Ch: 113.6 (Patreon)

“They’re in range again,” I slowly open my eyes and inform Tabitha.

"Alright," Tabitha nods thoughtfully. “What are we looking at?”

“Well, there’s more than a hundred,” I inform her, trying hard not to let my nervousness show.

“How many exactly?” Tabitha either didn’t notice the twinge in my voice, or she was being considerate and chose not to bring it up. Either way, I’m thankful.

“A hundred and forty-seven.” Just saying the number is enough to make me break out in goosebumps. But I have a job to do, and I wasn’t going to let Tabitha down, so I push on with the debriefing. “They’re divided amongst thirteen groups, following the exact same path we took to get here.”

“Any sort of formation?” Tabitha questions.

"Sort of," I tell her. Then, using my dagger, I start carving X’s into the tree branch we’re standing on to give her a better idea of how they were marching. "As I can tell, they're all clustered around this central group,” I point at the largest X I carved in the middle of all the others.

“Anything special about that group?”

“That would be putting it mildly,” I snort and wipe a bit of sweat threatening to fall into my eye.

“I take it that’s where their leader is?” Tabitha's guess is more right on the money than she knows.

“It’s where the biggest mana signature is,” I give her a worried look. “I’ve never sensed anything like it. When I use my skill to scry goblins, they look almost empty to me; their gear gives them shape. But this guy," I point at the center X, which I deliberately made bigger than all the others. “This guy is on a whole other level!” I try to stress.

“How so?” Tabitha’s face hardens. Like a hunter asking about their prey.

“Well, for starters, he’s taller than me.” Standing up straight, I raise my hand over my head to show that the goblin towered over me by almost half a foot. I was a tall girl; this was the first time I'd ever seen a goblin taller than myself.

"Any distinctive markings, specifically around its head?" Tabitha asks me as if she already knew what was chasing us.

“Yeah, how did you know?” I cock my head to the side in confusion. “The goblin had more mana in its body than any I've seen before, but most of it was contained in its horns. It looked like they were sprouting around its entire head, almost like it was wearing a spiky crown.”

I watch as Tabitha takes a deep breath as if she is trying to collect herself, but anyone can see she is excited for some reason. She absolutely knew what we were up against.

From our high vantage point up in the trees, Tabitha glances down at the forest floor in the direction the goblins were approaching. I beefily consider asking her to educate me on what was heading toward us, but she starts explaining all on her own.

"An arch goblin, fascinating,” Tabitha grins like a feral cat. “I’ve never had the chance to face one.” Tabitha stares longingly into the distance for a full minute before she turns and addresses me directly.

Knowing my limited knowledge, Tabitha thankfully starts explaining what an arch goblin is. “Arch goblins are the next evolutionary line in goblin biology after hobgoblins. You can tell the difference between the two by their horns.”

"What makes them different than any other horned hobgoblin?" I've never heard of goblins having a fourth form before.

“Horned hobs are merely what we call hobgoblins in the middle of becoming an arch goblin,” Tabitha educates me. “Hobgoblins continue to grow horns until they form a crown, at which point they’re considered a new subcategory.”

“And I take it arch goblins are extremely dangerous?” I grimace.

"Bigger, meaner, and rarer," Tabitha almost giggles in excitement. “They only start appearing when a goblin tribe is left to grow unchecked for decades. There hasn’t been one reported in Scholl in over 200 years. I will have to apologize to master when I see him again; I'm fortunate he chose me to oversee your training."

“I’m glad you’re happy,” I respond sarcastically. Tabitha isn’t perturbed by my sour expression in the slightest, leaving me to sigh in resignation. "If hobgoblins start sprouting horns at level 50, what level would an arch goblin be at?”

“I’m not sure,” Tabitha shrugs her arms to my disbelief. "I've only ever heard stories about them. Some say they're equivalent to a worrier around level 80; others say even higher. There just aren’t enough examples to pull from. Sorry.”

That means, chances are, it's a higher level than I am. Nervously, I rub the back of my neck. We were outnumbered, and there was also a goblin, possibly as strong as Tabitha leading the attack.

“Anything else you can tell me about it? Was it wearing enchanted gear? What weapon was it carrying?” Tabitha bombards me with questions as if I was setting her up with my best friend.

I wish I could say I didn’t know, but the arch goblins gear was part of the reason why his presence showed up so clearly to me despite the range. "He has a claymore, a decent one, too," I point out.

Tabitha glances at my hammer, and I immediately know what she’s about to ask, so I beat her to the punch. “It’s hard to compare the two because they’re so different, but I know the sword is at least tier 3, possibly tier 4, like my hammer. The same goes for its armor,” I add.

“Any enchantments?”

“Not that I can tell from this range. Once they get closer, I can better scan their gear, but I don’t think I’ll have time once they’re that close.”

Tabitha hums in thought before nodding in understanding. Now that I could sense the goblins, it meant they were within 1,600 feet of us and our time was limited.

“Anything else I should know?” Tabitha prods for more information.

“Their leader was my biggest concern, but there was something else that might pose a problem to our plan,” I tell her. "While most goblins are on the ground, four two-goblin cells are moving through the trees.”

“Scouts then,” Tabitha has the same idea as me.

