Mature Content Warning: Foul language, graphic violence with a little gore, cruelty to cute naked fairies.

Author's Note: Whelp, here's the rest of the battle. I hope it pleases you and if it doesn't them NYAH! Nyah, I say...

Chapter 7: Karsh and the Tears of a Fairy

There was nothing left but to do the thing. There was a battle to fight; a chance or live or die by his skills alone. Scott was both thrilled and disturbed by what was to come. His only hope was that the boomerang skill that he had just acquired would solve his issue. It seemed a bit coincidental that he had acquired exactly what he needed, but he had done so only after discovering a secret. Life was strange in that way. His situation had turned from hopeless to hopeful once more.

“Ero, there will probably be a lot of monsters waiting for me out there. Will you be alright?”

“Sure! They can’t hurt me unless you summon me out. You can use my powers without doing that, though only to the extent that your own abilities allow.”

“I see.” So, she was saying that she would be strongest if summoned, but she could be hurt if she was. Either way, it could be useful to have her along. Now that she had settled into his mind he had a stronger understanding of her exact abilities. He could not wait to try a few of them out, as there were a few more than she had claimed previously.

Scott climbed up the stairs that lead to the mine office then jumped up and climbed back into the building. He looked down at the hole that he had crawled out of and wondered exactly why it was covered up to begin with! Couldn’t they have just locked the door or something? “Hey, Ero. Do you know why the entrance to your grotto was sealed?”

“Sealed? Oh, yes. The mine foreman and I were good friends. He sealed the entrance because he did not want anyone to hurt me.

“What, like wandering monsters?”

“No, monsters would not wander into a Fairy’s grotto. They can’t. Humans and others can, though. Not everyone is as nice as you for Mike, the foreman. They might have captured me and put me in a jar so that they could sell me off as a pet.”

“That’s terrible.” said Scott. It was also a fantasy cliché, the fairy in a jar.

“It would be. Sometimes fairies are captured and forced to create sacred springs for rich people, or governments. The water can be used for high-quality restorative potion creation, so alchemists and similar people do it too.”

“You’re bound to me now, can they still capture you?”

“Nope, I am all yours forever and ever and ever and...!” The fairy continued to say the word ‘ever’ with great excitement.

Scott shook his head. She was certainly excitable. “Yeah, I guess we’re BFF’s now or something, since you live inside my head and know all my secrets.”

“What’s a BFF?” The fairy asked him.

He felt an electrical sensation inside his skull and she ended up answering her own question before he could. “Wow! You think we’ll be best friends forever! I do too, yay!”

Scott could feel a fluttery sort of sensation in his head after that. Ero was far too pleased by that. Somehow, he felt that it would lead to issues later. He turned toward the door and sighed. He started toward it, but stopped. Maybe he was just procrastinating but he did want to ask something else. “Why didn’t you form a bond with Mike if you were such good friends?”

“Oh, I wanted to, but I couldn’t. He was married and his wife did not approve of us being so intimate. I wouldn’t have minded being friends with her too, but she was mean to me. Eventually, I called her something mean as well.”

Scott winced. That did not bode well for his immediate future when Rhea returned. “What did you end up calling her?”

“Angry Bird Woman. She had a pinched face and a long sharp nose, and always had the angriest expression. She looked like a mean old bird! Can I help it if I’m adorable and human men love me?” She giggled and made a happy little noise inside his head.

The sorcerer laughed at her admission, but knew that trouble was coming. He was not thinking of the upcoming fight at the time, either.

The background music had been muted somewhat, but the moment he stepped out of the office it blared back to life. It was the loud crash of booming drums and a brass fanfare that signaled a major event was in progress.

Scott ran to the edge of the area and looked across the gap. The number of monsters seemed to have tripled from before, but they were all rats and goblins. He saw no spiders or bats. Maybe they had given up or something.

“Well, time to see what we can make happen!” He whipped out his boomerangs experimentally. They arced outward in a lazy manner then zipped in to strike at two different targets, neither of which was his actual target. Either his accuracy was not high enough, or he would need a lot more practice at this range.

