Dual Class [LitRPG] – Current Vol 4

Chapter 52: All Good Things

“Keep up the offensive! Protect the backline!” Jared shouted out, “There’s only a few more we can do this!”

Rushing forward with his sword and shield, Jared was supported by his sister Claire. They had both finally gotten past the bottleneck of level 10, getting their first advanced classes.

Jared had gotten a Tank-type class and was shining as a front liner, while his sister had gotten a buffing-type class that unfortunately pigeonholed her into a niche class that could only improve attacks for specific elements that no one in the group could use currently.

But that hadn’t deflated Jared, he told her to keep going and eventually, they would find party members as they went that could benefit from her skills. At worst she still had a single attack spell that could support them for now as her Intelligence was high enough to deal significant damage.

“More from the trees on the left! Jared!” someone shouted from the back, loosening an arrow from their bow and striking down a goblin.

“Damn it!” Jared cursed, “Tighten formation! Get behind me!”

At his commanding shout, the party of 10 all formed a wall behind Jared.

“Phalanx!” he shouted a wall of green forming in a ball around the group, “15 seconds! Turn up the heat, deal some damage!”

Even before the wall was fully formed, the party worked like clockwork and begun chanting spells, shooting arrows, and stabbing forward with swords and spears through the barrier.

“Raging flames, burn and char those who defy my searing power! Fireball!”

Daphne, one of the mages of the group who had also reached past level 10 chanted her spell, a massive fireball forming over her head as it flew forward, exploding in the mass of Goblins bearing down on the green barrier.

“Good stuff Daph! Their formation is broken! Rush them, finish it!” Jared shouted as he roared rushing through the barrier, his sword finding one goblin’s throat after the other.

The battle raged on for several more minutes, the ranged members, including Claire and Daphne firing off spells whenever they could while watching the surroundings for more goblin reinforcements.

Once the atmosphere had cooled and the last Goblin took its last breath the surroundings relaxed. The party members took a breather before they began collecting the cores.

Jared walked up to his sister slightly out of breath but grinning all the same.

“Good job Claire, getting used to your new class?” he asked.

Claire smiled back gently, “I’m getting there, but not as much as you. Commander,” she teased.

Jared scratched the back of his head, “I’m just shouting out what I think we should do, I’m not some commander so stop joking around…”

Bumping his side with her own, Daphne grinned next to him, “You seem to be doing a good job of it all the same. Are you fine on mana Claire?” she asked.

Claire nodded, “I didn’t have to use much thanks to you Daphne…” she answered slightly dejected, but a hand lightly gripped her shoulder.

“Oh don’t worry sweetie. At this rate, we are going to find more people. And I’m sure there will be someone that can use your buff,” Daphne said trying to console her.

“And even if there isn't, you can still give us support with your attack spell. Don’t worry Claire, not everyone is strong right from the start, who knows how much stronger your class will be once we start getting more stones you can use,” Jared added, smiling at his sister.

“Yeah… maybe…” Claire sighed, “I wish the class change at least left me my heal… I could have been way more helpful that way…”

Jared ruffled her hair, “Don’t worry about it squirt. Big bro’s here no matter what.”

Claire pouted, puffing out her lips at the nickname.

“I’m 19, don’t call me that…” she grumbled.

A scream came from the other side of the treeline, breaking the trio out of their bubble.

“R-Run!” someone shouted.

“What’s going on?!” Jared yelled, moving in front of Claire and Daphne.

“More Goblins! T-there’s a named commander! Jared, we can't win!”

Jared grounded his teeth, “Don’t lose hope, get into formation!” he shouted.

The party scrambled from their locations, exhausted from the previous fight, but still moved with practiced movement. Once they all gathered behind Jared he shouted his skill again.

“Phalanx!”

The barrier of green manifested instantly, only giving them 15 seconds of protection. But the small reprieve is what they needed to not only catch their breath but form a plan.

“W-what is that? What is that!” someone screamed from inside the barrier.

“Jared…” Claire muttered, grabbing onto the hem of his armor.

Jared looked at the monster walking over the bodies of the Goblins that littered the area from the previous fight, a patch covering his right eye, two daggers in its hands as it looked at the group inside the green barrier that was supposed to protect them. But with the appearance of the monster felt more like a prison.

Behind the monster was a small army of Goblins, more than the party had ever seen in one place.

“W-what are we supposed to do Jared?” Daphne asked.

“Hit them with whatever you have! We only have a few more seconds, kill as many as you can before the barrier runs out, it’s our only chance! Once the barrier goes down, run, I’ll hold him off as long as I can!” he shouted, never taking his eyes off the smiling monster.

