Orrin topped off his four buffs and did the same for Daniel. He made sure [Camouflage] was active and sheathed his sword. All three of them started jogging, dodging trees, and sticking close.

“I thought you said Goblins were rare,” Daniel yelled as the screeches of the Sproits continued.

“They are rare.” Jude leapt over a fall branch, holding his hammer in both hands. “There hasn’t been a report of a Goblin for years this close to the Wall.”

Orrin struggled to keep up with Jude and Daniel. The extra stats helped, but Daniel was just in generally better shape than he was.

“I- can’t- keep- going,” Orrin huffed. They had made it halfway back but running three miles in the forest was wearing on him.

Daniel slowed, “We are almost back, O. I can see Sproits getting closer. We can’t stop.”

“They’re supposed to be slow,” Orrin complained as he dry-heaved against a tree.

“The Goblin’s fury skill.” Jude set his hammer down on the ground. “It allows them to move faster. If it was just a few Sproits, I’d wade in there and we could take them out easy.”

He took a long swig of water from his water skin and continued “But you have to take the Goblin out first in closed spaces like this forest, or those little guys will carve you up quick.”

Daniel’s eyes never left the path back, “I can make out about fifteen or so Sproits but can’t see a Goblin.”

“[Eagle Eyes]?” Jude asked.

Still spying even when we’re being chased by toddlers with knife fingers, Orrin groaned.

Daniel nodded slowly. “I think we need to head off soon. Orrin are you ok to go again? I can carry you.”

Orrin pushed off his knees and straightened. “I’m good. I just had to catch my breath.”

They started running again. But after ten minutes, Orrin was holding his side where a stitch was burning.

Orrin tried casting [Heal Small Wounds] and even [Calm Mind] on himself, but neither worked at reducing the pain or helping him run any longer.

“Sorry guys,” Orrin groaned as he slowed to a stop. “Go ahead, I’ll catch up. They can’t see me anyways.”

Jude’s eyes narrowed. “How?”

“I’ve got a spell that makes it harder for them to see me,” Orrin purposefully kept his answer vague.

“We need to get to the gate and get reinforcements,” Jude shrugged. “Sproits rarely look up, so just climb a tree and wait. We’ll be back with a few guards and take out the Goblin.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Daniel stood still as he scanned the forest. “They haven’t gotten any closer but we’re still a mile or two from the tree line.”

“We can signal the Wall,” Jude suggested. “They’ll send horses and be here within the hour.”

“Not good enough,” Daniel glared at Jude, before turning his eyes back to the clamoring Sproits.

“Daniel, I’m holding you both back,” Orrin surreptitiously cast [Calm Mind] on Daniel. It’s supposed to calm stress and make him think logically.

“I can carry you,” Daniel responded. “And don’t try casting spells on me,” he whispered.

In the end, Orrin climbed on Daniel’s back and they set off again at a slower pace.

“You could buff Jude,” Daniel suggested quietly. “He could run ahead and we could maybe get a straggler or two.”

“I really don’t want Silas getting more information about my spells and skills.”

“It’s life and death, O,” Daniel hitched Orrin higher and kept running. Jude stayed slightly ahead of them.

Orrin struggled inside. His need to keep all his cards close waged war with their safety.

“Jude. I’m going to cast a spell on you. [Increase Dexterity].”

“Huh?” Jude had time to get out before he stepped faster and nearly tripped. “What the hell?”

“Your dex should be up a bit,” Orrin explained. “Run ahead and signal the Wall. We’ll head right for it and try to creep along towards the gate.”

“My job is to protect you,” Jude started.

“Your job is to get us back safely,” Daniel interjected. “If you don't signal the wall, it’ll be all our asses on the line. So hurry.”

Jude’s face tore for a second and then he saluted. He turned and looped along, leaving them behind.

“You could be running that fast too,” Orrin tried.

“Not leaving you behind little man.”

Orrin slapped the side of Daniel’s head. “I’m almost as tall as you. Don’t start that shit again.”

Daniel chuckled and fifteen minutes later they spotted the edge of the forest.

“We made it,” Daniel sighed.

From the north, Orrin heard screams of Sproits.

“More coming from the left,” he began. But another noise cut through the howls, low and grating.

“Is that another one?” Daniel groaned. “I’m starting to think we’re really unlucky, Orrin.”

Orrin silently agreed.

Daniel and Orrin made it to the Wall and began traveling south towards the gate. Loud thrashing followed in the forest across the tall grass.

“I can’t get a perfect count but I think maybe forty Sproits,” Daniel counted. “I saw one Goblin. It was lime green and ten feet tall, O.”

“Jude should have signaled and waited for us...” Orrin looked around. “I think he left us and went back to the gate.”

“He did say leave people behind to survive,” Daniel muttered.