The boomerangs returned to him in a wide arc and he caught them with little effort. For the moment, chose to continue his lazy throws. The area before him was the definition of a target rich environment. As long as he actually aimed at something, he would hit something. It was practically guaranteed. His only real issue was that the damage from his weapons turned out to be less than he had hoped. It seemed like the attack power was split between the boomerangs equally, so it took several hits to bring down even a cave rat.

Still, it was easy experience as far as he could tell. He whipped his boomerangs out repeatedly for over half an hour, using the distance and gap to good effect. The number of monsters thinned over time but they still arrived out of the tunnels at regular intervals to replace those who had been lost.

“This is great, but it’s taking too long. I’ll die of starvation here.” said Scott. He was more than happy to mow down monsters for days at a time like this, but he did not trust the situation at all. Something about how easy this was unsettled him. It reminded him of a similar situation. It would not be long before his fear and lack of trust began to bear fruit.

The goblins have grown restless, frustrated...

“That does not sound good.” murmured the man before launching another attack. He had managed to halve the number of monsters if his guess was accurate. There were maybe fifty or sixty of them remaining. It was too many to fight in a mass melee, as even four goblins at once was a difficult prospect. Worse, most of the remaining monsters were cave rats. They were weaker than the goblins but they were fans of tackle attacks. If he went down even once when facing that many opponents of this level, he would not be getting back up.

Time passed, he took down several more goblins and rats. The goblins began to act strangely. Scott watched as a few of them began to actually walk away from the battle. They showed greater intelligence now, as they no longer simply stood there waiting to get hit by boomerangs.

The smarter goblins, as he thought of them, began to gather on the mine floor. Scott attacked in earnest now, since most of the monsters on the platform before him were cave rats. If the goblins tried something, he would want to have to deal with as few of the rats as possible.

The gathered goblins began to jump and shout. Eventually, one of the bigger goblins began to shove and slap at the others. Four goblins ran off in different directions, each took a different tunnel.

The goblins have had enough of this endless battle! The strongest goblin miner has sent the weakest members of the tribe to seek reinforcements from the warrior elite.

Scott’s eyes widened as he read that message. These goblins weren’t the fighters in this mine?

He could do nothing at the moment but continue to fire off his boomerangs to kill the rats. Why was nothing ever easy? Why not just die and become his experience, you stupid goblins?

A half hour later the music died down. It caught Scott’s attention easily since he had just finished off the last of the rats.

He was about to try and find a way down from the platform, hopefully onto the next one so that he could use his limited approach tactic once more.

The music started again. This time it was a slow, ominous, drum beat.

Bum bom, Bum bom, bum bom, bum-bomba-bum bom

The wail of bag pipes and a slowly rising electric guitar increased the tension of the moment. Scott watched in horror as dozens of goblins raced out of the tunnels, each wearing real armor and brandishing properly kept weapons.

The new goblins formed up ranks like a proper army then stood at attention, their postures were perfectly maintained and their eyes gazed only forward. One of the bigger goblins called out something. The massed goblin warriors, and the weaker goblin miners, brought their right elbows up and their right hands rose to their brows.

Another goblin walked out of the tunnels. It was a full head taller than the rest and to Scott’s growing horror; it had a bright red name flashing above its head. He could not read the name from this distance, but he knew what the glowing letters meant.

Goblin Captain Karsh Six-fingers has arrived. All goblins under his command have increased their morale greatly. Their status will now increase by fifty percent for the remainder of the battle.

Scott read through the message then glared hatefully down at the army of goblins. “Fuck!”

He could do nothing but wait for the inevitable onslaught now. There had to be over two hundred goblins down there and they were all higher level than he was. What could he do against that?

“Scott, things are bad aren’t they?” asked Ero.

“Yeah, Ero. Things are bad. I would have a lot of trouble with these guys even one on one.

“Why? They are just goblins. You’re a sorcerer.” said the fairy.

“Yeah, a sorcerer several levels lower than them...” replied Scott.

“Does that matter, really? You’ll never know until you try!” shouted Ero inside his mind.

“That’s true, the worst that can happen is that I die.” answered Scott.

“That’s the spirit! Hey, wait...” Ero had taken a moment to comprehend what he had said.

