Six months

"Nao, take the four to the left. Anne, the two on the right. Reika any who shows you their back you put an arrow in it. Lia support Anne and Nao. Koba standby and protect Lia and Reika." Keita spout orders the moment the goblins were on sight.

Nao let out a war cry. It was a Defender Skill that raised his threat level to less intelligent creatures. The goblins immediately picked him out as the most dangerous enemy and attacked him. Nao planted his hulking tower shield to the ground and pushed the charging goblins with a loud roar. The giant Defender pushed the four goblins that came at him and threw them on their backs.

"Magic Bullet!" Lia shouted. A Magic Missile - a spear like clump of magic power and the most basic spell in Sorcerer's arsenal - appeared above her. The missile pulsated and became as small as the tip of a finger, increasing the density. It started spinning and shot with a loud noise towards one of the fallen goblins, piercing helmet and flesh alike.

'It's starting to look like the real thing.' Keita praised inside his head. 'She stills takes too long though.'

The goblins looked at their comrade who was no longer moving. It only took an instant. The Magic Bullet traveled all the way from where Lia and the others were in an instant. The three remaining goblins got up and charged, thirsty for revenge but their way was blocked by a slump of metal that was bigger than themselves. The Defender wasn't going to let them go anywhere.

Meanwhile, Anne was fighting two goblins while Keita, three. Contradictory to common belief, goblins were not weaklings. They were fast on their feet, agile and no strangers to strategy. Not to mention, their numbers. Just a few goblins could change into ten times that number in just a few weeks. Two of them, could easily take on an Orc.

The one struggling most in the party, was surprisingly Keita. He could dodge and dance around the goblins but he had hard time hitting them. Right now, he was surrounded. The goblins had made a triangular formation with him as the center.

'You are just damn Gobs! Don't get ahead of yourselves!' he thought with anger in his heart.

An arrow flew to the goblin in his back and it screamed loudly. The arrow pierced it's shoulder and fresh blood came out from the wound.

"I don't need help!" he shouted towards Reika who had a smug smile.

Keita picked a dagger from his belt.

"Heaven's Path: Needle." he muttered and threw the dagger. The dagger flashed in a white light and condensed into a needle. It shot straight threw the wounded goblins head and disappeared, leaving only a tiny circular wound on it's forehead.

He charged one of the other two goblins which tried to smack him in the head with a rusty curved blade. Keita parried the blade easily and kicked the goblin to the ground.

'You are coming aren't you?' as he thought, the second goblin jumped and tried to attack Keita's back with it's club over it's head.

With barely turning around, Keita thrust his blade though his cloak and cut through the goblin's belly. With a swing, he retreated his katana from the goblin's guts and blood splattered around him, cleaning the sword in the process. The only thing left was the one he kicked.

Anne was having it easy with the two others. While the goblins were nibble, they lacked in strength and she took full advantage of that. She pushed, pummeled and punched the goblins, only having to fight one at a time, while the other recovered. She was fully on control of the battle so Keita decided to help Nao first. The goblins started to circle around him and even though he was the most well armored individual in the party, he would be hard pressed fighting enemies on all sides.

"Shadow bind!" Lia shouted after chanting the words. Black tentacle like objects came from the ground and slithered around one of the goblins arms, legs and neck. The goblin screamed and struggled to no avail.

"Nice one, Lia!" Keita shouted with a smile, after finishing the last goblin. Having her around really made things easier. Lia always seemed to be one step ahead of the party when it came to who to target.

Keita circled around one of the goblins surrounding Nao. With one bound he had an easier time defending against the two. He noticed Keita and with just one look he knew what to do. He let out another war cry and slammed his shield at one of the goblins, stunning it. Keita, stealthily approached the goblin and planted his sword at it's back while Nao turned around met the last one with his shield. The goblin attacked with it's small axe. Did it steal it from a wood cutter? It was by no means a weapon forged for battle.

Nao easily shrugged of the attack and fell with his humongous shield on top of the goblin, crushing it's head with his weight. He slammed it a few times until it stopped moving, while Keita chopped the bound goblin's head with a simple swing.

"Be on your guard!" he shouted, wiping blood of his face. "There is still one more hiding somewhere." he said, trying to focus and look for any sources of magic power. "Koba-" he started to say but noticed that Koba wasn't with Lia and Reika.

The Berserker turned Priest, has charged on the front lines with his bronze hammer and pulverized the head of one of the goblins Anne was fighting. He was ready to shout at him for disobeying orders but he caught a goblin with the corner of his eye.

"Lia, Reika! Behind you!" he shouted. The last goblin, the one that was hiding has waited all this time to attack the back line of the party.

