Roger, the air marshall, was following the events from the base, though with a lag of roughly ten minutes due to the distance. Carol, Steve, and Kareem were seated on tree stumps near him. They were still discussing Gabriel’s choice to split up his forces, when the chat informed them about the goblin riders.

“Ugh, this is bad. I thought they could just retreat if the goblins responded in force,” Kareem said, sounding worried and regretful.

“Only ten of them though, with a good ambush they should be able to win,” Steve said, patting him on the back.

Roger stayed silent. While Steve’s words were true, the monsters were the highest level they’ve faced, at level 40. Could they fight evenly with them? He wondered. All he could do was watch, as the events continued to unfold. He was impressed with Gabriel’s quick-thinking. While the reinforcing group would likely arrive late, immediately launching an attack on the mine to draw any further attention to them, was a good idea. Or so he thought until he saw the HP bars get depleted at an alarming rate.

“God damn, what the fuck is going on?!” Roger couldn’t help swearing when someone’s HP took an 80% hit. Things only got worse from there. One by one, several people had their HP bars fully depleted.

“Their HP is still being refilled, they should still be alive,” Kareem said, trying to reassure the others as much as himself.

Soon, his words were confirmed when another bar was depleted, and a small skull and crossbones appeared beside it. Then another one, and another. Roger groaned and slowly lifted his head, staring at the sky with unfocused eyes. Beside him, Carol was sobbing softly. Even though the decision to split the groups was on Gabriel, Carol would likely blame herself for these deaths. It was her idea to attempt diplomatic contact, and the diplomacy party was the one to incur the casualties.

Still, while Carol and the others might feel it was her fault, Roger was wrestling with a similar issue. During the meeting where they decided what to do, he specifically didn’t make any decisions, in order to avoid triggering Leadership. Since it was a question of life and death, he felt people should be able to choose for themself, without the influence of his skill. As a result, only eight teams chose to go with Kareem’s plan, and now three people died.

I should’ve been more decisive. If I gave an order, more people would go and we wouldn’t be in this situation. Damn it, it’s all my fault, he thought, his fist clenching subconsciously. Worst of all, unlike Carol, he couldn’t share his pain. His decision to keep the skill secret backfiring. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, and focused on the Battle Group Chat window, grinding his teeth when he saw another death. It’s too late for regrets, all I can do is be more decisive in the future, a thought flashed through his mind as he continued to follow the fight.

***

Frank drifted in and out of consciousness. Brief periods of awareness, not even long enough to regain his senses, followed by the darkness of unknown length.

“Come on Frank, wake up!” He heard a voice.

His awareness seemingly regained, he tried to sit up. Pain immediately shot from his stomach, causing him to groan. Eyes bulging, he swept his gaze left and right -- he was still where he fell, the sounds of battle going on all around. Feeling groggy, it took him a moment to realize that Demi was supporting his upper body.

“Here, drink this,” she told him, lifting a healing potion to his lips. After he downed the small vial, she continued: “You’re still Bleeding and the healers can’t keep up. You need to heal yourself.”

“Hmm,” Frank let out uncertainty, his eyes focusing on his HP. 90… 75. He cursed as he saw his HP continue to drop. Placing his left hand on his stomach, he cast Healing Touch, then started to cast Lesser Heal.

“Good. Come help us when you can,” Demi said as she got up, moving toward the nearest downed enemy.

Frank used the three-second cast time to look around -- Amy had jumped onto the goblin’s wagon and was grabbing their ore and placing it into her Spatial Ring. Helen was repeatedly stabbing one of the fallen foes, before moving to the next one. Ahead of him, two people were doing the same, while another one was checking up on Gabriel.

Focusing on himself, Frank cringed -- the wound to his stomach had nearly cut him in half. On top of that, his Lesser Heal was only level 1, healing him for 21 HP, meanwhile, in the three seconds it took to cast it, he had lost 45 HP. Damn this low-level heal, he cursed. Still, I can slow the damage a bit; better than nothing, I suppose, he reasoned, as he continued to spam the spell. After four consecutive casts, the cooldown on Healing Touch refreshed and he used the stronger spell again. Unfortunately, that left him with just enough mana for one more heal, yet his HP continued to drop.

Not good, I’ll have to rely on the other healers to keep me alive, he thought, mind racing to come up with a solution. The best he could think of was to open his Grids tab and spend 10 GP on Die Hard II, bringing it to 10/100. He put the attribute point into R affinity, the extra mana enough for another Lesser Heal. He doubted it’d make any difference, but he had to do everything he could.

There was a commotion near him. Looking over, he realized that goblins were rushing out of the mine. The people nearby moved to confront them, before the goblins could spill out of the entrance. For a moment they succeeded, but then the goblins bum-rushed them, relying on their numbers to push through the blockade.

Despite his continuous HP loss, Frank used what time he had left to let off ten Lightning Bolts. The damage was pathetic, but the 0.5 second stun was great, creating opportunity windows for others to attack or retreat. Once out of D mana, he could only watch the battle, his HP slowly depleting. Soon, his consciousness faded once more.

