Numerous large fires belched out smoke, carrying with it the smell of burning wood and cooking meat as the students down into the valley at the goblin horde camped below. The camp was massive, numbering far more than the few hundred goblins that should mark one or even two raiding groups. This was a full warband, at the very least a Silver ranked threat. Keira frowned as she pulled out an eye glass to scan the camp below.

  As they watched the camp, something changed. A wave of power erupted from the very center, nearly bowling them over in surprise. Acting on instinct, Jun cast a single barrier around her party, the small grove of trees flashing with light as her shimmering barrier manifested as her party prepared to receive an attack. A few seconds later, a second wave washed over her barrier, carrying with it a sense of power but muted by the defensive spell. The oppressive force reminded her of the power Arwen used the day they met, though weaker than the force that had pressed them to the ground.

  Like the sound of waves crashing against the shore, the sound of guttural cheers and beating drums broke the silence of dusk, planting a seed of fear in Jun's heart. Whatever the goblins were celebrating probably wasn't good for them.

  "That might be a problem," Shiori said with a frown in her magical voice.

  Glancing at her Master, Jun turned away from her party, distracted as they were watching the camp for movement, and crouched down to whisper at her behind her hand.

  "Why Master? What was that?"

  "That, kitten, was a forced ascension. Your enemies grow stronger."

  "Forced ascension?"

  "Unnatural leveling. The goblins consumed something that forced them to grow stronger, but such power comes at a cost. Power is addictive. When easily gained, its easier to focus only on power for power's sake, abandoning all reason in the pursuit of more. These goblins, in pursuing power in this manner, have begun to view anyone beyond themselves as just a means to gain more power."

  "But can't you protect us?"

  "There's only so much I can do without attracting attention you aren't ready for. You must be ready to fight for your life, because I cannot promise you safety. As strong as I am, there are fates worse than death that I cannot shield you from."

  The seed in Jun's heart fully sprouted. She'd always felt safe with her Master around, sure that whatever might come, her Master could and would keep her safe, but that was a delusion. Shiori always insisted she grow stronger and be prepared to stand up for herself. But she thought that the worst case was death. Something she'd already gone through and remembered vividly. It wasn't terrible, and the second time around might even be better. Besides, there wasn't anything that really stopped her from coming back to Merinthia if she died again, was there?

  But a fate worse than death was far more intimidating for someone who remembered dying. She didn't think that was possible, but then she shouldn't have been surprised. As wonderous as magic was, it was equally terrifying. Soul parasites and drugs that erased memories shouldn't exist.

  Feeling far more exposed now, Jun glanced back through her instinctive barrier at the horde camped below, the magical construct dimly bathing the small clearing in a faint glow. In the lengthening dark of dusk, her spell might as well be a beacon for anyone paying attention, she realized with a mental curse. Dismissing the magical construct, Jun turned back to her Master. "What do we do?"

  Shiori audibly sighed. The sound was strange coming from her Master, sounding almost like a hiss. "You're grown enough that it's time you think for yourself kitten. Recall what that professor of yours taught you about goblins."

  Jun flushed at the mild scolding. It was easy to depend upon others to make decisions. Making them herself was... stressful. Taking a steadying breath, Jun drudged up what Professor Galimund explained to them months ago.

  A single bronze ranked goblin is rarely a threat for an equivalent ranked human, elf, orc, or any other bipedal sentient and even most monsters. An Iron ranked goblin is a challenge for someone a rank below, but not an unreasonable one, and a team of Bronze could easily handle a single Iron goblin. But that is only true when goblins are alone, and they rarely were. They're social but xenophobic, moving in groups centered around a core of powerful leaders, but hate nongoblins. Goblins enhance each other by proximity, with stronger goblins enhancing more in a wider area and being enhanced more by weaker goblins. In other words, the stronger the leader, the greater an individual threat each other goblin in the area is, and the more goblins in an area, the greater the strength of the leader.

  Jun's eyes widened with realization. "The goblins are getting stronger. The power we felt..."

  "Several goblins broke through from Iron to Silver, and the horde leader is at peak Silver," Shiori confirmed.

  "This isn't something we can fight alone then, not unless you do more than is safe for us, right?"

  "Yes. Even that useless peak Gold Arwen would struggle with this alone."

  A way forward started to form in Jun's mind. They were deep in dangerous territory, not yet noticed, but missing half their survival gear. They couldn't depend on anyone to save them either. Shiori said it would just make things more dangerous for her to get involved too much, and Jun didn't even trust Arwen as far as she could throw him, and she was pretty sure after months of training and all of her new stats, she could throw him decently far. Ideally into a volcano.

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  So standing and fighting was out as Arwen would probably just abandon them or swoop in at the last second, putting them at risk, like what he did to Cecilia and Corin's former team. And while Shiori could save them, it sounded like that would just invite potentially worse things. That left escape. If they left now, they could probably sneak out the same way they got in, then Jun could get them back to camp quickly enough, but she already knew Arwen wouldn't like that, and the IAG and Academy might not either. The whole point of the expedition was for them to combat the goblin threat to the city. Running away didn't do much at all. Not very good choices either way, but one was safer than the other.

