End Of World Marriage

Goblins and Wild Dogs

Kate felt Kenan shake her awake. She groaned softly, her eyes crusted over and feeling like they were filled with sand. She'd barely gotten any rest, but she felt a little better. She turned her head to the side, noticing that Kenan had set the tent up and moved the rest of their supplies inside. Her spear and shield were placed beside her, and he had the bow in his hands. The quiver rested on his back, and the gladius hung at his waist. He was covered in a light sheen of sweat, and the black T-shirt hugged his fit frame, exposing the corded muscles she'd once spent hours observing.

She turned her head away, a light dusting of red on her cheeks as she got to her feet. "Is it time? Are the waves here?"

Kenan shook his head. "We have ten more minutes. I thought it was better to wake you now to give you some time to... well, wake up. Jumping into a fight directly from sleep wouldn't do wonders for your focus. Come on, you need to get ready." He straightened up and reached out a hand to her.

For a second she looked at it, and it seemed for a moment she was going to take his hand. But she just pushed herself up, ignoring his outstretched hand. Kenan blinked, but his focus remained unshaken. He turned to face the direction the monsters would spawn from.

"So what's the plan?" Kate asked, surprising Kenan. He turned to look at her. She held his gaze but did her best not to let anything show in hers.

"You seem to have picked up your Basic Fire Bullet skill pretty well. I was able to get some practice with my Basic Wind Bullet skill and almost leveled up my Basic Weapons Handling."

Kate blinked in surprise. Kenan had been practicing over the last two hours? No wonder he was covered in sweat and looked slightly exhausted.

"Is that wise? We're about to get into a fight, and using those skills wears you out."

He nodded in agreement. "The active skill is draining, but after a little rest you're good as new. I measured it. At level zero, with all stats at level one, I can use it about seven or eight times. Accuracy matters, though—it only travels in a straight line, but it's intuitive. I can cast the spell with my hands, but I found it's slightly more efficient when I use my fingers like a gun or cast it with a weapon. I tried casting it with my arrows, but that failed. Either way, it takes me about forty minutes to recharge—to regain my energy, or mana, whatever it is. After that, I can use it for another seven or eight times before I need to rest again."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "You've been busy."

He shrugged. "We're in danger, Kate. I have to be able to keep us both safe. There's no time to take things easy."

She gave an agreeable shrug, not saying anything else as he pointed toward the direction the goblins had spawned from.

"Once the next wave spawns, I think we should use all our skills—a volley of sorts. It takes about a second to cast. So if we use that to whittle down their numbers, we can handle the rest in melee once they get close enough."

Kate frowned softly. She had something to add to Kenan's plan. "I don't think we should use our skills like that. I agree that we should release a volley—maybe three bullets each from both of us. But we might not have enough time to rest between waves. The first two only gave us ten minutes between them. This could be more or less. So we should hold on to the active skills in case we need them in the next wave. We can't afford to wait forty minutes to regain our mana and use them again."

Kenan couldn't argue with that logic. It was smart not to put all their eggs in one basket. Besides, these skills sounded like what he could trust wholly to keep Kate safe in case any of these monsters got past him. Maybe he should have chosen that Basic Defense skill instead. But who knew if that would have been the better choice? He turned to the pylon.

[Quest 3: Welcome Party II: The system has siphoned excess corruption and will be discharging it into the clearing for the heroes to purify. Wave 0/3 completed. Number of enemies generated will be randomized.]

[0:4:21]

They had four more minutes and nothing else to talk about. Well, nothing that Kate wanted to talk about. Kenan had already said he wasn't going to push her, and he intended to keep his word. Of course... he knew it was partly his own cowardice. He wasn't ready to deal with this any more than Kate was. What was he going to say to her? No—instead, he'd focus on the problems in front of them. Their survival was on the line. It was easier to face these waves as a problem than his infidelity. Perhaps everything would sort itself out. They just had to live.

[First Wave Spawning: Basic Goblins Defeated (0/10) Basic Wild Dogs Defeated (0/3)]

A cold wind blew across the clearing as a low humming sound emanated from the pylon. The trees released their black sludge once more. This time, Kenan and Kate paid close attention, watching as it poured out of mouths and bled from the bark. The sludge swirled like living liquid before shaping itself into ten goblins—three of which were sitting astride dogs that looked wild and infected with rabies.

"That's definitely going to be a problem," Kate muttered as she noticed the goblins riding the wild dogs had weapons of their own—daggers that were practically short swords in their hands.

Kenan took charge immediately.

"Aim for the dogs first!"

That was all he could say as the monsters rushed at them. Kate remembered their plan after a split second of shock. All of this was still a little unreal to her, but Kenan was right—their lives were on the line.

Basic Fire Bullet

Basic Wind Bullet

Their skills flew true. At this close range, accuracy wasn't much of a problem, especially with the monsters traveling in a straight line. Two of the wild dogs crashed to the ground with pained yelps. The fire bullet almost missed but caught one of the dogs in the foreleg. The wind bullet hit the other dog right in the middle of its skull—it crashed to the ground dead, flinging its rider forward and straight into an arrow from Kenan that arrested the goblin's forward motion mid-air.

Kate followed, firing off another Fire Bullet. This one smashed into the chest of the final dog's rider, throwing it off with a terrified screech while the dog rushed toward Kenan. The sound of steel escaping its confines filled the clearing as Kenan, in one smooth motion, drew his blade and stabbed downward just in time for the final wild dog to come into range.

Kate couldn't help but flinch at the ease with which Kenan drove the blade through the dog's head—and the nonchalant way he pulled it free and stepped forward. They still had eight goblins left to deal with, and by this point they were close.

Kate pulled her shield closer, then fired off two more Fire Bullets. One missed entirely as the goblin jumped to the side. The next caught the goblin that had been thrown off the wild dog square in the eye. It fell like a sack of potatoes with a sudden thud, leaving them with seven enemies to deal with. She took a few steps back, but Kenan surged forward.

The gladius twirled in his hand as he slashed outward, taking off a goblin's outstretched arms. He smashed a knee into its face as it screeched in pain, then slashed to the left, shearing off the top of another goblin's skull and leaving its brain exposed. Kate felt her stomach turn at the gore, but there was no time to focus fully on Kenan. Two of the goblins were coming for her.

But before one of them could make a move, there was a sound like an air gun being fired. One of the goblins fell, a hole in the side of its head from the Wind Bullet Kenan had just fired. Kate almost forgot to stab out with her spear, which caught the second goblin in the chest. But it didn't die immediately—it let out a pained screech and roared, slashing with its tiny yet sharp claws in her direction, trying to push itself forward despite the spear in its chest.

Kate responded by smashing her shield into its face, breaking its crooked nose and shoving it off her spear before stabbing it again in the chest. The goblin went down for good.

And just then, the next one leaped at Kate, its claws outstretched and ready to tear through her exposed neck.