Zealous Hunting

Every 360 Spin would send goblins and hobgoblins alike up into the air and back into their comrades, helping to slow the advance of the rest of the small hoard while I fought purely for time to rest the skills of my friends. This was part of what was expected of me. I was the leader and I had to make the hard choices as well as sometimes throwing myself to the wolves to make sure the rest of my team makes it through.

More importantly, our familiars did not respawn like we did and only summoners or necromancers could keep them around afterward. My familiar might have been part summoner but she was not able to bring herself back to life. As a familiar that could heal, as well, her survival was a slightly higher priority than my own friends.

Luckily, the circumstances were not nearly that bad.

With a knockback of more than six feet between the effects of my skills, Strength, and the Hardened Bokuto themselves I could drain half the life of a goblin in a single slash and send them flailing into their comrades. Luckily, most of them had been peppered with rocks so they usually faded as they flew. The hobs, though, were built different.

Two minutes passed tensely as I forced myself to fight with dual spins before using First-Aid and basic attacks for at least five seconds at a time. I could feel the stress and strain building in my back and shoulders again but I simply did not have a choice. If I wanted my team to make it through this wave I had to go through hell to drag them out with me.

Now and then a few spears or clubs would find their way between my attacks and fight to push me back, slowly but surely gaining a foot or two here and there. However, by the end of two minutes all of the goblins were gone and most of hobs remaining were below half of their health. Even though I was pushed back only ten feet ahead of the front line I simply through my Bokuto into the same hob's face to finish its health bar before drawing Midnight Hauntings.

Calling to mind my achievements from the last event as I let the hobs start to encircle me and spill around toward the front line, I leap forward low to the ground and try to summon my sword's skill with 360 Edge by shouting, "360 Geist!"

[Acquired Skill: Channeling]

[+20XP]

[Channeling LVL Uninitiated: After repeatedly attempting to contact the dead and receiving responses small and large alike, you have learned to open yourself to the other side. At the cost on 10MP every two seconds you can search your area for spirits and for 10MP more give basic commands. Must spend 1000MP using this skill to Initiate]

[Acquired Title: Untapped Medium]

[+50XP]

[Untapped Medium: Epic. Passive. For tapping into your clairvoyant and other psychic potentials without any experience in freely using magic, you have been awarded the Medium title. Communing with the afterlife and other psychic abilities in Initiated skills now costs half the listed MP values, wild undead will now view you somewhat neutrally, and allied undead become 10% stronger in your presence]

[Acquired Allegiance: Kindred Classless]

[+20XP]

[Kindred Classless LVL ?: The soul of a young adventurer who dreamed of fame but found fate instead. Bound to the weapons they struggled to master in life and repeatedly refined to grow in power, this egoless entity now serves the player Life Hack by mirroring his techniques the same way they studied the techniques of others in life. Now answers to the name of Geist and grants their master +(2) to all stats at all times]

[Acquired Skill: Geist Call]

[+50XP]

[Geist Call LVL 1: Now that the spirit of your sword bows to your will, you can summon its powers at will. LVL 1; can summon a full-powered Geist for 30MP and can summon your spirit's attention for easier communion]

While these notifications were wonderful to see, I would have never had the time to read them if not for the whirlwind of six ghostly Geist blades swirling around me and sending dozens of bodies fading into the air. Deciding to test my new power, I simply step forward in an outward slash and call out, "Geist!" In response, and ethereal crescent ghostly cutting energy slices through the air and into the handful of remaining hobgoblins to end the wave.

Raising Midnight Hauntings over my head I once again whoop and cheer to express my pure excitement and joy and the new upgrades that I had received. Then, before I knew it, I was crying out, "Did you see that, Melpomene? THAT WAS AMAZING!"

"Who is Melpomene?" Ivana calls out just before the next combat alert goes out. Instead of answering, I simply spun my way back up the earthen wall and then took my time spinning along the giant root wall above the Passage with the points of my sword.