Scott could not help but laugh a little. The tiny naked girl who currently lived rent free inside his head was right. Why become disheartened just because he was outnumbered over two hundred to one? He had the same issue the entire time he had faced this battle. They still had to reach him somehow. He still had to high ground!

The captain finished speaking to his troops then shouted something that sounded harsh, guttural. They snapped back to attention and responded in kind, before separating into groups of five.

Each of the groups had two lancers, a sword and shield wielding goblin, and two archers. They were going to try to use squad tactics against him! That would be a great way to wear down an opponent if he was on the ground with them, but how did they intend to get him there?

Two of the larger goblins spoke with the captain for a moment then called out orders. Five squads raced toward the ramp that led up to his platform. Another five squads raced toward his position from the ground. The remaining ten squads held position, while the miners were instructed to mine the area. They had no place on the battlefield at the moment.

Scott threw his boomerangs as soon as the first goblins got within range, but the spear wielders on either side of the swords-goblin blocked or deflected them. Once the first squad reached the edge of the platform across from Scott the lancers and sword-wielder knelt down and the archers took aim.

The sorcerer immediately understood what they intended when the first arrows flew. He avoided them easily enough but he would not be able to hold the front of the platform. He aimed behind them with his next shots, figuring that the spear wielders would try to block. Unfortunately, the squad behind them took up their slack and deflected the divinely granted weapons.

An arrow grazed his shoulder and he was forced to withdraw back further. Over a half-dozen arrows shot his way now. They were not well aimed, but they did not need to be. The ugly bastards were using a suppressive fire technique! Scott leapt to the side then performed a quick spinning maneuver to evade the oncoming arrows by slipping behind the rock face.

The actions of the goblins across the way were clearly meant to suppress him. That meant that the goblins on the ground were planning something. Otherwise, the only reason they would use that tactic would be to starve him to death. They could have no way to know how much food or water he had, so that was an unlikely scenario.

Arrows whizzed by on occasion, but for the most part they seemed to head his way only as a reminder that the goblins still existed. What could he do in this situation? His boomerangs were unlikely to get through. The goblins, with their stat increased due to the captain being in attendance and their higher level, were capable of knocking away his only ranged weapon. His spells would not reach across the gap, even if he had increased the range of his burn spell previously, it might not have reached.

Scott understood what the goblins were up to when he heard the strain and groan of heavy metal being moved in an unnatural manner. He risked poking his head out long enough to see what was happening. An arrow narrowly missed his skull, but he saw what he needed. The goblins were using ropes to pull the ramp back together via the rails!

He had thought that monsters in general were stupid due to how they just attacked regardless of how bad the situation was at the time. The goblin miners had seemed to be that way as well. Was this the doing of the captain? He recalled a conversation that he’d had with Arne back at Victory Station. Monster overlords were bad news because they made monsters stronger and could do more. The captain did not seem to be an actual monster overlord, but he did have a major influence on the battle.

Scott waited until the bridge was nearly up before he acted. He quickly turned the corner, rolled forward to avoid the arrows that sped his way and then lept into the air. The goblins fired at him in the hopes of hitting him, but they were too late.

“Burn!” snarled Scott before hurling his flaming attack toward the center of the nearly restored bridge. The fiery attack exploded with great force. The ropes that were used to bring up the bridge were heavily strained and began to burn.

The sword and shield goblin ran forward and tried to beat out the flames with his shield, showing further signs of intelligence. Scott smirked and fired off his spell once more. The goblin screamed in panic but he could not escape. He exploded in a shower of charred gore and took one of the ropes with him.

Scott did not get the chance to finish the other rope, however. The archer goblins had changed positions. They began to fire off arrows as fast as they could in order to suppress him. It worked as each of their arrows took several of his hit points. Had he taken the time to finish off the ramp, he would have been hit several times.

In the end it did not matter. The badly damaged rope gave way and the ramp broke apart once more. Scott laughed while dodging arrows. Let the bastards keep trying that.

The laughing man stopped laughing when tried to spin around the corner of the rock face and received an ugly surprise. A burly goblin flashed brightly then raced forward at tremendous speed. It bashed him with its shield to brutal effect.

