Mike stared dizzily up at the sky, his head ringing. The small arms and legs that stuck out from behind his prone form wiggled in frenzied terror as he struggled to get his body to move. The decreased Dexterity from Footsteps of the Wind caused his body to lag behind his brain, and by the time he found his feet, he was surrounded by a mass of small green faces. As a hobgoblin standing almost four and a half feet tall pushed his way through the crowd towards him, Mike couldn’t help but feel that it had been foolish to try to gain a level in Tumble near this swarm of bodies. True, it had been the closest place where he could easily stumble down a 10 foot cliff, but he still wasn’t ready to mess with the consequences.

He had spent the better part of the last two hours trying to time his fall perfectly. When he found that he consistently ran past the ravine, he had backed up and started from inside the treeline, timing it so that Footsteps of the Wind would run out right as he neared the end of the ravine. The first three attempts he hadn’t even made it out of the treeline before he fell. The three attempts after that he actually hadn’t stumbled, completing all 10 seconds of the skill and simply running out of Dexterity a half mile from where he started. In those instances, he had to trek all the way back so he could start at the same point. Finally, he managed to accidentally fall into the gorge. As he sailed through the air, he couldn’t help but notice the sea of reverent faces staring up at his falling body, and it was at that point that he realized he really couldn’t activate Unflinching Meteor to save himself lest he squash some of the poor creatures. He wasn’t too worried though, until Footsteps of the Wind died out and his Dexterity dropped from 120 to 4, at which point his body stopped reacting to promptings from his brain and he fell without any control.

His brain returned to the present as the statuesque hobgoblin finally reached his position and subsequently dropped to his knee.

“Big Bossy Boss.” the uncomfortable accolade reverently left his mouth, causing many of the surrounding hobgoblins to gasp, before they dropped to their knees and followed suit.

Trying to distract himself from the unwanted attention, Mike Analyzed the large specimen in front of him.

Name: Creeagle

Monster Type: Hobgoblin Horde Leader

Level: 4

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Intelligence: 5

Charisma: 2

Toughness: 6

Luck: 10

Abilities: Trilling Enthrallment (3)–buffs allies in a 100 foot radius and causes them to converge on a single target.

The monster was easily the largest of its species that Mike had seen, and clearly the de facto leader of the large gathering. Even Creeanth, the tribe leader back in his valley, couldn’t compare to the high stats of the creature. Still, Mike was surprised that at level 4, Creeagle had far lower stats than even a level 1 human.

In the silence following the hobgoblins’ declarations, a pitiful moaning could be heard. He turned towards where he had landed, which was the source of the sound. A small hobgoblin lay broken in the dirt. He had landed on at least 20 of the beasts, their awe at his falling body and their low stats preventing them from getting out of the way in time. This one must have been at the bottom of the pile.

It was critically injured. Based on its wheezing breath and bloody spittle, it appeared that its ribs had broken and punctured its lung–not something that could be fixed without surgery. Mike dropped to his knees and used Hands of Healing on the creature, the first time he had employed the ability on someone other than himself with the intent to heal. The blinding light appeared and the creature fell into a restful sleep.

The expressions of respect and awe that had been on the faces of the hobgoblins before were transformed into something bordering worshipful veneration as he stood and faced them.

“Big Bossy Boss!” Creeagle said in wonder, happy tears leaking from the corner of his auspiciously large eyes.

“Big Bossy Boss!” The rest of the congregation shouted together, the noise reverberating throughout the ravine and spilling out into the forest above.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Jorgen had been leading a pack of trackers for the majority of the day. The had initially lost track of Mike the Unlucky as he ran away from the angry mob, but the promised reward for the Boss’s defeat kept everyone much more invested than they otherwise would have been in the face of such a swift foe. They had returned to town and organized hunting parties, each consisting of 50 adventurers. Jorgen had volunteered to be a tracker for one of the groups and had been hunched over trying to spot the monster’s tracks ever since.

A loud caterwauling broke his concentration, the shrill noise echoing from somewhere to his left. Motioning the somewhat bored group behind him to follow he headed off towards where the sound had come from. After 10 minutes, his group ran into a few others, the total humans now consolidated in one mass numbering 250.

Jorgen knew this area, it was the gorge where the hobgoblin horde camped. Sure enough, the forest gave way and the ravine came into view. The first thing he noticed was that the usual 30 people that the village kept staffed at the gorge to keep the numbers manageable were gone, and the mass of bodies seemed quite a bit larger than was usual. The second thing he noticed was that all of the hobgoblins were down on one knee and a man stood in their midst. Jorgen would have thought the aging man to be just an eccentric if it wasn’t for the glowing red title above his head.

[Mike the Unlucky

Boss]

Realizing he had found their target at last, he quietly retreated into the treeline until he had come apace with the assembled crowd, motioning them to remain silent before the unwanted questions gave away their position, which had happened to Jorgen several times in the past few weeks.

In the barest of whispers, Jorgen explained the situation to the gathered group leaders. After a brief discussion, a plan was decided upon, and the leaders silently pantomimed instructions to their respective groups. With the plan disseminated, Jorgen silently returned to the gorge, the predetermined signal for everyone else to do the same.

