5.11

“You may have outsmarted me, BUT I OUTSMARTED YOUR OUTSMARTING!!” - Astrologist Joseph, during a battle with the True Vampire Aizi Desi.

“So that’s the situation…” Noam muttered as he put away his swords. His fingers drummed the hilt of Celigarn and the wand he ‘appropriated’, “Utoqa, you have Dustin’s finger do you not?”

Some heads turned towards him.

“I do,” he simply answered.

“And you’re not going to use it to save ‘em?” he said, gesturing to the carriage.

There were a few crossed brows directed towards Utoqa when he asked that, but the lizardfolk was unmoved. “I see no reason to save them.”

Ah, that sparked some anger. It was like Decs but with none of his already lacking tact. Noam shrugged, “That’s fine,” some eyes turned towards him, eyes that said, ‘of course he’s like that.’

“I won’t need it to save ‘em,” Noam simply said to those glares.

“How do you plan on doing it?” Tai asked.

“We take them all out quickly, before any of them can realise and harm their hostage,” he replied, drawing Celigarn and the wand. “Which one of you made the light balls earlier?”

A man stepped forward, “I did.”

“Can you make another one?” he asked as he looked over his weapons. Celigarn was vibrating slightly, not an issue and he did seem rather shy around other people.

“Where?”

“Inside the carriage,” he replied. “Needs to be bright, sudden and unexpected, blind their eyes then move in while they still can’t see.”

There were six goblins inside and three hostages in total, each held at knifepoint. One goblin was still staring warily at them. The wand had just enough ammo for them.

“I can do it,” the man replied after some thinking. “But they might catch me and off them anyways.”

“Someone offer a distraction for him as well,” Noam said.

“I can handle that,” the guard captain replied, “I can pretend to negotiate with the bastards.”

“I’ll go with you,” Tai said, her own hand tightly gripping her still sheathed sword. Noam’s eyes lingered on her hand for a bit, calloused and tanned, but not in an artificial way. The way her hands were made Noam think she spent years just swinging a sword under the blazing sun.

Briefly, he fantasized a fight between the two of them, exchanging blows, showing their skills and tricks until one of them ran out… he shook his head, “You too Utoqa, you’re intimidating as hell so they’re gonna be focused on you if you move.”

The lizardfolk nodded, that was another one who would be hard to crack. Noam didn’t think he could seriously harm him unless he used his heaviest attacks, while just one hit from his bone tomahawk could seriously wound him… The thought was enough to make him smirk slightly, drawing some strange glances.

“Now then,” he started, doing a final check on his weapons. “Let's do some heroics.”

“It’s starting,” I said. I climbed out the window, sitting on the upturned side of the carriage. Staring at the three hobgoblins. Each returned my stare, that was, until another goblin breached the edge of my vision, speaking in hurried tones that I, unfortunately, couldn’t catch. Too far, the lips were too indistinct for me to Analyse anything, but the results were obvious. The hobgoblins prepared to move, taking one last look at me.

I smiled and raised my hand, “My pieces are better than yours.”

The wind blew in an eastern direction, towards the back of the carriage. It was an advantage lost because the wind was strong enough to blow away my spores when I cast them, thus rendering my Sporages almost useless if detonated early.

But it was also an advantage gained.

From my hand, I began casting Light Spores, the glowing spores left my hand, carried by the wind and was gone almost immediately, fading into the dark.

Then I cast it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

The hobgoblin’s eyes widened as they saw the trail of softly glowing light exiting my hand and towards the back of the train. Lighting up the guard group as it travelled, carried by the wind until it reached the back of the train. Dispersed everywhere by the wind, revealing hidden troops of goblins standing in the dark. There had to be at least eighty.

The threat was clear.

Their advantage of darkvision would be lost so long as I remained.

They no longer won the long game.

The sword and board hobgoblin smacked the bow hobgoblin, who hurriedly began aiming at me, before getting smacked again. His sword pointed towards my mushrooms.

The bow was quickly readjusted and the arrow was loosed, slamming into a cluster of my mushrooms. They quickly burst, but the wind swept the sneezing and poison spores away harmlessly.

‘Now make your decision.’

Assist the goblins with the hostages or take me out. The decision was obvious, were they smart enough to make it?

‘Which of our bluffs will win?’

An order by the lead hobgoblin, the third hobgoblin who carried a hammer and shield ran away and disappeared into the night. The remaining two, a bow and the sword and board, readied their weapons. A word yelled by the lead hobgoblin, and a volley of arrows soon came, detonating the numerous sporages I had made, encasing the carriage in swiftly dispersing mist. A few arrows hit me but didn’t make it through my armour.

They slowly moved in to attack.

My smile widened as I whispered,

“Mistake.”

Noam quietly leapt onto the top of the carriage next to the prisoner one. His job was a bit harder given that goblins could see in the dark, but as the distraction trio moved forward, he saw eyes look away and turn towards them.

Another advantage gained as he ghosted his way over. Celigarn was silent, but Noam could feel it vibrate with the anticipation of violence.