The man was sent hurtling back, but he never hit the ground. Another shield bearing goblin appeared and bashed him while he was in mid-air. Scott was sent flying over the side of the ramp and screaming toward the cold, unforgiving ground below. Before he hit the dirt, he saw several ropes at the far end of the platform. The entire bridge scenario had been a decoy! The goblins had kept him busy while they positioned a few of their better warriors in place behind him.

When Scott hit the ground a bright red seventy-four flared up from his body. He had dropped all the way down to five health points!

You are stunned due to repeated attacks and falling a great distance.

You have a concussion. All stats decrease by five points.

You are bleeding internally and will die in one minute.

You are paralyzed and unable to move from the waist down.

Your left shoulder has been dislocated. Your left arm is disabled.

Hundreds of leather clad fists shot into the air, just before over two hundred goblin voices cried out. “Aroooooo-ha!”

The captain pointed at the broken sorcerer and shouted something guttural that the other goblins responded to immediately. They raced toward Scott to finish him off. The first one to reach him would get first choice of his items.

“Scott! Scooo-ooott!” cried Ero from the depths of his mind. The tiny fairy guardian desperately tried to reach out to him. Scott, barely conscious at this point could do nothing but moan and feebly turn his head.

“Call my name! Let me help you. I can help you!” exclaimed the fairy.

“Name...” whispered Scott, his voice was a harsh rasping sound. He had lightly punctured one of his lungs with a broken rib. He made a gurgling noise and another point of health was lost. He did not have much time left.

“Yes, say it! Say it! Say it! Say my name!” shouted Ero excitedly.

Scott’s vision was going black. He had no strength left. He could see the goblins coming, but he had no energy to care about that. Still, he was just coherent enough to do as she asked. He parted his blood-stained lips and rasped out, “E... ro...”

Immediately, the darkness fell away from his eyes as his world was suffused with light. He felt a gentle breeze and the soft patter of warm summer rain. The scent of wildflowers and freshly turned earth reached him and he was soothed. However, while Scott was having a pleasant near death experience, the goblins were not enjoying the sudden appearance of Ero nearly as much.

“Stay away from my BFF you mean old goblins!” screamed Ero in her tiny adorable voice. A spiraling column of wind raced outward to both perform an impenetrable barrier and fling the closest goblins way as though they had been caught up inside a powerful tornado.

“You hurt my Scott!” Ero expanded in size until she was the height of a normal human being. She started to cry and flail her arms around while her fairy wings moved so fast that they became a blur.

Thunder crashed. Lightning shot out from her body. Storm clouds began to form overhead and soon the gentle patter of rain upon the earth could be heard. That gentle pattern became a torrential rain that drove back the goblins and burned them like a terrible acid.

Your concussion has healed.

You are no longer stunned.

Your paralysis has lessened.

You are no longer bleeding internally.

Scott blinked then slowly sat up. He winced as a sudden throbbing pain from his left arm reminded him that is was still dislocated. Even that negative status effect did not last for long, however. He felt his shoulder hop back into its socket and act as though nothing had happened to it. For every second that passed, a pair of number ones would appear above him. One of the numbers was green, the other was blue.

The sorcerer tried to stand, but he could not. He was still paralyzed from the waist down. He could barely feel his legs.

He looked over and saw the goblin army screaming in panic as their health plummeted. They were losing one health and mana per second as the torrential rain continued unabated.

The magical storm continued for several minutes. Scott’s health and mana were completely restored and the goblins were weakened considerably. His paralysis still lingered, but it had lessened considerably. Soon, even that might be healed. His lower body felt numb and it was hard to move. He could wiggle his toes again, and that was a good sign.

However, the goblin captain had managed to regain control of the panicking horde and started to slap them around. He made the bow wielding goblins line up, despite the pain that the torrential rain caused, and fire toward the fairy.

Dozens of arrows flew through the air. Most missed the target completely. Scott’s paralysis was finally healed by the time the fourth volley sped toward the hard to hit target. The wind and rain made using a bow a difficult prospect to say the least. A few arrows came close to hitting Scott, but none managed to come close to hitting Ero.

