People underestimate the sound it makes when an ogre jumps down from a thirty-foot ledge and into a tight corridor. Okay, no, they don’t, but it makes an ear-piercing sound that leaves behind white noise after.

  Well, this is as good a time as any. “Al, can you handle the front of the wave? Because we can handle the sides and back.”

  “It’s Alderion.” The elf nodded, his blind gaze never leaving the enemy. “Blade of the dawn,” Al said, holding the sword up reverently as if accepting a gift. “It’s been far too long.”

  “Focus, and shoot. Focus and shoot.” Rook repeated the mantra, his hand filling with projectiles.

  Reina nodded, then her eyes narrowed on the crowd, and her shoulders were raised with anticipation. The heavy electricity in the still air made Rook focus on the steadiness in his slow breathing. His mana was pulsing, with the roof of the twinkling crystal ceiling.

  “Get them!” The ogre commanded.

  As if they were possessed by spirits of fury, the crowd shifted into a wave of oncomers.

  “Come then.” Al took the stance of a samurai, holding the blade of dawn towards the oncoming attackers.

  Reina touched his back, and his vision shifted, magic causing him to focus on the attramantic pulses stretching in all directions like a sea urchin’s spines. His gaze shot to thousands of objects as quick as lightning. From the top of a two-sided sword, to the shaft of an evil axe gripped by white knuckles and rings on shaking, tense fists.

  He glanced at the muted, dim blue ceiling. I can do this. I can do this. Unblinking, Rook shot out two of the stone rounds. The enhancement sent the stones out of his fists as if they were fired out of a rifle. Three goblins crashed to the floor, giving. He repeated the process again and again, dropping goblins before they could get close.

  Al moved like a dancer, spinning the sword of light in practiced swings. His blade was a hot knife through butter, slicing through weapons, armor, muscle, and bone. Two creatures made their way towards Rook. He shot three stone rounds in quick succession, taking them down, but without missing a beat, another quickly took its place, running parallel to its tribe mate.

  Mara moved like a wild beast, her metal beast of burden cut through the wave as if they were wheat to a sickle. The whoosh of the sword made Rook want to duck, the last thing he saw before turning to face an oncoming enforcer was her swinging the sword like a tornado cutting deep into the left side of the crowd.

  Reina stood to the right, her blade a phantom needle threading through the crowd, stabbing and slashing with practiced ease. This is what they were working towards with those quests. Had it not been for the training, they may not have been able to keep up with the torokin and elf. Each time one of them was to be attacked from behind, Rook caught them with a bearing.

  Alderion backpedaled and took a knee. What’s he doing? It’s been like three minutes. Three enforcers charged the downed elf. Wait, he’s probably weak from his stay here at casa hell. Al’s face jerked towards the attackers. I’m not quick enough. Rook grabbed the five remaining projectiles from his quiver.

  “I have to go get him,” Rook said.

  “No, you can’t. The majority of these goblins are level seven, and the enforcers are level ten. Alderion is a level twenty, and neither of you can take this many on,” Reina called over her clashing steel.

  Rook shook his head. “I can’t just leave him, grab my shoulder, and stay close.” He turned towards Mara. “I need a path cut, Mara!”

  The torokin shuffled back until she was in front of them. Her sword flipped upside down, and she crouched behind it as if it were a bulwark. So this is why she’s called a swordwall. Spears deflected off the Torokin, as if she were holding an invisible tower shield. Attackers were deflected away.

  Rook had done enough stress shoots and rehearsed shooting within chaos. This was no different: he took a breath, created a sight picture, and willed the rounds to stroll through their heads.

  The first line of attackers was cut in half by a quick whip of Mara’s blade. Without missing a beat, she was back in that shield stance. The first enforcer’s yellow eyes rolled back, staring up at the hole in his head. The second stumbled back a few halting steps, then fell. Reina gripped the hem of his bloodstained shirt, careful to match his heel-to-toe cadence.

  It’s easy to plan, and everyone has one until the first round gets shot. They quickened their pace, reaching Al. Reina murmured something under her breath, and the elf’s breathing steadied.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  He slowly rose, a bright light amongst the gloom. “You have my gratitude.”

  An impact sent Rook violently to the right, and Reina on her ass. An enforcer grabbed the enhancer, intending to bite her face.

  “No!” Rook called.

  Mara whirled around to meet the enforcer, but was cut by a goblin behind her. Shit, we’re getting surrounded. Rook forced himself to his feet and rushed towards Reina. The enforcer’s mouth went slack just before he was slammed on his back from a wicked hip toss. Reina finished him off with three quick thrusts of her blade.

  “Stay behind me, you three.” Rook looked around at the apprehensive goblins. “My mana hasn’t gone down once. With any of my magical attacks.” He shot two more projectiles out, striking a goblin in the shoulder and one in its weapon.

  “Good thing too, that sap almost brought me to mana sickness,” Reina said within breaths. “I’m on the verge of puking.”

  “Noted.” Rook grabbed a nearby goblin’s discarded weapon and sent it soaring into the chest of another goblin. Another, he focused on the echo of its breastplate and willed it into the air. “See what I mean? My mana’s showing no sign of depletion.” Then he smashed the goblin into the ground like a meteor on his skull with a crack. The splattered goblin showered nearby goblins with a spray of blood. Why did I do that so easily?

  The goblins around the group looked on in horror, several backing up, retreating from the fight.

  “Bring the intruders!” Big, dumb, and ugly, bellowed.

  “Does the ogre have to yell everything he speaks?” Rook asked, digging one pinky into a ringing ear.