The Goblin Commander tapped his daggers on the barrier playfully, looking at the people inside with a sinister grin, the Goblins behind it smiling and laughing like their leader.

Spells, arrows, and weapons pushed through the barrier assailing the army but the Goblins didn’t falter, holding their lines against the party's last-ditch effort.

The seconds ticked by as sweat began beading down Jared’s face, his grip on his sword and shield tightening.

“5 seconds!” he shouted.

More spells and arrows shot forward, this time at the Goblin Commander, but the Goblin dodged them effortlessly, still leering at the group inside the barrier as it licked its lips.

Bracing, Jared steeled himself, turning only for a moment to Claire.

“Run.”

Claire shook her head, “No I won’t leave you, Jared! Come with us!”

“I said run!” Jared spat, giving a look to Daphne, as she nodded solemnly, gripping Claire and going to the back of the barrier with the other members.

Kicking and screaming Claire shouted at her brother, not wanting to leave him to his fate.

But Jared zoned in on the Goblin Commander, the surroundings becoming muted as the barrier shattered, dissipating at the end of its duration.

Roaring Jared rushed forward, his shield in a tight guard, his sword pointed, trained right for the Goblin Commander.

“Crescent Sweep!”

An arc of red formed from Jared's swing, soaring towards the Goblin Commander with incredible speed.

But the red crescent met air, the Goblin Commander vanishing just before it touched it.

Jared’s battle sense skill went wild and he tumbled forward, throwing his shield up as soon as he righted himself, the sparks from the impact of a dagger meeting his shield almost blinding him.

“Shield Swing!” Jared growled, his shield humming with life as it was coated in a green light, his shield arm arcing to throw the dagger from it.

With the swing pushing the Goblin’s dagger off, he threw his shield arm forward the tip of his small kite shield careening for the Goblin’s face.

The Goblin Commander smirked, instantly ducking the blow, its second dagger swinging upwards from below.

Jared’s eyes looked down following the dagger on its trajectory to his chin.

“Iron Body!”

A swift glow of red encompassed Jared, his body hardening like steel as the blade contacted his jaw right under his chin, the tip of the dagger chipping. But not before the force of the blow sent Jared backward.

The Goblin Commander clicked his tongue and stowed his dagger, but didn’t follow up the attack, confusing Jared. Until he saw what was behind the Goblin Commander a second later.

His entire party had been captured. Each one of them including Daphne and Claire had a weapon trained to their throats.

“Damn it…” Jared cursed, dropping his weapons in defeat.

 —---------------------- 

“What’s going to happen to us…” Claire whimpered, the chains and collars clanging against one another.

“It’s going to be alright, we just have to wait until we can find a chance to escape… Or someone will come, just look around. We aren’t the only ones that have been captured,” Jared said trying to comfort his sister, motioning with his chin to the other cages with people in them.

“H-how can you say that? Look at how many of them there are!” someone from behind him shouted, only to receive a backhand to the side of the head from a nearby goblin.

The goblin growled and spat at the prisoner, shouting something in their language.

The train of captives walked languidly through the camp, eventually entering an area with deserted cages that they were forced into, their chains and collars removed as they were.

They were given no rations and no water, packed to the brim in the cages.

Jared looked out through the bars of the wooden cage, trying to glean any information he could for an escape. The others fell to the floor in despair, huddling in corners and next to one another.

His sister, Claire slumped against the cage wall with Daphne next to him.

For minutes, hours, that turned into days. Jared looked out of the cage, waiting, hoping for something to spark an idea for a way to get out of the cage and escape, or for someone to come and help them, but it never did.

He was beginning to lose hope, looking at his sister curled up and sleeping, leaning against his leg.

The next morning, something changed. Their cage was opened and two people were dragged from it by a goblin. A few minutes later only one returned, battered, bruised, and bloody. Shaking as they were thrown inside the cage, the goblin cackling as they did.

Jared rushed to the person, “What happened?”

The person shook, their eyes still wet from tears.

But Jared didn’t relent, shaking them by their shoulders, “I said what happened! Tell me!”

The person’s eyes finally focused on Jared, but only for a moment, “T-they made us f-fight…”

Jared’s mouth laxed unable to believe the words at first, but it hit him like a ton of bricks a moment later.

“They’re making us fight to the death, for their entertainment…” he muttered, the face of the eyepatch Goblin flashing in his mind.

The next few hours more people were pulled from the cage, eventually Jared included.

Walking through the Goblin camp once more, Jared couldn’t help noticing how much more spacious the cages were. He cursed at his helplessness to do anything about the situation. If only he had a stronger attack-focused class, maybe he could have fought their way out. Or he could have defeated the Goblin Commander the first time they met.

