(Gavin)

"Holy fuck," Braden whispers beside me as the clearing with our banners comes into view.

The four of us are sore, exhausted, and not allowed to do anything strenuous until the battle for the valley after this fight, but it was worth it. We have all increased our Levels by dozens. Even Max, though he would be much higher if we could have gotten him to focus solely on training for the most part. He's like Zack in that he has a hard time taking things seriously at all times, but Zack at least has the discipline needed to focus on training when it counts.

Much to his detriment, though I think he's itching for a fight, now that he's apparently allowed to do strenuous stuff again.

Our condition isn't as bad as Zack's was, or we'd have to wait longer. We've fought a lot of tough things, we've pushed our Levels, and even our Skills, past where we expected to reach them. Braden even managed to learn Lightning Elemental, despite its high cost. We have Luca's Blessing of Intellect and Zack's seemingly infinite supply of Mana Potions to thank for that.

He told us, when we began to make our way here, that he was giving us the last of those he'd stored up for our training. It must have been extremely expensive, but then, this is Zack we're talking about – he can afford it. Hell, he could probably afford to buy most of Maelnor and still have change leftover. I know he has plenty of Bounty Beast kills he's yet to claim and a lot of loot he's yet to sell.

I glance up to our team's leader, who's floating in the air a distance behind us, an amused look on his face. He's in his Eidolon Form right now, a state he hasn't left since we arrived here. He has the Mana Regeneration to make up for the loss and still recover some Mana over time. Apparently, just being in that form gives it Experience, though I don't think it actually helps much. Zack says it's Leveled at least once with him just being in it, though, so I suppose if it works, it works.

Turning my attention back to what caused Braden to swear, Luca to frown, and Zack to smile, I assess the situation. Two Goblin Giants and two Goblin Shaman at each banner, five Spook Goblins, five Frost Goblins, seventy goblins of various types, fifty slimes of various types, and at least ten Heal Slimes.

Plus the Goblin Chieftain from before, but he's gotten an upgrade.

Goblin Chieftain (Elite) Level 20 Health: 112,392 Mana: 98,457

He became an Elite Monster while we were doing our other training, and based on Zack's expression, I'm sure it received the upgrade while we weren't in Talorn – before we began this session. He knew about this before we returned here.

The upgraded version of this, a Bounty Beast, is what killed Luca's twin brother. But from what little I heard, A'Lutar was a rare type of Bounty Beast in claimed territory. They aren't affected by Level Caps in some situations, and it was one of those exemptions. It wasn't as strong as a King Monster, but might as well have been.

"We can do this," I say, and the team looks at me. "Everyone, focus on clearing out the weaker monsters first. Braden, Max – take out the Heal Slimes first. The four Goblin Shaman also need to go, they'll cast spells at us. As soon as they're spotted, take out the Goblin Archers that are likely hiding in the buildings, facing the battle. Max, that's up to you – they'll likely duck back down as soon as they attack, so your Flame Lances, which will destroy the walls they're hiding behind, will suffice. Don't worry about destroying the place if you need to, but don't go on a rampage, Braden still needs his vantage points.

"Braden," I say. "Max, the Goblin Giants are next. Don't focus on attacking them until after that, they're relatively slow, so there's no need to worry about them. We want to kill everything here before facing the Goblin Chieftain, so that we don't have any nasty surprises while fighting it. I'll keep monsters from getting too close to Luca. Luca, make sure to heal anyone who needs it, and cure anything that needs it. As soon as we start fighting the chieftain, hit us with Blessings, and keep them up, no matter what. They'll be key to taking that thing down."

"Got it!" Max says, tail wagging.

"Understood," Braden says.

"Yep," Luca says.

"Before we start," I say. "Everyone still voting for fighting the chieftain instead of killing what's needed to take the banners and run?"

"Duh!" Luca says. "The mission might be to retrieve the banners, but we're gonna face way tougher stuff than the big ugly thingy during the battle."

"Yep!" Max grins. "Way bigger, way uglier, way tougher beasties are coming our way!"

"This will be a real test of our ability to fight in the battle," Braden nods.

"Good," I put out my fist, and the others bump theirs to it. "Let's go."

We separate our fists, then move. Max runs into the clearing, immediately moving to the side as he launches spell after spell at the goblins and slimes. Braden scales a building and disappears into it, then arrows fly out of another building further down.

Luca Normar has granted you the Blessing of Intellect! Intellect: +100% Duration: 50 seconds

"So you can use your distance Skills," he says.

"I'll focus mostly on defending you you," I draw my sword as a Spook Goblin charges towards me, extending a hand. "But thanks."

He nods, and I charge to the Spook Goblin, swinging my sword as it begins to cast whatever spell it was planning on. Probably a Fireball, they're fond of those. My sword cuts into the goblin's arm, and it snarls at me. I kick its stomach, then step forward, slashing with my sword and cutting into its neck. I pull my sword out, then swing down, connecting to its shoulder. A stab to its stomach kills the Spook Goblin, and I return to Luca, keeping my eyes open for anything which might come towards us.

