“Embershit, everyone in the fort, now!” Torva pulled me to my feet and pushed me towards the doorway. “Move. Before he-“. A blast of extreme heat sent me flying into a corridor. Luckily Miko was there to stop me from going far. I slammed into her, and we tumbled to the ground.

“Reigner!” Miko was pulling me off the ground “Shit, you are on fire.” She let go, dropping me back to the ground, and started hitting me. “We need water.” Her request was followed by a shock of cold splashing over me.

“It’s not going out.” Was the last thing she said before grabbing my robe in two fists. “No, wait!”

It was too late. The sound of cloth ripping accompanied Miko’s hands moving away from me. She had torn the robe completely off me and threw it against the wall. I looked over mournfully at the now burning robe. That was my favorite robe. Sera, the stunningly beautiful elf from the guild, picked it out for me.

Someone grabbed hold of my face and turned it towards them. It was Miko “Reigner, you need to focus. You were hit by an explosion and have lost a lot of health.” Her words did not register. I was the untouchable silent sword. My health had never been lower than ninety percent within the past five years. I checked my status to confirm her lie.

Name: Reigner

Race: Human

level: 3

Class: Summoner

Health: 674/980 (1280)

HP Regen: 1.5/minute

Stamina: 876/2370

SP Regen: 79/minute

Mana: 129/390

MP Regen: 17/minute

I have never seen my health so low before. Not only that but my max health was lower too. I have never been injured this badly since my first year in the tower. “Focus!” Something whacked me across the face and after a second I managed to focus on the beastkin woman leaning over me. “Did you just slap me?”

She moved me into a sitting position “I need you to stand. Can you do that for me?”

Now that I was sitting up, I could see my body more clearly. I still had some boots and, luckily, some underwear on. However, my body was scorched black in places. My left arm and part of my shoulder looked burnt and bleeding. Looking at them made me aware of the pain coursing through my body. A wave of dizziness overcame me then and I forced myself to breath through my clenched jaw.

“Theres nay time! The walls going ta collapse.” There were two dwarfs in front of me. One was kneeling with his hands against the ground while the other was standing in front of a wall of glowing rocks with their shield out.

The wall itself was glowing as extreme heat was focused on it from the other side. Wait. It took a second of concentration but I remembered a showboating fire throwing elf. I had lost over six hundred health because of some fire wielding clown? Before I had my class change casters were just a bunch of elaborate special effect artists to me. I could just walk through a wall of fire or a lighting storm and be completely fine. The irony was not lost on me. I now have access to magic, a dream come true, but on the flip side could also be hurt by it.

I struggled to my feet with Miko’s assistance. “Can you move?” I took a moment to flex my legs and gave her a quick nod. “Okay.” She yelled towards the dwarfs “We are ready.”

The one kneeling down with his hands against the ground looked up to his companion “Burin go!”

“Shut it Ol’prick. I’m staying. Cap is out there. She needs us!”

“The captain is dead!” A fresh wave of stone raised up from the ground and joined the glowing wall. The new section covered the heated rock, but it only took a moment before it too started to glow. “Someone needs to tell the clan what happened here. Now go!”

Miko gave my unburned shoulder a squeeze. “Can you move by yourself?”

“Yeah, I think so.” I could always use the narrow walls for support.

Miko walked over and around the kneeling dwarf and grabbed the shoulder of Burin. “He’s right. We need to move, or we are all dead.” She started pulling him around the other dwarf.

“No, please. Olwirck I’m sorry, alright? Let’s go together. We can tell the clan together.”

“I’m sorry lad. That wall collapses once I move. Besides I have a surprise waiting for that flaming elf once he gets through.” Sweat was starting to drip off his face as he pushed more mana into the ground sending up another stonewall. “You always were a cry baby.”

Just as Miko pulled Burin behind the Olwirck, he summoned a second wall. Sealing himself off from us.

“Olwirck, No!” Miko continued to pull the now sobbing dwarf. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”

We moved deeper into the fort, the only sounds I could hear were the crying sobs of Burin and the occasional “I’m sorry” from him echoing off the stone interior.

We moved up a series of stairs and through a few more corridors at Miko’s direction. Surprisingly there were no goblins in front of us. Burin went quiet at some point and walked without needing Miko to pull him along.