***

“Get the wounded and move it!” Frank heard someone shout when he briefly regained his senses. “Leave them, we don’t have time to finish them off,” he heard someone else scream. How long is this Bleed going to last?! Frank wondered, his consciousness fading again.

***

“He’s up,” someone yelled, as Frank stirred, his consciousness returning. “Finally! You had me worried there,” Bill’s voice entered Frank’s ears. He opened his eyes and saw that he was being carried by three people. He was about to ask how long he was out but realized that the Bleed couldn’t last more than two minutes, making the question redundant.

“What’s happening?” Frank asked instead.

“Twenty goblin riders are coming, and we are retreating to meet up with the diplomacy party,” Bill informed him. “You’re the last of the injured,” he added.

Frank opened his Profile on the Map tab, they were half a mile away from the other group, both sides moving toward each other. Closing the map, he focused his attention on the blinking Chat panel and downloaded everything that was said during the fight. Surprise surfaced on his face, as he looked at everyone’s HP bars in the corner of his vision, gasping a moment later.

“The others lost four people,” Frank said, his throat suddenly dry.

“Yes,” Bill gave a curt reply, after a while.

Looking up, Frank could see the three’s grave expressions. What was there to say? Their attack had turned into a disaster, and it wasn’t over yet, more people could die. Nearly had, Frank thought, if it wasn’t for the cross-healing, we’d have another six dead on our side too. It was the first time they’ve lost people since the first attack.

A bitter feeling spread through him. Despite his seemingly hardcore training, he wasn’t powerful enough to save others. He couldn’t even keep himself safe. Frank gnashed his teeth. Closing his eyes he tried to push away the ugly thoughts and activated Meditation. He was out of both types of mana, and this was a rare opportunity to use Meditation to regain some of his resources.

Soon, his injury was healed, allowing their party to speed up considerably. They continued to retreat after meeting up with the other party. Only a few words were exchanged between them, no one feeling talkative.

Not much time passed, when someone shouted, warning them of the enemies behind. There was a single goblin rider. However, it didn’t advance, instead choosing to follow them at a safe distance.

“They are tracking us,” Tom, who was running next to Gabriel, said.

“Looks that way. I wonder if they just want to see where we came from, or if they plan to chase after us,” Gabriel replied.

“Just how many goblin riders could they have in that base? They’ve already sent out thirty,” someone wondered, as they continued to run for it.

It didn’t take long for their fears to be confirmed, as one of the scouts left behind informed them about a group of roughly fifty leaving the base. Worse yet, the goblins were glowing green and moving at an unnatural speed.

“We need to move out of the forest, into the plain,” Tom said after contemplating the news for a bit.

“Why?” Gabriel asked without turning.

“The forest slows us down, but also provides us a cover. However, it’s impossible to hide with the riders following us. At least in the open, our speed will increase, and we’ll be able to see goblins coming,” Tom explained.

“Let’s get out of the forest,” Gabriel said, turning sharply.

He tried to exude calmness, but inside Gabriel felt uncertainty. Being in command was tough. His earlier decision to split up had resulted in four deaths. They did kill a good number of goblins, but that hardly made up for it. Now they were being chased by what should be twenty riders and another fifty regular goblins, albeit really fast ones.

Our morale is down, the healers are nearly out of mana, and it’s forty-six vs seventy, ninety counting the boar mounts. If the goblins managed to catch up to us, we’re dead for sure, A thought flashed through Gabriel’s mind. We can’t outrun them, and now that there are five riders on our tail, splitting up won’t do jack, he swore mentally, as he agonized over what to do. Unable to come up with anything, he chose to inform Roger and the others about their circumstances. Perhaps they can think of something, he hoped.

***

“Any ideas, besides mobilizing everyone to rescue them?” Roger asked after receiving the latest message. Everyone exchanged gazes, but no one spoke. “Here’s what we’ll do: the children and their parents will remain here, the rest will move to rescue Gabriel’s party. Since we’ll have over a hundred people, Kareem will start a second Battle Group. I want everyone ready in two minutes,” Roger rattled off the orders. “Let’s go!” He added, clapping his hand and activated Encourage at the same time. The skill’s radius was now over a hundred yards, likely encompassing most of the people. He planned to use it again when everyone assembled.

The others rushed away, leaving Roger alone. His Leadership skill was in full effect when he gave the order. Combined with the fear-reducing effect of Encourage, it was likely no one would oppose his command. He needed everyone to join, and couldn’t afford to waste time on discussions, even if the skills he used essentially robbed people of their freedom of choice. This is what has to be done, he told himself. I’ll just have to live with the consequences of this decision. He let out a sigh, shoulders drooping slightly. A few seconds later, he shook the depressing thoughts away and sent out a message via the Battle Group Chat.

***

“Come on everyone! Reinforcements are on their way, we just need to buy them some time, and we’ll be saved!” Gabriel bellowed after Roger’s message.