  Decision made, Jun started to turn to her teammates, just in time to feel something tug at her jacket as it flew past. Before she could blink, a second thing tugged at one of her sleeves as searing line of pain cut across her cheek. Flinching back from the pain, Jun gasped as another trio of things whizzed through where she had just been standing and conjured her barrier again, just in time to block another trio of arrows aimed at her!

  "Attack!" she cried out, calling for the others as she traced back to where the arrows came from. Hidden in the gloom of the trees, Jun could just barely make out the stunted figures and pointed ears of a trio of goblins.

  "Where?" her teammates responded, whirling around as they grabbed their weapons, or in Aya's case, conjured a trio of spells. As Jun pointed out the shadowy figures, one of Aya's spells moved around Jun's barrier and burst into a spray of embers, illuminating the three archers aiming at them.

  Before Aya's spell even finished illuminating the area, the goblins turned and bolted into the forest. For just a moment, Jun felt a wave of relief as they fled, only for it to be replaced with horror as reality washed over her. Getting out stealthily was no longer an option. If the goblins that shot at her got away, they'd warn the other goblins and the horde would be on them in minutes. If her team captured or killed them, she was certain they'd eventually be noticed as missing and someone would investigate, then the horde would be on them, but it might take them hours to be noticed. Two bad decisions, but one was far worse than the other.

  She needed to act. Shrinking her barrier down, Jun fed mana into her [Piercing Missile], pushing down the nausea and guilt that she felt about taking a life as a dozen small bullets manifested and shot off like a swarm of angry bees. Despite her feelings on killing, if it came down to her and her friends or the goblins, she knew who she'd pick.

  A high-pitched scream rang out as her spells thudded into the trees around them and the goblins dove behind a tree, disappearing from sight. She missed. It shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was. She'd spent months neglecting the spell, focusing just on her barriers and snares while neglecting to practice with the very first spell Shiori taught her, even leaving unevolved this whole time because it just didn't feel right to her. But that neglect was coming back to bite her now.

  Jun felt a rush of wind as Keira blurred past her, already chasing after the escaping goblins, with Cian, Michael, and Aya sprinting past her to catch up. Jun started to sprint after her teammates, dismissing her barrier as she did, but the gap between her and the others only grew. Even with all of her levels and training, she was still physically the weakest of her team. But that didn't mean she was the slowest. The thought came unbidden and she cursed herself as she began to cast. She wasn't limited to just what she could do with her body. Fixing her intent, Jun cast her snare, the spell's tendrils exploding from her back! With an infusion of mana and intent, she pushed herself off the ground as she released her hold on the barrier and started moving. The tendrils acted like long, sinuous legs and hands, pushing off the ground or snaking around trees and limbs and pulling her forward. The movement was awkward and far from stealthy, but it was fast!

  Jun soon passed her teammates, pulling herself forward with branches and trunks as she leapt over them. A few seconds after that, she was breaking through to a game trail just in time to witness Keira pouncing on one of the fleeing goblins, her daggers punching into its neck even as she ducked a hastily shot arrow. Ahead on the trail Jun could just make out the last two lookouts, one darting away as the other nocked another arrow and aimed it down the trail at them. Feeding her mana into a spell, Jun conjured a barrier to deflect a hasty shot away from her, the projectile spinning off to thud into a nearby tree trunk. Before she could retaliate, Aya burst through the brush, a clear blade of ice already slashing across the distance between them and the archer.

  The goblin tried to jump out of the way of the spell, but it was too slow, a shriek of pain filling the air as its arm thudded to ground, the attached hand still clenching its bow tight.

  Seeing that her party had the first and second goblins handled, Jun sped off after the last, racing through the trees as she chased it down.

  Bursting past the trailhead, Jun finally spotted the last of the lookouts as it headed for an already lit torch dangerously close to the large pile of oil-soaked wood that dominated the small outpost.

  Lunging forward, Jun reached out towards the goblin with her hand in a claw, one of her tendrils snapping forward to wrap around the goblin's ankle. The goblin stumbled as Jun's spell started to siphon mana from it, but she knew the weakness was more from surprise than the slow drain of mana. Taking advantage of the goblin's surprise, Jun ripped it back towards her, spilling the goblin's quiver of arrows to the ground in a clatter as she violently dragged it away from the torch. Snarling, the goblin clawed into the frozen ground, desperately trying to drag itself to the torch just out of reach. Though the goblin had a strength reaching into the peak of Bronze, Jun's spell backed by mana was stronger and the goblin's claws left furrows in the ground as she pulled it closer. As if giving up, the goblin let go of the ground, the sudden lack of resistance whipping the goblin towards Jun's face!

  As it flew towards her, it pulled the knife from its belt and pointed it at Jun's heart with a bloodthirsty and mischievous grin. Acting on instinct, Jun shrugged her shield in front of her, angling the metal plate to deflect the goblin's thrust away as she lashed the tendril holding the goblin away from her, smashing it into the frozen ground with a sickening crunch.

  Heart pounding, Jun checked the last goblin. Dark blood leaked from pointy ears, faintly shimmering in the flickering torchlight of the outpost while glassy eyes stared at her from a face twisted with anger and hate in death. It's us or them, she justified to herself, pushing down the rising bile and disgust. Us or them.

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