Part 12 Part B

  Continued from Part B

  'I can create followers...' using the create life spell!

  This thought excited me.

  So this is what I can do with the power of being a Life Wizard?!

  Wow...

  That would also curb my loneliness also!

  But while I'm strategizing how to do this, isn't it also true that using a skill like 'create life' could be very similar to summoning other people from another world?!

  And what if they are really the same thing! I feel anxious though, how long will I have to wait to do that? I have to be strong enough and have substantial ability ready with it to make it mana efficient enough to not kill or harm me in the process.

  Having to wait for that point seems difficult, as I'm so excited.

  And then...

  My overly excited heart, received even more stress when I see a whole troop of goblins coming up the hill.

  This time...its at least twenty, no wait thirty!

  Shit!

  This is awful. I've never fought such a big group of them before! This has me extremely worried!

  30 versus 1, with only a trap maze to protect me...

  Let the battle commence! I'm ready for this! Luckily I've got a lot of mana currently.

  ...

  The giant hornet nest somehow decided universally to not attack the goblins and withdraw. With that many goblins, they'd decided it wasn't worth the risk. And that increased my risk!

  I somehow got lucky and a rabid bear that was in the nearby woods, took out four of the goblins while they are beating on it. But then it ran off with chewed up goblin legs in its mouth.

  Eh? It only took out 1 of them... Tch! Cheapskate!

  As I watched I was surprised when the goblins decided instead to run after and pursue the bear. They caught up to and killed the rabid bear after stopping its retreat. That surprised me!

  A few minutes passed while the remaining goblins began combing the rabid bear's bones and ripping off the meat. They openly snacked on it, and ate it down to the bones. That took only about a half hour. And during that half hour I had to fight off a giant bee also (-14 damage to me).

  When I had the bear slain, I looked over to see what's going on...

  The troop of 25.5 goblins (that survived the bear) are now headed towards me! They had decided to rush me when seeing the bear gone, thinking I'd be tired and weak afterwards!

  Shit, shit, shit, shit...

  My heart is pounding in my chest. I'm running back to the safety of my thorn trap walls of my maze. My hands are sweaty also as I huffed.

  I wish I had more range skills.

  But then one of the goblins who was wounded had a morale problem and the boss goblin slit his throat. 25.5 goblins --> 25 goblins.

  Ah so that's how they mobilize them for suicide missions! I'd often wondered about that. Now its clear. They either go or they get to become XP for the boss...

  I already know I'll have to be careful about mana also, which means using the previous version trap instead of the major version that costs more mana.

  !

  I had to dodge and duck as the goblins are firing off arrows towards me! I ran and pulled back to avoid the shots. I also popped my shield up.

  Whew! Thankfully I was quick. They are better shots than you'd think, with such small ugly twisted bodies.

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  The maze wall hedges are thick and not that easy to see through, so I have an advantage to hide in the maze as I thin their numbers.

  As they are approaching I counted out at least 10 of them have some kind of bows of varying sizes.

  Crap. Range units. This was something I'd been dreading to occur. With me with no range skills its more dangerous now.

  That makes it harder. And of course they'd have those, because they are a warrior society that only prizes war skills, such as with a bow and arrow type of skills. And it will be hard to pick them off with the archer goblins around. I need to get rid of those first to be effective at killing the others.

  I ended up sprinting back and forth while avoiding another volley and keeping my shield out and up towards the enemy. One of the major disadvantages of my vine and root traps is that they are see through! So the goblin archers are really able to do whatever they want from range!

  Shit...

  My pit house is safe from arrows, but if I go inside it they can literally burn me out and sneak up on me. They'd have to burn up some maze walls first. So I want to avoid that. And I need to babysit this little siege. I also can't leave my defensive cluster formation of vine walls and traps or I'm dead also; that would let them put all 20 warriors on me!

  I'm currently cut off from the brook while the maze is being sieged.

  They continued to advance slowly.

  'I haven't tested the maximum range of my root trap skill and walls,' I thought.

  Dang it.

  Now I can see why I need to know such things.

  I had several minutes of going back and forth to dodge arrow volleys. Several hit my shield. But I managed to block most of them, but only due to being lucky. I kept baiting them to get closer to the maze.

  The goblin group splits into two. One group is the archers and their half circle formation. The other group is moving up with spears, and swords, with a few holding maces. The one thing in my favor is that neither group has shields, which would make my life living hell.

