1.43 – Goblin Warboss

The goblin warboss pointed its black iron war cleaver at her and shouted something Rika couldn’t understand. No matter. It sounded threatening enough that she got the general idea. She rolled her shoulders as she strode across the open ground before the altar. The space reminded her too much of an arena. Maybe that’s where the goblins had gotten all those corpses from. Rika slipped her last Draught of Heroism from her pouch, popped the seal, and downed it in a single pull.

Draught of Heroism: Small increase to Might and Resilience. 30:00 remaining.

The extra five points may not seem like all that much anymore, but she’d take any advantage she could get. This thing had a full ten levels on her, after all. Plus the Boss tag. While the Elite greater goblins had ceased mattering to her after she reached Grade II, she didn’t have any illusions that a Boss was a different matter entirely.

The warboss stalked forward, taking strong, purposeful steps as it swung its war cleaver at the air. Another show of intimidation, no doubt. Fine. She could handle that. It wasn’t as though retreat were an option, anyway. Only one of them was walking away from this, and Rika was going to make damn sure it was her. When the warboss was just a few paces away, it rushed her. The cleaver swept out in a wide arcing cut, aimed straight at her head. Rika ducked under it and struck out with an attack of her own as Erik landed a Bolster Might on her.

Rend I: 9 seconds.

Tempo II x1: 6 seconds.

Draught of Heroism: Small increase to Might and Resilience. 29:48 remaining.

Bolster Might I: Small increase to Might. 30 seconds.

The blade of her axe punched through a gap in the warboss’s armor. Even though she’d gotten what felt like a solid hit, the Boss only grunted. That was pretty much all the confirmation she needed. This wasn’t going to be like her last few fights.

The warboss raised its cleaver above its head, and an unnatural shine caught the edge. The blade fell, cutting the afternoon air with unnatural speed. Rika barely got her shield up in time. The impact was greater than anything she’d felt so far. She grunted through gritted teeth as the pain shot up her arm, and she nearly dropped to one knee. Predictably, her single stack of Tempo dropped. That the attack did so much through all the enhancements from her shield and armor proficiencies didn’t bode well. Hopefully, it didn’t have too many other skills like that.

Rika squared up again as Erik landed a Quick Heal on her, repairing the damage that had made it through the block. She faced the warboss as it lunged at her, driving the point of its war cleaver at her throat. She ducked to the side again and landed an axe strike on its upper thigh. The warboss swung at her with its shield, but she deflected with her own heater. Another quick slice as she maneuvered around the warboss, and then she landed a Dark Strike on it.

The warboss shoved at her with its shield while stepping back. As it raised its cleaver in a motion she recognized from the greater goblins, Rika prepared herself for the incoming Taunt. The warboss roared and beat its cleaver against the rim of its shield. Rika mentally kicked herself when she realized what was happening. There wasn’t any damn reason it would Taunt her. Not in a one-on-one like this.

Goblin Warboss (Boss) – Level 30

Rend I x1: 10 seconds.

Bloodfury: Large damage increase. 2:00 remaining.

“Bullshit,” she said, even as she admitted that she shouldn’t have let it happen in the first place. She’d used the Stun from Shield Slam to interrupt enemies before. She should have done the same here.

A dull red glow shone from the goblin warboss’s eyes, and crimson mist steamed off its shoulders and arms. Similar to when Rika had used the Dark Infusion on herself. She could already tell that Bloodfury buff was going to be bad news for her. As if to prove her assumptions true, the warboss rushed her with shocking speed. It drew the cleaver back for another strike, then unleashed a flurry of swings. It was the same sort of barrage she’d seen the goblin foragers use, but this was on a whole other level.

Rika took the first swing on her shield, barely hanging on to her stance as the shock went all the way up her arm to the shoulder. She set her jaw against her mounting worry as the next strike came out faster than she was prepared for. Still, she ducked it. She was on the back foot here, and given the force of that first strike, any of them would be a hard hit to recover from. She barely got her shield around in time to block the third swing from the warboss, sending another shock of pain up her arm. Pushing her Finesse to its absolute limits, she miraculously parried the fourth attack before ducking the fifth and circling around to the warboss’s shield side. The massive goblin tried to pivot, but she’d gotten out of the way of its flurry of swings. For now. She’d lost Tempo, the skill’s duration ticking down while she was trying not to get hit.

But Rend was ready again.

Rend I: 9 seconds.

Tempo II x1: 6 seconds.

Again the warboss tried to slap her with its shield, and again she blocked it. From what she could tell, the warboss didn’t have any shield-based skills. Or if it did, it wasn’t using them. She could keep on its left side, and simply avoid the cleaver. It was the safer option, but it would make it harder to land a solid hit. The warboss was good about covering itself with the shield, even if it wasn’t making full use of it through skills.

If she circled around to its right, she’d be exposed to the warboss’s own cleaver. But she’d still have full use of her own shield. Back since her earliest days of training, Captain Marin had always told her that being left-handed would save her life someday. Since getting out into the world, she’d learned just how right he’d been.

She went for the riskier option. As much as playing it safe against this enemy had its appeal, a longer fight just meant more opportunities for mistakes. Mistakes she couldn’t afford to make. She’d known that heading into this last phase of the quest was a risk. Under-leveled and under-manned, it was basically a suicide run. And now she was seeing just how important a party was. If she’d even had a full Bastion to support her, this fight would go very differently.

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At least she had a class capable of handling the extra load—she hoped.