So Close, Yet So Far

Jonas could feel the press of the goblins as they continued to push their way towards them. Almost like a body's auto-immune system tying to repel a foreign invader. While the bodies piled up at their feet, Jonas couldn't say how much longer tey'd be able to hold the goblins off.

Kim was doing well against them, having killed more than anyone else in their group, but even she would only be able to do so much. Elmo had killed several goblins himself with his magic, bu it wasn't doing that much with how many goblins were filling the room.

Elin had used her magic to buff Kim and Jons, but he wasn't sure what else the girl would be able to do, especially since her MP could only restore so fast, and he was glad that she hadn't used any f her magic in this fight other than to give buffs.

Although, since he was aware that she had to have encountered goblins earlier, he couldn't truly be sure if that was by choice or because she was currently out of MP. All he could be sure of was that she had a lot of nervous energy behind him.

As for himself, he was mostly holding his own, though, he wasn't sure what else he could do at the moment. While he wouldn't mind sudden and unexpected help to show up, he seriously doubted that anything like that would happen this time.

For one thing, it was still late at nihgt and he had no idea how ong it would take another group to show up here with the strength to fight. Which meant he needed to consider them on their own. If they didn't figure out a way to deal with all the goblins, whatever EXP their were gaining from taking out all these goblins wouldn't matter. As they wouldn't be able to adjust their stats if they were killed.

Briefly, Jonas looked down the corridor to either side of them, wondering if they should fall back, at least a little. If only because the dead goblin bodies were piling up at his feet, though not anywhere near as much as they were around Kim's feet. Which was clearly only going to get higher, the more goblins they killed.

Jonas worried about it, mostly because if the goblins suddenly stopped pressing the attack so much, they might unconsciously stp forward, where they would then be on unstable footing, as the bodies could shift with the slightest change of weight and if the bodies shifted, they could get thrown off balance. Giing the goblins an opening Jonas was sure they'd capitalize on.

However, before he had a chance to say anything, he noticed the press from the goblins eased a little. Not so much that they might press forward, but rather than the flood of goblins seemed to be abating, if only a little.

"Don't move forward," Jonas warned Kim. "I think we're almost through this wave."

Kim didn't respond and Jonas didn't look to see if she'd heard him. He had to trust that she heard and wouldn't move forward. He certainly couldn't afford to have her fall or to even look to see how she was doing. If he did, he was sure that the goblins would cut him down faster than a flock of birds would devour a loaf of bread tossed in their midst.

One thing he was sure of with the fight was that his arms were getting rather tired. He dodged most of the attacks from the goblins and didn't use many of his skills, but his stamina would only last so long. Which also drove the point home for him that his system wasn't designed to be a combat system.

While it had some offensive skills, it really wasn't one to focus too much on those. They seemed more complimentary rather than vital. However, it was the closest they had to a second front-line class in their group.

The primary method Jonas was using to efficiently killing the goblins was through slicing their throats open. It was one of the vital areas that was rather difficult to protect against, and he was making sure to use that to his advantage.

Yet, he wasn't able to make that strike as often as she'd like. Most of the time, he was trying to avoid the goblins' attacks. Although, he wasn't sure how much long he'd be able to last. Even with the end in sight, he could feel the fatigue wrapping itself around his body, like a warm blanket that made going to sleep so inviting.

He couldn't' help but wonder if they were going to end up losing when they were almost to the end of this group of goblins. He held no illusions that this was all there was, but it wasn't like that mattered. What mattered was that he felt himself running out of steam when they were nearly to the end of the wave of goblins in front of them.

+++

Kim had lost track of how many goblin's heads she'd split open, how many throats she'd cut, or even how many chests she'd cut into. Everything was beginnning to become a blur to her. She felt vaguely aware of the fact that thesea of goblins in front of them seemed to be shrinking, but couldn't bring herself to focus on that and figure out what it meant.

She was mostly swinging her sword without thinking at the moment. Although, she really wasn't swinging it that much. Merely swinging it when she sensed there was an opening. Otherwise, she was doing her best to keep the goblins from hitting her.

She knew that if she didn't focus on that, the goblins would be able to cut her with their blades and eventually kill her with a thousand cuts or however that phrasing went. Maybe it had been a mistake for her to have stayed awake the entire night, but rgiht at that moment, she felt like it took twice as much effort to swing her sword as it usually did.

Every so often, she was aware of Elmo launching a spell that would kill several of the goblins, but she couldn't really tell whether or not it was helping her bridge her flagging strength and what she still had to deal with in front of her.

The pile of goblin bodies had forced them to step a few paces already, to where she couldn't be sure if the goblins wouldn't be able to squeeze past her to attack her either from behind or one of their mages in their back line.

She also couldn't help but feel like her sword weighed several times what it had in the past. She felt sweat stinging her eyes. Her footing was unstable because of how slipper the blood on the floor made it.

She was starting to feel like everything was slowing down for her. Or at least she was, to where her mind was starting to lose track of what was happening. Especially when she felt a red hot pain on the side of her stomach appear.

She managed to kill the goblin that hit her, but suddenly the blows kept coming at her faster than she was able to keep track of. She even saw while things of energy going through the air in front of her. While she knew that she should know what they were, her mind wasn't connecting what it was.

Suddenly, she felt her left foot slip and give out from under her, to where she was falling and could feel that death was coming. She'd given her best shot and found it just wasn't quite good enough.

She wasn't one to reflect on what choices she'd made and try to think what she might have been done better, yet all she could think of as she felt her sword slide out of her fingers as three new points of pain suddenly appeared on her body, was that she'd failed Elin. The one she'd wanted most to protect would either die herself, become a plaything for these disgusting creatures, or would somehow survive this and have to leave her behind.

Her mind was so focused on that, that she hardly even realized when she stopped feeling new points of pain enter her body. As a result, she suddenly found it hard to breath. She wasn't sure what was going on, nor could she make out anything outside of blurred shaped in front of her. Everything was starting to feel surreal and she couldn't help but wonder if that's how it felt to actually die. Not dying where you could still be revived, but actually dying where you were gone for good.

Even the hands that suddenly appeared on her body, moving around on the areas where she felt the most pain, seemed like it was happening to someone else. Then even as the world started to move around her as she felt someone pulling her arms, and the ground sliding against her legs and back, she hardly felt like anything was happening. Almost like she was merely an observer from the point of view of her own body, but had otherwise already left her body behind. The only thing she fully regretted was losing Elin so soon after she'd found her.

The one she was pretty sure she'd be willing to end the life she had on her own world, so that she could go with Elin to her world, even if that meant she would only be Elin's piece on the side. She was quite sure she'd be fine with that if nothing else.