The entire fort shook just as we reached a third set of stairs. The shaking was quickly followed by a loud boom that reverberated through the stone walls. I was forced to reach out and support myself with my injured arm, sending a pulse of pain through my body.

“Olwirck.” Burin let out a sob. “You bastard.” Miko gave him a push towards the stairs. “Come on. There is a mazer hole we can use to escape to the next floor.”

The small walk must have done me some good as I was no longer feeling so dizzy and was able to think more clearly. “Didn’t you say Mazer holes were a bad idea?”

“Yeah but standing around here getting burned to death is an even worse idea.”

Her logic sounded reasonable but maybe we had gained enough distance to lose the elf. Just as I was about to ask Miko that very question I felt a pulse of mana hit me from the stone floor.

Miko picked up her pace. “Faster! That was a detection spell.”

“Maybe it’s from a Tower Knight?” Asked Burin

“We can’t take that risk. Now run!”

I don’t run. If anything, its others that need to run from me. Now I was not so dazed I felt like I might be able to take the firefuck. I have a spearbolt with his name on it. Hold on… What was his name again? Firefuck will have to do for now.

I looked down the stairway and could see the stone floor at the base of the stairs was starting to turn red hot. A moment later the stone started sagging, melting from the heat. The walls had also started to melt and my body was starting to sweat from the heat. I felt like I was taking constant damage. Checking my status, I watched as my health dropped by one each second. Then two per second, and then three health per second.

Now that I actually thought about it. Exploring a mazer hole sounds like fun. I turned away from the glowing mess and caught up with the others.

They were at the end of the hallway fighting some goblins. Well Burin was fighting them. Miko just outright killed them with a swing of her mace.

“Hey guys, thought you should know. The fort is melting behind us.”

Miko stepped over to Burin and brained the goblin he was facing. “Meowing great… Okay, we ignore the respawning goblins and run right for the fort captain. Burin, do you have a floor key?”

Burin wiped his hand over his face. “Aye. We-“

“Good. Let’s move. Miko started running through a large room filled with long wooden tables that had goblins seated. As we passed, I could see platters of rotten meat and unidentifiable organic matter being consumed by the goblins. Miko was really hoofing it between the tables and I made sure to stay behind Burin who was close on her tail… Pun intended. Did she say meowking?

My thought was interrupted as the goblins behind us started yelling, followed by the sound of chairs crashing to the ground as they moved to chase us.

“The next room has the captain.” Yelled Miko from in front.

“Nay tread in the centre of the room” Burin shouted. “There be a false floor.”

Miko and Burin dashed to the right once entering the room and I quickly followed. The room looked to be a rundown war room. There was a large ornate table centered against the back wall that had a pile of wood and metal forming a highbacked chair. The chair was empty and had some leather and sheepskin placed on the seat. On the table was a map carved into the wooden surface. Looks like the goblins decided to change the décor when they took over the fort.

“He has not respawned.” Miko looked at Burin. “How long ago did you last kill the captain?”

Burin looked around the room before turning back to Miko. “Nay long before he’s back. There is naught of his last corpse.”

“Uh guys, we were followed.” I pointed towards the door we entered where there was now a large number of goblins piling towards us.”

“I’ll handle them.” Miko stood in front of us. “Watch for the captain and let me know when he respawns.”

“Care.” Burin placed a hand on Mikos shoulder. “Three steps forwards and there’s a wee drop to the slimepit.”

A feral grin formed on her face. “Perfect.” Miko used her ability and the goblins slowed to a crawl. She hooked her mace to her belt and pulled out a mana marble. “Huh, look at that.” She flashed me a smile. “Five minutes left on them.” Thinking it was a good idea to replenish some mana myself I pulled out two of my own and activated them. A small rush of mana flowed into me and after checking, had 257 mana available to me.

The goblins seemed content to focus on Miko and were either wailing away at her shield or pushing through each other to get to her. The goblins were much shorter than her, so she had lots of room to swing her weapon. She had her mace back in hand and was playing whack a goblin over her shield.

I stood watching her with a small smile on my face. It looked like fun. I felt my smile drop as I realized I could be gaining experience points right now.

I glanced to Burin. “Keep an eye on that respawn.” I summoned a spearbolt into my hand and stepped to the side give myself a clear view of the horde.

“What are ye up to?”

I gave a cheeky smile. “Leveling up.” I knelt on one knee and launched the spearbolt into the crowd of goblins, not bothering to hold back my strength. A series of small wet explosions could be seen as the spearbolt met with any goblin head it traveled through.