Unfortunately, after the sixth volley of arrows one managed to hit Ero in the thigh. She was completely nude and without the protection of armor she was vulnerable to exactly what happened next. She received a critical hit!

The rain storm of love and friendship dissipated immediately and she fell from the sky. It had only taken one hit to stop her power completely.

Scott raced forward and caught the girl in his arms. She landed heavily and he was forced to ground from their weight of her impact. He was strong enough to withstand the force of her falling body, so he took no damage. He held the girl in his arms as she lied there bleeding from her thigh.

Ero cried loudly due to the pain. She had never experienced anything so hurtful in her life.

“I’m sorry. This is all I can do. I don’t have a lot of strength for battles...” said the girl as she cried for a different reason.

The arrow in her thigh had hurt her quite a bit. She was bleeding heavily from the wound and she would be unable to maintain her form much longer.

“It’s OK. I’m sorry you were hurt.” said Scott. He hugged her gently.

Ero sniffled a little then hugged him back, tightly, before she faded away. Her body turned to motes of light, but she did not die. She was simply unable to manifest for a time.

Water dripped down from the ceiling of the cave. The goblins had not pressed forward for fear that the fairy might have some power left. That had been their mistake.

Scott rose to his feet, but continued to silently stare down at the ground in the place that Ero had been laying. He stayed that way for a moment then spread his arms out and opened his hands. A soft whirring sound whistled through the room and his boomerangs sped over and returned him his hands with a loud *slap!*

He slowly raised his head, his eyes closed. He breathed deeply in an out a few times. The background music screeched to a halt. The music returned. This time it was a stoic, yet uplifting, piano score with orchestral undertones further suffusing the moment with sound and life.

His eyes snapped open and then narrowed into a hateful expression that was completely counter to the beautiful music. A voice began to sing out in a lovely tone that was impossibly clear and bright.

~ I know that I just met you... but my heart had skipped a beat... ~

Scott roared at the goblins, breaking them out of their stupor. Only a few precious seconds had passed during that entire time, but it had been all that he had needed to set his heart right and devote himself to the task at hand. Live or die, it no longer mattered. He would take these things down.

~ You said that we could be best friends, and that was just so sweet... ~

The song continued in that vein, detailing the recent meeting between Scott and Ero. He did not focus on the words or the music, however. He lent his energies to the task of murder.

Scott raced forward into the horde of battered and beaten monsters. It should be certain death for the man, even with them greatly weakened. They were at a higher level and had a bonus from their captain’s presence. He did not care.

He hurled his boomerangs forward to attack a nearby archer. That was just a ploy, however. The moment that his hands were free he launched his burn spell toward a thick concentration of goblins and sent them flying with explosive force. Over a dozen of them died from the attack, but he did not slow down.

Scott jumped up and caught his boomerangs in mid-air before launching them again. By now the goblins had reached him, but they found that the sorcerer was far from the easy target that they had hoped. Even one or two strikes from his weapons or magic would be enough to finish them off individually.

~ I was just a little fairy, alone and unremembered...~

The piano score rose to new heights as Scott ducked and dodged around spears. The goblins were doing their best to wear him down, but the momentum was with the sorcerer. If they pressed in with great numbers he would unleash one of his spells and make them pay with their lives.

Scott deflected a spear thrust, rolled around the shaft via a quick spin then launched a palm strike into the chest of the spear wielder. Sensing danger he leapt forward and through the guard of another spear wielder then performed the same attack, except this time he accompanied it with the freeze spell. The goblin’s torso froze solid.

Several archers took aim, but to their horror he quickly turned with the frozen goblin and used its body as a shield. The arrows impacted harmlessly against the deceased body of their comrade. It had not turned to light because of the freeze spell and could be used as a physical object till the power faded.

~ I needed you and you needed me...~

The musical score, such as it was, continued unabated. Scott moved to the side and caught the arm of an attacking goblin. He moved forward then rotated his arm in a quick motion that flipped it over. He stabbed downward to finish it off.

Scott cried out in pain when an arrow impacted his lower back. The armor kept it from penetrating deeply, but he still lost a little health.

The goblins became more careful. They had regained their senses and began to circle him like wolves. Squads of goblins came at him now. The archers stayed at range, while spear goblins and shield goblins came at him in small waves.

