Chapter 37: The Gap

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: The Gap

The sheer size of the invading goblins was twice any they had faced so far.

This was another thing that worried Victor.

If he was right, then the battle was only going to get tougher the more Dawnbreak team fought.

Nevertheless, that was worry for another time. After all, preserving their lives was the most important thing right now. His eyes fell on a spear beside a goblin corpse.

Mira’s eyes cut to Paul, then Hana. Both of them still breathed hard, no doubt running on fumes.

"Paul. Do you still have that? The one we bought?"

Paul frowned, confused for half a second before it clicked. "The potion? Of course, I brought it." He huffed something close to a laugh, pulling a small corked vial from a pouch at his belt.

Mira gave him a look.

"What, You want me to drink my life savings in one gulp?"

"Yes. Both of you. Drink it."

"Are you serious? There’s only one. And it cost us an additional two full raids to get our hands on it."

"I know what it cost." Mira’s voice didn’t waver. "Either we use it now, or we die here. Those are the options."

Paul stared at her for a second. Then uncorked it without another word.

Victor recognized the vial immediately. He’d seen many like it in-game. They were called low-grade stamina and vitality potions.

This one was a stamina potion. From what he knew, it could increase one’s stamina by 5%. This did not seem like much, but in a life or death situation, it made a whole lot of difference. And that was why it was so expensive.

Paul drank half in one long swallow, then tossed it to Hana. She caught it, drained what was left without hesitation.

Victor noticed she was so thorough with every drop, pushing her tiny tongue into the lip of the bottle and around it.

A weird smile settled on her face.

Oh, she must really want every drop of her money’s worth.

Hana let the empty bottle drop to the cobblestones.

Light bloomed faintly across both their bodies in a soft blue shimmer, settling over their exhausted muscle.

Instantly, their breathing evened out, and shoulders that had been slumping a moment ago straightened.

"Hana." Mira’s voice was sharp now, all command. "Buffs. Whatever you’ve got."

"I’ve only learned two."

"Then cast both."

"But... they are demanding on divine power. I’ll not be able to support you two with Healing."

A second of silence.

"I know." Mira gritted her teeth.

Victor instantly understood what she was doing.

Healing was important when damaged had been taken, but healing the individual did not mean their exhaustion was gone.

All it did was preserve life. The battle would still be a losing one.

However, buffs were a different matter. Buffs increased the total output of the individual.

It was like the extra boost barbarians got when they became emotional.

As a bonus, buffs from a priest also had the feature of pain reduction. But as with most potions, it had a down side.

Regardless, Victor gave Mira a thumbs up in his mind for her quick thinking.

Hana didn’t argue again. Her staff flared, gold light wrapping around Paul first, then flickering once toward Mira.

[Hymn of Haste]

[Hymn of Vigor]

"Paul." Mira’s eyes locked on his. "Protect the civilians. Both of them." Her gaze flicked briefly to Victor and the boy still clinging to him. "I need you on defense, not offense. I’ll handle the front."

Paul nodded once, his gaze steady. He knew this was going to be a tough one.

The first wave of goblins broke into a run toward them.

Lukily, the buffs were in effect.

Paul swung his axe producing more force than he ever did.

Goblins that would have taken two hits fell in one. Some, he sliced completely in half, like it was cloth.

Mira also moved faster than before.

She was practically a blur between the green bodies.

She found gaps that shouldn’t have existed, wounding the goblins, such that it made it easier for Paul to kill them. Or enough that they were no longer a problem in battle.

They was only so much stamina she could waste.

She even ignored most of the foot soldiers where she could, weaving past them toward the cavalry instead.

They were the real threat.

The reason was because a goblin on horseback could outmaneuver, outreach, and outlast anything on foot.

They were the tanks of the old world.

She went for the horses’ legs first, hamstringing them mid-charge, sending rider and mount crashing down together in a tangle of screaming limbs.

Then the horns changed pitch.

Archers.

They were four of them, mounted on horses, hanging back behind the goblin lines where they were hard to spot.

Not until the first arrow was already in the air.

It caught Paul in the arm.

"PAUL!" Hana’s voice cracked with panic, already moving toward him.

"STAY BACK!" he roared, grabbing the shaft with his good hand and snapping it off at the fletching before ramming his axe back into the goblin in front of him like nothing had happened. Blood ran freely down his elbow.

Hana froze mid-step, jaw clenched so hard it looked painful. She wanted to run to him. But she couldn’t.

She knew that she couldn’t.

Priests were forbidden from taking lives, even within the gates.

If they did, they would lose the grace of their god. And a priest that had lost their grace was just a normal person.

Hana forced herself to stay rooted, staff gripped white-knuckled, watching.

"MIRA! ARCHERS!" Paul bellowed.

"On it!"

She tore through a goblin’s neck without slowing, eyes already locking onto the one who’d hit Paul. It saw her coming and flinched, trying to duck back into the crowd of bodies for cover.

"You’re not going anywhere."

She hurled her sword.

Whoosh

It sailed clean through the press of goblins and buried itself between the archer’s shoulder blades.

That was when the gap opened.

With one hand useless, Paul’s guard faltered for half a second, just long enough for an armored goblin to slip past him.

It’s spear was already leveled, sprinting straight for Hana.

Mira saw it. But she had no weapon in hand, her sword still buried in a corpse fifteen feet away.

Paul saw it too, but he was boxed in by three more goblins pressing him from the front. There was no way to break free without dying himself.

"HANA!" Both of them screamed her name at once.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter.

The spear came down.

Hana’s eyes went wide, her whole body frozen, as the thought arrived with perfect, horrible clarity.

I am going to die here? I didn’t even get to own him.