A gust of wind battered Edward’s and Charlotte’s backs and sent them flying towards the goblins, who stumbled and tripped from the wind, dropping bags they had slung over their shoulders onto the ground. They fell against the iron sewer gates. Edward and Charlotte somersaulted on the stone, landing in front of the goblins just as they pushed off the gates and wrapped their fingers around the shafts of their axes and the handles of their round shields.

Edward saw Charlotte gaze at the bows that the goblins slung around their shoulders and the quivers they strapped to their backs. Her eyes sparkled at the sight and she smiled. Of course she’d be excited to potentially get that. Edward wanted her to get it as well.

“Shit,” Charlotte hissed with a wince, clicking her tongue. “The weak point is on their backs.” Edward assumed she was probably referencing the weak point of her Precision ability. It was a shame it wasn’t on the front of their faces, or somewhere else easily accessible.

Edward heard Richard yell and glanced back at him to see that the Wind Blast knocked him backwards as well. As a result, his back smashed against the stone wall and the back of his head rattled against it. Blood soaked his hair and his HP dropped to 80%. Edward winced at the sight; he didn’t think of that being another consequence of the ability, but Richard surely did. There was nothing to do about it. So Edward turned back to the goblins, fists clenched. He refused to throw away the opportunity Richard provided them.

So he flung his fist up at a goblin’s un-armoured chin. But she flung her head down at him, causing his fist to smash against the helmet. She grimaced and stumbled backwards from the impact, and the gong of his knuckles smashing against iron echoed through the sewer. Her HP only dropped to 97%.

But he was much faster than her, so he could attack her a few times before she could even pull her axe off her belt. So he flung his foot at the back of her knee, shuddering her leg, echoing the cracking of bone through the sewer, soaking her trousers with blood, and wrinkling her face with a wince. Her HP dropped to 92%.

He jumped, flipped backwards, flicked his foot up at her chin and this time he hit skin, splattering blood up towards the sewer ceiling, crushing fangs, and painting her green face red. As he landed from his flip, he frowned. Her HP only dropped to 87%.

Charlotte dashed to the goblin he just attacked. Edward thought that she’d attack the other goblin whilst he took this one, but after thinking about it, it made sense to gang up on one and take care of them one at a time. So she smashed her foot against the back of her thigh, ripping a yell out of her throat, and inspiring the leg to shake. Just as Charlotte snapped her leg back, she lunged forward and smashed her fist against the goblin’s thigh, bloodying a second leg, dropping her knee onto the coarse stone. Her HP dropped to 74%.

It shocked Edward to see that Charlotte did as much damage as him, but then quickly realized that it wasn’t so shocking. Her precision ability doubled her damage if she hit a weak point, which must've been the back of the goblin’s thigh.

Charlotte bristled and glanced behind Edward, and he turned backwards, following her sight. Seeing an orange lustre spread across her face, what he saw when he turned around didn’t surprise him. He already dashed to the side and Charlotte did as well. Because Richard thrust his palms towards them and a rippling and small ball of flame zoomed towards them and hit the goblin’s face.

She stumbled backwards, flailed her axe and shield, and ravaged the sewer with an echoing and blood-curdling shriek. The flame flicked her head backwards and licked at her green skin, reddening it, blackening some patches, and tearing it to shreds. The flame dissipated, shoving her HP down to 61%.

The goblin they ignored roared as he rushed towards them, swinging his axe down at Charlotte, who lurched at the sight. The bloody-legged goblin shook her head, ceasing her recoiling from Richard's flame, glanced at Edward, ignored him and swung her axe at a shivering Charlotte.

Panic exploded in Edward’s stomach. His eyes burned as he leapt towards them, reaching for the shafts of the axes.

But he was too far away.

Richard spat on the ground.

Edward grinned as he saw Charlotte close her eyes. He slammed his shut just as a bright light smothered the sewer.

Opening them, his grin only grew wider at seeing their axes slam on the stone floor or the sewage that covered it. They stumbled around, flailing their axes and shields.

So Edward and Charlotte once again pounced on the bloody-legged goblin.

Edward swung his fist at the inside of her left elbow, splattering blood on her arm, cracking bone, and wrinkling her face with a shriek. Her left hand’s grip on her axe slackened, letting it rattle on the floor. Her HP dropped to 56%.

She continued to stumble and turned, showing her back to him. He smashed his foot against her nape, bending her neck, flicking her head back, splattering blood out of her mouth, and shoving her HP down to 51%. Snapping his foot down to the ground, he dashed at her, smothering her figure in shadow, and thrust his fist at her fac-

Her eyes opened. She spun. She pushed her shield up in front of her fac-

His knuckles crashed through the wood and smashed against her shoulder, denting the chain mail. Her arm spasmed and blood dripped across her arm from underneath the mail. Her HP dropped to 48%.

Charlotte’s figure blurred as she dashed to the goblin’s back. Her foot burst off the floor and pounded the back of the goblin’s thigh, shuddering the leg. Her fist whooshed through the air as she whacked it against the weak point once again, dropping the knee towards the ground. But before it could hit stone, Charlotte sliced her leg through the air and batted the thigh with her foot, plummeting her HP down to 35%.

