The Goblins kept streaming in with reckless abandon, clumsily striking with their weapons. Christopher was very pleased to see that not a single person had died so far, although the Goblins did manage to inflict the occasional nicks and cuts to the defenders. One woman received a deep gash across her leg and she was swiftly dragged within the safety of the circle; hopefully, she would be healed swiftly.

There were sounds of distress coming from behind them from the people that they were protecting. Most of the non-combatants looked on with fear at the fighting, and some like the kids were whimpering and crying at once again having to face the Blight and the gore.

Christopher’s sole consideration had been saving the people, but he realized that this was another great source of Soul Points. It was also one of the first real tests of his new abilities with the dagger. Christopher started fighting aggressively, taking on more of the Goblins than most. He was very pleased to discover that his Adeline dagger was easily able to cut through the monsters.

He also occasionally switched on [Daggers Flow] and he found the information that the blue arcs provided rather useful. The arcs showed the vital spots of the Goblins more precisely, and without the skill, he would often have been slightly off the mark, it allowed his stabs to be all the more effective.

There was no real use for his Soul Force other than [Daggers flow]. During his lessons, he had already learned that imbuing the metal of bladed weapons with Soul Heat and Soul Frost would risk damaging the blades. He could imbue his dagger with raw Soul Force but that would be very inefficient since it would quickly burn through his reserves. The Adeline dagger easily sliced through the ugly creatures anyway so there was little need for that.

He could directly imbue the bodies of the Goblins with Soul Heat, just as he had done with the White Crescent Spider, but he was pretty sure that it would be more difficult than simply ending them with his Dagger, he preferred to keep some distance from the creatures. He could also imagine that both the sight and the smell of a Goblin being burned alive would be distracting for the other involved. Freezing them with Soul Frost might make more sense if they managed to get close enough for him to touch.

He still almost got hit when he and another defender to his left squared off against one of the Goblins. He reacted quickly and managed to dodge out of the way when the Goblin continued a strike even after being impaled in the shoulder by the other defender. It looked like his reflexes had improved, the sparring with Arlo was proving its worth. He was pleased to see that some of the people fighting alongside him were quite skilled and knew how to handle themselves against the Goblins. Some were likely stronger than him with only his few weeks of training.

As he looked through the trees, he saw a more troubling sign. A larger malignity of more than ten Goblins running up to attack at the same time. They were fortunate that they had already killed all the preceding goblins, allowing them to completely focus on this larger group. He was somewhat surprised when he recognized one of the creatures, it was that goblin with the club from last time. ‘Damned bastard’ He was definitely going to be the one that killed that monster. He had not forgotten the hit to his arm all that time ago.

Christopher decided to be more aggressive with his fighting, he would not be satisfied unless everyone made it out of this encounter alive. This larger malignity of goblins seemed to be somewhat stronger. Most of them had weapons and a few even wore some shoddy protection.

He intensely focused on the Goblin with the club, and the creature seemed to notice his attention. He was pleased to see that while the goblins charged towards them, the goblin with the club came his way as if accepting the challenge. He slightly stepped out of the defensive ring so that he could take a swing at the Goblin first. He also activated [Daggers Flow] and even infused the Adeline blade with some of his raw Soul force, knowing that it was like poison for the creatures. The Soul Force started dissipating from the blade as quickly as it was infused, but he kept it going, not even paying attention to how much Soul Force he was losing.

He saw the Goblin prepare a powerful swing with the club, and Christopher did not stop him. As the club swung down, he dashed back slightly so that it completely missed him. As soon as the club hit the ground, he dashed forward and swung the Adeline dagger with all his might across the Goblin’s neck. Blood spurted out of the wound; he was pretty sure that he had cut through half of the creature’s neck. The Goblin went down with a fountain of blood, soon laying still on the ground, but he was surprised that no notification alerted him to the gaining of Soul Points.

Never mind that, he quickly assisted one of his neighbors that was struggling with one of the more heavily armored Goblins. Another came for him, but suddenly an arrow sprouted from deep within its eye socket. It looked like the others had also managed to withstand the attack, ending this malignity. And just like that, the biggest danger had passed. There were still a few smaller malignities of Goblins that still came running from the tail of the long procession, but they were dealt with just as easily as the first.

They had done it, the goblins had been thoroughly routed. He looked around and saw the relief on some of the faces around him. Christopher realized that these people were now alive due to his actions.

