Free Web NovelChapter 41: Bulwark (4)
Something large crashed through the brush.
Goblin bodies flew out of the mist first. One hit the ground face-first near the outer stakes and another slammed into a tree trunk hard enough to fold wrong.
Then Nyxie burst into the clearing with her claymore over one shoulder and green blood splashed across half her armor. She looked exhilarated and slightly unhinged too.
Behind her came Jules and Yara, running far too fast as if something worse chased them out of the forest.
Then the woods opened.
An army of goblins poured out from between the trees in a screaming wave. Goblin Chieftains rode in behind them on huge, mangy wargs with foam dripping from their jaws. Hobgoblins pushed through the center like living battering rams. And behind them, taller shapes stepped into view, one after another.
Hobgoblin Commanders... There were five of them.
Nyxie laughed like she had lost her mind somewhere in the woods and decided she felt better without it. "We’re going to die!"
Captain Reinhardt drew his sword and roared over the chaos. "Close the gates!"
"Archers! Prepare your arrows!"
The checkpoint erupted. Soldiers scrambled for the platforms. Bows creaked and shields slammed into place behind the front stakes.
"Wait!" Misha stepped forward. "Our companions are still outside!"
"We can’t wait for them!"
Gerbaut lowered his spear and began walking towards the gate without saying a word.
Elyes let out a long sigh. "I suppose we have to go out then."
"But it’s dangerous!" Captain Reinhardt snapped.
Misha bit her lower lip. She wanted to stay behind the gates. That was the safest choice. The smartest choice. It was a choice made by people who wanted to keep breathing.
"You coming?" Elyes asked, glancing at her.
Misha tightened her grip on her rapier.
She was afraid. No, scared sounded smaller than what this was. Her feet felt nailed to the ground. Her chest tightened so hard it hurt. The thought of stepping outside those gates and facing that many monsters made her stomach turn.
Gerbaut stopped by the entrance and looked back at her. "You can stay here."
Her chest tightened for a different reason. He probably said that because he knew.
"No." She swallowed hard and forced her legs to move. "I’m going with you."
The fear was still there, she simply walked with it because as long as she still had dependable people beside her, Misha wanted to believe things would somehow work out.
The moment she stepped beyond the gate and saw the full size of the monster army, her pulse hammered once.
Then the familiar cold settled over her mind.
「 Fear and panic suppressed. 」
「 Mental focus sharpened. 」
The battlefield stretched out in her head. She saw the gaps in their movements, the fastest approach angles and the weak points in the charge.
Her breathing steadied. It was not because things had improved in her eyes, it was all because her [Traits] refused to let her waste time falling apart.
She watched as Nyxie stopped running and turned to face the incoming wave head-on. Yara and Jules decided to do the same. There was no point in running now. Not when they couldn’t reach the outpost before the monsters did.
Elyes raised his staff and muttered ancient words. Green and yellow light flew toward Nyxie, Yara, and Jules, wrapping around them in thin rings of glowing mana.
"This casting will take time," he said. "Cover me until I finish."
Then he started chanting again.
Gerbaut moved without hesitation and Misha followed.
「 Passive Skill in Effect: Weapon Mastery 」
Misha thrust her rapier into the throat of the nearest goblin and ripped it free before the body hit the ground.
「 You have killed a Goblin!
EXP +3 」
Another lunged at Elyes from the right. Gerbaut’s spear punched through its face and hurled it backward into the mud.
A third came for Misha. She parried, stepped in, and drove the dagger in her left hand into its ribs.
「 You have killed a Goblin!
EXP +3 」
She kept moving, making sure none reached Elyes.
「 Constellation Soul within the Capricorn Chamber Requesting Authorization. 」
"No..." She muttered under her breath. "Not yet."
She clenched her jaw. Not yet.
She could still fight. She could still think. Olivia was a double-edged sword, and Misha knew exactly how deep that blade could cut. She would hold on as long as she could with her own strength first.
Arrows rained from the checkpoint walls.
Captain Reinhardt and his men had not abandoned them. Shafts tore into goblins, dropped one warg, then punched holes through the front line just long enough to slow the charge.
Then–
"Move!" Elyes shouted.
Gerbaut grabbed Misha by her collar and yanked her backward so hard her boots left the ground.
A massive crescent of compressed wind tore through the battlefield where they had stood a second earlier.
It carved through the front hand of the goblin army in one screaming sweep. Goblins flew apart, blood sprayed across the dirt, and two hobgoblin commanders dropped in pieces before they even understood they had died.
Misha stared in disbelief.
"Good grief..."
The remaining three hobgoblin commanders turned toward Elyes as one and pointed at him.
"Shit..." Misha breathed.
"Sir Elyes! Come inside!" Captain Reinhardt shouted from the wall the moment he realized who had erased half the field.
