William dismissed the [Archmage’s Last Buff] notification. The old man’s an Archmage? All around him, the defenders’ cries rose as their fatigue and injuries were washed away. Muscles bulged, eyes blazed, and weapons appeared to gleam a little brighter in the torchlight.

  The elder slumped to the ground, the staff rolling from his grasp. “It has to be enough,” he wheezed, his eyes already closing. “Now, make it count. For Brindle…”

  “Grandfather! No!” the teenage girl at the elder’s side cried. She dropped her spear, knelt beside the elder, and held his hand. “Grandfather?” Tears fell from her cheeks.

  The old man’s eyes fluttered; the life had all but drained from his features. He gave his granddaughter’s hand a weak squeeze, but didn’t respond further.

  “Get him to the hall!” William barked. Fredric’s father and another man hauled the unconscious elder back even as the buff settled over them all.

  Every stat surged by 50%: Health, Mana, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Willpower, Charisma, and even Luck. For thirty minutes, they’d be more than mortal.

  Will surged forward, his injuries healed and his stamina full, the world slowing as his boosted stats took hold. A war orc loomed ahead, its club already swinging. He slid beneath the crushing arc, his blade blazing upward in a fiery crescent of golden sparks. The beast’s torso split open in a wash of divine flame, blood, and gore. The dead orc toppled into a cottage with a thunderous crash, one of its arms smashing through a window.

  [XP: +5]

  Another war orc came, roaring in defiance. “Die, shiny ‘uman!”

  William didn’t hesitate; he drove into its guard, parrying the downward sweep of the iron-banded club with his battered shield. The impact would have pushed him aside minutes before, but now he stood firm as the shield bent further.

  Sparks lit the night as he twisted and brought his blade around in a reverse arc, and severed the brute’s arm just below the shoulder. Before its scream could finish, he plunged the burning blade through its heart.

  The orc convulsed and spat blood over Will’s armour as he twisted the blade free; the orc fell dead in the dirt with a loud thump and an [XP: +5] notification.

  The defenders roared as William discarded the deformed shield right into the face of an incoming goblin; its shattered teeth flew across the mud. The buff drove them to impossible feats. Marie cleaved a goblin in half with a single blow, her eyes alight with fury.

  [Warning: Minor Fatigue 75%]

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  He was burning through his recovered stamina fast.

  Carl crushed a goblin’s skull mid-flight as it lunged with a rusty dagger at Brian’s back. “Watch yourself, or you’ll be full of holes.” The pair of grey-skinned adventurers nodded as the chaos continued.

  Sibrek swung his axe with enough strength to sever a troll’s limbs. He hacked at a troll while it kept regenerating. “Die, ya ‘unk of ugly meat!” the dwarf yelled in frustrated anger. Half a dozen lumberjacks joined him, and after a minute of chopping, they decapitated the troll, ending its life.

  A dozen elderly defenders of the bunker door, renewed by the [Archmage’s Last Buff], hacked, speared, and chopped down a war orc with a single loss of life. The dying orc grabbed and crushed an old man’s head as it fell forward. His eighty-plus-year-old wife shed tears while hacking a goblin into small pieces with a cleaver as she yelled obscenities at it.

  But the tide would not break. For every goblin that fell, more filled the space. The surviving trolls tore apart barricades and ate corpses, their wounds closing as fast as they were made. The single remaining war orc hammered defenders into the mud, leaving nothing but broken bodies. The villagers were forced back until their circle stood tight around the hall. The bunker door loomed behind them, the last sanctuary of their children.

  William’s muscles began to ache from the increased power afforded to him by the elder’s buff. It was burning through his stamina at an increased rate to feed his overpowered body.

  [Warning: Moderate Fatigue 50%]

  His sword burned like a piece of the sun, yet the shadows seemed endless. Then the ground shook, and a troll lumbered into the clearing before him. Its maw dripped with blood, its claws clutching the limp upper body of a man it had partially devoured. Its teeth clenched around the dead man’s head before crunching down.

  William’s jaw tightened. He couldn’t allow it to keep feeding. With a defiant roar, “For Brindlecross!” He charged forward.

  The troll swung low, trying to snatch him up, but he ducked beneath the grasp and carved through its wrist. The hand flopped into the mud with a wet thump. The beast bellowed, stumbling back, but swung again with its other hand that still held the half-eaten corpse. Will’s blade took that arm too, severing it at the forearm. Blood sprayed, and the creature howled.

  Disarmed, it staggered, its jaws gnashing as it bent to seize a goblin corpse with its teeth instead. William leapt forward, his buff-driven speed carrying him higher than before, and slashed through both of its ankles in one strike. Bone and tendon gave way with a grisly crack, and the monster toppled like a felled tower, shaking the ground.

  It thrashed, snapping and kicking, its regeneration already working to restore its lost limbs. Will planted his feet on its back as it flailed, raised the sword high… “Just die!” …and with a two-handed blow cleaved down through its neck.

  The troll’s head rolled away, its body convulsing before going still. The defenders erupted in a ragged cheer as William received an [XP: +10] notification.

  But he didn’t have time to pause. He looked up and saw the two shamans at the treeline, their staves raised, driving the goblins harder. They still had over a hundred goblins protecting them from the catkin rogue who had killed one of their number.

  Will’s chest tightened. We’re going to lose. Even with the buff and all their courage, they were being driven back step by step into the village square for a final stand. He racked his mind for ideas, desperate for some way to turn the tide, but all around him, villagers and refugees were dying. His eyes caught the sight of a troll staggering under a storm of arrows from the elven huntress and the other surviving archers.

  In a moment of madness, William made a reckless decision.

  Chapter 034 [Game Notification: A Grateful Grandmother and the Threads of Karma]