The four warrior goblins thundered toward her, their massive strides making the ground quake. Each carried weapons the size of tree branches, chipped but deadly, their guttural roars echoing across the battlefield.
Selvara tightened her grip on her sword. Her breath came sharp and even, her body alive with a coiled, burning readiness. Her silver eyes flicked between them, tracing their movements, calculating, deciding.
"They must die quickly," she whispered. "Or I do."
Then she moved.
Her body blurred forward in a streak of silver. The first warrior raised its crude axe overhead, aiming to split her in half. Too slow. Selvara slid low, the grass bending beneath her as she rushed past. Her sword snapped up in a brutal arc. Steel met flesh. The goblin's leg severed at the thigh, the limb spinning into the air.
The monster howled, collapsing. Selvara was already rising behind it. Her blade drove through its spine, snapping bone, splitting chest. She wrenched it free, black blood spraying, and the first fell dead.
"Faster!" she hissed, and spun.
The second came with a hammer the size of her torso. It swung sideways, the air itself groaning at the force. Selvara leapt. Her body twisted midair, her sword flashing down. The blade bit into the goblin's thick neck, cutting halfway through. The warrior staggered, choking, black ichor spilling down its chest.
Before it could recover, Selvara landed, drove her foot into its chest, and finished the cut with a savage pull. The head snapped off and rolled into the mud.
Two down.
The third and fourth bellowed together, swinging wide, trying to corner her between their weapons. Selvara darted left, then cut sharply right, slipping into the blind spot of the third. Her sword thrust forward, slipping clean through its ribs, puncturing the heart. The goblin spasmed, mouth opening in a strangled cry, before she tore the blade free.
The fourth lunged. Its club descended like a falling tree. Selvara threw herself forward into the goblin's body, sliding under the strike. Her blade rose in a brutal upward slash. The steel ripped across its belly, splitting it open from groin to chest. Organs spilled into the mud, steaming in the night air.
The warrior collapsed with a guttural scream, clawing at its spilling insides before silence claimed it.
All four lay dead, their blood soaking the grass.
Selvara's chest heaved. Her limbs trembled faintly, the toll of speed and precision gnawing at her body. She exhaled slowly, sheathing her blade with a sharp metallic click.
The horde screamed louder, furious at the fall of their champions.
Selvara turned, leapt, and landed atop the barricade before vaulting back inside. Goblin claws raked at her boots as she flew past, but her blade lashed once more, cutting two down mid-climb. She landed inside the village square, blood dripping from her gauntlet.
Loid was there, his hands white-knuckled on a spear, stabbing at goblins as they tried to pull themselves over the wall. He turned as Selvara landed.
"Selvara!" His voice cracked with both relief and fear. "Are you, are you alright?"
Her face softened for the first time that night. A faint smile curved her lips. "I will be. I only need a moment to breathe."
She leaned her spear against the wall and pressed her back against the barricade, her body relaxing only slightly.
Loid's chest thumped with nervous energy. The UI shimmered in his vision, glowing brighter. His heart leapt as the number changed again.
Reputation Points: 207.
He blinked, then laughed aloud, a raw, almost manic sound. "Finally!"
Selvara tilted her head, her silver eyes faintly curious even through her fatigue. "Finally?"
Loid grinned, sweat sticking his hair to his forehead. "We can level you up again."
He flicked his hand, and the UI expanded before his eyes. The option pulsed: [Level Up Mercenary – Selvara]. He hit it.
The glow wrapped her again, subtle but undeniable. The notification chimed.
[Selvara – Level 3]
[Stat Point +1]
Loid scanned her attributes. His thoughts raced. "Strength can wait but endurance, you need it."
Selvara nodded once, her breath steadying. "Speed is useless if my body fails."
"Then endurance," Loid confirmed, pressing the point into the stat.
The moment it applied, Selvara exhaled deeply. Her trembling stilled, her chest steadied, and her eyes seemed sharper. Her body straightened as though the exhaustion had never been. She flexed her fingers against the haft of the spear and tested her footing.
"Yes," she murmured. "This is better."
