Without the skill I had gained in normal virtual reality, I was left with no other avenue but brute force and my wits. Thankfully they were much smaller than me.
Regaining my feet, I spun, retracting my blade at the last moment before scalping Drool.
“Sorry!” I pleaded.
Her jaw was clenched as her chest heaved, air flaring her nostrils as she caught her breath.
After that, I could cross off my chance to hook up with her. That was a relief.
“That was foolish, Lucius!” Victoria said. “Why did you run in here?”
Was she rebuking me after what I had just done for her? Correction. Tried to do for her.
I didn’t take kindly to her accusation. “Because you were about to get run over by five goblins! So I got their attention and ran.”
She looked at me blankly. A twitch of her mouth preceded a giggle. “I was wrong. You are a kind fool.”
Arguing the fairness of her words would have to wait for later.
I scanned the chaos trying to find a gap we could retreat to.
A familiar hand caught my wrist causing my chest to tense up. Did she really want to argue right now?
Finding Victoria’s face closer than expected, I had to crane my neck.
“There.” She pointed the city gate that was wide open without any goblins blocking the way.
Of all the ridiculous ideas… Wait! That’s it. She was as big a pain in the butt as Destiny was.
Nodding, I pulled her along, her grip releasing as we started to run. I turned and made sure everyone was behind me. The three gamers followed but looked at me like a crazy person. There was a lot of that going around.
Exiting the city gate, we met no opposition. The only monster of any kind was a boar a group was fighting in the far distance. They were far enough they had likely missed the attack if it happened as quickly as I thought it had. After the initial relief, Victoria set off immediately toward the group yelling for help. Drool followed her.
“What now?” Vector asked.
It was a great question.
“I’ll message the rest of our group?” I replied.
“Wait, you have group chat?” Treetop asked.
“Yeah, I purchased it at level 6.”
“Ah. I got Danger Indicator.”
“I waited to get that one.”
“What level are you?” Vector asked.
“12. The boss last night gave me nearly three levels.”
Vector’s brow tightened as he considered what I said.
“The city is being attacked! Come quick! We are just outside the city entrance!” I said, directing what I said to my group chat.
“Lucius?” Kline replied.
“Yes.”
“We are on our way,” Oliver replied.
“Protect Victoria at all costs,” Peter added.
“She’s safe.”
A few minutes later, Victoria had returned, and a group of four players was headed our way at a jog.
“What’s the plan?” Vector asked again.
Victoria and Drool were breathing heavy but were all ears.
“We ambush them from behind.”
Chapter 10 – This City is Ours
Vector crouched to one side of the gate, with Drool, Treetop and a guy from the group that had joined us. Victoria and I crouched on the other side with two guys and a girl from the same group. They were even lower in level than Vector’s group, all level 4. The lack of gear was a concern, but at the most everyone had played Freedom for a single day, so I didn’t hold their level against them.
At least two of them were athletes, the man that joined Vector’s group and the girl that joined ours. If everything went as planned it would be enough. Kline, Peter, and Oliver were racing this way. I kept an eye on my Local Map. After letting them know where we were I expected them to force a number of goblins to retreat if they didn’t die before they came our way. Send ‘em our way!
During our set up for the ambush, I realized that something must have happened to the archers above in the gate towers. I hadn’t seen a single arrow shot.
Wink had been rather quiet. Currently, she was invisible to the world and viewed the enemy, her fur on end. During the fighting, she had turned invisible as soon as the action started on her own. She just stayed close and watched. I suppose that was her job. She wasn’t capable of actually fighting.
Daring to look, I could see much of the fighting that was still going on. I estimated fifty goblins were still causing havoc. Merchants’ carts were turned over, and some of them were fighting back. At least three were dead. They were possibly players. Almost double the goblin’s number in players faced off against them. They defended well enough, but there was no forward movement. It was a stalemate. The battle momentum was theirs.
I heard it before I saw it. A fury of gasping snorts. Behind the wall to my side where I couldn’t see, someone was making progress. A grunt stopped mid-gasp right on the other side of the wall.
“Be ready,” I said.
They came.
Three goblins ran out the gate. One hobbled.
Vector didn’t hesitate, meeting the first one head on, stabbing it through the heart. He remembered to jump back this time.
I held my hand out to stay our attack, but the two guys followed their female companion. They rushed to the second goblin, littering it with uncountable blows and killing it in seconds. Their lack of patience earned one of the guys a slash on the shoulder from the hobbling goblin. Treetop beheaded it with a two-handed slash of his sword, despite his lanky awkwardness.
More goblins came.
The three retreated slowly. Vector’s group joined them. Our plan to ambush was already going all wrong. Standing in the middle of the entrance to block their retreat, we became a cap on a massive pressure-building bottle. The question remained, could we handle the pressure or would it blow us off its top as the goblins fled.
Without much choice, Victoria and I waited just long enough to intercept a few goblins that tried to go around our group instead of through it. They were easy enough to eliminate since we surprised them from the flank.
“Promise me you won’t run off and doing anything foolish,” Victoria said.
Snorting I turned, seeing her nose wrinkled up in a smirk.
“Only if you promise me the same.”
Her nose remained scrunched as she frowned and bobbed her head in sarcasm.
Placing my hand on her shoulder pad, I pushed, rocking her to the side.
She looked genuinely surprised.
As one group of goblins fled, more goblins joined them until the stream became a river of rapid water.
In a torrent of chops and thrusts, I worked with Victoria, the reach of her spear holding one back while I attacked low and to the side.
They started to bottleneck to the point it looked hopeless when I saw two short blond heads, girls, wading through the sea of goblins. A third one, male, slightly taller and dirty-blond, bobbed up and down from their flank.
Level 13
You have reached Level 13!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 32 meters!
These must have been the players that had caused the initial retreat. They were taking full advantage of the fleeing goblins, killing as many as they could with their back to them. It was extremely dangerous because they were surrounded, but they had read the momentum of the battle well.
The horde was being thinned on our side thanks to the group.
Glancing at the Local Map again, I saw no sign of Peter, Kline, and Oliver.
“Push forward!” I called. Perhaps we could use the bottleneck to our advantage and tie as many up as possible.