“...and for two hundred and thirteen years I fought. Endless slaughter on the Frontier against those Corrupted. A knight in shining armour. My like, the heroes of old which we sang of long ago. How quickly childish dreams are drowned in the bloody mire of war. There is no honour here. There is no glory. All the songs, the hymns, the poems....words of beauty. Where? Where is the beauty is slaying another being of the Realmverse? I see the truth now. What lies beyond it all. The System. The Calamity. What a farce it is. Even now, I see that the only truth is Balance. How fitting. My sacred duty mere sins before Balance. The souls I put to rest were the lucky ones. For my own soul is gone now.”

Belfor the DuskBorn, rogue practitioner of the dark arts, unknown

Sarah O’Hara huddled low. Bloody arms restraining the shivering form of her four year old son. He shook and cried in fear. She was more scared then him. Still, she had to remain strong. Without Dillon...

Dillion. Her fiance. Things had been going so well. She finally found an honest and good man who took care of her son, Max, as if he was his own child. She knew he was the one after the first date. He made it official just last month. Ready to be wed til the day they died.

How could she have expected that day was today?

Hidden, buried beneath the bodies of tens of others, her fiance was dead. Him and eleven others who tried to break free from the Goblin’s encampment and turn their newfound power on their captures. They were like moths sent to the flame. The sound of bones breaks. The crackle of living fire. The gleeful shouts from the Goblins.

Sarah cupped her hands to her head. Praying for peace. For salvation and freedom. For a miracle to end this existence so she could meet Dillion in heaven with the rest of her family. What a pitiful thought. She knew it was. She only hoped Max could live. Maybe find another mother to watch her child as she stood up to go to the altar and flame?

Yet before thought could bear fruit, she was interrupted. Beings materialized as if from thin in from the entrance of the cavern. Over a dozen. Armed and alive as they gazed out like lofty kings over their denizens.

She thought she had truly lost it at first. Witnessing angels materialize in her moment of need like her prayers were answered. What a frivolous thought surely? Then another man to her left pointed. Then a third. Then the ripple turned to a wave. Soon the entire group of hundreds stood. Watching as their angels descended.

Then they screamed. Primal. Raw and vengeance fury that shook the very air like they were Gods of Battle. It was a banshee's cry for blood. One that echoed far across the entire area. One that was picked up. Slowly at first. It spread slowly, a spark which ignited to an ember. Voices all around Sarah erupted. Then the ember turned to a blaze. Around her, people rose as their voices rang raw in the air. Then it caught her. Sarah rose. Her voice shattered the sky as she rallied with the scream. Bloodied eyes staring death into the Goblins around her. Red-rimmed as tears fell to grace the soil in worship.

Then mayhem reigned.

“[Mana Bolt]! [Mana Bolt]!”

Power surged from Jax’s hands as adrenaline throttled at his throat. What little preparation or concept of battle he envisioned was wiped away with Mitch’s charge down the slope. He was left with no choice but to join the suicidal charge or abandon everyone below. So his hand gripped the doll tight. Then he charged.

Like a pack they descended. Nineteen ragged figures towards true monsters. Behind it all, the trapped humans rose and shouted in surging emotion. The sound echoed and multiplied in the domed cave, thrumming in Jaxson’s ears as his breathing hitched faster and faster.

It must’ve been comical for the Goblins. They didn’t attack. They didn’t move. They merely watched. As a human would to some small insect or animal. How quickly one forgets the fangs when all they’ve known is strength.

Behind Jax, arcanic power surged as a dozen or so [Mana Bolt]s wizzed like darts through the air. They scorched the air as they burned bright in the hollowed cave. A thin blue trail of particles left in their wake as they soared over Mitch’s and the other’s heads. Then the world became blue and fragmented.

Like erupting fireworks, the [Mana Bolt]s exploded upon contact with a sole [Goblin Warrior: LVL 6] who banged his sword against his chest at the base of the slope and unleashed a scream to greet the impending Skills. Eight missed. Five struck. In a surge of prismatic fragments, the Goblin was sent tumbling to the floor. A tangled mess of limbs and moans that wriggled in painful movement.

Foot over foot, Jax sprinted uncontrollably down the slope. No longer able to aim, he instead utilized his newest Skill, [Guide]. He fired off a [Mana Bolt] in the creature’s general direction. It was a good shot, but off target. Instead of preparing for a new shot though, he kept his hand raised. His fingers changing from a handgun to appear to grip some invisible object in his hands. At first nothing happened. But in his mind, he felt a tugging sensation. Two presences he could track the location of without seeing. One was next to him. Yet the other was where the [Mana Bolt] was currently flying. Then he titled and turned his hand to the left. Move and more he moved as he kept his eyes wide to see the [Mana Bolt] zip through the air. Then it moved. A nudge to the left. A second nudge to the bottom left. Then it arrived.