Tom ran to the side before coming to a stop, he turned around and stared behind them, where the goblins were coming from. Seconds passed, finally, a nova of green light flashed in the distance. Having seen what he wanted, Tom sprinted back to the head of the crowd, moving next to Gabriel.

“They’ve gotten closer. About a mile away or so,” he informed. “If we keep moving at the same rate, they will catch up to us in another twenty minutes max,” he added.

“How far would the reinforcements be from us at that point?” Gabriel asked after cursing.

“Three, maybe four miles. Two, in the best-case scenario,” Tom said after doing some calculations.

“Step on it! Push yourself, burn stamina if you have to! We need to move faster or we won’t make it!” Gabriel hollered again.

He had already told everyone to use their spare GP to get attributes and pump them into Endurance. But it wasn’t enough. Most of them haven’t done much running, so their skill level was very low. The same went for the Fitness skill. Even worse, mages and healers had very little stamina.

This is… what happens when… you don’t train… all your skills, Frank thought as he panted. They were running at roughly six yards per second, which was too much for him, even if he now felt like a fifty-year-old. He was burning stamina just to keep up, and now Gabriel wanted more? I’ll have to rely on sprinting for that, he thought, gnashing his teeth at the realization his Sprinting was at level 1.

Glancing to his side, he saw red-faced Amy trying to keep up. Her ragged, loud breathing made it seem like she was about to drop from a heart attack. Margaret looked even worse, her quivering lips making it clear she was nearing her limit. Seeing how she was about to collapse, Bill picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, before rejoining them. Frank could only shake his head mentally. Bill might have a lot of Stamina, but carrying another person while running at full speed… just how long could he last? He wondered.

Ten minutes passed, the goblins behind them were just over half a mile away. Meanwhile, all twenty riders have arrived, splitting into two squads, one running ahead of the humans, the other beside them.

After another five minutes passed, most of the mages and healers were out of Stamina, the other members needing to either carry them or pull them by their arms. With their speed slowing drastically, the goblins began to gain on them at a visible rate.

“This won’t work. We are maybe two minutes away from them catching us,” Tom exclaimed, his voice tinged with desperation and fear.

Keeping his stride steady, Gabriel opened the Map and looked at Roger’s location. Still over three miles away, his lips curled into a bitter smile. That was nearly fifteen minutes, by the time reinforcements arrived they would all be dead.

“We should run into the forest. Stall for time,” Kim, a tall, slender woman, suggested.

“Yeah,” Gabriel agreed. “Everyone, we’ll enter the forest again,” he yelled and changed his course.

They made it a few dozen steps into the forest when Gabriel shouted for them to take up a defensive formation. Which simply meant forming a circle, while trying to hide behind trees.

Less than a minute later, dozens of green-glowing goblins entered the forest as well, rushing toward the humans. The riders had circled around them, and also prepared to attack.

“Fight defensively and stall for time!” Gabriel shouted.

As if the goblins will let us stall, Frank thought bitterly. His HP was full, R and D mana at 70, stamina at just 50. He imagined the other healers and mages were even worse since they lacked his regeneration. Fighters too, he thought as he glanced at Bill, whose body was trembling from exhaustion. Here they come, a thought flashed as he braced himself for the oncoming wave.

After surrounding the humans, the goblins squeaked simultaneously and began their attack. The sound of a bowstring being released entered his ears, two arrows hitting the oncoming goblins. Frank pointed with his left hand and waited until a goblin got close enough. Lightning Bolt momentarily stunned the creature, allowing Frank to lunge at it, his saber slashing into the monster’s head. His opponent dealt with, Frank stepped to his left and lashed out. Faced with Frank’s and Kevin’s offensive, the goblin was forced to retreat.

We can do this, Frank thought suddenly. They were outnumbered two to one, but it wasn’t impossible. A shield-bearing goblin came at Frank. They exchanged several blows when the monster suddenly squatted down, revealing an archer behind it. An arrow shot out, but Frank managed to crouch, the arrow passing harmlessly above him. Just as he began to stand up, the goblin rushed shield-forward and slammed into Frank, both of them fell, the goblin landing on top. Before it could posture up and attack, Helen sunk her knife into its side, a moment later Demi’s sword slashed at its neck. Frank pushed the half-dead monster off of himself and toward Helen. He got up and returned to his spot in the defensive line before it could collapse.

The battle continued, but the goblins became more cautious, no longer rushing in where they could be trapped and killed. Any injured were rotated to the back lines, where they were healed. It was becoming a battle of attrition, and the goblins were sure to win it.

While this was happening on Frank’s side, another side of the humans’ defensive square was being assaulted by the archers and the mages. Under this constant bombardment, and unable to retaliate, except for a few mages, they were forced to hide behind the trees. With this defensive line collapsed, the ranged goblins began to hit the rest of the humans from behind.

They tried to reposition, to avoid the attacks, collapsing their formation as a result. Sensing their chance, goblins rushed them from all sides.