The Crashing Waves part 1

Kim made her way to the stairs as quickly as she was able to. It didn't help that she had to disentangle herself from Elin before she could do that, but once she wasn't tripping over Elin, she made quick timing. Especially since the villagers hadn't yet had time to really start to panic at the sudden commotion.

She drew her short sword, as part of the discussions she'd had with Jonas was that while her bastard sword would reach farther, and keep the goblins farther away from her, the narrow stairs would make it harder to effectively wield. It would allow pretty much stabbing attacks, precision cuts, or jabs. Not the usual swinging that allowed it to get more power from.

She had slept in the leather armor she'd gotten. While she had worried that It would be uncomfortable, with how the leather hugged every contour of her body, in some ways more than she'd like, it felt more like a second skin to her when she'd slept. It also didn't hurt that Elin liked how I looked as well.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Jonas throwing his dagger from the midpoint on the stairs at the goblins that were trying to get through the door at the top of the stairs that they'd broken down. She walked up the stairs, resisting the urger to run, as Jonas looked like he had the situation in hand. At least for the moment.

Kim was sure that it was only a matter of time before they had a bugbear appear or worse, not to mention that Jonas' MP would have to run out sooner or later anyway. Especially since he didn't have that much to begin with. Though, she had to admit that as he caught his dagger when it came back to him, it seemed like it was effective at keeping the weaker goblins as bay.

"How long do you think you can keep this up for?" Kim asked as she came up behind him.

"Not long enough." Jonas admitted. "I only started this as a delaying tactic. I didn't expect it to work so well."

"Maybe we're just lucky that a bugbear hasn't come through yet," Kim commented. "I doubt you'd be able to take one of those out as easily."

"If one does appear, I'll let you handle it, okay?" Jonas remarked as he threw his dagger, catching the goblin right in its eye as it started to charge down the stairs.

"How many is that now?" Kim asked, when no other goblin came through the door and Jonas caught his dagger.

"Actually, that was seven," Jonas answered. "The first three were almost fighting each other to get through the door first. Then the two after that were a little slower, but it seems like they weren't all at the door when they started to try to come through."

"You think they weren't all in one group?" Kim asked, wondering if that would be a good or a bad thing.

"Probably," Jonas answered, sheathing his dagger. "Although, I think it might be good to move the bodies of the goblins to the side. No sense in letting other goblins see them and come here to investigate."

"How much time do you think that'll buy us?" Elin asked, surprising Kim, as she hadn't heard the girl come up.

"Not long enough," Jonas replied. "Though, I can't say if they're waiting to ambush us for doing just this, but it could keep any others from looking in this building. Which would at least make it easier for us to last until morning."

"Why morning?" one of the villagers who had a sword asked.

"They prefer moving at night," Elin answered.

"Elmo," Jonas called out quietly.

"Yeah?" Elmo said, standing next to Elin.

"Come with me and we'll move the dead goblins inside and out of view from the door," Jonas said. "If nothing else, it'll help keep any more of them from tripping and falling down the stairs on us. That actually might be worse than one of them actually not dying right away."

"What? Why?" Elmo asked as he followed Jonas up the stairs, Kim right behind them.

"Well, if it's falling down the stairs, it doesn't matter if we kill it, the momentum can still either make us fall down or at least throw off our balance," Jonas answered.

Kim smiled in approval. It seemed like Jonas had the mind to recognize potential hazards before they even were a possible reality. Although, she had a feeling he was more aware of their surroundings than he was letting on. Not that she had any idea of how to tell if that was the case.

They'd moved three goblins beore a sound caught their attention. It was a roar that sounded more like a 'I'm here' rather than anything else. Which told Kim that they were out of time. Though, she didn't say anything, wondering if she didn't say anything if it would allow her to not have to deal with Elmo any more.

