I heard something.

Jason turned around and saw the fireball heading his way.

Damn it.

Gritting his teeth, he delivered a devastating kick right at the crotch of the hobgoblin. Its attack turned loose and Jason broke away from the fight as he backflipped. The fireball came and engulfed the unfortunate hobgoblin who was still withstanding the pain of being hit at its private part. It screamed as the flame drowned its voice until what left of it was only a burnt corpse.

“Kikikiki, kiki kiiiii,” the old rambling of a wrinkled ugly hobgoblin. Even with its shiny luster of copper skin, it was still ugly. It stomped its feet many times, frustrated over its failures. It even wasted a precious yellow gem just for the sake of hunting down the human who was foiling up its plan.

Jason grabbed on to the bow and nocked an arrow slowly. He was calm and collected. Yet the moment he saw those chopped dead corpses of people, something tugged his heart. A hidden rage silently burning his desire to kill and burn everything in this tribal camp. He glared at the leader of all this bloody nonsense. It was fine to see people died because of being killed and eaten by monsters. But being humiliated like this and treated like livestock irked him.

The arrow tore through the air, headed towards the middle of the Copper Hobgoblin’s forehead. Yet a dull sound rang as the arrow hit an obstacle. Jason saw it, even for just a second. A light-based shield manifested in front of the Copper Hobgoblin.

It has an energy guard.

Jason wasn't fazed. He had expected as much considering it was a mage. The arrows didn’t stop. Jason walked slowly as the bowstring kept on stretching. Only the dull sounds of his arrows being blocked echoed in the night.

But the Copper Hobgoblin didn’t just stand there like a scarecrow. It twirled the staff in its hand and slammed it on the ground. Three spikes made out of dirt launched off from the ground. He saw it and with his nimble feet, he dodged the dirt spikes. More spikes came flying down at him as they were like short spears being thrown by a legionnaire. He couldn’t maintain his slow pace as he burst into a sprint. Running away as those dirt spikes impaled the ground in a single line.

He replied with a projectile of his own, shooting the arrows while sprinting. The light shield kept on appearing blocking his arrows. Then a blue window greeted him.

Basic Archery level up to level 4

A smirk on his face. His hand reached out to the arrow on his back but he couldn’t grab a thing. He shook the quiver and heard nothing.

I’m out.

He thought he could rain more arrows at the Copper Hobgoblin but everything had a limit. Jason made a turn and sprinted towards the Copper Hobgoblin. More and more dirt spikes flew at him. It came at him in a straight line, like a Gatling gun being fired. He dodged the first and the second but the third barely grazed his cheek. The speed was getting faster. The fourth one came close but he ducked and rolled to the side. He pushed off from the ground and jumped as a dirt spike pierced the spot where he just rolled.

I need a shield.

His eyes scanned the whole camp as he ran around dodging the dirt spikes. He grabbed something on the ground and ran towards the Copper Hobgoblin. Again, he dodged those dirt spikes and when it was the fourth one he raised the mace in his hand blocking it from reaching his face.

It made contact and the mace he held was thrown to the back. The force behind these dirt spikes was nothing short of powerful. He felt an ached over his shoulder but he continued his run. The fifth one came and again he blocked it. This time, the mace flew to the sky as he lost his grip. Jason was at a fair distance away from the Copper Hobgoblin. With what left of his EP, his hand glowed in light green. Three times he swung his arm as crescent shape projectiles flew over the direction of the Copper Hobgoblin.

A dirt spike that was coming was cut in half as one of the green crescent projectiles went through it. One made contact as the light shield appeared. Yet Jason noticed the fading color of the light shield. The bright yellow was turning duller. Another hit the shield while the other one missed. The Copper Hobgoblin ran to the side avoiding the last one.

Jason's eyebrows raised. He didn’t expect to see the Copper Hobgoblin to moved. Again, he threw another three Wind Cutter as it spliced through the air. One hit and another two missed.

It dodged again.

He saw the frantic look on that Copper Hobgoblin’s face. Now, he noticed the heavy breathing of that old coot. It was leaning towards the staff as it used it to balanced itself. Jason sprinted forward seeing it was his chance. He readied his scimitar as the distance between them shortened.

“Kiii,” again it slammed the staff to the ground and dirt spikes came catapulting from the earth. Jason dodged and the last one grazed him. But it didn’t matter to him as his target was a few feet away.

He was smiling as he knew that range attackers are weak in melee combat. Another dirt spike hit him right at the shoulder. His upper body was thrown back as the force behind it almost brought him to the ground. He endured as green light engulfed his body.

“Minor Heal+,” he pressed on not caring about those dirt spikes that kept on coming faster as the distance shortened. Running forward without looking back, a dirt spike flew right to this face but the scimitar slid over the dirt spike as Jason subtly changed the course of its flight. It barely went above his head.

