Richter is struck by Goblin Fighter for 13 points of Blunt Damage.
The chaos seed’s swing was interrupted, but his armor kept the blow from causing too much damage. Instead, he let the force of the blow push him back, extending the distance he moved with a small hop. The goblin band surged forward, and the mace-wielding fighter pressed his attack.
Even through the pain, Richter smiled slightly to himself. They just didn’t understand. He wasn’t the same person he’d been when he arrived in The Land six months ago armed with only a crappy knife and a shittier bow. He was a fighter. He was a caster. He was a killer.
If that wasn’t enough, his Enhanced Sprite Armor made him a tank when matched against their low-quality weapons, and his elementum and moonstone blades made him a butcher, just waiting to carve. His magic made him even more deadly. It was his pitiless will which truly sealed their fates. Richter smiled because the goblins were missing the most salient truth of their soon to be ended lives. He was judgement.
The mace wielder that had struck him pressed the attack, hoping to keep him off balance. The goblin quickly swung again, but Richter was faster still. He set his feet and defended himself using the sword form, Cliffs of Dun. His clear green blade met the steelhead of the fighter’s mace, stopping the swing cold. Before either combatant could react, the Disarm enchantment in blade triggered again. The over-eager goblin could not hold onto his weapon, and it flew free from his hand. Richter’s smile deepened as he brought his other blade up and attacked using the first sword form he had ever learned, The Forest Wind.
His white blade crossed from left to right at shoulder height, and for the first time, Richter saw the true power of a Slaying enchantment. The fighter was wearing chainmail, but he might as well have been naked. The moonstone blade ripped through the rusted links, sending them scattering in all directions. It was the flesh that truly suffered, though. The goblin’s skin and muscle split open almost as if they were fleeing his blade. Hot, black blood sprayed everywhere, coating Richter’s face and landing in his snarling mouth. The devastation he caused to the goblin’s body might have been nauseating if the chaos seed didn’t find it so thrilling.
The fighter fell with a cry and Richter left him screaming on the ground. His body wove into the form, Willow in the Storm. For the next few seconds, his body moved and contorted into positions that would have made a yoga master proud. The number of goblins was too much for Richter to defend against all at once, and he began to take damage. A knife stabbed into his leg. A sword skittered off of his bracer. A spear jabbed into his belly but thankfully was repelled by his breastplate. Still, he kept his head and kept retreating backwards, never letting himself be surrounded.
Over the next two minutes, Richter took over a hundred points in damage while not being able to counterattack once. The summoned fox stayed well back from the fighting and shot him with two more healing beams, restoring his health as quickly as he lost it. One goblin stopped attacking the chaos seed and tried to kill the Life creature, but the agile fox simply danced away and continued to support its master.
At some point, Richter started laughing. Hearing his mocking peals drove the goblins to an even greater fury. Each of them hungered for his death. In their minds, if they killed him quickly enough, they could help their comrades fighting against the sprites and still win the day. It was their very anger that made Richter laugh. He knew that they had forgotten about something.
They had forgotten Alma.
When he had started this final exchange with the goblins, he had given her a command. She hadn’t liked it, but she obeyed. For the past minute or so, she had flown high above and reconned the rest of the goblin forces. The last thing Richter needed was to finish this fight and find himself surrounded by hundreds of enemies. Thankfully, no other goblins were rushing towards them. Instead, they were forming in orderly ranks outside of the inner wall. Richter knew this didn’t bode well for the rest of the battle. It meant there were capable enemy commanders who wouldn’t let their forces rush against an unknown threat. At the moment, though, he gave less than zero fucks. It meant he would live for at least a few more minutes. Once he saw there were no reinforcements coming, he ordered her back. That was when the laughing began. He only had to wait.
Richter weathered the goblins’ attacks for a few more seconds before he heard a voice in his mind, *Now, master!*
Richter executed the form, Setting Sun. Both blades swept down and out, pushing away the weapons of the goblins closest to him. It gave him half a second of respite. With a wink, the chaos seed let his body collapse into a backward roll. There was now nothing keeping Alma from unleashing her primary attack. The time Richter had spent enduring their attacks had been for more than just making sure that more goblins weren’t coming. It was also so that his little lady could recharge!
Alma flew in from straight behind Richter, her small body passing right over him. She bared her teeth and screamed in rage at the goblins that had dared to harm her master. In its tightest and most powerful beam, she unleashed Psi Blast.
The goblins had no defense.
All seven of Richter’s remaining enemies collapsed to the ground. Their arms and legs jerked as every neuron in their brains fired at once. As they convulsed, blood began to pour from their eyes, ears, noses and mouths, evidence of the health damage Alma’s Psi Blast had gained at level two. Because her primary attack had advanced to level three, even when the stun effect wore off, there was a good chance her victims would suffer from Disorient. Of course, it was a moot point. Richter wasn’t going to let them recover.
*Good job, little mama,* he thought with bloodthirsty satisfaction. *Go help the others, but hurry back. You’ve got some people to eat.*
Alma screamed in triumph and flew towards the goblins still fighting Richter’s sprite allies. Four of the goblins were down, but so were two of the sprites. It left Sion and two others to face twelve goblins, five of them fighters. The battle might have gone either way if, once again, Alma hadn’t delivered death from above. While she flew, she also sent the healing fox to support the sprites. Richter drew his bow from his Bag of Holding and nocked an arrow. The chaos seed immediately began imbuing it with mana.