Klaw flexed his new… arm claws? Sword growths? Spurs. He decided to call them spurs. He could extend and retract them at will, and they were made of the same vitaferum as his claws. The sharp side was on the outside, allowing him to slice with his arm like a sword with the spur that curved over the outside of his arm. The second spur, which curved over his fist, would be better used as a shield.

Now he had a better understanding of why sword skills were paired with the claws. Shame about the damage to the armor, but it was a worthy sacrifice.

He jumped from the wall to the ground, running full sprint towards the invaders, "I wanna fight the big guy!"

Klaw had a few options in terms of potions. Nightstalker, which would enhance his vision. Unnecessary in this scenario. The new bone potion, which he hadn't tried yet. But this situation called for old reliable. Drake heart. He summoned it and immediately drank it down. His spurs sizzled then began to glow in heat, as did his claws. Beneath his armor, the scales grew in.

From what Klaw understood, the potion somehow changed you from the inside out. Altering your spirit or something. He did not expect the armor to be affected. It blackened, and the helm elongated, fitting his form. It was as though he had always been this form, not just using temporary biotraits. This would be something he'd have to tell Daggat.

Come to think of it, his clothes did adapt to his new forms when using potions. So had Hunters, when he beefed up from the drakeheart potion.

Both humans and goblins were in a panic. Only a few seemed immune or resistant to Daggat's new power. The bosses, surely.

His eye followed one. It leaped from human to human like a frog. It would bounce off of his targets, cracking ribs or shattering limbs, then fly towards another. It was headed for him.

It seemed to gain speed with each kick, bounced off a building, then hurtled straight towards him. It cackled while it flew.

Klaw braced himself and brought both arms in front of him. The goblin hit him with enough force to take down a small tree. But it met flaming blades rather than a weak human. Really, what was the thing expecting, targeting him? He wanted the bragging rights, for sure.

The force caused Klaw to take a step back, but he was able to direct the bouncing goblin down into the earth. His whole body rattled inside his armor, but he survived.

"Ow, ow, oww!" It said, rubbing a sliced foot, "No fair!"

"How do you wanna die?" Klaw asked, taking a few steps forward.

The goblin snapped its head towards him, "Oh, I'm not the one going to die today!"

Ignoring the bleeding wound, he took a frog-like position. His hind legs swelled and tightened. Then, he launched himself at Klaw.

This time, Klaw took a step to the side, used smite, and slapped the goblin with his spurs. It screamed, bounced off his blades, and flew over the wall. It trailed a line of blood and bile as it went.

[You have slain - goblin, level 15. Experience gained.]

His arm stung like he had just punched a tree. The force on his spurs vibrated the bones in his arm in an unpleasant way. Still, he was unharmed.

Were all goblins like that? He had gotten too used to Daggat and Zuss as other examples of goblinoid kind. Maybe it really was true that they were all a step ahead of everyone else.

He idly used a wind slash to cut down a goblin who was inching towards him. The attack left six, deep, burning lines on the thing's corpse.

"Hey, you!" Someone called with a slurred voice. A challenge?

It was a male hobgoblin. As small as Zuss, but with a comically oversized head and jaws. Its lips didn't seem to be able to reach each other.

"Yeah?"

"You just kill my buddy, there?"

"The frog? He kinda did it to himself, honestly."

"Well! Then that means I'm killing ya to avenge his suicide then!" The hobgoblin reached into its mouth and grabbed one of its teeth. He yanked, and the entire tooth popped out.

"Ah, gross. What the hell?" Klaw said. He thought about charging right then, but decided against it. He wanted to see where this was going.

The hobgoblin laughed and threw the dagger-sized tooth at him. Klaw tried to dodge, but was too slow. Still, it bounced harmlessly off his armor.

Klaw started to chuckle, then the tooth exploded. It popped like Daggat's bomb had, splintering him with teeth shrapnel.

He began to sprint towards the goblin, this time dodging another thrown tooth. It exploded behind him.

Suddenly, he felt that tugging sensation. His aura of defense. Briefly, he considered ignoring it. But he had set the aura to only apply to his party. He let it pull him along.

He appeared next to Daggat, braced and ready to take a hit. He did not expect the gremlin-sized boulder to slam into his chest. It pushed him back into Daggat and squeezed all of the air out of his lungs. He managed to hold onto the boulder. In response, a spectral beast, something like a wolf, lept from Klaw and slammed into the troll who had just thrown the boulder.

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If his bones hadn't been reinforced, that would have cracked them for sure.

"Oh, thanks, bro," Daggat said.

Klaw was too busy catching his breath to respond. Then he heard screaming. Hunter yelling in pain. Klaw growled as he felt himself being tugged away once again.

He appeared in front of Hunter, who was currently on fire. A stream of flame was washed over Klaw. It was being belched out by a goblin with soot-dark skin. His retaliation, an ethereal spike, jabbed at it. It wasn't as powerful as the boulder, so Klaw simply walked through the flames, then ripped out the goblin's throat.

They were inside the building where they kept the wounded. Goblins had breached the floor; some lay dead. Others were causing chaos. Klaw wind slashed a few dead, then turned on Hunter.