Spears struck out toward him, keeping him at bay. Shield goblins took their chance and raced in t bash him. Sometimes they succeeded, and when they did he would take several quick hits that whittled down his health. Scott had reached the halfway point again by the time he found a chance to break the encirclement.

A shield goblin burst forward, a blur of leather and metal. Scott saw it moving toward him and immediately jumped up and kicked out with both feet. He did not kick the goblin away, however. Instead he used the momentum of the onrushing monster as a springboard to hurl himself higher into the air. Arrows flew, but missed altogether. He performed a lazy seeming back flip then thrust his hands forward. “Burn!”

The explosive force sent dozens of massed goblins flying away. Many of them turned into motes of light. When he hit the ground he immediately moved into a dancing and swaying pattern that made his movements too erratic for the goblins to comprehend. He blocked a sword strike with his boomerangs then dropped one before slammed his free hand forward to impale the creature in its right eye using his gauntlet.

The boomerang returned to his hand just in time to be used against a goblin leaping at him from the nearby ramp. He had been backed toward that area once more. The boomerang slammed into the jumping goblin’s chest and turned it into nothing but light and dust before it came close to reaching the man.

An arrow impacted his shoulder and dug in deep enough that it drew blood. He ignored it. He already had several arrows in his collection at the moment anyway.

Scott jumped up onto the shoulders of a nearby goblin and used it as a springboard to reach the platform above. He quickly performed a flip using his hands and flipped completely up and over the rail. Instinctively the goblins rushed forward and Scott used that instinct to his advantage.

He took several hits from arrows in the process but it did not matter. He unleashed explosive hell on the massed monsters. Burn spell after burn spell rained down. Unlike the third platform, the first platform was at just the right range for such a tactic.

He lost over forty of his remaining mana, reaching a critical low. He only had a few spell casts left. Still, the death from above tactic had thinned the monsters greatly.

Blood leaked from his many wounds, both major and minor. His vision grew cloudy at times and then cleared up suddenly. Scott knew that he had to end the battle soon.

~ But we’ll keep on fighting, the heart wants what it wants...”

Scott realized that the song was still going then, and smiled a little before getting back to work. Over half the goblins were dead now, well over half. He could not be certain of how many actually remained but he doubted that there were more than fifty.

Even one or two would be enough to kill him, though. With his mana so low, and no means of restoring his health, the battle could still go either way. It had taken an army due to his tactics, Ero’s sacrifice, and blind rage, but the goblins had worn him down. They could respawn little worse for wear over the course of time. He would lose a massive windfall of experience and loot if he died.

Scott dodged an arrow and took sight of his goal. He needed to reach the captain. He had tried to get to him this entire time, but there had been too many of the goblins. Now, however, he might be able to do it. The sorcerer pointed at the captain then made a come-hither gesture with his fingers.

You’ve decimated the goblin ranks and impudently called out their captain! Karsh has become enraged.

The lyrical musical score stopped. The music changed once more and became a boss battle theme complete with high-octane heavy metal guitar riffs and synthesizers as back-up.

The goblin captain took out a massive meat cleaver and pointed it at Scott before running forward. The captain had apparently had enough. He would join the battle on his own.

Scott launched himself from the platform and threw both of his boomerangs toward the oncoming beast. The captain batted them away easily, but that did not matter to Scott. He had the opening that he had hoped for; he unleashed one of his precious remaining spells at the moment that the monster seemed to be the most off balance.

The burn spell exploded just short of the captain, but it was enough to send the monster flying. Goblins attempted to come to their captain’s aid, but they died uselessly. Scott was done with the small fries. The goblins were slightly higher level than him, but their weakened state combined with Scott’s uncompromising position evened things up nicely.

Scott caught his boomerangs then performed a spinning kick that shattered the last goblin archer’s bow just before it crashed into the hapless monster’s chest. A Spear reached out to take him down but he used his weapons and sweet martial arts prowess to break the shaft just before he hurled one boomerang out to finish off the monster. One hit, maybe two, is all it would take to bring them down at the moment. That had been the case since Ero had made her presence known.