After twenty minutes of creeping along the Wall, Daniel pointed.

Traveling from the south was a cloud of dust being kicked up. Horses.

“Jude is at the front. He brought about ten guards.”

“Will that be enough? They don’t know about the second Goblin,” Orrin made sure his sword was loose and ready to draw.

“I don’t like it,” Daniel said under his breath. “I- I think I’m going to buy a skill I’ve been looking at. [Long Cuts]. I’ll be able to hit all my attacks from further away but it costs 10 AP.”

“If you think it’s worth it,” Orrin shrugged.

Daniel stopped and turned back, “I’ve been saving as much as I can because I have this feeling... I’m going to need a lot.”

Orrin put his hand on Daniel’s arm. “We’ll get more if we level. I’m going to keep on you, healing and buffing you as much as possible,” Orrin sighed, “I can’t convince you to let them do this alone, can I?”

Daniel smirked. “This is why you’re my best friend. You know me so well.”

Drawing his sword in one hand and his small dagger in the other, Orrin waited next to Daniel.

The guards and Jude were three hundred yards away and waving when the Sproits burst from the forest.

Closer to fifty, Orrin counted as they ran towards the fighting.

The guard nearest the forest went down under a mountain of yellow flesh and blood sprayed into the air as his screams were cut short.

“Ride and pass formation!” Jude yelled. The men turned their horses and rode towards the wall. Another guard went down when a Sproit launched itself on the horses flank. The Sproit was crushed but as the mount fell, the man’s leg caught under the horse.

“He’s going to die.” Daniel ran and pointed at the guard’s comrade pinned. The eight remaining guards, including Jude, passed them, running away.

Daniel charged ahead. His sword swung out with phantom double strikes and reached out twice as far to strike with his new skill. Orrin had already increased his stats and kept his own [Camouflage] up. Three Sproits went down in rapid succession.

Orrin picked up the spear the downed man had dropped and used it as a wedge to lift the horse. The armored fighter used his arms to drag himself from under the horse. His leg was crushed.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Orrin let the horse drop and healed the man rapidly, throwing a [Calm Mind] on him for good measure.

Daniel yelled at the Sproits around him, trying to gain their attention. Some new skill? Orrin guessed.

Every Sproit turned to charge his friend. Daniel locked eyes with Orrin.

No. “NO!” Orrin stood up and started to run just as over forty Sproits dashed as one at Daniel.

Orrin was knocked to the side from behind. He rolled twice and tried to stand. He wobbled and found himself in the dirt again. A quick heal and he stood.

The eight guards hadn’t run away. They’d retreated to use cavalry tactics, he realized. Broken bodies of Sproits littered the ground. Stabbed, slashed, crushed beneath the horse’s hooves. Some guards had fallen. Orrin counted five more down. Jude was standing near Daniel, waving his hammer around like a twig.

Daniel was on his knee breathing hard.

Orrin picked up the spear he’d left behind and started jogging towards them. He found two Sproits crawling away, wounded but not dead. He stabbed each in the back.

Experience Gained: 40XP (20 XP x 2)

Nobody in his party of two had damaged these. He got full experience credit. Orrin momentarily felt bad for stealing experience.

Level 4 Obtained!

+10 AP

He stopped to heal one of the fallen guards, pulling the man to his feet. Three guard bodies were too far away and unmoving. The last was in two pieces.

Just as they reached Daniel and Jude, the remaining two guards brought their horses to a stop.

One pointed a long polearm at the forest. “Sir DeGuis, the Goblin is coming out."

“There’s two,” Daniel gasped out. He had furrows of blood across his chest. Orrin started cycling and healing.

“Orrin, boost them all. Everything. The other one is hanging back up there,” Daniel pointed.

Orrin didn’t hesitate. He poured three full mana pools through to give all six of them a full set of his best spells.

“What the hell?” the guard he’d healed was holding a mace and looking down at his hands. “Boss, I just-“

“I know,” Jude cut in. “Guess you were holding back earlier huh?”

Orrin grimaced.

“Stay back Orrin,” Daniel pushed himself to his feet. “If anyone falls, try to drag them back. Orrin can heal.”

“He just spent how much mana and he can still heal?” the only remaining woman asked incredulously. She had no weapon and wore the robes of a mage. She dismounted and started walking forward with the fighters. The horses ran back to the Wall as soon as their reins were released.

Orrin looked at the list of spells and skills he’d been coveting.

[Ward]- (Class Unique)- Create a ward around yourself or a target to protect against attacks. Protects for MP maximum. 20 MP. -5AP

[Lightstrike]- casts an unerring beam of light that hits a target for 1 HP damage. 10 MP. -1AP

[Inverse]- (Spell Modifier) modify a spell to do its opposite. 5MP. -4AP

Would you like to buy these spells for 10AP?

Yes or No

Yes!