Loid couldn't stop staring. She was already superhuman in his eyes, and now she seemed unbreakable.
"Rest a minute more," he urged.
Selvara gave him that faint, rare smile again. "A minute. No more."
For that one minute, the village held its breath. Guards shoved spears into goblin bodies. Villagers screamed, hacking with axes and pitchforks. The barricade groaned with the weight of the swarm.
Then Selvara straightened, snatched her spear, and vaulted back onto the wall.
Her body blurred again, stabbing, slicing, throwing goblins from the barricade. The rhythm returned: kill, recover, kill again. Where the wall seemed weakest, she was there, a silver phantom weaving through the dark.
Loid stabbed wildly, sweat pouring down his back. His spear found the eye of a goblin, then another, but his arms ached, his movements clumsy compared to the deadly precision of Selvara. Still, he fought. Because everyone fought. Because if they didn't, they would all die.
Time stretched, measured in screams and steel.
Then the sound came.
A deeper roar. Louder. Heavier.
From the forest, they poured again.
Two hundred goblins. And with them, hulking behind, twenty-five warriors.
The villagers froze, pale-faced. Even the guards, hardened men of steel, faltered at the sight.
"My gods…" one whispered. "There's too many."
The line shook. Fear rippled like sickness.
But Roderick was already there, standing at the barricade, shield braced. His eyes blazed like fire even through exhaustion. His voice roared across the square.
"Do not break! Do not falter! This is your home! Your families! If you flee, they will burn it all!"
His words struck like a hammer, seizing hearts and steadying hands. The villagers breathed again, their grips tightening on weapons.
But Selvara didn't wait.
Her silver eyes narrowed, her body crouched. She leapt.
Over the wall.
Straight into the teeth of the horde.
"Selvara!" Loid shouted, his heart leaping into his throat.
She didn't hear, or didn't care. Her blade was in her hand again, drawn in a single blur.
The first warrior raised its axe. She split its throat before it finished lifting. The head rolled. She was gone.
The second swung a sword. Her body ducked under, sliding close. Her blade drove into its chest, bursting out its back. She wrenched free, blood spraying across her armor.
The third tried to flank. She pivoted, her foot snapping into its knee with bone-breaking force. The joint shattered. Before it fell, her sword carved across its throat.
The fourth roared, swinging down its hammer. Selvara darted inside its guard, twisting, her blade severing the arm at the elbow. The hammer dropped. Her follow-up slash carved through its belly, spilling guts into the mud.
Four warrior goblins. Dead in seconds.
Her speed left the horde stunned. Ordinary goblins shrieked and scattered around her as though a monster had descended into their midst.
On the wall, Loid's hands shook against the spear as he watched. His UI flickered again, reputation climbing, but he barely noticed. His throat was tight, his chest heavy.
"She's insane," a guard muttered beside him.
But Roderick's eyes burned. He turned his gaze back to the warriors still charging, more than twenty, bearing down on the barricades.
"They'll break the wall," he muttered. Then louder, to his men: "Form ranks! Spears to me! We meet them head on!"
The guards roared their answer, falling into line. The villagers backed behind them, still pale, but holding weapons firm.
Roderick lifted his shield, sword raised. His jaw was set. "If they reach us, hold fast. They bleed like the rest. Kill them before they kill you!"
And then the warriors struck the barricade.
The wall shuddered, wood splintering, iron blades hammering against shields. The ground itself seemed to quake beneath the clash.
Roderick roared, swinging his sword. The first warrior's chest split open in a spray of gore. His shield smashed into another's jaw, breaking bone. But already, more pressed against him, snarling, clawing, their strength greater than any man's.
Behind him, guards screamed, shields breaking, spears shattering against thick muscle. Villagers jabbed from behind, trying desperately to stop the tide.
And Selvara…
Selvara was gone again. Charging, blurring through the night, carving through the scattered warriors before they could ever reach the barricade. Her blade flashed, her silver eyes cold fire, her speed unmatched.
Everywhere she moved, bodies fell.
And still, more came.
The night was far from over.