Rydr took off in search of another goblin patrol. By his estimate, the side of the forest nearest to Grotto was clear of goblins by this point. While the other patrols searched the surrounding forest for their lost companions, his team would strike.

The Titan lept from tree to tree, the wind whistling past his face. When necessary, the giant altered his direction in midair using his "airball" trick.

Rydr was actually grateful that he hadn't found a pair of boots yet. His bare feet offered the giant better traction on the rough bark of the tree trunks. The more he practiced, the easier it was for the giant to use this method of travel silently.

At first, whenever Rydr landed on a tree, he would shake the whole thing. After a bit of trial and error, the Titan found that he could make "airballs" of varying strength to change his direction and cushion landings.

A few hours later, and he could travel silently above the forest floor. Rydr's [Aetheric Eye] effectively had night vision, allowing the colossus to dodge tree branches. If the Titan broke any branches now, it was on purpose.

His avatar would come up from underneath the branches by altering his jump height, thereby evading them. It also helped that the Mana Wellspring greatly enhanced the growth speed of these already huge trees.

Their lowest boughs were nearly twenty meters off the forest floor. Nevertheless, there were small gouges left behind from the giant's toes all over the forest. With as much circling back as he was doing, Rydr made sure to leave the marks low enough that the goblins could see them.

To help with the atmosphere a little.

When Rydr originally pitched the plan to his team, Syrna was the first to realize what kind of psychological warfare the giant was after. Then she accused Rydr of watching too many old movies.

As big as he was, Rydr traversed from the East side of the forest to its South side in near-perfect silence. This time, the journey was long enough that Rydr had to monitor his mana bar closely.

The more the Titan relied on his trick spell, refining its function, the closer he felt it was to being codified as an actual spell. However, his prolonged use also gave him some ideas.

Unfortunately, those improvements would have to wait until Rydr had free time in the game. Something that was quickly becoming a rare commodity for the colossus.

On the other hand, in the absence of goblin patrols, Rydr worked on the spell every time he used it. Between flexing his muscles and his mind at the same time, the giant's trek through the trees was akin to pacing.

Little by little, he increased his mastery of the trick spell. Casting speed, varied strength, and shape all began to show significant improvement.

Now, I need it to be a little flatter and less "ball" like. Not that the ball won't have its uses. Before Rydr became too absorbed in his thoughts, the colossus spied another goblin patrol moving on the forest floor.

Abusing his trick spell, the Titan quickly dove down under the branches above the goblin patrol before ascending. Rydr rose parallel to the tree trunk, watching it rush past his face. At the peak of his jump, he extended his hands and feet, digging into the bark and creating an ominous creaking sound.

Below the behemoth, the goblin patrol paused their advance to listen quietly for the source of the wooden creaking. Their hobgoblin commander even peered upward, worried about the distant screams it heard earlier.

Rydr climbed higher into the tree, up into its branches where he was better hidden. Then, the giant took a deep breath, leaned away from the tree, and roared.

Digging deep to create the right noise, Rydr's furious below sent the goblin party scrambling. With no cover to speak of, the goblinoids huddled against the trunk of the tree the diver was hiding in.

The goblins seemed frightened out of their wits and not going anywhere, so Rydr settled in to wait for his team.

*****

Something's wrong. When ten minutes passed without a sign of Niko and Hermes, Rydr began to worry. Despite his confidence in the team, icy anxiety gripped the giant's chest the longer it took for the pair to appear.

Another ten minutes passed in tense silence for the enormous diver as he waited for the speedsters. Rydr even sent a quick message to the party chat, asking the team what the hold-up was. Against the tree trunk, the diver's finger began to tap a nervous beat.

There was no response for another five minutes, sending the Titan's anxiety straight into a panic. A chime resounded in his head, briefly stunting his panic attack.

Rydr opened the chat interface with thought and found Syrna's message.

[Syrna: They found us. Move your ass!!!]

No sooner had Rydr read the message than he released his hold on the tree, plummeting towards the ground and goblins beneath him. Before his avatar had the chance to enter the goblin's line of sight, Rydr activated [Berserker's Rage] and lept off the tree trunk, shaking the tree.

Then, barely paying attention to his mana and stamina bars, the colossus sped through the forest. On this trip, the weaker trees unfortunate to meet the Titan's feet tended to explode into splinters as Rydr heaved himself from one tree to the next.

Steam trailed through the air, chasing after the Titan's blurry form as twigs, mud, and plant matter shook themselves loose from the giant's physique, revealing the colossus underneath.

If any other divers were in the forest that night, they would've heard what sounded like a series of thunderous explosions traveling through the air above them. As is, the few goblin patrols that wandered into the Titan's way, he couldn't be bothered with, even when they noticed him.

The giant's enormous frame was there and gone before they could track him, flitting from tree to tree like a wrecking ball.

Rydr pushed his body harder and harder, unconcerned with stealth, as one thought ran around in circles in his head.

Please be okay, guys.

*****

Five minutes away from Rydr's position, Urginok shoulder checked a goblin trying to leap past him, sending the green monster flying as the tank braced himself in front of Syrna.

