Goblins came out of the tents, stepping closer to the horde to merge with it. At first there were just a few hundred, only for them to swell like a massive wave, forming an ocean of disgusting green skin.

“Hey Agni,” Alice spoke without diverting her view from the amassing enemy, “how about we go back and fight those bog creatures?”

“I thought you two didn’t want to?” I spoke, grinning as I looked at the horde before me. Even more than I expected.

“It seems like a better idea than a frontal assault on their castle at least.”

“Only that will bring us enough experience to level further in here.”

“Will we even be able to take on that many at once?”

“There numbers will only hinder them. You should be able to see it by now?” I turned towards Sarah.

“Yeah, they’re just pressing onwards. Individual goblins can’t even change their direction anymore and are forced to continue walking forward. But…”

“You two will be fine by now, they won’t stand a chance against you.” A circle lit up in front of me, golden scales slithering out of it. “Just be careful against their leaders, I’ll watch over you two.”

I still couldn’t believe he made us fight against this while staying alone in the background. No, not alone! “Hey Sarah, get yourself over here!” I screamed out while swinging my sword at a pair of goblins, the pressure even throwing those behind them on the ground.

“No can do, archers stay in the back!” A wave of arrows flew past me, screams coming out of the goblins unlucky enough to have their heads missed. Not like any of the would survive having holes in their bodies.

In the short time I looked at the arrows another few dozen goblin made their way towards me, hoping to rip me apart. Damn, why am I the only front-fighter? I clad my sword in mana, making wind circle around it before I swung it at them. They grinned at me, probably thinking that I messed up swinging it before they were even in reach, but their grin quickly disappeared when their bodies were cut apart, torn into bits and sent far over the battlefield to rain upon another tight pack of goblins.

“Haaa, and every kill leaves such a mess behind. Charred corpses are nothing against scattered pieces of flesh.”

“Hey, don’t you dare!” Suddenly Sarah screamed out behind me. “Stop it!” I turned around, only to see a golden snake dragging her behind it. Its body flew through the air, landing near me while throwing up a cloud of dust before it quickly rushed towards the enemy horde, dragging the dust with it.

“Cough!” Left in the cloud was Sarah, coughing through the sudden intake of dust. Slowly she got up, patting the dirt of her clothes when the tail of the snake passed by her once more, flicking away a few goblins that tried to get to her.

“I swear that’s only his revenge for the sermon. I don’t need to learn how to fight in close combat, you hear me!” She angrily shouted back towards Agni.”

“Haha, serves you right for staying in the back all this time.”

“Traitor, that’s only because you said I should fight with you here.” She knocked an arrow, pointing it in my direction before she let go. I heard it swooshing past me, before it clashed into a goblin right behind me, ending its life while its body crashed into those past him.

I ran towards her, pulling my sword back as I bent my knees to jump above her. I felt the wind rush past me as I pushed myself from the ground, twisting my body in the air to swing the sword in a wide arc around it. Then the sword stopped me nearly instantly as it crashed into the ground, leaving me hanging from its handle above a cut of arm.

Well, that didn’t work like planned. Screams rang out from the other side of my sword, most likely from the dismembered goblin. “Shut,” I fixed my grip on the sword, lifting my body up into the sky. Using the momentum, I let my body pass the top, pulling my legs towards me before I kicked down towards the goblin. “Up!”

My feet connected with the back of its head, a loud crunch resounding as it collided against the steel. Having regained a foothold, I pulled at my sword to free it. When I noticed it getting loose, I jumped of the goblin, its lifeless body falling down. Landing on the ground once more a disgusting squelch resounded beneath. Fearful I looked downwards, only to see bits of goblin-fluid stuck at them. “Errr”, disgusting… A shudder ran down my spine when it stayed stuck even while flicking my foot.

An arrow flew past me, lobbing itself into another goblin. “What are you standing around for?”

“Sarah, help me.” I looked at her with pleading eyes.

“What are they doing?” I couldn’t help but shake my head as I watched over them.

 “Stay away from me!” Sarah ran away from Alice, who kept following behind her, saying something inaudible from here. I would have stopped them from playing around, but even now they decimated a path through them, Sarah clearing the front to keep being able to run whereas Alice covered the sides of them.

Once more I incinerated a group of goblins that converged towards me, a massive flame pillar rising in their place. Looking back towards the two I saw a special one.

“That could be a bit dangerous.”

I pulled another arrow, not bothering with knocking it on my bow. Instead I smashed the tip into the face of a goblin, it easily passing through its eye to pierce into the brain. Before the goblin had a chance to collapse, I already yanked at it to pull it out once more, this time knocking the arrow onto the string to let another Arrow Rain loose.

“Sarah, help me get it off!” Alice was right behind me, kicking the falling goblin aside while she covered the other with her sword.

“I won’t touch these things!” I ducked beneath a rusty sword, my hand passing above a goblin turned hedgehog to grasp a few arrows. A clash resounded behind my, marking the end of my earlier attacker. I pushed the arrows I just grabbed into my quiver, leaving one to fix it on my string as the golden snake passed us once more, circling around us.

“Get ready for a big one!” I heard Agni shout out from behind. Just how big can these things even get, even the hob-goblins are at most as tall as Alice. But as if to oppose my thoughts loud steps resounded out, the ground slowly starting to tremble with every step it took.

Once more the snake flicked its tail, flinging goblins aside to clear the view. From inside the castle a giant goblin stepped out, barely passing through the gate while it ducked down through it. How is that even a goblin!? Analyze.

 “Hey Sarah.” Alice turned towards me. “I think I’m dreaming, can you pinch me? Ouch, why did you really do it!”

“Haha. You asked for it.”

“It was a joke, you little!”

She turned towards me, trying to pinch me in revenge, only to stop when Agni appeared beside us.

“Stop messing around and focus on the big one.”