Experience gained

Experience gained

Experience gained

…

I don’t know how many goblins were in the dining hall but there must have been a great many as my notifications continued to scroll up from the bottom of my vision. I continued to summon spearbolts throwing them towards the doorway where the seemingly endless horde was pushing through.

“Something is wrong.” Miko yelled out. “There should not be this many goblins after us.”

Looking past the goblins I could see dining hall tables and chairs up in flames. I stood up to look over the horde of goblins and had to shield my eyes as the stairway at the very back was so bright it was like looking into the sun.

“I don’t think they are after us. I think they are running from the magma.”

“What do you mean, magma?”

“You know. When rock reaches a certain temperature, it starts to melt and turn into liquid stone. Magma.”

“Mewshit, you are starting to sound like Richard. Where is that named spawn.”

“Watch out!” Burin shouted out behind us. “The elites just respawned. The captain should be next.”

Next to the door to the hall appeared four large goblins equipped with steel armour and swords. I checked behind us and saw that two more had spawned next to the tablethrone, one on either side of Burin.

Burin raised his shield to meet the attack of the one to the left, showing his back to the one on the right. Just before the elite goblin could strike down on his exposed back, I launched a spearbolt into the side of its head. The tall goblin sagged slightly before hanging off the spear that was embedded in the goblin chair throne thing.

Experience gained

Burin seemed to be holding his own against the other elite, but I decided to help him out anyway and launched another spearbolt.

Experience gained

“Nice assist.” Burin bent over catching his breath “By the forge, I need rest.”

Miko seemed to be having no issue. The goblins were constantly squishing up together as the slow hit them. I watched as the four elites pushed through the mass directly towards her. I was surprised the floor trap had not given way yet. “Hey Burin, didn’t you say there was a trapdoor?”

“Aye.” He looked towards the tablethrone and started pulling himself up. He reached to the side of the throne where a sword was stuck to the table and pulled on it. The sword pulled forward making a loud clunk sound. The four elites followed by a large number of goblins fell down the large hole that appeared in front of Miko.

A blazing pillar of fire rose from the trapdoor followed by a thick pillar of smoke. The smoke quickly filled the war room.

“Good timing. I am low on mana.” She pulled out the other mana marbles she had and activated them. I pulled out the three I had left and gave two for her to use. Her area slow was a great agro magnet and allowed me to just stand behind her. I used the third one myself.

“Thank-“ A scream from Burin interrupted Miko and we both turned around to see a large goblin sitting on the goblin throne, pushing a spear through Burin’s leg.

Before Miko could take more than two steps forward I had launched a spearbolt towards the new threat. Instead of the one hit overkill I expected, the spearbolt instead shattered against a bubble that flashed around the goblin. This marks the first creature to take more than one of my hits... The slime doesn’t count. I cast identify on the seated goblin.

[Goblin Fort Ruler Nartlink]

Health: 556 / 556

Class: Arcane Spear

Level: 5

Race: High Goblin

“Again!” Burin yelled out “Throw your spear again!”

Not wanting to disappoint. I launched another spearbolt at the named goblin. This time it pierced right through the goblin’s chest. I held back with the throw as I did not want to hurt the dwarf but I was still surprised that the goblin still had thirty precent health left. Luckily for Burin I considered myself a problem solver and it was nothing that couldn’t be solved with more magic. I launched another spear followed by one extra for good luck. The goblin went limp just as Miko reached them with her mace held high. That was close. Almost missed out on the killing blow.

Experience gained

+1 to Summon Weapon’s Spell rank.

+1 to Weapon Throwing.

Level up!

3 attribute points gained.

Sleep or meditation required.

Miko pulled out the spear from Burin’s leg and lifted him over her shoulder. She bent over and grabbed a pouch off the named goblin and tossed it over to me. “Follow me.”

The goblins were not attacking us and were instead running around the pit to where Miko was. I pushed my way through a few goblins, caught up with Miko and followed as she stepped around the throne and into a hidden hole in the wall.

Everything went quiet after stepping inside. Miko dropped Burin to the ground and knelt to inspect his leg. The change in environment felt surreal and I spun around to look out from where we just came. There were no screaming goblins, throne, or burning fort behind us. Instead, there was only stone. A dead end tunnel that looked very similar to the tower I left behind.