  I casted my first root trap when the first group had closed to within 20 feet of my vine wall enclosures...but instead of casting it on the warriors, I used it on the goblin archer group to buy time to fight off the front line warriors! (-20 mana). Then I casted another one on the other surprised goblin archers that are panicking as they try to move away from the now trapped (4) archers, in the trap!

  Success! (-20 mana). And I've trapped 5 more archers into the other trap!

  Yes!

  I then had to avoid the others as they are charging at me.

  Right away the vine walls rip 3 warriors into the vines as they were about to strike me. I jumped back 10 feet. I also grew the trap that's already engaged, to help make it sturdy enough to withstand them.

  I'm surprised when 3 of the goblin warriors evaded the trap and closed to melee distance!

  Ping! There's a harsh echo on my shield as I blocked the blow of the first one's mace. Then I blocked a spear thrust. But the third strike of a spear hits me for (-27 damage).

  ACHHHHHHH!!! OUCH!!!!! That hurts! I think I screamed.

  I pulled back and ran round the corner, pulling deeper in the maze. Then I used another root trap skill. One of them is trapped, but I think the other two are veterans! That's why they didn't get pulled into the trap!

  Now I'm worried. Plus, 2 of the goblin archers are almost free of the trap, as the one guy is cutting them out with a knife! And I also see my maze is too small. All that work basically I'd only gotten a few small rooms up. That's not a lot of kiting space for this many goblins.

  I ran while executing a root trap skill on the 3 goblin archers! Yes! Success! They are held into place! (-20 mana).

  Then I had to juggle the other two goblins.

  [Minor Flame Wave!] I hit my only offensive skill with fury. (-10 mana). Then I repeated it as I retreated again (-10 mana).

  The two veterans rolled out of the way and to the back, showing they are powerful warriors. (-10 damage to one, -20 damage to the other.)

  I ran past them just trying to lure them through vine trap gauntlets. Unfortunately they are good at dodging. They are also fast! They escaped by rolling again a second time.

  I had to hustle to avoid their pincer stab trap!

  I then hit the minor flame wave skill again going around the corner, blasting them again. I wish this thing hit wider and spread farther. Its area effect is basically as small as you can get and still be have an area effect. I'd be lucky to get 2 or 3 goblins caught in it.

  Each time I ran by I'm hitting them with everything I can. But then I had to use my improved vine trap on some of the goblin archers to keep them from escaping. (4 of them caught in this). That will hold them tight. They are also taking a bit of damage.

  The two veterans are following me around as I'm struggling to not get tired. Its the two veteran goblin leaders that most worry me now. I'd normally have to worry about them sprinting and catching me, but dodging and hacking at vine ropes trying to grab them lets me squeeze passed them.

  AH!

  I dodged too early! Shit! (The veteran's spear thrust catches me for -27 damage)!

  I blocked the other one, but then kicked one of them into my improved vine trap! Yes! He takes a bunch of thorn spike damage, but then tore himself free. I used my axe to chop at him again for harsh damage, and incurring a bonus when the force of my blow threw him into another spike thorn wall for more damage! (-39 damage + -16 damage). Then he's trapped again.

  I managed to roll out of the way of the other's spear thrust. Then block his second blow with my shield.

  Then I hit my minor heal on myself. (-30 mana, +20 health).

  I continued to use my axe to power strike the veteran goblins into my traps. Finally I killed one of them.

  But the other is running away, abandoning his teammates. I feel pissed off that this one escaped, but his friends won't at least.

  1 survivor...

  I had to go from trap to trap to execute each goblin trapped in the vines. I'm only alive because of my advanced cheat magic skills, which made the traps hold longer than they should. It wasn't easy to execute the goblins either as they had a LOT of health... often they had over 400 health each which made me think this was a higher level group of goblins than I'd thought they were.

  These are veteran, tough goblins! Wow.

  But now I'm tired and bloody. Too worn out and bloody to care about that I'd heard a level up ping just now.

  My joy at getting another level is gone, as this is the only time I'd had a prey get away from me. And I'm worried that he might bring back reinforcements...

  In fact, I'm sure that he will.

  Its going to be a long night.

  I'll have to watch out all night for fear of their probing my 'hopefully soon to be' fortress in progress. Before bed I'll repair the thorn walls. Also I'll try to put down a few more traps and walls both.

  I didn't have a chance to use the create life spell yet. Too much bogging me down with defense. But I'll get to that soon... I hope.