Chapter 69

Site of the Goblin Invasion; Gnome Warren Entrance

We’re thrown back into more fighting for survival with no end in sight and no escape. I’m beginning to feel very stressed out. We want to go and meet the dwarves partway. It will augment our defense if we can keep them as part of or as one of our fronts. But unfortunately the other teams also have the same idea but our defense line is collapsing because they aren’t staying together for many reasons.

This cavern is literally filling from top to bottom with goblins. They are everywhere and so many that we can’t count them. The runic shielding is literally keeping us alive, in conjunction with using the trenches to avoid getting swarmed while we move using higher elevation. We’re also lucky that the other teams are around us, also having engaged the enemy but they are doing poorly.

The gnome and allied defense lines will have to collapse soon; it’s only a matter of time. And when they do we too will be overwhelmed. They are already shifting and moving constantly. While our side is outfighting them, there’s just too many of them to hang on!

Sometimes we have to stop to beat the goblins down and control the flow better. I renew the runic shielding spell often.

The girls with me are now too scared to even talk most of the time.

“Stay together! Stay mentally cool! Stay with the team!” I call out. “Keep your line together! Don’t let anyone flank us or come in from the side.”

“We’re trying,” Asakura said weakly. She’s trying to keep ready and fight.

Rina was wheezing near us again.

Dang it. I’d have to give her treatment again soon.

My team seems to listen, but the other teams don’t recognize me as an authority figure. I think that was thanks to the earth mage girl, Saiya, saying weird stuff to them.

The other gnome and human teams are falling into disarray as their members become wounded and start dying.

We see a goblin kill another gnome in the team of five to our left. To our right another survivor of our human group is killed. I feel badly, since there aren’t many of us left.

“We can’t hold this position for long, Shun,” Asakura reminds me. She’s using the higher ground to keep stuff from moving up, but she’s starting to tire out. I can see sweat stains making her white blouse start to look transparent in certain places.

“I know. I’m trying to get us to a better spot and to fall back, but we also have to make this work where we don’t get trapped in a corner too,” I said.

In a way, we’re actually lucky because we aren’t a normal army and just militia. So it’s not a big deal that we run away or try to escape to survive. But if we’d been in a real army and if we were enlisted with real papers and a duty promise then we’d be faced with charges of cowardice in the face of the enemy and a military style execution most likely would probably be a real possibility on this world. Still it’s the right decision to move away and fall back. There’s no point in dying for no reason.

We also have no obligation to these people, I remind myself. I think they’d also want their deaths to mean something, and they’d like that they could save someone by buying time.

Then we have to watch out for ourselves.

The goblins are coming at us again with a fresh group that’s gotten past the others around us, now that we’ve taken out the previous group. Because of the fresh group coming at us, we’re also unable to help the teams near us that are falling before them.

“Rina use this orc spear instead. But keep the club as a backup,” I coached to her after pulling an orc spear out of my item box. I try to keep it subtle but there’s no time to waste. I also give her a small orc buckler that was in there that I’d missed. But it’s not in good shape, so I have misgivings about trusting it. Her previous weapon didn’t look like it was the best thing for her to use. I was forced to try do switch things up with her.

I believe that the spears are good in giving them a good chance at getting the goblins wounded or maimed before they get to melee distance.

She puts the buckler on her right wrist, using her land hand to fight. I almost forgot she’s left handed.

Then I renew the runic shield spell on both of them. I also do another heal spell on Rina for her treatment. Immediately I can see her lungs can breathe better. She is feeling better too, but still biting her lip to try to be fierce. The color is back in her cheeks and face.

“Sorry,” she says back to me.

“Can we really hold out?” Yumi asks. She’s discouraged. She’s holding back as many of them as she can.

“Of course we can. We will make it,” I boldly assert. I actually really do feel we have a good chance after all the training that I’ve received from Fox and Sunghee. Every chance I could do so, I’d used the orc training room.

“H-hang in there,” Asakura also encourages, but her voice is trembling and full of fear.

“Yumi, your shield has humongous survival potential, remember,” I said to her.

She groaned, “Yeah, I got it. You are right. It’s just…there’s so many of them. When I see that it makes it hard to even swallow.”

Rina and Asakura spear two goblins coming at them, but the goblins don’t die right away. They are trying to keep their weapon while I have to stop them from being pushed back by other goblins.

Won’t this ever end?

I swing my axe into a second goblin that’s gone after Rina. Its face is instantly crushed by the axe blade and it bounces off the ground harshly as its splattered away from us. Wow. That’s the first time I think I’ve gotten a one shot kill on them? Was it because I felt threatened about her safety?