After a few minutes of being dragged through the camp, he came to a makeshift arena of wood and spikes, the surroundings in an uproar. Goblins packed to the brim on the walls of the arena, sneering and shouting with legs of meat in their hands. Legs that looked eerily, human.

Tearing his eyes from the stomach-churning audience, his eyes fell on his ‘opponent’, a woman no older than Claire, her clothes ragged and torn.

The sound of the wooden door slamming shut behind him apparently sounded the start of the fight as the woman screamed and ran forward.

Jared was surprised at her slow speed, she must have been under level 10 and even had less Dexterity than he did as a tank.

He dodged deftly for a few minutes as the woman desperately swiped and clawed at him.

“Fight me!” she screamed.

“No… I won’t be entertainment for these disgusting monsters,” Jared spat.

The woman shook her head, “Fight or they will kill us both!” she screamed, “If you don’t want to fight, then let me kill you! I want to live damn it!”

“No…” Jared said again woefully, unwilling to fight someone below his level and so exhausted for the enjoyment of these disgusting monsters.

The roar of the crowd lessened with each passing minute until Jared could swear he could hear jeers.

A moment later a weapon was thrown into the ring, a sword.

The woman immediately lunged to grab it, shakily holding it in her hands.

“I’m sorry but I want to live!” she yelled rushing forward.

Jared instinctively dodged as the sword was thrusted at him, his hand slamming into the side of the woman’s head as she fell to the ground, her head slamming against a protruding boulder.

[You have killed Participant: Amillia Everson Level 6] [Experience Earned, 57,203 TP has been awarded]

“H-hey… No…” Jared stammered looking at the motionless body in front of him, “I-i didn’t mean to…”

Jared caught in a stupor was pulled from the arena and before he could realize it he was back in the wooden cage, his sister shaking him.

“Jared! What happened? Are you alright?!” Claire shouted, worry on her face.

Jared looked away, “Yeah… I’m fine.”

A second later the cage door swung open again and the Goblin snatched Claire from in front of him and a random man.

Jared shot up, throwing his fist into the Goblin’s unguarded face.

“No! Don’t you touch her!” he shouted, throwing his fists into the Goblin on the floor, splattering green blood all over the cage until his hand was gripped by something.

He whipped his head back, a familiar Goblin with an eyepatch staring back at him.

“You!” Jared shouted but stopped in his tracks as he saw Claire in his grip.

Jared lost all of his vigor as the eyepatch Goblin motioned to another few Goblins at the entrance of the cage. A pair pulling the dead Goblin Jared had beaten to a pulp out of the cage, another pair chaining his hands as they dragged him away.

Minutes later he was back in the arena, the cheers of the Goblins filling his ears again as he looked across the blood-soaked ground at his opponent.

His sister.

“Claire,” Jared said sternly.

“Jared, I’m scared. What is going on?” Claire yelled and looked at him with abject fear.

“Claire, you need to listen to me carefully. You need to kill me, Claire.”

Claire looked at him dumbfounded, “W-what? What are you saying, Jared?”

“If you don’t they will just kill us both!” Jared shouted, “I won’t kill my own sister, so you have to survive and kill me!”

“N-no… No! Jared, I won’t! Didn’t you… Didn’t you tell me you would find a way out?!” Claire pleaded, shaking her head frantically, “You should survive! You’re worth so much more than I am! You can help people!”

“Claire!” Jared shouted silencing his sister, putting on a brave smile, “You are going to do this. You can do this. Don’t make me hurt my little sister…” he shouted, his voice cracking.

“No, don’t make me do this!” Claire shouted back, tears in her eyes.

The sound of metal hitting the ground broke their argument, a blade falling in between them.

Their eyes turned to where the weapon had been thrown from, a Goblin with an eyepatch sneering at them.

Jared turned away first, walking to the blade, Claire still looking on balefully at the Goblin Commander with teary eyes filled with bloodthirsty anger.

“Claire, take it.”

Jared pushed the weapon into Claire’s hands, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of the sword with his hands tightening around her.

“N-no… Don’t make me do this Jared! We can still get out,” she protested, “We can still find a way out! Y-you promised!”

Jared ignored his sister's pleas, knowing that there was no way out other than the decision he knew he had to make.

“Claire,” he said looking into her eyes, one hand on the hilt of the sword, the other ruffling the top of her head, “You’re going to be fine. You’re going to survive this. A-and…” his voice cracking ever so slightly, “I love you baby sister. Be safe squirt.”

[You have killed Participant: Jared Osberg Level 14] [ Experience earned, 143,503 TP has been awarded]

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