“Peter?” she said through group chat.
There was no answer.
The front line of the unorganized goblin mob was leveled or tossed aside. As I had been learning, a weapon and shield combination could be devastating. Seeing twenty men apply it in unison made me cringe.
The next row of goblins faired better against the coordinated spear assault, but not by much. Within a matter of seconds, the goblins were backing away, looking for relief.
“Peter, are you hurt?” Victoria asked again.
My bowels churned as the nasally roar of a hobgoblin halted their retreat. These goblins were much smarter than the normal ones. Those in the middle of the line ran to either side allowing the hobgoblins a clear path to the player line.
"Hold!" called Cornelius from the rear. The hobgoblins came into striking distance.
Charred lightning burst forward as Cornelius unleashed his spear. It soared over his men and struck true in the closest hobgoblin’s shoulder, sending him back in a wobble.
A whip of black shot forward following where the spear had just been. The massive man himself leaped over three lines of his own men. He landed with a roll.
Ladies and gentlemen. This is what you do to earn a billion followers. Was what he just did even possible?
It had taken Cornelius half a century's worth of training with all that modern medicine had to offer working for him to get this far. The average lifespan of man had reached 115 years and it was possible to compete at the highest levels of competition well into your eighties, and even nineties in rare cases. The human marvel that was Cornelius was the result of such technology and relentless training. Knowing all of this and seeing it up close was something else entirely.
I nearly sliced my own cheek while bringing my hand to my mouth in awe. I had forgotten I was holding a sword.
He stood from his roll and lunged at the unwounded hobgoblin. A tree-club met his approach in a devastating arc. He dipped low and raised his own bronze kite shield and braced for the club near the hobgoblin’s grip. With a single arm, he deflected the blow over his head and slashed the beast half a dozen times at its leg and gut with his dazzling short sword.
It crumbled to its knees while swatting at Cornelius with two empty hands. Its club lay in the dirt.
My chest tightened as the second hobgoblin wound up and sent its tree-club flying toward his back.
With a twist of his waist, Cornelius bashed his attacker in the knee with the lip of his shield. An additional flick of his sword sent the creature’s blow high. Facing the new threat, he leaped forward, slashing the ribs of the hobgoblin that had yet to recover from its swing.
A defiant growl proved he had struck a sweet spot.
The hobgoblin that had fallen struggled to regain his feet and retrieve its club.
And I had thought Chewme was impressive. Cornelius’s speed and strength were insane, but his skill was just as overwhelming. I had been able to accomplish the same thing, but only in the right game. This was… real.
He didn't wait for them to attack. Launching forward, he assaulted the hobgoblin with the wounded ribs on the same side as the wound. As he slashed up and down the creature's side, it clenched its arms to itself to fend off the attack. A slice to the back of the knee dropped it.
He ducked behind the downed monster as the other giant looked to finish him. A two-handed swing missed him, battering the kneeling beast and collapsing its chest.
Cornelius's men cheered.
I turned to find they had almost wiped out the rest of the goblin warriors. Not even half of his men remained fighting.
A hand grabbed at my forearm. I didn't have to look to know it was Victoria. She didn’t seem afraid. Her thumb brushed the hair of my arm. Was she trying to comfort me? No, she seemed unaware I was even there. Her focus was directed at the fight.
The final hobgoblin swung again. Cornelius danced back then forward as soon as the blow passed. He jumped, cutting up as he passed, dragging his blade into the pit of its arm.
The tree-club skidded down the dirt road. It was lost to the monster. Before it could even turn back to the fight, a frenzy of slashes disabled the hobgoblin’s arm and leg. As it tumbled, a single uppercut met its throat. The hobgoblin was dead before it hit the ground.
One hundred spears met shield. Stomping followed. In that order, Cornelius’s men repeated their applause for their commander.
It echoed in my ears. The dream of becoming a professional gamer was struck a critical blow. How could that ever compare to this?
“We are all right!” Peter finally answered.
“We have Cornelius and we are coming your way!” Victoria screamed.
“There is a hobgoblin at the side gate. Hurry.”
A side gate?
***
We were waved forward after they looted their kills. We pointed Cornelius in the direction we had left our friends and relayed Peter’s message. They didn’t show up on our local maps yet. I found myself overwhelmed in his presence.
They moved at a jog as we stuck to the main street. Victoria kept quiet, but at a glance, she didn’t seem to be in bad shape.
We reached the same area we had split with our group. Thank God there was no sign of them or their gear.
Looking at my Local Map, I finally saw them to the south-west.
"This way!" Victoria said, beating me to it. She ran pointing in that direction. We hurried after her.
Taking a side street for a few blocks, we then turned toward the friendly cursors on our local maps.
Victoria and I were the first to pull out into a wide open street. At the south wall, about two blocks away down a gentle slope stood an open gate about half as wide as the main gate. The door had been torn off its hinges and was folded in, leaning against the interior wall. I vaguely remembered hearing that there was a second gate. Dozens of bodies littered the road belonging to players and goblins alike. There were also piles of equipment from players that hadn’t died as recently as the player corpses.
Near the gate, a dozen players squared off against another hobgoblin. Our friends, all of whom were alive, at least for now, were among the players fighting the beast.
They needed help.
"Let's go!" Victoria cried.
I grabbed her arm and held her back. Cornelius and his men passed, heading directly for the ongoing fight.
Her jaw fluttered, as her eyes filled with moisture.
"Lucius. What's wrong? We can help."
"What can we do? We aren’t Cornelius."
Her mouth snapped shut. She faced me with clenched fists.
Fear was not the reason I didn’t attack. Everything I had hoped for before entering Codename: Freedom was an illusion. Here, people were really getting hurt and real battles were taking place. I was just a gamer. Someone that played at war.
"What do you mean what can we do? Are you a coward all of a sudden?"
My body jerked as I stepped back. She hadn't hit me but it felt like she had. I let go of her wrist.
"I– I'm sorry Lucius. I didn't mean that."
I couldn't look at her.
She stayed with me. After a long silence, Victoria spoke.
"They will be fine, Lucius. You’re right.”
When she went to grab my arm I pulled back.
"Peter, Oliver, and Kline are just fine. Cornelius is taking care of it."
Glancing up, I saw what I had expected. The hobgoblin had its back to the wall and was surrounded by my friends on one flank, Cornelius on the other, and a whole wall of men to its front.
"When Peter said your injury might have long lasting effects, I didn't believe him. You have helped me so many times since then. It's my fault. I shouldn't have asked so much of you."
Before, I had been questioning if gaming was worth fighting for, but after seeing Cornelius in action my world had been thoroughly shaken.
I remained silent.
"It's dead!" she squealed.
The clang of shields and pounding of boots rose up from Cornelius's men.
Victoria took my hand and pulled me toward the celebration; toward our friends who I had abandoned to someone else's help.
I had always wanted a crack at the top gamers in the world. Not only did I want to compete with them, but I wanted to beat them. To surpass them. Billions of people cheered them on because of their mastery and skill, but their abilities existed in a virtual world.
All of the hours, the years of training to get to the level I was, then coming to Freedom, where you were the controller and not your mind through a deep dive. What was it all worth?
We approached the rear of Cornelius’s men, needing to get around them to get to our group. The doorless entrance to the city came into view. Hundreds if not thousands of goblins were running our way, only seconds from entering the city.
A streak flashed toward us. All that I could do was react. Pulling Victoria’s hand I lunged between her and the incoming projectile.
-61 Damage
+Concussion Damage
A thunder clap sounded from inside my skull. The pain from the back of my head only pounded when I started to fall. The world swirled around me. Everything went black.