A shield struck him in the back and he was sent flying forward. He was not stunned by the attack however. He performed a flip in mid-air and launched his boomerangs out to tag two more goblins before landing solidly while taking a knee. His boomerangs returned and he took a moment to smirk at the shield bearing goblin who had helped him take out two of its compatriots.

Scott would not have lied if you had asked him. The attack had hurt, and had taken twelve of his precious remaining health points. He was just outside the critical range now.

The captain came raging toward him, meat cleaver reared back for a deadly blow. Scott was under no delusion that he would survive even one solid strike from the thing in his current situation.

The cleaver screamed down for a killing blow, but the sorcerer performed a quick spinning sweep that allowed him to avoid the attack altogether while knocking the monster off its feet. It only did three damage to the overly large goblin, but it was enough to give Scott a chance to survive just a little longer.

The captain roared then rolled over and slammed his cleaver down toward Scott’s prone form. A small crater was formed as rock and dust shot up. However, the sorcerer had already rolled away.

Scott felt pain lance up from his thigh and turned to destroy the spear wielding goblin that managed to pierce his armor and punch a hole in his leg. He did so easily, however the damage was done.

Due to your injuries your speed has decreased by five percent.

The one thing that he could not deal with right now was a lack of speed! He moved with a slight limp now, and the goblins sensed his weakness. The captain regained its feet and pointed its cleaver at Scott. It roared and the other goblins ran over to it. They formed tight knit ranks, shield goblins to the fore, with spear goblins just behind them.

It would have been a decidedly deadly tactic against a normal fighter or even a mage who had to chant. However, it was both useless and stupid to use against a sorcerer.

Scott immediately lashed out with his burn spell then hobbled forward a few steps and did it again. Half the goblins died in those two strikes, but Scott was also reduced to only possible spell casts remaining.

The captain gestured and the remaining goblins ran toward him en masse. They no longer cared for rank or structure and they spread out a little as they ran. Scott decided to use one of his two remaining spells to punch a hole through the center of the line via an explosion, then ran as quickly as his injured leg would allow.

The captain was waiting for him, as though it knew that the sorcerer would do exactly what he did. It swung its massive blade back and forth, more like an axe than a machete. Scott could feel the force of the wind from the motion but it did not discourage him.

He narrowly avoided the captain’s next strike and used the moment of opportunity to slash downward with his left gauntlet at the same time that he slammed his right hand up to try and skewer the monster under the jaw. Karsh pulled its head to the side, released its weapon, and shoved Scott away with all of his considerable strength.

Scott went flying and landed roughly in a tangle of limbs. His health dropped by twenty points and left him in a severe critical state.

Your wounds have deepened. It is impossible to run quickly. Walking will be difficult.

Karsh laughed and reached for his cleaver. The laughter stopped when two blessed boomerangs slammed into him. One hit him across the arm, and the other smacked him in the face. The damage was negligible, but the result was explosive.

The captain screamed in outrage and snatched up his weapon.

It raced toward Scott and the remainder of the goblin horde watched in anticipation of the finale. They knew better than to get in the captain’s way, after all.

Captain Karsh reared back to deliver the finishing blow with his massive weapon, but doing so left him critically vulnerable. Scott thrust his hand forward and shouted, “Freeze!”

The spell was aimed at the monster’s left thigh, which was at nearly point blank range. The entire force of the attack entered that single limb according to Scott’s will. Due to the strain on the body, the limb shattered and Karsh was knocked off balance. A bright red number two-hundred twenty flared above its head. The attack had been considered critical!

Stunned for several seconds due to the sudden amputation of its limb and subsequent disorientation from the fall, Karsh could not stop the badly injured sorcerer from rising up to claim the giant meat cleaver for his own.

Scott reared back and brought the blade down with great force, hoping that it would do more damage than his own attacks had done. His spells had hurt the monster whenever they had hit, but his physical ability was not equal to the monster’s higher level defense.

He did not have a sword skill, and would be at a severe disadvantage if he tried to equip one in battle. However, this was not a battle. This was an execution.

The sorcerer slammed the machete down atop the monster’s neck with all the strength that his exhausted limbs could muster. Still, due to his lack of sword skills, he did little damage, despite the weight of the blade.