Elyes was panting hard now. His face had gone paler. He needed time, that much Misha could tell, and probably more mana than the floor intended to give him.
"We’ll take care of things here." Gerbaut said reassuringly.
Elyes gave one short nod. A knight hurried to support him and together they retreated inside the gate.
That left Misha with Gerbaut... and the goblins.
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A goblin chieftain rushed toward them from atop a warg. Gerbaut shoved Misha aside and blocked the first strike with the shaft of his spear.
Misha stumbled, caught herself, and came back in with the rapier in her right hand and a dagger in her left.
A goblin jumped at her and she slashed its throat.
「 You have killed a Goblin!
EXP +3 」
Another rushed in from behind it.
She drove the dagger into its neck without breaking stride.
「 You have killed a Goblin!
EXP +3 」
Then another goblin chieftain on top of a warg came straight at her.
It was far too fast to dodge cleanly when just then–
Jules threw himself between them. He planted his feet and braced.
The warg slammed into his shield so hard the sound punched through the entire battlefield. Jules went down to one knee as the shield bent inward.
The chieftain raised its saber for the killing strike but Misha rushed in and buried her rapier in its exposed side.
The chieftain twisted toward her with a wet gasp.
Jules roared, rose with shaking legs, and drove his shield upward with all his strength.
The rider flew off the saddle.
Misha did not waste the opening. She stepped in and finished it before it hit the ground.
「 You have killed a Goblin Chieftain!
EXP +20 」
The wolf spun on her next, snapping at her throat but Jules caught it again. Not with the shield, but this time, it was with both arms.
He grabbed the thing around the neck and shoulder and dragged it off balance with a ragged shout.
The wolf clawed at his armor, jaws inches from his face.
Misha drove her blade through its ribs a few times until the beast collapsed between them.
「 You have killed a Warg!
EXP +15 」
For one terrible moment, all she could hear was their breathing.
「 Time Remaining: 00:17:43 」
Jules bent forward, hands on his knees, shield hanging from one arm. His helmet had shifted and blood ran down one side of his neck where the wolf had grazed him.
"You okay?" Misha asked.
He looked at her and gave her a breathless, crooked little smile. "Y-yeah, I think."
Misha couldn’t help but admire him once more. It was nice seeing the shy giant turn this way in a real fight. He simply kept stepping in front of danger every time someone needed him to.
A horn blared from the tree line. Every goblin still standing shrieked at once.
The remaining hobgoblin commanders rushed forward. One drove straight to Yara, the second pressed Gerbaut and Nyxie.
And the third came for Misha and Jules.
"Back!" Misha shouted.
Jules raised his shield just as the commander’s curved blade smashed into it. The impact threw him backward into her. They both hit the mud hard.
Even while falling, Jules twisted his body so he would not crush her.
Misha rolled first and came out coughing, her body aching all over, her arms felt heavy.
「 Elevated stress and fear levels detected. Emotional interference reduced. 」
Jules pushed himself up beside her, slower this time after he had coughed out blood.
「 Pattern recognition increased. 」
She tracked the commander’s stance. She stepped in before it could trap them. Her rapier darted for the throat but the commander knocked it aside and pain shot up her wrist.
Jules slammed his shield into its ribs and bought her one opening, then another one. He moved rougher now, breathing louder, but he kept getting between her and the commander’s blade.
The commander snarled and kicked him in the chest.
Jules stumbled back.
"You son of a bitch!" Misha thrust for the exposed side and sank the rapier between two armor plates.
The commander roared.
Then it backhanded her so hard she spun and hit the ground.
Her vision flashed white, blood filled her mouth. For one awful second, the whole battle turned into noise and light and pain.
「 Fear response suppressed. 」
Get up... Get up, Misha!
So she did.
When her vision cleared up, she saw Jules standing between her and the commander once more. His shield raised, and his body shaking. The fear in his eyes was evident. Still, he stayed there. He did not run when he had the chance to do so. He did not leave her alone to die.
"M-Misha," he said without looking back, his voice rough with strain. "W-when it swings high... go for the throat."
The commander charged and Jules met it.
The curved sword smashed into the shield once, twice, three times in a blur. Iron cracked, metal buckled, but Jules held anyway.
Misha saw the opening exactly when he told her it would come.
She lunged.
At the exact moment, another goblin threw itself between them. Her rapier punched through the smaller body instead.
「 You have killed a Goblin!
EXP +3 」
The mistake cost everything.
The hobgoblin commander twisted, faster than something that large had any right to move.
Its blade flashed.
Misha saw it.
Jules did too. He turned toward her to block the attack. The sword swept across his neck in one brutal silver arc.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then Jules’ head left his shoulders.
Misha froze in that instant.
His body remained standing for one impossible second, shield still half-raised like he had not yet realized what had happened.
Then it collapsed into the mud.
Warm blood splashed across Misha’s face.
The commander stood over him, blade dripping.