A shower of mana to the [Goblin Warrior: LVL 6]’s face that blinded it. It was only for a few seconds. But it was enough time. The next chance the Goblin had to open it’s bloody eyes, it was greeted by the vicious sight of Mitch and his squad. They pounced like wolves. Starved and ravenous, they ripped through the already weakened Goblin. Even as a level 6 monster against level 1’s, it held no chance against the onslaught of attacks rendered its pitiful defense useless.

In a flash the creature was buried into the ground. Beyond its corpse, a flat of open spread out. A direct path to the pens housing the trapped humans.

“MITCH!” Jax clamoured to Mitch’s attention. “MITCH!! WE NEED TO STOP-”

Without fail though, the maniac charged. With him the rest of the group. Humans turned predators with crazed and glossed over eyes that hungered for more. As Jax saw it, he knew. They were being affected by the surge of energy one gained with killing an enemy. The dead [Goblin Warrior: LVL 6] the cause of the sensation. Only there were two issues. One, the larger the level disparity between two creatures meant the larger the rush of euphoric energy they would get. Two, at level 2, Jax found that he no longer gained that shot of energy and wasn’t lost in a battle craze.

The same craze that sent the once feeble pack of people in a headlong rush toward two [Goblin Warriors: LVL 5] and one [Goblin Thief: LVL 7]. Emotion overcame reason. The inner and primal hunger to kill devoured the need for survival. Eighteen people crashed like a wave on the three lone Goblins.

In one’s and two’s the group charged to meet the three Goblins. Spying the easy killing, two of the three Goblins moved forward. One Warrior with a twirling spear of black iron and dark wood and the second Warrior with a mace in one hand and spiked-knuckles covering another. Behind them, the Goblin Thief, twirling a grey short sword in hand, prowled as it awaited an opening. Together, the three moved. Into the circling mass of humans.

They slaughtered them.

With ease, the three Goblins batted away the forefront of the charging group. One man was missing his right arm as he fell helpless to the ground. The second man, a young boy really, merely fell to the ground. Unmoving and vacant eyes all that remained. An aged woman jumping through the air to latch onto a Warrior was batted away by the Thief’s fist. A fourth was pinned to the ground by the Warrior’s spear which pierced the person’s shoulder.

Then the melee transformed. Skills rang out at the mob took to frenzy. Stolen swords, knives, and axes glowed a pale green as they chipped and hacked at the three Goblin’s. To call it a brawl would be an overstatement. It was mania. Howls and screams. The hum of heavenly power as Skills lit up the area. Blue and green flashed its killing might. Blood dyed the earth.

At the back of it all, Jaxson watched with growing anxiety. This couldn’t be sustained. Already the surrounding Goblins were converging. Let alone the tens of Goblins that remained, facing these three was already trying the group. It was expected of course. There was only one way for a level 1 creature to defeat a level 5 one. By throwing bodies into the meat grinder.

Heated, Jax barreled through. He had to hurry or they would all die in this god forsaken cave. Weaving through the shifting press of bodies, Jax forced his way to the front. As he did, the fighters around him all receded. He soon saw why.

Both Goblin Warrior’s were heavily wounded and on their last legs. One was kneeling in the dirt as it struggled to hold its spear. The second towered over it in protection as it fought as a herculean Mitch and another male. The true threat lay in the Thief though. Holding its short sword and a new dagger, it bared it fangs in aggression at the humans before it. Stepping forward as the people around Jax stepped back in fear. No one wanted to be its next victim.

No one would be.

Stepping forward as the crowd stepped back, Jaxson moved into the space separating the two groups. His action drew the ire of the [Goblin Thief: LVL 7]. Limping and crippled from dozens of wounds, the Goblin still cut a fierce figure. Facing Jaxson, it hissed and hunched low in preparation to dodge whatever attack may come its way. It never had the chance.

“[Mana Bolt]! [Mana Bolt]! [Mana Bolt]! [Mana Bolt]!”

Four [Mana Bolt]s, slightly larger than those cast by the others in the group, blitzed through the air like stars. Each trailed the other. Each drilled through the upper chest of the Goblin. Screaming in pain, the Thief struggled backwards with one hands raised to its eyes as another wildly swung the sword in defense. Like a ghost though, Jax swept forward. A sword sword that he acquired deflected one strike. Then he was within its reach. Brutality became Jax as he ripped his sword straight through the creature’s body. Then a blurred form appeared as if from thin in. Duke, low and deadly, clawed and bit at the Goblin’s calves. Then others appeared, slashing at the mortally wounded Goblin which fell backwards.