Anne turned around first, shielding Lia with her body. The goblin attacked and struck her ribs. Thankfully, it only wielded a wooden clump. Otherwise, the lightly armored Reika would have taken a fatal blow. Not that this wasn't dangerous. Reika was on the ground, clenching the place she was struck. She was shaking. Her ribs were most likely broken.

"Reika!" Nao shouted with all his strength. He was about to dash but something pushed him.

Lia started chanting but she was too late. The goblin jumped and with it's club over it's head - and a sinister smile, showing it's crooked and yellow teeth - prepared to hit Lia's head. Lia stopped chanting and closed her eyes, clenching her staff. At that moment, a white flash appeared right besides her and the goblin flew in the distance along side it.

Lia, when the fatal blow she was expecting didn't come opened one her eyes, hesitantly. What she saw was Keita, fallen to the ground, blood all over his head, along with the goblin which was trying to push him off. He had tackled the goblin, using Haste to move in beyond human speeds. Unfortunately, he couldn't see clearly, moving at that speed and his sword flew somewhere. He could only push back the goblin now with his bare hands.

He screamed as the goblin bit his shoulder. Neither of them wanted to die after all. This was a fight to the death for both of them. It was no time to think about how it looked. Keita punched the goblin's head until it stopped biting him. He drew a dagger from his belt and thrust it towards it's neck. The throwing knifes he had were not meant to be used like this. The hilt was designed specifically for throwing and it was hard to keep a firm grip when meeting flesh or steel. The goblin defended with it's hand and the dagger pierced it's palm. It screamed and punched Keita. Blood flowed from his nose and he put all his weight on the dagger, pushing the ground with his legs to do so. The dagger reached the goblins neck and it finally stopped struggling.

With the goblin dead, Keita turned his body. His breath was rugged and he was drenched in sweat. He just lied on the ground with his hands stretched out looking at the sky.

"Keita...?" Lia called in distress.

Keita just lifted his left hand to show he was still alive.

"Lia is..." she said in the verge of tears.

'That's right.' He thought. 'It's not time to rest yet.'

"Koba!" he screamed, lifting his upper body. "Get the fuck back here!"

Anne and Koba just finished the last of the goblins, while Nao was still making his way over to the back. His armor slowed him down and it was tough to run with that shield so he just left it behind.

Anne and Koba finally turning around to see what's going on. Their expressions darkened as they saw Reika on the ground, barely moving and Lia kneeling right besides her. Koba threw his hammer and dashed towards Lia.

There was a reason for all that concern. Lia was a half-elf - at least that's what everyone still thought, save Nao and Keita - and Koba's healing only worked on humans. Of course the party was prepared for such an outcome.

Koba sat next to Reika and gently turned her around. She had a pained expression and her mouth was shaking. Koba pulled a healing potion from his bag and pushed it on Reika's lips.

"Reika, I am taking it off." he warned and Nao and Keita turned around.

Koba took Reika's shirt off and inspected her wound. The ribs were cracked but thankfully nothing worse. The healing potion would help with the pain and recovery so she was not in any danger. She had to take it easy for a week and that was about it.

"Thanks... I'm better now." Reika said as she covered herself. She was still sweating and in pain but she managed to talk and sit upright. The potion effects were showing already.

Nao breathed out in relief and so did the others. Keita on the other hand, grabbed Koba by his shirt and pushed him away from Reika and the others.

"What the fuck was that?" he asked. His eyes glint in a red light, showing just how mad he was. His fist was shaking and pushed Koba up, making him stand in the tips of his toes.

Koba pushed his hand aside with all his strength, and Keita let go.

"Don't push this on me." he said. "You are the one who went ahead and took three goblins on your own. If you want to act like a leader then at least take responsibility. You can sense magic power but you were took preoccupied to do so right?" he said as he pushed his glasses with his index finger.

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Keita rebuked. "If you are a Priest you stand in the back lines. If you are a Berserker you find in the front. Get rid of that weapon and do your job as a Priest or stand in the front from the beginning and me or Anne will guard the Sorcerer and the Ranger. I told you again and again you can't have both. This is just your selfish pride as a Berserker. I gave you orders to be on standby close to Lia and Reika. How is it my fault when you can't follow orders?" he said in a cold voice.

This has happened before. Koba had in many occasions charged by himself, leaving Reika and Lia who had next to none, close combat capabilities, unguarded. Everything worked out the other times to their advantage so the party even thought it was weird Keita was persisting on this point.

It has been six months after all since they became an official team, after the Orc invasion. Everyone had at least a rough understanding of each other's abilities. It was weird to expect someone to be more passive when he was a skilled fighter. They were still Bronze ranked rookies but there was a certain reason for that.

"You are just a Demon..." Koba averted his gaze and mumbled.