"Alright, let's do this!" With that declaration of mine, Peyton and I started moving. Four High Goblins, as if in response, simultaneously launched downward slashes towards me. In an attempt to block all of them by positioning my fire blade horizontally, I was instantly surprised by the sight of all four of the High Goblins' swords being cut in half at the same time. The High Goblins, still in a state of shock, much like myself, stopped to look at their now cut clean in half swords. As I noticed that, I snapped out of it, deciding not to waste any more time, then went on to behead each one of them. All the other High Goblins were keeping a small distance, as if wary of me, only attacking head on if they deemed it necessary.
"Fine then, if you won't come to me, I'll come to you."
I ran straight towards them, opposite from Peyton, who had already slayed her fair share of them. Her mastery of the blade was outstanding. With a single swing, she took down a large number of them effortlessly. Noticing their wariness, she had also decided to attack them all head on. As she approached them, they all responded in kind to gang up on her, but to no avail.
Swing after swing.
Slash after slash.
She had them dropping like flies. None of their blood spilled on her clothes, not even a single drop to speak of. In addition to the onslaught from the High Goblins, a nearly countless number of arrows and spears kept flying at us continuously, she made sure to deal with them accordingly, parrying and slashing them one after another while taking out as many Goblins as possible. In almost no time at all, she had already eliminated over a third of the High Goblins present. I wasn't going to allow myself to be beat. Bladework had been activated, Cultivator was also in full gear, all that was left was for me to start getting serious.
I concentrated more Mana to the fire blade while dashing towards my side of the High Goblins, all the while allowing the numerous arrows and spears flying at me to pierce me and then yanking them out afterwards. The blade slightly changed colour. The luminescent yellow from before started to give birth to a light reddish glow. A large group of High Goblins were infront of me, raring to attack, their swords raised high, spirits looking almost indomitable. The reality, however, was far from what they could ever imagine.
I beheaded the first.
~Ting!~
Cut the second in half.
~Swing!~
Pierced the third through his chest.
~Swoop!~
Started using him as a human-shield, or...'Goblin-shield', then rammed through the other ones' forces using his now lifeless corpse.
~Thud!~
~Bam!~
~Pow!~
Swear I was on a roll.
"Damn, I'm on a roll."
See?
Anyway. I found myself surrounded afterwards as ten High Goblins jumped at me in unison. Yanking my fire blade out if the dead body of the High Goblin from before, I launched a rotating slash taking all of them down along with an over twenty extra that stood behind them. I looked at all the High Goblins I attacked afterwards, all their bodies sparked in flames and burned to ashes.
"An aftereffect? Narly."
I had created some significant space between me and my attackers. Taking advantage, I jumped upwards. While in midair, I launched a large number of continuous differently positioned swings. Slashes in the form of fire appeared from the blade and immediately flew straight to my targets. All the High Goblins that were left burned in flames as a result of the slashes permeating through their bodies. Peyton and I quickly regrouped afterwards, and returned to our back-to-back position, continuously parrying the arrows and spears flying at us. As we did that, the spear Goblins started charging at us to attack us from up close. Noticing their onslaught growing more intense, I acted.
"Peyton, I have a plan. You might have to hold off the spear guys on your own as result though."
"Oh yeah? Well I'm sure I can handle that much, if for a little while. Let's hear it."
"Firstly, do you think you can throw me like, a hundred metres up high?"
"I can launch you at least a thousand metres up high."
"Yeah uhm...don't do that. I just need about a hundred."
"Sure thing. What are you gonna do?"
"I wanna take care of the archers, they're not exactly making anything easy for us right now, I might be able to draw their fire away from you too."
"That'd really decrease my load a lot, thanks. How about we make some space then!" As she declared that, she grabbed my left hand, pulling me close then wrapped her left hand around my waist. Slightly bewildered, I couldn't help but jest.
"Eh? Hell of a smooth operator, aren't ya?"
"Be quiet please."
She then did a rotating slash, taking down all the Goblins that were surrounding us within a ten metre radius. After that, she let me go, stuck First Dawn in the ground and joined her hands together as she squated down a little.
"Whenever you're ready." She said.
"Heh." I dashed towards her then hopped on to her joined hands as she pushed upwards, launching me very high in the sky, exactly as much as I wanted her to.
"Her control over her own strength is impeccable." I thought as I flew up.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road."
With that, I surveiled all the archer Goblins in the area. They had instantly noticed me the moment I flew up and had all directed their attention towards me. Even a few of the spear Goblins situated way back were now focused on me as a bonus. I took that as a good sign as Peyton was holding off a fair share of them on her own, so I used Cultivator and Ifrit to change the fire blade to a a bow. I then conjured ten fire arrows at once and pulled them along the bow, the arrows started spinning, the flames growing more and more intense each second, some even forming around my body as I felt a calming warmness envelope me entirely. I launched the arrows at some of the archer Goblins.
A large amount of arrows and spears were flying at me while I was in midair but with Bladework bettering my maneuverability, I was able to evade the ones that aimed for my head and heart, letting the rest hit me with expertise. The arrows I fired, however, went on to take the lives of what looked like over two-hundred archer Goblins, burning them all to a crisp. Surprised at the attack's efficiency, I conjured ten more arrows and shot them quickly then did it again three more times in a row. Right before losing altitude as my body started dropping back down, I noticed Peyton, who was doing her best to hold off the spear Goblins, was slightly and slowly getting overwhelmed.
"That doesn't look good." I thought as I was falling down.
"Alright, time to try something new."
Adding to Ifrit, I activated both Tetrax and Marid automatically activating the Trigon Element King Skill then activated the Fury of Dantian Skill. From my Dantian, I circulated Mana throughout my entire body and on to my hand. With that, I changed the fire bow to one of water, then added a water arrow. I then formed a wind bow over the water bow, as if coating it with wind, then did the same with the arrow. Finally, I repeated that process again, only with the fire element this time. The combination of all three elements gave off an almost mesmerizing aura to it. It was a single arrow, but it felt more powerful than at least a hundred arrows of any one element. It's no secret that I was pleased with the results, however the synergy still felt a bit lacking. So I activated the Astral Unification Skill.
"Oh yeah, this is it. I can feel it. The sensation....of a Special Attack. The more I develop these things, the more I start to understand them. Special Attacks. I get it now. Whether a Skill gets a Special Attack or not isn't dependant on its Rank, the concept is entirely random. It doesn't happen consciously, so it's completely out of our control. They're like a manifestation of our subconscious desires and wills. You never know when you'll get a Special Attack, it just happens when it happens, but when it does, everything just suddenly becomes clear. The attack's name, what it does, how to use it, everything....heh, let's see this through then."
"Peyton!" I shouted as I was free-falling. Peyton then looked up at me, so I added.
"Jump up towards me. now!" She didn't hesitate for a single second and did just that. As she did, I pulled the single three-elemental arrow I had created back along my bow. The arrow started spinning. Faster than all the other ones from before. I then uttered:...