“We’re almost there,” a Huntress whispered to her weakened teammate. “We should be able to see the transportation circle any time now.”

I glanced at her and the shivering woman at her side. It’s true, we were almost at the location of the transportation circle. It was also true that the closer we got, the heavier the pressure in the air became. Right now, it felt like I was walking through waist deep water. The already thick air was hard to draw into my lungs and my knees were getting more and more shaky. Not good for a fight. From the looks of it, I wasn’t the only one affected.

I gripped my kindjal and focused forward, keeping my back straight and head high. A pale purple glow emitted from between thick tree trunks and hovered above the mossy ground. Such a bright color seemed out of place in this damp and gloomy place — felt so wrong mingling with the smell of decomposition and blood. And yet, relief pumped through my veins. If the magic was still there, it meant the transportation circle was still working.

Low excitable chatter spread between teams as they saw the purple magic circle. A Huntress in the treetops broke out into a run, full on sprinting across the branches to the exit. It was like a dam burst as the Hunters in the trees and on the ground reacted, and suddenly there was a sprint to get there first and get out of the Josu Rainforest.

“Wait!” I gasped. “You don’t know what’s ahead!” How could they be so stupid?!

I wasn’t the only one trying to hold people back. Team leaders and other Hunters tried to catch their companions, but hysteria and fear drove the crowd forward. Who wouldn’t want to get out here as soon as possible? With nothing else to do, I caught up with the rest of the Hunters, the six members of the rainbow brigade not far behind me.

The Hunters on the ground reached the clearing around the transportation circle first, but as soon as they entered, they skidded to a stop and brandished their weapons towards the east. The couple of Hunters in the trees above didn’t pause at all. The first one, a woman in light armor, jumped off the branch, flying thirty feet through the air and arching down to the purple circle. Another woman and a man were quick on her heels.

A swarm of Goblins came from the east, whooping and growling. They spilled over the ground, their short, ugly bodies filling up every inch of space in the clearing.

The woman landed in the transportation circle. The magic flashed bright purple and she shot through the air. Less than a second later, her blurred figure smashed against the barrier tha covered the rainforest. The barrier rippled, a pale opalescent wave expanding from the point of impact before it smoothed out to an invisible shell again. The Huntress was thrown from the transportation arch. I didn’t know if she was knocked unconscious or if she died from the collision, but she didn’t scream as she landed in the middle of the Goblins. Either way, from the way the Goblins pounced on her with their knives, she wouldn’t survive the next couple seconds.

The woman and man that tried to follow her into the transportation circle tried to back track, but they were already in the air. They landed in the small area behind the protective barrier the Hunter Association put around the magic circle. Only they were stuck. They couldn’t use the transportation circle and there were over a hundred Goblins between them and the rest of the Hunters. But that was their problem.

I had my own worries.

On the east side of the clearing was a black arch about fifteen feet tall. Goblins spilled out of the Portal, one after another, each one looking as bloodthirsty as the last.

I turned and launched an attack on the Goblins that came my way. I didn’t have my mist or Stealth to help me this time, but I didn’t want to rely too heavily on them anyway. Instead I twisted and slashed with my kindjals, hacking the little monsters to pieces. The smell of blood filled the air as bodies covered the ground.

Another level later, I was breathing hard as I maneuvered to the back of the battle. Unlike the first wave of monsters, there was no end to these Goblins. Every time one died, another one was there to take its place. It was an endless barrage with endless energy. As for myself, I was getting tired and my HP was getting low again.

I hurried to a Healer in the back. “Please heal me?” I panted.

He scowled at me. “I only have enough to help my people. Go find your Healer.” He waved me away with the back of his hand and turned to a man who stumbled towards him covered in blood.

What Healer? As frustrated as I was, I couldn’t force him to heal me. My hands fisted as I looked over the heads of the battle as the black arch. Was there going to be an end to this? We couldn’t do anything about the barrier, but there wasn’t enough strength to take on the boss inside the Portal. I could run and hide like some of the other Hunters that fled the battle, true. But I refuse to be labeled a coward.

A small hand rested on my back.

I jerked and looked over my shoulder.

Pink smiled softly at me as her hand started to glow, her sweet magic soothing away the aches and pain in my body as my HP filled back up.

Purpled glanced at the Healer and frowned at me, but didn’t comment as she hacked another Goblin in half with her saber.

I smiled at Pink. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay you this time.”

She smiled. “I think you might have already paid me back.”

Did that mean that she finally put my voice together with the woman who saved her from the Velociorheas? Although, technically, she just put her team a step up from me. But I doubt they paid attention to me as early as when I started paying attention to them.

I opened my mouth to comment but paused, as goosebumps spread over my body. I grabbed Pink and dragged her to the ground then threw myself over her.

She yelped and wiggled. “What are you doing? What’s happening?”

“Get down!” I yelled to her shocked team members.

The Portal on the other side of the clearing pulsed, nearly growing twice it’s side. The pressure of it rippled out, flattening anything taller than three feet. Hunters yelled and screamed as they were grounded. Even the Goblins that were jumping up to attack dropped with hard thuds. Any magic that was activated fizzled out under the power surge.

The Goblins that weren’t affected went crazy on the Hunters that were suddenly brought to their level. The Hunters fought back hard, struggling to their feet under the relentless stabs of the monster’s daggers.

I jumped to my feet and swung out, slicing at a Goblin as it stabbed towards the downed Green. The Goblin squealed as I took off its arm. A second later, the high pitched sound was cut off when Green thrust an arrow into the monster’s trachea, no bow needed.

