CH 210: Team Cohesion

Jasmine was the first to strike. The moment she saw movement, she let loose her first arrow. She took the fastest goblin completely off guard, causing it to collide with the goblins behind it. They tumbled out of the cave, directly in front of a charging Ursa.

The northern cleaved through the stumbling goblins with one fell swoop. The goblins behind them were covered in the blood of their slain brethren. They were too stunned to move, letting Elsie’s magic hit them. Her firewall ignited the stunned goblins, causing a massive pileup.

The moment her flames died down, more broke through. They trampled their dead kin to get out of the cave in a panic. Very few of them had any weapons and mostly cared about their own survival. Ursa and Jasmine took care of more, but a few broke through. Hannah stepped forward to intercept before Claire, so Claire held her position. She watched Hannah use a similar skill to her own Defensive Strike to bash the first goblin, then used her spear to skewer the following.

Claire almost jumped into action, but Hannah was faster. She let go of her spear and grabbed her one-handed axe for a third. The knight moved with precision and skill. She sliced the head of the goblin clean off before she moved to the recovering first goblin. She swung her axe, beheading that one, then retrieved her spear.

She rejoined Claire with a smile under her helmet. “How’d I do?” she asked in a chipper tone.

Claire hesitated for a moment, then spoke. “Very good, from what I could tell.”

“Thank you!”

“Pay attention, though,” Claire replied in a serious tone. “They’re grouping up.”

Hannah followed Claire’s gaze toward the entrance of the cave. Arrows and spells whizzed between the two, slowing the mob of goblins leaving the cave. They had taken care of at least a dozen goblins already, but the rest had equipment. Seems they killed only the goblins who panicked upon seeing the fire. The rest understood that it wasn’t just a fire, but that they were under attack.

Jasmine’s barrage of arrows was repelled by the wall of makeshift shields and armor they had, so she started being more precise. Elsie and Jasmine worked together to pick off the advancing mob, while Hannah and Claire pushed closer to the entrance. Ursa was pacing at the entrance, just waiting for them to exit.

Claire whistled at Ursa to get her attention. The northerner perked up and ran to Claire’s side. She had to hold back a giggle so as not to drop her guard, but she wanted to test how she fought with Hannah. Hannah handed Ursa her spear with a subtle laugh before the two frontliners moved closer, as did the mob of goblins.

Jasmine and Elsie stopped their barrage for the moment. This entire fight was an elaborate training exercise, as long as nothing unexpected happened. The two stood their ground, ready for the goblins. With fewer attacks assaulting them, the goblins were finally able to push out of the cave. They charged the two women in a mad dash for their survival.

Claire took a deep, calming breath. She readied her Defensive Strike in sync with Hannah charging her own. The two slammed their shields in near unison, hitting the middle of the charge. They quickly turned, back-to-back, and readied to be surrounded. Claire used her Lesser Taunt, letting out a warcry and funneling the attention to herself. The mob of goblins rushed to attack her with wild fury.

Claire raised her shield to block most of their wild attacks while the rest grazed her leather armor. She counterattacked with her sword, making quick jabs when she could. Hannah, on the other hand, was switching between bashing and slashing with her axe. Their attention was still on Claire, letting Hannah move freely.

The moment their attention on Claire waned, Hannah used her own Taunt. The two classes had several overlaps when it came to their basic skills, letting them trade attention. Hannah did use her skill a bit earlier than they practiced, but it didn’t matter. The attention was off Claire, and she could move freely.

She switched with Hannah, now going on the offensive. She slashed at the goblins threatening Hannah’s blind spot. Hannah kept their attention while Claire picked them off, just like before. Hannah’s taunt lasted longer than Claire’s, letting Claire soak up most of the kills for this first wave.

The next one was where it got more complicated. Ursa and Elsie were able to keep the rest at bay while the duo was occupied. But now, they have to throw Elsie’s magic into the mix.

Claire took care of the last of the goblins, just as Ursa reluctantly ran past the two. Jasmine commanded her to go back and for Elsie to finally join. The mage took a deep breath and assessed the battle. She had roughly ten seconds before the goblins clashed with Claire and Hannah, so she used that time to her advantage.

She fought with Claire more than a few times, learning her habits and what attacks she favored. Hannah, like Claire, preferred to open with her version of the Defensive Strike, but from there, they differed. Hannah, without her spear, was much more reactive, going for more counterattacks than pressing forward. Hannah’s next move after bashing the closest goblin would be to step back, giving Elsie a window to hit the stunned goblin.