The agreed upon strategy was to have all adventurers present use a ranged attack at the same time, giving equal opportunity to claim the promised reward. But before everyone was even in position, a greedy and overzealous adventurer suddenly lurched ahead of the pack, rasing her spear over head, before she hurled it over the edge at the unsuspecting boss. The spear had yet to leave her hand when the outraged cries began, and the carefully organized formation dissolved into chaos and the majority of individuals ran to see the results of the throw.

Jorgen continued diligently to his assigned position as a fail safe, and he was surprised to see 30 or so others follow him who shared his assignment. These were the party members who lacked a range attack but were better in a close fight.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Mike had never been so uncomfortable in his entire life. He didn’t regret healing the hobgoblin, but he had done it without thinking about how the rest of the hobgoblins would react. The reverent silence felt oppressive, and he didn’t know how to extract himself. Having landed in the middle of the colony, he wouldn’t be able to get out unless he stepped on some of them, and it wasn’t in his nature to hurt an innocent.

A touch of Damage Premonition and a blur coming from outside of the ravine caught his eye. Dodging rebounding axes that were thrown with his strength and came back at incredible speeds meant that the javelin flying towards him seemed more like playing catch with his Dad as a kid rather than an attempt on his life. As the javelin closed in on him, he stepped aside and grabbed the shaft, using the momentum of the projectile to spin in place and return it to its sender.

Mike ignored the notification telling him he could get the Javelin Throwing skill and sprinted after the javelin, his reluctance to push hobgoblins aside dissolving as he realized that they were under attack. Two screams followed by a thud confirmed that the javelin had struck something, but he paid it no mind as he reached the foot of the path leading to the surface and charged up at full speed.

“Attack!” he yelled over his shoulder. He was unsure if the hobgoblins would understand the word, but couldn’t think of any other way to rouse them from their stupor off the top of his head.

“Big Bossy Boss!” thousands of voices called in response, before the sound of numerous running feet reached his ears.

The distance between himself and the hobgoblins grew as his unfaltering stride devoured the ground beneath him, until the top of the path was just 30 feet away, and the whites of his attacker’s eyes were easily. A mob of angry faces stood in wedge formation at the trail’s mouth, their number spilling up and around the edge of the path so that he would be surrounded on two sides if he continued any further. The battle energy that suffused him brought clarity of mind, and he knew that if he didn’t break out now, the entire colony of hobgoblins would be stuck in a corner with no way out, and he would be stuck with them. Throwing caution to the wind, he decided to push the attack forward.

Materializing 4 axes in quick sequence, he threw them into the ranks, purposefully trying to angle the throws so that they would strike multiple targets and do the most damage possible, from only 20 paces away, the power of his throws split mail and bodies alike, and often through knocked their targets several paces back. The axes rebounded to him quickly, and he found that with the adrenaline and recent increase in Dexterity, catching the rebounding axes was slightly more possible. He caught the first returning ax and spun around the second ax, throwing the first ax as his spin completed. He didn’t have time to catch the third ax, so he slid to the side, putting himself in a better position for ax number 4, which he was able to pluck out of the air. Materializing yet another ax from his bag, he ran forward and leapt into the pack of adventures, who seemed much less enthusiastic about facing him after witnessing the devastation wrought by his thrown axes. Despite their reluctance, there were over 20 humans left standing, and it took all of Mike’s Dexterity and Damage Premonition in order to dodge their strikes as they rallied against him. With so much of his attention focused on survival, he was only occasionally able to strike out with his axes, which miraculously managed to not rebound a single time, to take out an opponent here or there. Each time one opponent fell, another adventurer took the fallen man’s place.

After several minutes, he lost his footing amidst the pools of blood and fallen bodies, causing him to stumble and take a sword jab to his shoulder. With his Dexterity enhanced body, he managed to twist at the last moment, transforming the killing strike into just a small gash.

As the strike landed, a swarm of green bodies suddenly engulfed his attacker: the hobgoblins had arrived to help him. Once the man was sent to respawn, the small green bodies dove at the feet and legs of his other opponents. To Mike’s chagrin, the first few hobgoblins who tried this were summarily dispatched, but eventually, the dedication of the little creatures won out, and adventures began to be swarmed as their held legs caused them to trip. Once a human was on the ground, they were almost instantly covered in small hands and biting mouths that quickly finished them off. The grim scene reminded Mike of seeing piranhas swarm much larger animals during his time in Africa, a jarring memory that still haunted his thoughts on occasion.

With the extra help from the hobgoblins, Mike’s attempt to force their escape turned into a quest for vengeance for his fallen comrades. Anyone who stood in his path quickly found that they were no match for his far superior stats and years of training. At some point during the fight, another one of his iron axes fell casualty to the crushing force with which it was wielded, causing him to pull out his two steel axes.

Both his kill and dodge count quickly racked up points, and within 30 minutes, the majority of the opposing force had been defeated, save for the 50 or so survivors headed back towards the town.

Forgoing his usual looting of the bodies, he took a quick second to appreciate that he had gained another Level, then turned towards the hobgoblins, his ax swinging in a circle above his head as he yelled his next instruction.

“Raid!”

“Raidy raid!” the tiny voices chanted back.

“Apparently you guys know that word.”

Ten seconds later he realized he had left them behind, his pace being way more than their tiny legs could manage. Slowing down to the pace of a small child, the force caught up with him as they inched their way towards their destination.

“Well at least I will have time to plan out something at this pace.”

“Big Bossy Boss!”