The goblins hit them like a wave.
James swung his sword at the closest one's head and missed completely. The blade cut nothing but empty air. His timing was wrong, his grip was wrong, everything felt wrong. A goblin ducked under his wild swing and its rusty dagger ripped across his stomach in a burning line. Hot blood soaked into his leather armor immediately. Pain exploded white-hot across his vision and he staggered back gasping.
[HP: 120/120 → 73/120]
Finn roared beside him and the sound was pure rage. His battleaxe came down in a vertical chop that split the first goblin from shoulder to hip. The creature's body fell in two pieces that hit the grass separately. Finn reversed his grip and swung horizontally, catching another goblin mid-charge. The blade went through its neck and took its head clean off. Blood sprayed in an arc.
Ciara moved like smoke between three goblins. Her first dagger opened a throat before the creature even knew she was there. She spun low and her second blade punched up under another goblin's jaw, through its mouth, and into its brain. She yanked the weapon free and the goblin dropped. The third one tried to block but she slipped past its guard and drew her blade across its eyes. It screamed and clutched its face. She finished it with a stab to the heart.
James realized with cold terror that he was the only one who had no idea what he was doing.
The goblins surrounded them quickly while spreading into a loose circle. Thirty-five of the creatures in total, all with yellow eyes tracking movement and crude weapons raised. They shrieked in that high-pitched tone that made James's teeth ache.
Five of them broke off from the main group and sprinted toward the barrier where Liam and Aiden were still pounding uselessly against the invisible wall.
James tried to move toward them to help, but three more goblins rushed him from different angles. He brought his shield up just in time to block a club swing that would have caved in his skull. The impact rattled through his arm and numbed his shoulder completely.
His sword lashed out in desperation and by pure luck the blade caught one goblin across the throat. Blood sprayed hot across James's face. The goblin dropped while gurgling and clutching at the wound. Its yellow eyes stared at him as the light faded from them.
The System chimed.
[GOBLIN SLAIN - 15 EXP AWARDED]
[CURRENT EXP: 15/100]
Then his passive skill triggered without any command from him.
The goblin's soul ripped free from the corpse as a faint green wisp that rose into the air. It flowed toward James like smoke being pulled into his lungs. The wisp entered his chest and dissolved. His mana bar refilled by 10 points as the soul converted to energy. It felt wrong and violating, like he was feeding on death itself. James stared at the body while his hands shook. He'd just killed something.
No time to process it.
The second goblin lunged at him with a wooden spear and James barely got his shield up in time. The spear punched into the wood with enough force to split it partially. He twisted and the weapon jerked from the goblin's grip. His sword came around in a clumsy arc and the blade caught the creature in the side, cutting deep. It shrieked and tried to pull away. James yanked the sword free and swung again, this time catching it across the face.
[GOBLIN SLAIN - 15 EXP AWARDED]
[CURRENT EXP: 30/100]
Another soul ripped free and flowed into him. More mana restored. The sensation was getting easier to bear, which somehow made it worse.
At the barrier, Liam turned just as five goblins reached him. He tried to raise his shield but moved too slow. The first goblin's club smashed into his knee with a wet crack that echoed across the field. Bone shattered and Liam went down screaming. The other four piled on top of him immediately.
Clubs rose and fell in rapid succession. Wet thuds of wood on flesh, then wood on bone. Liam's screaming grew higher and more desperate. A wooden spear punched through his chest cavity with enough force to come out his back. His HP bar in the party interface dropped from 100 to 87 to 56 to 23 to 0 in less than three seconds.
The System announced coldly.
[CHALLENGER LIAM HAS PERISHED - PERMANENT DEATH IN TUTORIAL MODE]
His body twitched once, then went still in spreading dark blood.
Aiden watched Liam die five meters away from him and something broke in his mind. His breathing went ragged and his eyes went wide. Terror became desperation. He slammed his palm to the ground hard enough to scrape skin and screamed the activation command.
"Summon Greater Beast!"
His Epic-tier Summoner skill erupted in response.
A magic circle blazed to life beneath his hand, easily three meters wide. Arcane symbols rotated along the outer ring while glowing bright blue. Light shot upward in a column that rose ten meters into the air. Heat radiated out in waves. The goblins near him stumbled back while shrieking.
When the light faded, a massive creature stood between Aiden and the goblins.
A D-rank Emberbear.
The thing was easily twice the size of a normal bear, standing three meters tall at the shoulder. Its fur was thick and dark but flames crackled across every inch of it like living fire. Eyes glowed molten orange with no pupils, just burning light. When it opened its mouth to roar, James could see fire burning in its throat. Heat radiated from it in waves that made the grass beneath its paws start to smoke.
The Emberbear roared and the sound was thunder.
It crashed forward into the goblin pack like a living avalanche. One massive paw swung and caught a goblin mid-run. The creature's head simply exploded from the impact while its body flew sideways. The Emberbear's jaws closed on another goblin and tore its entire upper body off. Fire spread from the bear's claws with every step, igniting goblins as they tried to scatter.
Two goblins tried to stab it with spears. The weapons punched into the bear's flaming fur and immediately caught fire. The bear didn't even seem to notice. It swatted one goblin so hard the creature hit a tree twenty meters away. The other goblin screamed as flames spread up the spear shaft and onto its hands. The Emberbear crushed it under one burning paw.
The goblins scattered while shrieking in terror.
James turned back to his own fight.
Four more goblins were circling him while his stomach wound bled steadily. His HP was still dropping slowly from the damage over time. Blood soaked through his leather armor and ran down to his belt. He needed to end this quickly before he bled out.
His mind raced through his skill list and he remembered the skeleton summon. He pointed at the ground where the first goblin he'd killed lay dead. He focused on the mental command and spoke the activation word.
"Summon Undead Skeleton."