless. As soon as they eliminated one goblin, bugbear or other goblin, two more seemed to manage to crowd into the room, forcing them back towards the entrance to the room that they had been trying to reach before the goblins came down the stairs.
Elmo allowed him mind to wander for a brief moment to consider that Kim had been trying to get them out of sight, so the goblins wouldn't be able to pin them down like this. As if the goblins didn't know where they were, the couldn't focus entirely on them like they were doing at the moment.
Elmo wasn't sure how there were so many goblins, but he wasn't going to try and as that. He was too busy dealing with the fact that there were that many goblins in front of him. When dealing with a problem, asking 'how' isn't an effective question. Dealing with the problem first was the effective response. Questions like 'how' and 'why' could be saved until after the problem was dealt with.
He was vaguely aware of Jonas fighting the goblins as well, but aside from Kim, who was pretty much in front of him, he could only spare enough attention at the moment to focus on which goblin he was going to deal with next.
He wanted to use another Rock Spray, but he didn't want to hit Kim with it, since it wasn't like a video game where this spell would only affect his enemies, but rather it would affect everyone and everything in the blast radius. Which meant if he used it, it would hit Kim as well.
While she probably would be able to take the hit, he couldn't take the risk that it would cause her to lose her focus and possibly get overwhelmed by the goblins. Especially since it was clear she was barely able to keep up with the number of goblins attacking her. If it wasn't for the fact that they'd moved to the doorway, Elmo was certain that some goblins would be moving around Kim to attack him.
The flood of goblins seemed endless and Elmo was at a loss for what to do to help. He only had that one AOE spell, but as he thought about it, his frozen missile spell seemed to have punched clean through the bugbear. If he used it on the regular goblins, she was sure that he'd be able to take out a few of them at a time.
He just hoped that he'd stop before he ran out of MP so he could recharge it. He certainly wasn't going to have much time, if any, to check his stats like he was able to during the fight with the troll.
"Frozen Missile!" Elmo cried, aiming for the heads of goblins to the side of Kim, where she wasn't putting her primary focus on.
The crooked jagged ice spear formed in the air and before it launched through five goblins before impaling itself in the wall. Elmo wasn't sure what happened to his first missile, but didn't have time to look for it.
Elmo used that spell twice more, each time in a different location, though the most goblins he was able to take out at once had been seven with that spell. While it seemed like a lot, he was sure that Kim and Jonas had probably already killed more than he had. It didn't seem like a swarm or large group of goblins, but rather a flood.
Elmo wasn't sure how they were going to be able to handle all of these goblins if the tide of them lasted much longer. Yet, he didn't let that discourage him. He didn't expect this to be easy. He merely expected that there would be a way that they could accomplish this. Although, he had a feeling that they might not be able to do that after all.
He paused in his spellcasting so he could use his MP charge and restore some of his power. While he didn't really want to stop, he knew that if he didn't, he might end up in the same state Elin did on their first night in this stupid competition.
One that none of them had asked to be brought into. One that they really hadn't been allowed to opt out of. One that looked like it might be the end of their lives at the moment.
In Elmo's mind, he couldn't help but wonder if fighting the announcer of this competition and killing him would be the final challenge in this competition. It certainly would be the kind he'd be up for. He didn't really like the idea of killing anyone, but in this case he was willing to make an exception. After all, this guy was merely part of a magical kidnapping ring that didn't care what happened to those they kidnapped.
Meanwhile, the flood of goblins kept pouring in the room…