Chapter 69: Goblin Champion

Behind the ice, Lucia kept her hands pressed against Roger’s chest.

The green glow spread through him, and the color began to return to his face. His breathing steadied. The ribs that had cracked against the tree were knitting back together, and he could feel it.

BOOM!

The mace slammed into the barrier again. A web of cracks spread across the surface, and a few flakes of ice rained down on their heads.

"That is no normal hobgoblin," Lily said. She stood with her fists clenched, staring through the clear wall at the monster on the other side.

"No, it isn’t," Riker replied. Her voice was tight. "That’s a goblin champion."

"A what?" Lily asked

"A goblin champion. In a gate like this, it should be a boss-level monster. It stays deep inside its caves and almost never comes out." She gripped her staff harder. "For it to wander this far out is completely unusual. Champions only roam around freely in higher-rank gates, like B-rank goblin gates."

"So it’s out of place," Lily said.

"Very out of place."

BOOM!

The barrier groaned.

Sophia stood in front of it with both palms pushed toward the ice, holding it together with her mana. Sweat had broken out across her forehead. She kept her eyes on the champion.

"There’s no point in talking about it now," she said. "We have to take it down. And from what we just saw, it’s a lot stronger than any average hobgoblin."

Lily looked at the ice and listened to the mace hammering against it. Every blow shook the ground a little. She let out a slow breath.

"We don’t have any other choice, do we?"

Sophia shook her head.

"Then I’ll go ahead."

The ice cracked down the center, and then it shattered.

The champion roared and stepped through the falling fragments, mace raised. It was met by a flash of white.

Lily had already moved. She stood with her hand thrust forward, and a massive concentrated bolt of lightning ripped out of her palm and slammed into the champion’s chest.

BZZZT!

The monster flew backward. Its feet dug twin trenches in the dirt as it skidded across the path, smoke curling from its skin.

Sophia was on her feet in a second.

She raised her hand, and the ground at her feet frosted over. Shards of ice rose out of it, long and glittering, and twisted into dozens of blades that hung in the air in a perfect line.

"Now!"

They all fired at once.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

The blades tore across the clearing and stabbed into the champion’s chest, shoulders and thighs. It staggered, grunting in pain.

At the same time, Riker raised her staff. The crystal in the arch swelled with light, and a vortex of wind began to spin around it, faster and faster, pulling in leaves and dust. She aimed.

"Take this!"

She let it go. The wind blasted out in a roaring cone and slammed into the champion. Deep cuts opened across its chest as the vortex tore at its skin. It stumbled back another step and almost dropped to a knee.

It was barely standing.

"Keep going!" Sophia yelled. "If we keep barraging it, it will go down!"

But the champion seemed to understand her.

Its small yellow eyes narrowed. It lifted the mace in both hands and slammed it into the ground with all its strength.

CRACK!

The ground split. A line ran across the dirt, racing toward the group, and boulders burst up out of the earth in every direction. The whole area was deformed, a field of jagged rock where there had been a smooth path. Some of the stones shot high into the air.

The goblin took a step, set its feet, and swung the mace like a bat.

It struck one of the rocks in mid-air, and the stone rocketed forward faster than a bullet. It hit another, and another, one after the other, hurling boulders across the clearing at the girls.

"Down!" Sophia shouted.

She slammed her hand to the ground, and a fresh barrier of ice shot up in front of them. The rocks hit it one by one.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The ice split and spiderwebbed. A chunk fell off the top. Sophia gritted her teeth and poured more mana into it.

"It won’t hold much longer," she muttered.

Lily looked at her, and then at the monster.

"I’m going to flank it."

"Wait, Lily..."

She was already gone.

Lightning wrapped around her body, and she shot to the side faster than anyone could follow. She raced around the edge of the clearing in a streak of blue and came out of the trees on the champion’s flank. The monster turned, and it swung the mace at her.

She was already in motion.