But it’s not reasonable to get an instant kill every time. If I think like that it can cause me to defend less and end up killing me in the long run.

She was able to regain her weapon. She still swings badly though. She’d be last pick choice on an elementary school baseball draft pick. Maybe she can make up for it with her greater height, above the goblins.

Whew, close call.

But then I have to go after Asakura’s weapon again. They are trying to disarm her too. It’s an extremely desperate situation. They’ve also done this purposefully and its not an accident that they’d go for disarming the women to try to carry them off. If she’s disarmed then she can’t fight and the runic shield buff will fall easily. I kick one coming in from the side. Then bash it with the back of the axe blade. I couldn’t get the blade positioned right for a maiming or killing blow though. The goblin is forced to the ground and cries out while Asakura is struggling with the other goblin to keep the spear. Elsewhere every chance I get I try to keep new goblins dead as soon as they are coming at us and before they can dog pile Rina and Asakura.

I’ve learned that spears in the hands of people with low body strength can be grappled sometimes. So this experience will be valuable for me to remember in the future.

We have to hurry; every second being engaged with them is another chance that more of their friends jump on the bandwagon. I intercepted two more coming this way with a starry missile barrage that broke one’s legs. Then an execution style slice lopped off the other one’s arm. They began to retreat, but the problem is their friends are still staying.

I kicked the goblin going after Asakura in the knee sharply with concentrated power and then unleash the burst of the starry missile spell into the other goblin. The pressure of the spell hits it hard and sends it back knocking it away. It’s killed as it’s blown back a considerable distance off the rocky hill slope to fall to its death.

Hm, I didn’t know that spell could do ‘knock back’ effects. But it seems like the ‘knock back’ effect is only if its unleashed at point blank range? I’m worried that if I use this spell too much it will just suck up mana more. The runic shielding seems to buy more time, and when combined with a little elbow grease seems to stretch farther over more goblins.

“Blasting them off high elevation seems to work well,” I said to Asakura.

“Nice!” Asakura cheers.

Again in front of us Yumi has quite a few on her shield. It’s not a good situation. “Help, when you can, please.” She does look like she’s going to get overwhelmed. She’s good with three but it’s been awhile and one more is pushing up to join the others.

We keep working the work of death among them. They are starting to be more reluctant to engage our team instead of the other human teams as there begins to pile up a lot of bodies in the area we are defending. It’s noticeable for some distance when approaching this part of the elevation. It’s hard to keep track of time while we’re here too, because the situation is so intense.

We keep up this type of behavior of using runic shield magic to keep Rina and Asakura alive and make another go of moving back to a more secure position using guerrilla warfare. We are trying to stay with the humans and follow the dwarven retreat that is steadily headed toward one of the tunnel exits.

“I’m still confused why they are retreating and haven’t gotten the dwarf door shut. It seemed like that would be the most logical thing to do right?” Yumi asked.

“That might be the case. Except, in this case they might do if that if there are just too many goblins, and too many coming in,” Asakura said. “It could be just the conditions for the perfect storm.”

“It’s sad, we’ll never get to see those little gnome kids again will we?” Rina asked sadly.

“Let’s focus on what’s in front of us,” I said. “Rina, toughen up.” I barked at her.

“Sorry Shun.” She sounded more motivated now.

Good.

Will the gnome colony even survive? By now the number of dead gnomes seems staggering. I feel bad seeing their small mangled bodies after they’ve taken us in.

At first I had a great fear that our being here might have led to their doom, but I see no relation between the spider and goblins getting in and anything we’ve done.

There are so many dead I fear the worst. I’d almost missed how many there were because the number of dead goblins is still vastly higher and conceals many of the bodies. We also don’t have time to go through things and identify the dead. If we do, we will die as well.

As we pass by, while trying to stay alive I see the gnome lieutenant among the dying. He reaches out to try to grasp my hand. “So-sorry, humans…aren’t…so…bad,” he apologizes to me struggling to get the words out. Then his eyes get cold and lifeless. His hand falls back to the ground.

This is awful. His death hits me emotionally more than the others because we’d had a bit of a rivalry to tighten our relationship together, even if it wasn’t a good relationship.

There are other gnome bodies too, mixed in with the goblin bodies in this area.

We have to leave the gnome colony. But the only way out that we know of is down in the courtyard.

Will we have to kill all the goblins first? We still don’t even know how many of them there are.

We’re trapped! Have the girls realized it yet too? I can’t tell them if we are. I don’t say it aloud. I’m worried if I do that the pressure will break the fragile control holding us together.

