17 'Okay, We Get it, You Want To Solo The Boss'

Under the wondering gazes that had recently turned toward me before the next band of goblins came out, I performed a one-second estimate of under forty present goblins wielding a chaotic variety of different weapons and wearing more recent outer layers of 'smooth skin'.

This bluish leather that was also sold in Earth markets belonged to one of the intelligent species of the different worlds we visited. Much of this was not public information and only indirectly shared through the academy. However in my mind these trolls, their variations, their underlings, and these bluish skinned peoples would forever be from one or a group of connected worlds.

Now that the head count was officially over half of the goblin numbers, I swiftly and quietly moved forward out of the grass and laid out all of my speed loaders and both revolvers. Continuing without ever taking my eyes off of the goblins while making slow and smooth movements, I shift position into a crouch before taking up my first revolver. Only after checking my grip and the balancing of the barrel did I start to take aim.

By now the large goblin group had been herded only twenty or so yards away from level with Jack's group. By now the large goblin group hard been brought far enough forward that all but the trollkin herding from the back would have no choice other than to commit forward under fire. Right about now was when I felt comfortable with the winds and distances enough to pull the trigger on my revolver.

The first shot hit high in the throat of the humanoid target I was aiming aim. The corresponding body was only to take a single step forward while reaching for their neck. Their hand never reached their neck and started falling by the time the second set of bullets whispered through the air nearby.

A target presented itself, showed its lethal capacity, and took out the leader of the group. The goblins that once showed the ability to understand strategies foolishly rushed forward at the first sound of gunfire. Not only were ninety-percent of them unaware that their leader was dead but also that the next three shots in as many seconds had taken out the largest goblins in their company.

Even though I aimed for soft tissue areas like the face and neck, none of the three 10mm rounds in any shot made it through the other side of their upper E grade skins and skulls.

Jack's team, who had started running as one at the first shot, entered the grass in the same scattered second as my fifth shot. This shot on one of the smaller and common grade troll goblins under five feet was the first shot were two bullets passed through different areas of the skull. I was grateful to see some real fruition from the munition that I paid cash for.

Once Jack and his team were out of the line of fire which was anywhere in front of me and my first chamber was empty, I blindly emptied the chamber and speed loaded it in little more than a second before aiming with the higher ground at the front line grouping. Bracing the back of the gun under my free arm, I started literally blind-firing fast enough to spin out the chamber at three seconds.

Only as I reloaded did I examine the damage my six shots inflicted. There were multiple disturbances along and behind the middle front line from bodies falling and breaking formation. In the two-point-plus seconds it took to reload, I set my aim and the front lines from the side and once again started blind firing.

My shots were slowly but steadily digging out the middle front lines of the remaining company with almost ten bodies disturbing the ranks outward when I emptied once again. Now, though, the goblins were entering fifty yards of MY position. I only had time to aim and empty either guns before holstering them.

The speed loaders were in my pockets and I was on my feet with another ten bodies scattering the redirected ranks before the first goblin even entered thirty yards of my position.

I ran blindly with wide loping strides that ate up the distance through the grass, relying on my slow but powerful bounding to clear the 'lane' of thicket I already knew was empty. Even though I could outright leave the goblins behind in terms of speed, I ad no choice but to bait them. Back edge of the thicket long ahead of the goblins, I started jumping five feet to my left and right a couple times before continuing onward.

When I was high enough to see clearly over the fifty yards of proper meadow only ten yards out from the grass, I stopped and waited until the first goblin neared the broken area of grasses I made. That crappy crop circle was roughly ten yards deep into the thicket and my position was a little more than ten yards ahead. For me, 'near the crappy crop circle' was more like within the next ten yards.

Using Jack's emphasized distance rule of thirty yards as my queue to start running once again, I led the once more scattered goblins toward the next incline. At the bottom of that incline when I had reached roughly fifty yards of distance from the goblins I decided to used an exaggeratedly slow pace while scaling toward the outcropping of tree.

Some of those poor goblins were only just leaving the grass when I started climbing toward the trees.

When I reached the top, though, I swiftly emptied my second revolver and fed it the last speed loader for my first revolver, I fired at a rate only slightly faster than one shot per second as each body came within fifty yards below the trees. Sets of three high-powered and rifled bullets in every shot struck every target with no less affect and two bullets per shot.

The penetration rate was still infrequent because I was quick shooting, but whenever all three bullets hit the targets there would usually be a dark but white blotched bloom of fluids behind or beside these goblins

Because shots that achieved full penetration were so weak they would not achieve effective depths in another body, I only counted the bodies that actually started falling. Five of the dwindling shield bearers who once led the goblin company had been shot down. With the loss of these few front liners, all that remained in close range were the goblins in the margins.

While I was carving out the middle goblins in the front lines, these guys had slipped by my aim.

Now, though, Jack and a tanker were spreading out from one side of the trees while the other tanker and swordsman took the other. When either prong of scattered goblins met the tankers, they were individually or even in pairs smacked by a small wall shield.

After being heavily dazed by somebody with the generic build of a tanker- which was big, meaty and roughly two meters tall in thick layers of protection- the goblins were easily and quickly dispatched by Jack or the swordsman with us.

By the time the prongs began forming full lines again, I had emptied the last of my revolver rounds for a total death toll of more than half as many shots fired. With four chambers of six shots from either gun, that was almost half as many goblins as were present. Despite these odds, though, two pairs of people on either side of the trees still faced forming groups of more than ten goblins apiece.

I could only take the time to dump bullets from my hand onto the ground as well as into the chamber of either revolver before taking aim once more. Either duo were slowly retreating backward while swatting down a goblin every other second, but that did not mean I could start taking my time. It just meant that they were safely moving at a constant pace and angle away from my one-second shots close to their general direction.

