"I never said anything otherwise," I muttered under my breath as I followed after him.
We proceeded through the darkness in silence, slowly making our approach to the room where the meeting was taking place. A dim light leaked through the crack under the closed door, and Kai stopped us from approaching it. He gestured for us to hug the wall, and we did so without a word.
The wall of the room was thick; it was made out of solid bricks, allowing little sound to escape from the other side. But the door, however, was not as effective at sound dampening. I inched slightly closer to the door, earning a glare from Kai, but I ignored him.
I could be stealthy— I knew how to be stealthy. That was how I survived so far. So I took another step.
My ears perked up as I managed to make out a few of the muffled words they were saying, and I stopped.
"...it will work," a Human man’s voice said.
There was a brief pause, before a reply came. I recognized the accent and intonation to belong to that of a Goblin. "And that’s despite your failures? Or did you not think we’d have heard of what happened with those ships."
The Humans gave a babble of excuses— none of which I could hear since they barely mumbled it out. The Goblin snapped back.
"Betrayed. That’s what happened. And do you know why that happens? Because you were too weak. You weren’t strong enough. No— Bahr isn’t strong enough. He decided to pursue his own goals, and now he’s asking us to help him? Ridiculous."
"But Disciple—" someone started, but was immediately cut off.
"What was that?" a voice— a different one, not a Goblin or Human— hissed.
My eyes snapped over in the direction of Braz, whom I saw was trying to walk up to me, reaching over to tap my shoulder. He was right behind me, and while I did not hear anything, someone in the room did.
Braz froze as I tensed. I lowered a hand down, clutching my dagger tightly. The discussion in the room had fully halted, while Jack, Braz, Kai, Vinnie, and Elda prepared themselves. My heart began to race as a slow and steady footstep approached the door. The wooden door creaked open and a man’s face peaked out.
"Who’s there—"
And a beam of energy went through his skull. Kai lowered his rifle, signalling at us to move. Jack drew his two short swords as Braz grabbed for his cutlass. Vinnie readied his pistol and Elda held out multiple throwing daggers in both her hands.
I glanced rapidly between the door and my allies, biting my tongue down. I sighed. This isn’t going to go well no matter what happens, isn’t it?
Before anyone else could move, I leapt across the door, sticking a hand out. The yellow spell circle finished forming, and the Force Bindings shot out. It came at a Goblin and two other figures, but the Goblin rolled out of the way. The two figures weren’t so lucky.
They shouted as the snare wrapped around them, keeping them in place while the Goblin dashed forward raising a hand. I grinned for just a moment, until I saw the spell finish forming in the Goblin’s hand. My eyes widened as I recognized the red magic circle.
A Fireball flew in my direction and I leapt to the side, ducking behind the wall. The wall exploded as I barely formed a Force Barrier in time, knocking me back as my magical shield slowly fell apart around me. I got up in a daze, as I stumbled behind a pot still to hide behind.
I placed a hand on its copper surface, stabilizing myself for just a moment. The loud ringing in my ears slowly went away and was replaced by the sound of fighting. Once I got my bearings, I stuck my head out to survey the battlefield.
It was no longer dark as light shone out of the mana lamps in the storage room, while small pockets of flame on the wall and the floor slowly snuffed out with nothing burnable to consume. I saw Jack locked in combat with two Goblins and a Human man. The Goblins used simple spells— nothing as powerful as the first one I saw, but it was still dangerous. The Human was dispatched off quickly by Jack.
I turned to Braz, Elda, and Vinnie who were surrounding the Goblin Dark Acolyte that attacked me. He was casting multiple spells at once, keeping them back as they kept him in range. Braz tried stepping in for a thrust of his cutlass, but was thrown back by a blue splash of energy— a Force Wave.
I grimaced, choosing not to help them as I hurriedly looked around the room. Where’s Kai? He was clearly a support fighter— but he was nowhere to be seen. I spun around, scanning the area for him, before I saw a flash of bright light followed by a bang.
Kai was backing up as a group of Humans, a Goblin, and another Humanoid figure as they encroached on him. He lowered his rifle, having killed another Goblin, before the first Human reached him. I reacted instantly.
Magic Missiles shot out of both of my hands. I did not stop with just two, and sent four. Then six. I sent a dozen total, and they exploded around Kai.
Three of the Humans and the last Goblin managed to get out of the way, but the rest were incapacitated or killed by the barrage of blasts. I stopped the attacks for a moment, preparing a Frost Javelin. The air turned white as the icy projectile slowly took shape, but before I could do anything with it, I saw the air ripple ahead of me.
A Wind Blade shot out at me as the Humanoid ran in my direction. I froze for
