Waking up the following morning Evan felt as if he had slept on a bed of rocks. To be fair it was not entirely inaccurate as in this medieval society did not have proper sleeping bags or camping mattresses. He sat there in his tent for a couple of minutes watching the sun slowly peaking through cracks in the canvas and listening to the footsteps and talking of the group he had temporarily joined as they deconstructed the camp and prepared breakfast. Ever so slowly he willed himself to get up and prepare for the day.
Stepping outside the tent Evan instantly noticed he was the last one awake as his tent was the only one not already deconstructed and packed in the saddlebags. Thomas was the one making breakfast apparently and the smell coming from the pan set over the fire instantly made his mouth water. Moving closer he saw the twin peeling what he was certain were potatoes. After slicing them into strips he would drop them into the pan where they would sizzle slightly in rendered down fat cut from the meat used the previous night. Since Evan had gotten used to his college’s cafeteria food anything would have tasted better, and the smell alone promised a delicious meal to start the day off with.
Sitting down next to Thomas he asked if there was anything he could do to help. Without looking up Thomas just told him to clean up the meal after everyone was finished eating. Getting the hint that small talk was not the twins favorite activity Evan sat in silence listening to the potatoes sizzling in the grease while the rest of the group slowly made their way over to the fire. When Jack and Sarah approached Evan noticed the sweat dripping down their bodies and realized that they must have been sparring since before he was even awake. Ana and Charlie had also been practicing he learned but due to the less physically intensive nature of spellcasting they were not as drenched in sweat as the other two. When Ana saw Evan, she walked over and immediately asked for a demonstration of his flame later. Not seeing a reason to say no he agreed to show her at their next stop. The entire group laughed at her skipping away, even the reserved twins let out a hearty chuckle at the sight. Seeing his confused expression Sarah explained that Ana was constantly studying different types of fires and was extremely talented when it came to fire spells and mana. According to Charlie, who had been in the same grade as her in the academy, she had been obsessed even then begging or paying anyone who had any sort of fire aspected spell to show her so she could study it. This had inevitably given her a reputation within the school as the crazy pyromaniac magician. Learning some of Ana’s history was interesting even if it was only surface level information as he had not really learned anything about the members of the group.
When the food was ready everyone quickly piled up their plates and began eating with a craze only seen in wild beasts. Honestly, Evan could not blame them as he was doing the exact same thing and almost choked multiple times due to the number of potatoes he had shoved in his mouth. Everyone finished their meal quickly, and while Evan cleaned the pan and plates, the rest of the group dismantled the camp and stored everything away. Once all the bags were secured and the straps and saddles double checked, their journey began anew with Jack promising a break in an hour to find some monsters that had been reported near the road path they were taking.
30 minutes in the group got a foreboding feeling which was only solidified by the twins, who functioned as scouts, reported a goblin village a few minutes down the road from where they were traveling. While goblins were not feared by the group as they had all gained their classes and could easily overpower them, the strange appearance of them so close to the road struck the group as odd. Evan asked why this was strange and Jack explained that there were regular patrols whose purpose was to clear tribes that were living too close to any form of civilization and they were supposed to have passed through the area only three days before. He also explained that the reason such weak creatures were often hunted was due to their incredibly fast reproduction rates coupled with their extremely violent tendencies.
The group briefly discussed how to handle the situation with Jack advocating to leave them alone as it would only serve to hinder their progress. The rest of the group were set on eradicating the tribe though and after arguing the easy levels Evan could gain did Jack relent. As they rounded the corner and saw the tribe for the first time Evan could not help but question how they would defeat the goblins. They had made wooden walls surrounding the village and Evan could see some patrolling. What was even more gruesome however where the heads of four soldiers decorating the walls with their mouths stuck open as if screaming in horror. Looking at the situation Jack quickly told the group that there must be a goblin shaman and a powerful one at that residing within. The good news was a village of that size should not have any hobgoblins protecting them.
They quickly placed stakes behind an outcropping of rocks and leashed the horses to them and began to strategize a plan. Due to the wooden construction of the walls, Ana planned to ignite them while Charlie intended to use his wind magic to direct the smoke deeper into the village. Their goal was to flush the goblins out into the open, where the others would be positioned to intercept them. With the plan solidified the group began to approach the village hidden amongst the sparse trees and rocks. When Jack gave the signal Ana began to prepare one of her larger spells and Charlie waited with her ready to shift the wind in their favor. Everyone else began to slowly move towards the walls hoping to catch the unorganized and fleeing goblins off guard.