“Shh…” he let himself quietly say, “if all goes well then you won’t be needed.”

There was a thrum of disappointment, but Noam didn’t mind. In his other hand, he clutched the wand, the spell was called ‘Force Missile’, six whole charges. He’s already tested it a few times in Gaia beforehand and it was enough to blow holes through concrete, old concrete but concrete nonetheless.

Landing on the package as the distraction did their job, he twisted the bronze ring attached to the wand, tightening it and lowering the blast radius of the magic. Shots no larger than a pencil was all he needed.

“Now,” he whispered to Celigarn, whose glow suddenly deepened. Reginald, who had his eyes glued to the top of the carriage, threw his hand forward. A spell he had been weaving behind his back coming into fruition.

Noam closed his eyes, then vaulted himself under, shattering the glass with his legs. Numerous shards lacerated his body, but he wasn’t paying attention to that.

Three goblins to his right, two with hostages. He fired two shots, each hitting a goblin between the eyes, then with an aura empowered jump reached and slashed the throat of the third. Movement to the back right, swapping Celigarn to an underhand grip, he stabbed behind him. Impaling the goblin by the chest. Four down. He turned, pulling the two hostages and jumping behind a chair. The last goblin was backed to a corner at the end of the train, Tai flicking off the blood of the fifth of her blade. The remainder was screaming something, head darting back and forth as it used the last hostage as a shield.

One wrong shot and they could harm the hostage, or the goblin would slash her throat. The heads of both goblin and hostage were erratic, constantly moving and shifting between each other as they panicked in fear. A few centimetres in the wrong direction and the girl would be dead. He wielded a weapon he was untrained and unused with. A lesser, arguably smarter man wouldn’t have taken the shot.

But this was Matt Nguyen. A person neither stupid nor sensible.

Hand steady, mind focused, a bloody red hole appeared where the creature’s left eye was, a second dot in its neck. Crimson blood spraying from the wounds as it fell back. The hostage girl simply standing there in panic, not even realising her captor was dead as she screamed.

Tai went to help the girl and Noam let out a deep breath, allowing himself to focus back into the present. How many seconds did that take? Five? Three? Dustin was always the better timekeeper. As he rose, he realised the hand holding Celigarn was empty, slick with blood, it must’ve slipped out without his notice. A quick glance around found the dagger embedded in the goblin. He tsked and went to grab it-

“Ahh… Fuck yeah… Oh yeahhh…”

He heard the low moaning sounds and voices the dagger made as he neared it. “What the fuck Celi?”

“Hmm?” Celine poked her head in.

“Not you! Celigarn!” he corrected, “What the fuck are you doing to that corpse!?”

“I haven’t been used in centuries! Just give me this moment!”

“Oh my god are you…” Noam grabbed the dagger and hurriedly pulled it out.

“Noooooo!” the blade yelled as its eye flashed red. “What the fuck!? Do you know when the last time it was when I touched blood? The last time I was this moist? I haven’t been this wet and deep in someone in centuries!”

“You were fucking humping the corpse of the dude I killed!?”

“And you have a problem with that!?” the dagger yelled back, “You enjoy murdering things just as I do!”

“At least I’m not weird about it!”

“Don’t kinkshame me! I thought you were a fellow entity of culture! Why do you think I picked you!?”

“I don’t do it because of a weird fucking sex thing! Have you even seen people fucking? It’s all wet and sweaty and gross and no one is satisfied in the end!”

“Look! Some people have their tastes and some weapons have their own tastes and-”

Noam shoved the dagger into its sheath and threw a random cloth over it, muffling it somewhat. “Never using him again…” he quietly muttered.

Turning around, he saw the silent and desperately neutral faces of the audience. “Anyways, let’s move on from this moment.” At least three people looked like they wanted to bleach either their eyes or ears or both of the events that just occurred, so his suggestion was well received as they all silently filtered out of the carriage. Hostages in tow, looking conflicted as they pondered whether or not they should be thankful for the rescue or avoid their rescuer like a plague.

As they got out though, the guard captain snapped to action, gathering the rest to action.

“We need to earn our paychecks! Move out to clear the rest of the train!” she yelled. “Reginald, how many light balls can you make?”

The mage shook his head, sweat dripping from his brow, “That was my last.”

“*Tsk*, healer!” she yelled, causing Celine to yelp, “Do you know light spells?”

She nodded hurriedly and Noam noticed she had her hands on his doll, numerous stitches were all over it. “So that’s what happened to the glass cuts.”

“I do,” she began, “but I doubt I can cover the-”

At that moment, Noam sighted a lazy, billowing cloud of glowing spores that was pulled by the wind and flew over them.

Cracking a smile, Noam said, “Doesn’t matter, we just need to start finishing them.”

“In the end, they made the mistake of attacking,” I muttered disappointedly.

“Can you not say that while we’re still under fire!?” the man yelled, Darcy was it? As numerous arrows thudded into the carriage.