Once I finally returned to my original perch from which I could organize the magic artillery into blowing apart the entire front half of the one-forty mobs coming out, a new window appeared.

[Congratulations, Hack, I did indeed see. You did very well, I'm also proud of you for surviving your realignment. If I could give you another reward just for achieving, I would! Keep up the good work, we're all watching!]

It was oddly touching for the AI to reach out to me in such a way but then it also became slightly creepy when they mentioned that I had spectators besides just them. However, as long as at least one of them was looking out for me instead of just looking at me, I was happy. How many people could even say they had that much?

"Oleander, use Nautre's Armor on Stonewall's shield and let it grow out as much as you can!" I call out just after Stonewall's shield burst the last half dozen enemies in the wave like dark colored bubbles. "Everyone else, form up around the edges of the shield and use your knockback attacks! Merch, use your Fire Hose spell and turn the tunnel to slush. Lil, once he's done I want you to slap your ice spears flat on the ground five yards apart in front of our front line! Stonewall, you're gonna scarecrow for the familiars to launch attacks over your wall and we're feeding them this entire round!"

The eighth double wave was already pouring out into the Passage, closing my inventory menu while I was taking out all of the Hardened Bokuto that I could to start throwing out to the front line. "These are knockback swords, use them to lighten the load a bit! Papi, your hammer is fine!"

As a blunt weapon, his warhammers naturally had knockback affects.

Even though I wanted to try and feed our familiars the entire wave their mana could only last for about a minute-and-a-half. Luckily, after turning the tunnel into slush with fifteen yards of icy ground in front of the front line, that minute-and-a-half was enough to wear away nearly have of the one-sixty enemies, though. After that it was up to the rest of us.

Finally, as we prepared to let the ninth wave run right up to us before bathing one hundred and eighty mixed goblinoid bodies in magic artillery, I call out, "Buff up!" Then, just like that, my attack and defense and Endurance and movement speed and Intelligence and Willpower all jumped up from the layering of buffs coming from my team.

The front half of the tunnel that had somehow survived dozens of carpet bombings of various strengths suddenly became one big cloud of smoke and debris as our mages unleashed every skill they could currently use upon the enemies. When the dust cleared the Passage itself had not changed but there was a massive cloud of death dust still rising up from the ground as a few dozen remaining goblins and hobs pushed forward. The ninth wave was pretty much over in a single buffed volley.

Jumping down with Midnight Hauntings and Midnight Fuller in either hand as the front line deals with the remaining enemies in the wave, I raise my swords and cry out, "WITNESS ME!" Then, running toward the front of the tunnel I take up my 360 stance and wait patiently. Then, just after getting into position, my vision was framed with solid red.

One hundred goblins and one hundred hobgoblins started making their way down the tunnel from the darkness under the tree, walking eight abreast down the large tunnel with an odd uniformity I had yet to see. The goblins and hobs moved in time with one another instead of rushing forward like crazed zombies. Then, just as I was leaping into an attack, a line of three large bodies appeared at the back of the wave.

Instead of coming after the tenth wave there were three hobgoblin warriors following the final wave out of the tunnel. Not only did this mean that I was probably screwed but it also meant that whatever came after this wave would be worse than three hobgoblin warriors. However, I fought like they were not even there.

Not only would the warriors have to get to the front to fight me passed hundreds of smaller bodies filling the fifteen-yard wide tunnel but they would also have to get passed a barrage of refreshed magic skills. So, I just spun left and right while casting out have of my MP worth of Geists to mow through dozens of bodies in half a minute.

[Acquired Title: Scourge to Goblins]

[+100XP]

[Scourge to Goblins: Rare. Passive. For killing over five hundred goblins you are now recognized as an enemy of all goblin kind. The upper echelons of goblin societies are now aware of your existence and may begin sending assassins of all kinds to find you. Goblins and goblinoid creatures who find themselves at the opposite end of your sword will now have their stats reduced by 10% out of fear]

[Acquired Perk: Zealous Hunting]

[+50XP]

[Zealous Hunting: When fighting creatures that you have already killed at least a hundred of, your stats will be raised by 5% for every hundred one hundred deaths you caused in that species up to one thousand.]

