Every goblin in front of me was flung violently back into the rock wall just four feet away. Swords were dropped from the impact and even the guards were shaken beyond a reasonable degree. The momentum of their charge, disrupted and repelled by the expanding force of my lightning, all culminating in the sudden collision with an immovable wall.
Necks had snapped back and forth as heads and bodies collided with the solid wall behind them. Sounds were muffled by the electricity coursing through their veins, as minor goblins fell to the floor, some dead, some stunned. Those that lived, were rendered temporarily immobile.
They stared at me with those wide hourglass eyes, baring their fangs and clutching their heads and spade-like ears. Then two guards stood up, readying their shields and spears once more, with only a slight hesitation showing as they grew weary and wary. Caution had crept into their minds, as their reaction times were dulled by the thought process that second-guessed their every action.
Sticking to instinct and reacting off muscle-memory, I was now faster.
Spears thrust in my direction were slow, as my senses were heightened from adrenaline. Twisting to avoid the trajectory of the spear tip, I retaliated with a fury of my own. Rage had started to consume me as I wanted to inflict as much pain on them as they had done unto me.
I needed to reciprocate the favor that they had shown me.
A single minor goblin stood up first, only to stand without a head as it rolled on by.
Then another jumped up, with a sword swung immediately after… only for the sword to find itself without an owner as a hand fell to the floor. A third goblin was up, the same one with a broken nose and blood dripping across its face. Leaning in with a second shield bash, I sent it into the wall as its head was crushed between the two forces. Stepping back, there was a fourth minor goblin still alive on the floor but a swift kick and hack into the back of its neck ended it right then and there.
A heavy thrust and a lunge came from the guards but I blocked and deflected simultaneously, all the while shifting my feet so as to get an angle on the one-handed goblin clutching and screaming. A quick slash and it reacted, shifting its one hand from its other arm to its neck as blood seeped out. And then just as I had turned my attention back to the two guards that were now left, a bolt of bluish-white frost fluttered on by as frost flakes floated on down to the ground below.
Then, suddenly, impact occurred and a white frosty mist enshrouded the goblin only to be evaporated by the blazing hot fireball that followed it.
Flames bursting and radiating outwards, the heat could be felt on my face as the goblin guard reacted to the sudden strikes of the two spells. Roaring with its high-pitched voice and throwing its head back partially in fear and partially due to the pain, it waved its spear wildly about as it cowered behind its shield.
Digging a heel into the ground, I leaned forward and thrust my shield into its waist and shoved with all of my might, causing the goblin to tumble backwards into the rock wall. Completely off balance, the goblin guard struggled to get its footing as it slipped on the mossy patch beneath its feet. Taking advantage of the momentary lapse of functionality, I raised my axe in an instant, only to bring it down into the exposed face of the goblin. Bones crushed and shattered from the impact, the axe was wedged deep between the eye sockets as I shifted a boot onto its chest and kicked out.
Yanking the axe free from the executed guard, I turned to face the last one.
One on one, it stood no chance.
Then another frost bolt hit, and another fireball.
Explosions of white and red intermixed for my enjoyment as the polar opposites canceled each other out. Without any mercy, I raised my right hand and dropped my axe to the floor, shooting a single beam of lightning out and connecting the two of us as our fates were now interlocked. I stared on, at the pulsating lightning, the single tether of raw energy surging forth at predetermined intervals as it stripped flesh and burned the monster from the inside-out.
It wanted to scream, but it couldn't.
The guard resisted, it fought, it managed to regain its movement but its vocal chords betrayed it. The goblin wanted to curse me, it wanted to yell, but another frost bolt smashed into him, staggering him for a moment.
Then, a fireball impacted directly to the side of his head as it jerked violently to the side. The impact sent the creature careening to the deck as it struggled to get back up. The goblin guard tried to move, but my channel had never ceased. And then, with one last valiant effort, it stood up. Raising its head the goblin looked at me with defiant eyes as it fell back onto its knees. Keeping my channel steady, a half-second passed as the goblin finally collapsed onto the ground before me.
My channel cut, the creature was dead.
And then as I turned my head, Barik fell.
As I had been thinking about my next move, the goblin chief used a heavy swing on Barik. He had easily blocked the blow with his shield, but the force of the impact brought him to a knee. And then as swiftly as the first strike, the chief thrust the halberd along the edge of the shield and twisted his grip, turning the hook-side of the halberd into the shield.
The instant the hook caught onto the shield, the goblin pulled back and brought Barik down to the ground. Already off balance while down on a knee, the sudden yank of the shield that was attached to his arm left him with no recourse. The dwarf was splayed out before the chief, unable to react or even defend himself as his face was buried in the dirt. In an instant, the goblin chief twirled the halberd around, bringing it behind him and then swiftly brought it down into the back of the dwarf as Barik's body twitched from the blow. Blood splattered upwards as the halberd disappeared into the small of Barik's back, and as suddenly as the attack had come, the dwarf's body went limp.
The attack was fatal… it was an execute ability.
I didn't have the time to shout or to even care that Barik had died, as I had received a battlefield promotion from off-tank to main-tank. What had been a semi-routine, planned fight with some novelty, turned into a freestyle affair with a wipe nearly at hand. The only way to salvage the fight, was to pick up the chief before he murdered the casters in short order.
Without thinking, I rushed forward, grabbing the spear of the nearest goblin guard that died a bit before as I met the chief midway. Thrusting the spear out as I intercepted the goblin just before it reached the casters, it easily deflected my attack with its halberd and counter attacked with a wide sweep that nearly clipped my legs.
Jumping back, I pushed forward once more and attempted a shield bash but was met with a heavy swing that sent me back on my ass. Recovering quickly, I taunted the creature as it attempted to run past me. It turned briefly to face me, but a frost bolt hit at the worst possible time. The goblin turned back onto the casters, directing its hate towards the highest threat. In desperation I threw my spear and it landed cleanly in the back of the charging goblin to no avail.
Chasing after it without a weapon, I caught up right as the casters began to run to the opposite side. I yelled, screamed at them to run towards me, but they were distracted and didn't hear me in their panic. The frost mage ran to the right as the goblin followed, while the other two ran to the left. I continued to chase, bee lining towards the frost mage as I watched him get trapped, caught like a rat and split down the middle in one fell swoop.
Stopping in my tracks, I had enough mana for one last cast but I had no weapon, I threw my head back and scanned the ground for the nearest weapon but couldn't see anything suitable, then as if glimmering in the darkness, my axe was visible a good twenty feet away.
I blinked and in an instant had traveled the distance, rematerializing out of the lightning on the other side, one singular flash step being all I could afford. Grabbing my axe, I rotated around and charged at the goblin that was now rushing towards Alan. Meeting it head on, I raised my shield and deflected the heavy thrust as it almost immediately twisted its hands and pulled back, hooking my shield on the edge and sending me falling onto my face.