It was dead before its body hit the ground.

Congratulations! You have earned the Achievement [Conqueror]! You have slain an opponent five levels higher than you! You surmount fear and charge forth to conquer any foe which may be in your way. To challenge another beyond your reach is the only true path to power. You have earned: +2 Distributable Attribute

Jax swiped away the screen, immediately pulling up his Status and distributing the two points into Intelligence. He would need every advantage he could get. The first was his Attributes. The second though..

Ripping past the dying battle of the final Warrior, Jax stormed forth. Before him, battling against the wooden pen that kept them trapped, were the hundreds of humans. They clamoured and pounded against the eight foot tall wooden trees that imprisoned them like cattle. Strangled cries called out for Jax to save them.

He couldn’t. Only they could save themselves. So he gave them that chance.

Surging with strength, his sword struck the thick rope that kept the pen’s gate closed. It bounced off like a stone on stick. So he struck again. And again. And again. Around him, others of his group gathered as they all hacked and slashed at the rope. Curses bellowed from their lips. Desperation roared from the penned humans.

A final hack and the rope broke.

The people surged forward. Busting open the gate as frenzied and bloodshot eyes glared at Jax and the others. As he saw it, Jax knew that they were waiting for them. How could they not? Afterall, they had descended in their most desperate time of need. They killed the very creatures that so easily trapped them. Of course they would bow before their might. So Jax used it. Raising his sword high over head, he strutted forward. Eyes raking the field of humans before him. Watching as they turned their frenzied gaze to his sole form. Anticipation tangible in the air as they watched Jax. Before them, Jax felt their gaze and their need. It was the same need everyone held. The desire to be lead. To be shown the path. So he gave it to them.

“KILL THEM ALL!”

His voice howled high as he turned and slashed his sword down. Pointing the tip toward the tens of Goblin Warriors, Thieves, and Archers that raced across the cavern floor. Behind him, the deafening roar for blood drowned out even the beating of his heart. With it came the wave of humans who surged around Jax. They trampled the earth. Armed with bear fists and the assistance of The System. Over three hundred people against no more than thirty mature Goblins.

It was terror.

In their midst, Jax and Duke become one with the crowd. The main horde running over each other as they impacted with the grouped Goblins. On the sides though, groups of people, led by a few sane individuals from the original eighteen, roamed on the edges of the cavern as they became entangled with the awakening Goblin Scouts.

Amongst their pack, Jax’s howls for order commanded attention. Around him, tens of people grouped as they began moving like a kill team. Tens of [Mana Bolt]s erupted from their hands and into one or two adult Goblins in a barrage. [Regrowth]s illuminated the few frontliners that flung their bodies against each Goblin as their arms glowed a pale green from [Empowered Strike]s or their entire bodies seemed to shine from the use of [Frenzy].

Thirty humans against one and two Goblins.

Each attack like a small cut from a knife. Yet it was enough. In moments, the first of the Goblins had succumbed to over one hundred wounds. With it came the flood of euphoric energy that swept through the ranks. With it, came the end of the reason or rational thinking. As if possessed, the people threw themselves against the Goblins in a frenzy that outshined the Goblin’s own. Their enthusiasm more than making up for their lack of weapons or teamwork.

In the center of it all, Jax watched. Mana low. Stamina drained. But satisfied. They could do it. They would suffer and many would not leave the cavern, but others would. With their numbers, they would soon turn the tide. Already he was seeing it. Once they did, then the greater the advantage they would have. Soon enough it would be fifty people against one Goblin. Soon they would all be free and safe. Just a bit more. He just needed to suffer a bit longer. Then..

Yet, it was not to be.

From the skies, fire reigned. Two streams of orange and yellow flames that poured out from the [Goblin Shaman: LVL 5] hand’s. With a roar, it raised its hands and the flames converged and melded together to form a ball of flame that loomed in the air. With a slash of its hand, the stream of fire was cut. The fireball dropped.

When it touched the ground, it burst. Like liquid, it flowed quick and of its own mind. Flames scorched the earth as human and Goblin alike were burned. But that was a mere inconvenience to the true purpose of the flames. Pooled into thick grooves in the earth, the fire acted as a barrier. Trapping friend and foe. It was no longer thirty versus one.

The tables were turned. Now Jaxson and the others were trapped.