Her fist came forward with a bolt of lightning wrapped around it, and it struck the champion’s ribs before the mace could land.

BOOM!

The monster staggered sideways, roaring. Lily landed on the ground and started to dash away.

She was too slow.

The champion had recovered. Its arm was already swinging, and the mace came toward her head like a falling tree.

"Lily!" Riker yelled.

She aimed her staff and fired. A flurry of wind bullets hammered into the champion’s side, one after another, tearing through its skin. Blood gushed from half a dozen holes, and the monster bellowed and flinched. The mace slowed, and Lily threw herself out of the way.

"Thanks!" she said, rolling to her feet.

"Don’t mention it." Riker replied whike breathing heavy.

Behind them, the green glow around Lucia’s hands faded.

"Done," she said, sitting back. "You’re healed."

Roger got to his feet.

He cracked his neck, grabbed his sword from the ground, and stretched his shoulders. Then he gritted his teeth, and a hard look settled on his face.

"Thank you, Lucia." He turned toward the champion. "I’m going to end this now."

He charged.

He flicked his blade through the air, and flames erupted along the length of it, rolling up from the hilt to the tip. He crossed the clearing at full speed.

The champion saw him and swung the mace down at his head.

"Watch out!" Sophia shouted.

She thrust her hand out, and a thick column of ice shot from the ground and caught the mace in mid-swing. It cracked, but it held for the half second Roger needed.

"Thanks!" he yelled.

He leaped onto one of the boulders that had been thrown up by the champion’s attack and kicked off it with all his strength. He soared over the monster’s head, the burning sword raised above him, and came down in a full slash.

The champion raised its mace and blocked.

CLANG!

The shockwave blew out from the clash and knocked leaves from the trees. The champion was pushed back several steps, its heels grinding into the dirt. Roger landed on his feet, flames still licking up his blade.

The fight began in earnest.

Roger took it head on. He swung and the champion blocked. He slashed again, and the mace turned the blade aside, throwing sparks into the air. The champion was stronger, but Roger was faster and cleaner, and every strike came from a different angle.

The others fed into it.

Sophia stabbed ice up from the ground to knock the champion’s foot out of place. Riker fired wind bullets at its eyes, forcing it to blink and turn its head. Lily circled around the back, flickering in and out with bolts of lightning that made the monster twitch. Lucia stayed close to Roger, her hands glowing, ready to heal him if he took a hit.

CLANG! CLANG!

The champion roared and swung wildly. It was bleeding from a dozen wounds, and its movements were slowing. Roger ducked under the mace, stepped in, and cut across its knee. It stumbled.

He pressed forward, never giving it room to recover. A slash. A parry. A slash.

The mace came down, and he met it with his sword and slid the blade along the shaft. The champion’s arms were wide, and its chest was open.

Roger swung.

The burning blade cut across the champion’s chest, deep, from the shoulder to the opposite hip. The cut was so deep that its innards spilled out through the gap, steaming in the cold air.

The champion screamed.

"Lily!" Roger yelled.

"On it!"

She came in from the left side with lightning gathered in both fists, the biggest bolt she had made all day, crackling so loudly that the air hummed. She thrust her hands forward.

BZZZZZT!

The bolt hit the open wound dead center.

The champion’s whole body went rigid. Lightning raced through it from the inside, lighting up its veins like a map. Its eyes rolled back, and smoke poured from its mouth. The mace fell from its fingers.

It crashed to the ground.

It lay there on its back, twitching, its chest still rising and falling in short, shallow breaths. It was alive, but barely. It could not lift its arms.

Roger stepped up beside it.

He raised his sword, still wrapped in flame, and looked down at the monster’s face.

"Sorry," he said. "Nothing personal."

He drove the blade through its throat.

The champion’s eyes dimmed, and the light went out of them.

Silence settled across the clearing. Smoke drifted in the air. The five of them stood in a loose ring around the body, breathing hard, covered in dust and blood.