  An enforcer came up, different from the rest. His stomach burned, and his face felt flushed and cold. “Oh, God. It looks like it’s wearing a scalp like a wig.”

  Al looked around. “Is it wearing a human scalp?”

  Reina burped. “Oh maker.”

  Mara cringed, trying not to look directly at the decayed scalp.

  Dressed in the Thunderfist armor, the enforcer stood a head above the others. On its pale green head, it wore an old, decayed scalp of shaggy black hair, mort flesh hanging on the edges. It made him look like Frankenstein’s monster. Wrapped around its thick hand was a chain linked to a collar on a goblin that was dragging limp behind.

  Rook watched the goblin’s blood-soaked head rise. “Raccoon?!” He took a step forward. “Oh hell no.”

  Raccoon was tied with a chain around his neck, like the leash on a dog. His face was misshapen with multiple fractures, and his black eye was closed shut within his battered face. Worse yet, when Toupee pulled his body from the floor, he wobbled as if there was a great strain to keep his balance. His brain must have taken a beating as well.

  “These guys are so dead.”

  A noise escaped the frankenforcer’s cracked lips, then turned into a fit of deep guttural laughter that sounded wrong. As if it was pretending to know how to laugh, as if it wasn’t ever meant to. Downright evil. His shoulder felt the pinch of nails as Reina squeezed tighter. I know, me too. The enforcer disappeared within the chaos of oncoming goblins. I’ll come back for you, Raccoon. The goblins must have found out that Raccoon was the one who betrayed them; had they been hanging upside down, still their fates may have been sealed.

  Shifting in the dim blue beyond the glow of the Al’s sword, more than what his eyes could pick up in the inky black. The disorganized mass of figures parted like the Red Sea for the ogre.

  Al sidled next to them. “How many?”

  Rook squinted his eyes, straining to get a better focus. “I don’t know, about four at the front. I’m guessing the leader wants to see us tired out before coming into the fray.” Rook met the unblinking gaze of the ogre. “Mara, you can’t see in the dark, can you?”

  The Torokin shook her head in the negative. “I have heightened smell, but that’s it.”

  Rook grimaced at the carnage. The spades of Thunderfist scaled that cliff face just to be landed on by their boss.

  Al bared his teeth, no doubt feeling refreshed from Reina’s stamina buff. “Let’s send them to their Maker,” she continued, her long blue eyebrow twitching with excitement as she swung her sword.

  Rook thought of his Grandpa Jimmy, a foreign thought within the carnage, wherever he ended up, would be proud of him for doing so. This wasn’t a military police Soldier deployment in a war zone. This was a cavern full of man-eating goblins, and for the life of him, he wasn’t worried about himself, only his friend and the elf. Leadership does that to you, it doesn’t take the fear away, but places it to the side to safeguard those you care for.

  Three of the monsters approached the trio, two holding swords and the middle one with a nasty-looking fist weapon in its gnarled hands.

  The one in the middle, an ugly thing by any unbiased standard, began hissing out commands to his others in their primitive language. The pair responded with a series of clicks and hacks. The pair began dragging the swords with an awful scraping sound on the cavern ground. They must have been too slow, because the middle goblin jogged up and kicked the one to his left.

  “Move. Guk!”

  The opposite right goblin followed the quickened pace. Fanning in a wide circle around them, they began to make a noise Rook guessed was laughter. He’s laughing at me when he looks like a horse’s taint? It happened quickly after this, deadly quick. Rook plucked a bowling ball-sized rock and sent it red rover style directly into the center of the right goblin’s chest with a meaty thud. He stumbled back, clawing at the pain, as if it could scratch away pulped innards. After a moment of intense gurgling, it collapsed. He plucked the same bloody boulder free of the ground and whipped it to the left. Failing to dodge, the rock struck the goblin in the side of its head, dropping it to the earth below.

  “Nice Shot!” Rook said, pretending to be an announcer. “Shit,” Rook said, as the last goblin rushed towards him and Reina.

  “Gwick. Take on me!?” The goblin shouted the question as if Rook were the silliest goose in Yorthon.

  “Yup,” Rook said beneath his breath.

  Rook was ready, holding his mace out in a middle guard stance. 3 paces, 2 paces, 1 pace. Rook could smell the goblin’s stink now, a strong, sickly smell. A mixture of blood and body odor. The goblin did not see Mara circle around, didn’t see the arch of her swing. He didn’t see the wicked smile on her furry face. The bastard most likely didn’t even feel the greatsword as it swiped through his neck.

  Rook flinched as a spray of arterial blood flew across his face. The goblin fell forward onto his face and slid, the head rolling forward past the skidding body. Good, a few more and we can move on. Reina, Mara, and Al busied themselves fighting amongst the crowd of goblins. Cutting and chopping them to bits. Rook’s plucked weapons and rocks throughout the cavern, promising death to any foolish enough to come close enough to present a target. These goblins were low-level, fodder for experience. He continued three more times, three more dead.

  “Reina, if I get overwhelmed, run.”

  ?? Even gods need to be held sometimes

  What to Expect:

  - An epic, multi-book space opera with a large found family and multiple POVs.

  - A powerful but emotionally vulnerable protagonist with chaotic powers he struggles to control.

  - Strong, capable, and sometimes morally gray women.

  - High stakes, cosmic threats, and detailed world-building.

  What NOT to Expect:

  - LitRPG/System elements

  - Lone wolf power fantasy

  - A story that is only about romance

  This story contains mature themes, explicit sexual content, and graphic violence. It is not suitable for readers under the age of 18.

  90+ Chapters in the first month

  500,000+ words already written and backlogged