“Get up!” Another warning shiver went down my spine. “No! Get down!” I yelled and pushed Pink back down. “Sorry,” I muttered.

Her response was muffled by a second power surge from the Portal. This time, anything taller than two feet was taken down. Hunters were knocked back yet again, and even most of the Goblins were flattened. Those that were already on the ground but higher than the two feet mark were dragged back across the moist ground several feet.

I lifted my head and focused on the black Portal. Barely visible through the opaque darkness was a pale color, so muted that I couldn’t even clearly make out what it should be. Then the color became more defined, a dull pale green shade, as a shape took form in the depths of the Portal. My eyes widened. Something mostly humanoid was walking out of the Portal. No, two somethings.

A second later, two six foot tall monsters stepped out of the Portal. They were just as ugly as the Gobins that were all around me. The biggest difference, besides the height and lean muscles on their arms and legs, was instead of a flattened, pig-like face, their faces was more of a boar-like snout, complete with tusks. A layered red loin cloth hung on their body. One held a sabor in its hand and the other held a wicked looking boar spear. Over their heads was a red title bar: Goblin Lord Lv 75.

My stomach sank. It wasn’t an S ranked monster, not the Portal Boss at all. So even if we killed them, the barrier would remain and we wouldn’t be able to get away. The other problem was, they were also stronger than every Hunter here. If we teamed up and worked together on the Goblin Lords, it wouldn’t be such an issue. But there were still dozens and dozens of Goblins around us. And our numbers were getting smaller.

I scowled and tsked my tongue. My attacks would probably feel like mosquito bites to the Goblin Lords, but I might be able to help with back up. I wasn’t going to run, because I couldn’t escape as long as the barrier was up. Sooner or later, I was going to die whether it be from Goblins or when night came.

The Goblin Lords lifted their snouts in the air and let out bellowing howls. The Goblins responded with eerie whoops and howls as they jumped to their feet and started to attack the Hunters again. The Hunters reacted with their own moves and a battle broke out.

Some of the stronger Hunters lunged forward at the Goblin Lords, working together to try and take them down. The large monsters looked stupid, but they were fast. Faster than most of the Hunters trying to kill them.

I cast Stealth and Mist at the same time. Pink yelped and the rest of her team gasped when I suddenly disappeared. I Feather Stepped to the Goblin Lords, not ashamed at all that I was stepping on Hunters to do it. My touch was so light that most of them didn’t even really notice what I did. What they did notice was the light mist cloud that whooshed over their heads. As soon as I got close, the Goblins reacted with fear, squealing and flinching away from my mist. If anything, any inconvenience I gave the Hunter by stepping on them was made up with an easy kill when the Goblin dropped their defences.

As I neared the fight with the Goblin Lords, I lightened my Mist until the water particles were simply light wisps that rippled and flowed together. Easy to see through, but still there. I landed behind a Mage dressed in navy blue robes with a gold and white magic stone chain around her waist.

My mist settled over the battle, causing the smaller Goblins to flee the area. The Goblin Lords gave startled, animalistic noises and snorted, obviously bothered by the mist. The Hunters didn’t change a thing. Since most of them came into this rainforest to find the Josu Ghost and recruit her, they knew what my mist was — knew I was there to back them up.

The Mage in front of me launched a thick icicle at the spear holding Goblin Lord. At the same time, I created a solid mist barrier around the Goblin Lord’s legs. It jerked in agitation and instantly broke my barrier, but was too distracted to fully dodge the ice. It sank right into the monster’s left side.

Alright, that worked. From there, I kept watch. Every time the Goblin Lords moved, whether it was to attack or defend, I would try and lock a block of solid mist around their limbs. They were at such a higher level than me that it only deterred them for a second before they broke the barrier. If it was me directly fighting them, that time wouldn’t make a difference because I wasn’t able to move as fast as them. But for the high leveled Hunters dodging their attacks or trying to attack themselves, that second was the difference between a hit or a miss. Slowly, instead of the Goblin Lords having the upper hand, the battle was brought to a deadlock, neither side winning over the other.

At first, all the barriers I made weren’t a big deal. But after a while, the mental strain started to get to me. A dull ache formed in my head that grew sharper as the minutes passed. My MP was also starting the drop into the red, from holding Stealth, constantly replacing the mist that evaporated in the fight around me, and constantly making the solid mist blocks around the monsters.

A shiver went down my back and I gasped. “Duck!” I yelled as loud as I could.

Half a dozen Hunters dropped, while the other half ignored me.

Another power surge pulsed from the Portal. The Goblin Lords were completely unaffected, but everyone else that was standing was knocked back. The closer the Hunter was to the Portal, the farther they were thrown. I gritted my teeth through my pounding headache and formed solid barriers to ‘catch’ some of the Hunters in the air. I can’t say that any of them had graceful landings on my mist, since they couldn’t even see what they landed on. But it kept them from landing in the swarm of goblins the rest of the Hunters were trying to kill off.

A third Goblin Lord, holding a giant axe, walked out of the Portal. It howled into the air, the sound ear piercing.

I moaned and covered my ears, trying to block the sound from entering my already throbbing head. Panting, I looked up at the trio of Goblin Lords … and felt the hair raise on the back of my neck.

The axe wielding Goblin Lord was staring straight at me. Even though Stealth was still activated, there was no question it was looking at my face. It hoisted its axe high and charged.

CRACK!

*****