He did not have the strength left to lift the blade again. Instead, he leaned his own body weight against it and the overly large meat chopping implement slid through the bone and flesh in a sick display of murderous intent. The captain’s head popped out amid a spray of blood.

The moment that the captain died, his morale enhancement effect ended. The goblins screamed in pain and terror as they died due to the health adjustment. Their stats, including health, had been bolstered. However, since they were all in critical condition the adjustment meant that their health went negative. The death of Karsh and the end of the morale boost had led to their own death.

Scott panted atop the decapitated corpse for a moment then leaned back and sat down. After about a minute passed he struggled to his feet. A thought occurred to him and he raised one of his hands. His boomerangs returned to him, and he dropped his left arm in exhaustion. However, his right arm remained in the air despite his desire to drop it. The moment after he retrieved his weapons an explosive fanfare erupted all around him.

Absolute Victory!!!

You have single handedly defeated an army of monsters of equal or greater level than you! You will receive bonuses and a title! You defeated five hundred sixty eight monsters and the known murderer Karsh Six-Fingers!

EXP + 52,433

Fayth + 87,000

Ability Points + 712

Item(s) Acquired:

Rusty Machete X 412

Cracked Spear X 67

Broken Bow X 22

Wood Arrow X 240

Tattered Leather Armor X 324

Goblin Fangs: X 67

Cave Rat Fangs X 48

Cave Rat Pelt X 219

Cave Rat Tail X 210

Cave Rat Eyes X 65

Bat Wings X 12

Spider Web X 14

Spider legs X 37

Special:

Goblin Soul X 16

---

You have single handedly defeated over five hundred opponents of equal or higher level during a single battle. You have earned a title.

The Unbreakable

Despite the overwhelming odds and difficulties you used tactics and a high-level battle instinct to defeat your enemies. No matter what they did, you were able to counter them in some way or another. Thus, you have become known as Scott the Unbreakable Sorcerer.

This title will influence how monsters treat you in the future.

Your health increases by 25

Your defense increases by 25

Your intellect increases by 10

Your luck increase by 5

You have gained several levels at once!

Level 7 > Level 13

“Hell yeah!” exclaimed Scott. He could feel his health and mana being restored as he gained six levels at one time!

Name: Scott the UnbreakableClass: SorcererRace: HumanAge: 18Level: 13EXP: 55,609Next: 611Ability Points: 731Health: 60[144]Mana: 40[138]Attack: 68[347]Defense: 87[328]Strength: 69[69]Agility: 63[48]Accuracy: 43[68]Intellect: 81[81]Luck: 32[32]

“Whoa, not bad!” Due to his bonuses, new title and passive level up increases, he now had greatly increased his abilities. Something seemed a little off, though. Why had he gained so many levels? Did something change? Normally, the experience required would double with each level.

That was not the strangest thing, however. Scott looked down at the corpse of the goblin captain, Karsh. It had not dissipated into light. For the first time there was actually a body left behind. Further, he had not automatically gained any loot from the captain. If he had, it was pretty poor equipment.

Scott unequipped his boomerangs then leaned down and took the meat cleaver in his hand. He opened his inventory screen then manually placed it inside. He eyed the corpse then had an idea.

The sorcerer decided that since the body had not disappeared, he should try to remove the equipment manually. He started with the helmet that the goblin captain was wearing. It was not an epic piece of loot, but it was a pretty sturdy leather helmet.

One by one, Scott looted the corpse of its items the old fashioned way. He stripped them from the corpse by hand. Soon, nothing was left but a pair of striped underwear. They refused to come off, and honestly Scott chose not to put too much effort in removing them.

“Not a single piece of rare equipment in the lot... What a shabby boss monster.” Scott snorted at the corpse then wandered back toward his camp. He intended to rest there for a while then head back to town to sell his loot. His armor needed repairs anyway.

--

Edit: I reduced the experience earned a bit so that the numbers more accurately reflected his current level and accomplishment. Technically, he should have been level 14 and some change after i checked my notes and that's just not quite right for the point. Though, he is right at level 14 anyway even after the readjustment.