Over two dozen screaming armored goblins charged downhill on us as we struggled to empty two quivers of arrows into them. The weapons were unfamiliar and inaccurate, but it didn’t matter when the goblins charged into us. If we let the charge continue, they would knock us off our feet and club me to death before raping Alice. So, I threw a grenade in front of the charging horde. 

The explosion killed a little over half of them and stopped their charge. After the explosion, the surviving half of the goblins panicked. They tripped over each other to try to get away from what was going to happen next.

Alice was the first to throw down her weapon and use her natural abilities. She kicked out as night qi gathered around her talons in a devastating night slash. I could feel the qi linger in the air as the heads of three goblins tumbled over to the ground.

I drew my knife and pushed the dragon power inside of me, revving up the throttle until a red glow covered my body. My knife found the gaps in the goblins' armor quicker than their little arms could swing their heavy clubs. Blood poured out on the ground as I moved, slicing through necks, stabbing shoulders, and piercing the eye of one unlucky goblin. Speed was our greatest weapon, especially at close range.

We killed the last of the charging goblins only to see the hobgoblin charge through the smoke from the explosion. His ugly yellow canines bared before he charged, using his hands to run. When he was in range, he reared back to draw a log with handles off of his back. I pulled my gun and shot him in the face.

One of his hands clutched his bleeding skull while the other finished the action of drawing his club. The monster swung the log like a child would a stick. I felt the wind from his swings blow my hair back. Instead of wasting another shot, I pointed at the flailing monster.

“Black Breath,” Alice completely in sync with me unleashed her breath skill already prepared and at full power. A column of black flames blasted out of her mouth, roaring as it hit the air, and then the rank 2 monster screamed.

We quietly absorbed the qi from the dead and dying goblins as they bled out. There weren’t any in the area except the group the hobgoblin led. The others were most likely looking for waifus outside their territory. No new tamer would be dumb enough to come to route death and raid them.

There was a chance I could subdue a gobifu if I played my cards right. All we had to do was move fast and hope the ogre was too far away to hear the shots.

The hobgoblin collapsed after wearing itself out, and Alice gained the lion’s share of its qi. She felt stronger already but not close to rank 2. She needed night and dragon qi to make the jump to the next rank, something we wouldn’t find in a goblin camp unless these goblins worshipped a dragon attribute legendary.

We followed the tracks left by the charging goblin squad to a walled village made of wood. I pulled the scoped rifle from my bag and put a silencer on it. I aimed and scouted the sentries.

There were four guard towers on each corner of the village. Then there was a guard tower at the gate. So, if I wanted to get inside relatively unnoticed, I needed to kill the tower sentries first.

Of course, when I started killing them, the goblins inside would know there was loose qi in the air. That could be a problem if they had multiple rank 2s inside.

I turned to Alice. “Do you think they’ll notice if I kill their sentries?” I asked.

Alice seemed to think hard on my question, then shook her head. “They will think another goblin killed them if they’re found.”

That was better than sounding an alarm immediately and sending out another party of goblins. We could still kill them, but I didn’t want to waste the bullets. I aimed carefully for the first sentry and pulled the trigger. Through the scope, I saw the goblin’s head explode into a pink mist. My rifle barely moved in my hands; it felt like I could write my name with the weapon if I wanted to. The second sentry in the tower met the same end before I moved on to the next tower.

After I killed the first sentry on my fourth tower, the other guard ran for a bell and almost made it before I squeezed the trigger.

We were able to approach one of the village's corners unnoticed with the sentries' loss. From there, I stared at the high wall, unsure if I could jump and grab its spiked points.

“You can do it, just focus your dragon power into your legs and jump like you’re flying. The more you believe in yourself, the easier it is to soar.” Alice said. 

Alice squatted down, showing off her sexy rear, and looked back at me before moving her tail to the side to show off her slick dragon slit. I could feel 80% of her qi concentrate in her legs before she jumped. She appeared to have vanished until I saw her land on one of the watch towers.

She waved for me to come on. I sucked in a breath and concentrated on my legs. The mix was 80 20, and I knew I could get it right. Around my legs, a haze of red light gathered before I jumped. The ground rushed behind me as I passed over the tower and kept climbing higher.

I kept going until I crashed through the other tower. Wooden logs exploded around me as I crashed through and rolled down the ladder to the watchtower’s lower floors. There a handful of goblins turned to me in surprise.

I pulled my knife free and lunged at them. My knife buried to the hilt in the first goblin’s eyes before I punted the second goblin against a wall.

Red light gathered around my fists as I drove my fist through the skull of another goblin. The last one tried to run before I grabbed a mug of something and chunked it. The cup hit the back of the goblin’s head and knocked him to his hands and knees. From the window, the other tower had already lit up in black flames and would soon spread to the rest of the village. While I couldn’t sense every goblin, the bright qi from a dragon attribute waifu stuck out to my senses. I could sense Alice and the captured dinofu.

I grabbed a bow built for a hobgoblin from the racks in the watch tower and a quiver of arrows. Only dragon power let me pull it back before I fired from one of the windows at charging goblins. A few arrows hit so hard that goblins were launched off their feet or pinned in place. Finally, I tore through the wall of the guard tower and jumped down.

One of the goblins charged me, and I grabbed the long-eared green creature and threw him through two houses. Alice unleashed her black breath, and the charging goblins turned tail and fled. She killed dozens of them in a single breath, showing a vast difference in ability. She gained more qi every time she killed, and her reserves increased by leaps and bounds. They allowed her to strengthen her body and frequently use her more devastating skills. Then one of the larger goblins took a step forward and punched the ground. 

Suddenly the ground shook, and the burning watchtower collapsed on Alice. I threw myself out of hiding and charged. My fist tore a hole through the goblin's body, and I watched him try to push his guts back in. I grabbed it by the throat, threw him into the crowd, and chased his corpse with a grenade.

So many goblins were packed together that the explosion killed nearly thirty of them. I could feel the qi from their deaths filling me, and some of that power traveled to Alice. She wasn’t dead.

An arrow tore through my shin and buried itself two feet in the ground pinning me in place. The goblins that had been terrified a moment ago suddenly looked predatory.

A deep red haze covered my vision as I pulled more power fueled by the qi of dead goblins. The goblins charged me as another arrow blasted through my chest and the building behind me exploded. My body armor hadn’t done a damn thing. Blood soaked my clothes as my mind raced for an answer. If I died here, the detonation seal would kill Alice. I scrambled to find the release seal as the goblins charged. There was no way I would let my death take Alice with me.