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Evan could see the rising concentration of mana that Ana was gathering and watched anxiously as it was released and arced towards the goblin’s defenses. He was unprepared for the force of the spell almost falling over as the explosion’s shockwave hit him despite being a decent distance away from the impact. He grinned as the plan was working flawlessly and smoke began to fill the village. The physical fighters of the group quickly made their way to the gate and waited for goblins to come running out at any second. After 20 seconds passed Evan started to get a sense of trepidation that was completely unfounded as so far nothing had gone wrong.
15 seconds later when still no goblins rushed out of the gate Jack shouted that something was wrong and then before Evan knew what was happening the plan crumpled. The fires that had been steadily spreading across the wall suddenly died out and an organized force of goblins with one that was almost double the size of the rest came charging around the corner having left through another gate. Just as they turned to face that group appeared from the opposite side of the wall. Jack saw the situation and called out in warning that they were surrounded with both a hobgoblin and shaman being present. Evan turned around to face the group attacking from behind and swung his sword as the first of the little green humanoids came within range. His sword effortlessly sliced through the first one’s neck decapitating it, however due to the strength Evan had but behind the swing his balance was thrown off as more approached. Thankfully, the other warriors were more experienced and quickly began to slaughter the goblins. The twins danced around each other in a macabre dance of steel and death. The opposite was true for Jack and Sarah who both swung their oversized weapons with practiced ease killing at least two goblins with each swing.
While they had much better technique, stats, and equipment than the horde of green humanoids viciously attacking them with reckless abandon, Evan could tell that eventually the group would be worn down. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the hobgoblin and shaman moving towards Ana and Charlie who were still separated from the group. Hoping his newfound companions could hold their own, he took off sprinting towards the separated mages. The goblin shaman noticed him and motioned for the hobgoblin to deal with him while they dealt with the mages. As the brute lumbered towards him Evan began to feel hopeless seeing the sheer size and strength of the creature before him. As the two approached each other it swung its tree trunk of a club. Knowing any sort of blow could potentially end him due to his low constitution he ducked under the club and sliced against the creature’s stomach. While his sword might have cut through the goblins without issue the hobgoblin’s tough hide proved a different matter entirely and Evan’s sword barely managed to leave a thin line of blood on its side looking more like a paper cut than what a steel blade should do to bare flesh. The cut only enraged the hulking brute as its swings became erratic and often were not even close to hitting Evan. That did not make them any less dangerous as the hobgoblin put more strength behind its swings and due to Evan’s inexperience in battle he could not predict where to dodge.
The battle continued like this for some time as he narrowly dodged the club and retaliated with small cuts that barely injured the beast. Just as Evan had been falling into a rhythm a loose rock slipped out beneath his foot right as he was about to dodge. He could only watch in horror as the club narrowly missed his chest instead grazing off his dominant shoulder. Even this minimal amount of contact was enough however, and Evan heard his shoulder dislocate with an audible pop as he cried out in pain. Unable to hold his sword anymore he was left defenseless before the hobgoblin. Seeing that one of its strikes finally connected and disarmed its opponent it grinned wildly slowly raising the club above its head to land the finishing blow. As Evan watched the club descend in slow motion, he could not help but feel anger. Less than 48 hours after he was reincarnated and given magic, and he ends up dying to some overgrown goblin. He could not accept that, he would not accept that. Something snapped within him as if a dam within him broke and magic flared out of him. His tattoos lit up the same sickly green color as the flames that shot out around him. Most of this wave of fire quickly disappeared as there was no fuel to burn however around a quarter of it hit the hobgoblin directly.
It stopped moving for a second, confused as to why the prey it thought good as dead just erupted in flames before it felt pain coursing through it. The pain was not even on its skin where the flames rapidly spready across its gigantic body; no, these flames seemed to injure its very being attacking the very core of who it was and with that pain it could feel its body slowly shriveling up like a raisin. It felt its muscles growing weaker and eventually it collapsed under its own weight unable to support itself as its very lifeforce seemed to be leaving its body. Its last thought before it died was where the weak soldier who could barely cut it had gone and why was it replaced by a man glowing the same sickly green as the flames.
Evan felt good. No that did not accurately describe the feeling he felt alive as if he had been viewing life through a foggy window and was finally seeing the world for the first time. He felt his arm snap back into place as the hobgoblin’s energy flowed into him bolstering his power. When he leaned over and picked up his dropped sword, he saw the green flames travel down the length of the blade. Quickly he surveyed the battlefield and grinned whispering to himself “now this is magic.”