A Frost Goblin charges my way, and as I ready my sword, a Flame Lance slams into it.

"Bady gobby!" Max exclaims.

"Thanks, Max!"

"Welcome!" He responds, and I realize I've lost sight of him.

He's much faster than me, having taken on Rogue as soon as he could take on a third Class. Luca's able to, but hasn't yet, while Braden's wanting to wait until he can take on Druid. Luca's second Class is still a mystery, even if we can see his Level. The four of us had plenty of solo training here, and Zack interfered anytime we started getting too close to Luca during it, even if by accident.

As Braden and Max clear up the weaker monsters, the Goblin Chieftain turns its attention to Luca and me. Either it's realized Luca is the party's healer and is targeting him, or it's decided to attack the two who are mostly staying out of the fight.

The Goblin Chieftain raises a hand towards us, and a Fireball soars towards us. Is it testing our defenses? Luca manifests his white Barrier to stop the attack, the Barrier holding with a little cracking. The Fireball dissipates as it splashes against the Barrier, which fades away, broken. Based on how well it held up, Luca likely gave himself a Blessing as well.

A second Fireball forms at the tip of the chieftain's staff, which it begins to point at us.

"No you don't, motherfucker," Luca mutters.

I hear his staff tap the ground, and a prison of ice forms around the Goblin Chieftain, barely able to hold it. The Fireball slams into it, cracking it, and Luca creates a second Ice Prison around it.

He's an Elementalist.

"Stay, you ugly fucker," he mutters as I hear something approaching, then a moment later. "You're so obvious."

Whack!

I jump, turning at the sudden sound, and find Luca having bashed in a goblin's head with his staff. He looks smug and satisfied, and turns back around, generating another Barrier in front of me. I turn to watch as the attacks of several slimes bounce off of it, the Goblin Chieftain attacking the prison.

"It's not like it stays forever," Luca mutters. "You're a fucking idiot."

I think Zack's influenced him a little too much.

A Frost Goblin comes my way, frosty sword raised, and I meet it, our blades clashing.

"Flame Blade," I activate the Blade Skill as I bring my sword to the side for another block.

We continue to strike at each other as I overpower the Frost Goblin, blocking its attacks with far more force than necessary to simply stop them. Its arms wear out quickly, giving me an opening to strike at its neck. I quickly strike the same spot again, then stab its stomach.

Just as the Frost Goblin falls to the ground, a cloud of green gas reaches us, only a few feet away. I start to back up, reaching out for Luca, but a series of arrows of green magic pierce into the gas, their speed kicking up a light wind that blows the gas to the side, away from Luca and me.

"Thanks!" I holler.

"Chieftain's not waiting," Braden manifests out of the shadows a few feet away from me. "I'll distract it as best I can, Max is going to finish off the rest."

I nod, and Braden disappears back into the shadows, reappearing in shadows in another part of the space. He fires a bunch of arrows at the Goblin Chieftain, then disappears back into the shadows. That's an expensive Skill to use so much, which means he's probably using up a lot of Mana Potions. Next time he's here, I'll pass some of mine off to him.

Turning my attention back to the fight, I Deflect a Flame Jet from a slime with my blade, the Flame Slime suddenly becoming bombarded with Water Balls, dying from the impact and elemental weakness.

"Bad Slimey!" Max exclaims.

When I turn my attention to where he was, I'm met with the sight of him launching himself into the air, sword in his hands. He lands on the back of a Goblin Giant, which begins to brings its arms up to try to pull him off. Max is tenacious, however, and manages to hack at its arms. At some point, he drives a knife into the Goblin Giant's eyes, then adds a Fireball for good measure as he pulls his weapon out.

He dropped his sword, but as he jumps off the Goblin Giant, he picks it back up and slashes at the feet of the nearby Goblin Shaman. Quicker than I can track, he's moved, his sword aimed at the Goblin Shaman as it falls. The goblin drops onto the sword, killed by the attack, and Max shifts, kicking a Goblin Soldier that had rushed him.

As Max pulls his sword out of the Goblin Shaman, Magic Arrows take out several goblins and slimes that had moved to attack him. I see, he's using himself as bait to help draw things into Braden's view. But isn't Braden taking care of the Goblin Chieftain?

He's doing both, alternating attacks. The Goblin Chieftain seems intent on coming after Luca and me, and Braden's attacks are barely distracting it. I make a good estimate of how much Willpower it has, but no attacks striking it so far are physical, making it more difficult to know its Endurance. Can I damage it with a Blessing of Strength?

I hold out a hand.

"Stone Spike!" I cast the Skill, a spike of stone forming in front of my hand. It flies at a goblin, piercing its side. "Luca, signal Braden to come here."

Luca lets out a bird call, being much better at them than I am. A few moments later, Braden appears in the shadows.

"I'm giving you some of my Mana Potions," I start pulling them out of my Inventory. "You're definitely going to need them."

"Thanks," Braden says.

Our hand-off is interrupted by a few attacks, but Braden and I intercept them with spells and my sword, killing the monsters which attacked. We finish the hand-off in a minute and a half, then Braden returns to wherever he was, and I return to focusing on making sure nothing gets too close to Luca as we wait for the Goblin Chieftain to become our sole target.