‘You got this,’ Ana’s voice entered Elsie’s thoughts just before the clash.

Swelling with confidence, Elsie readied her lightning strike. It moved faster than her fireball, being near instantaneous, letting her weave it in between the fighters’ movements. The moment she saw Hannah’s shield glow, she raised her wand.

Just as she predicted, Hannah stepped back.

Elsie’s lightning bolt struck the stunned goblin, instantly killing it. Elsie exhaled the breath she was holding. She was thankful she predicted Hannah’s first movement correctly. It was the rest she would have trouble with.

Hannah didn’t have time to think about Elsie perfectly hitting the spell, her attention was quickly pulled away. She swung her axe to intercept another goblin charging her. While they had numbers, goblins had no tactics. So, any opening a goblin could find, it would pounce. Making it far too easy for a defensive fighter like Hannah to bait them.

That did not save her from Elsie mistiming her spells, though. She would occasionally feel Elsie’s magic glance off her back or her legs. There was only one instance of Elsie’s magic hitting Hannah directly in the back. Hannah had lower resistance than Claire did, so Hannah got the full brunt of Elsie’s spell. The knight very nearly lost her balance and fell into the goblin ranks. Thankfully, both Claire and Ana were quick to step in.

Ana quickly threw down her totem and focused her healing on Hannah, while Claire helped Hannah recover her balance.

“Holy fuck,” Hannah groaned to Claire. “Elsie’s more powerful than I thought.”

“Yeah, she is,” Claire replied while catching her breath. “Please don’t get mad at her. She’s still learning to fight with you.”

Hannah waved her hand. She looked back and gave Elsie a “thumbs up” for reassurance. “It’s okay. Just funny that the most amount of damage I’ve taken was from my ally.”

Elsie, on the other hand, was stunned. She panicked after hitting Hannah directly with her fireball. She hadn’t hit Claire with one since their time clearing slimes, and she feared she hurt Hannah. Ana was doing her best to heal Hannah and reassure Elsie.

Jasmine took over for Elsie while she recovered from her panic. She kept up the barrage of long-range damage, picking off the goblins that weren’t currently distracted by the totem. She’d scold Elsie for freezing later; right now, it was best to recover their frontline.

By the time Hannah recovered, there were only a handful of goblins left. Elsie finally recovered enough to cast again. Ana and Elsie devised a quick plan to funnel the goblins towards the two frontliners. Ana’s ward on one side and Elsie’s firewall on the other to create a “V” and cut off their escape.

Claire pressed the advantage, charging in with her Defensive Strike. She collided with three goblins, sending the whole group back and letting Hannah move forward. The now recovered knight charged with her axe, forgoing her defensive stance. Claire and Hannah swung, stabbed, and cleaved at the goblins until none of them remained alive.

By the end of it, all of the goblins that Jasmine had counted were dead. Forty or so were able to make it out of the cave entrance, while the rest were killed while trying to flee the fire. Contrary to what they expected, the fight went by extremely easily. The only real problem came with the amount of experience they gained from it.

These low-level monsters, even with their numbers, weren’t enough for any of them to level up. But, this was more to gauge their teamwork and how Hannah integrated with them. Elsie was a bit scared after the fight, just waiting for Hannah to blow up at her.

“That was a nice shot,” Hannah smiled down at Elsie. The older twin looked uncharacteristically timid in front of the knight. “It hurt like hell.”

“Sorry, I, um, thought you would move to the left, not right,” Elsie fidgeted with her dress. She bowed her head, “I did not mean t-”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Hannah laughed. She patted Elsie’s shoulder and continued, “You are still a novice adventurer. I expected many more issues when Toni insisted on joining you.”

Elsie exhaled in relief. She put on a brave smile, “I expected some sort of punishment or scolding, given how you and Ursa…”

“Punishment comes later,” Hannah replied. She chuckled and looked to the northerner, who was helping Claire clean up. “Ursa’s different. That was our pride clashing. With you, I’m the more experienced fighter, so I should build you up first.”

Ana grabbed Elsie’s hand. “T-that’s a bit unexpected, coming from you.”

Hannah shrugged. “Not my first time training newbies. Best way I’ve found for actual growth.”

“So what will my punishment be?” Elsie gave her a sly smile. Her nerves and anxiety were nearly fully gone.

“Mmm,” Hannah looked the older twin up and down. “I have to discuss with my master first.”