The sword and board hobgoblin was running in while cover was sustained by a group of bows. “They probably want to keep us down until the sword and board gets near and finishes us off.”

“And do you have a solution for that!?” the woman yelled as an arrow dinged off her helmet.

“Well I’m already preparing aren’t I?” I said as I planted another sporage.

The sound of arrows stopped, and there were numerous thudding sounds on the top of the carriage, followed by one heavier mass.

“Both of you get down.”

They did, just as numerous sporages detonated around us. They got most of the sporages outside, but not in. Manavision was also truly broken, now that I was able to perceive everything within a certain radius of myself, I could activate my line-of-sight activated sporages much more easily.

Lots of sneezing sounded above, shame I couldn’t use the mana on more damaging options, but anymore would’ve been overkill. Raising a hand, I cast a single Poison Spores directly out the window. Sneezing turned to screaming, just as something jumped in.

“Now.”

The two guards slammed their batons into the knees of the goblin, knocking it down. Wait, it wasn’t the hobgoblin. The glass above me broke, I cast Shillelagh just as the hobgoblin jumped on me.

A sword meant for my face was deflected by my enhanced staff, the hobgoblin fell off, rolling away before shifting in a defensive stance. That was a mistake on my part, I still wasn’t used to Manavision no matter how natural it felt. I literally should’ve seen that coming.

The female guard had her wand up, Magic Missiles flew from it, but they were deflected by the shield.

We were in a bad position, I was in front while the guards were behind me. In this enclosed space the hobgoblin could take us one by one. Shillelagh still up, I went for an upward swing, but his shield was faster. His other hand moved, blade darting like a snake, stabbing into me and forcing me back. I spat acid onto him, burning through his shield and dripping onto his arm.

The hobgoblin forcefully disengaged, kicking me back further, just as another volley of Magic Missiles slammed directly into him.

He felt it this time, the magic forcing him back a step, but a smile was on his face. I turned, a bit too late just as another goblin jumped down onto the head of the female guard, a crude knife slitting her throat before the other guard smashed its skull in with a baton. All the while screaming.

“Get her into a room!” I yelled as I stepped back towards them, my main eye still on the hobgoblin who readied his sword.

I cast Balm Spores onto her neck, but it wouldn’t be enough,

“Pain pain go away,” the hobgoblin charged me and I barely stopped it with my empowered staff.

“Rain leave for next day,” he pushed, forcing me back, my strength was not enough.

“Now feel the numbness,” the spell was weaved and my staff glowed.

“Bring Fix-Up-Fungus!”

The man dragged his comrade into an empty room, just as a glowing green mushroom puffed out healing spores inside. Slamming the door behind him, he held the bleeding wound with one hand, the other trying to catch the errant spores and sprinkle them on her. An arcane lock shielding them.

A punch came and knocked me over. The hobgoblin was over me and his sword prepared to drop.

“Rot Spores.”

The purple sporage on my chest burst, the hobgoblin screamed and backed away as black rot gnawed hungrily at his legs. He threw away his sword, tearing at his legs, trying to get the black rot off, but all it achieved was getting it on his fingers.

I raised myself up, wincing as my Bracken Polypores fell away along, too close range, and I lost my concentration on Bark Skin to cast the Fix-Up-Fungus. Already I felt myself getting eaten away, I cannot stay here for long.

Another goblin jumped in, before screaming as it saw its flesh undergo necrosis the moment it touched the purple spores. It died long before it fell on the ground.

The hobgoblin wasn’t doing much better, collapsed onto the ground, bits of white bone revealed under the black rotting flesh of his legs, his extremities already gone.

“You made a bad call,” I simply said.

He weakly snarled at me, it likely hurt him to even breathe right now. Lungs had so much surface area after all, but still, he uttered a single word in spite.

“Slaver…”

I did the mercy kill before hauling myself out of the carriage. Nothing can enter there for a while. The passengers and the guards will be safe for the time being so long as there were no leaks

Unfortunately for me, with the wiping of the entire attacking goblin squad, they’ve learnt to keep their distance. I was forced to step back as an arrowed thudded into my flesh. No longer bothering to be in sight range eh? I tried to will my Bracken Polypores to regrow, but I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. My stomach was empty and they refused to grow. More arrows, I took several dozen, knocking me down, only skin deep thankfully. Rolling off the carriage, I fell behind where the actual roof is, their line of sight was broken on me.

They had already lost.

I just needed to buy time, the light was a bluff because even if I lit up the majority of the battlefield, I couldn’t control where the wind went. It could just as easily turn on me and ruin the plan. No, using it to win the battle was ultimately a gamble, the true reason was a distraction, so they wouldn’t focus on dealing with the rescue group at the end of the carriage.

Their attempt to divide and conquer us failed the moment a superior force gathered and began systematically wiping them out.

Soon enough, the volley of arrows stopped. A horn was blown and I saw a mass retreat from everyone’s eyes, just as the sun began to rise.

No protection and riddled with arrows, I simply sat there, leaning next to the train roof as the sunlight made me lose consciousness.