The other Goblin Giant has been taken out, as Max seems to have mixed-up which ones he was supposed to kill first, and the second Goblin Shaman dies after a few attacks with Max's sword and Braden's arrows.

Max suddenly spins, throwing a Flame Lance at the building beside us, and I pull Luca away from the rubble.

"Sorry!" Max exclaims. "Gobby archer was there!"

"Max, duck!"

He ducks, and the Goblin Chieftain's Fireball passes over his head, slamming into another building.

"Max! Braden!" I yell. "You two finish up! I'll get started with the chieftain!"

"Got it!" Both call back.

"Luca, grant me a Blessing of Strength."

Luca Normar has granted you the Blessing of Strength! Strength: +100% Duration: 50 seconds

With nearly 900 Strength, I run forward.

"Heaven's Blade," I say, my sword taking on a white-and-gold glow, sparks of lightning dancing across it.

It might not be my most powerful Blade Skill, but it mixes air and lightning damage together. Were the target affected by holy attacks, it would affect it with that as well. If this isn't effective enough, then I'll switch to Frost Blade, the only one I have with a higher damage right now other than Lightning Blade, which is between the two. Hopefully, with two different elemental attacks, this should be enough.

I Dash forward, swinging my sword, and the Goblin Chieftain uses its staff to block the attack. I continue to strike at it, holding as firmly to this spot as I can. Twice, it begins to cast a spell at me, but Luca blocks it with a Barrier when the Fireball starts to fly from its hand and he hits the thing in the hand with an Ice Lance when it starts to cast the cloud of toxic gas.

The Goblin Chieftain and I continue to spar, it unable to use a spell on me thanks to Luca, Braden, and Max, and me unable to strike it because of its skill with that staff. With the other monsters dead, however, Max and Braden and now free to attack it as much as they can, and so they do.

Now, the Goblin Chieftain is facing us, with Luca buffing us, from three directions. Every now and then, Luca hits it with an Ice Lance. My attacks are barely taking out 100 Health, and when Luca takes a moment too long to recast the Blessing, I know it's from my Strength and not my Blade Skill. I keep it up, anyway.

A few times, I have to step back to use Mana Potions to recover more, especially with me using Heal on myself when necessary.

The Goblin Chieftain hammers away at us, and I notice Max's Health dropping more and more, and Luca's letting it. Hopefully, he won't let Max go too low if the Dark Knight doesn't take care of that.

With Blood Frenzy, Max grows stronger the less Health he has, and he's mixing in Dark Strike and Strike of Darkness as well, up until he drops below 100 Health. Then, he lunges forward, stabbing the Goblin Chieftain in the side with a knife, his Health filling most of the way back up. He didn't take all the damage in a short enough timeframe to recover all of it.

Anytime Braden's attacks hit, the Goblin Chieftain loses a fair bit of Health. If I'm estimating his effective damage correctly, then the Goblin Chieftain has around 1,200 Willpower, since each of Braden's arrows takes out between 100 and 150 Health. It has around 800 Endurance, so the physical aspect of his Skills aren't affecting it, but that doesn't matter much.

100 Health per arrow, at ten arrows a shot, is 1,000 Health. Max can take out nearly 1,800 with a proper Dark Vengeance, and I can take out around 100 Health per strike that actually connects. Around sixty percent of Braden's attacks are striking, but he's able to release arrows at a rate of once every half-second. That's around 1,200 Health taken out every second.

We can do this.

Actually, Max should be able to handle this a lot better than us. Why isn't he-ah.

"Stepping back!" I call, then do that, leaving Braden and Max to handle it.

I start pulling the rest of my Mana Potions out, setting them at Luca's feet.

"Max!" I charge back in. "Mana Potions by Luca! Flame Lance this thing!"

Max charges towards Luca, who throws a few Ice Lances at it. Those are doing some decent damage as well. They should, doing 100% of Intellect as damage per Level of the Skill. Whatever his Skill Level is for that, it's decent, I think, since they're taking out more than 2,000 Health each.

I manage to cut the wrist of the Goblin Chieftain, the one for the hand with the staff. A second strike, and the chieftain loses its grip.

"BURN!" Max yells, and I hastily move away from the Goblin Chieftain.

Several Flame Lances strike at it, and I charge back into the fight, keeping the monster focused on me as Max and Braden use their Skills from a distance and their Mana Potions to recover what they've lost.

It only takes us a few more minutes, but we manage to kill the thing. I don't even pay attention to the notices as I collapse to the ground, my body screaming in pain, every muscle burning. The chieftain falls backwards from the impact of the final Flame Lance Max threw, then the others approach.

Zack lands beside me, tucking his wings against his back and looking at us.

"Good job," he says. "Now all you have to do is recover the banners and return to base, and your mission is complete."

"Please don't say there's something else waiting for us," I groan.

"Food," he grins. "Gold showed up while we were on our way here, and he's making a feast to celebrate your victory. Rest a few minutes, then let's get going."