Niko and Hermes streaked back and forth across the elemental's pit- Rydr's chosen location for their kill-box. Together, the two speedsters used their serrated daggers to lacerate the small army of goblins assaulting the pit.

Wherever they went, a shower of blood sprayed out of their victims' necks and wrists, struggling to keep up with the two diver's speed. In their wake, bleeding wounds stole two percent of their victims' health every few seconds.

*-60HP*

*-49 HP*

*-42HP*

*-42HP*

*-42HP*

On the other side of the pit, just outside its ring of traps, a small coterie of hobgoblins gathered protectively around one of their number who held a small, straw doll in its clawed hand.

Behind Urginok, Syrna fired off [Double-Shot], her fingers bleeding as she tried to increase the pace of her shots. More and more, her bow creaked ominously.

Despite her new, erstwhile role as the party's mage, Syrna never ignored her Strength score. Just like Rydr, the archer relied on her feats to accrue points in her other stats.

Although the blonde let Rydr handle most of the physical labor, her Strength score was 74, one point lower than she needed to gain the [Peerless Physique] innate skill. Unfortunately, her urgency was slowly breaking her weapon. Every two attacks, at her full draw, docked one point off the weapon's durability.

Urginok's [Tempt Offense] ability sapped his mana pool long ago, allowing the twenty goblins to go after his teammates in the pit.

Unfortunately, the hobgoblins used wave tactics to eliminate the layers of traps, forcing their goblin kin forward into the deadly pit. Smoldering remains of suffocation traps, and the frozen forms of unlucky goblins, littered the ground.

Amongst them, trapped in the pit, were a few pieces of the Ether-Guard set. On the trips through the pit, Niko and Hermes did their best to collect the loose equipment. They ran them back to Syrna, where they unceremoniously dumped them on the ground.

Across the pit, two of the hobgoblin's stepped forward, cutting Syrna's arrows out of the air. Behind them, the totem-wielding hob urgently whispered to the doll in his hand. Every so often, a slew of screaming came from the doll.

Lord Garzer, furious that a third of his clan was slaughtered while he was none the wiser, was on his way to the pit. In the meantime, the remainder of the patrols were being redirected to the elemental's pit.

In a bid to keep the smaller goblinoids away from Syrna, Hermes and Niko circled the pit, barely missing each other, as they ran perpendicular to the edge of the pit. Each time they passed near Urginok and Syrna, the pair interweaved their attacks, targeting the goblins' ankles.

The serrated edge of their blades, when targeting the nearly naked targets' tendons, pulled apart their Achilles' tendon as if it were taffy.

*CRIT -110 HP*

*CRIT -90 HP*

*-42HP*

*-42HP*

*-42HP*

Screaming goblins fell, rolling down the slope into their comrades as they clutched at their ruined ankles. Eventually, their health regeneration would repair the wounds, but they were in the midst of a pitched battle.

Fortunately for the pair of speedsters, all of the plant elemental's vines were gone, else they would have tripped and gone flying long ago. As it stood, the two were having trouble keeping up with their speed.

Like Rydr's fight against Spectre, the two were able to attack at few angles and maintain their top speed. However, their health pools were so low that even the un-evolved goblins could probably kill them in one or two hits.

If they dropped their speed or misstepped, they were dead.

Urginok's health held on thanks to his regeneration at the halfway mark. Because of the slope and their small stature, the goblins were well within reach of his warhammer before they could touch him with their daggers.

Whenever the tank sent one of the goblins flying, he tried to aim for its companions, playing a twisted bowling game on the bloody slope. Thanks to the serrated weapons of the two speedsters, blood flowed freely down the hill, turning the loose dirt into a dirty, red cesspit of offal.

From behind the tank, Syrna stepped to his side, emerging in full Ether-Guard regalia right before she fired an arrow into a goblin's eyesocket.

*FATAL CRIT -150 HP*

Since the totem-wielding hob was too well protected, the archer directed her arrows into the small army of goblins. Slowly, the archer and her team forced the goblins back into the pit, into a muddy pool of their own blood.

Behind the line of goblins, the few frozen monsters burst into pillars of light, spilling items onto the ground as their health ran out inside the trap.

The party worked together until the number of goblinoids in the pit numbered less than ten. Across the pit, the group of four hobs grew more nervous as their forces dwindled.

At this point, over half of the un-evolved goblins in their clan were dead. According to Rydr's original plan, everything was going swimmingly.

Syrna knocked another arrow, pulling it back to her ear when a series of horns resounded throughout the dark forest. Behind the coterie of hobgoblins, another army came to a stop.

From what Syrna could see, there were only hobs in the new force.

Lord Garzer had arrived.

Just as Syrna truly started to panic, Rydr's enormous form crashed to the ground in front of her on the slope. Rydr stood to his full height, his broad back briefly blocking Syrna and Urginok's battlefield view.

A moment later, Niko and Hermes blurred to a stop on either side of the team, spread out to face the goblin clan.

Almost on instinct, Syrna dashed forward and activated a trade with the giant before the goblins decided what to do.

"Quick, put these on."