The crackling of fire wafted into his ears. As soon as that happened, Charlotte dashed to the side. Edward followed suit. A small ball of rippling fire shot past him, warming and tingling his cheek.

It bashed the goblin’s face once again, ripping an ear rattling shriek out of her throat and scratching and scraping all green skin off of her face to leave behind the red, black, and burnt flesh, and the white of gleaming bone.

Her HP dropped to 22%.

Despite that, she shook her head, ground her teeth, glared at the two of them, and tightened her grip on her shield. She lunged at Charlotte, swinging a fist. The other goblin recovered from his blind stumbling and rushed at her back, axe swinging down at her head.

But neither Edward nor Charlotte flinched at the sight. They just waited to hear from Richard.

And they did. He spat on the ground. They closed their eyes.

Edward opened his and grinned to see the burnt-faced goblin swing her fist at the air, and the other goblin smash his axe on the stone, splattering chips of rocks into the air. But his grin fell into a frown at seeing their bodies still. They didn’t stumble. Their faces didn’t wrinkle from the straining of light. They opened their eyes and smirked.

“They closed their eyes as soon as I spat!” Richard shouted over to them. “They figured it out!”

“Unnalt must’ve figured it out after or during yesterday’s chase,” Charlotte hissed with a scowl, snapping her eyes wide at the sight of the two goblins leaping towards her, one swinging a fist and the other swinging an axe.

Edward leapt towards them, snatching the wrist of the goblin that held the axe and yanking him away from Charlotte. But the other goblin still swung her fist at he-

Charlotte pivoted, letting the fist zoom past her face, a few centimetres away from her nose.

The other goblin struggled to rip his wrist out of Edward’s grasp. But he failed. Edward was stronger, bringing a smile to his face. But then the goblin's eyes flashed crimson. Panic lurched in Edward's stomach.

The goblins' body morphed into a grey blur. His arm vanished from Edward’s hands, along with his entire body. Half a second later, he was upon Charlotte, engulfing her figure with his shadow and swinging his axe down at her hea-

The sound of wind hitting stone echoed through the sewer. Richard zoomed over Edward’s head, hurtling through the air. He landed on the ground in a crouch, next to the goblin.

He thrust his hands towards the side of his torso, and a skin rippling and chain mail flapping gust of wind burst out of his palms and at the goblin, flicking the axe away from Charlotte, lifting him off of his feet, and flinging him at the sewer gate. His back smashed against it with a yell and slid down it towards the ground.

Charlotte’s eyes snapped wide with disbelief as she stared at Richard. He saved her life. The sight shocked Edward aswell, but more to do with the fact that he used two Wind Blasts in a row. But then he remembered his Rewind ability, and all confusion vanished. And considering his use of two Sparks, he didn’t have any Rewinds left. Richard's leaping onto the frontline like that to save her, however, still shocked him.

After Richard yelled from his back smashing against the stone wall due to the Wind Blast hitting him backwards, he slid down the stone wall to land on his feet, and the beginnings of a grin curled Richard’s mouth. But the bloody-legged goblin rushed towards him, shoving his mouth down into a quivering frown.

Her fist smashed against his sternum, tearing skin, smothering his chest with blood, and cracking bone. He gasped, flew backwards, his back crashed into the coarse stone wall, and his head rattled against it. He fell onto the ground like a rag doll. Blood showered his face. He ravaged the sewer with a shriek. Tears rushed down his cheeks.

His HP plummeted to 3%.

Edward grimaced at the sight, chewing his lip and clenching his fists. Panic and worry wormed up his stomach, but an even greater fiery fury exploded in his chest. So he turned and scowled at the goblin. He leapt at her.

He wrecked and ruined her burnt face, leg, and nape in a flurry of punches and kicks. He clicked his tongue as one punch whacked her chain mail, but it made her scream all the same, so he smiled; satisfied.

Her HP fell down to 22%.

Charlotte ran at her back as she stumbled and recoiled from his attack. She thrashed the back of her thigh with blurring kicks and punches, cracking bone, swiping her off her feet, and tripped her to the floor.

Her HP dropped to 9%.

Richard grunted behind Edward, and he turned to look. Despite blood stampeding all across his body and panting as if he just sprinted a dozen marathons, he staggered up to a crouch, thrust his palm at the goblin, and filled the sewer with an orange lustre as a swirling flame flickered into being in front of his palm. Jerking his arm forward, the flame shot away from him and leapt at the goblin's face, burrowing through her eyes and smothering her face till even the bone blackened into ash. She flailed and ran and battered the sewer with constant shrieking. But eventually her dance of death ceased. She tumbled onto the ground. The flame dissipated.

Her HP dropped to 0%.

One goblin left.

The last goblin staggered to his feet, eyes watering as he frowned down at his dead comrade. Richard staggered away from the fight to get further behind Edward and Charlotte. They leapt off the stone and rushed the last goblin.

“Oh no,” Richard whimpered as he staggered away from the fight. “Be quick!” He croaked. “I can hear their footsteps behind us! Wickancis, Unnalt and their two soldiers are coming!”

Edward knew they couldn’t defeat Wickancis and Unnalt, especially not after fighting these two Level 20s. So sweat rushed down his temple and Charlotte’s frown quivered as they both approached the last goblin, who smirked and wrinkled his face with a fiery scowl in response to Richard’s words.