[Acquired Title: Goblin Junkie]

[+100XP]

[Leveled Up]

[All stats raised by 1]

[Goblin Junkie: Epic. Passive. For killing three hundred goblins in a day you have been recognized as an addict that should seek help as soon as you finish killing those goblins. When facing goblins or goblinoid creatures in combat, all stats will be raised by 10]

It took a while before I could read and dismiss the notifications and messages, up until I could make some room with a pair of 360 Geists that stayed in the air for a few moments around me. Originally I thought I was running out of mana from using so many forced Geist attacks but I was basically given a free Geist attack while fighting goblins in general and a second one for how many goblins I had already killed.

However, there were still several dozen gobs and hobs left in the Passage and the three warriors were cautiously hanging back while waiting for the lesser mobs to wear me out. The warrior in front wielded a club and the two behind to either side carried spears, leading me to wonder what the next boss would be packing. All three of them seemed content to wait.

So, I decided to save all of the mana I could while slowly regenerating one or two points every few seconds. Since there were only a few dozen lesser mobs and I still had about six minutes of buffs left, I had no problem hacking and slashing normally. It was the goblins who had a problem surviving more than a single attack.

When it was finally just the big guys and I left in the tunnel and I had only lost about twenty-three percent of my health, I cast First-Aid on myself and point both swords at the leading hobgoblin warrior.

The warrior responded by running forward, eating up almost ten yards per step so that it only took him and I both two steps apiece to meet in the middle. Unlike the usual club warrior's AI, this guy did not try to slam his club down on me but instead swung it out from the side to cover almost half of the tunnel in its arc. Like I had done several times before, though, I dropped into a low crouch under their swing before leaping up to their chest and face with a 360 Geist.

Forty percent of their HP was gone with more than half of the flesh from their face and chest.

I had not even landed yet before I unleashed a second, third, fourth, and then forced a fifth midair 360 Edge that sent the hobgoblin warrior's head flying from its shoulders. I lost more of my health when my back started cracking again, but instead of being crippled I was only staggered upon landing and fell into a roll. Still, there were two warriors left.

Getting up as both warriors start rushing in together, I haggardly tumble to one side away from the dead warrior as I feel my back threatening to give out while supporting my body. For a moment I briefly considered calling out for help but the entire point of my being down here was so they could refresh their skills. If they attacked now, whatever came next would be that much harder to fight.

"Spirits," I say softly, feeling a rush of cold air sudden flow outward from my body and ripple through the area. When the wave hit the warriors they faltered, feeling a spin tingling cold creeping through their bodies the same way it did mine. "Spirits," I say again, willing more effort into the summons so that even more mana is spent and creates an even larger ripple.

"Answer me!" I shout out, using up all of my remaining mana in a single psychic ripple that disturbed the leaves and dust from the ground while shuddering the limbs of the Elder Oak. This time, though, there was a responding ripple from somewhere in the air overhead, then another from off to the side, another from behind the warriors, and half a dozen others just kept popping up.

When these rippling presences finally took form, it was the indistinct phantasms of ethereal humanoid bodies suspended in the air. Raising Midnight Haunting up into the air, I call out, "Feed me!" Just like that, the surrounding spirits flew in from all around me and split themselves apart on the edges of my sword before disappearing into the blade itself.

[Kindred Classless has grown stronger, benefits are increased by 1]

As the spirits fed the spirit haunting my sword, not only did the sword become stronger but the pain in my back eased and my MP started replenishing. By the time the ritual was over, I had half of my overall MP back and I was in full fighting form once again. The hobgoblin warriors, though, were starting to look worried.

*