I have to think…have to think. Where do we go? Come on Shun, think, I kept telling myself.

We’re…really trapped and cut off. These tunnels do go a little ways, but there’s no exit from those positions. It just loops around and comes back into the courtyard from a different area.

Shit!

OK, what’s doable…I force myself to commit to just getting close to the dwarves for now. Their formation is holding out and more armored.

We try to get closer to the dwarves but it’s hard. The other teams by us have all had significant deaths. Even Akira’s team has suffered greatly. He has only Yuriko and some other guy left alive with him now.

Yumi cries out suddenly when she sees what looks like Saiya’s body among the fallen. It looks like she was about to run over there to get her but she hesitates. It looks like from the body that she’d almost gotten to the dwarven troop for cover but had been struck by a goblin ambush. Her friends were with her also dying.

Yumi’s face is gushing with tears. “No! I wanted to be with her! I was going to go help their team!”

“Eh? You were?” Asakura is shocked, and so am I.

“She’s already gone, going over there won’t do any good,” Asakura says, guessing what’s going on. I’m glad I’m not the only one that’s noticed her odd behavior.

“I thought you gave up that idea, already,” I said swallowing hard.

No response back from her.

I think I heard Rina swearing.

“Rina?” I look at her questioningly. Was she going to leave with her?

“Don’t worry I’m with you bro. I wasn’t going to leave for Girls’ Kingdom. I’ve got what I need right here. If I can only convince you to…,” Rina whispers just loud enough for me and Asakura to hear.

“Uh, that’s too much information Rina,” Asakura manages to gasp, even while we’re struggling.

After we get a bit further we can see that some of the bodies have been stripped of skin, meat, and clothes. It looks like the goblins had already started to cannibalize them. We don’t want to stay near there. It’s too awful to see and as we keep a fighting retreat we can’t help but notice the smell of gore.

“That’s so awful,” Yumi says with a runny nose from crying too much. Her face looks like if she cries anymore it will melt.

“Oh my…!” Asakura is so astonished she can’t even finish her sentence.

“Our team is the only one without losses,” Rina suddenly notices.

I confirm she’s right. In some cases there aren’t any survivors in a team, or only one or two people.

“Seriously?” Yumi stopped crying somehow very suddenly.

“Hold it together,” I warned her.

She nods. “Sorry Shun…I…I shouldn’t have…”

“Stow it. Save it for later and then you can be sorry and grateful,” I quickly replied so we wouldn’t lose time. “Stay moving or we’ll die,” I reminded them while I tried to catch my breath.

The runic shield spell is totally bad ass, I’m convinced. Even someone really weak like Rina can use it to stay alive. The others are curious why my team is doing well since you can’t really see the shield enchant except for the cracks of its damage, or if you are really close, or a magic user.

I’m actually afraid to go near the anguished faces of some of those survivors. There’s like a saying that sometimes a desperate friend can be your worst betrayer.

But we have to keep going in such a way that I can also glance back behind us to make sure we’re not cut off from behind either.

“Shun, I don’t see a lot of humans in this area or gnomes even,” Asakura warns.

“That’s because everyone’s already dead,” Yumi said pathetically.

“Gotcha, just keep working towards the dwarves. Don’t pay attention to the dead, it won’t help any,” I said.

The only catch with the runic shielding strategy is that I hope my mana can last however many hours longer this will take. It’s no guarantee it will happen. I can’t even predict how long it will take before we find a place to rest.

But where are the dwarves headed? I’m still unclear on that.

Still we are getting closer to them, inch by inch and foot by foot. But we have to fight for every inch of space.

I can’t understand what they are saying too, but their captain is ordering them to do something and to move to what looks like a peculiar place to defend in, possibly a worse place to go to.

But why? My eyes aren’t terrible…but several years of staring at computer screens can’t have helped this situation any.

“Something’s…not right. The dwarves…they…I don’t know. They’re up to something, I think,” Asakura says in a scared panicky tone.

So she see’s it too...

I try to glance at them but they are still moving back steadily, while still acting as one to be a meat grinder on goblin flesh. We also have to be careful moving towards them since the slope makes the goblin blood flow downward and can create a situation where it’s easy to fall.

At least we aren’t below the dwarves but more to the side than anything else but if we stay here that won’t stay that way.

We struggle some more. We almost get overwhelmed several times. We have to be quick on our feet and pass by many maimed and dying people. It can’t be helped.

We don’t have the resources to rescue the others. The goblins inside this area must be like many hundreds inside now, perhaps close to even a thousand. We manage to get on the escape causeway and the dwarves are surprised that our group has made it with them while others haven’t.