Skill: Parry acquired

He didn’t expect to learn a new skill at this critical time. Nevertheless, he welcomed it with open arms. Over the course of the night, he indeed parried a lot of attacks from the hobgoblins. He did it without much thought, as he just remembers seeing those moves he saw on television and in the movies. He thought it was logically possible thus he succeeds in doing it time after time. In the end, in his last bout for the night. He earned a skill much to his ignorance of how he obtained it.

“C’mon, let’s fight,” he shouted as he rushed at the Copper Hobgoblin.

The Copper Hobgoblin grimaced and threw a big fireball right at him. The fireball encompassed a wider range of attack compared to the pinpoint attack of dirt spike. Jason jumped, as the close range fireball was too close. The ground burned as smoke rose to the sky. Three wind cutters emerged from behind the rising smoke catching the Copper Hobgoblin off guard.

One, two, three.

All three hit the shields as the shape itself started to fade. Jason leaped from behind the smoke and swung the scimitar from above. An aerial attack for the unaware Copper Hobgoblin. The blade of the scimitar was blocked by a fading floating shield. It only lasted for a second as it broke into a thousand pieces as everyone near the proximity could have heard it. The blunt edge of the staff was inches away from Jason’s face. He ducked as it barely touched him. He brandished his scimitar at the Copper Hobgoblin and it blocked using its wooden staff. For a wooden staff, it was quite sturdy and strong. From the look of it, it was no ordinary staff.

I want it.

His desire was fueling up his attacks. Both scimitar and staff clashed with one another. Much to his surprise, the old hobgoblin coot was handling itself well in a close combat situation. He attacked at every angle but the old Copper Hobgoblin blocked it without a flaw in its defense.

Geez, this old thing is better at fighting than those hobgoblins I just killed.

Jason had to admit this Copper Hobgoblin was a lot better in fighting compared to its lesser kin. Once again they clashed, scimitar meet staff and they were at a stalemate. Jason released one of his hands from the grip and flung a fist right at the Copper Hobgoblin. He made contact right at the temple. Yet a dull aching pain spread out as if he just punched a lump of copper ore.

He saw the smirked on the Copper Hobgoblin. It pushed Jason away as he gained the advantage over Jason's slight mishap. It slammed the end on the ground and three dirt spikes launched at him at point-blank range. Jason jumped as high as he possibly can. Those three dirt spikes flew below him missing him by a mile yet a bright flame ball was in front of him. He was still in mid-air and defenseless. The Copper Hobgoblin flung the fireball. Rather than defending, he stared downwards at the smiling bastard. His hands glowed in light green as he swung his hand as fast as he could.

Then the fireball slammed over him.

“No,” the scream of a red-headed woman echoed in the night. Her last hope fell upon the blazing fury of the fireball. But she wasn’t the only one screaming. The old coot screamed in pain as he lost of one his upper limbs. A clean slice right at the shoulder. Jason's random wind cutter hit its mark. Yet the owner was still unseen.

The wooden staff fell on the ground along with the cut off arm of the Copper Hobgoblin. Again the old hobgoblin coot screamed its lungs out over the pain of losing his main arm. It was left-handed by the way. The Copper Hobgoblin fell on its knees as it slammed its fist on the ground multiple times. Venting its anger and rage at the innocent dirt on the ground.

Then it remembered a voice. A female voice echoing in the air as it fought the human. It glanced towards the fenced area and saw the red-headed woman who was staring at it. A malicious light flashed by behind its eyes. Its leftover hand grabbed the wooden staff as blood kept on spurting out from the sliced off arm. It didn’t care about the blood loss as it raised its staff in the air as multiple fireballs appeared on the night sky.

It was hovering above the fenced area and Bryce knew her life was at its end. One by one the fireballs fell upon the fenced area. People screamed and shouted as they ran in every direction trying to flee from the rain of fireballs. Some tried to climb up the sharp edges of the wooden fence. But the fireball was too fast as people were burned alive. The stench from a human corpse being burned was unpleasant yet due to the raining fireballs some parts of the fences were burned making the whole fence to toppled down.

The surviving people ran with their lives depending on it. Bryce too saw her chance but a massive fireball was heading her way. She gawked in horror seeing it coming at her. She was scared shitless to even move. Standing there like a scarecrow waiting for her own doom of being burn.

But a gentle push came from behind. Bryce moved and jumped. As she fell, she glanced behind her and saw the smiling face of that little girl.

“No,” she yelled yet it was too late.

The fireball descended upon the little girl as she burned. She watched in a daze realizing she was saved by a girl who was too young compared to her. Then another fireball struck closed to her. The impact forced her to flung in the air before rolling on the ground. He hit her head as she fell. Her vision slowly blacked out until there was nothing but darkness.

Bryce fainted.