Even though either pair had already halved their numbers while they where forming groups on them, I still managed to drop their remaining numbers by four on either side in ten seconds.

The poorly prepared and even more poorly equipped goblins goblins remaining on either side were clubbed, stabbed, and smashed under big and heavy shields. Switching my view back to the village while the others were going over loot with their eyes, I could clearly see two trollkin who had taken up symbolic positions at the south end of either village wall. Behind and to either side of them were more than twenty goblins apiece.

From my much more distant position I could see inside the village to find that a nine-foot tall pale gray skinned monstrosity with a broad and flattish nose the side of my face. The troll was not that large and one of its legs even appeared to be a little injured from the way it was tied up with thick bluish straps. Their defensive tactics and organized display of remaining power made me take a closer look at the closer bodies.

Only the ones that the swordsman had killed or the few who rolled downhill showed any of their torsos, but of the few there all of them showed their ribs almost proudly against their skin even when soaked in blood. Their wrists and ankles were almost prominent despite the thickness of their skin that had become loose and almost saggy on their forearms and lower legs.

Goblins naturally had small cheeks because they had frog-like broad and flat mouths but even their usually well rounded faces were shrunken to the point their lips were all peeled back from their teeth.

These sorry bastards had skated under the D grade because they were all half-dead from starving! They did not want to keep their people close to home to preserve numbers or simply ambush the enemy, it was mostly so that they had something to cannibalize in case their PREY got away!

After my brief analysis of the situation while reloading either gun and two speed loaders, I find the others only just noticing and discussing the tribal-like behavior of these creatures. By the time I was done reloading my loaders the others had only just felt it safe enough to attempt looting the bodies closest to us. Even though only a few weapons could be considered proper, the few swords in the area were already lying in broken pieces and the head of a short-shafted spear broke into three pieces after being picked up.

Looting in the portals was weird. Organic materials and certain natural magical material were open season, but one of the properly worked tools and weapons of these worlds would break in our hands. Very rarely would they remain intact after being looted, but even then they usually had more value as scrap metal. A five-pound ax head of basic but C grade steel had more value being added to a vat of MP scrap to make twenty or even thirty pounds of low D steel.

Five pounds of high C could make fifty pounds of low E and fifty pounds of low E could make two thousand low E Protector Revolver rounds.

Even with that in mind, the pieces of proper swords we would find in a portal area like this one would be low in quality. These were the metals turned into the F grade contribution ammo in this regard, if the few proper swords here were any D rank there would be a few tens of pounds to make a few fifties of upper F grade or maybe even lower E scrap steel. Fifty pounds of E was pretty much already my order of revolver ammo, so three-plus fifties would make six to ten thousand F grade bullets.

The entire iron-and-alloy related metals from the village for MP scrap could be measured in roughly a hundred thousand contribution bullets. Which would be further divided into around ten thousand contribution points. Unless we were lucky and had an outstanding clear with little or no injuries, that was roughly how many contribution points would be divided among us.

Smaller teams usually meant larger shares but E grade was a numbers game and nobody liked taking risks with numbers.

When the others had finished testing the waters by taunting the enemy with brazen scavenging, we regrouped for a total of one minutes while waiting for any kind of reaction from the goblins and their remaining leaders. The troll never moved. Aside from a few goblins who awkwardly shifted their stance or outright positions, none of the enemy made any signs of making a move.

"Boy's, it's getting to be about that time," Jack says merrily to his group of friends. "Gabriel, run back to get Roger and the girls!" Then, to us a moment later, "With the full front line supported by this kid and the witch under the cover of tiny and the big gun girl, we'll rip right through them them into the village. Things are going so smooth, so glad I don't have to make the run back to camp."

Smiling vaguely at the names he had given to all of us who were not a part of his party, I say, "If the chance comes up, may I solo the boss and his minis?"

Looking at me incredulously while rubbing his neatly trimmed peppery beard, Jack eventually shrugs and replies, "Your people get their money when you die and we get more contribution without you. If you want to run off ahead of everyone when we single out the troll, that's up to you. Just make sure to inform the pretty ladies. It IS that part of the mission where you're escorting one of them and playing intermediate range to cover the reloads of another."

"Tiny would be better for the escort while I disrupt aggro to alleviate pressure on the tanks," I argue hopefully with my best attempt to smile innocently. "All of you will be hiding behind the same two shields while assailed by a combination of projectile weapons. At range, that's fine, but as you get closer somebody will take an arrow or even a spear from under or over the shields. One bad injury and boom, one of you is a duck in the field and left for a distraction or protected a a hindrance to the team.

"Me, unnecessary third party, can redirect as much as a fourth of their attacks while closing the distance at full tilt and circling around your positions in the field," I rush to continue while being stared at by the others with expressions similar to Jack's. "The witch is carrying at least two basic contribution level contribution non-lethal smoke vials. If you guys receive an injury during the approach, the witch I am escorting can provide coverage with smoke while you guys recover and change positions and I can ran through to take at least half of the aggro by engaging the troll.

"In similar situations with tiny as a midway point better for her bow with both the witch a-"

"Okay, we get it, you want to solo the boss," Jack says quickly to cut me off. "However, tiny already asked for dibs on it and said somebody else can wound it for her for contribution. Normally, we don't care who kills what and how as long as everybody ELSE makes it back safe and sound. However… the nice… looking… young lady beat you to it when they showed up earlier than everyone else. As well, I would let you be the one to shoot it in that bad leg for her but your contribution is pretty high. If we have an injury, though, and you're really willing, I'll let you throw yourself at the trollkin on the walls."

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