"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.
Chapter 19 – Lost and Found
I was being pulled backwards by hands under my shoulders when the world fluttered back into focus. The night swirled around me. The movement didn’t sit well. My bowls warned me with a stir. Jerking my shoulder away, I heaved to the side, losing all of the food left in my stomach.
There seemed to be no stop to the spinning when the sharp sting from the back of my head reminded me what had happened.
To silence my queasiness I grabbed the bottom of my iron helm and forced it from my head. The pressure on the back of my head was replaced with cold relief. As the spinning lessened, I tipped forward, unconscious.
***
An annoying clanging, like a whole school of elementary school kids with silverware were banging them together at the same time. I tried to shake my head as if the noise would jump from my ears. My eyelids split, giving me a peek at a landscape of a shadow storm.
Batting my eyes clear, the rears of hundreds of armed men appeared, pushing to and fro. I scrambled to my knees, looking around frantically for my spear and shield. Something stank. It was me. I remembered I had fallen into my own vomit.
Wink came from nowhere and started licking my face with a whine.
“Here.”
A mustached man with a heavily damp brow handed me a beat up iron helm. There was no sign of Victoria or my group. Did she survive? I had been lying at the foot of a building between the wall and porch of what I guessed was a government building. I couldn’t even see the wall from where I was.
“I repaired it the best I could. It won’t be pressing into the back of your head anymore.”
“Thanks,” I answered, putting the helm on immediately.
“If you can join in the fighting then do it. We are losing. If not get out of here.”
“How long have I been out?”
“You were already passed out when I got here. Someone else brought you here. It took me about five minutes of hammering at your helm with the hilt of my dagger to repair that bloody thing.”
Giving him another quick look, he was a merchant of some kind. Not a fighter then?
I had already recovered.
255/255 HP
“Was a girl with me?” I needed to find my group and fast.
“Not that I saw.”
Well, at least that meant she had probably just joined the fighting.
“Thanks again.”
I found my sword and shield against the wall of the building. My spear was in my inventory where I had left it. Sheathing my sword and equipping the rest, I began my search. I didn’t have time to dwell on the fact that my head wound was completely healed.
The men fighting before me weren’t even here when I had passed out. They were many rows deep but weren’t waiting in line for their turn to enter the fight either. The man that had fixed my helm had been right. If they had been pushed back just another few meters I would have been in danger of getting trampled.
Skirting around the back, I tried to circle to what I suspected was the front of the gate. I was following the line of the buildings, remembering there had been a wide street leading to the side entrance of the city.
There was no way through. Taking a difference approach, I found the stairs of the porch. From there I scouted the sea of battle. I was at the top of the hill, a block farther from the gate than Victoria and I had been when we first approached. The goblins had breached the city.
It was a last-ditch effort to contain the horde that was still trying to push through the narrow opening in the wall. Hundreds had already entered and were being held back on this major road and a number of side streets.
The majority of goblins wore golden-bronze chainmail of average quality. With a gasp, I realized they also wielded spears and shields. These weren’t just normal soldiers.
I looked to the text above their heads.
Heavy Footsoldier
Goblin
They just weren’t dying as quickly as they normally did. It was slow, but the couple hundred players in formation were losing ground. I saw some of Cornelius’s men, but no sign of my group or Cornelius himself.
Where had I last seen them?
My group was found on the local map to the left side of the gate in a location I couldn’t see from here. It was the best I had to go on.
Leaping from the porch, I ran from the major intersection and took the first alley. Skirting behind the building, I took another turn.
I had to veer up the side of another alley to get around more fighting.
While passing another alley I heard a cry. Stopping short, I saw a man skewered by a spear as his group tried to fend off three times their number while holding the alley. There were twenty players, tops.
There was no memory loss from getting hit in the head, so I immediately remembered Cornelius. No one else was here to help so I had to do something. I rebuked my hesitation.
Looking the way I had been heading, I shook my head. Stay safe, guys.
Running up the alley, I grabbed a man at the rear. No, it was a girl. A redhead with a leather cap and sweat matting her hair to her cheek.
“Go get help,” I commanded.
She looked at me, taken aback. Pushing her away from the action, she got the point and turned to run.
Wading through the disorganized group of players, I made it to the front. When a man near the middle of the front line lowered his spear in exhaustion, I grabbed his shoulder.
“Switch.”
He didn’t argue. Hopefully, a fresh pair of legs could help revitalize this sagging lot.
More than one spear met my shield immediately, which I pushed through. Stepping forward, I thrust into the gut of the goblin directly in front of me.
It drove him back, but my spear couldn’t pierce his chainmail. Not good.
Meeting the setback with gritted teeth, I was bombarded by multiple spear attacks from every direction. Holding my ground, I stabbed at the knee of the goblin at my flank. The all too familiar sinking of metal into flesh radiated relief.
The goblin fell. The player line finally pushed forward to join me. I could feel their exhaustion like humidity to the skin.
“Go for their legs! Chop ‘em down!” The sound of my voice reflected off my shield. It acted like a bullhorn and blasted the command to everyone behind me. That was an unexpectedly cool trick.
The men and women at my side did just that. Three more goblins met bronze and iron, falling or having to retreat from new wounds.
They didn't let up. I found myself trying to remain as small as possible to keep from getting a new piercing or two in a body part not made for accessories.
Holding back the repeated blows became tiresome quickly. I jabbed low at the legs of whatever was in front of me. Only once did I hit something, and how well it helped I didn't know.