He had explained his plans earlier with Daniel, but Daniel didn’t know he’d leveled. I wonder if he gained some levels from all those Sproits he took out, the thought ran through his head and he jogged to catch up with his friend. He cast [Ward] on himself.

“What are you doin-“ Daniel stopped talking as a shimmer of air coalesced around him. “You did it!”

“Should give you an extra 130 HP if it works like it says,” Orrin was about to cast it again on the rest of the group when the Goblin stepped out of the forest.

Standing over ten feet tall, with skin the color of faded grass, the Goblin held a long sapling in one hand with a large rock tied to the end. A homemade mace. It roared a deep growl that pushed back the long reeds around the six of them.

“Stand ready men,” Jude commanded.

“And women,” the mage put her hands over her head and started summoning a tiny globe of water.

“And women,” Jude smiled and swung his hammer through the air.

The Goblin looked out at the dead Sproits and pushed a tree out of his way. The two story tall oak bent and snapped with a loud crack. It stepped out and ran at them.

“Let Lethe trip it, then bring the pain,” Jude stood still.

Lethe, the woman mage, grew the small ball of water larger. The Goblin was running hard across the football field that separated them. Three steps and it already had closed the distance.

“Anytime Lethe,” Jude sounded worried.

With a grunt, the spell exploded. From the small globe over her head, water and cold air gusted. In an instant, the ground in front of them turned into a large ice rink. She had covered the ground in a few inches of slick ice.

Badass spell, Orrin watched as the Goblin stepped and went down hard. It slid forty yards and let out another roar.

The second Goblin stepped out from forest. Nearly identical to the first, it held a gnarled staff in its hand.

“Mage Goblin!” Lethe shouted as it pointed its staff at the group. The grass around them twisted into the air, growing thick. It waved against the wind for a long second and then shot out at the guards.

Orrin felt dozens of sharp roots grab at his legs. They pierced his boots and he felt...nothing.

[Ward- 60/130]

It worked just like he thought it would. I've got mage armor.

Orrin tried his other spell, [Lightstrike].

A light beam flashed from his pointed hand and hit the Goblin mage in the face. It blinked hard and roared.

“Free the guards,” Daniel stepped around the guards clawing at their feet. Blood seeped through all of their boots. He dashed around the icy ground and charged the Goblin.

Orrin stuck the spear he still held in the ground and started hacking away at the vines with his dagger, healing as he went. Two of the guards took off with Daniel. Lethe and Jude cautiously walked on the ice.

The fallen Goblin’s leg had snapped when it went down. It was trying to crawl towards them.

Jude tried to hit it with his hammer but it dodged and rolled.

“Let me try something,” Orrin asked as they backed up, keeping out of its reach.

He tried casting [Inverse] through [Increase Dexterity] and targeted the Goblin.

It slowed noticeably.

He did it four more times. “Now hit it hard.”

“I’ve always wondered what this would be like at a higher level,” Jude muttered.

He held his hammer above his head. A blue-white light filled the air behind the hammer and Jude spun the metal around twice before jumping and swinging it straight down on the Goblin’s back.

The Goblin exploded.

Jude’s hammer had splattered its back but the shockwaves had continued to throw damage down all its extremities. All that was left was a head and bloody meat in the shape of a ten-foot tall body.

“Bloody hell, Sir,” Lethe paled.

Jude was stunned too. “That wa- I...”

“Later,” Orrin grabbed and pulled the knight. “There’s another.”

They were too late. Daniel and the two guards had worn the Goblin down. The polearm guard had circled and poked, keeping its attention, while Daniel and the other guard struck over and over. Daniel used a final [Power Strike] and it went down.

Experience Gained: 200 XP

Yes! [Lightstrike] works for experience damage! He had a ranged attack spell.

The group pulled back to the wall to recoup. Orrin was generous with his healing.

“Seriously.” Lethe approached him. “How? I cast two spells and I’m wiped.”

“My class,” Orrin lied. “Special skill resets my MP but I’ll pay for it later.”

He’d made up the falsehood a few days ago. It would let him keep some sort of buffer from people finding out about [Blood Mana] even if asking about class specifics was taboo.

Lethe frowned. “Lucky. Wish I had something like that, but I love my [Freeze Zone] so...”

Orrin asked questions about the spell and let Lethe brag.

“That’s enough, Lethe,” Jude interrupted her explanation of the range and depth she could pull off. “I think it’s time we cleaned up and got these men back home.”

Lethe mumbled something as she and the other guards went back to retrieve the fallen.

“I’ll let you two take horses back,” Jude offered. “Just give them to the guards at the gate.”

He looked at the carnage. “You both did good today.”

As he walked away, Daniel clapped Orrin’s shoulder.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“Nope.” Orrin looked at the huge warhorses behind them. “Do you?”

“Of course not.”