Christopher looked around the inner circle, and to his pleasure, it seemed like everyone had made it through alive. People were already tending to the wounded. He was surprised to see a young red-haired woman healing the person that was most grievously wounded with what he assumed was a Soul Healing effect. She would certainly be a useful person to have around, he believed that the leader had called her Kata. Soul Healing was a higher tiered Soul Effect that combined at least two of the basic Soul Effects. He really wanted to learn that one himself.

Christopher was pretty sure they had managed to kill all if not most of the creatures. The number of Goblin bodies littering the forest floor looked to match what he had seen the first time, and no new Goblins had been spotted in a while. The blonde leader of the caravan approached him as soon as they appeared to be safe from further attacks.

“It seems that we owe you a debt. If we had not been warned then I don’t think all of us would have made it through.”

Christopher knew that was the understatement of the day, it was likely that nobody would have survived without his intervention. Although maybe Tamas and her family might have barely made it now that he knew about their skills in the basic Soul Effects.

“I should thank you all for reacting so quickly. And fighting back against the Blight is the least that I can do as a member of the Adenium Church. You clearly have some capable fighters among you. My name is Christopher” He made the slight bow of greeting.

The bow was returned by the Blond-haired leader. The man was two inches taller than him and looked to have a good ten years on him as well. A short scruffy beard lined his face. Some puckered scars on his right cheekbone demonstrated previous combat experience.

“The name is Naan. I had not expected to encounter anyone this far from the city. What brought you out here, are you a Lumen Scout?”

“Nothing that impressive. I was trying to find my way to Lumen. I got sidetracked and happened to spot those Goblins moving through the forest, scared me to death to see that many. There seems to be some concerning activity from the Blight in this region. I thought I was a goner.”

Naan rubbed a calloused hand through his beard, a pained expression on his face. “Indeed there is, we have lost much to the Blight in recent days. We have been forced to flee from our village from that very activity. You are free to join us on our journey to Lumen since you are heading that way. Nobody would object after your help here.”

“That is very much appreciated. I would feel a lot better being behind the protection of the Lumen walls.”

Naan nodded. “Feel free to ride on one of the wagons, I am sure you can use some rest.”

He accepted the offer and thanked the caravan leader. He was pleased that the man did not dig that deep in the circumstances of him being here. Christopher wanted to minimize the risk of being caught in a lie. He did not want to be thrown into the Lumen dungeon anytime soon.

He had already decided on his backstory before but it seemed that they would not pry too heavily. He would present himself as a traveler that was looking for a new place to settle after losing his family to the Blight himself. He had researched a plausible background and had plenty of details prepared if it was ever needed. That did not mean that he would feel comfortable with a cross-examination though.

He was very pleased to see that Tamas and her family were not harmed. It did bother him when he saw that same haunted look on the faces of Nara and Boru, it would take some time for the twins to be themselves again. It suddenly hit him pretty hard that everything that had happened over the last few weeks was now simply gone. There was once again nobody that knew who he was. An incredible bout of intense loneliness suddenly threatened to devour him. He was already not in the best of states. He had been mostly running on adrenaline for a while and his mental wariness was starting to reach a critical level. There had been no rest since the attack from the Blight on Lumen, and too much had happened since. Tamas caught him staring at her and gave him an annoyed scowl. It was suddenly all a bit too much.

He suddenly felt his breathing becoming more rapid. His emotions were becoming more difficult to control and that deep feeling of loneliness started to well up inside of him. Unwanted tears started leaking from his eyes. What the hell was happening to him, he started to feel his control slipping further. Christopher was now gasping for air until he could no longer even stand. He had never lost control of his emotions like this; he was not the kind of guy to cry in front of other people. He desperately tried to reign in the emotions but he was failing miserably. The thought of this happening in front of all of these people was really embarrassing to him. His gasping was not abating.

One of the fighters reached a worried hand towards him, but Naan stops him short with a few words. “Let him be, it will abide in a few minutes, give him some space.” Naan turned to address the caravan. “Get everyone ready to move again, I don’t like staying in this place much longer.”

Christopher did not exactly know how long he lay there gasping, but it felt like a long time. Finally, the feelings got a little less intense and he was able to regain control once again. His breathing steadied, and his tears stopped flowing. He looked around and noticed that several people had been observing him all the while. This was really embarrassing and he felt his face redden further. Why the hell had this happened, did he just have some kind of breakdown? Were the horrors of the last day finally catching up to him now that the danger had passed?