Dungeons and Dalliances

Natalie met the oncoming wave of smaller goblins. Her hammer swept forward in a prepared arc, purposefully aiming for the lowest level of the front-line enemies—she wanted to thin their numbers, since a number advantage could be prohibitively difficult to deal with, even when composed of weak opponents. Knives in the back hurt no matter what level, and such critical strikes became exponentially easier when surrounded.

The attack landed true. The giant metal head of [Valentine] crushed into the goblin and practically sent it flying; the monster careened through the air at least fifteen feet before slamming hard into a tree trunk. It would've been a comical sight if not for the crunching of bone and splatter of blood. Natalie enjoyed fighting, but more for the thrill of demonstrating her skill, the rush of adrenaline—not the gruesome reality of killing.

Except she took some satisfaction, here. Each goblin exterminated was possibly a person's life saved. And certainly, her stomach didn't turn at drawing blood. She was well over that, even for less objectively disgusting monsters than goblins.

About six of her enemies focused on her, attentions drawn by her charge. The rest streamed past, and there wasn't anything she could do about that. In fact, engaging so many of their attentions at all was thanks to [Forcible Allure], her erotite armor's set bonus: a mild persistent taunting effect. That ability was why she was all but forced into the gear, seeing how she was lacking a class-based taunt.

The other portion of the creatures screamed toward the subgroup of three behind her, but Natalie trusted Sofia could handle their defense.

Or Ana, maybe, Natalie quickly revised. Because just as she swung her hammer a second time, three giant pillars of inky shadow rose from the earth in ominous tendrils. Natalie's eyes widened. They were thick, void-like, and definitely much larger than they had ever been before. The buff she had put on Ana had clearly been effective.

The appendages lashed out like whips, smacking into goblin after goblin, sending them flying. Not killing them outright, but throwing them several feet, leaving red gouges across their skin, and even knocking weapons out of their hands. And fast, too. As quick as Jordan. Over and over, the tendrils struck at anything nearby, all but bringing the initial charge to a halt as Ana repelled the force by herself. But that only lasted a few seconds before the tendrils ran out of magical energy and dissipated.

Heavens. She had known an [Empowered] [Divine Invigoration] would upgrade Ana's offensive power, but by that much? It said massive in the ability description, but it was still shocking to see. Natalie guessed she hadn't fully appreciated the ability because it had been put onto their healer, at first. And since they hadn't needed many heals in their first fight, Liz hadn't been able to flex. An offensive mage could, though.

All of that flicked through the background of Natalie's thoughts. She was, of course, focused on her own fight above all else. The six goblins she'd attracted the attention of quickly surrounded her. Natalie swung her hammer in wide arcs, advancing forward toward the bow-wielding goblin, though he obviously just retreated, continuing to release arrows at her. She wouldn't be able to get to him until she dealt with the pests nipping at her heels.

Unfortunately, the nasty things were quick and vicious. Definitely not opponents she could ignore. Landing solid blows on them was harder than it looked, especially when she had to do her best to dance away from them at the same time. She couldn't let herself get truly surrounded, else they would slam a dagger into her back.

She used her momentum to her advantage, a cyclone of heavy steel even these mindless creatures knew to fear. That cat-and-mouse game continued before her hammer finally caught one, killing it instantly. An arrow slammed into her shoulder in response, having had to overextend to land the attack. She grunted and ignored it; Liz's buff helped, as did the adrenaline.

Glancing toward her ally, Natalie saw Malice snap the neck of the goblin she had been engaging, and the wolfgirl immediately charged for the bow-wielding Raid Leader—knowing her, as much to ease Natalie's burden as wanting to get a taste of his strength.

No longer having to worry about dodging arrows and six—now five—enemy blades, she made quick work of the miniature swarm. [Valentine] slammed into a skull, her boot met a chest to crack bones, and she even dropped her hammer briefly to catch another off guard, smashing a face in with an elbow before quickly picking her weapon back up.

And so, with the last dying, or at least temporarily disabled, she was free to make her next move. She threw a look over her shoulder. Black energy writhed around her three teammates, slashing into the five goblins remaining, Sofia dancing between their attacks. Meanwhile, a glance forward showed Malice and Jordan fighting the golden-veined goblin.

Of the two sub-fights, one looked a lot worse than the other. Natalie watched in horrified amazement as the Raid Leader caught Malice's forward jab, then twisted her arm. The wolfgirl screamed, but that noise was quickly cut off by a headbutt delivered into Malice's skull. Malice went staggering backward before falling over, dazed. Jordan tried to sneak in an attack even as that was happening, but the tall goblin ducked, preternaturally sensing Jordan's knife, which had been aimed for his spine. The blade plunged uselessly into the air. Worse, he followed up with a sweep of his legs, and Jordan also slammed into the ground.

Fast. Strong. Good reactions.

What was this thing?

Natalie was already moving by the time Jordan had been knocked over, but she watched as the goblin raised his own dagger in preparation to slam it down—straight for Jordan's chest.

Considering its strength? And that Jordan had already taken an arrow to the head, so her HP wasn't at full strength, or maybe even half?

Terror seized her. She was too far to help. There wasn't a thing she could do, not in time—even a spell wouldn't be fast enough.

Then something odd happened.

The goblin froze, dagger suspended in the air, about to plunge down. But instead of doing so, he abruptly stood, turned, and charged for Natalie, ignoring the vulnerable rogue on the ground.

For a second, Natalie didn't understand. Then she remembered. [Crown of the Scapegoat]. The item that forcibly dropped monster aggressiveness onto a target of Jordan's choosing. They'd given it to her for a reason; the rogue was the most likely to end up in a dangerous situation like she had, needing to get into melee range of boss monsters while having a low Tenacity.

And thank the Heavens they had given it to her. That could have been … bad.

Her relief didn't last long. Because now, the so-called level three—and it was definitely not a normal level three—that had easily rebuffed both Jordan and Malice's simultaneous assault was charging for Natalie. Both of her allies were on the ground, not yet recovered, so she'd be on her own for at least a little bit. And a little bit could be forever when it came to combat.

She gripped her hammer, a thrill rushing through her.

Good. Her turn.