If he died, Elin would be sad, but in this environment, it likely wouldn't be looked at as Kim's fault, even if they asked her why she didn't suggest they stop for the moment. After all, she could easily say something, but she largely didn't care if Elmo got taken out. Although, she wasn't as sure about Jonas. Especially since she couldn't say why it was that he didn't bother her like any other man she'd encountered.

Though, as soon as they dropped the fourth goblin, a bugbear showed up just outside the door. Kim lunged with her short sword, hoping to catch it off guard, but it merely blocked her attack with it's warhammer. Kim backed up a step to assess her opponent a little more, feeling like she was waiting for the bugbear to take its turn.

However, before she could even think of what to do next, she heard Elmo call out, "Scorch!"

Then one of the bugbear's hands let go of the warhammer, the top part of it swinging down to hang at about the level of the bugbear's knees, and the bugbear looked like it was trying to put the pain out of its mind, so Kim made another lunge, this time aiming for the bugbear's good arm, hoping to make it drop its warhammer. If she succeeded, then dealing with this goblin would be much easier.

While she managed to score a hit on its arm, the bugbear still didn't drop the warhammer. It merely growled and swung the hammer in a back handed manner, nearly catching Kim as it swung upward.

Even though she'd missed her chance to disarm the bugbear, she reacted expertly in taking advantage of the bugbear's opening. She slashed with her sword, slicing at the bugbear's exposed neck. As she struck her target, she did her best to ignore the spray of blood that suddenly covered her in a line, but fortunately, the blood didn't hit her in the eyes, so she wasn't blinded by it. She merely had to deal with the smell that made her stomach rumble in displeasure.

Even though the bugbear wasn't attacking again, it took Kim a minute to realize she'd killed the bugbear. Mostly because it took that long for the goblin's body to realize it was dead and begin to fall to the ground slowly.

Kim was vaguely aware of Jonas and Elmo moving past her to head down the stairs as she saw the gazes of several other goblins. None of which were bugbears, which she was grateful for.

However, these other goblins moved almost as one body as they ran over the body of their fallen comrade to make their own attack against her. The first one, she blocked with her sword, making the goblin's weapon go flying out of it's hand, which Kim was willing to make a quick strike to the goblin's chest, ending the threat it posed, as she stepped to the side to avoid the second goblin's attack, only to feel a sharp pain in her right thigh as the third goblin's attack sliced through her armor and into her skin.

What good is the armor if they can still slice right through it? Kim asked herself in annoyance as she tried to ignore the pain while walking down the stairs backwards, trying to only have to fight one goblin at a time.

Yet, the surviving goblins in front of here seemed to be able to fight side by side, even in a narrow space like the stairway. Kim swung her sword downward in an arcing attack, as if she was trying to split the goblin's head open.

The goblin moved its weapon, trying to block her attack, only for her to change her sword's trajectory and instead slice down into the shoulder, making the goblin stop all it was doing while it was stunned by the pain.

With a flick of her sword after that, she was able to finish off the goblins in front of her in an instant. She didn't celebrate yet, as she saw at least five other goblins from the door that they were entering from to the stairs right in front of her.

Kim nearly swung her sword behind her when she felt something touch her leg, startling her. She was able to stop in time from striking Elin. Kim shook her head, trying to clear it as she focused on the goblins coming down the stairs as she felt a warmth fill the wound on her thigh, before starting to fade away along with the pain.

Kim couldn't help but wonder how many more goblins there was in this group in addition to how many might be in the village altogether. Which then brought to mind to her that she couldn't be sure how much time they had until dawn.

If they could last that long, it didn't matter how many goblins they still had left to attack then. As the goblins would be trying to get where the light wouldn't bother them so much. Although, part of her wondered if they'd be able to go and try to deal with the portal they were coming from, when they'd likely be too tired from all this fighting at night, when they would otherwise prefer to be asleep.

As she swung and took out the next goblins with ease, she felt her heart drop into her stomach again as she saw another bugbear appear behind the other goblins making their way down the stairs towards her.