“I think, well need to take out at least one of the teams if we’re to pull off our plan,” I remind her.

Tabitha nods in agreement before turning her undivided attention toward me. "Speaking of which, do you think you can pull it off?" Tabitha’s gaze pierces me as she questions if I can follow her crazy plan.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” I reassure her with a fiery look. For all that I worry about, I refuse to be a burden to Tabitha.

Tabitha smiles at my confidence and offers me a reassuring pat on my shoulder. “You really are something. You’d give that old hag, Untouchable, a run for her coin.”

“Who?" I ask Tabitha to elaborate; I was curious if Tabitha was trying to praise me or badmouth somebody else.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tabitha shakes off my question. “What matters is if you are ready; did you recover from the toads?”

“I recovered as much mana as possible while strategizing, but I’m not back to 100%.”

“But you have enough for the plan?” Tabitha questions again.

"We'll see, won't we," I try to joke, but Tabitha doesn't laugh. Instead, she fixes me with a gaze that has me coughing awkwardly into my hand. "That was a joke; I have enough mana." Tabitha must be on edge, or else she would’ve ignored my joke rather than gotten angry at me.

“I know you’re nervous, but now isn’t the time for jokes,” Tabitha warns me. For a brief second, I consider pointing out how she shouldn’t be looking forward to battling the arch goblin but decide against it. Tabitha may be looking forward to this fight, but she certainly wasn’t taking it lightly; the amount of planning she came up with was proof of that.

Tabitha had been so thorough in covering how we should deal with different situations that our strategy would only need to be altered slightly now that we know about the scouts and arch goblin in the mix.

“Sorry, I understand,” I look down, feeling bad for my moment of childishness. There was a time and place for everything, and this wasn't it.

“As long as you understand,” Tabitha lightly says, as if she’s already put it behind her. “Can you check where they are?”

“Sure,” I nod. Then, sitting and throwing my legs over the side of the thick tree branch to let them dangle, I close my eyes and enter a meditative state while Tabitha keeps watch and starts stretching. I'd never seen her stretch before our other magic beast encounters, further cementing the danger we were up against.

I wish I could say it took me a while to find the army of goblins, but they were closer than I expected. They were only 700 feet out, and if it weren’t for all the massive trees around us, we’d be able to see them already.

"In another 120 feet or so, I'll be able to passively sense them," I open my eyes and inform Tabitha.

"They're moving fast then," Tabitha blandly states while rolling her shoulders.

I flinch as she abruptly takes a fighting stance and draws her sword in one quick motion. Tabitha then sheaths her weapon and repeats the exercise three times, preparing for what comes next.

While Tabitha is making her preparations, I complete my own. Focusing on my mana, I strengthen my Mana Skin to the best of my abilities. Tabitha made it abundantly clear I was to leave the dangerous stuff to her, and I was only supposed to play a supporting role in this battle. And I’ll quote, “Be in a world of trouble if I take any significant damage.”

I’m halfway through my own stretching routine when I feel it. “The first scouts just entered my range, 580 feet that way and closing steadily,” I point east of us.

“Still following our trail?” Tabitha turns to me with a look of stony resolve.

"Give me a sec," I tell her as I wait to see if the other goblins are following behind the scouts. "They are," I inform her as more and more signals enter Sense Mana's range. “They haven’t noticed us yet.”

"Remember," Tabitha walks next to me, facing our targets. "Goblins have an amazing sense of smell; we only have a minute to pull off our first sneak attack before they become aware we're there. Ready?”

“Ready,” I parrot.

“Then let’s go,” Tabitha calmly states.

Together, Tabitha and I push off the tree branch we’re standing on and start parkouring through the canopy.

As we were leaping from tree branch to tree branch, I couldn’t help but wonder if our surprise attack would go as planned. We circled back the way we came without retracing our steps on Tabitha's suggestion. As far as the goblins were concerned, we were long gone, but in fact, we were off to the side, waiting for them to pass us.

The goblins thought they were sneaking up on us when in reality, we were using them following us to our advantage.

We were quickly approaching our targets, and I was already locked onto the closest scouting duo to us. Tabitha was right as usual; my skill was going to give us the upper hand.

Silently, I move next to Tabitha, hold my hand, and slowly start lowering my fingers without us exchanging a single word.

At four fingers, I lead us around the trunk of a tree so we remain out of sight.

On three, Tabitha’s hand shifts down to her sword.

When I’m down to two fingers, I slowly pull back to give Tabitha room to work.

One, I count in my head as we round the tree and come face to face with two horned goblins.

The two goblins freeze in place, utterly baffled by our sudden appearance. Tabitha was not.

A flash of steel separates the goblin's heads from their bodies. Tabitha acts fast, and before the goblin torsos start falling, she grabs them.

But with her hands full, she can't do anything about the severed heads already in freefall. So that's where I come in; using Air Walk, I dash forward and grab the heads before they can draw any attention toward us.

Tabitha and I have just enough time to stash the bodies higher in the tree before the procession of goblins starts to pass directly under us.

Phase one is complete. Now on to stage two. Murdering as many goblins as possible.

**********

2,100 words.

Sorry for the late release; I spent more time out of town with family than I expected.

I hope you enjoyed reading it, and as always, stay safe.