Even while the dwarves have been fighting off they have some peculiar movements. They have stopped fighting and are all hunkering down behind shields. They seem to be at the doorway of another gate area that leads into the gate courtyard. It’s a significant distance and the furthest point away from the gate of all the adjoining tunnels.

“Hurry, we have to move faster. Close the distance between them and us or else,” I huffed out. The others can feel the urgency in my voice. I’m still not sure what’s going on but know that something bad is about to happen. I trust Asakura’s judgment on this.

“What’s going on?” Yumi asked.

“Why have they put away their weapons?” Rina asked.

“I think they are bracing their shields with both hands,” I said.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Rina said.

Why would they do that when the enemy is still here?

Unless...

Suddenly I have a bad feeling. I urge the others to pass by the dwarves on the side. This time we have Yumi covering us last.

Wait where did she go? I think we lost Yumi somewhere? She was covering us from behind so we could rush the last part of the gap. But when and where did she end up at? I frantically look around but don’t see her.

“Yumi!” I shouted out in panic.

No answer.

What the hell just happened?! Where did she go?!

“Shun! I can’t find Yumi,” Rina is crying. Oh man. I forget they’ve been friends since the second grade.

The dwarves are encouraging us to get under cover it seems. They have big, wide eyes and look a bit scared.

But it’s too late.

...

Suddenly a huge explosion rocks the entire cavern down below where the front gate is located. Everything is vibrating and rumbling so hard that its impossible to even stand up. The ground is shaking like crazy and for the longest minute in my entire life I fear the ceiling of the cavern will collapse. Explosions underground are awful, because the noise, vibration, sound, and everything with it get amplified. It feels like sliding down to hell.

We couldn’t see anything at all. Plus the air was now choked with dust. I tried to feel around me blindly. If I get up or start walking around while its pitch black I’ll probably just fall on something sharp. I have to avoid that.

Feeling around me I don’t detect anything sharp or things to fall on, but I’ve lost direction and can’t tell where the others are. It hurts to breathe in the dirty air too.

So this was why the dwarves were gesturing for us to get down? They’d apparently decided to light off a bomb at the front entrance to the place. It was a crazy idea to do such a thing. I’m just glad I even figured out what they meant. It wasn’t that easy to tell, because their psychology made their hand signals a bit different than human ones.

It was pitch black darkness around us. But I didn’t feel the ceiling caving in on us if that was any good news.

“Rina, Asakura are you OK?” I asked gasping and choking. I try to use my shirt collar to mask my nose and mouth, but it’s not that easy to do. My shirt isn’t very baggy either to allow much effectiveness in this.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Asakura said, but she was coughing and choking on dust. It was taking awhile for all the dirt to settle.

“I’m …fine…” Rina said.

“Yumi where are you?” Rina cries out.

No response.

“Where are you Yumi? Asakura?” I coughed out to all of my team.

“I’m close,” Asakura’s hand brushes my ankle. She keeps hold of it, and I feel her hand start to climb up the rest of me until she’s holding on the back of my belt. She refuses to let go. Her grip is like the tight feeling of a skeleton trying to rip out my soul. She’s so scared that she doesn’t realize it.

It doesn’t loosen up for at least a good ten seconds, and then finally she relaxes a bit.

“Bro? I can’t find you,” Rina is really scared. She can’t hide it.

I still can’t tell where Rina is yet.

Both of their voices sounded like they were really close to me.

“Yumi?” I called out.

I’m worried. I’d lost sight of her right when all hell was breaking lose.

No answer.

In fact, everything near us might actually be dead. I didn’t want to think that, but I don’t even hear dwarves that were near us.

Where was she?

“I can’t find Yumi!” Rina cries out.

It’s time to activate the light spell. But the problem is that once I do everything will be magnetized to my location. We can see no other lights in the dark. It could therefore attract every single goblin left alive to our location.

It’s not a risk I want to take but I’m afraid it’s the only chance we have. In the fighting most of us had lost our bug lanterns. We’d also had many bug lanterns on posts all over the courtyard when we were fighting before, and that would made things easier.

But whatever the huge mega bomb thing was that the dwarves had set off was, it had snuffed out everything down there.

Are we alive only because of being at the very edge, and from having the runic shielding buff?

“Just hold still guys. I have a plan,” I said.

I can feel feel Asakura’s sigh of relief. Her body is pushing up against mine from behind while we’re all kneeling on the ground. If Yumi weren’t missing I would’ve liked to have explored it more. It feels wonderful.

But what about Yumi?

It happened so fast. I’m not even sure what just happened.

I can vaguely also feel Rina crying into my shoulder.