He was hunched over a figure who had been burned. A small child. She breathed quickly, like a rabbit. Half of her face was blistered.

"Hunter, you've got to nut up, or more of these people are going to be hurt."

The oni turned to face him. His face was twitching, flashing between rage and forced calm. Slowly, his eyebrows furrowed into deep anger. Wordlessly, he nodded at Klaw.

As soon as the goblins burst through the ground, Hunter rushed to defend the wounded. They were vulnerable, now in the most dangerous place they could be. What made matters worse was the kobold who dug a side tunnel directly into the building.

Holly was hurt. Alive, but scarred. She might live. Might not. It was up to chance, and the rest of the battle.

She was hurt because he hesitated. He could have stomped on the monsters coming out of the hole. Or shoved his torch into it. But, he didn't want to kill them. Only scare them off. It was so much harder to only hurt someone than it was to kill or maim them.

The Ogres Curse tickled at the back of his mind. That promise of letting go of all emotional pain. To give in and just break the world. He tried his hardest to deny it. It wouldn't win. Not today.

He decided to give the curse a bit of a rest, though. The goblins hurt these people. So, Hunter decided he would hurt them right back.

He pushed past Klaw, who was still catching his breath.

Outside was utter chaos. Goblins didn't just fight and slaughter… they danced and sang and hid and cried. They broke things, drank food, and ate whatever they wanted. It was a mockery of the pain they were inflicting. On the pain they HAD inflicted. How many other villages had they destroyed this way? Treating it as a massive party?

No more after this.

"Oi, you're a biggun." One of the goblins by his feet said. "You new? Got anything fun in there to kill?"

They thought he was on their side. At least, the dumbest of them had. He summoned his torch and slammed it into the goblin. It flew away, stumbling a few steps.

"Not quite big enough," Hunter said. Then, he entered the status void. Two quick upgrades. First, Sacred Flame upgrade. Selecting Unwanted Guests. It now treated all enemies as though they were undead, for his auras. Next, he dragged over the window.

[Feat achieved: Mighty Raise Strength base to 15. Reward: Size increase. Accept: yes/no?]

Yes.

Hunter snapped back into reality to see half a dozen goblinoids rushing him, spurned on by the one he had wounded. They whimpered as his weakening effects took place, then cowered back as he roared.

Klaw was rushing them already, but before he could meet them, he was suddenly teleported away.

The world seemed to shrink as Hunter grew in size, reaching a full twelve feet of height. He activated brilliant bash and swiped his reinforced torch in a low arc. The goblins blasted away from him in a burst of golden light.

[You have slain six - goblins, level 13. Experience gained.]

The mass of enemies shied away from the display. That gave him enough time to cast his spellbrand. The experience was unlike anything he had known before. It was like he simply knew the right… shape of something. A complex shape with many parts. He tried to imagine the shape, getting this or that bit wrong or forgetting a section. Finally, he finished the spell.

Wind and flame were his to command. He waved his arms like a dancer, gathering every bit of flame he could see. Taking from within the Warming House, from the bonfire which burned in the middle of town, and even from Daggat.

His core drained, fueling the spell. The essence, hunger essence, was poorly named. It was not the spirit of hunger. It was the spirit of feeding. Of eating and being satiated. The satisfaction of being full and the joy of devouring something delicious. The effect it had on its spell was an eagerness to fill itself, enhancing the power of the wind and the speed at which he gathered flame.

When he was satisfied, he guided the long snake of fire into the hole from which the goblins had climbed out. Too late, he noticed Daggat dueling a troll nearby.

The effect was more destructive than he expected. The wind was funneled and forced through a narrow opening, which seemed to drag more air with it. The added fuel superheated the flame, turning the tunnel into an oven.

After a moment, the spell ended. But the tunnel still sucked in air. It roared as a vortex of wind drew in surrounding goblins and people. Then the tunnel seemed to hiccup, and a geyser of flame belched from it.

Several dozen creatures were cooked alive. Some goblins, several kobolds, but mostly orcs. They never had a chance to join the battle. A couple of level fifteen goblins, as well as bosses, and some humans, regrettably fell to the explosive force.

[Feat achieved: Arsonist. Cause: Slay over twenty enemies with one flame. Reward: Skill gain, flame affinity.]

The tunnel burped again as the flames grew hotter still.

Daggat stood silhouetted by the flame, cackling like a mad… goblin.

"WONDERFUL! This is why you're my favorite oni, Hunter." He said.

Hunter was shaking. He had just decimated the enemy with a single attack. The thought that he would fight monsters and an army never crossed his mind when he ran from home half a year ago. But… this was the way of the world, he supposed. His little cave was a fantasy. Somewhere to keep ogre children happy and healthy until they were sent out into the world to hunt and slaughter or be slaughtered.

He understood that. The idea that he would just cook and clean and let the real monsters do the fighting was naive.

He also knew how important it was to be friendly, however. So what if he killed an evil monster or twenty? As long as his spirit held strong, then all was well.

He gave Daggat a big, goofy smile while pushing the disgust he felt deep inside him. Then walked over to the now extinguished bonfire. It lit easily once he shoved his torch in.

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